2017 10-19 Breaking Night by Liz Murray hosted by Carla

I'm so bad I didn't even read my own book that I fully intended to do and I do want to. My boss talked it up and said this is a good book for your book club so I better read it. Liz Murray came to CFISD as a guest motivational speaker.

Everyone that made out to the Hobbit Cafe say they loved the book and enjoyed it. Thanks for making the drive out. Surprisingly it only took about 45 minutes to get there in 5 o'clock traffic  Another good night of food friends.
One thing Jan noted was Breaking Night echoed the same scenario as the book The Glass Castle. She almost didn't read Breaking Night but was glad she read it I think I remember that right
The turning point for Liz was when her boyfriend started doing drugs. Her family started out rather normal but went down hill it quickly with their drug use and dependency. 
There were several questions/thoughts that were brought up at the meeting like

1. What happened to the sister Lisa who seemed to have it more together
2. Everyone agreed that not enough information was provided and left you wanting more answers
3. Why did she write the book? for profit?
4. How could she still love her parents and not be angry.

So I asked my boss Kim the questions since she was there and listened to Liz speak

1. Liz made no further mention of her sister really
2. Nothing to add here
3.  Yes she wrote the book for profit of course but she really wanted to help others and let them know they can be more than their environment. You can raise above.
4. As a parent of foster and now adopted children, Kim said that it seems no matter what the environment the parents provided the child seems to feel compelled to love, defend and protect those parents no matter how bad it was.

It might have been fun if we could have gotten Ms Murray to come to our meeting and answer all our questions. 

No one was at the meeting that was on the list to announce their book but we were lucky enough to have Sandy there for the first time in a long time and she had a book for us to read. It was great to see her again.

So her book choice is We were Liars by E Lockhart.

Sandy has instructed us ....

It doesn't take long to read...but if you come to the meeting and if you haven't finished it or haven't read it yet, just be warned---it will be totally spoiled! 

There are some revelations made in the book and you really won't want to hear about it before you read it!  That's all I can say!  Oh and don't google it!  :) 

Our meeting NEXT will be on Thursday,December 14th... Location to be announced.
Until our next meeting
Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere. ~ 

Your unofficial secretary/photographer

2017 08-17 Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie hosted by Barbara

Long Long over due review. Sorry Life has been really hectic. You'll be able to read all about that on my personal blog A Little of This A Little of That one day soon. 

Quick review. 

It was a small group that night but we had fun at Lupe Tortilla's on 1960. 
There was good food, good friends and of course discussion and laughter. Everyone enjoyed or was enjoying Barbara's book choice Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Barbara likes the way the author writes and felt the book was an easy read. She and others want to read Adichie's book "Under the Yellow Sun". 

Come to American the land of the free and the home of the brave then throw in a little racism and culture shock and you have a book and our main character has a blog. This book has love, courage, wit and captures the experience of one African becoming an American.

I'm one of those folks who needs finish reading even now.

That night announced my book choice...... Breaking Night by Liz Murray. Our next meeting will be October.

Next to choose was to be Cheryl, Deborah, Denise, Diana, Ed or Gaye

Until Next Book Club Blog (that is coming up shortly) .... "To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company."  -- André Gide

Your unofficial Secretary/Photographer

Carla

2017 06-24 The Sharper the Knife the Less YOU Cry hosted by Brenda

"The Sharper the Knife the Less you Cry" by Kathleen Flinn was the discussion for this meeting. If you didn't make this meeting you lost out big time. 

One of favorite Chef's Brenny along 
with her friend Chef Gabriella Vacca cooked 
us a homemade meal. OMG  We all figure that Jennifer was biting her lips that she couldn't be here for this meeting. 

The menu was 

Beouf Bourguignon (Brenda's adapted recipe)

Homemade Egg Noodles 

Homemade French bread

Summer Salad 

Crepes (probably strawberry and Nutella) with homemade whipped creme

Yum 

And she even had some wine. Imagine. Well worth the drive. Between the food, the friendship and discussions it was a great afternoon. 
Cliff was there and I think we amused him with all the conversations going on about everything and about the book. As always the conversation strayed from the book.

How many of us could do what Kathleen Flinn did? She lost her job as a middle manager, took her life savings at the encouragement of her boyfriend to fulfill a life long dream of going to the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris to become a Chef. I personally am not so sure I could handle the down right blistering sarcastic criticism those Chef's handed out during the class. And the language barrier to boot. One thing I'd want to do is video tape the class. LOL I don't think I could remember everything and my notes would be scribbles trying to keep up.
A bonus in the book is all the recipes she shares. Not sure how many I will try personally but I know there's a few of you who will try them out.
The book is about her journey not so much about the other characters in the book. And what a journey she had. We get to follow along as she learns to chop, dice, fillet, saute, braise and plate. And her description of poking out the fish eyes, the guts, the skinning of the rabbits, the screaming Chef's, the drinking after class gave us a ring eye view of a student at the famous cooking school. Everyone who had read or still reading really liked the book. It is a fun read for anyone who likes to read, cook and eat. This why Brenda chose this book, she thought it would be fun.
Moral of the story: Cooking is all about the ingredients and definitely become friends with your butcher. 

Thank you Brenda for hosting in your home and going to great lengths to provide us such a tasty meal. Oh Thank you Gabriella for your part in the cooking and prep. Glad you could join us. It was nice meeting you.
I wasn't exactly ready as I planned but Barbara was so I let her go ahead and announce her book.
And Barbara's choice was... Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Our next meeting will be Thursday August 16th and the location will be determined later
Next to choose will be Carla, Cheryl, Deborah, Denise, Diana, Ed or Gaye.
I'm gonna go find my book now before it gets packed away and put it with the door prizes I was supposed to hand out at the last meeting for the first three to RSVP. So Jan Brenda and Cheryl... eventually you'll get your deserved door prize. GRR I seem to have lost what little mind I had. Hugs y'all

Until the next meeting... Books are not furniture but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house~

Your forever unofficial secretary/photographer

2017 04-20 The After Party by Anton Disclafani.. hosted by Jennifer

The first 3 to reply to the EVITE were suppose to get a door prize at the meeting but dum-dumb here left the bags at home on the office floor. So Jan, Cheryl and Brenny.... Maybe I can remember to bring next time I see you. It was meant to make the meeting special. I mean we are in our 20th year of existence Thanks to Jan. 

Thank you Jennifer for sharing your home with us and the great food. Many of you haven't met Jennifer yet but she's a teacher and a cater'er. We told her that from now on she was doing the cooking for all our meetings. LOL   The theme was 50's night at the Shamrock. 



Gaye and Kathy came dressed to reflect the era and a night at the Shamrock.  

They looked perfect. Sorry I didn't get a good picture of Kathy. She brought some lacy white gloves for Gaye and she had some dainty pink ones for herself.






Now in the next couple of pictures you'll note the 3 -4 girls on the left were having a good ole time while I was getting my timer set up. LOL But you notice the 3 on the right was looking an smiling at the camera.  
There's always those people who just won't behave.   Just kidding. It was a great evening. And believe it or not I had my tripod, my camera battery was ready and I had my self timer half figured out.  It took a minute to get it working but YAY I did it.


Okay now the 3 on the right aren't paying attention.  I tell ya it's hard to find good photo subjects. LOL

First question at the start of dinner from Jennifer was "What did you think the book was about?" The answers I heard was dysfunctional family/friendships. The 2 main character Joan and Cece(also named Joan) became buddies that day in kindergarten.. Joan Fortiers was blond and beautiful while Cece was dark haired and good looking but she wasn't Joan. After Cece's mother died the Fortiers took Cece in. The girls remained friends into their 20's. While Cece married well, Joan remained wild and uncontrollable. They bought their clothes at Battlestein's and Sakowitz and went to the Shamrock Hotel regularly. Okay so I shopped at Battlestein's and Sakowitz and I spent some time at the Shamrock pool with my one of my boyfriends in college but I never tried the high diving board. The boyfriends family had membership at the pool or club. That was many years ago and I don't remember which or how but I sure didn't have the money that the girls had. I even worked at Sakowitz. The discount allowed me to shop there. LOL
Anyway Cece seemed to be obsessed with Joan and her secretive wild life. Joan was known to do what she wanted, when she wanted and however she wanted and was always the center of attention. Their friendship tended to be one sided once they hit their teens but Cece just couldn't fly on her own it seems. Cece's life was all about Joan. Worrying about her, thinking about her and cleaning up Joan's messes. I kind feel Cece may have had a girl crush but did she act on it? I haven't finished the book so you tell me.

How many of you figured out what the big issue was between Joan and her football boyfriend and why she disappeared? mmmmm
Some at the meeting never even thought about it and others knew exactly what was going on.
I believe everyone really liked this book and of course everyone loved the mention of familiar landmarks in the Houston/River Oaks area. 

Tidbits Club: 

• Remember Jan wanted to know why her friend ever recommended her book choice Accordian Crimes.... well the friend liked the wording and how it all came together..
• Not our next book but Cheryl said we should read "Crimes Against a Book Club" by Kathy Cooperman.  sounds fun!

And now for Brenda's book choice for the June meeting....

"The Sharper the Knife the Less you Cry" by Kathleen Flinn.

Back row l-r  Brenny, Jan, Diana, Jennifer& Harlow, Gaye Cheryl, ME
Front and Center Kathy

And look my self timer did work. See all present and account for in the picture. Including me. 

Next to choose will be Carla, Cheryl, Deborah, Denise, Diana, Ed or Gaye... My Hope  is that one of us will be there and/or ready to announce the next book. 

**I'm not going to continue keeping up with who missed their turn to chose and go back.  I'll just keep going going down the list and you'll have to wait until we come back around to your name. Those present agreed.

That's it for now.. Until June  

2017 02-16 Why Not Me by Mindy Kaling hosted by Kathy

Last night was loud with all the conversation and discussions going on. If you weren’t able to join us at Kathy’s for her book “Why Not Me?” by Mindy Kaling you missed some good food and awesome friendship time. And the food was very yummy...quiche .. salad .. fruit with whipped creme and nuts. And Kathy also served chocolate cupcakes with an oreo cookie and nuttella in the center. mmmmm 
Thanks Kathy for hosting in your home.

As always conversations were flying. Had to laugh and comment at one point because at some point the conversations used to turn to who got drunk where and when or who went out with whom but now it’s all about what hurts and various remedies we’ve tried. LOL.  OH How we have evolved.

We had a special guest join us last night….. Lance, Our sweet crazy Cindy’s brother.  You could definitely tell they were siblings but he was calmer and he told us he’s less quirky. LOL. It was great meeting him. Maybe if he's still here in April he'll join us again.  

Cheryl was the first to ask if she was the only one who had never heard of Mindy Kaling. Well several said no and some said yes. Once I realized she was the girl in the tv series “office” then I sorta knew who she was. And she couldn’t believe we didn’t know more of her since she goes to state dinners and gives talks at Harvard.

Some of the reviews stated that the book was hilarious but Kathy had to say she didn’t find it all that funny but it was an easy read, especially after the last book that some found very depressing.. Oh saying that.. Jan did you ever find out why the person that recommended this book to you loved it so much?

I read something Mindy wrote and think it kinda said it all. Mindy heard people said they were tired of hearing how great she thought she was or they just don’t like her or she looked different but it's not that she thought she was great it was she just didn’t hate herself. Mindy does and says crazy stuff all the time and sometimes she even regrets it but decided not to let it ruin her. Her thought is that People are sometimes uncomfortable around women who don’t hate themselves. Mindy says your tiny bit of bravery.

Mindy has been told she didn’t look like most actress’s meaning she wasn’t white, skinny and beautiful. Now I personally think she’s pretty. Anyway TV is evolving and actors and actresses don’t have to be all the stereo type.  Perfect example, look at the characters on “This is Us” on channel 2 Tuesday nights. Most everyone but not all knew the show and love love it. If you have seen it you need to check it out.  Anyway what it takes is confidence in yourself and a tiny bit of bravery to make it in the world in whatever you do.

From what I was reading I'd say this is her motto:

Work hard, know your shit, show your shit, and then feel entitled. Listen to no one except the two smartest and kindest adults you know, and that doesn’t always mean your parents. If you do that, you will be fine. 

Brenny had an advantage on this book… she listened to it and it was Mindy’s voice. She thought it made a differenct but also thought the book was rather superficial. She would have hated to be the guy who worked for Obama or Mindy’s best friend. Mindy spared nothing and told all.

Jan started off wanting to know more about Mindy while reading the book but now she’s over it. LOL

After reading this and talking about NY Diana thinks it’s time for a field trip to NY. It’s a thought folks. Oh and she extended an invite to her daughter’s wedding that’s coming up in September. Sounds fun fun

Our newest member Jennifer came back for another meeting. We didn’t scare her off. YAY. She was one of the folks on the list to announce a book and was at the meeting soooo….

She announced her book choice last night….. “The After Party” by Anton Disclafani.  Our next meeting will be at her home on April 20^th. Oh and the theme that night will be the 50’s. The book is about the Houston social scene in the River Oaks area I believe is what she said. Get to reading folks.

Until April 

Your unofficial secretary/photographer