Friday 5ive- February 12, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention during the week. 

1) Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday, and while I am not a football fan, I do like watching the commercials and the halftime show. The Toyota commercial with the paralympic swimmer was moving, and the Will Ferrell General Motors commercial was pretty funny. Although I only know a few the Weeknd songs, I thought he did an amazing job with his spectacular halftime show. He used the fact that there weren't a lot of fans there to create a fantastic set design. 

Of course, it's all about the snacks for us. Even though we were only two, I made Ina Garten's Warm Spinach and Artichoke Dip recipe from her new Modern Comfort Food cookbook, and Clean Food Crush 's Irish Nachos,  made with sliced potatoes rather than tortilla chips, a recipe that my sister found online. Both were delicious and we didn't need any dinner after that.

Irish Nachos

2)  I was walking by the local YMCA and saw this Kiddie Cart outside their preschool. Whomever has to push the car with six children in it must be very strong.

3)  Under the heading "when it rains, it's pours", on Wednesday there were two online upcoming book presentations. From 1-3 pm, the terrific trio of Virginia, Chris, and Lainey from Library Love Fest marketing team presented the upcoming summer books from HarperCollins imprints. We had a three-page printout of all the great upcoming books. My highlighter almost went dry as I busily noted all the many books I can't wait to read- Jennifer Chiaverini's historical fiction The Women's March, Barbara Chase-Riboud's The Great Mrs. Elias, and Jessica Anya Blau's Mary Jane among them. You can find the presentation on their YouTube channel here.

At 2pm, Carol Fitzgerald from the Book Reporter website presented Bookaccino Live, featuring her February reading suggestions. Again, my highlighter worked overtime with her suggestions of wonderful books such as Lauren Willig's brilliant novel Band of Sisters and Julia Cooke's nonfiction Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of The Women of Pan Am. Book Reporter has lots of great author interviews on their YouTube channel here.

From 2-3pm, I listened to both presentations, one on my computer, one on my Ipad. Thank goodness I had the printouts so I could go back and forth and listen to the books I most wanted to hear about.

Multitasking

4)  On our last Zoom wine tasting, our guide Seri recommended we watch the 2008 movie Bottle Shock, about the small family California winery that won the Judgment of Paris competition in 1976. Chris Pine, Bill Pullman, and the always fabulous Alan Richman star in this delightful movie that will appeal to anyone who enjoys wine. Englishman Steven Spurrier travels to Napa Valley to find American wines that can compete against French wines in this new blind tasting competition in Paris. It's a real underdog story based on a true event. We ver much enjoyed the movie, and were surprised to find a bottle of wine from Chateau Montelena (the winning winery) in our wine cooler that we drank during the movie.

5)  I read one book and am in the middle of a second. Melanie Benjamin's historical novel, The Children's Blizzard  is based on a true story that occurred in 1888 in Nebraska. A dangerous blizzard rapidly comes out of nowhere just as students are about to be released from school. Many students, as well as other people, died during the horrific storm, some just steps from their own homes. Benjamin tells her story through two young sisters, both teachers. One sister sends the children home just as the storm begins, and the other keeps the children in school, even though if they run out of fuel to keep warm, they will surely die. It's such an evocative book, you feel like you are right in the middle of this storm and this story, and you feel for these young adult women who have to make a terrible decision. I highly recommend it. 

I'm in the middle of Susan Mallery's novel, The Vineyard at Painted Moon. Mackenzie is a celebrated winemaker at her husband's family's vineyard in Walla Walla, Washington. The family took her in when her grandfather, her only relative, died when she was in college. When Mackenzie and her husband come to the sad conclusion that their marriage is over, Mackenzie decides it's time to move on to a new job. The head of her husband's vineyard, his mother, is enraged over losing her winemaker, and is determined to make Mackenzie pay. Mallery writes family, friendship, and love stories so well, and of course I really enjoy the winery setting. (I think we have established that I like wine.) My full review will publish on Tuesday.

Stay safe, socially distant, wash your hands, wear a mask (or two), and get a vaccine when it's your turn. Many of my friends and family have already received one or both doses of the vaccine and are feeling great- yay for them!