Butter Tarts!

I mentioned my love for butter tarts in my Canada Day post the other day. I was introduced to them by a Canadian friend who brought some to a party we both attended in Ohio. (Ah, for the days of $30 flights...) She didn't have a recipe, though, and of course you can't buy them around here, so after that one taste I was butter tart-less. Until! This week a lovely Canadian sent me a recipe, so I tried it out:

They're not the prettiest things ever, but boy do they taste good. As Rachel pointed out, they're sort of like mini pecan pies without any pecans. I cheated and used prefab pie crust, and it was a bit too thick, so next time I'm going to do it all from scratch. (I was just too tired last night.) And the great thing about them is that they only use ingredients that you'd normally have around the house anyway. (Assuming that, like me, you consider real maple syrup to be a staple. And assuming that, unlike me, you're not mysteriously out of flour and eggs.) I listened to Canadian music (mostly Alanis Morissette) while making them, which I personally believe adds to their authenticity.

And now I have something new and different to bring to my family for Canada Day the Fourth of July!

Booking Through Thursday: Celebrities?

Today's Question:
Do you read celebrity memoirs? Which ones have you read or do you want to read? Which nonexistent celebrity memoirs would you like to see?

I don't make a point of reading them or anything, but I've read a few. Shirley Temple's was great, as was Kristin Chenoweth's. (Review of that one coming soon.) For years, I said "Patti Boyd should write a memoir!" because hey, she was married to George Harrison and Eric Clapton. And then she did write one, and I still haven't read it. Ah well.

Nonexistent memoirs I'd like to read (in alphabetical order): Christiane Amanpour, Nancy Pelosi (oh, wait, she does have one), Aaron Sorkin, Bradley Whitford... umm. That list was much shorter than I expected, but I can't think of anyone else off the top of my head, except for people who are known for being writers, and generally when a writer writes a memoir, I don't think of it as a "celebrity memoir." I'm sure there are others I'm just not thinking of.

The 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge (Updated 7/2)

(I'm going to bump this to the top whenever I add to it.)

Hey, why not? Might as well jump in to the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge. I'm going for the third level: 50 library books finished in 2009. I'll add to this post as I read. (Date in parentheses is the date I finished the book.)

1. Mia by Laurence Yep (1/11)
2. High Five by Janet Evanovich (1/11)
3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (1/18)
4. Bravo, Mia! by Laurence Yep (2/28)
5. The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White (3/25)
6. What I Know Now edited by Ellyn Spragins (4/3)
7. 3 Willows by Ann Brashares (4/24)
8. Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas (4/25)
9. A People's History of Christianity by Diana Butler Bass (5/3)
10. Love and Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson (5/3)
11. Catcher by Peter Morris (5/5)
12. Bookmarked for Death by Lorna Barrett (5/7)
13. Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs (5/10)
14. Wish You Were Here by Lani Diane Rich (5/12)
15. Unbuttoned edited by Dana Sullivan and Maureen Connolly (5/16)
16. The Terror Dream by Susan Faludi (5/17)
17. Chinatown Beat by Henry Chang (5/21)
18. Vengeance in Death by J.D. Robb (5/21)
19. A Little Bit Wicked by Kristin Chenoweth (5/25)
20. The Matters at Mansfield by Carrie Bebris (5/28)
21. Resilience by Elizabeth Edwards (5/30)
22. Bad Mother by Ayelet Waldman (5/31)
23. Vision in White by Nora Roberts (6/3)
24. In the World But Not of It by Brett Grainger (6/5)
25. March Violets by Philip Kerr (6/14)
26. Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs (6/27)
27. Masterpiece of Murder by Mary Kruger (6/28)
28. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (7/1)

Happy Canada Day!

Whee, it's Canada Day! I'm not Canadian, but I've found that many good things are. A random, non-comprehensive, not-in-any-particular-order list of Canadian things (and people) I like:

1. Yarn Harlot
2. The health care system
3. Koigu
4. Knitty
5. butter tarts
6. Moxy Fruvous, Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Alanis Morissette, Rufus Wainwright, Barenaked Ladies
7. L.M. Montgomery
8. Nathan Fillion, Matthew Perry, Christopher Plummer
9. Frog and Toad Are Still Friends
10. Donna Moss (briefly) and Robin Scherbatsky
11. Avonlea and many of its fine actors/writers/crew
12. Patrick Carpentier and Paul Tracy
13. Kurt Browning, Brian Orser, and Sale and Pelletier
14. Gun control

I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but I have to get ready for work...

Birthday Month Fanfic Festival

In case any of you are into this sort of thing - over on my LiveJournal I'm doing a thing for my birthday month in which you give me fanfic prompts/requests and I write one each day. Go play, if you're so inclined.

ScoopFree Shortage?

Note: This is completely unsubstantiated.

I don't know if any of you use the ScoopFree automatic litter box with cartridges, but just in case: The manager of my local PetSmart saw me buying a cartridge the other day and told me that he had just heard from his ScoopFree guy that they were having production issues and wouldn't have any more inventory until sometime in August. And, indeed, there were only a few cartridges left on the shelves. I have no independent confirmation of this, but I bought a six-pack from Amazon just in case. (They also have the three-pack and single cartridge.) Of course, all of those items are currently in stock, which makes me question the "shortage," but hey, better safe than sorry, right? It's not like they'll go bad.

Daily Reading (6/29/09)

A really interesting essay: My Husband's Other Wife
The administration sounds more like The West Wing every day: Ax and Lesser. (Oh, God, I bet there's slash fic out there.)
A good take on Little Women: The Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves

Review: Smooth Talking Stranger

Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
Genre: Contemporary romance
Pages: 340
Rating: 8.5

(Note: This is actually the third book in a series. I'm usually a stickler about reading series in order, but I didn't realize this was a series until I was too into the book to make myself stop and go back. So you might want to read Sugar Daddy first.)

Ella is an advice columnist whose orderly, boring life is disrupted when her irresponsible sister leaves a baby with her irresponsible mother. Ella is called in to fix the situation. The sister won't name the father, but some of her friends suggest Jack, a millionaire businessman. Now, Jack isn't the father, but he and Ella of course fall in love, and have to straighten out various issues involving their families, their very different lifestyles, and, of course, the baby before they can live happily ever after.

This book was almost a perfect example of the light romance genre. The main characters were likeable but not ridiculously perfect. There was a big fun extended family, a la Nora Roberts. There was a baby, and the baby storyline was actually done well. (It seems that element can be very hit or miss.) The characters had real problems to work through, but there weren't excessive obstacles put in the way of their happiness just for the sake of it. There was a definite sense of place (Texas). I apparently have no recollection of how the sex scenes were, so I'm going to assume that they weren't ridiculous enough to ruin the rest of the book for me (as has happened with other romance novels). The writing was decent, and compelling enough that I read most of it in one sitting. It definitely made me want to read the rest of the series, and Kleypas's other books (historicals).

(SPOILERS AHEAD) I just had one main problem: Ella's relationship with her boyfriend Dane. At first, he's just sort of boring, but then turns out to be extremely self-absorbed, which - fine. But then, when Ella finds out that he's sleeping with someone else while she's away trying to figure out what to do with the baby, he tells her that they've had an open relationship for the past four years, and he just hasn't mentioned it. What?? And even after that, Ella keeps apologizing for getting involved with Jack before she and Dane have officially broken up. So that whole subplot was rather frustrating. (END SPOILERS)

But! With that caveat, this was definitely a great light summer read - perfect for the beach or vacation or one of those days when it's too hot and sticky to move and you just want to sit on the couch with a book.

This is why I am not in sales.

I'm on the Social Committee at my church, which means that I help with things like dances and board game night and, at the moment, the parish picnic. Today I was assigned to sell picnic tickets by the door after Mass. (It's $5 a person or $3 a kid, basically just to pay for the food and the venue rental.) I asked every single person who walked by if they wanted picnic tickets, and do you know how many said yes? One. ONE! Now, I was at the side door, and I am theorizing that people who opt for that door instead of the main door are the ones who are trying to get away quickly and don't want to stand around talking. So I contend that the problem was not all just me. But still. It was rather demoralizing.

So then I bought a ticket for myself - and paid full price even though I won't eat most of the food provided (hamburgers and hot dogs) - so that's something. And I found a coworker who was there getting his son baptized and convinced him that he wanted tickets, too. That left my total at four, which was not QUITE as bad as one, but still. I am so not cut out for this "sales" thing.

(Anyone want to come to my parish picnic? I can get you tickets! Hah.)

Whew!

Dewey is feline leukemia negative and perfectly healthy. Thank God! I'm so relieved.

Fingers Crossed...

Dewey may have been exposed to feline leukemia. I'm taking him in to be tested tomorrow morning. Any spare prayers/good thoughts/etc. would be most appreciated.

Too Awesome for Words