Let me tell you something you don’t know about me: I love baking – and cooking in general. So I thought that I could combine it with some of my other loves, reading and blogging. (Also: double post!)
Before I continue though, I have to say that this post is slightly inspired by something I’ve seen YouTuber Cindy Pham do on her channel a couple of times. It’s called Cook & Book and she cooks herself dinner while talking about books she read recently and what she thought of them.
But Reading & Recipes is a little bit different. For one thing, there’s a huge difference in presentation between a video and a blog post. So for this thing, I’m going to be posting a recipe I used recently along with a picture of the finished product, as well as discussing a book I was reading the same day a little bit. Annnd that’s it, that’s pretty much the post.
So, I’ll stop blabbering and get on with it.
Recent Recipe: Spritz Cookies
Confession(s): Even though I really enjoy baking, I’m not a genius. Nor do I have the will or the desire to spend time testing recipes (particularly baking ones) dozens of times. So I sought out Sally’s Baking Recipes and found this recipe. This is also my first time making Spritz Cookies, so I haven’t messed around with it or modified the recipe to my tastes yet, so the one I used was exactly the same.
And, I gotta say, this recipe is pretty awesome. The only thing that I’d really change is add waaayy less almond extract (like to about 1/8 of a teaspoon). I can’t stand it when sugar cookies taste too almondy. I’d also take the cookies out of the oven a minute or two early, cuz I like my sugar cookies nice and soft.
But yeah, other than my highly specific nitpicks, three cookies turned out very well. I’ll definitely be making them again!
Recent Read: The Way of Kings
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.
One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.
Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.
Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.
The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.
Speak again the ancient oaths:
Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.and return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.
So… Here’s the thing. I’m pretty sure – like 98% sure – that I’m gonna DNF this book. I just… don’t care for it for whatever reason. I don’t know what it is about some 800+ page books, but I just can’t get into them sometimes.
And the amount of scenes that use telling instead of showing grated on my nerves a little bit. That, and I really wasn’t too interested in the individual character plots. I don’t know, it was a bunch of little things, plus the fact that I’m having trouble getting into the book, plus the length of the novel. So I think I’m going to stop.
I really, really wanted to like this book. And I have oodles of respect for Brandon Sanderson. But I don’t think me and the Stormlight Archive were meant to be. Maybe someday I’ll try Mistborn…
So what books have you been reading lately? What have you thought of them? What’s your favorite meal or dessert? How about cookies, specifically?
Thank you as always for reading, and I hope you all have a fantastic day/night! Happy Holidays, as well, to anyone who celebrates!
See ya ~Mar