Showing posts with label Alice in Wonderland Cocktail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alice in Wonderland Cocktail. Show all posts

Friday, February 28, 2014

Miller Time Friday: Easy Reader





No, not that Easy Reader, much as I adore Morgan Freeman...

Nope, I'm talking about book reading and your favourite way to read a book these days.

You know I am loving being able to read for fun and learning and not just for information (I still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat thinking I haven't answered email #187!), but how where and when I read has changed now that I am - ahem - in my 50s.

Real books

Love em, need em, want them.  Nothing feels better than having a real book in your hand, does it?  This is what you'll find me mostly reading around the house.

Unless...

I need to resort to my e-reader. 


Why would I resort to my ereader?

  • The book is too heavy for me to hold in my arms in bed.  Anyone else suffer from this?  I like to lay down to read in bed, but there was no way I could have read The Luminaries or Mark Twain's autobiography!  Enter the ereader!

  • The font is too small.  Sigh.  I have a stronger prescription for the glasses I use in bed, but sometimes they're not even enough and then I resort to my kindle app and make the font NICE AND BIG.  This has its pluses and minuses.  The biggest plus is that I can read it.  The biggest minus is that suddenly I see that I will have 14,000 or so screens to get through and well, that's kind of intimidating. 

  • Travel.  An ereader is so easy on the plane.  You can have all your books with you and it's almost like you are wrapping yourself up in a cocoon of words.

  • I don't need to have that book in my library.  I find it very difficult to get rid of books.  Necessary, but difficult.  And there are some books from the get-go that I know I will only read once and I'm not sure if any of my friends will want to read Rob Lowe's autobiography or if I would have told them I bought his autobiography (well I just have..) and so I bought it on the kindle.  By the way, it was a good book.  Rob Lowe has very Zelig/Forrest Gump tendencies.  You'll have to read the book to know what I mean, though most of you can guess.

And then there is the whole choice of which ereader.  Kindle, kobo, Barnes and Noble's version, iPad.  I own a first generation kindle, but I prefer to sync it to my kindle app on my iPad, since it doesn't have backlighting and makes an odd clicking noise when I turn the page, which late at night appears to be a rather LOUD clicking noise and suddenly you have the sickening feeling you are in an Edgar Allan Poe story.... Did I say too much there?




Would love to hear what you are reading and how you are reading things these days!

I just finished Joseph Boyden's The Orenda, which was recommended to me by my friend Mary, who did a short review of it on her blog here.




I was mesmerized by this book.

It's part "Last of the Mohicans" meets "The Mission" meets sweeping epic.  I finished it on Saturday and I am still thinking about it.  Now I have to go back and read the rest of his work.

In honour of reading, and the fact that somewhere right now, I am likely having a glass of champagne with the Beast at his castle, let's have a cocktail shall we?


Alice and Wonderland (Drink me!)

Grab your cocktail shaker and fill it with ice.
Add 3/4 oz of Tequila, 3/4 oz of Orange Juice and 3/4 oz of Coffee Liqueur.
Shake and strain into a shot glass and serve.

Did someone just see the Cheshire Cat?

I'll be back Sunday, because you know that's my High Holy Holiday: THE OSCARS!!!


Man, I love that look...






 

Friday, October 11, 2013

Miller Time Friday - Nobel for a Noble Woman

As I write this post early on Friday morning, I am still brimming with pride. 

Yesterday, beloved and brilliant Canadian writer Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The Swedish Academy described her as the "Master of the Contemporary Short Story" and at 82, she becomes the first Canadian Woman to win the prize.

source
Alice did not begin her career until 37 - she gives all of us wanna-be middle aged writers hope.  Her short story collections are considered masterpieces and prior to this award, she had won just about every award that could be given in Canada, along with many prestigious prizes from other countries.

Alice announced earlier this year that she has written her last book.  Perhaps this award will make her rethink this - one can only hope.  Yesterday morning, immediately after the announcement, I listened as CBC news woke Alice up at 4 am (she was in British Columbia) to ask her thoughts on winning the Nobel.  She was humble, shocked and almost speechless.  She was wonderful. 

If you haven't read any of her work, get yourself to your local bookshop or the library - you will be glad you did!

Canada loves its writers and I can tell you that Alice's prize has everyone quite giddy here!

In honour of Alice and this new and exciting level of attention she is suddenly receiving, the recipe below seemed quite apropos:

Alice in Wonderland recipe

 
Scale ingredients to servings

Combine all three ingredients in equal parts in an old-fashioned glass.


Have you read any of Alice's books? 

We are going to have a couple of busy days - this is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend - lots of cooking in my future!

Have a great Friday and stay safe out there!