PBG Book Club: The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb

We read this book for my book club.  It was not my favourite book.  It seemed like more of a "story" than a novel.  I also found it a little confusing keeping all the the characters straight.  I thought it was interesting and tells an important story bur just not very compelling   It also gave me a new perspective on what is/was happening in Vietnam which is a country I know very little about.

 

The next bookclub read is The Orphan Sister by Gwendolen Gross.

Some books on my shelf I have been meaning to tackle:

When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman

World War Z by Max Brooks (yes, this is about Zombies!)

I just love a good book.  What are yu reading right now?  I am always looking for suggestions.

PBG Recipe: Best. Brownies. Ever.

Last week I made the world’s best brownies, for the second time.  I made them the first time for the family to try.  I had never made brownies before but I know that I like my brownies to be fudgy, not cakey.  I also like them to be very rich and chocolaty with the added crunch of nuts.  After searching the web for the perfect recipe I came up with my interpretation of brownies.  And, if I do say so myself, they were easy and super tasty.  These will certainly be my go-to recipe for an easy chocolate treat.  They are the perfect compliment to vanilla ice cream.

Make these now.  You won’t regret it. 

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted or salted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup dark chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350°.  Line a 9-inch square baking tin with two pieces of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on each side.  Lightly grease the parchment paper with butter or cooking spray.

2.  Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat.   Add the chocolate and with a spatula, stir over low heat until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat.

3.  Whisk in the sugar until well combined.

4.  Whisk in eggs one at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

5.  Using a fine-mesh sieve, sift in the flour.  Whisk batter vigorously for 1 full minute, until batter loses its graininess and becomes smooth and glossy, and pulls away from the sides of the saucepan.

6.  Add the chopped nuts and with the wooden spoon, stir to combine.

7.  Pour batter into prepared baking tin and bake for about 30 minutes, until the centre feels almost set, do not over-bake.

Summer Reading List and an Apology

For starters I want to apologize to the few of you who do read my blog.  Life has been crazy and I have been in a bit of a funk lately so blogging took a bit of a back burner. 

To make it up to you I want to give some reading inspiration.  These are some of the books I have either already read or plan to read this summer.  The list is long and diverse.  With no television reading has become my primary source of entertainment and I am not complaining one bit.  Here are some of my recent favourites and upcoming reads.

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett (one of my top 5 favourite books of all time!!!)
• Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay (so sad)
• The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson (so interesting!)

• Every Last One by Anna Quindlan (just finished, started slow but finished strong)
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (currently reading)
• The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha (funny, quick read)

• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (next on the list for my book club)
• No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (I read The Road and can't wait to read this)
• The Success Principles by Jack Caufield (recommended by a friend)

 So, do any of these sound interesting?  What will you be reading on the beach this summer?

PBG Book Club: These Books Changed My Life

About a year ago a friend of mine suggested I read a few books he had recently read.  He told me that he had read them recently and they had changed his perspective on food and exercise in a big way.  I have always tried to be healthy and active, and generally speaking I think I have been mostly sucessful.  I am the kind of person that read everything, love to learn and I am always looking for a new perspective, so I borrowed the books and started to read.

I can honestly say the following two books changed my life.  I know that is a big statement.  And, for the most part I am not a dramatic person.  But, the following books really did have a huge impace on my life and the choices I choose to make going forward.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall



 

If you haven't read these books, you should. They will open your eyes to some issues and ideas that you may not have thought of on your own.  Now, don't worry, this is not a book report.  I don't want to bore you to death with too many specifics or details but what I will do is highlight the points that hit home for me.

In Defence of Food
Eat food.  Mostly plants.  Not too much.  Sounds so simple, doesn't it?  Pollan keeps coming back to this point over and over again throughout the book.  But, if it was so simple why aren't we all doing it?  I am not a vegatarian, and I don't plan to be. But, thanks to Pollan I am now a Flexitarian.  If you are like me and had no clue what a Flexitarian is then let me explain.  A Flexitarian is a vegetarian, most of the time but occasionally eats meat and other animal products.  I can do that, I thought.  And I did.  I still eat meat, but not every day.  I rarely buy processed foods and I try to buy local when I can.  Pollan offers a lot of information and statistics about food production, nutrition and the business of food.  There are so many scary statistics it is mind boggling...even a little overwhelming but it does make you think.  A lot.  I could not stop talking about this book after I read it. 

Born to Run
Born to run documents the epic adventure of the author, Christopher McDougall, that all begins when he questions why he can't run without pain.  This question leads him to discover the Taramahura tribe in Mexico who seem to have a superhuman ability to run very long distances with frightening ease just for fun. We meet an inspiring cast of characters including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder.  Each character offers his or her perspective on running and offer some amazing inspiration along the way.  As I have discussed before, I do not consider myself a real runner.  But this book is so inspiring it makes me WANT to love running.  It makes me WANT to get out there and just pound the pavement.  Even if you are not a runner you should read this book.  I promise, you will be inspired.  I could not put this book down, it was that good. 

When read together these books had the power to change my entire mindset regarding food and exercise.  Food should be real and exercise should feel good.  While these might seem like pretty straight forward concepts I think sometimes we lose sight of the obvious.  Trying to strike a balance between what is good for me and what is good for the planet can be tough.  Right now, I am making small changes everyday to the best of my ability.  Big changes are scary...small changes are easy.  So, what does that mean for me?  That means, that right now my food choices are based 50% on nutrition and 50% on ethics.  It means that I eat less meat and I am making more of an effort to know where my food comes from and how it is treated.  It also means that I have to exercise consistantly to maintain my health but I do not have to run a marathon or even run any races to be happy with my level of fitness. 

I hope you take the time to read these books.  They changed my life, maybe they can change yours.  The next book on my radar is Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I saw an interview with him this morning on television and I am interested to read his perspective on eating animals.

Have you read any books that changed your life?

PBG Book Club: Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos

I am currently reading Belong to Me by Marisa de Santos.  It was a great find by my mother in her office book exchange.  Even though I haven't finished this book I highly recommend it to any 30-something women out there who are on the verge of starting a family. 

A Quick Summary
Cornelia Brown a born and raised city girl moves to the suburbs with her husband Teo, the very handsome doctor. She is quickly tested by her very stereotypical, overly judgmental neighbor Piper Truitt—the embodiment of everything Cornelia feared she'd find in suburbia. Thankfully Conelia quickly bonds with another new addition to the neighbourhood, Lake and her son Dev.  However, time son shows us who Cornelia's real friends are.

My Take on It
This book (so far!) has been fantastic.  I can totally relate to the main character, Cornelia.  I envision her to be about the same age as me, and while I am not married to a hunky doctor (although I am living in sin with a hot to trot budding Ironman instead) I can relate to where she is in her life and her expectations of her future.  I can also relate to her need to have strong female relationships.  Having moved back to my home town after living in Toronto for 9 years I struggle to establish strong female friendships.  Cornelia's run-ins with Piper are classic - you just cringe when she enters the scene. 

I do not usually read these kinds of books but for some reason as soon as I picked up this book I was hooked.  I am about 2/3rds of the way through the book and the most recent twist is riveting.  Marisa de los Santos has a style that is easy to read and draws you in.  Unlike so many characters in modern writing, her characters are easy to relate to.  You can see yourself in them, and that makes for a story you can relate to.