Book #12 of 2011

Book #12 was The River Wife by Jonis Agee. It's a novel about several generations of one family, all connected by the family patriarch, Jacques, and all living in the same house over the years. Jacques was a river pirate along the Mississippi, and the book features the stories of his first wife Annie Lark, a freed slave named Omah who assisted him with his pirating, his second wife Laura, his daughter Maddie, and his grandson's wife Hedie, who finds the books containing the stories of all these women years after the fact. I don't really have anything exciting to say about this book one way or another. It was one of those books that was just kind of there. It wasn't great, it wasn't awful. None of the characters were particularly likable, and at times the writing was rough. I wouldn't particularly recommend it. 3 stars

Cheese Grits

Tonight I'm cooking cheese grits and this one of my favorite recipes, not only because it's so yummy but because it's also super easy. Cheese grits are a great side for pretty much anything if you ask me. Sometimes we have them with shrimp and sometimes with chicken sausage and diced tomatoes, which doesn't sound all that special but is actually really delicious. Tonight we're having them with jerk pork chops (grilled by Andrew the grill-master).



Here's the recipe. It's from the February 2008 issue of Southern Living. I didn't take many pictures because it's so easy and quick there's hardly any steps to take pictures of!

1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking or instant grits (I use instant)
3/4 cup Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Hot sauce

Bring first 3 ingredients and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat (Note: Once it starts boiling, the milk will cause it to boil over fast, so watch out); gradually whisk in grits. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened (the time this will take will differ depending on what kind of grits you are using, the instant ones usually take less than 5 minutes). Stir in cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Season with hot sauce.


See? So easy. You can see from my picture that I use fat-free and reduced-fat milk and cheeses and they taste just as good I promise. So that's a good way to cut a few calories. Hope you like 'em!

Cameo Candies

These cameo chocolates make me smile! I kind of want to buy the molds and make some myself and then throw an old-fashioned tea party. Actually, I think they give me the warm-fuzzies because they remind me of my grandmother. I can remember her wearing a cameo necklace (it was pink, on a long gold chain) and I also remember her making mints similar to these for receptions and parties at church. I found these in this month's Country Living.

Happy Valentine's Day to My Love

Generally, I'm not one for big proclamations of love. I love my husband A LOT and I think anyone who knows me knows that. And he absolutely knows that because I tell him everyday. But since it's Valentine's Day and he bugged me last night because I haven't written a new blog post in a week, here's a post especially for my husband Andrew, the love of my life.

Remember when we first started dating and we wanted to be together every second of every day? I still feel that way. You're the funniest, sweetest, most entertaining person I know.


Remember when we got married on went on our amazing honeymoon that was so much fun we still talk about it all the time even though it was almost 6 years ago? I can't wait for all the other trips to new places and new adventures that await us in our lifetime. I love that you dream big and want us to see the world together.


Remember when we moved North Carolina and didn't know another soul except each other? We learned so much about ourselves and grew closer as husband and wife. We learned to appreciate nature and small-town life and discovered the values we want for our family. I'm incredibly grateful to share my life with someone with principles and convictions.


You know how I always cry over little things like when a Disney World commercial comes on TV and I think about how much fun it will be to take our kids there one day? Thanks for not laughing at me but always just kissing me on the forehead and calling me your tender-hearted girl. And thank you for being so careful with my tender heart.


Remember how I used to hate baseball because I thought it was super-boring but now I love it and want to watch it every night, all summer long? Thanks for encouraging me to keep an open mind and try new things.


You know how you can always make me smile when I'm sad? I love that.


And you know how you tell me I'm beautiful when I'm wearing a ball cap and no make up? That's pretty much the best thing ever.


So, basically, what I'm saying is, you're awesome. I look forward to many many more years together until we are old and dress like this un-ironically and embarrass our children.


And I want to kiss you like this every day and embarrass our children some more. And keep kissing like this every day until we move past the years where it embarrasses our children and we become the adorable elderly couple that still kisses each other like this and have for the last 60 years.

Happy Valentine's Day Drew. I love you lots.

The Secret Sisters

I just discovered this group this weekend. They are sisters from Muscle Shoals and I LOVE their voices and musical style! And how could I not like a song called "Tennessee Me"?




I thought that was great, and then I found them covering my favorite Patsy Cline song, "Walkin' After Midnight" which was also really good! It made me smile on this rainy Monday. I can't embed it, but here's the link. You should watch it.

Books #10 and #11 of 2011

Well, I haven't been doing much cooking or much of anything else interesting this week (besides being on the hunt for some of these cupcakes) but I did take a trip to the library and have been doing some reading!

Book #10 was Maus by Art Spiegelman. Wow. Amazing book. It's a graphic novel telling the story of the author's father, who lived as a Jewish man in Poland during World War 2 and spent time in Auschwitz. The characters are portrayed as animals rather than people, with each ethnicity and/or nationality as a different animal. For instance, Jews are mice and Germans or other non-Jews are for the most part portrayed as pigs. The book flashes back an forth between the 1970s, when Spiegelman is recording his father's story, and the father's story itself. The book shows the way the father's experiences would impact the way he lived the rest of his life. This book was eye-opening and doesn't hold back. Parts were difficult to read but I feel it's important to be educated about these events. I highly recommend this book, which is the recipient of a well-deserved Pulitzer prize. Being a graphic novel, it is a fairly quick read. I wasn't able to put it down and read it in 2 days. 5 stars

I was slightly less thrilled with book #11, Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez. This was a book I had marked as wanting to read from the Young Adult Literature class I took 2 years ago. It's about Anita, a 12-year-old who lives in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s. Her parents are involved in a plot to kill the dictator and liberate the country. The book was fairly interesting, but personally, I don't care much for books written towards the tween set. The writing was simplistic for my taste, but it was a good story about a topic that doesn't get a lot of attention. 3 stars

Books #7-9 of 2011

More kids' books! I had a couple of coupons this weekend for Barnes and Noble to buy one kid's book and get one half off so I had a lot of fun reading kids' books to decide which ones to buy. In case you are wondering, I ended up bringing home Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type, Harry the Dirty Dog, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and (book #9) I Must Have Bobo!

Book #7 was Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown. I loved the bright illustrations in this book about a bear cub that finds a stray human child and wants to make him her pet. 4 stars

Book #8 was Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates. Andrew actually picked up this book in Barnes and Noble because of the cute cover illustration. Dog loves books so much that he decides to open his own bookstore, because even more than he loves books, he loves sharing them. 4 stars

I liked book #9 so much I bought it! It was I Must Have Bobo! by Eileen Rosenthal. This is a brand new book that according to Amazon doesn't actually even come out until tomorrow. I loved it! The little boy in the book is very attached to his toy monkey (I can relate to this... I still sleep with my teddy bear I've had since I was two!) But someone else also loves Bobo... the boy's cat, Earl! When Bobo goes missing, who do you think has him? 5 stars