You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha Doing? Version 2015
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Janice, Moderator
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Jan 01, 2015 08:31AM
What's happening in your corner of the world? Having a good day? Having a bad day? This is the place to share anything and everything.
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I have enjoying my last leisure day of the holidays. Going to my counsin for supper. Tomorrow is clean up the house day and saturday is cooking day as I have people for Sunday lunch and games. I am doing a buffet style so it means I am making a lot of work for myself.
I always receive for Epiphany as I love that cake (galette des rois / King's cake???)). Anyone knows it? Not many do here. I believe it is mostly a France thing. But once I tasted it, I decided to make a tradition out of it.
I have heard of King's cake Esther. I was watching a cookery show on tv before Christmas and they made a version of it and explained the significance of both Epiphany and the cake. It looked really yummy! I have never tried it though as we don't really celebrate Epiphany here in the UK.
it's not celebrated here either. It started as a way to get that cake and I found out that I really like this date. We are more relaxed as the craziness of the holidays are behind us and we had a few days to recover. So it became "my date".I have a French bakery that does a really good cake. I am not about to try doing one. Desserts are not my forte in cooking.
Wow, you have a busy weekend planned, Esther. I'd heard of King Cake when I was in New Orleans. I thought it was more regional or cultural to that area, but when I looked up Epiphany and King's Cake on google, it shows the Louisiana style cake, but it also shows the French styles of cake too. There's a northern French style and a southern French style. Interesting information! I've never tried it.Do you put a little figurine in your cake to determine who is to be the king of the day?
Janice wrote: "Do you put a little figurine in your cake to determine who is to be the king of the day?"of course!!! The bakery put nice ones in there.
We'll want pictures, you know. :)
Janice wrote: "Wow, you have a busy weekend planned, Esther. I'd heard of King Cake when I was in New Orleans. I thought it was more regional or cultural to that area, but when I looked up Epiphany and King's C..."New Orleans Mardi Gras is also how I learned about King Cake, which I think is an Easter season type tradition.
I brought one back from Louisiana once and served it to my work mates. Because I thought it would be a fun surprise, I didn't tell them about the baby inside. Somebody got it, but I never found out who. They must have thought I served a "defective" cake with a toy accidentally dropped inside, because no one would admit that they got that particular piece.☺
It is 1:30 p.m., I'm still in my jammies and may stay there all day. My bed hasn't been made and I'm thinking that this may be the first day since I moved in here 3 years ago that I will not make it. I'm waiting to hear from my kids. Today is my grandson's 16th birthday! I'm in shock. I may take a trip to their place (30 kms out of the city), or they may be coming into town. My daughter-in-law was waiting for the birthday boy to wake up and let them know how he wants to spend his birthday. That was at noon, so perhaps he wants to spend it sleeping? His decision will affect whether or not I get dressed today.
Goodness, those days of sleeping in till noon are long over for me. I slept in till 8:15 this morning.
I would like to sleep till noon only for one day to remember how it feels... I don't remember anymore...And talking about jammies days, my 5 year old son told me yesterday he loves to stay the whole day in pajamas... He added "I just love jammies days". Isn't this something an adult person with lot of responsibilities and a few hours of sleep should be saying instead of this little lazy beautiful smiling boy?
I received a text about an hour ago, "Are you up for some company? We're 2 minutes away!" I left the patio door unlocked for them to let themselves in while I got dressed. So, I'm dressed. They've just headed out in the snow to drive home. There's a snow fall warning in effect. It's really coming down!
I have been having a jammie day too but I am dressed now and doing some chores. I finished my first book and a short story that came with it. One series down and the second under way.What a great way to spend New Years Day!
Happy Birthday to your grandson, Janice. My sister's is tomorrow. Oh, that reminds me that my oldest granddaughter's was yesterday. I better get on Facebook and apologize to her for being late. She is in Germany. So hard to keep track of everybody.
Happy New Year everyone! Hope your family made it home safely in the snow, Janice!We spent the day in DC at the Winter Classic! It was amazing and definitely a must go to event if you love hockey :-) there was a fanfest area as well which was quite fun too! We are finally home after such an amazing day! Our home team, the Capitals beat the Blackhawks 3-2. The Caps scores the winning goal with just 12 seconds left in the 3rd period! It was such a great day and a wonderful way to spend the first day of the year with my hubby! Can't wait to pick up Blake from doggie daycare in the morning! I think I may spend tomorrow in my jammies snuggled up with Blake and a book :-)
Glad you had so much fun, Stephanie. Snuggled with a book and a dog in your pjs all day sounds like a great day! Hope it works out. :)
Esther wrote: "I have enjoying my last leisure day of the holidays. Going to my counsin for supper. Tomorrow is clean up the house day and saturday is cooking day as I have people for Sunday lunch and games. I a..."
Are the French King Cakes the same as they do for Mardi Gras season in New Orleans? I lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a few years and Mardi Gras and King Cakes are a big thing all along the Gulf of Mexico. I've never heard of Epiphany so I don't know what that is.
Finally sitting down this weekend to get some reading in...work for the past two weeks has been fairly intense, and I also confess that Peaky Blinders on Netflix has been a distraction...darn that Cillian Murphy! But, this morning I finished my first book towards my Serial Killers challenge, and am starting the second!
Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all enjoyed Christmas too. After nearly 3 weeks on our boat, I'm back in our flat all alone and it feels a bit weird. Our boat was fixed properly today so we can continue our journey although my partner will be doing that alone as I've had to return for work. I'll go back to join him Friday. We've had a few interesting things happen in addition to the breakdown which put us behind schedule - there was no water in one stretch of the canal because someone had left the lock gate open; a swing bridge wouldn't work so we couldn't go through; we had to break through ice as part of the river and canal had frozen; we went down the river backwards because the stream was really strong and pulled us that way when we tried to turn around; and today I've come back with the key to open all the other swing bridges so my partner can't carry on even though the boats been fixed! All good fun though but I'm absolutely knackered. I'll be pleased once the boat is where it's supposed to be.
Lynda wrote: "Finally sitting down this weekend to get some reading in...work for the past two weeks has been fairly intense, and I also confess that Peaky Blinders on Netflix has been a distraction...darn that ..."Yay! Another Peaky Blinders fan! I love that show! Cilian Murphy is definitely a major distraction! ;)
Sounds like it's been an adventure, Sarah!
Glad to see you back, Sarah!
What an adventure Sarah! Nice to see you back here, and I hope your partner can bring the boat to its destination smoothly.
Wow, Sarah, sounds like they threw the whole Murphy's Law book at the two of you! Get rested and get reading those series books! We want you on the killer team!
Cherie wrote: "Wow, Sarah, sounds like they threw the whole Murphy's Law book at the two of you! Get rested and get reading those series books! We want you on the killer team!"Definitely. We did have a whole heap of fun too though. Saw lots of amazing wildlife (including kingfishers which I've never seen in real life before), watched the sun rise and set each day, woke up to a sparkly, crispy winter wonderland on quite a few days and I'm really proud of how we have managed with steering the boat and the adversity we did face.
Sarah wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Wow, Sarah, sounds like they threw the whole Murphy's Law book at the two of you! Get rested and get reading those series books! We want you on the killer team!"Definitely. We di..."
That sounds so great!
It sounds like you will have a lot of fun memories Sarah
KimeyDiann wrote: "Esther wrote: "I have enjoying my last leisure day of the holidays. Going to my counsin for supper. Tomorrow is clean up the house day and saturday is cooking day as I have people for Sunday lunch..."
Happy 2015!!!
As I do not know the New Orleans version. I can't say. Although from what I see on the net it seems different.
Here what it looks like:
This is the king "bean".
Sarah wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Wow, Sarah, sounds like they threw the whole Murphy's Law book at the two of you! Get rested and get reading those series books! We want you on the killer team!"Definitely. We di..."
wow. What an adventure. How much longer before the boat is where you want it to be?
Even with all of the things that went wrong, you still thought it was fun, Sarah. That is what counts!We always call them "adventures" when "things" happen (like getting lost when driving or missing an exit and having to figure out how to turn around). You will have those great memories to talk over for years and years.
Good to see you back, Sarah! Hope things get going for the better soon :-)
Sarah wrote: "Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all enjoyed Christmas too. After nearly 3 weeks on our boat, I'm back in our flat all alone and it feels a bit weird. Our boat was fixed properly today s..."
Sounds like a fantasy quest...!
Good luck!
Esther wrote: "How much longer before the boat is where you want it to be?"Well I think probably another week and then we can start moving on.
That pie looks fantastic Esther!
Great to have you back with us Sarah. You have certainly been on an adventure so far by the sound of it! How nice that you saw kingfishers for the first time! They are very pretty! Esther, that cake looks lovely!
Yum! The King's Cake looks great. I love the little ornament that was inside. What a great tradition.
Sarah, what an adeventure! I'm impressed with it all. Esther, a pretty cake indeed!
Greetings from London! We just returned last night, were home at about 2 am. London was lovely (as always; it's one of my favorite cities), but really filled with tourists (yesterday was already much more peaceful) because of New Year and the holidays. We did a lot of sightseeing, a ton of shopping, and had generally a good time.It wss good that I took our older daughter to see the ENT specialist in the evening before we left: her both ears were totally filled with fluid and the doctor said that they would have ruptured during the flight. So he ended up puncturing them to get the fluid out. She was better after that, although she occasionally suffered from vertigo for a couple of days in the beginning. But the flights went well (this was our first time flying with Norwegian and we were happy with them) and we realised we like Gatwick much better than Heathrow, LOL!
And I bought 33 books! I was in seventh heaven in all the bookshops, while hubby and daughters went to Madame Tussaud's and did other sightseeing. Will report the books later in the correct thread.
Sounds like you had a wonderful time, Camilla.
Welcome back, Camilla! Glad you had such a wonderful trip :-)
I am glad you enjoyed your trip to London Camilla. Wow, you bought a lot of books! Did you go to Foyles? That is a book lovers paradise!
Lisa wrote: "Did you go to Foyles? That is a book lovers paradise!"Yes I did! Although I was a bit disappointed in the atmosphere, I think I enjoyed their old premises more; now it reminds me quite a lot of "generic" bookstores, very clean and uncluttered (this was my first visit in 2.5 years). But the number of titles they have on their shelves is amazing! I bought quite a lot of non-fiction books there.
Forgot to say that we visited The Making of Harry Potter and thought it was excellent! The amount of props made for the films is just amazing. A must for any HP fan if you visit London. And my younger daughter bought a Ginny Weasley wand there, LOL!
@Sarah: just read about your adventures with your riverboat. Glad nothing more serious happened and you even managed to have fun battling the bridges and ice!
Camilla, I am super jealous you got to visit a HP place! My hubby and I (mostly me) want to go to HP world at Universal (i think it is called HP world ;-) ). I've been to Disney world but that was before HP was built at Universal :-(
Camilla wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Did you go to Foyles? That is a book lovers paradise!"Yes I did! Although I was a bit disappointed in the atmosphere, I think I enjoyed their old premises more; now it reminds me qui..."
Oh, that's a bit disappointing about the atmosphere of their new premises. Like you I haven't been there for a few years so they were still in their old premises then. I really liked it, it felt cosy somehow. But I guess they felt it was time to move somewhere bigger and more modern.
Stephanie wrote: "Camilla, I am super jealous you got to visit a HP place! My hubby and I (mostly me) want to go to HP world at Universal (i think it is called HP world ;-) ). I've been to Disney world but that was ..."We'd love to go there too! We have also been at Disneyworld and Universal, but it was - just like you - before they completed HP at Universal; they were just building it back then (maybe it was 2011? My memory is failing me at the moment). But this was a nice substitute, although of course not a theme park. I thought it exciting that there were hundreds of items that had been used when filming, also clothes, miniature plans for different buildings etc. It made me realise what an enormous amount of work had been done for the films. A nice touch was that there was a room filled with wand boxes, and each box had the name of one person who had somehow participated in making of the films (I think it was something like 4000 people, so a whole lot of wands, LOL!).
Glad to know you had a good time, Camilla. Hope your daughter is felling recovered by now.
Sounds like you had a great time, Camilla! Wow, that was a close call with your daughter! I've been to HP at Universal and am going again this year. It was really cool when we saw it but I think they have improved on it so I'm thinking it's going to be even better this time around. Both my kids loved it when we went and I'm hoping they love it even more this time around.
I'm sitting on my living room catching up with GoodReads and with my shows... waiting for the time to go pick up my kid at school!!!
Sandra wrote: "Glad to know you had a good time, Camilla. Hope your daughter is felling recovered by now."She's almost as good as new by now; she was a bit tired in the beginning of our trip and complaining about the antibiotics she had to take, otherwise her ear infection didn't affect our trip.
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
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