Next Up: Bossypants

We're changing it up this month from our usual serious and often dark and/or sad reads, and looking forward to some laughs to help get us through the rest of winter. We'll be readying Bossypants by Tina Fey. I've heard the audio version is great, too!

FYI- Supposedly the paperback is out, but it's not yet available on Amazon.

Jayber Crow Food

I didn't finish the book, BUT after the discussion last night, I feel inspired to do so.  In honor of the Kentucky setting of Jayber Crow, I made non-traditional Kentucky Hot Browns to share with the gals.  The ones I had while I lived in Lexington always grossed me out: bacon, artificial & processed "cheese," sometimes, even gravy *shudder.  My stomach churns thinking about them.  However, I sucked it up, and wondered if there was a way I could make them that would induce me to eat them.  After asking my brother's native Kentucky gal for the basic ingredient list, I set out to modify the recipe, which I offer to you:

Amanda's "Modified" Hot Brown Bites
-1 fresh baguette cut into 1" slices (about 30)
-1 package pancetta (I abhor bacon, so I went with this more flavorful Italian version), cut into strips and fried
-1/2 pound smoked deli turkey meat
-1 package grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced
-1 recipe cheese sauce
-Parmesan cheese for sprinkling
For cheese sauce (I used the recipe for a cream cheese sauce for a crock pot chicken and mushroom dish...I think it was in a c2009 edition of Midwest Living)
-1 block cream cheese
-1/4 cup dry white wine
-1 0.7oz package Italian dressing seasoning 
1. Melt cream cheese, add wine and seasoning, and stir until combined.  Keep warm on low until ready to use.
2. Toast the baguette slices in the broiler for 30-45 minutes until golden brown.
3. Assemble the hot brown bites.  Start with the turkey on top of the baguette.  Next, add a few small strips of the cooked pancetta.  Top with 3-4 slices of tomatoes and a dollop of the cheese sauce.  Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese.
4. Broil for about 1 minute, rotating the pan halfway through, until the Parmesan cheese is melted and the cream cheese is slightly brown.

First Book Club of 2012: Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

we we carried along with Jayber's life

some of us liked the experience more than others

we spent some time reading kids' books

because Christy gave us a great excuse to read them
(and drink her share of the champagne)

we celebrated sara's birthday
(another reason for all the champagne)

and we were generally super cute

see what I mean?

we have book club sisters now (katie and cammie)

and we talked a lot about community and progress

and non-progress and faithfulness and rivers.

and afterward we went to a speakeasy because we're
scandalous like that

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

the classic

the vote

the ornaments ali made us

the requisite book club cuteness

book club knitting: a first

the conversation

timshel, y'all.

(I just picked up on the fact that Lee's ng-ka-py was said to taste of "good rotten apples." Apples, guys! The Eden-fall-redemption imagery just don't stop.)

Goodbye Bluebird Brunch for Natalie

...in which we also instituted the stand-and-report life announcement

segment of book club get-togethers.

Better Late Than Never: Jamaica Inn by Daphne DuMaurier

the oft-hitchcocked DuMaurier wrote a thriller that posed as a romance novel...

...that the KC public library knows by a different name...

...the vote was contested...

...lucinda protested over-grown bangs...

...while we discussed whether or not there were serious feminist issues with the ending (the group was divided)...

... we noshed on the needed victuals to fuel us through a....

...rather long discussion on albinos in literature and film and whether they are unfairly portrayed as villains most of the time (yes, they are)....

...we got past the albino thing, though...

...and all was right with the world.

Better Late Than Never: The Book Club Camp Out

...in which we did not talk about books (for once), but tented, fired, ate, drank, talked, shivered, and generally had a fine old time.

the blaze

the foot-warmer

the lake in the morning

the vote (on the camp out)

the packed car home