Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

This is the second book by Jenny Lawson, who is a blogger known as The Bloggess. Her memoir Let’s pretend this never happened made her famous and now her story continues. A funny story of horrible things.

Prepare for a roller-coaster ride. Or maybe it’s a merry-go-round? No, no it’s the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Honestly you do feel for minutes that you are just tumbling down a rabbit hole into Jenny’s world of crazy – yet it is also strangely meaningful, with many quirky, unexpected delights. And squirrels. Always squirrels.

Victor is her logical, patient husband, who sometimes gets her, and sometimes challenges her. He’s great. And her struggles with mental illness and all the exaggerated joys and pains it brings will remind you that you’re not alone.

This book will challenge your sense of what normal is, as you recognize yourself and others around you on its pages. I loved the feeling that we are all so interesting and unique, defying definition, logic and reason.

A quick read, and quite intense. I did think it may be a good option for a regular short-interval stint of reading – you know where, or maybe on a bus journey every day. That way, you will get these intense doses of the humour and wit, and draw out the pleasure of reading the book.

3 out of 5 stars

ISBN: 9781250077004

You may also enjoy Karma, Deception and a pair of Red Ferraris by Elaine Taylor
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Good old favourites #1

It has been a while, foodies...

....since I've shared recipes from my kitchen.

Maybe that's because this is our kitchen lately.




Jokes. The real reason is I have been tormented by trying to come up with a new "theme". You see, I think food without a story is boring. That's why if you come to my house for dinner, you always get lots of stories. Every time. Just ask my children. They will roll their eyes in response.

But peeps, I think I have it. The new theme.

I was thinking that I have one rule for all the recipes I post: Must be something I've tried and tested. Must be something that the family like (and with teenagers that's not so easy peasy). Must be healthy. (No salt, no sugar, and low carbs being my mantras).

Ok, that's three, maybe four rules. I can't count. Please don't ask me what my day job is.

This my series of recipes that follow all my rules. This is what makes me happy. Having rules to follow. (Yes, I am the person in Scrabble, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit, who not only reads the Rules, but has been known to quote them. Aloud. In polite company. My kids won't play games with me anymore. In fact, no one will.)

So here's the first of the healthy recipes that has become an old favourite in our house.

Butternut and mushroom lasagne 

Ingredients: 

The version that my nephew made

250g butternut, cubed
30 ml olive oil
Onion, thinly sliced
250g mushrooms, sliced, or quartered
40g butter
40g flour
10ml Thyme
500 ml milk
5 ml mustard
50ml parmesan cheese
Lasagne sheets
100g cheddar cheese
50g feta cheese

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Roast butternut in a little oil – cooked but still in shape. Heat rest of oil in pan and fry onion till translucent. Add mushrooms, cook for 1 minute.

In another pot, melt butter, add flour and cook for 1 minute. Add thyme and add milk slowly, stirring quickly. Cook until thick and add parmesan and mustard.

Layer the mushroom and onions with the lasagna, butternut and spoon of white sauce. End with lasagne sheets and rest of white sauce. Sprinkle with feta and cheddar and bake for 40 minutes at 180.

“Healthy?” I hear you asking. “With all that cheese?” Ummm, this is where for the “kids must enjoy this” rule, I have sacrificed the “no salt” rule. But this will be nearly as good if you use this parmesan replacement (which has no salt). Click the pic for the description online. And leave me a comment below if you want to order online in SA - I’ll post the link.

Also leave out the cheese topping – replace with a herb seasoning. Carb watchers can replace the lasagne with carb free, or use aubergines or marrows as a replacement, or an addition (with the mushrooms) making it even more healthy. My kids adore lasagne. But it’s got to be real.

Tried and tested = Check, we have this once a week, and have made it for friends

Kids test = Check, they love it with the cheese. And ask my nephew - his verdict: YUM!

Healthy = Almost check - loads of vegetables, and you can make it better with replacements, additions, or just using less cheese.

The Good Old Favourite series...
#1 - Butternut and mushroom lasagne                         #2 - Chicken Pie
#3 -Beef stroganoff                                                           #4 - Fish and baby vegetables
#5 - Quick Vegetable Korma                                           #6 - Moussaka
#7 - Wheat free chicken lasagna                                     #8 - Quinoa and roasted vegetables
#9 - Spinach and mushroom strogonoff                       #10 - Thai fish Cakes
#11 - Rigatoni with tomato and corn salsa                    #12 - Vegetarian Aubergine Lasagne
#13 - Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes                             #14 - Vegetable Tikka Masala 
#15 - Beef Broth

More recipes

The Bone House by Brian Freeman

The publisher’s blurb says: "Hilary and Mark Bradley are trapped in a web of suspicion. Last year, accusations of a torrid affair with a student cost Mark his teaching job and made the young couple into outcasts in their remote island town off the Lake Michigan coast. Now another teenage girl is found dead on a deserted beach. . . and once again, Mark faces a hostile town convinced of his guilt."

I love crime thrillers where the suspect is the underdog that no one is rooting for. Throw in his supportive wife, and a justice seeking detective and the recipe is foolproof.

This was a well-written, racy pacy book that had me turning the pages. I cannot say I didn’t enjoy it. And yet…compared to other recent reads, it missed the mark somewhat. It is quite difficult to say why.

It may have been the characters – although they were fairly well-developed, some of them did things that felt wrong. I hate it when I start to question these things. I prefer to be so engrossed and committed that I don’t even think to question. And then I started feeling that the people were being manipulated to fit the plot, rather than the other way around.

Or maybe it was me? I have read some excellent thrillers this year. And this was good, just not great. I will try more Brian Freeman novels though, it had enough action and interest to get me out of my real life for a while.

3 out of 5 stars

ISBN: 9780312562830

You may also enjoy Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton or Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter.

More reviews.

Pray for...what? How?

I looked into the clear gaze of the teen sitting opposite me, her pale blue eyes defying me to argue with her as she ranted about the genocide in Rwanda (studying for history has got her stoked). Her outrage was contagious later as she told me a story of a family who sold a daughter and used the money to buy a son a car. We were in despair together for the future of mankind, in a world where human rights as ancient as the beginning of time as we know it are violated daily, blatantly, and the violations ignored by most.

And then later that day, Pray for Paris started trending on my timeline, everywhere. And of course I am – praying for Paris. But I hesitated before I changed my status to what Facebook suggested. It wasn’t just because I have an innate stubbornness to not follow what others suggest. I had a sense that there is more to this than “Pray” or “Paris”. 

I am devastated that I live in a world where anyone thinks it is okay to take human life, for any cause, at any time. I cringe when I hear the calls for the US to “take the terrorists out – let’s show them what we can do.” Because for every life lost, whatever the reason, there are those left behind, weeping.

I am a Christian. I believe in the power of prayer. I also believe that when we pray, we should do so with understanding, love and respect for all cultures, races, and people groups. And also with the deepest humility that “but for the grace of God, there go I”. The conversation with my teen also included a discussion about what it meant to identify with those who suffered, how it wasn’t enough to say “It wasn’t me”, but a more helpful “I acknowledge your pain and suffering, and I’m sorry that we as humanity have let you down. It wasn’t right, and I stand with you.”

Because we need to identify, not just with Parisians, but also with the Syrians, those in Lebanon and Israel and who all are suffering on a daily basis. And when we pray, it isn’t for Paris, it’s for Parisians, Syrians, people of all nations everywhere, especially the scattered, the dispossessed, the downtrodden and the oppressed.

I was saddened to see the post of the picture that thanked everyone for their prayers, but please, no more religion, just life.

I understand the sentiment – the cartoonist believes that deep-seated fundamental religion driving people to irrational behavior that has led to Paris being in lockdown – and he doesn’t need any more of that. 

I also pondered on that verse that says “when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who stand on a street corner or in the synagogues and pray, they have their reward in full. When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray in secret.” Is Facebook the equivalent of the street corner these days? And is #PrayforParis helpful? I know it raises awareness, and that is good, but does it say enough?

We do need to pray – not just for Paris, but for all nations. And we need to do so with a deep sense of sadness and repentance, not judgement. We need to ask forgiveness for our uncaring attitude when it comes to human suffering – that we haven’t already been praying daily for all nations where there is violence and injustice.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” Zachariah 7:9-10

We need to pray that there will not be retaliation after retaliation, but restoration, justice, peace and a place for those who have lost, to find healing and relief. We should be praying for an end to terrorism, and to the evil that on both sides leads to the inhumane conclusion that it is all right to take human life for a cause – whether that cause be for IS or any religion anywhere. 

This is not a time when we should be polarizing, pointing fingers and stirring up hatred. I know it sounds trite to say we should make a difference where we can. I live too far away to take in a refugee. But in my country I can do my bit to help those less fortunate than me. Not to make myself feel better, but to let them know that I do not think that poverty, injustice and oppression is right, and I value their life, their humanity, and their right to live in my world. Because, I believe, although it sounds like a weak and silly response, it is far better than “hunt them down and kill them.”

Ten of the Best #21

1.     This is unbelievable. There’s this guy who one day decides to make a musical instrument out of a carrot. Watch and learn.

2.    Jennifer Lawrence’s feminist rant is good. It’s honest, and she doesn’t pretend that she has real people problems. I like that about her. The lack of pretense thing. Click the pic.

3.    Did you know that it was redhead day recently? Well here are some redhead fun facts. We all know one/have one in our family. I love the dog in this picture – also a redhead. You know what to do.

Soul Keeping by John Ortberg

I finished listening to this book ages ago, and couldn’t bring myself to write a review. That’s because my husband wrote his review, here, and it was such a good review that I had to read the book. Those of you who know me know that I wouldn’t have read it if it was just a recommendation, but it was such a great review, I just had to read the book.

The whole title of the book is Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You.

It was all it purported to be. I am not as knowledgable about spiritual things as my husband and his pastor friends, but John Ortberg has a way about making the genius of Dallas Willard very accessible. It’s also very readable – with stories that relate the principles into his life, and into mine.

My favourite quote – and you’ll understand why, if you read the book – “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” 

Powerful stuff.

4 out of 5 stars

ISBN: 9780310275961

Too damn hot!

You know it's bad when pictures like the one on the right start appearing on the statuses of your friends and family on social media:

For those of you entering into winter. I apologize. I know you are jealous of those little suns, and I should point out that even the suns with clouds should show bigger suns and smaller clouds - we are not noticing the clouds, they are so tiny. Sorry, again. But let me point out to you, who measure your temperatures in Fahrenheit (is that because the numbers are too depressingly low in Celsius?) that 35 degrees in Celsius is 95 degrees! We are melting, melting, melting.

I wake up in the morning, and it's like I've slept in a heated pool. I go to sleep in the evening and there is an electric blanket beneath me - only there isn't. The only time it isn't hot is when I am in an air-conditioned office or in the pool. 

But if you think I may be overreacting, I have nothing on my car. Granted, being in a car on a hot day makes things worse. Even when the aircon works. But really, this is what my car thinks of the weather in Joburg at the moment:

You see there - under the P, it thinks it is 49 degrees. Celsius. (120 in F).

Car, dear, it's hot, but not that hot. I drove home at 21h30 last night, and it proudly declared that it was 36 degrees - hotter than the maximum temperature in the midday. And it was dark. 

I don't know - do you think my car is menopausal?

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

This book was described to me as “harrowing” and then the reader told me she couldn’t read anything else for a while after she finished it. No wonder this sat on my shelf for ages, tempting me to try it, be harrowed, and stop reading. Forever. Oh the horror.

I couldn’t get into it until about 200 pages in. Usually I’ve given up (or finished) by then, but I am quite stubborn about completing books and I was enjoying the writing, so this kept me going.

Why you should read this book:

1. It is harrowing – truly that is the word. Jude emerges as the central character in a four friend circle, and you will be drawn into and shocked by these lives, their joy and pain. 
2. It is long - at over 720 pages, the author has time to build these characters up and they become a part of your little life – the length cleverly showing that building relationships takes time and is worthwhile. 
3. It will consume you. You will read late into the night, and put down work to read it. You may do little else but read for a few days. 
4. It is about friendship. Relating and connecting with others who are broken. And this part is superbly written. 
5. It was nominated for a Man Booker and received many other literary awards.

Why you shouldn’t read this book:

1. It is harrowing – it is very difficult to say that you enjoyed this book, or to recommend it to loved ones. 
2. It is long - really, did it need that many pages to build those characters? And the length does make it a little dull. 
3. It will consume you. You will not get much life done once you are hooked, other than compulsive reading, which I always think is doing a lot. 
4. It is about friendship. It will tear you apart, and leave you desperate at times. Not always in a good way. 
5. It was nominated for a Man Booker – really? Read the list of the nominees and the winners – who chooses these books? 

In summary, Yanagihara’s intimate portrait of the agony and the ecstasy of human relationships, in all their glory and all their brokenness, is worth a read. You need to be strong, and you need to persevere. This is not a recommendation, but you will never forget this book. You have been warned.

4 out of 5 stars

ISBN: 9780385539258

Ten of the Best #20

I am so glad it's the weekend. Time for tea, and time to catch up on all the social media I didn't get to this week, because I was so hectic. Enjoy with me. Click on the pictures to follow the links, and use your back button on your browser to come back here and have more fun. There is some good stuff this week.

1.    How was your work week this week? Oh, a bit like mine then? Never fear…the millennials are coming. They’re going to change it all. Here’s how. See? Now you’re not scared anymore.

2.    Need some humour and good news after that? Trevor Noah is doing ok, you can all relax. They’re delighted with him. Read it here. And watch the clip to see him on the subject of immigrating, and the power of Google.

Kit by Marina Fiorato

Kit Kavanaugh runs a tavern in Dublin in 1702, with her new husband, Richard Walsh. When he disappears to join the fighting in Italy to prevent Spain and France forming an alliance and ruling the then-world, Kit decides to become a soldier (pretending she is male) to find and help her husband. She fights in the Duke of Marlborough’s regiment, falls in love and becomes a spy.

The author, Marina Fiorato, is Venetian and has written a few historical fiction books. Her distinctive style is to paint a vivid picture of the times, dig out interesting information, research strong female characters and plot storylines that seem too good to be true. In this case, from the historical account at the end – her plotting was largely done for her by the record of events.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to all lovers of the genre. There is a little more romance in this one than I am used to, but it didn’t detract from the evocative and powerful “Joan of Arc” type drama. Kit is beautiful, brave, determined, and you will love her and this book.

4 out of 5 stars 

You may also enjoy The Whip by Karen Kondazian

All my reviews.

ISBN: 9781473610460