Here I am again to do a little Blogmas Wrap-Up. I had so much fun writing and uploading a post each day from December 1st until the 24th. I received lovely comments and amazing feedback and highly enjoyed having a countdown to Christmas on the blog.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Day 23
I know that today's post is a bit late but I was out celebrating Christmas with my friends yesterday evening and forgot to write a blogpost before that. But better late than never, right?
It is a
possibility for us to show what amazing books we got during the week.
I got a wonderful book from a wonderful friend yesterday evening. Usually my friends are not brave enough to give me books as presents but yesterday I got one.
German version
English version
Ever since Jacob
Reckless was a child, he has been escaping to a hidden world through a
portal in his father's abandoned study. Over the years, he has made a
name for himself as a finder of enchanted items and buried secrets. He's
also made many enemies and allies--most important, Fox, a beautiful
shape-shifting vixen whom Jacob cares for more than he lets on. But
life in this other world is about to change. Tragedy strikes when
Jacob's younger brother, Will, follows him through the portal. Brutally
attacked, Will is infected with a curse that is quickly transforming him
into a Goyl--a ruthless killing machine, with skin made of stone. Jacob
is prepared to fight to save his brother, but in a land built on
trickery and lies, Jacob will need all the wit, courage, and reckless
spirit he can summon to reverse the dark spell--before it's too late.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Day 22
Recipe: Rum Truffles
My grandma published a cookbook way back in 1983 where she gathered many recipes typical for Lower Austria (one of the nine different areas in Austria). Each and every member in our family has a copy of this cookbook and it is where today's recipe for rum truffles is from.
What you'll need:
100 grams of coconut oil
150 grams of icing sugar
40 grams of cocoa powder
40 grams of ground coconut (you can use ground nuts too)
30 grams of flour
1 tsp. of rum
Melt the coconut oil in a pot or the microwave, combine all the ingreditents and mixwell. Form the dough into a ball and put it in the fridge to cool down.
When the dough has cool down, form little truffles out of it, roll them in the decoration of your choice (I used ground coconut) and put them into small paper cups (like the ones used for muffins but smaller).
Put them back into the fridge and let them chill for a bit longer.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Day 21
Next week's topic will be:
Christmas / Weihnachten
Please link
you post to mine in time. Submission period is between the 21st and the 29th of December. (11:59 pm CET)
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Day 20
Last week's Photochallenge topic was
Winter
and here is my picture.
We had some snow last week here in Vienna but sadly it's all gone now due to the usual thaw around Christmas. It's quite warm here at the moment but the last days there was a steady drizzle falling from the fog. Not nice! Today is better though.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Day 19
Review
The Big Over Easy
by Jasper Fforde
First
sentences:
It was
the week following Easter in Reading
and no one could remember the last sunny day.
Summary:
In The
Big Over Easy, Fforde takes a break from classic literature and tumbles
into the seedy underbelly of nursery crime. Meet Inspector Jack Spratt, family
man and head of the Nursery Crime Division. He’s investigating the murder of
ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Dumpty, found shattered to death beneath
a wall in a shabby area of town. Yes, the big egg is down, and all those
brittle pieces sitting in the morgue point to foul play.
The Big
Over Easy is the first book in The Nursery Crime series and it is a typical
Jasper Fforde book – super funny, entertaining and a bit weird.
I always
need a bit of time (about 30 pages) until I am fully in my, what I call,
“surreal books reading phase”. Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde are the two
authors where I need to get into the right mood to read the books. The Big Over
Easy was everything I hoped for and a lot more.
The book
mainly tells the story of the Nursery Crime Division of the Reading police department and their current
case which in this book was the murder of Mr. Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III.
I love reading mysteries (nothing cruel just the light ones) and I try to guess
who was the murderer but there was no way to solve this particular mystery. We
as readers always follow DI Jack Spratt and his new DS Mary Mary.
Both main
characters are well portrayed and especially Jack is a highly amusing
character. For me he was the perfect DI for the Nursery Crime Division. He is
loyal to his team, always tries to safe the NCD from being cut but he has flaws
too. His biggest must be that he killed four giants-well, only one; the other
ones were just tall. Mary Mary is the new Sergeant in Reading and she hopes to be part of the team
from famous Friedland Chimes but is partnered with Jack which annoys her
tremendously. Still she does her best work and learns to love the NCD and the
team working there.
If you like
Terry Pratchett’s books you will like this one too. You cannot compare the two
worlds or writing styles but from the level of absurdity (which should not be
understood as bad) they are pretty similar.
The Books
in the Nursery Crimes Adventures are:
The Big Over Easy
The Fourth Bear
For more
information about Jasper Fforde visit his Homepage, his Facebook and Twitter
pages.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
This week the girls at The Broke and Bookish want to know my:
Top Ten Books I Read In 2012
I read so many really fantastic books this year and it was a lot harder
than I thought narrowing it down to the best 10. I’m pretty sure I could have
managed a list of my Top 20 Books.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Review
The Land
of Stories: The Wishing
Spell
by Chris Colfer
First
sentences:
The
dungeon was a miserable place.
Summary:
Alex and
Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that
uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic
fairy tales.
"The Land of
Stories" tells the
tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished
book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign
land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale
characters they grew up reading about.
But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike,
getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.
Through all
my bookish Twitter friends I was able to second hand experience this year’s
Book Expo America (BEA) that took place in New York City at the beginning of June. Via
Live-Stream I saw a panel with Chris Colfer in it and I was really puzzled. Why
was an actor I knew from Glee on a book panel? So I watched it and discovered
that he wrote a book called The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell.
In October
I saw it on the shelf in my local bookstore and bought it. I wasn’t sure what
to expect but I was willing to give it a try. I flew through the book (438
pages) in just one and a half days where I did nothing besides reading and
studying for an exam and I have to say that it was a light entertaining read.
The book
deals with a totally new take on fairy tales, fairy tale characters and the
land all of them live in. Connor and Alex fall into the Land of Stories
via their father’s old fairy tale book and to get home again they have to
collect items for a wishing spell. During their treasure hunt they encounter
many fairy tale characters and adventures.
The
characters are really lovely and all the different fairy tale characters are
hilarious. Red Riding Hood, for example, is queen of the Red Riding Hood Kingdom
and she is the only elected queen in the whole country. Unfortunately she
behaves like such a spoilt and arrogant brat that no other fairy tale princess
wants to invite her to their meetings.
The story
itself is entertaining and you always want to know who it continues. I had a
hard time stopping and had to force myself sometimes to put the book down to go
study. The illustrations by Brandon Dorman are so beautiful and reminded me a
lot of those typical fairy tale books.
I would
categorize it as a middle grade book but definitely suitable for all ages. If
you are looking for a quick and entertaining book filled with a wonderful story
than I can recommend it.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Recipe: Baked Apples
Let me tell
you a little secret – I don’t like fruit, except for berries and peaches but I
like baked apples during winter. When I was little the Sundays during Advent
were always really special. We would light a candle on our Advent wreath, sing
Christmas songs (dad plays the guitar) and have either tea and cookies or baked
apples. So they are part of my holiday season tradition.
They are
really easy to make, can be prepared in advance and are so yummy!
What you’ll
need:
Don't use overly sweet and juicy apples. They will only dissolve into juice in the oven.
Chop the
nuts and dried cranberries until they are as big as the raisins and mix raisins,
nuts and cranberries with jelly of your choice (I used elder). Remove the apple
core from the apple, drop a knob of butter through the hole and fill it the
raisins, nuts, cranberries and jelly.
Put some butter on top and pop it into a
hot oven at 200°C / 393°F for 30 to 45 minutes (until the apple is soft). Put
it on a plate, wait for approximately 5 minutes to let it cool a bit – it will
still be extremely hot – and serve it with a generous amount of ice cream.
Flavors
that go really well with the baked apples are Vanilla (or any kind of Vanilla
variation – we had vanilla eggnog) and Walnut.
I hope you’ll
enjoy your baked apples and tell me in the comments if there is something (to
eat) that you need to get into a Christmassy mood.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Christmas
Films
Christmas
time is the time for snuggling up on the couch with tea and Christmas cookies
either reading a lovely Christmas novel (check out my recommendations) or
watching a Christmassy movie. The following four are my favorites.
The Holiday
starring:
Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black
The Holiday
is a wonderful comedy telling the story of Iris, an English journalist, and
Amanda, a movie producer from sunny Los
Angeles. Both women got their heart broken (one more,
one less) and decide to swap houses. While Amanda struggles with the English
winter and Iris’ brother, Iris enjoys her time in LA tremendously.
The Holiday is a funny feel-good movie and Kate Winslet and
Cameron Diaz are absolutely fabulous in it.
Love…Actually
starring: a
huge amount of fabulous actors, like Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth
Who doesn’t
know Love…Actually, the first of many movies with multiple storylines linked
with each other. The has to be the number 1 Christmas movie! Hugh Grant as the
British Prime Minister, Emma Thompson as a mother of two and wife of Alan
Rickman, who clearly has no idea how lucky he is the have her and many more.
If you
haven’t seen this movie (this year) go and watch it – it is the best way to get
into holiday spirit.
The
interactions between Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman are just hilarious and Joe
Jr. the landlord’s son might be the best character in this whole movie. If you
are looking for an entertaining and wonderful Christmassy movie, than pick this
one up.
New Year’s
Eve
starring:
Jessica Biel, Lea Michelle, Ashton Kutcher, Robert DeNiro and many more
Okay, New
Year’s Eve isn’t a Christmas movie but it still deals with the holiday season.
We follow many characters around New
York City on New Year’s Eve looking for love,
forgiveness or for a way to tackle their list of resolutions before the ball
drops.
New Year’s
Eve would be a wonderful movie to watch on the 31st of December or
any time between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It is a wonderful mixture of
stories and funny episodes but be warned: At one point I cried like crazy but
still this movie is worth watching.
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Next week's topic will be:
Winter
Please link
you post to mine in time.
Submission period is between the 14th and the 22nd of December
(11:59 pm CET).
Last week's topic was:
Red and Green
and this is my picture:
my wonderful Advent Calendar with a red poinsettia
Every day from December the first until Christmas Eve I will accompany
with one Christmas related post, giving you gift ideas, tips, recipes, etc. I
hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy Coming up with posts and writing
them.
Review
Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares
by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
First
sentences:
Imagine
this:
You’re
in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves. You get to the section where
a favorite author’s books reside, and there, nestled in comfortably between the
incredibly familiar spines, sits a red notebook.
What do
you do?
Summary:
“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
Lily has
left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting
for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that
right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and
desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their
in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will
they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?
It is
really hard for me to pin down what exactly I like so much about this book –
it’s just a wonderful, feel-good book about two teens in New York City. Rachel
Cohn and David Levithan created a wonderful story with lovely characters, which
have their faults and the overall concept of Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is
really great.
The story
begins with a red notebook hidden on the shelves of The Strand, a well known New York City bookstore
and a teenage boy finding it. Is there a better start for a book? I am obsessed
with books (obviously) and notebooks; so here are two of my favourites combined.
The story
is told from Lily’s and Dash’s point of view alternating with each chapter.
David Levithan wrote the story of Dash and Rachel Cohn Lily’s and through this
we as readers get two very different characters and very different ways of
seeing the world, which I think makes this book even better. The writing style
of those two isn’t completely different (they already wrote two other books
together) but there are some fine differences that brings Dash and Lily even
more to life.
This book
is set during Christmas time in New
York City but it does not specifically deal with Christmas.
The holidays just frame the story. So you can read it either now during those
cold pre-Christmassy days or after the holidays – it perfectly fits the cold
season.
Dash &
Lily’s Book of Dares got a lot of hype during last year’s holiday season and during
this year’s too and I think this is one of those novels were the hype is truly
legitimate.
If you are
looking for a wonderful, up-beat book about two teenagers, their way of coping
with being alone during the holidays, their different world views and
heart-warming conversations between them, you should definitely give this book a
try.
