Monday, January 28, 2013

Monday Malarkey - On the Road Again



We did yet another quick up-and-back trip to Oxford and Memphis, this weekend.  I would have insisted on skipping Memphis entirely but delightful author Alex George renewed our determination to find an international grocery store because . . . remember that Jamie Oliver book I got?  Jamie's Food Revolution?  Mr. Oliver uses a lot of chiles and spices that are not quite as common as he must imagine.  We can find some of what we need, but we've been having a heck of a time finding variety and had pretty much given up the search. But, we decided to check out an international grocery store in Memphis after Alex posted a photo of the chiles he'd purchased, nudging us into continuing our search.  Thanks, Alex.



We didn't just buy peppers, but aren't they pretty?  We got spices, sushi rice and wrappers, watercress and bok choy, Japanese pickles (the kind that are eaten with rice), Asian eggplant, a papaya and a coconut . . . oh, did we have fun!  Too bad Memphis isn't just a tiny bit closer . . . like an hour away rather than 4.  We also spotted some beautiful, lacy clouds.  I can't bear to crop this picture:



There was a full moon, this weekend, but cloud cover kept me from doing my full moon photography assignment.  Fortunately, we just happened to arrive in Water Valley during Blue Hour.




Blue Hour photography is so fun!  I wish I'd learned about it 20 years ago.

Book-wise, I've been reading the same book all weekend:  The Tutor's Daughter by Julie Klassen, an exceptionally well-written Regency romance from Bethany House.  There's so much happening in this book -- a little love triangle, a great setting (the coast of Cornwall), some spooky happenings, a perky "ward", a nasty stepmother.  Totally captivating writing.

Recent Arrivals:


  • Lonely Planet British Columbia & the Canadian Rockies and
  • Lonely Planet Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest - both purchased for vacation planning
  • Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - received a box of 15 books for my F2F Book Group to read from Hatchette (I've read a little bit and I can tell it's going to be a fascinating read). We'll discuss Life After Life at our February meeting. Everyone's jazzed, so it should be fun.
  • Wooby and Peep by Liu & Peterson - unsolicited from Sterling Children's and already read; will do a Children's Day post in the next couple of weeks.
  • The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin - via Paperback Swap

That's about all that's going on in my world.  No malarkey.  Well, not much, anyway.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

8 comments:

  1. I would much rather visit a fancy grocery store instead of a designer clothing store. I usually have to drive about 2 hours to get to metro Detroit to find the really cool grocery stores, but it is definitely worth the drive. One even has a wine dispenser, so you can sip a bit of wine while shopping for exotic fruit and veggies. Love it!

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    1. Same here, Janel. You're in Michigan? Lucky! We lived in Ann Arbor for a year, back in the days when Whole Foods had a different name. I can't even remember it, anymore. Ann Arbor is a great place for people who love food. We didn't make it into Detroit often enough to get to know it.

      LOL A wine dispenser?! Too cool!!!

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  2. Oh, I love me a good regency romance. Love the pics.

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    1. You've got to read The Tutor's Daughter, Jenny. It's so good. I just finished it about an hour ago and immediately wrote my review.

      Thanks! I've been having fun with Ye Olde Camera, lately. Can you tell? :)

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  3. Your post has really made me appreciate the variety that the grocery store in my small town provides. I think there are two reasons why it carries more exotic foods: there's a small state school in the adjacent town with a spectrum of international students, and our town is about 50% Hispanic; so we get a lot of neat Asian and Latino foods.

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    1. Oh, yes, you're definitely fortunate. We have some international foods in our town -- things are improving! -- and it's only a 30-mile drive to the Asian grocery but variety is certainly lacking. We bought tons of dried chiles, too, so that ought to keep us going for a while!

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  4. Hooray Canadian Rockies, Lonely Planet guide. You can't go wrong there, or here -- should I say. happy travels.

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    1. You're in the Canadian Rockies? Oooh, envy! Thanks!

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