Pages are Flying!

The last time I headed to the library I was really lucky to come across many of the books I had been wanting to read after seeing some of my favorite bloggers rave about them. The first great book was The Tiger's Wife which I already mentioned, but it's worth mentioning again! It was soooo good! Here's a couple more...

-The Paris Wife by Paula McLain: The love story of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife (there were many to follow I found...) Hadley. A life filled with lots of travel, penny pinching, bickering, Absinthe and of course - love lost. It wasn't quite the book I expected, but still worth the read. I spent the evenings immersed in this book imagining what it would have been like to be Hadley  - living in the hustle and bustle of Paris and trying to predict Ernest's often stormy moods.

-My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira: Loved this book! It was so inspiring to read about a woman with such a passion for medicine and so tenacious in the face of opposition. Mary was tireless and unrelenting in her care for the sick and wounded of the Civil War. I just can't help but love a little historical fiction! :-)

-The Duchess and the Dragon by Jamie Carie: This was a touching story about a simple Quaker girl who falls in love with a Duke disguised in pauper's clothes. Will's Stepmom Dolly had given me this one to read - so sweet! If you are looking for a lovely little romance - this is definitely one to check out.

Girl in the Red Coat

I love, love, love this coat Will bought be for Christmas!!! He still isn't quite convinced that I really like it - or the hat. (I do!)

My first Christmas in Memphis was very relaxing. I slept in that morning and enjoyed some pancakes with the Nutella that Dolly and Will's dad sent. Yum! In the afternoon, Will and I delivered some soup and cookies to the people who had set up camp for Occupy Memphis - some have been living in tents by City Hall for 60 days now! The leftovers we took to a park down the street to share with the homeless that are usually gathered there. We were greeted with so much more need that we were prepared to meet! We quickly handed out all the rest of our soup and baked goods. I am constantly reminded that I have so much to be thankful for.
In the evening, we met up with our friend Josh, whom we know from the farmer's market (along with some of his friends) for a little dinner/board games/Dr. Who party. I am proud to say that I stayed awake through the entire episode of Dr. Who - last time I only made it ~10 minutes. This episode was just much more entertaining I guess!
Suffice it to say, it was a nice Christmas. I am so thankful that slooooowly it may seem that I am starting to make more friends here. :-) Back to work tomorrow - happy for a 4 day week!!

Happy Holidays!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... well, sort of. I have to be honest, I do kind of miss the idea of a white Christmas. Although, to celebrate the season, I have been enjoying some other things down South: like biking through the Starry Nights display, running outside(!), and watching the decorated trolleys roll down Main Street. Last night, Will and I warmed our bellies with bowls of pho soup again from a different Vietnamese restaurant in town - equally as good as the last! Afterwards, we sipped eggnog and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. That movie is so much funnier than I had remembered!

You couldn't hear a dump truck barreling through a nitroglycerin plant!

That totally makes sense to me!

Although, I'm disappointed that I couldn't get enough time off of work to make the drive home to see my family (and Charis!!!!), I am thinking of all the things I do have to be thankful for this holiday. 

- At least I have a job!

- Will, who has become family/best friend/boy friend is here to keep me company. :-)

- My freezer is full of sweet treats! (I have to freeze stuff so I'm less tempted to just keep eating all my cookies!)

- I am running (cautiously!) again!!!

- This hat Will got me for our anniversary. :-)

- Although, not guaranteed, there are likely many more Christmases in the future for me but there were several patients that I have seen in the past month who were heading home to enjoy possibly their last Christmas ever with their families and friends. I have nothing to complain about!

So, here's to a very merry Christmas to all my friends and family near and far. Although I may not be celebrating the season with you in person, know that I am thinking of you all and am with you in spirit! 

Baking up a Storm!

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon baking up these treats in the kitchen. These s'mores bars were a hit at the office party tonight and I thought I would share!

S'mores Bars!
(recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything)
Ingredients
-1/2 c. butter
-1/4 c. brown sugar
-1/2 c. sugar
-1 egg
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cup flour
-3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs
-1 tsp. baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-2 king-size Hershey's bars
-1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff (approximately a 7.5 oz jar)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients (flour thru salt). Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter/egg mixture until well combined. Dough will be slightly crumbly.
3. Press half of the dough into the bottom of the pan. Lay the chocolate bars on top of the dough in the pan. Spread the fluff over the chocolate layer. Sprinkle the rest of the cookie dough over the top.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly browned. Allow to cool thoroughly before cutting. (You may even want to freeze it a few minutes to make cutting easier. They are very gooey!)
These were so delicious!!!! They totally tasted just like s'mores.

I made these little bites of heaven using this recipe from eatliverun.com. :-) I used whole wheat flour instead of white, so they were a little crumbly, but still tasty! I think oatmeal cookies may be my fave right now!

Loaded oatmeal cookies!

Busy, Busy Weekend!

Howdy! Hope y'all are had a wonderful week and are enjoying the holiday season. Here's a few of the things that happened in the life of Deb this week...
Thursday was Will and I's 1-year anniversary! (I can hardly believe it's been that long already!) I'm so glad to have him in my life. :-) We went out to Felicia Suzanne's which features food from local farmers made fancy to celebrate.

Quail and polenta

Crab salad with roasted beets

Main St is so pretty at night during Christmas-time!

Friday night we were lucky enough to come across a couple of free tickets to a Memphis Grizzlies pre-season game. Go Grizz! It was a close game... but we lost 97-90.  (We may or may not have stayed for the whole thing... shhh...)

Our seats were right behind the Hornet's basket!

Last night we saw the new Sherlock Holmes' movie. I was totally obsessed with all the Sherlock Holmes mysteries for a while in high school - I may have read all of them! The movies are definitely not totally true to the original stories, but they are still entertaining!

Today I have been baking up a storm! Tomorrow, the clinical staff and interns are having a Christmas party (should be entertaining!) so I had to bake something to contribute. Tuesday is book club! This month, we read The Christmas Cookie Club so we are all bringing a batch of cookies to share. I'm also hoping to get back into running this week with the group. I've seriously missed it so much! My knee is slowly getting better, but it's still not 100%. :-/ (Which has been beyond frustrating!)
Only 7 days til Christmas!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Last year around this time when I was living in Cleveland, I would look out my window and I'm pretty sure it would look a little like this.

The idea of a rainy, "brown" Christmas may take some getting used to!  It's hilarious to see Southerners trying to scrape their cars in the winter in the event that it does snow or ice over. I think I've seen someone using a clipboard... the flap of a cardboard box... gloved hands + windshield wipers... I try not to laugh! (I promise!)
Anyways, it is still a bit nippy out down here so I suggested we try the Vietnamese restaurant in town for some warm-you-from-the-inside-out Pho. Last year, one of my awesome Cleveland friends (Chris!) introduced Will and I to Pho, which is a clear, broth based soup filled with rice noodles and fresh herbs (usually basil). At the table, they give you toppings like bean sprouts and jalepenos, sriracha and hoisin sauce. Yum!

Humongous bowl of Pho!!!

Will ordered the sandwich we saw advertised in the Memphis Flyer earlier this week. Lots of pork (including some that resembled Spam) was involved!

Last year, one of the first things we did when we moved to Memphis was drive out to Shelby Farms to view their Christmas light display. I totally wanted to go back this year (hoping it might instill some Christmas spirit!). Mondays, you can bike/walk/run through the display - awesome!!! We bundled up, packed some hot coffee and leisurely biked our way through the lights. So much fun!

I'm so cool.

Shocking!

My FAVORITE section of the tour!

Hope y'all enjoyed a fun and festive weekend as well!

On My Bookshelf

Since I am still nursing my knee injury, I've had a bit more free time to devote to one of my other hobbies... READING! Here's a few of the books I've been perusing of late.

Let's start at the bottom...
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult - To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Picoult, I feel like she writes about controversial, heart-touching topics just to get a lot of books sold. On the other hand, she does know how to grab your attention and keep it until the end. This particular one was about a couple split apart by the stress of trying to have a child through IVF and the new lives they build post-divorce.
Swamplandia by Karen Russell - It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did, I thought it was pretty fantastic. Russell is a really, really good writer. The tale is about the Bigtree family and their failing alligator farm/amusement park in the Florida Everglades. Most of the story is centered on the "coming-of-age" of Ava and the lengths she goes to try to hold her family and the farm together.
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi - This was our October book club read which I wasn't sure if I had mentioned before. Preston outlines the details of the murders of a yet un-caught serial killer that haunted the hills of Florence from 1960-1980s. Honestly, I only made it halfway when I lost interest because all the murders had been committed (terrible, I know!) and the last half just centered on rehashing the events in the courtroom. However, if you are the type that loves watching CSI re-runs, this is definitely a book for you!
Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes - Will gave this to me to read, and I honestly enjoyed reading it! Taubes does a fantastic job of reviewing evidence/research behind the obesity epidemic and how the only clear solution is to follow a basically no-carb diet with lots of fat and protein. I'm not completely convinced yet (I'm not ready to give up oatmeal and cookies!), but his argument is definitely compelling!
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - Originally, I picked this one up at the library because I had figured I should read it because it's a "classic". I made it about half-way through before I put it down because I was starting to get creeped out... I don't want know what goes through the mind of a pedophile. Eeek! No thank you.

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht - This was a FANTASTIC book!!!! It was seriously glued to my face all week. I love how Obreht uses folk tales (like "the tiger's wife" and the "deathless man" to unravel the events of the life of Natalia's recently deceased grandfather. So touching. Seriously, this is a book that is definitely worth reading!! 

Delish Mushroom and Biscuit Dish!!!

It snowed here in Memphis last night! I love waking up the morning of a first snow when all the trees are still frosted with snow and it hasn't turned to dirty, gross slush in the streets yet. Since the temperature was dropping, I thought it would be the perfect evening for baking up this mushroom and biscuit dish from Joy the Baker. (I love her!)

Biscuit making!

I love an excuse to play in flour! These biscuits turned out so much better than I thought they would!

Mmmmm... tasty!

For the delicous recipe... click here! Joy's pictures are so much better than mine! I made just a few changes to the recipe. I left out the chives in the biscuits and just seasoned them with oregano and I used a mix of plain yogurt and milk in place of the buttermilk. In the stew, I left out the peas. Other than that, this recipe is awesome!!! If you're facing a snowy outlook, this dish is sure to make you toasty warm!

Race Weekend

Oops! I didn't mean to neglect my blog for a whole week! (I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seat wondering what I have been up to the last few days. Don't try to deny it!) Anyways, my bad! The real exciting stuff didn't happen until the weekend anyhow. :-)
Friday, I went to the Dr about my knee. According to him, I have "chondromalacia" - so the cartilage behind my knee has softened to where it couldn't handle the stress of running and freaked out. Now, I have a brace to wear while I cross train and see them for PT on Friday. (Thank God for health insurance! It's a truly amazing thing!) He said "N-O" to me running on Saturday. I was so disappointed! Since I'd be running the race in spirit with my friends, I figured I still needed to carb load. I totally demolished this cupcake from Yolo for dessert on Friday.

Dreamy coconut!

So, I made a sign and walked down the street (the race course just so happened to go past my house!).

Oh, and the newspaper-man was enamored with Honey (Will's pup!) so he put us in the slide show on the Commercial Appeal's race write-up --> See it live on the site here!

I never realized how chicken legged I look! So awkward! It's definitely an awesome picture of Honey though!

Sunday we redeemed our box seat tickets for the Nutcracker ballet at the Orpheum Theater! What an enchanting show they put on! I am always so impressed by people who can dance... because I am so incredibly uncoordinated!
Hope y'all stayed toasty warm this weekend!