To Read Tuesday

I have to admit, over the past couple of months, my To-Read pile has been getting bigger and bigger. And I haven’t been doing much reading to tackle it. The holiday months seem to just be so busy that I don’t get to take much time out to read. Now that my calendar has slowed down a bit though, I’m getting back to it!

If you saw my Game of Thrones Book Club post, you know that I decided to finally read the book series. Game of Thrones was one of those incredibly rare times where I watched the show BEFORE reading the books. My husband and I both really enjoy watching the show and he didn’t want me to know what happens by reading ahead, so I agreed to wait. Aren’t I sweet?

Anyways – back to what else is on my To-Read list!

Here are two books that I received for Christmas that I can’t wait to dive into.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Book Store – 

Robin Sloan

Amazon’s Description:

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything―instead, they "check out" large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. Suspicious, Clay engineers an analysis of the clientele's behavior, seeking help from his variously talented friends. But when they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, they discover the bookstore's secrets extend far beyond its walls. Rendered with irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave.

Les Parisiennes – Anne Seba

Amazon’s Description:

Paris in the 1940s was a place of fear, power, aggression, courage, deprivation, and secrets. During the occupation, the swastika flew from the Eiffel Tower and danger lurked on every corner. While Parisian men were either fighting at the front or captured and forced to work in German factories, the women of Paris were left behind where they would come face to face with the German conquerors on a daily basis, as waitresses, shop assistants, or wives and mothers, increasingly desperate to find food to feed their families as hunger became part of everyday life.

When the Nazis and the puppet Vichy regime began rounding up Jews to ship east to concentration camps, the full horror of the war was brought home and the choice between collaboration and resistance became unavoidable. Sebba focuses on the role of women, many of whom faced life and death decisions every day. After the war ended, there would be a fierce settling of accounts between those who made peace with or, worse, helped the occupiers and those who fought the Nazis in any way they could.

Favorites Friday

I’m excited to launch a new series with you today – Favorites Friday! There’s always something really neat that I come across in my daily life that I just need to share with the blogging world. Sometimes my Favorites will be related to books or wine, sometimes they won’t. But they will always be awesome things that have made me happy. I think they’ll make you happy too!

Vinoair Wine Aerator

Ever since we joined the Cooper’s Hawk wine club, I’ve been pining after these cool aerators they sell. I never used an aerator before but these cool pewter animals were just too hard to resist. My husband found this Vinoair wine aerator and gave it to me for Christmas and I have been LOVING it (even though it’s not an adorable animal). It’s amazing how much better my red wines taste after running through this fun little gadget. The best part about this aerator is that it fits right down into the bottle and you pour directly into your glass. And, it doesn’t even slow down the pouring process! You can see the bubbles but most importantly – you can taste the difference!

Lodge enameled cast iron skillet

My husband and I love cooking and we do a lot of it. We love finding and trying out new recipes all the time. A couple of years ago, we got our first enameled cast iron dutch oven. We became obsessed with it and started using it ALL the time. We also watch a lot of Food Network and something that I always see the chefs using was a shallow enameled cast iron casserole pot. I got this super pretty Lodge one for Christmas and was so excited to use it. It didn’t disappoint! It’s perfect for literally every dish from chicken to pasta to steak. You can sauté or sear and then throw the entire thing in the oven to finish cooking. If you like to cook, get one of these in your life immediately.

Crocheted ponytail hat

Unless you’ve been living under a social media rock, then you know the hottest trend on the internet right now is the “messy bun” hat. I’m not sure how this hasn’t caught on before now because it is a GENIUS idea. I knew I needed one the second I saw it. Luckily, I have a super talented Mom who can crochet. When I asked her to make me one – she happily obliged! With the super cold weather that we’ve been getting lately, this hat has been the perfect addition to my wardrobe. You can find patterns online to make one yourself if you are crafty. Or, you can buy one already completed. My good friend over at Jess Runs ATL is fundraising for cancer research in order to run the NYC marathon and is taking orders. Get yours here. It’s for a great cause so go check it out and get your beanie on!

Guest Post - Speed Clean Your Bookshelf

If you are one of those people who are lucky enough to have a big bookcase or a lot of shelves with books, and we all know that books and knowledge are wealth, then you must be very happy and wealthy. But with that much wealth comes a great deal of cleaning.

The bigger the bookcase, the more cleaning it will need. That is why most people only do a thorough cleaning of their bookcases once or twice a year. And usually, this should be enough, if it was done properly and thoroughly. As it is not easy to take down all of your books and put them back up again on a regular basis.

If you are trying to find a routine that suits your cleaning needs and more specifically cleaning your bookcase, read on.

For starters, remove all books from the shelves. Put them aside while cleaning your bookcase. If it is as big as the wall feel free to use a small ladder or a step stool to climb on and easily reach the top. Then here is a tip for a very quick removing of most of the dust from the shelves – use your hair dryer to blow the dust off the top and the rest of the shelves.

This method will help you greatly especially if you have not had your bookcase cleaned in a while and there are thick layers of dust. If it is possible, you should also try to clean behind the bookcase – you can even try using your vacuum cleaner if there is too much dust or cobwebs. And if you do not wish to use the blow dryer on the bookcase, you can just use your vacuum cleaner with a smaller attachment to vacuum the bookcase entirely.

Once your bookcase has been cleaned from most of the dust, get a wet microfibre cloth and clean the rest of the dust, edges and details of your bookcase. A microfibre cloth will collect all of the remaining dust quickly and easily.

Some people like using their feather dusters to dust their bookcases but I personally like to use a microfibre cloth on as many surfaces as I can because it is much more efficient and helps me clean faster than any other normal piece of cloth or paper towel.

When your bookcase is all dusted and wiped clean I would recommend you to use a very simple mixture of essential oils to polish the wood provided by cleaning group se13. What you will need is a ¼ cup of white vinegar, ¼ cup of olive oil, and 10 drops of lemon or any other essential oil of your choice (or you can make a combination of a few essential oils).

It might sound like a lot of work, but it really is not. The cleaning and polishing of the bookcase itself do not require a lot of time, it is the cleaning and rearranging of the books that might take a bit more time.

I would also recommend you that you wipe down or use a feather duster on your books as well, they must have at least a thin layer of dust on them. Just give them a quick and light wiping before putting them up on the bookcase.

And here is another tip – place the large and heavy books flat and the smaller ones upright. And you can use your annual cleaning to sort your books and decide if you want to donate some that you no longer want and make some space for new ones. 

Let's Celebrate - National Reading Day

I hope that everyone’s social media feeds today have let them know that today is National Reading Day. If it hasn’t – now you know!

National Reading Day is an annual celebration to encourage young readers to pick up books (instead of the TV remote!) in order to build a strong foundation for learning. You don’t have to be a young child or have a young child to participate in this holiday though.

Here are some ways that you can take part in this celebration:

Plan a trip to your local library

When was the last time you’ve been to your local library? In today’s technological age where we have pretty much everything we could ever want to read at our fingertips, we often forget about the library. Libraries are a treasure trove of fun and knowledge – and they are free! So take a trip and spend some time browsing the aisles. You’ll never know what you might find!

Start a Little Free Library

Do you have one of these in your neighborhood? If not, consider starting one of your own! These little miniature libraries are such a great addition to any neighborhood. Not only does it promote reading, but it fosters relationships with your neighbors and helps your bookshelf from becoming too cluttered. Here's the one that's in my neighborhood.

Pick up your Favorite book

Go dust off your favorite book – you know the one – the one that you’ve read 100 times but it never gets old. Curl up on the couch or go grab a latte at your local coffee shop and transport yourself away to that special world that only a book can take you to.

Do you have other ideas on how to celebrate National Reading Day? I’d love to hear them!

Happy Reading!

"Let's Celebrate" Series - Cheese!

I’m excited to share the first installment of what I hope will be a fun new series this year – the Let’s Celebrate series! Something that social media has brought to my attention is that there is literally a National day for EVERYTHING. It may seem silly but I’m all for any good excuse to celebrate something fun.

I have found all of the fun days to share with you that have anything to do with wine and books - or anything that pairs well together with wine and books. Like our first National Day today.

The series kicks off this year with....

*drumroll please**

NATIONAL CHEESE LOVER DAY!

                               

I don’t know about y’all but, I seriously could not imagine my life without cheese. It is vital to my survival as a human and it’s good in just about any form. I do have 2 favorites though – Mac & Cheese and cheese fries. I’ll pretty much go to the ends of the earth for a good version of either of these dishes. If you know of a good place to get either of these, share them with me!

So, in order to celebrate National Cheese Lover Day, I thought I would share some fun facts about cheese with you.

 Just don’t forget – as you celebrate with some cheese today, make sure there’s wine too!

Wine 101 - Champagne vs Prosecco

If any of you are like me, then you enjoyed a plethora of bubbly wines over the holiday season – especially for New Years. I had some Champagne in the fridge all ready to enjoy for New Years Eve. Then, we went and did our December wine club tasting at Cooper’s Hawk and came home with a bottle of Prosecco. At the time, I didn’t think about it a whole lot. All I knew was that it was wine and they both had BUBBLES. Who doesn’t love bubbles!?

I ended up using the Prosecco that night instead and made this delicious little cocktail. A shot or so of Chambord topped off with the Prosecco and a couple of raspberries to make it look pretty. Also – can we talk about how adorable these glasses are? The drink was so good and the perfect way to celebrate the evening away. Even if it was just me and the hubs.

It wasn’t until a few days ago when I opened the fridge and saw the bottle of Champagne and got me thinking. What the heck is the difference between Champagne and Prosecco? I sure didn’t know so it was time to research! Here's a fun little graphic to break it all down.

The biggest difference between these two bubblies is the region where they are made. Champagne is made in the Champagne region of France which is about 80 miles Northeast of Paris. Prosecco is made in the Veneto region of Italy which is about 15 miles North of Venice. One note – these brands are both VERY attached to their names so if it isn’t produced in one of these two places – IT’S NOT LEGIT. Check your labels folks.

If you start shopping around for Champagne and Prosecco, you’ll see a noticeable difference in the cost. A decent bottle of Champagne will run you about $40 where you can get a Prosecco for around $14. The reason? The method of production. Champagne is produced using a costly method called “The Traditional Method” which involves 2 fermentation periods along with aging before it is sold. The method to produce Prosecco called “The Tank Method” is a bit less expensive. It still goes through 2 fermentations but rather than being aged, it is cooled in an autoclave tank then bottled.

OK – I know that’s a lot of technical info and all you want to know is do they taste different? Champagne and Prosecco while similar, do have different flavor profiles. Champagne tends to have notes of almond, citrus, peach and white cherry and is usually on the dry side. Prosecco has notes of green apple, honeysuckle, pear and cream and tends to be a bit sweeter. You really can’t go wrong because, the good news? They both have bubbles of course! Cheers!