A Cup of Christmas Goodies
24 Festive Tasks: Door 3 – Melbourne Cup Day, Task 4: Prepare your favorite dessert – in a cup! Post a photo of it for us to enjoy vicariously. I’m clean out of energy to prepare any (even simple) desserts or other dishes, so here, in lieu of a New Year’s Eve toast, is the […]
Read More
Creature Comforts
24 Festive Tasks: Door 9 – World Philosphy Day: Task 3 How do you stay zen / sane over the holidays or in other stressful periods? My only salvation in stressful times: Creature comforts. Lots of them. And BookLikes! 2019 was a hell of a year in virtually every respect, and I don’t mean that […]
Read More
St. Nicholas’ Day Goodies
24 Festive Tasks: Door 14 – St. Nicholas’ Day / Sinterklaas, Task 2: In the Netherlands, ‘Sinterklaas’ is celebrated with ginger biscuits, marzipan and hot chocolate with cream; in Germany, it’s St. Nicholas’ Day with gingerbread, chocolate and / or nut or almond cookies, chocolate candy, and tangerines (or oranges). Choose one or more of […]
Read More
A Book, a Mug (of Tea), and Chocolate Truffles
24 Festive Tasks: Door 24 – Epiphany, Task 4: In Ireland, Epiphany is also sometimes called “Nollaig na mBean” or Women’s Christmas. Traditionally the women get the day off and men do the housework and cooking! It is becoming more popular and many Irish women now get together on the Sunday nearest Epiphany and have […]
Read More
KitKat Flavors
24 Festive Tasks: Door 2 – Japanese Culture Day, Task 2: Try a flavor of KitKat other than chocolate and report back if you liked it. Umm, alright, I admit I already bought these last week, but I swear I only opened and tried them today. They are, in no particular order: Ruby Peanut […]
Read More
Halloween Bingo 2019 PreParty — Question for 08/14 (Day 14): Halloween Bingo Reading Snacks and Drinks … Part 2: The Snacks
So, I had to go down to Frankfurt yesterday, and as I had hoped when composing my original post for this prompt, I managed a small side trip to that store. This year’s Halloween snacks now officially include: * Orange chocolate / cocoa truffles * White chocolate and almond truffles * Cocoa and dark chocolate […]
Read More
Halloween Bingo 2019 PreParty — Question for 08/14 (Day 14): Halloween Bingo Reading Snacks and Drinks?
I don’t know how much reading I’ll be able to get done at home during this year’s bingo, and doubtlessly part of it will be in bed before going to sleep, where I don’t eat anything (and the only drink allowed is mineral water). That said, as we established last year, tea is kind of […]
Read More
Donuts for Hanukkah
24 Festive Tasks: Door 14 – Hanukkah, Task 3: Have a donut – and let us share it via a photo. Homemade donuts and shared recipes encouraged … but any donut will do just fine. … and of course, I needed to reward myself for braving the Friday-before-Christmas crowds. So I decided to take home […]
Read MoreBe good to yourself, they said.
It’ll make you feel better, they said. So this morning, my BFF and I hit the road and drove through this sort of landscape — (note: these are NOT my own photos — I was driving, so I couldn’t take photos at the same time; these do depict places along the way and the sort […]
Read MoreSummer Splurges (AKA: Be Good to Yourself)
Largely inspired by Samantha Wilcoxson’s recommendations following up on my read of her books Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen and Faithful Traitor – as well as looking forward to book 3 of her Tudor Women trilogy – I’ve been on a minor shopping spree lately. Not all of these are Samantha’s recommendations, but that’s the way […]
Read More