Saturday, September 27, 2014

Fall Flavors: One-Pot Autumn Herb Roasted Chicken

I have a feeling I'm going to be talking about a lot of fall-related things.

It is my favorite season after all and there are so many incredible things to explore and enjoy in the next couple of months as the leaves turn crisp and dry and the world turns a rich palette of yellows, browns and reds, even if it's a bit more cool and gray.

I haven't made this dish yet but I have all the faith in prolific collection of unique and utterly divine-looking recipes from Half Baked Harvest.

I've been following that blog for a while now and every morning, I click on the site and serve me a little food lust.

This one is a must-make in my autumn recipe-list.

Just look at it.

It already looks delicious and it's in one pot.

Go ahead.

Gush.

Eat with gusto.


Find the recipe here.

*Recipe and photo courtesy of Half Baked Harvest.*


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Thursday, September 25, 2014

A Favorite Thing: Perfect Fall Coffee



I love sleep but some nights you just can't fall or stay asleep. 

I woke up at 3 a.m. and tossed around for a bit but no luck so I figured I'd sit in front of my computer and write. The bane of being a writer, I tell you. As much as I'd like to schedule my creative flow, it's very hard. When it hits you, it hits you.

What I wish I had right now is a nice warm cup of coffee, preferable a pumpkin spice latte.

Every fall, this gourmet coffee invades the world—from dessert to body lotions to scented candles. It does drive everyone a little crazy but I'm cool with it.

I love the season and everything that comes with it.

Since it's a bit early to be driving out to Starbucks, I'm just going to sit here and stare at pictures of the coffee in Pinterest until I could taste it in my mouth.... sigh...

*photo from dashing dish.com




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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Falling for Fall





I love summer but there is just something about fall that makes it so special.  

I grew up in a country that didn't have it but since moving to Canada, I've had all four seasons and this is by far my favorite.

There's a certain understated beauty about this transition of time and temperature that transforms the world for a little bit. 

It's here today and I hope it lingers its full season. 

Happy Autumn!

*collages sourced from bloglovin.com, Laura Spellman and rebeccaVC1 on Flickr in their respective order

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Monday, September 15, 2014

Review: Dark Skye by Kresley Cole



3/5

So, I've been dragging this review for a while now.

I've read this over a month ago, pretty much the day it released and I devoured it in a day but I couldn't review right away.

I love the Immortals After Dark series. I love Kresley Cole's brand of writing—always full of attitude, humor and sensual undertones. It's always fun to read anything she's written.

The story between the sorceress Lanthe and Vrekener Thronos have been hinted at in several of the previous books and it has always intrigued me. He's always hunting her down, viciously as it was implied, and she was always running from him. Those little hints were already packed with potential for an extensive backstory.

And there was a back story. The preliminary chapters offered an almost bittersweet history to the two but it fell a little short in terms of how much it impacted me and my sympathies toward the kind of relationship these two now have many centuries later. Nonetheless, there was a lot going for the book to keep me glued for several hours straight and many times, I did swoon a little at some things about Thronos. I didn't really have too much of a problem with Thronos except that maybe, if he'd been so obsessed about Lanthe, he would've kind of picked up a little bit on the fact that she was being terrorized by Vrekeners. Thronos had a lot of redeeming qualities and personified the kind of alpha males many of Cole's books have—fiercely possessive, infuriating as hell but still pretty damn sweet.

As for Lanthe... Hmm... I liked pretty much every female lead in the past IAD books but I do have my favorites. Lanthe always struck me as the stereotype younger, more shy, more innocent sister but she had a lot of spunk on her own once she was free from Sabine's shadow—at least until much later in the story. I just don't know that a lot of it was in the right place.



I still enjoyed this book quite a bit. No regrets.

I would've given this four stars if it didn't quite become clear to me, so early in the story, that this book has more couple's therapy than an actual session or a self-help book—on top of the very established and empowered sexuality that Lanthe embraced.

I get it, Lanthe wasn't a nun locked away in a monastery somewhere remote wearing a chastity belt. I get it, she slept with a lot of guys and a lot of times, for the wrong reasons, and yes, I'm not going to criticize her for it. That's fine by me. I just didn't need to be constantly reminded every other chapter. I would've liked to have read more about the actual story. I hated those moments but some parts I felt like skipping through because I felt like I was watching a Jerry Springer episode. I wanted to read a sexy, exciting and highly amusing paranormal romance, that's all.



I felt that the book might have embraced Lanthe's sexual liberation a little bit too much. It's the modern day and age, sure, and we are all responsible adults who can make decisions about our lives. No one needs to tell you what to do. Lots of reviews of books nowadays loudly criticize 'slut-shaming' and I think this book was a bit in-your-face about not judging someone for the way they are. I wouldn't get in someone's face and tell them they have to lead a sainted existence so there is no need point a finger at my face and dare me to criticize Lanthe's choices. This almost felt a bit like 'virgin-or-less-sexually-experienced-adult-shaming' if I really wanted to go so far. But anyway, a little less of that and I might have actually enjoyed the story a bit more instead of wondering every few pages here or there if I even wanted these two to end up together.

And for someone who's so empowered in one thing, I felt that Lanthe still got a bullied around by Sabine and Morgana toward the end. Balance is a beautiful thing, you know, but I guess, how are we to love our fictional characters if not for their flaws, right?



I'm still looking forward to the next instalment. The whole series just feels epic even though this particular pair was a little less so.

I'm looking forward to Nix's story the most. So far, not a ton of hints as to who would steal the heart of this clever Valkyrie who has everyone moving on her chessboard like pawns in a game she's playing with an unknown enemy.  God! Loved her little moment with the goddesses!

Read more reviews about it here: Dark Skye by Kresley Cole


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