MamaPie

Presents and Chocolate on the Brain

I remembered a few more of the neat presents received around here. These balls are lots of fun and these stars are pretty, can be used in all sorts of ways (one of the keys, I'm realizing of a "successful toy").Thanks to Uncle Neal and Aunt Sheila for both of these. This memory game is also great: very portable, visually pleasing and you can play a round in 5 minutes or so. What have been the favorite gifts at your house (for you Chanukah people) and what are you excited to see opened (for the xmas folks)?

The only books I buy are cookbooks. All the other things I read are from the library. I'm glad I just wrote that because it reminded me that I want to make a donation to the Multnomah County Library in thanks for giving our family so much pleasure in the form of books (and a few CDs) this past year. We must check out over 300 items a year. I sometimes can't believe the good luck of having such a wonderful library system and of having a branch two blocks away from our house. In New York, I bought myself a new cookbook : The Craft of Baking. It's visually beautiful and full of delicious sounding baked goods and candies. I've never made candy before, but am inspired. I will be making milk chocolate truffles with cocoa nibs and honeycomb brittle tonight. I'll report back.

Best Books of the Year?

I just read this in the New York Times. None of them sound super interesting to me, although a friend recommended Imperial Life in the Emerald City, so I may check that out (I have felt woefully out of touch with politics and current events for the past three years since Ezra's birth) and Little-Heathens also sounds intriguing.

The best book I've read this year is definitely Away by Amy Bloom (which I already raved about here). Also good were The Emperor's Children and Eat, Pray, Love, which I'm reading right now.

Favorite cookbooks that I've used this year (none of them were published this year and they've pretty much been my favorite cookbooks for the past few years) are How to Cook Everything,  The Best Recipe and Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables. I also started using - and liking alot - Butter, Sugar, Flour, Eggs. It was a gift from my mother-in-law a few years ago, but I didn't get into it until recently. The banana bread in it is fantastic. I look forward to using it more when our kitchen is done...in about 6 weeks!

What's your favorite book you've read this year? What cookbooks got lots of stains and sticky pages in your kitchen this year?