City of Fallen Angels

Just had to share the latest (and most exciting) arrival of books. It is my long-awaited, limited edition AND signed copy of City of Fallen Angels!!

This is the fourth book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (which I raved about here) and is currently being adapted into a film. Yay!

Happy Easter!

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted. Time flies when you're having fun...or in my case struggling under the demands of uni, work and trying to figure out my future.

Amongst all the craziness that has been my April thus far, my iPad finally arrived a couple of weeks ago (yay!)

I absolutely adore my iPad. In fact there are no words to describe how freakin' awesome it is, so I won't even attempt to express it. Sadly for my Macbook, it has seen it become rather reduntant and is now only ever used for serious uni work/cramming (and the occasional blog post).

Aside from the iPad, the past few weeks have seen both myself and my sister embark on a book buying spree - mainly from our beloved Barnes & Noble, but some have come from Borders for only $3 (what a bargain, right?!). These are just some of our purchases...

Whilst I love a bargain as much as the next person, my recent shopping trip to Borders was rather bittersweet. For the past 4 years, my local Borders store (well, local to my uni campus) has been the place where I've spent many a break between classes studying and catching up with friends over coffee. To walk into the store and see the furniture up for sale and the shelves bare, it kind of broke my heart :(

On a more festive note, it's Easter and we all know that means...CHOCOLATE!!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope you're all having a wonderful break filled with lots and lots of chocolate :)

Mini Potatoes.

So a couple of weeks ago I started watching Nigella Lawson's new show Kitchen. It's no secret that I'm not a big fan and don't quite buy into this "Nigella - the Domestic Goddess" business. My sister on the other hand doesn't mind her and actually ordered her latest cookbook - aptly named Kitchen after the new series.

The main reason I'm not drawn to Nigella's brand of 'cooking' is that she has a tendency to use a lot of pre-prepared/out-of-the-packet food. I prefer to cook from scratch whenever I can (and therefore admire people like Ina Garten who encourage this way of cooking and show how easy it can be). Nigella also has a tendency to over narrate when showcasing her recipes, which I find irritating and mildly pretentious.

However, I must concede that on occasion, Nigella offers up some interesting and surprisingly decent recipes. For instance, I do enjoy her recipe for Chocolate Pear Pudding (available here). It lives up to her claim that it is quick, easy and delicious.

More recently from this new series Kitchen, Nigella promised us a quick, easy side dish of "mini potatoes". What are mini-potatoes I wondered? I had never seen such a product in grocery stores. And then she revealed that these mythical mini-potatoes were in fact a packet of store bought "potato gnocchi" fried in pan. My sister, fascinated by the whole thing, ended up at the store buying a packet of gnocchi to see if was any good.

Turns out this is a superbly delicious way to serve up and eat potato gnocchi (and they're pretty addictive... once you eat one it's kind of hard to stop). So, I must concede - despite the initial bizarreness behind this Nigella "recipe" it isn't half bad and is certainly a different way to present potato gnocchi as a side dish.

Surprising deliciousness aside, what does strike me as odd is that this counts as a recipe and gets a whole page in the cookbook. It may be a twist or a useful tip, but does placing gnocchi into a frying pan with some oil and salt really require a recipe? So here I am, back to being thoroughly unimpressed by Nigella's unique style of "cooking".

NB: On a slightly unrelated note, the post on my attempts at making a traditional Thanksgiving meal is on its way...soon! :)

Elixir.

So in attempts to further procrastinate and avoid studying for exams I began (and finished) reading Hilary Duff's book Elixir earlier this week.

The story is about a girl named Clea who is a photo journalist and has spent a great deal of her life in the spotlight, what with her mother being a famous politician and all. Her father (a well-known surgeon) disappears whilst on a humanitarian trip, and Clea begins to notice shadowy images of a mysterious man in all of her photos. Whilst on an assignment, Clea is brought together with this mystery man by some underlying powerful connection. Together they work together to unravel the mystery of their past, and attempt to find her father.

The story for the most part was well written, and is typical of the style adopted by most books in the current, and popular genre of young adult paranormal/romance fiction. I must admit I was skeptical to read it - as much as I adore Hilary Duff I didn't know what to expect of her foray into the world of authorship. The book, while containing paranormal elements that reminded me other books, such as Lauren Kate's Fallen, it was surprisingly interesting and refreshing - in the sense that it did not contain vampires, werewolves or fallen angels. Instead there are magical forces at work, but it centres around the age-old tale of an "elixir of life" and the idea of past lives/reincarnation.

As I was reading the book I noticed I was fast approaching the end and there was so much yet to be resolved - something that really annoys me when I watch a movie or read a book. It makes me wonder if they are going to rush some sort of resolve and bring the story to a crashing end. Well, it turns out Ms. Hilary Duff is working on a sequel, which explains the cliff-hanger-like ending where some answers are given to readers but not all.

All in all, not a bad read.

Books.

Today I received another parcel containing more books...yay!

There was The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. I also ordered the new book from the Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic Series - Mini Shopaholic.

Finally, there was Elixir by Hilary Duff...

Now, ever since it was released I've been hearing good reviews about the lovely Miss Duff's foray into the world of authorship. The book debuted at #10 on the New York Times Bestseller List (Children's Books). While all these would lead one to ordinarily be inclined to give the book a read, I bought it for the simple reason that I am a Hilary Duff fan. Many of those who know me, know that I have been a fan of Hilary for years...and by years I mean from way back to 2001 (the Lizzie McGuire days). I even met her in 2008 and she is a genuinely lovely person, and absolutely adorable. I'm looking forward to reading the book, it definitely sounds interesting!

The best part of online shopping...

...is receiving the order early on a miserable Monday morning. As you can imagine, I was ecstatic to receive my most recent order of books, CDs and DVDs.

I FINALLY have a copy of Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare.

It is the follow-up series (or rather a prequel series) to the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series. I love, love, love this series and am constantly recommending it to everyone as a good read (and once again I must thank my friend S for introducing me to the series, so thanks S!!). While it has the elements of vampires and werewolves that are quite typical of the fantasy genre in young adult fiction at the moment, it is a very well-written series that draws you in. In fact I was so captivated by the series that when S lent me the series I didn't leave my room for 2 whole days because I just had to finish the series. Needless to say, I absolutely cannot wait for the weekend so I can read Clockwork Angel.

Also in the parcel was the Season 4 boxset of Psych.

My sister and I love this show, I remember we began watching it way back when Channel 10 put on a couple of episodes one summer. Unfortunately it didn't get the ratings in Australia and was soon after taken off air. In the US however Psych is much loved and has recently been renewed for a 6th season. I can understand why the show may not be to everyone's tastes, especially with a multitude the crime shows on tv, but more particularly because of the fact that the show's fast-paced (sometimes crazy) humour has it's roots in pop culture references that some people may just not get.

On the CD front I FINALLY got around to ordering a copy of Glee Vol. 3 Showstoppers...

...And there was a copy of American Dreams: The Original Soundtrack.

It's no secret that I love all things 1960s, but it was particularly the tv series American Dreams that really got me interested in the popular culture of the '60s (and finally after many years I managed to track down a copy of the soundtrack!). Although at times historically inaccurate the series chronicled the major historical events of the decade while following the life of a typical middle-class American family. What I really loved about the show was how it re-created and depicted the popular '60s show American Bandstand and as such had an array of famous modern day musicians cover the chart-topping songs of much-loved '60s bands.

Well, I'm off to order me some more books (I really wasn't lying when I said I love books) especially with the Aussie dollar currently doing so well. Happy Monday all!

Pretzels.

A little while back I ordered this pretzel cookbook, titled The Pretzel Cookbook by Priscilla Warren.

Since my mid-semester break is drawing to an end I thought I would try out one of the recipes. Of course, while at first this seemed like it would be easy, it turns out that you need to plan ahead and give yourself a 24 hour period in which to make them. And so the process began...

Deciding to make a basic pretzel, I made the dough and then left in the refrigerator overnight to rest and let the yeast do it's thing.

Today I pulled the dough out and formed my pretzels. I decided on medium-sized pretzels thinking they would be nice - but let me tell you going the large-pretzel route would have been far more practical and easier when dealing with the dough.

After leaving the formed pretzels to rest some more, I finally got them in the oven. After all that effort they only take 8-10 minutes to bake. It really is true that making bread of any kind requires a great deal of patience, as the preparation itself takes forever!

Unable to decide what toppings to put on them, I decided on salt and poppyseeds. Despite the length of prep time required these pretzels are delicious, and are similar to the traditional New York style pretzel, making all that time and effort worth it :)

Waiter Rant.

I just finished reading this really great book titled Waiter Rant. The book is the brain-child of 'The Waiter' an anonymous guy who started up a blog in 2004 chronicling life as a waiter. The blog became (and still is) wildly popular and even won the Bloggie Award for "Best Writing in a Weblog" in 2006.

My sister is the one that first came across this book, and tracked it down online. It sounded intriguing and so while we waited for the book to slowly make it's way across the globe to our front doorstep I looked up the blog and I can see why it is so popular. The book like the blog is insightful and witty, once I started reading I couldn't put it down. It tells of the highs and lows of working as a waiter.

The thing that struck me most after reading this book is how cruel, rude and inconsiderate diners can be - well, 20% of diners anyway, according to The Waiter who terms this 20% as "socially maladjusted psychopaths". What's more is that this book has changed my outlook on dining out - every time I dine out now I can't help but think of the waiters and what might be going through their minds. I then try everything in my power not to annoy them. If the book has taught me anything, waiters are powerful individuals. While some diners may treat them like scum, what they fail to realise is that they can and will enact revenge in creative ways that you would never think to imagine. I'm not talking about the cliche "spitting in the food" scenarios, although The Waiter informs us that this does in fact on occasion happen - I'm referring more to an intellectual warfare of sorts.

Now, whenever I go out (regardless of whether the place is fine dining or not) I have always tried my best to be polite to waiters and not make their lives difficult. However, I once had the misfortune of being in the company of an individual who acted entitled and treated the waiters like they weren't human beings. It is by far one of the most embarassing situations I have ever had to endure. I feel like sending this rude person a copy of the book. But then the other part of me is comforted by The Waiter's musings and the fact that somewhere, someday a waiter will teach this person a lesson and bring them crashing back down to earth.

All in all, great read. I highly recommend it. If you can't get your hands on a copy of the book, then check out the blog here.

Preparing for a feast.

Tomorrow we have various guests coming over at various times during the day. In preparation for this my mother has found it necessary to cook up a feast. This, however, means that I get given instructions and have no choice but to assist and partake in all the craziness. As a result I have spent the day running errands and baking.

My sister, being the flower enthusiast that she is decided to cheer us up during our stressful morning of running errands by buying a bunch of beautiful ruby-red Gerberas. She also thought it would look lovely as a centre piece for the table tomorrow.

My sister and I were instructed that at least two cakes were to be made. So my cake of choice is the 'Over the Top' Chocolate Cake from the Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook by Jennifer Appel. It is a super chocolate-y, rich and indulgent cake.

The batter was so smooth and creamy (always a good sign!)

Being lazy and faced with time constraints I decided to turn this usually three-layer cake into a single layer (but a enormously large layer at that!). It's currently cooling in its tin waiting for me to get muster up some motivation and inspiration to make some frosting and ice it.

My sister made a Carrot Cake (similar to the one here, but it's two-layers as per the original recipe). It too is currently waiting patiently for me to make some Cream Cheese Frosting. She also made a Key Lime Pie, which smells and looks so good right now. Cannot wait to dig in to that one!

The Week That Was.

Ever had one of those weeks where everything that could go wrong did go wrong? Well, that was my week. Between the stress of uni assignments, the exhaustion that was work and everything else I am so happy to have made it through the week!

My week began with the case of the missing books. I had been waiting over a month for the third parcel containing the rest of my recent online book purchases to arrive. This involved dealing with customer service for both the online bookstore (who ended up being incredibly friendly and helpful) and Australia Post (who were horrible and rude!). The good news is that they miraculously turned up on Friday. Yay!!

I cannot wait to get reading these. Actually their arrival on Friday was slightly ill-timed since I will not be able to read them until the next fortnight filled with essays and other assessments has passed. In the meantime they sit there taunting me.

The other rather major part of my week was returning to work after a bit of a hiatus the past couple of months. I think it's going to take me a while to get back into the swing of things. The exciting part of being back at work is seeing Jersey Boys. This is a fabulous production which I am absolutely loving (for now anyway, after a year of watching it I may not be so enthusiastic). Although it is based on the 60s (an era which I am personally intrigued by) - namely Frank Valli and The Four Seasons - I think it is something that transcends generational divides and anyone could enjoy watching, plus I'm 99.9% sure that EVERYONE has heard at least some of their songs at some point in their life. My sister F saw it on Thursday and enjoyed it, so I'm not alone in saying that it's a pretty good production. So get out there and see it people, I recommend it!

In following with the 60s theme of the show we got new uniforms...

This 60s-style bowling shirt looks innocent enough, but don't let appearances fool you people. I kid you not when I say that it almost killed me from discomfort yesterday. Turns out it's made from 100% polyester, which I am allergic to. So guess who now has a lovely rash on their back and shoulders. Yep, that'd be me.

Well, I'm off to spend some time with my dad with it being Father's Day and all.

More Book Stuff.

So, after days and days of waiting I FINALLY received another of my recent online purchases in the mail.

A part of me hoped it was the lovely new clothes and shoes I couldn't resist buying over the weekend, but that was wishful on my part. It turned out to be parcel #2 of the books I recently ordered, containing the box set of Percy Jackson and The Olympians by Rick Riordan.

I can't wait to get reading this series!

Of course it'll have to wait until I finish all the books lent to me by my friend S. I'm currently (and, I must admit, very slowly) making my way through the Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini, but while I take a short break from them I'm reading the recently released Linger by Maggie Stiefvater.

Linger is the sequel to Shiver and falls under the Twilight-esque genre that I mused about in an earlier post. This series centres around the mythical world of werewolves. It's not a bad read and despite my criticisms, I do like it - I even took to recommending it to people while working at the bookstore recently.

My only criticisms (well, the ones I can think of at the moment) are that at times I found the first book to have moments where the story assumed a very slow pace. I also found the main character Grace to be a bit hard to sympathise with at times, particularly in regards to the idea of her "falling in love" with the werewolf (Sam), and having been in"love" with him since the age of 7 - which just sounds a bit absurd. The tone of Linger changes rather dramatically by comparison, and although still somewhat focused on Grace and Sam's relationship, it has a bit more mystery, with new and interesting characters - basically more story.

All in all, it is an addictive read, and once you read the first book you will want to see the series through. It's definitely one of the better books of the genre out there at the moment.

The Quarter Life Cooks.

Today I stumbled across a lovely little blog called Big Girls Small Kitchen...Okay, I'll confess I didn't quite stumble, I was commanded to check it out by one of my all-time favourite cooks, the fabulous Ina Garten. So I did.

The blog follows the cooking and entertaining adventures of 'The Quarter-Life Cooks' (aka Cara and Phoebe). These two lovely young ladies share recipes and tips, many of which are designed to help fellow 20-something-year olds who may just be finding their feet in the kitchen, so that they too can cook and entertain for their families and friends.

In late-2009 the girls announced that their blog has spawned a book deal. But until that book (which will undoubtedly be filled with scrumptious recipes) is released, you can check out their blog and delicious food ideas here.

Book Bags.

I realise I've been blogging about books a lot lately. I'm putting it down to the effects of having worked in a bookstore almost every day the past few weeks...maybe?

Anyway, today I'm sharing my grand new discovery...book bags. Now, I'm not talking about backpacks or totes or messenger bags (which are often referred to as book bags) but in fact this wonderful book pouch of sorts is manufactured by The Dharma Door. They are a company that produce eco-friendly, fair trade products (meaning that the individuals making the products in Bangladesh are being paid fair wages and have good working conditions).

Now, I realise that this product has probably been around for a while, but I had never seen or heard about them until I was rummaging through stuff at work today, and I really, really want one. Approximately 5 minutes after I discovered them, they suddenly became a popular purchase and, alas, the one I had picked out to buy for myself was snapped up by a customer (ironically upon my recommendation *sigh*). To console myself I hit up the product website and found that my workplace is in fact ripping people off and there is a better (cheaper) variety available here.

The bags are made from a jute and natural cotton fabric, are hand-printed in various pretty designs with dyes that are azo-free (following in the eco friendly tradition, of course). The small one is about $25 and the large $29. At first I thought this to be pricey, though upon reflection I love my books too much and this would be the perfect way for me to ensure they are protected and don't get massacred by my other belonging in my bag.

My favourite design is this one, named Marrakesh Ruby:

Kids' Books

It's a widely known fact that I love books, as I have a tendency to mention it to everyone and anyone that will listen. I do not discriminate...Well, that's not entirely true I discriminate against books that can't keep my interest past that chapter (aka boring and poorly written books), but doesn't everyone?

However, since waving goodbye to my teen years I began wondering how old is too old to be reading young adult fiction - as this is the genre that many of my current favourites fall into. Unsure, I've often found myself keeping quiet about my love for young adult fiction worried that perhaps I was supposed to have outgrown the genre by now.

You can only imagine how happy I was to come across an article by Pamela Paul in the New York Times (which can be found here). It is a wonderful article that reassured me that I am not alone, and that there are many adults (of all ages) who enjoy reading those books that are targeted towards children and 'young adults'. So next time I feel embarrassed and am tempted to hide my young adult fiction books deep at the bottom of my bag, I'll instead carry them around and read them proudly :)

Update.

This is a brief post about a few random unrelated things.

First up, I finished reading Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (previously mentioned here) and I have to say it is one of the best books I have ever fished out of the discount bin. It was a clever, beautifully written story. Worth way more than the mere $5 I paid for it. So my dear friends if you ever see it lying amongst your local bookstore's discount books I recommend you buy it ASAP and give it a read!

Second, I was excited to read that Pretty Little Liars (also previously mentioned here) made it to no.1 on the NY Times Bestsellers List this week.

Finally, I've been listening to a song by Kina Grannis that I came across during one of my breaks at work this week. It's a quirky little song called Message From Your Heart that just got stuck in my head and is refusing to leave me alone, so I thought I'd post about it. It's written from the perspective of a heart. The song was an entry in a competition that saw the winning video (aka Kina's video) "Crash the Super Bowl" and as such was played in the middle of the 2008 Super Bowl grand final. Check it out here.

Holidays.

Today marks the last day of my uni holidays and it has me wondering where exactly time went. The holidays seem to have flown right by and I feel like I need another break just to recover. These past few days have been particularly exhausting, with so much going on at the bookstore (we've been in preparation for the start of semester 'rush'), as well as on the home front with the installation of our new oven, which ended in the partial demolition of one of our walls.

The highlight of the weekend has been my rediscovery of my love for pretzels. I had the most delicious Swiss Cheese Pretzel yesterday as an after-work treat. As a result, I embarked on yet another online shopping spree for books, one of which is a Pretzel cookbook. Cannot wait to get it!

Another highlight, though not quite up there with the pretzels was watching Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, which was surprisingly a fantastic movie. I didn't know what to expect but it was so interesting that it managed to snap me out of my fatigued state - in fact I like it so much, that I've decided to read the books and ordered the box set of the Percy Jackson series as part of my online shopping spree. I definitely recommend it as a movie to watch.

Well, I expect I'm going to be M.I.A for much of the next week, lost somewhere between classes and 8 hour shifts at the bookstore. So until next time...

Pretty Little Liars

This is currently a worldwide trending topic on twitter, so I thought I'd write a post about it, since I too absolutely love watching Pretty Little Liars atm.

Pretty Little Liars is a television series that recently premiered in the US. But before that, it was (or rather still is) a young adult fiction series of books written by Sara Shepard. The story centres around four girls who lose their best friend (and 'leader') Allison one summer, tearing their "tight-knit" group apart. Three years later, the girls begin receiving mysterious messages from someone called "A". This leads to a series of events which reveal deep, dark secrets that they believed had disappeared with Allison, and finds them in the path of danger as they come together to get to the bottom of the mystery that is "A".

I cannot remember how I came to first read Pretty Little Liars a couple of years ago, but once I did I was hooked. Sending me on a ruthless quest to track down all the novels in the series - since, rather unfortunately, only books 1-4 (and possibly now 5) are available in Australian bookstores. The series strikes a good balance of mystery and intrigue, and most certainly keeps you guessing whodunnit right until the final book (at least, I never could have guessed how it would end). What else I love about the series, is that these four young characters are stylish and fashion-forward, which translates very well in the television series. I definitely recommend the series for some light reading (my sister F, ever the book snob, even managed to enjoy reading them!)...or for the less patient check out the television show!

Bargain Shopping.

Today, after attending various appointments and running several errands, I stopped by the shops, as I usually do. However, unlike other times, as I stepped into the shopping centre it promised to be a rather boring uneventful visit - since I'm currently in the midst of a self-imposed shopping ban following a recent online shopping spree.

As I wandered around I stepped into one of my favourite bookstores and perused the shelves looking wistfully at all the books that are currently on my to-buy list. I tried my luck searching through the bargain bin and ended up buying this for $5:

From reading the back cover it appears to be a typical book from the chick-lit genre. Chick-lit books are one of my guilty pleasures, no matter how frivolous the tale...plus they make for good travel companions!

With my new purchase in hand and adrenaline pumping through my veins, I was on a mission to search for other bargains, which found me buying these:

While I'm not absolutely in love with the necklace or the bracelets I figured they would be useful in bringing some new life to my wardrobe, which won't be seeing any major new additions anytime soon (well, while I'm in frugal, saving-mode anyway). Plus they were only $2 each from $20-$30!!

Monday.

Today has been a fairly great day. It began with an exciting morning, which saw the arrival of our beautiful new fridge and oven (to replace our deceased fridge and currently dying oven).

Then I caught up with my lovely friend R (not to be confused with previously mentioned cousin R) and we hit up one of my regular haunts - the T2 Cafe. Today I had the Madagascan Vanilla tea. This is a delicious black tea blend that is flavoured (and scented) with a delicate hint of vanilla. In addition to their wonderful selection of teas, T2 seems to have expanded the range of food items offered in their cafe, and they now have a tasty Organic Pear and Raspberry Loaf (and for those with particular dietary requirements, it is also gluten free!).

The day was traveling well and after bidding farewell to R I tried my luck in tending to some University business at the Student Office. Big Mistake #1. The lines were unbelievably long and the staff really unhelpful (there is a major communication issue!).

After what seemed like an eternity I emerged from the Student Office, and another genius thought struck me. I decided to head to the bookstore and pick up my textbooks. Big Mistake #2. With all my books rounded up I was faced with a major dilemma, together they weigh several kilograms and with an umbrella in hand getting them to the car seemed near impossible.

Here is my stack of books (which have added fuel to my existent dislike for textbooks of all shapes and sizes).

I may have won the battle against the books this time, having successfully got them home, but now I'm faced with a far greater problem - getting them to and from classes. Wish me luck!

From Vampires to Fallen Angels, and everything in between...

Like many people out there I enjoy reading a good book. I'm not usually picky about the genre but with the rise of the Twilight series in recent years I must admit that I've become a sceptic where Twilight-esque books are concerned. These books almost always follow a particular formula with a dangerous, "bad boy" vampire/werewolf/fallen angel and a naive female lead who is somehow inextricably linked to this dangerous (sometimes strange) paranormal world...and of course it wouldn't be a story without the girl falling head-over-heels in "love" with the "bad boy".

My good friend S agrees with me when it comes to Twilight, about how it has spawned a crazy culture - encouraging an almost laughable idea of what "love" is amongst the teenage target audience - but she is willing to give other books in the genre a try. Having weeded out the inherently weak stories from the few good ones, S has been telling me for months that I should give them a read. I trust S so, thanks to her recommendations (and incredible library of books) I am giving the genre a go.

First up on my to-read list: Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.