Friday Brain Dump

I’ve been on a major reading kick lately. I’m almost always reading a book club selection, but this past month I managed to finish two other phenomenal books. First up, Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson. My dad gave me this book for my birthday and I can’t believe so many of my interests were major plot lines in the story. The main characters are in a book club, which is where all of the drama begins, and several of the female leads are also avid scuba divers. This book had two major plot twists which had my head spinning. The second novel I devoured is Someone We Know by Shari Lapena. This is the book my dad gave my sister for her birthday. Again, a book club is featured in this story. Love that! This book was hard to put down. I’m eager to read others by this author. Both of these books would make excellent book club selections. I’ll post next week about the book we’re reading for Book B*tches this month. It’s definitely good for discussion and very thought provoking.Bodie got the game ball at his baseball game last week. He had the game of his life! A triple, two doubles, a single and an amazing play at third base. He’s been working hard with his daddy on the weekends and in the evenings and I’m so happy he’s realizing that his efforts create results.Sweet Gipp….he misses the kids so much when they’re at school.I know I say this a lot, but I’ve been in a cooking rut lately. Every few months I begin to feel like I’m making the same things over and over again and I get excited to peruse www.foodnetwork.com and breathe new life into my menu. After church Sunday I went to Publix and got all of the fixings for chicken with broccoli stir fry and shrimp scampi. The stir fry was delicious! And decently healthy. The fam loved it. As for the scampi….meh….I skimped a bit on the garlic and red pepper flakes because I was worried the kids would find it too spicy, but it ended up being a bit bland. So, next time I’ll just stick to the recipe and use the full amounts. I used frozen shrimp and they worked fine. This dinner was quick to make and perfect for a weeknight.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/linguine-with-shrimp-scampi-recipe3-1916619

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/chicken-and-broccoli-stir-fry-recipe-1942670

I entered Gipper in Garden & Gun’s #gooddogphotocontest because he’s such a scrumptious Velvet Moose. Some friends and I went to the opening of Euphoria last night. Euphoria is a food and wine festival featuring Greenville’s best chefs and restaurants. We enjoyed delicious wines and inventive food at Jianna. We were overdue for an adult couples’ night out!Of course I’m not looking at the camera. We never get pictures together.Lastly, we had two days of temperatures not in the nineties and this happened. I’ve always wanted a Halloween tree and this is the year! It’s from TreeTopia and is adorned with bats, ghosts and skeletons. I love it.