The Walnut Tree: A Holiday Tale by Charles Todd

The Walnut Tree:

A Holiday Tale

by

Charles Todd

Driving home tonight,  I finished listening to The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd.   It would be considered a historical romance and while I prefer a historical novel with a little romance to a romance novel with a little history, nevertheless I enjoyed this book.  It is about a nurse during WWI.  As an RN, I enjoy hearing about what nurses experiences may have been like during various time frames.  This book is not a real long book and it would be considered light reading.  It is a good choice for this time of year as it has a Christmas scene in it.  It is the second book I have read by Charles Todd and I will probably read more when I need a break from heavier books.  The novel was entertaining and enjoyable.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the three links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.  Also more photos of WWI nurses can be found HERE.  

Night in at the movies - Spy

My daughter rented this movie and we watched it when we were up there last weekend.  It is a very funny movie.  A little parental guidance needed due to foul language.  Never the less a belly laugher.

The Rose Of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon

The Rose Of Sebastopol

by

Katharine McMahon

The Crimean War is not a subject I know a lot about.  I am aware of it being considered sort of the birth place of the professional nurse due to the work of Florence Nightingale and others.  And since reading this novel I am interesting in learning more.  Katharine McMahon deals with the developing medical practices during the Crimean War time period while keeping one on their toes with gunfire and romance.  The Rose Of Sebastopol bounces back and forth between 1844 and 1854/55.  It deals with four rather loosely related cousins who are privileged British kids.  They are children playing in the 1844 portions and by 1855 are all drawn into the area of the Siege of Sebastopol.  I found the 1844 references annoying at times but yet I understood the importance of laying that background of how totally disconnected the youths were from what they ended up dealing with.  One of the reviews of the book said that the author was drawing a parallel with today and how disconnected many of us are from what is happening in the Middle East at this time.   Regardless,  the large parts of the book that deal with the emerging advances in both nursing and medical practices were very interesting to me.  One of the cousins was also an accomplished seamstress and I found the descriptions of her sewing projects very interesting.   Overall,  I enjoyed the book very much and will be enjoying more of Katharine McMahon's books.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows with back ground information on the Crimean War.  

Product Review With Food Prep Idea - Salad Shears.

Ever since Subway started serving chopped salads I have looked for a tool like they use.  Most of the time when I find one,  it is for sale in a package with a cutting board.  And since I have plenty of cutting boards I kept passing on the salad chopper.  A couple of weeks ago,  when I was purchasing an immersion blender,  I happened to double check and JC Penny had one on sale for almost half the normal price so I grabbed it.  This afternoon I used it for the first time and it worked fine.  I used half of one of those spring greens plastic bins you buy in the grocery.  I have been buying those in spite of the non environmentally friendly packaging because they stay fresh longer than when I buy the bags, while still offering more variety than a head of ice berg lettuce.   I added a half cup of quinoa cooked from one of those mixes that have the seasoning in them.  Since you add olive oil in the preparation of the quinoa box mix I do not find any dressing needed on my salad.  Then I added a cooked chicken breast patty.  I took a deep breath and left off grated cheese,  croutons and bacon bits.  In the bowl with all those ingredients I used my salad chopper.  It turned out just like the ones at subway.  Usually at subway I get either the turkey or the tuna chopped salad and I am looking forward to trying them both at home.  

In The Woods by Tana French

In The Woods

by

Tana French

Mystery novels are not my normal genre.  They tend to be cozy cutsie things that I have figured out by the second chapter.  I do intersperse an occasional mystery between long historical novels that are long enough to  be used as door stops,  just to break up the sameness.  I consider the occasional mystery to be a fluff book to rest the mind.   Never the less,  I was thrilled to discover my local library started a new book group that fits my schedule and not the least bit anything but pleased that the  book for the first month that I was aware of the group is a mystery.  One of the main purposes of reading groups is to stretch one out of their normal genre.  Besides,  Tana French's novel In The Woods is not a cozy mystery.  It is a challenging and mind stretching psychological thriller that kept me guessing till the last page.   I did think early on that the person who turned out to be truly responsible was involved  but I could not reconcile her alibi, so the book kept me guessing right up to the end.  I am a little disappointed that the mystery within the mystery is never solved in the story line but over all the book is an excellent novel.  I think the people in the book drank too much and did not take very good care of themselves but perhaps that is a realistic picture of young detectives in Ireland.   To recap the story some,  there is a crime that takes place in the early 1980s where three children are playing in the woods and two of them disappear.   The one boy who returns home can't remember what happened.   Years later,  he becomes a detective.  His parents had his name changed and moved away in fear that who ever had grabbed the other two children would come after him.  But he returns to the area as an adult with his new identity twenty years later.  A child is found dead in the same woods, he is assigned to the case  and the story takes off from there.   This book is a good escape and I would encourage others to read it.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.

Product Review - Immersion Blender

Many of the soup recipes I have been finding in the low cal diet books and sites call for a step that uses an immersion blender.  I had no clue what they were talking about so I googled it and found that there was a wide price range and different features listed for different ones.  Wanting to know more and see them hands on,  I stopped in JC Penny last Wednesday while I was mall walking on a rainy afternoon.  They had the Kitchen Aid one on sale for half price and I love my Kitchen Aid table top mixer so I grabbed the immersion blender.  While doing my food prep for this week today,  I made a soup that required the use of an immersion blender.  I found the one I bought easy to use and it did a fine job.  I have no complaints.  It feels like it is of good quality in my hand.  The recipe I made is on Weight Watchers so I assume it has a copy write.  HERE is a link to it but I do not think you will be able to view it if you are not a member.   It tastes really good and is only five points.  If you want to google for a similar recipe the name is Coconut-Curry Pumpkin Bisque.  I tried to find the same one but could not.  I did find a similar one that sounded good.  It can be found at THIS  link.  Again,  I am very happy with the immersion blender that I purchased. 

Product review with recipe ideas: Stuff-a-Burger

I bought a few kitchen toys last week.  One was from a middle school fund raiser.  It is called a Stuff-a-burger.  I used it for the first time at lunch today.  It is pretty cool.  I did have to disassemble it and not use it as one piece.  Two pieces worked better for me instead of the hinged lid part.  And while using the ground chuck for Bruce's burgers it worked better than when using my ground turkey,  I found for my ground Turkey I had to press the bottom part into the bowl part and up the sides with my hands and once that part was formed, I used the utensil to flatten the meat on top and seal the burger around the stuffings.   For the stuffing, in Bruce's ground chuck burgers I used chopped onion,  chopped mushrooms and grated cheddar cheese and he ate his on a hamburger bun.  In my ground turkey burger,  the centers had chopped onion,  chopped mushroom and a mixture I use for various things.  It is comprised of plain yogurt with dry onion soup mix and ranch dressing mix stirred in.  I use this mixture as a veggie dip,  as a spread in place of mayo and in this case I substituted it for the grated cheese.  I placed my turkey burger on a slimwich sandwich bun. Since we were out of propane on the tanks on the gas grill I cooked them in separate non stick skillets with no added oil.   This was the most moist turkey burger I ever have had.  Bruce said he liked his hamburger too. It was  fun to use a new kitchen gadget and the results were yummy.  I think it would be a good kid kitchen craft as the children could pick from various items what they wanted to stuff their personal burger with.  I feel it was well spent money that supported a good cause.