Love with Food December

The last of the Love with Food box posts. I was not happy that they changed prices on me after I locked in for a year and no refunds were offered and the quality of the items in the boxes were becoming less and less items that I actually would want to try… so I am moving on.  Try it Tuesday will never be the same. It got me thinking if I should switch to something else. Let’s say sausage, for example. Our local producer has a wide choice and uses the best ingredients including casing from dcwcasing.com/. It is definitely worth trying.

Bunch o’ Berries Fruit Snacks

by Horizon Organic

Big fruity flavor comes in small packages. Don’t be surprised if the kids are craving these any time of day.

Can’t go wrong with fruit snacks and this was no exception!

Extreme Daily Dose of Dark Chocolate

by NibMor

This deliciously dark chocolate doesn’t mess around. 80% cocoa, organic and more than a little addictive.

LOTS of dark chocolate in this box and it all went to Mom!

Salmas Crackers

by Sanissimo

After tasting these deliciously crispy bites, you’ll swear there must be some magic hidden in those five ingredients.

These were pretty good!

Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Mini Bar

by LUNA

Chocolate, nuts and oats. A flavor combination that never gets old – especially when there are no GMOs and zero gluten.

More for Mom… she enjoyed.

Beef & Pork Pepperoni Seasoned Meat Stick

by Field Trip

13 units of Field Trip Beef & Pork Pepperoni Seasoned Meat Stick

The perfect boost of protein in a seasoned, salty package, with zero gluten and seriously addictive flavor.

This meat stick was nothing to write home about.  Decent.

Peppermint Bark Bar

by Baron Chocolatier

A flavor combination that the holidays just wouldn’t be the same without. But with no GMOs, there’s practically no guilt.

Also gave this to Mom. She liked it.

Baked Mac n’ Cheese Puffs

by Snikiddy

12 Bags of Zesty Baked Mac n’ Cheese Puffs by Snikiddy

The cheesy, comforting flavor you love in light, airy puffs you can take anywhere!

I’ve had these before as well and it takes a second to realize its not Mac and Cheese but they are good.

Ginger Snaps

by Lucy’s

12 Mouth Watering bags of Ginger Snaps by Lucy’s

Just sweet enough with a little kick of spice. Perfect for the season, or basically anytime you’re craving a cookie.

Love ginger snaps!

Stephen Kellogg Tour De Forty @ The FTC Warehouse

Friday night Stephen Kellogg rolled in for a home town show at the FTC Warehouse. I believe this was his first time playing the Warehouse, previously he had played the smaller Stage One next door.

Opening the show was Don Miggs. I may have gone in to the night a bit biased because my friends had said they saw him the night before and weren’t impressed, but I have to say that I wasn’t all that impressed either. I don’t think I have ever seen an opener mess up nearly every single song in his set – and admit to it. He later mentioned that he probably shouldn’t admit to it but that’s who he was. Which I can get, but if you’re playing to a crowd of people that most likely don’t know your songs you can just cover it up with a new lyric and no one would have been the wiser. (Although a few songs were covers so it was a bit more obvious if you knew the originals) Most of his songs were for his wife, which was sweet.

Then it was time for Stephen Kellogg.  He had a band of 6 backing him and it has been a while since I’ve seen him with a band and not just him and his guitar and I have to say there is a HUGE difference in his stage presence with a band than not and this show was a whole other level than any of the other shows I have seen from SK in the past 10 years. So much so I was considering going to the show Saturday night too, but it was just not going to work out.  I had seen SK6ers 25 times before their split and SK solo now 5 times since then and this has to be my favorite show of his ever. The show just seemed to go on forever and it was just amazing. I’m not sure if any of his shows after this will ever measure up (although I am sure seeing him at BTTI in January will be amazing for different reasons)

Stephen also called out some people in the crowd for not even looking at the stage.  There was a lot of chit-chat going on during the openers set, and I figured it would stop once Stephen took the stage so I was pretty surprised when it didn’t. Several years ago he had commented from the stage at a show about some drunk girls talking right by the stage but when I mentioned it to him more recently he said he mellowed out a bit as he was getting older – but I was glad he took the time to ask the people not even looking at the stage to either look or head somewhere else to do whatever they were doing.  I am not sure why people go to a show to not pay attention to the headliner but it is what it is.

Hopefully my next SK adventure will be the BBQ this summer!

Casino Double Feature: Kesha @ Foxwoods, Rick Astley @ Mohegan Sun

I have been so tired after this back-to-back run of shows I never bothered to write up a review. So here goes nothing… Usually I like to write reviews when the show is still fresh in my mind but I failed at that for these two shows.

As part of Foxwoods 25th Anniversary they kicked it off with a couple of free shows. One being Kesha on a Wednesday night at the Grand Theater.  There were 3 ways to get tickets – win them from the radio, win them from Foxwoods text contest or wait in line all day for tickets. I ended up winning them from Foxwoods text contest a couple days before the show.

I really wouldn’t have called myself a Kesha fan before the show – I knew her songs from the radio but if you told me I’d be going to see her in concert I’d probably have told you you were crazy. But all that has changed now. Kesha put on an amazing show and I hope that all her legal troubles get figured out soon – she said she has 73 songs written that she can’t put out because of all the crap going on between her, her label and Dr Luke.

Kesha played all her hits but a lot of them she did in new arrangements. She had checked her paperwork and was still allowed to play them but wanted to mix things up a bit. She also threw in some covers – appropriately the first one was “You Don’t Own Me” as well as Britney’s “Til The World Ends” (which she wrote so im not sure if its technically a cover) and some Dolly Parton for good measure as well.

Favorite Lyric change: “Boys trying to touch my junk. Fuck you Donald Trump!”

Thursday night Mohegan Sun had an exclusive invite only show with 80s legend Rick Astley. I had thought that I only knew the song famous for “Rick Rolling” Never Gonna Give You Up – but I forgot all about Together Forever as well!

He had an opener Harrison Kipner who kept going on about how big the arena was. They had the arena set up has a half-house and no one was in the upper level but considering the smaller venues on the rest of Rick’s tours – it was pretty impressive. (And maybe some day he will play it at full capacity!)

Rick did some of his tracks from his new album and mixed in some covers as well – including ACDCs Highway To Hell which he played the drums during!  He even did a mashup with a Rihanna song as well.

 

Book Review: Creepy Crawly Crochet

Once again, I check out a really cool book about crochet with having no knowledge of how to make any of the cool things in the book! But this year I think I am going to try to teach myself because there are so many cool things that I want to try and make out there!

There are 17 creepy, crawly creatures in this book – things that go bump in the night! The book shows you all the stitches and techniques for all of the creatures. My favorites were the mummy, swamp thing and booboo voodoo!  There is even an itsy bitsy spider included, but I think I’ll pass on trying to make him!  This book has a lot of items that would be great for Halloween!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

They’re creepy but they’re cute and cuddly, too! Inspired by classic literature, film, and folklore, these 17 crochet monsters will delight everyone with a taste for old-fashioned thrillers and modern tales of horror. Detailed instructions include assembly diagrams for ease of construction along with full-color photos. The patterns are suitable for beginners, but advanced crocheters will find them irresistible as well.
These fetching fiends include Boo Boo the Voodoo Doll; Jack, the Headless Horseman, and his horse, Nightmare; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Carl of the Dead and Daisy, his Zombie Dog; and other sinister characters. In addition to their value as handmade keepsake treasures, these characters also make great gifts for fans of horror and science fiction.

Book Review: You Will Know Me

Megan Abbott was recommended to me as an author by a friend. I saw that You Will Know Me was available for review on NetGalley so I figured I would check it out.  I really liked Megan’s writing style although some of the ‘twists’ in the book I found to be quite predictable. I also thought it was a bit weird about how she told us the major event that was  going to happen very early on and then at times seemed to work backwards from it.

I’ve seen a lot of questions asking if this book is a Young Adult book. While the main character is a teen named Devon, I think this is more of an adult book. I want to say more about this book but I also don’t want to give too much away so I am struggling. But I will say the book revolves around Devon who is a gymnast and her family which have given up everything to support her in her hopes of going to the Olympics.  Through the gym they meet a guy and it is his death that ends up being the main piece of the rest of the book where you see how everyone in the community deals with the news and the investigation.

I didn’t feel like the book had a really good ending either. It just kind of ended without a lot of closure. But it didn’t put me off enough to not consider reading other Abbott books that may end up available.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

The audacious new novel from bestselling author Megan Abbott, “one of the best living mystery writers” (Grantland).
Katie and Eric Knox have dedicated their lives to their fifteen-year-old daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful. But when a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community just weeks before an all-important competition, everything the Knoxes have worked so hard for feels suddenly at risk. As rumors swirl among the other parents, revealing hidden plots and allegiances, Katie tries frantically to hold her family together while also finding herself drawn, irresistibly, to the crime itself, and the dark corners it threatens to illuminate. From a writer with “exceptional gifts for making nerves jangle and skin crawl,” (Janet Maslin) YOU WILL KNOW ME is a breathless rollercoaster of a novel about the desperate limits of desire, jealousy, and ambition.

Virtual Race: That Damn Donna Reed

Race Title: That Damn Donna Reed
Distance:   7.3k
Company:   Chilton Running Club
Charity:  Days for Girls

From the makers of Hogwarts Running Club (and Whovian Running Club) comes Chilton Running Club! The Inaugural event for the Gilmore Girls running group was “That Damn Donna Reed” and the medal is Rory’s Lime Surprise from one of the episodes.  I am looking forward to seeing what other episode related medals there are! And kind of hope the first year is all just food… it is the Gilmore Girls after all.

Music Monday: Ed Sheeran

 

Ed Sheeran released 2 singles – Castle on the Hill and Shape of You.  It seems like Shape of You has been getting more airplay – but ever since I watched a video of the Teletubbies dancing to it, I can’t seem to listen to it without seeing them dancing around, which makes me start laughing.  Castle on the Hill I’ve only heard a couple of times on the radio and it seems to be a bit more personal and a bit less radio friendly than Shape of You.  Either way, it is exciting for Ed to be back after his hiatus and I’m looking forward to him releasing “divide”.

 

Book Review: Almost Perfect

Almost perfect is about the sacrifice that baseball pitchers and teams make for the perfect game.  Very, very few have ever done it.  Some perfect games turned into no hitters but didn’t end up perfect.  There are write ups on some close calls with the box score and why they didn’t end up perfect.  Unfortunately my Mets have never had a perfect game and have only ever had 1 no hitter!

For those of you are not baseball fans – a “perfect game” is when you have no hits or walks, hit by pitch, etc. as a pitcher.  A no hitter is just that – no hits.  But you could have walked a player or hit him with a pitch.  This book shows some of these no hitters and other “almosts”.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

About the book

The rich, poignant tales of major league baseball’s most hard-luck fraternity—the pitchers of its Almost-Perfect Games

From 1908 to 2015, there have been thirteen pitchers who have begun Major League Baseball games by retiring the first twenty-six opposing batters, but then, one out from completing a perfect game, somehow faltering (or having perfection stolen from them). Three other pitchers did successfully retire twenty-seven batters in a row, but are still not credited with perfect games. While stories of pitching the perfect game have been told and retold, Almost Perfect looks at how baseball, at its core, is about heartbreak, and these sixteen men are closer to what baseball really is, and why we remain invested in the sport. Author Joe Cox visits this notion through a century of baseball and through these sixteen pitchers—recounting their games in thrilling fashion, telling the personal stories of the fascinating (and very human) baseball figures involved, and exploring the historical American and baseball backdrops of each flawed gem.

From George “Hooks” Wiltse’s nearly perfect game in 1908 to “Hard Luck” Harvey Haddix’s 12-inning, 36-consecutive-outs performance on May 26, 1959 (the most astounding single-game pitching performance in baseball history) to Max Scherzer’s near miss in 2015, Joe Cox’s book captures the action, the humanity, and the history of the national pastime’s greatest “almosts.”
Joe Cox is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and is the co-author of multiple sports books, including Fightin’ Words: Kentucky vs. Louisville and Voice of the Wildcats: Claude Sullivan and the Rise of Modern Sportscasting. He lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

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