Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
You Know Nothing, Spring Snow
I am not happy that it’s snowing again, I just want to get that out of the way. I can’t believe how much I talk about and fixate on the weather, but I wouldn’t if it would only do what I want! Or maybe it’s time for me to toughen up and get friendly with Canadian weather.
One good thing about cold weather is having soups to warm you up! My husband made Bak Kut Teh and it was soooo good. The picture below is not the actual dish he made. I was too hungry and we weren’t thinking of plating for aesthetic purposes so we didn’t take pictures. It’s just a random picture taken off the internet for illustration purposes only.
Bak Kut Teh is a Chinese herbal pork soup/stew that’s sweet and savory. The main focus of it is the pork, but we often add tofu, different kinds of mushrooms, some vegetables, and we usually eat it with rice and garlic in soy sauce. The garlic is the best part for me!
I’ve often wondered if a vampire gave me the choice of eternal life but I’d have to give up garlic forever, would I do it? Such a dilemma; garlic vs. eternal life. What would you choose? 🧄or🧛♀️
On my husband reading The Count of Monte Cristo, he managed five chapters and decided it was too verbose for him right now, so he’s putting it aside. I can’t say I blame him; I tend to skip flowery descriptions most of the time and just focus on important events that happen in the book, but he likes to pay attention to details and there were just so much here.
On the bright side, he’s still open to taking recommendations from me and reading the books I love! He’s on The Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher right now, because it’s the only one currently available from the library, but I hope to get him on the other Kingfisher books as well.
Unfortunately, a couple of days ago I somehow sprained my right shoulder. It hurts to move it or to spend too much time on the computer – I think because of the height of the table and the way my arm/elbow rests on the table and the position when using the mouse, so I have to take frequent breaks. Thank goodness I did most of my blog posts earlier in the week! I’ve been trying to rest it more, but it seems to be hurting more today than when it started. Hopefully it will get better soon.
All the happy things:
- I got more blog posts than usual up last week! A few reviews, and other fun memes.
- I finally got caught up with updating my books read on Goodreads and The Story Graph.
- My husband and I had a really fun night dancing and singing to music while he made Bak Kut Teh.
- The fact that he made Bak Kut Teh!
- I bought some new stickers for my journal!
- Tax is all done!
- My library had a webinar with Madeline Miller : On Retelling Greek Classics: An Exploration of the Modern Epics with Madeline Miller. We’re encouraged to share the link to the replay, so here it is if you’re interested.
- We watched The Greatest Night in Pop, and it was so amazing to see how it all came about. I loved it!
Books I read last week:
I did not finish a single book last week but I did finish a short story that Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl highly recommended; Signal Moon by Kate Quinn.
From the title and cover, I thought it might be some futuristic scifi story, but it wasn’t what I expected at all. I’d say it’s more of a historical fiction with paranormal elements, and I loved it. It’s short and sweet, and I thought it was perfect on its own, but it also made me really want to read Kate Quinn’s other books. I’ve never read any of her books before and I need to remedy that.
Other than that, I’ve been reading a few books;
The Count of Monte Cristo is still ongoing – the timeline is until the end of April and we have multiple check-ins,
Blitz by Daniel O’Malley – the final book in the Checquy Files, and
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – for my book club discussion next week.
They are all relatively thicker/denser books, so I can’t just breeze through them. I’ve been wanting to take a break and read something light, but I also feel like I don’t want to add another story into my mental space until I’ve finished at least one of these. I’ll probably take some time this weekend to make a dent in one or two of them.
Last Week on The Blog
- Book Review | The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
- Top Ten Tuesday | Books on My Spring 2024 TBR
- Notes & Reactions | The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
- Book Review | The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
- Book Review | Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday
- Time Travel Thursday | March 21
This Week
Working on Blitz, The Sparrow, and The Count of Monte Cristo!
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
I really enjoy T Kingfisher, and thought The Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking was a lot of fun. Have a great week!
It’s one of my favorite ones from Kingfisher. Have a great week too!
Bak Kut Teh seems delicious! I love Chinese and Asian food in general. And yes I think you’d have to give up garlic, sadly! Also Signal Moon was amazing! I am a big fan of Kate Quinn’s audiobooks!
An eternity without garlic… but worth it! I’ll have to look for Kate Quinn on audio, thanks for the tip!
Bak Kut Teh looks so yummy! Happy Sunday!
Thank you! Happy Sunday to you!
Bak Kut Teh looks so yummy. Happy Sunday!
The Bat Kut Teh looks amazing! And perfect for cold weather. Sigh, we got a couple of inches of snow last night, so I feel your pain. And I live in California! LOL (in the mountains, but still). I hope you have a wonderful week:-)
The Bak Kut Teh is too yummy, I definitely overate! I hope you have a wonderful week too!
Urg! I don’t blame you complaining about the weather! We’ve been coping with a relatively mild Spring but sooo dreary with lots and lots of rain and loads of people being flooded. And now it has brightened up, but the wind has swung round so it’s coming from the north, so much colder! I am now desperate for properly warm sun… I also loved T. Kingfisher’s books – the first one I read was The Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, so I think it’s a really good introduction to her work. Have a good week – and let’s hope it warms up!
Dealing with flooding sounds awful, I’m so sorry to hear that. Fingers crossed for the warm sun shining down on us both and giving us warmer weather!
I hope your shoulder gets better. I haven’t seen proper snow for a long time. We seem to be in the one place in the UK that doesn’t have snow!
Have a good week next week ☺️
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2024/03/24/sunday-post-119/
Thank you! The first couple of years we thought snow was so magical. I still feel it is, but not when it’s time for spring! 😂
Give up garlic? Never!
Love hearing about the fun, happy times with your husband.
I love updating my books on Goodreads and in my actual bookcases. lol
It’s tough to give up garlic, but think of eternal life! An eternity to read all the books!!
So sorry to hear about your shoulder! Other than that, sounds like you had a good week. The sun is out here today, but it is still cold. I will take it though 🙂 Have a great week!
I wish the same for you!
I also obsess over the weather because of dog walking, gardening, Harley riding, and other outdoor things. I love all your happy things!
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
That makes a lot of sense, and that also makes me feel better about obsessing about the weather! Thank you!
I skip flowery bits too in a book. So many of us are weather watchers, I know I am and I don’t apologise for it! Enjoy your snow, only because I never get any! Happy reading for the week and I hope that shoulder heals, take care of it above all else.
Thank you. It’s still sore and I’m favoring it a bit, but I’ll make sure to get lots of rest. I hope you have a great reading week ahead!
It is snowing here as well! It always kind of stuns me when there’s snow in March.
I hope Madeline Miller will soon publish a new book. It’s great to see that your library had a webinar with her!
Yeah, I’d be so excited for a new Madeline Miller book! I feel like I might get back on a Greek myth binge soon.
With challenging books like The Count of Monte Cristo, I sometimes begin with a children’s version or a graphic novel version.
I am so sorry that you have more snow!
That’s a great idea! I’ll look into that. The weather is supposed to get warmer this week, I just hope it sticks!
I couldn’t give up garlic—but not because I love it so much (though I do). It’s just IN EVERYTHING. I did an elimination diet to help me figure out some gut issues a little while ago, and one of the things I needed to eliminate from my diet was garlic. There were so many things that I had to cut out because they contained garlic!