♥ Bo·he·mi·an Spon·ta·ne·i·ty ♥

Roasted Delicata Squash

Happy fall everyone! Adam loves squash so on our last grocery run we picked up one of the pretty squashes. A little olive butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, and chopped garlic later, we had delicata squash oven-roasted tender at about 425 degrees! Our chosen sides were a creamy potato soup with smoked ham and salad.

I picked up Gods Behaving Badly from the discard pile in the San Francisco Public Library as a reading option for the plane back to Orlando. Light and ironic, this book is okay escapist fun with a few neat outlooks on Greek gods in modern day. Artemis is a dog walker, Apollo is a local talk show celebrity, Aphrodite is a phone sex operator, and Eros is trying to find religion. All of them have lost their way since their days on Mount Olympus. Humans don't believe in them as much anymore, and the book made me feel like I had to clap if I believed in gods and goddesses. The beginning was strong and the trip to the underworld near the end was fun, but it was the parts in between that seemed to be clawing for direction. The main human focus, Alice, wasn't characterized strongly enough to carry the book. Her sort-of boyfriend, Neil, turned out all right in the end but I would have appreciated a little more presence from him other than a pining ghost on the sidelines of Apollo and Alice's flirtation. The gods were interesting, the humans were not. This book was a fun read in the end, and I wouldn't mindseeing a little more of how the gods survive modern day London.

Review: Gods Behaving Badly By Marie Phillips

As a huge fan of The Tea Rose, I eagerly dove into the sequel, The Winter Rose, although it turned out to be unnecessarily long. The storyline involving the youngest brother, Seamus, that was introduced too late in the game at over two-thirds of the way to the end! There was more 19th century British politics in this sequel than I expected, although Donnelly made it all very interesting. Joe Bristow became his own man, but at the expense of making his wife and main character of The Tea Rose, Fiona Bristow, an illogical madwoman flying at any chance to see her criminal brother, Charles.

The end of The Tea Rose didn't sit well with me as far as the left-field decision of having Charlie fake his own death, but the payoff in The Winter Rose is huge. As criminal mastermind Sid Malone, Charlie becomes an entity all his own and I can believe that he stuck in the dark corners of Whitechapel and rather enjoying himself until he meets India Selwyn Jones.

First off, the name "India" is still laughable to me especially since her parents were a stiff-uppercrust pair from British High Society circles. That aside, her storyline of becoming a doctor in a time were that wasn't what Society ladies did with their time was enthralling. The sacrifices that India made later were both interesting and infuriating. I could have done without the six-year gap between the endgame of Sid and India's affair but I liked the setting change to Africa.

Freddie Lytton was a wonderful villain, deliciously selfish and patronizing, but I couldn't see any reason for his villainy other than greed. There should have been more depth to the character to vindicate betraying his closest friends more than just greed.

I liked this expansive book almost as much as The Tea Rose, but Willa and Seamie deserve at least their own short story. The special circumstances of the relationship and separation of Willa and Seamie would actually fuel a whole book, an idea that I would look forward to reading.

Review: The Winter Rose

Highland Manor

Adam had bookmarked the website to this little place in Apopka, Florida, for me in July and the place charmed me from the first moment I set eyes on it! This old Victorian painted a cheery blue with white trim use to be called The Captain and the Cowboy a while back, but was bought and re-branded as a charming Old Southern-style restaurant outfitted in rich colors, plush seating, and hydroponic garden. Yes, the ingredients are that fresh!

There was a pianist playing and singing in the large main room, which made Adam and I crave a corner on the outer veranda so we could hear ourselves. Since I'm a soup fanatic I had to have the asparagus and pistachio soup with crème fraiche, which was fantabulous! The soup itself was lightly seasoned but pretty much tasted like its namesake, but the crème fraiche lightened the overall finish and made my taste-buds fall in love. Then my main course was the sauteed veal cutlet, which was layered with country ham and sage. There was a slightly bitter wilted spinach on the side, which I brought home out of gilt at the end of the night. There were also some tender roasted potatoes on the side and a strong white wine sauce, strong meaning a little too salty if I ate too much at one time. I liked the veal cutlet but I liked Adam's entree, a special seafood plate with yellow jack and and thick, flavorful diver scallops, more by far!

Between the soup, entree, freshly baked loaf of bread and cornbread in a cast iron skillet, we were too stuffed to even entertain the idea of dessert but we promised ourselves we'd go back soon!

Hamburgers are easy to make from scratch, the only Golden Meaty Rule on seasoning being not to overdo on the salty items! So I decided to buy about 1.5 pounds of the leanest ground beef at the local market and mix together some sliders, although I only used about half of the meat first and stored the rest. There was also a lot of eye-balling when I added the ingredients, but I did my best to note general measurements for each ingredient. Here's what you need:

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Lean Ground Beef
1/2 White Onion
1/2 Green Bell Pepper
1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper
4 Garlic Cloves, Chopped
1 Large Egg
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Cup Worcestershire Sauce
1/8 Tsp Salt
1/8 Tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
Slices of Provolone (Optional)
Shredded Cheese (Optional)
1 Pkg of Mini-Buns

Yeild: 5 - 6 Mini-Burgers

Hamburger Ingredients

Building Blocks
The building blocks of meaty goodness are very simple and are generally the basics of any fridge, pantry, et cetera. I used Sargento sliced aged Provolone rolled up to fill a few of my burgers and sliced aged Swiss to line the mini-buns. If the egg looks out of place, it's really right at home; the egg will keep the burgers from falling apart!

Burger Mixing

Mix In the Mix-Ins
These little burgers are in the middle of being mixed and hand-molded into palm-sized versions of their regular-sized cousins. I used a spatula to fold my ingredients into the beef because I don't like when the meaty bits get stuck under my fingernails, but feel free to get hands-on with these! Especially since rolling the cheese into the middle of a mini-burger is easily done in the palm of a hand.

Mini-Burger Beds

Mini-Burger Beds
Small burger buns made for sliders work perfectly but potato dinner rolls or any other kind of dinner roll works just as well. I topped my little burgers with red-tipped lettuce because the sweetness evens out the seasoned burgers and condiments.

Come Hither Minis With Cheese

The Foreman, the the Buns
After about 15 minutes on the Foreman Grill, with one flip-over about half-way through, these burgers were ready for their buns. The Swiss got a little melty just after this photo was taken, but it was all in the name of tasty burgers!

Done Deal

Adam and I were invited to Priscilla and Garrett's wedding in St. Augustine, Florida, so we made a sightseeing weekend out of it filled with lots of monuments, photos, and delicious food!

Stroll to the Wedding

Just visited the beach without a strong sun and a great breeze! Plus, these flamboyant little flowers are everywhere. =D

Anastasia State Park, FL - 7/19/09