Sunday, January 10, 2016

Snapshot from Along the Broken Road: 2016 - Week 1

Checking in for the week of January 3 through January 9.

WHAT I READ |
I Do (But I Don't) (Cara Lockwood) - This was basically the book form of a chick flick--different from what I'd consider chick lit, if that makes sense. Total fluff. Completely predictable. But also surprisingly enjoyable. The writing style was easy to read and the characters were, for the most part, likable (or at least entertaining). The book had some parts that were silly (much like any chick flick would), but there were a few good nuggets in there to appreciate. While this book isn't winning any awards, ever, light, fluffy reads have their place too. I'll be looking for the followup book as well, at some point.

WHAT WE ATE|
We pulled some loaded potato soup out of the freezer. T requested some spaghetti and meatballs. We had some various leftovers in the refrigerator that lent themselves to making tacos. And then we tried two new recipes that we liked a lot, that I need to record on my recipe blog: Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff and Italian-Style Stuffed Meatloaf.

CANDLE SCENTS|
Balsam and Cedar (YC) - Making the Christmas tree scent carry through the whole house (because the bedroom is too far away to smell the real thing).
White Christmas (YC) - I was sad about taking the tree down, so I decided to change out the scent in our bedroom. I love that this smells like "cold air."
North Pole (YC) - A hint of vanilla, a hint of mint.
Mistletoe (YC) - Possibly my favorite "smells like a tree" scent.
Hazelnut Coffee (YC) - This just smells so warm and cozy.
Season of Peace (YC) - Light and clean, but like winter.
Merry Marshmallow (YC) - This one burns near my spot in the living room. It's so light, you can't even smell if you're not close by.

WHAT THIS WEEK LOOKED LIKE|
New month, new calendar at work! Charleston is a city I'd love to visit someday...


I cannot even believe last year's poinsettia that we potted survived a whole year, much less is trying to bloom again!


I fought a mild head cold for the first two-thirds of the week. But that didn't stop me from laying on the couch and admiring the tree for the very last few minutes of the Christmas season.


This was my favorite view of the tree, because it was reflected in the sliders and the mirror and oh, how I love the lights.


High thin clouds,



When they're wispy like this, I assume it's because there is a lot of wind high in the atmosphere. I love how they look though, even if that's not really why.


Super dense fog on Saturday morning.


Decided to change up the calendar at home. My old Four Seasons calendar changed artists a few years ago and I just never warmed up to the new one. Disney retro poster art it is!

8 with their own thoughts:

Nichole M Monday, January 11, 2016 1:16:00 AM  

Charleston is a WONDERFUL city. Up and coming foodie town. Full of history.

~**Dawn**~ Monday, January 11, 2016 6:17:00 AM  

Nichole: Every time I see photos of it, I always think how pretty it looks too!

penuttpie Wednesday, January 13, 2016 7:31:00 PM  

Yay! You're back! I'm so excited :)

~**Dawn**~ Wednesday, January 13, 2016 8:14:00 PM  

G: You're so good for my ego. ;-)

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane Thursday, January 14, 2016 5:38:00 PM  

Another great post, look who's back to regular blogging :) I really need to do something like this.. instead, I let time slip by and end up doing a 2-3 month update. Ugh.

Love both calendars! You and T need to drive up to Savannah and Charleston and visit. We've done Savannah and Tybee Island, which we loved, but ran out of time for Charleston.

Yummy on the food, looking forward to the recipes. I'm such a soup girl, the potato soup sounds great. Unfortunately, Mr. Meat and Potatoes will be very sweet and eat whatever soup I make the first time, but then skips it for lunches and never wants it for dinner again. So big pots of soup don't always work great for me, since I end up eating the whole darn thing. The exceptions: heavy meat soups like chili and taco soup.

Have a great week!

~**Dawn**~ Thursday, January 14, 2016 7:53:00 PM  

Stacy: So far, so good, two weeks in, anyway. ;-) I used to do these monthly, but I decided to switch it up to weekly in 2015. I really like the weekly format. I start my post framework on Sunday and just revisit it throughout the week, adding the details. When I get to Sunday, I post it and start the new one immediately. I feel like it keeps me immersed so I'm more likely to follow through and less likely to forget details. Ha.

I would love to visit both of those places! And Washington DC. And...so many places. LOL

You know what you need to do?? Freeze yourself single-sized portions of the leftover soup! Then, when you want to heat one up for lunch, invert the (still sealed) container, stick it under a running faucet just til it releases its hold on the container so you can pop it into a covered pot, and it thaws and heats up in no time! We freeze almost all our soups, because the recipes all seem to make 6-10 servings!

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane Friday, January 15, 2016 12:34:00 PM  

Dawn - You even freeze potato based soups? And the potatoes aren't all weird and wonky when you that it out? I probably do need to try that. Tim just won't do leftovers on soup, but he's all over anything meat based. He'll eat leftovers of tacos or meatloaf or chili for a week or more! Yes, way past what they recommend, and we haven't flopped over yet, LOL!

I need to find something that works for me to get back to regular blogging. I might either swipe your idea or maybe the one you posted today, the Friday one. That one might require more thinking though, LOL!

:)

~**Dawn**~ Friday, January 15, 2016 1:20:00 PM  

Stacy: The secret to potato based soup is not to freeze the potato chunks! Just like with pasta in some soups, it's better to add it fresh. So we just boil up a couple cubed potatoes while the frozen soup is reheating and pop them into the soup when it's hot! ;-) The potatoes that are cooked into the soup itself don't get weird because they're basically cooked into the liquid. I do the same thing for pastas in soup, because I feel like they get bloated and mushy. There are a couple soup recipes that just won't freeze well. It's trial and error.

Sometimes I do my "Friday five" in a theme, which does take a little forethought. Other times, though, I just do five random bullet points. I allow myself to be flexible!

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