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Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Biggest Liar In Los Angeles... Also, Beans.

Back on 2/11/15 I mentioned that I had gotten another "Blind Date" book from the Westerville Library.  I had a couple other book-fish already frying, and didn't get started on it until a few days ago.  It was The Biggest Liar In Los Angeles by Ken Kuhlken.  It was kind of a noir mystery, set in Los Angeles in the 1920s.  I will admit, when I saw what I had chosen, I was not overwhelmed with excitement.  I was determined to read it anyway, if for no other reason than to shame Hubby into reading his Blind Date book.  Happily, though, it turned out to be surprisingly better than I had dared hope.  While I understand that the theory behind mysteries is that you have to keep reading to find out who dun it... I sometimes lose interest, getting lost in the weeds of all the possibilities, and the drive to get to the ending just isn't strong enough.  I realize that probably sounds bizarre, and probably is bizarre, but I've abandoned more than one mystery halfway through.  This one, though, kept me hanging in til the end.  I felt like it had a manageable amount of characters/suspects and possible theories, yet kept the suspense going until the proper time to reveal.  My only complaint is that I discovered 2/3 of the way through the book that it's part of a series, and the last one in the series at that.  I think it probably says something good about the book, though, that it was complete enough to stand on it's own and not need to have read the other books to understand it.  I give this one 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I have now moved on to The Supreme's At Earl's All-You-Can-Eat  by Edward Kelsey Moore.  It's the book club selection for the Morning Book Club at the Westerville Library.  The meeting to discuss it is this coming Tuesday, so I think I've sufficiently waited until the last minute.  I'm a little nervous about the Book Club meeting though.  I've never actually been to one and my only experience discussing books is in a classroom or with close friends.  Basically, I'm reading this one while simultaneously trying to build up the nerve to go to the meeting and discuss it.  Sometimes I wish you could buy courage in pill form.

Other than going out for a 15 minute walk in the pouring snow, I've been stuck inside all day.  We have somewhere around 5-6" of snow, and my little Kia would not appreciate my trying to drive in it. Fortunately we were prepared to be snowed in, and that I'm kind of anal about grocery shopping for a full week at a time, so we had our food ready to cook.  Today's recipe was Bean Casserole.  The original plan had been to cook some of the bags and bags of dried beans we have, but I forgot to soak them and get them started.  So canned beans it was, which is what the recipe called for anyway.  Also, I forgot to buy a pepper and carrots, and we don't like onion.  But we had the mushrooms!  We basically doubled the whole recipe, the beans and tomato paste and so forth.  Not the spices of course.  This recipe turned out to be really tasty, super easy... and cheap!  Gotta love it when you find a recipe so cheap, but so delicious.  Here's the finished product...


Next time I make it... and there will most certainly be a next time... I will be sure to have the peppers and carrots to go in it as well.  I'm a big fan of sneaking veggies in wherever I can. I also give this recipe 4.5 out of 5 stars.  It's a 4.5 out of 5 stars kind of day.

My goal for the rest of the evening is to be a big girl and not cry when Hubby has to go to work tonight.  It's ridiculous how much I get used to having him home, and how much I miss him when he goes back.  The plan of action is to keep my nose in my book til I am good and ready for bed, and the very important addition of crossing my fingers and hoping it works.

Have a great night, all!


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