Word Hot Dish

Is the term "Hot Dish" something that is primarily a Midwestern thing or does hot dish transcend global boundaries? My favorite hot dish is a tomato based one with hamburger & elbow macaroni's - which my beloved German Grandmother called "Goulash" and considered "Italian" even though the name usually referred to a Hungarian dish and her's wasn't really much like the honest to goodness thing. (We had her ethnic eating all straightened out by the time I graduated from High School) Ironically her "recipe" (which she didn't actually have one and used a bizarre dump method for all cooking including cakes - and was a fantastic cook!) is very similar to the one Paula Deen calls Bobby's Goulash

It isn't really a culinary masterpiece, and I'm the only one in my house that craves it, so I don't get it often - but when I do.... YUM! I think I'm craving it now.

Based on the recommendations of Chris and now-bloggless Jeanne I ordered a new purse cam last week. My Olympus Stylus 1010 should arrive by Friday - just in time to be stowed in my purse for two fancy dress parties this weekend. (Ohh! I will feel very Ashton Kutcher only with an Olympus instead of a Nikon) Short of a bit of a tan, and a trip to the salon for a haircut and mani/pedi I'm all set for the parties with two whole different outfits. Since I've waited until the last minute for those last few details I'm going to have to wing it all on my own. Oops!

The fact that I have a lot of planning responsibilities for one of these parties isn't taking up oodles of my time or weighing on me at all. *eye roll*

I have quite a few more books on the burner that I want to share and, rather than dedicating a single entry to each book I thought I'd give a quick synopsis kind of update on each of them:


Body Movers - by Stephanie Bond. I received this from Chris and am passing it on to my mother who will surely love this new to us series. Carlotta Wren is a former pampered princess who had to give up her life of luxury when her father was indicted on fraud charges and skipped bail with her mother - leaving Carlotta penniless and charged with caring for her younger brother Wesley. 10 years later Carlotta finds herself working retail and not much else - until her brothers delinquent behavior brings her fathers case back into the spotlight, her former fiancee pops up and his new wife (one of Carlotta's best customers) drops dead. A fun, funny, and great story I couldn't wait to get my hands on -





Body Movers - 2 for the price of 1 - by Stephanie Bond. After working out those pesky murder charges that nearly cost her her life Carlotta should be in the clear but then someone steals her identity, her car, and winds up dead. How much can one girl take? It isn't too bad considering the cast of characters willing to help a girl out.... I've got the next book in this series qued up!







Out of This World - Jill Shalvis. My attempt to dip my toe in the paranormal/sci-fi contemporary novel pond. A fun, fast moving story surrounding a not your normal run of the mill bed & breakfast in Alaska - with super powers, heightened sexual awareness, and pirates you never know what is going to happen next.







There will be more, bigger better book reviews coming in the following few days. I hope that you aren't tiring of them, but with my knitting on the slow boat and my everyday life being not too terribly exciting or sharable books is what I have right now. And, I love books!

Is anyone else watching Real Housewives of New Jersey? I swear that I saw Stephanie Plum & Joe Morelli run by in an episode..... okay, not really. But! I have started my countdown to the release of Finger Lickin 15. It was supposed to be released on my birthday, but now the book has been pushed out 7 days to June 23rd.

I was surprised to hear that the book I reviewed yesterday A Map of the Known World wasn't available at quite a few libraries so I checked mine, and since sent in a request that they add A Map of the Known World to the shelves. I had thought of offering up my copy for raffle - but I think it would be best used if I donated it to the school library after The Princess gets her chance to read it. Hope you don't think me selfish.