Kellet's book corner

Prediction: Ann Coulter (conservative writer and speaker) will say something completely outrageous in the next month. She has a new book out, you see. She's no ditz. She says something that makes people gasp ( for her last book she criticized war widows) and the media goes crazy. Her name and new book are all over every newspaper, talk show and blog in the nation. For FREE!
Donald Trump pulls this, too, whenever he has a new TV show. I personally cannot stand Ann Coulter, (I think she is too mean and I disagree with her politics), but I do admire this publicity strategy. She just doesn't care what anyone thinks.

I would like to be a little more like that. To be that confident? Or arrogant? That would be amazing. Actually, what I think I would like is the ability to insult people on purpose instead of by accident. I just can't speak up when people need to be put in their place, instead I inadvertently insult nice people that I had no intention of insulting. Something else to work on!

I have so many books piled up to read, I may never get anything else done. I just finished "The Winding Ways Quilt" by Jennifer Chiaverini. This is a good series about quilters. I like the ones that take place in the present time, the historical ones are not as interesting to me.

I also just finished "Zen and the Art of Vampires" by Katie Macalister. This is a series that has some good books and some misses. This one was good, within the limits of the genre (vampire romance books). I don't read a lot of romance books, I find many of them to be the same, just change the names of the characters. I also get tired of the heroines being tiny virgins. Hello? Who do they think the market is made of? Not tiny virgins, I bet. Katie Macalister writes funny romances with heroines I can identify with. I loved "The Corset Diaries" and "Hard Days Knight". She also writes a series about people who are dragons and some young-adult stuff.

I'm in the middle of "The Witch's Grave" by Shirley Damsgaard. This is the sixth in the Abbey and Ophelia series. Not to-die for, but entertaining. Abbey is Ophelia's grandma and they are both psychics and solve mysteries. This won't take long to finish, which is good, because I have 2 books to read for my book clubs, and lots of new stuff is coming out.

I don't only read trashy and/or fluffy books. I mix it up with good-for-your-brain books. One good book I read over a year ago was "Love Letters to a Child" by Tracey Finck. This is a non-fiction book about journaling to your child. The author kept a notebook and wrote only positive things in it to her kid. The kid wrote back. She says it was sometimes the only way they communicated during difficult periods. When the child left for college, the journal was the first thing she packed. She told her mom that she read it over and over when she was sad or lonely. This is such a great idea! Wouldn't you love to have a book filled with nice stuff about you written by someone who knows you well? I ran right out and bought 2 journals to write to my boys. Problem is, I still haven't started them! (Oh goody, another resolution.....)

I went to a meeting last night, about the craft boutique. We met at Luann's house, so we could drink wine. I had never been to her house before, and when I got there, I thought there weren't enough cars, so I had the wrong house, so I backed down the driveway right into the ditch. ARGHH! "Hi, it's Kellet, I won't be staying as I have to go dig my car out of your ditch, but here's the appetizer I made!" In my defense, Luann says the driveway has a wicked curve and I'm not the first (or even the tenth) person to go in the ditch. Paul came and yanked me out with a log chain and his truck. I parked on the street. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't needed to be yanked out of a different snowbank on Sunday. Don't you think it is slipperier than usual?

Anyway, the ladies really liked the appetizer. I served it on a wooden plate and decided it looked like what elves bring to a potluck. It was lighter and different than all the holiday appetizers that I'm tired of.

Stuffed Pea Pods

Snow Pea pods (a handful or two)
flavored cream cheese (garden vegetable is nice)
Blanch the peas in boiling water for 15 seconds or so. You just want to take the raw edge off, not make them floppy. Scoop them out and dump into ice water to stop the cooking. Stick the tip of a knife into one end and slide it along the seam. Now you have a little canoe. Soften up the cream cheese (low fat would be fine) and pipe it into the pea pod with a cake decorating bag/tip. You can also use a zip-lock with the corner cut off, but it's not as fancy.