Reading halt

Over this Christmas and New Year I intended to read much more than I did, but with visits from family, some staying a few nights, some coming for the day, I seem to have come to a slight halt. Nevertheless have started reading Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna, which seems to be a very promising read, and have also finished a couple more, started earlier.

Our Reading Group discussed Jill Dawson's The Great Lover the other day. I had read it earlier, ( and posted about it here) but didn't re-read, so found the discussion interesting. Many of the group weren't that keen on it, but most had read it and one or two who had'nt finished said they would read to the end. They felt slightly confused by the mix of fact and fiction, not knowing precisely which might be which. I had enjoyed reading it last January, but didn't feel inclined to re-read, partly because I could still remember much of it. We were joined for our discussion by one member's new ( born in October) daughter, who was extremely well behaved for a first timer, barely a cry, just an interested look round most of the time.

Foodie time

I seem to be a bit of a food provider at the moment. A week or so ago it was our local residents association autumn social, for which i organised the food along with a fellow committee member, nothing too fancy, just nibbles such as salmon tartlets, vol-au-vents, small sandwiches and some small sweet nibbles, and for drinks wine or fruit juices. Then my brother-in-law came to stay, so a couple of slightly more elaborate meals were called for, such as a slow roasted shoulder of lamb with greens and roasted potatoes, parsnips and carrots followed by an apple cake for pudding. Tomorrow I shall be contributing to a light lunch following a book club meeting, and next week a group of friends are coming to my home to have a lunch - we usually go out together once a month, but as we normally meet up near the end of the month, which in December gets a bit near Christmas, we decided to have our get-together in someone's home, and I volunteered this year. Happily I usually enjoy cooking and feeding other people (than oneself and husband) does help get the cooking creativity going, even if mostly its fairly simple stuff.