Brr... It's Cold in Here

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Published: August 1, 2009 by Scholastic Press
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1
I've been hearing about this books for so long, that part of me feels like I'm the last one to read them. It almost actually feels like this books are "so yesterday" and everyone else has already moved on from them. Obviously, I've heard great things about these books, and expected to love them as well.

Except that wasn't quite the case. Yes, I enjoyed them, but I don't quite see what all the fuss was about. I think part of it is I knew this was the first of a trilogy, which ruined quite a bit of the suspense. After all, in order for a second book to make sense, certain things had to happen in this.

One issue I had with was that I didn't think the characters acted like teenagers. How is it every teenage drinks coffee every day? I know I didn't start to enjoy coffee till college, and it wasn't till I graduated that I started drinking it regularly. I would be fine if it was just a single character who had a coffee obsession, but instead it seemed everyone was drinking it all the time. Yes, it's a silly thing to obsess over, but obviously it really bothered me.

I realized this reviews sounds incredibly negative, but that doesn't necessarily reflect all of my thoughts. I did still like the book, I just don't think it lived up to all the hype I built for it. But even so, I definitely want to continue the series, as well as the rest of Stiefvater's books.

4/5

Don't forget that today is your last day to enter my 5 Year Blogoversary giveaway!

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!

Mint to Be or Not to Be

I had planned on making Mix & Match Mama's Candy Cane Bundt Cake for Christmas. Except when I went grocery shopping, after 3 different stores, I had yet to find peppermint extract. But no problem, since every store had mint extract and it would be an easy substitute.

Turns out no. Just google "Mint vs. Peppermint extract" if you don't believe me. For a short answer, mint extract includes spearmint, which isn't really the flavor I was going for. But I figured if I cut the extract, and added peppermint pieces, I could salvage the recipe. It wasn't perfect, and there was still a hint of spearmint, but overall, it worked. Of course, my very next shopping trip after Christmas I did find peppermint extract, which I made sure to stock up on for next time. But in case you're like me and you only have mint, here's a cake that I hope will also work for you.

Peppermint Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
10 peppermints
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups water
4 eggs
1 box white cake mix
2 small boxes of instant vanilla pudding
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon red food coloring
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
For the Frosting
4 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted.
10 peppermints

Directions
For the Cake
1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Crush 10 peppermints and set aside.
2. Mix the vegetable oil, water, and eggs together.
3. Add in the cake mix and puddings and mix until combined.
4. Pour out half of your cake mix and set aside. In one half, mix in the extracts and food coloring until a single color. (I didn't do a great job at cutting in half, and wound up with a ton more pink in my cake than white. But even if it's off, it's not a huge deal.)
5. Stir in your crushed up peppermints.
6. Stir the white chocolate chips into your white half.
7. Add the red cake mix into a prepped bundt cake pan.
8. Add the white cake mix on top.
9. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Let cool for 10 minutes. Then invert onto a serving platter to finish cooling.

For the Frosting
11. Cream together the butter, powdered sugar, and melted white chocolate.
12. Crush the second 10 peppermints. Reserving the largest pieces for the top of the cake, mix the rest into the frosting.
13. Spread frosting onto cooled cake topping with the reserved peppermint chunks.

While this could have been a complete pinterest fail, I think I managed to rescue a "Spearmint Cake" with a few small substitutions. Although I think if I make this again, I'll definitely make sure to buy the right type of extract!

Have you ever tried to make a substitution in a recipe and had it turn out not quite the way you had planned?

Peppermint Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
10 peppermints
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups water
4 eggs
1 box white cake mix
2 small boxes of instant vanilla pudding
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon red food coloring
1/4 white chocolate chips
For the Frosting
4 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted.
10 peppermints

Directions
For the Cake
1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Crush 10 peppermints and set aside.
2. Mix the vegetable oil, water, and eggs together.
3. Add in the cake mix and puddings and mix until combined.
4. Pour out half of your cake mix and set aside. In one half, mix in the extracts and food coloring until a single color.
5. Stir in your crushed up peppermints.
6. Stir the white chocolate chips into your white half.
7. Add the red cake mix into a prepped bundt cake pan.
8. Add the white cake mix on top.
9. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Let cool for 10 minutes. Then invert onto a serving platter to finish cooling.
For the Frosting
11. Cream together the butter, powdered sugar, and melted white chocolate.
12. Crush the second 10 peppermints. Reserving the largest pieces for the top of the cake, mix the rest into the frosting.

The Way of the Samurai

47 Ronin
Going into this movie I was sure I would hate it. I thought it looked cheesy and gory, and just such a "boy" movie. But I was actually pleasantly surprised.

47 Ronin actually takes place in Japan and is based on a historical true story, something I'd had no idea of from the marketing. I loved the beauty of Japan in the movie, and also was surprised by the love story throughout.

I'm actually a little surprised by the marketing of this. Yes, there is a good amount of action, but not an over the top amount. I do think that if it was presently as more of a historical story (similar to something like The Last Samuai) it would have done better. Instead I think people probably went into this expecting something over the top, and were disappointed. And there's others like me who love historical dramas, but never would have realized that's what this basically is without seeing it.

Twenty Thirteen Rewind

It's a little ridiculous how much I enjoy reading yearly recap posts. There's just something about seeing a relatively long amount of time in such a succinct post. And while in reality a year isn't that long, so many things can change in 12 short months. So before we kick off a new year, here's a look back at my last 12 months.

January
I kicked up the year by starting my 101 in 1001 list and my Project 365, one of which is complete as of today and the other which still has a long way to go.
I had a blogger meet-up with Melissa of Little Miss Married.

February
My BFF was in town for a wedding, and we were able to spend the day together in New Orleans.
The boy and I celebrated Valentine's Day by heading out for sushi.

March
I opened up my blog for sponsorship.
Google reader shutdown and I started using Feedly instead of Bloglovin.

April
I hosted a Passover sedar in our home for the first time without my parents.
I gave my blog a make-over.

May
I read The Ward which was written by my college roommate.
The boy bought me a Cannon Rebel, my first ever DSLR camera.

June
The new Backstreet Boys album was released.

July
We spent 4th of July at the beach in Destin, Florida, where it rained almost every single day.

August
We celebrated our niece's 6th birthday.

September
I spend most of our first anniversary weekend in Houston at a Backstreet Boys concert.
But still made it home in time for dinner with my husband on our first anniversary.

October
I celebrated my 29th birthday.

November
We attended our nephew's 4th birthday party.
We hosted Thanksgivikkah at our home.

December
I celebrated my 5 year blogoversary with a giveaway, which you still have time to enter.
We spent Christmas with my in-laws. (This is the necklace the boy gifted me, as well as the Frozen soundtrack which you can see in the background.)

What were some of your high in 2013?

And if you want to see how this year compares to years past for me, here are my recaps from 2009, 2010, and 2012

MMRR in December

It's the end of the year! I'll have my full 2013 recap up tomorrow, but first here's a look back at December.

Meals
I feel like December was a little ordinary in the meals front, which seems a little unexpected with all the holidays. But the boy did make homemade gnocchi this month, which is always an awesome occasion.
Moments
While it hasn't made the blog yet, but I promise eventually it will, we celebrated Christmas with my in-laws.
This is only about half of all the presents that were opened.

Reviews
In December, I posted reviews of 4 books and 4 favorites.
The Boleyn King by Laura Andersen
Triangles by Ellen Hopkins
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Frozen
Catching Fire
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Saving Mr. Banks
My favorite of them all would have to be Frozen, although out of just the books it's probably The Boleyn King.

Remembering
Four years ago, in 2009, we took our then 2-years-old niece to the movies for the first time to see The Princess and the Frog.
What are your meals, moments, reviews, and remembering from this past December?

Mailbox Monday (59)

Welcome to my last Mailbox Monday for 2013. I'm linking up at Rose City Reader to share the recent books I've added to my bookshelves.
Gifted
Cooking from the Heart by John Besh
The Pioneer Woman Cooks A Year of Holidays by Ree Drummond
John Besh is my favorite celebrity chef, and who doesn't love The Pioneer Woman? I'm definitely excited to start diving into these cookbooks!

For Review from TLC Books Tours
Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson
I've already read this book and absolutely adored it! I'm already looking forward to when I have the time to reread it. My review will be up in January, but get ready, because it's one I think everyone will love!

What books did you find in your mailbox, or under your tree, this week?

Don't forget to enter my 5 Year Blogoversary Giveaway while you're here!

Project 365: Days 355 Through 361

It's my last full week of photos for the year! I'll be back later this week with my final photos of the year, and thoughts on my Project 365. But till then...
December 21, 2013 - 355/365: I realize this looks like a blurry mess in a bowl, but it's actually a bowl of frozen yogurt from Menchies, filled with delicious-ness like gingerbread yogurt and cinnamon.
December 22, 2013 - 356/365: I made the boy a Black Russian Cake for his birthday.
December 23, 2013 - 357/365: My birthday present to the boy.
December 24, 2013 - 358/365: Mixing up a dessert for Christmas. (More to come in this in the next week!)
December 25, 2013 - 359/365: Playing with their new Christmas presents.
December 26, 2013 - 360/365: Playing King of Tokyo, which one of of the Christmas presents I gifted to the boy.
December 27, 2013 - 361/365: Camellias in bloom.

I'm linking this post up with Random-osity & Kleinworth & Co. for Project 52!