Hey now, what's this? A book review? No way!

I finally, finally have a book review. Yes, it's been over six months, but I got one. And it is good. The book, that is.

I've been reading Babel Tower by A.S. Byatt, and so far I'm liking it much more than Possession, so that's really good. But this review is not about either of those books. I might have gotten a little sidetracked. Which tends to happen a lot with me and books, you know. See, I finally got my act together and got a Yolo County library card and I went and checked out a book I've been meaning to read for awhile now. And that book is The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy.

And it was a great book. Really, I stayed up way past my bedtime last night in order to finish it, because the ending...wow. So cray cray. I'm also a total sucker for a good murder mystery, thanks to my grandmother, who started me on mysteries at a young age and let me watch Murder She Wrote as a kid. Because don't all 8 year olds want to watch Angela Landsbury solve a small town murder? Thought so. I think this is what started my obsession with procedural crime shows. Seriously, I watch so many and I never get sick of them: Law and Order, CSI, Bones, Criminal Minds..it never ends.

Anyhoo, back to the book review portion of this post. So The Black Dahlia takes place in Los Angeles in the 1940s and centers around the infamous unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short AKA the Black Dahlia, basically one of the most famous unsolved cases is LAPD history. It's narrated by a cop, Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert, and starts of with his not to great ascent in the police department until he is partnered with Lee Blanchard and they are assigned to the Black Dahlia case in 1947. The story then chronicles the exhaustive and extensive investigation by the LAPD, with nearly 200 officers on the case and how the Black Dahlia begins to take over the lives of Bucky and Lee, eventually leading to their spectacular downfalls. Throw in a mysterious woman from a messed up wealthy family, gangsters, depraved sexual tendencies, lots of police corruption, and tragedy and you have one great neo-noir thriller.

I have to say, Ellroy really made this story come alive for me while I was reading it. He uses correct the correct lingo of the time, even when it is highly racist (this was the 1940s, after all, pre-civil rights), he gets pretty gruesome when describing the Dahlia's death, (which I will not detail here as there was some pretty gross stuff), and he clearly did research into the actual murder investigation in order to give the story some accuracy. But, it still is fiction, after all. Not to mention it has one hell of an ending. Lots of twists and turns, lots of destruction both physically and emotionally, violence, intrigue. It was awesome.

The Black Dahlia is like many other mystery novels, in that there is some portions of the book which are kind of filler feeling, like recounting what Bucky does when he gets of work. Do I really care about that? No. But does it kind of add to the story? Yes. Plus the first few chapters are kind of boring in that they just set up to show how Bucky came to be a police officer and be partnered with Lee. It's kind of interesting, but I just wanted to get to the murder, which does come as a surprise and right when you are ready for some action in the story.

This book was definitely one of the better mysteries I have read in recent years, so I highly recommend it, especially for a good summer read. This book was also the first in Ellroy's LA Quartet, books let in Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s that showed Los Angeles as a hotbed of political corruption and depravity. I really like noir and neo-noir mysteries, so I plan on reading the rest of the books as well. If The Black Dahlia is any indication, I think I'm going to really like them, too.

Now, back to Babel Tower and maybe one day I'll finally write a review for that one as well!

More adventures in the kitchen

Yesterday was just one of those days where cooking seemed like the appropriate thing to do. So, following my pancake breakfast extravaganza, I conducted some more food experiments. I made this AMAZING beet and quinoa salad. Seriously, it was so incredibly good and I wanted to keep eating it, but I was sooo full.

Tasty looking, right?

Quinoa and Beet Salad
6 small golden beets, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, plus additional to taste
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus additional to taste
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 cups baby arugula
2 ounces feta cheese
black pepper

1.) Steam beets until tender, about 12-15 minutes. Transfer them to a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons each of the olive oil and the red wine vinegar; mix in garlic, salt and little pepper. Let it site at room temperature for at least 30 minutes
2.) Meanwhile, cook the quinoa per package instructions: usually 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water. Bring to a boil then let simmer until all the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Fluff the quinoa with a fork and let cool.
3.) Remove the crushed garlic from the beets, and add the quinoa, arugula, and cheese to the beets and stir well. Season with a little more vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

I cannot stress how good this turned out! It was so refreshing and so filling, definitely something I will be making again as the weather begins to get warmer. Also, it keeps really well for a couple of days and gets even tastier because the vinegar and oil sort of marinate all the other ingredients, infusing them with more flavor. It made for the perfect leftover lunch today. Delicious!

Nostalgia: music from the 90s

This weekend I was hanging out with Miranda and we got to waxing nostalgic about music from the 90s. Now, I am aware that I am only 23, and was therefore very young in the 90s, but I watched a lot of MTV and Vh1 (when they both still played music videos) plus I had Miranda, who was five years older, and her friends exposing me to all kinds of music. A lot of which included gangster rap. Picture that in your head for a second...15 year old Miranda and 10 year old me...listening to gangster rap. Yeah.

Anyway, starting in fourth grade I was a latch key kid and everyday I would come home from school and do my homework while switching back and forth between MTV and Vh1. Back then they actually used to show videos during the day, not in the middle of the night or at 5am, and none of this Jersey Shore or Teen Mom crap...don't even get me started on that stuff.

Wait...what was I talking about? Oh yes, music! I would dance around my living room to all kinds of stuff, some that probably wasn't entirely appropriate for a 9-10 year old, but who cares? It's not like I had the Disney channel (which cost extra $$ to have then). So much great music and so many artists that either are retired, died, changed genres, or just went crazy (I'm looking at you Lauryn Hill). Oh and all those one hit wonders who were kind of awesome? Remember "Sex and Candy"? And when Madonna wasn't trying to act like she was 21 and she wore her infamous cone bra and the sex book?

I suppose that everyone is nostalgic for music from their childhood, I mean my dad pretty much only listens to stuff he grew up listening to, so I understand that aspect. But, despite the fact that I really do enjoy a lot of music that comes out today (like my Britney), I just don't necessarily connect in the same way. And there is just so much bad stuff that is so popular right now as well...Justin Beiber anyone? I like me some Lady Gaga, but no matter how deep or artistic she says her music is, to me it's just good music to dance or work out to. I don't turn on Lady Gaga or Katy Perry or Bruno Mars when I want to listen to music that's more than just a good beat. And there are great artists today that do create more of a connection with their music, like Adele or Florence and the Machine, so I'm not totally discrediting the music industry of today. Luckily today we have so many options. Just sometimes I miss my awesome 90s music!

With that, I leave you with some songs that I loved and still do.

And arguably one of the best bands of all time and probably the greatest song of the 90s.
You know what it is, don't you?

P.S. Do you remember Pop Up Video? I totally want that show to come back. Could you imagine how great it would be today?

Recipes! Food! I might be becoming a grownup! (What?)

I like to cook and for the past year I have not really had the time to actually cook, except for maybe once in a blue moon. No longer! Now I can actually take the time to find good recipes and try them out on all those who are willing to be my guinea pigs.

I didn't take this...It's a photo by Irving Penn (thanks google!)

Friday night was the night, I decided. I was going to try a new recipe and hope for the best. Miranda kindly allowed me to use her as my guinea pig, seeing as she would be getting a free meal out of the situation. So I went over to her apartment and cooked up a little storm while we chatted and drank some good beer. And I must say it ended up turning out to be quite delicious!

Here is the recipe:
Lemon-Thyme Chicken with Sauteed Vegetables
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped garlic, divided 
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, divided 
salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 pound chicken breast tenders, lightly pounded
4 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium shallot, sliced
1 1/2 cups frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 medium zucchini
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1.) In a ziplock bag, combine 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 teaspoons garlic, and 2 teaspoons thyme; season to taste with salt and pepper. Add chicken, seal bag, and turn over a few times to coat chicken evenly. Set aside
2.) Heat 2 teaspoons canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallot, remaining garlic, edamame, and tomatoes. Saute for 4 minutes.
3.) Use a vegetable peeler to slice the zucchini into long ribbons. Add zucchini, remaining lemon juice and thyme to the other vegetables in the skillet and saute for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl, stir in feta cheese, and add salt and pepper to taste.
4.) Add remaining oil to skillet and remove chicken from marinade. Saute for 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked through. Serve with vegetables and enjoy!

The meal turned out to be really refreshing and yummy, as well as pretty healthy. Miranda didn't have a peeler, so I just sliced the zucchini super thin and that worked totally fine.

For desert, we had Häagen-Dazs Five Ice Cream in the lemon flavor. The. Best. Ice. Cream. Ever.

Trust me, go get this ice cream. NOW.

In further adventures in cooking, I cooked breakfast for myself, the roommate, and a friend this morning. We had yummy buttermilk pancakes and some bacon. I haven't made pancakes in a very, very long time, but they turned out sooooo good. Super light and fluffy. I want to try some variation, adding blueberries pancakes or apple cinnamon...oooh or chocolate chip! Who doesn't love a good chocolate chip pancake?

And it was kind of an awesome day!

Remember when I said that today was shaping up to be a pretty good day? Turned out it kinda was.

First, I got the new Britney Spears CD, and it's kinda awesome, especially for car dancing on the way to Sacramento. I am obsessed with this song:

I think I've listened to it like 20 times and each time I have to do some silly dancing, because that is what you do when you listen to Britney Spears songs, am I right?

But it's a pretty good album, as long as you know what to expect...it's for dancing and rocking out to, not some form of deep artistic expression.

Then I bought the shoes of my dreams. Well, not really, because these are actually the shoes of my dreams. Oh and these. But I am really excited about the shoes I got today. This is them:

Aren't they lovely? I got them at the Target and I think they are the perfect wedges for summer because they aren't too tall and they'll go with everything. So, while they aren't the true shoes of my dreams, they are the shoes of my current dreams and I am very excited to wear them.

Oh and today was almost 90 degrees! It's like we skipped spring and went right to summer. But I love it. And tomorrow is supposed to be hotter, so I will be sunbathing. I'm seriously so excited that I just want it to be tomorrow.

My days have been so good lately, and I think part of it has to do with not being in school. There is just so much less stress right now and I am truly savoring being able to do what I want to do everyday...like watch lots of procedural crime dramas and painting my toenails. Because those things are very important and I need to make sure they get done!

So life is good.

Adventures in grocery shopping and some other stuff for a Wednesday

Today I finally went grocery shopping. I'm pretty sure I had absolutely nothing to eat. No milk, no bread, no eggs, no fruits, no veggies, no meat. Nothing but condiments and crumbled feta cheese (whis is kind of like a condiment?). It was kind of depressing. 

But this morning I finally had the money (thanks Dad!) to go to the grocery store, so I went to one of my favorite places: Trader Joe's. Should I talk about how much a love Trader Joe's? Because it truly is like heaven to me. I really love grocery shopping anyway, but getting to go to Trader Joe's makes it so much better. Something about the way the whole store is laid out, the cute packaging of everything, the friendly staff...oh I just love it. Few things excite me the way a trip to Trader Joe's does. Not to mention is is cheap. I got tons of groceries for only $75! And I'm totally stocked up for a while now.

Look at all that deliciousness!

I also got to work out today! Finally! And it was amazing...all my muscles are all twitchy and I'm pretty sure I'll be mighty sore tomorrow. I did weights and I haven't done those since before finals, but it felt so good. I'm really excited to be getting back into my fitness regime because it just makes me feel really good to start everyday with a good workout, like it makes me better prepared for what's ahead or something. Probably something to do with all those endorphins.

So far, today is shaping up to be a great day. How is your day so far? Now, I'm off to have lunch with Miranda in Sacramento and then to work!

P.S. Spring has finally, really, truly, come to Davis! It's warm, sunny, a little breezy and basically amazing. I am so excited to get outside and just savor this beautiful weather before the crazy heat sets in...

The Weekend Report

This weekend, I packed up my kitten, grabbed the laundry, and got into my sadly dented little Corolla and made the two and a half hour drive down to Watsonville to spend some quality time with my mama.

My mama is quite an awesome lady and I do believe she takes very good care of me every time I make the trek down here for a visit.

For example, my brakes have been acting all wonky and that just isn't very safe. But being a poor (former!) college student, I definitely do not have the funds to even have them looked at. I was just going to kind of avoid the situation, cause it wasn't really that bad, you know, you've been there right? But what does my mama do instead? She takes Rolly (my Corolla) to to the fancy dealership and then makes sure they whip my breaks into perfect condition. Now I won't die on the drive home! Yay!

We (me, mama, and stepdad) also did some eating at Caruso's in Capitola and some cocktailing  at the Seascape Resort bar in Aptos and the Green Valley Grill in Watsonville. And of course they always know the bartenders and half the customers, especially at the Green Valley Grill, because that's how they roll.

Cheers! (Irish coffees and a cosmopolitan)

Since my mother passed along her shopping problem to me (I swear this is a genetic disease!), we of course did a little shopping. And I got some cute dresses (!) and this sweet purse:

 

Apparently this is a nearly $300 purse...my mom paid about $60. DEAL!

Also, I discovered this new shopping (!) website, Gilt Groupe. I am obsessed. I think this will be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Thank you, Bleubird Vintage for introducing us.

Now it's back to Davis tomorrow morning and back to work! But no school! YAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

"Second star to the right, and straight on til morning!"

I watched Hook yesterday at work. And how awesome is that movie?

Every time I watch it I just want to go to Neverland and become a lost boy, well girl, if you're going to be politically correct about it. Can girls become lost boys? Are they then called lost girls? Cause that sounds kind of depressing. I'd rather just be called a lost boy.

Anyway.

Neverland just seems like so much fun, minus the whole Captain Hook thing, but he is defeated at the end of Hook, so if I went now I wouldn't have to worry about him. But just getting to play and be a kid forever sounds, like, way awesome. I really think we should figure out a way to get there...maybe if get my hands on some fairy dust I could make it happen. I'm open to ideas here, people!

Also, Hook has one awesome insult scene:

And two of the greatest phrases ever:

RUFIOOOOOOOOO!!!

BANGARANG!!!

I think the reason I love the story of Peter Pan so much, and all of its various spinoffs and reincarnations,  is because it encourages everyone, not just children but adults too, to have imaginations. I have always had a vivid imagination and my favorite game as a kid was to play pretend, either with friends or by myself. And I would totally still play if it wasn't an indicator of insanity in someone my age. I just think I am constantly craving adventure, and have been my whole life, whether it's real or imaginary. Plus, I think I have to agree with the story of Peter Pan in that keeping your imagination alive and thriving is the key to staying young and happy. Appreciating everything in life that is magical and adventurous everyday. 

If you're interested in another reincarnation of the story of Peter Pan, check out this YA series by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson called Peter and the Starcatchers. I read it a few years ago and completely loved, loved, loved it. I highly recommend it to everyone because it was just one of those books that I felt better about life after I read it, I'm not really sure how to explain it, but it just made me happy!