The Spanish Bridegroom

For a Queen's Love by Jean Plaidy
I love it when new Jean Plaidy books are released. Actually released its quite correct, released would be better. See, Jean Plaidy died in the early 1990s, and most of her books were published throughout the 50s and the 70s. Most of the books have gone out of print, but they are slowly being republished.

This book tells the story of King Phillip II of Spain and his first three wives. The first Maria Manoela, whom he has somewhat of a childhood romance with. The second Queen Mary Tutor of England, a marriage made strictly for politically again. And the third Elizabeth Valois of France, daughter of Catherine di Medici, another marriage made for political reasons like most royal marriages. However, helped by the fact his wife was 3 years younger than himself, he did seem to fall a bitin love with her.

What I love about this book, and all Jean Plaidy books in general, is that while they are historical fiction they read a bit biography. They aren't written to have a big mystery, or a great plot twist, instead she simply tells the story of their lives. While some of her characters don't have the most interesting lives, I still enjoy them and love that I'm able to learn a little bit with each of her novels.

One reason I felt I was able to learn so much from this book especially is because its about of topic I haven't read a lot about. I read tons of books about England during this period, but few about Spain, so it was nice to see this period from a different point of view. And while there were a lot of new historical persona for me, its always fun to read about figures I've read before, for example Mad Queen Juana, who I read about in C.W. Gortner's The Last Queen, and Diane de Poitiers, who I discovered in Diane Haeger's Courtesan. It's almost like reacquainting yourself with an old friend, and its always neat to see a different author's take on an old character.

I definitely wound up enjoying, more than a lot of Jean Plaidy's other books even. Even without any grand gestures or climaxes I still wasn't able to put it down. And I can't wait to read her next book, which has thankfully already been (re)released!

~Shoshanah

The End of the Mortal Instruments

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
This is definitely a series where each book gets better and better. Unfortunately it is a trilogy, which makes this the final part. I'm a little sad considering I can only imagine what more books in this world would be like. This books takes Clary and her friends to the city of Alicante, which is the city of the Shadowhuters, in order to find a cure for Clary's mother.

While I do think it'd be fun to read more about this world, this book does wrap the story up pretty perfectly. All the questions about Clary's and Jace's past are answer. While some of them are answered as expected, there's still some nice twists and turns along the way. In some ways I felt the last few pages opened up a second set of questions, but yet I think the author's point with bringing in the Seelie Queen at the end of the book was to show how satisfied Clary was with all of the changes she's gone through.

I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this series, especially after being a little let down after the first book. I think part of it is I like being the one choosing my own books. When someone lends me book to read (these ones were from my mom), I tend to think that if they were really worth reading I would have discovered them myself. While I know that isn't always the case, its still a hard habit for me to break. But hopefully this books takes me on a journey of being a little more open to suggestions.

~Shoshanah

Making a Cake

Last week I posted about making lemon risotto. In the post I mentioned I had a good amount of leftovers. My mom made note of that and sent me a recipe for risotto cakes. It turned out to be a great way use up most of the risotto left in the fridge. Here's the recipe, courtesy of my mom.

Risotto Cakes
Take the cold risotto out of the fridge. Make it into little cakes about 2-3” in diameter. Make them flat like thick pancakes.
Beat an egg with a little water in a bowl. Have another bowl of bread crumbs (panko-the Japanese ones are really good, but you could use any kind).Dip the cakes in the beaten egg then the crumbs.Saute in olive oil (be sure the pan is hot, then add the oil) til crispy and golden brown on both sides.Overall I think it turned out really good, and I think it was a great way to use up the leftovers. Although I had some of the cakes break apart when I dipped them into the eggs. You can kind of tell which ones those were by looking at them in the frying pan. But they tasted great. They were still nice and lemon-y, but sauteing them gave them a nice little crunch.Anyone else have any creative ways to use up leftovers? Whether its leftover risotto or something else I'd love to hear them!

~Shoshanah

Get Your Kicks

I know I missed last week, but this time I'm back with another edition of Classy in Philadelphia's Where in the World Wednesday. The point is to share a picture of you somewhere in the world, its that simple. So this week I'm on...
Route 66
I could be wrong, but I believe this was taken in Texas, although it might have been in New Mexico. This was Summer 2006, right after college graduation. I spent about 2 weeks driving my car cross country from Maryland back to California for the summer.

Be sure to head over to Classy in Philadelphia if you're looking for more Where in the World Wednesday posts! Or if you'd prefer, you can see Where in the world I've been here!

~Shoshanah

NKOSB?

Talk about battle of the 90's boy bands. In case you haven't seen it yet (which really, I'm guessing you haven't) last weekend the Backstreet Boys were a surprise guest during a New Kids on the Block concert. They showed up and the two groups sang I Want it that Way together. I realize the video's not the best quality, but I hope you're still able to enjoy this 90s flashback!

~Shoshanah

Monday Movie Review

Toy Story 3
Pixar's back at it again, and they've brought back Woody and Buzz and the rest of the toys with them. The movie deals with Andy going off to college. But what will happen to the toys? Will he take them to college? Store the in the attic? Donate them? Or just throw them away in the trash? If you've paid attention to previews you probably have a good idea as to what journey they take.

At parts of the movie I couldn't believe what they were subjecting the toys to. I know I was almost looking away from the screen not wanting to watch, and I'm sure there must of been kids in the theater who felt the same way. I didn't understand why they would put such awful images in a kids movie. Then I had a bit of a reality check, they're toys after all! Sure we know they're alive, but what they go through isn't really any different than what happens to most of our child play things.

And the end? Yes, I did cry. It just sends such a message of being ready to grow up and move on with your life, and yet not quite being able to forget your past entirely. There's a line (which I know I'm going to ruin entirely) where Andy's mom tell him he'll miss him while he's away at college. And he responds back, something along the lines of even if I'm not here, I'm still here inside of you. And I think that's the message the movie was trying to send, learning to let go and yet still hold on.

So in case you missed it, I loved the movie. (I'm pretty sure there isn't a Pixar movie I don't love.) The boy enjoyed it, but he liked the second Toy Story better since he felt it was funnier. So I would definitely recommend going to see this. (Isn't it nice to have two weeks of positive movies in a row? Interesting that both this and The Karate Kid are both geared towards kids. I guess they're only making good movies for kids right now.)

~Shoshanah

Some Changes

There's a few changes over here at From L.A. to LA. Nothing too crazy, but I hope it makes things a little easier to navigate. If you look at the top I've added links to a few specific sections of the blog. First are all the entries dealing with my journey from Los Angeles to Louisiana. Posts like dealing with the lack of sidewalks or learning that people in the south still say ma'am and sir. Second are all my books posts. Most are reviews, but there's a few fun ones like the tour of my library. Third is food, which is some recipes, some restaurant reviews, but mainly just a lot of food porn pictures. And finally we end with movies, which again is mainly reviews.

I'm hoping that these links at the top can help especially if its or first time here and you want to discover what From L.A. to LA is all about, or instead if you've been a loyal follower and you're looking for new ideas of books to read. While those four topics aren't all I write about, they do tend to make up the majority of my posts. Of course if you're looking for a specific topic, say my thoughts on Jon & Kate Plus 8 or to hear stories of my world travels the right sidebar still lists all my tags.

So let me know what you think? Do you like having those links at the top? Or is there another one you think I should add? Or if you have any suggestions for From L.A. to LA in general let me know!

~Shoshanah