Friday five

I thought I would try and institute a regular column, now officially dubbed the Friday five, to give me, and my readers, something to look forward to on a weekly basis. Since Friday is the day most of us look forward to anyway, I thought I'd get in your good books by doing it today... and every Friday for the rest of my life! 

Speaking of good books...

This week's Friday five is all about the last five books I read. Not necessarily the best, or worst. Just the last five.

looking bookish

Actually, I just lied. One of the books is the next one I'm going to read, so the last four I read plus the next one I plan on reading.

Hmmm... this plan is already getting OOC (out of control) and I haven't even started yet.

So the next book I plan on reading is called Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. Elaine Lui, my all-time favourite celebrity blogger, recommended it here so when I jumped in to Chapters this morning, to soak up the delicious bookstore atmosphere, I got it along with a lovely Voluspa candle. I know what I'm doing tonight...

Actually, I just lied again. I plan on making pina coladas and pizza. Philly cheese steak pizza.

Word.

I, as of yet, have nothing to say about Beautiful Ruins other than the fact that I absolutely love the cover. It looks like a vintage photograph of Cinque Terre, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen (pictures of). 

I am currently reading Jill Paton Walsh's The Bad Quarto. TBQ is part of a four-book series which features Imogen Quy (rhymes with "why"), a no-nonsense nurse at St. Agatha's College who is also an amateur sleuth. I have read one other Imogen Quy mystery, Debts of Dishonour, and if the latter is any indication of the former (or vice versa) I'm sure to love it. The series has a very classic English mystery feel to it and makes me feel relaxed, in an odd sort of way. Kind of like Murder she Wrote.

The only thing classically English about the next book, or author, is her affinity for martinis. I am talking, of course, about Chelsea Handler and her wildly funny Are you there Vodka? It's me Chelsea. The second book she wrote but the last one of her's that I read (oh boy... here we go again), AYTVIMC made me laugh out loud more than once and actually made me feel like Chelsea was talking to me.  

Then again I always feel like that...

Moving on. 

Before Chelsea it was a true love story: Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler, by Trudi Kanter. The book recounts Kanter's (who was a hat designer in Vienna) true story of love and courage from Vienna and Prague to London during the Second World War. I bought the book because of something that I quickly read at the back of the book. "That the world, should at its very best, be a place of red roses, Paris avenues and above all else, true love."   

Last but not least (especially considering how long it took me to read) was George R. Martin's A Storm of Swords, the third in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga. Game of Thrones, the series, is based on these books which I have slowly been getting through over the past year. Enough said.

 

Maine memories

I've never been to Maine, but I have very fond memories of it, along with Coney Island, the New Jersey shore and California. Beach movies like Stealing Home, A Summer Place, Annie Hall ("My analyst says I exaggerate my childhood memories, but I swear I was brought up underneath the roller-coaster in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Maybe that accounts for my personality, which is a little nervous, I think," recounts Woody Allen as Alvy Singer) and even Jaws are likely most responsible for the image I have of quintessential American beaches.

Hot dogs, amusement parks and family resorts are definitely part of the image and since I've had the very good fortune of living "the beach life" the past few weeks in Aylmer, I decided to up the ante and make the ultimate Maine treat: lobster rolls. 

To make the crustacean delights, I used freshly cooked (and painstakingly de-shelled by my wonderful beau) lobster meat, some mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I also used a few small pickles, finely cubed for crunch and flavour. The pièce de résistance is of course the grilled hot dog rolls which provide the perfect culinary combination of high-class cuisine and down-home food truck grub. My favourite.

By the way, just in case you were curious, the beach life involves sleeping in, packing a cooler full of good food (and drinks), stuffing a bathing suit and towel in my beach bag and heading to the beach for a nice read in the sun (so far, I’ve gotten through A Clash of Kings, the second in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda, This Will Be Difficult to Explain by Johanna Skibsrud and Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar).

The lake life, which I’m also living, means doing pretty much the same but going to the lake—Meech Lake, to be specific but totally non-political—and cooling off with a swim. Maine memories. Now that’s the life. 

Next time it’s going to be a delicious, chilled gazpacho soup that’s the perfect antidote to a hot, summer day but before that I can’t wait to tell you about my crazy weekend, Daughters of Anarchy styles...