Wordless Wednesday

Book Review: Tana French's The Secret Place

After reading Broken Harbor I decided to keep going with the Dublin Murder Squad series so that I wouldn't forget the characters. I had taken so long to keep going with the series in the past that this time I made it a priority to keep going with the series. I like French's writing style and I like how her style changes with her characters. The Secret Place was next up in my reading queue. 

The main character that this story is told through is Detective Stephen Moran - and I couldn't quite remember the other detectives in the Squad room from previous books. I don't really want to go back to read them though because I have so many books on my to-read list, I just wanted to read the book.

The mystery was good but also in a way, a bit predictable. I like how French captures the dramatic teen moments (or what seems to be dramatic by adult standards) and really makes them stand out showing that teens really do live day by day and moment by moment and live to avoid embarrassment almost at all costs. And friendships - the way the friendships were described and written were very realistic, the keeping of secrets between teens and thinking secrets are ok, the keeping secrets to possibly protect one another but because it's four girls, the keeping of secrets goes just terribly wrong. Someone ends up dead. And one of the four girls knows something.

Now should I tell spoilers? Is anyone actually planning on reading the book? 

I'm going to spoil from here so stop reading this now if you're planning on reading the book.

I'm not sure I can follow the believability of how the detectives get together as a team - however, the book only takes the courses of action over one whole day. The beginning of the day is started in the office, the end of the day the murderer is caught and sprinkled between the investigation is the interweaving stories of the dead boy and the four girls.

There's also this weird magic witchery shit that's in the book that I don't think is relevant at all. That could have been left out - it's literally one girl making light bulbs pop and moving objects. The first time I read it, I thought nope, cut this shit out. It really had no serious affect on the outcome of the story. At all. The editors should have caught that crap and cut it all out of the book - it was just added words that didn't need to be part of the story. 

Overall, I thought the mystery was good but I kept thinking I was missing something when the actual killer was revealed - if you pay attention to the small details, you'll be able to spot the killer from the  beginning. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. 

Happy reading, friends!

Chicago!

We went to a friend's wedding in Chicago and stayed at the hotel across the street from Google. The hotel was the MOST MILLENNIAL hotel that I have ever been in. Seriously. 

While the boys had bagels with the groom, I made my way around Chicago and stopped at an Italian bakery and had a lovely coffee and a croissant sandwich. So delicious! Especially since I was a little hungover after having a few cocktails at Rick Bayless's Tacqueria/Brewery.

We went to Au Cheval for lunch. Apparently they're supposed to have the best burgers in the USA. Unfortunately, I didn't think so - I live with two children that are burger connoisseurs and I have definitely had better burgers at other places - including a Juicy Lucy and the ever-consistent 5 Guys. I also have to add that Au Cheval has a special sauce that they put on the burger and I'm not a fan of mayo, nor sauces on my burger - so I usually never opt for sauce because a burger is supposed to show off the burger. I didn't know that Au Cheval put sauce on their burgers when I ordered so I think had I known, I wouldn't have got the sauce and I would have liked my burger better. See? I'm a bit of a burger snob. The bun was delicious and I really enjoyed the homemade pickles though - and I really liked their Bloody Mary! I could definitely get that again. 

Despite the face that I thought the burger was just ok, I still ate the shit out of it and it definitely disappeared from my plate and into my stomach. 

The wedding took place at a vintage furniture store. Seriously. Everything had a price tag on it. I really wanted to bring this home for our backyard but Bimmer Man said no! BOO!! 

Even in college, this is exactly where you could find the Sigma Nus - right at the bar! I had to take a picture because it was seriously too funny to see...15 years after college.

Bimmer Man stole my phone and discovered that I had a portrait setting.

And my morning workout after the wedding. I realized I needed to sweat out all the booze I had. It was a real serious all HIIT cardio workout and my stomach was turning after the Triple Bears but I still did it. I got through it. And I'm way too old to stay out later than 2 am.

Wordless Wednesday

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Wild rice soup is so delicious! And living in Minnesota means fresh wild rice. And you can even harvest your own wild rice in some spots in Minnesota! One of my very good friends lives in Bemidji, and this past year they took a canoe and harvested their own.

Also, there's no picture of it because...we ate it. All of it. Including the children!

Basically - this is a riff off of Byerly's Wild Rice Soup. The actual Byerly's recipe isn't quite enough to feed us all so I've been tweaking this over the years and here's what I have memorized.

Wild Rice Soup

1/2 cup butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked wild rice
3 medium carrots, shredded
1/4 - 1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cup half and half or cream or milk (honestly, whatever you have on hand works, I've even used almond milk!)
1/4 cup Dry sherry
Chopped parsley

Melt butter in large heavy stockpot. Add in onion. Saute until softened. Add in flour and whisk until the flour is cooked through - at least 3 minutes. It should smell a little nutty.

Add in chicken broth, slowly at first. Whisk until combined and not lumpy. Bring to a simmer.

Add in wild rice, shredded carrots, slivered almonds, shredded chicken, salt, and pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add in the dry sherry, simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve with warm crusty bread or really good salty crackers.

Top each bowl with chopped parsley.

Way To Go, Vikings!!!

Surprisingly the Vikings have been doing really well. Who would've thunk it??

Several weeks ago Bimmer Man and I went to a game. The seats were nice, they had a fabulous view and the stadium was really fun to be at too. I was really impressed with the amount of people that dressed up (both in costume AND just wore nice clothes). 

We had really good tacos from the Rusty Taco stand. And beers from a local brewery too. This was the first time that I had been to a sporting event at the new Viking stadium - I brought The Monkey to a Taylor Swift concert last year. At the concert, I didn't realize how big the stadium actually is. We saw it in the dark and I didn't see the seats all the way up at the top. Normally I'm not a huge fan of professional football - I'd rather cheer for the Golden Gophers any day but I will happily cheer on another Minnesota team. We seem to eff it all up and become dumpster fires by the end of most seasons so this was a good game to attend.

Phil Loves Water!!

Not only does he love the bathtub we found out, but just this morning he loves to climb in when you shower. It's endearing...possibly? I find it funny (thank goodness because otherwise it would be REALLY ANNOYING). The kids like taking baths with Phil too - he bobs for bath toys and licks running water and drinks all the drops off the side of the tub. And he likes warm baths too. Phil has been a fun puppy so far (and naughty too! He's a counter surfer!). I'm so excited for the summer to be able to bring him to lakes. I can't wait to see if he can swim really well or just likes to jump around. This summer will be so different AND so much fun.

Hockey in the Streets

Afterall, this is Minnesota.

Wordless Wednesday

Week's Food Plan

I'm not sure if we'll follow this plan exactly - Bimmer Man wants to make tacos on Christmas Eve for lunch, I think I'm going to swap the ham/Wild Rice soup because the kids and I will be at a movie (while Bimmer Man and his mom are going to a movie, and no, the kids and I were NOT invited to that one so I had to make the magic happen for the kids. Don't ask). 

The CSA delivered a ham, lots of ground beef, about 15lbs of carrots and 10lbs of yellow onions - which means that I don't have to buy either of those for quite awhile. WOOT!!!

The skillet pot pie recipe is from Eat At Home Tonight. And the recipe is so freaking easy - you soften the veggies in a cast iron skillet, make a roux, add in chicken broth and shredded chicken. Put drop biscuits on top and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. SO EASY. 

I tend to make Byerly's Wild Rice Soup about once per month. It calls for a roux and cream but I've had no problems swapping out cream for almond milk, especially since I don't normally buy cream, I've had to get a little adventurous in trying non-dairy substitutions. For the most part, they've worked out really well. Is the soup as creamy as it should be? No, but it still tastes really good - and you can swap out more almond milk for chicken broth too. I haven't found a big difference in taste.

Next up on my list of things to make this morning is egg muffins. I do 12 eggs, a package of feta and bake it all in a muffin tin for about 15 - 18 minutes. Also, any recipe that just says prep your pan with A LITTLE OIL is a fucking lying liar. You need to coat the muffin tin in cooking spray so you don't end up with muffins sticking to your muffin tin and being inedible. Seriously. It might take you one or two tries to realize I'm right. Don't worry about it. You'll get there. 

Ok, friends. On with the week!!