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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Book Club.


While I am an avid reader, I am a book club virgin. Until tonight, that is.

A friend of a friend sent out an invitation last month looking for a few girls to start a book club. I totally jumped on board because 1) apparently I am a huge nerd and 2) when you're new to town (and the country) it doesn't hurt to spread your wings a bit and make some new friends.

There are only seven of us, but that is plenty to kill a bottle of wine and talk about how a book TOTALLY relates to our life.

Actually, that is a lie. Only four of us showed up tonight for our meeting about the first book. Totally okay because it was the three other girls that I know best.



We read What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn.

Jaclyn, our hostess, loved it. Ashley liked it. Laura hated it. I thought it was okay.

Let's be honest, I read only the trashiest $0.99 novels I can buy on kindle. Anything over that price is way too classy for me. My standards are nice and low.




We did a potluck style meeting and everyone was supposed to bring an appetizer or dessert.

I made a delicious artichoke dip with a fresh baguette that I sliced and toasted. Clearly, my taste in appetizers and bread is much higher than my taste in books.

You need this recipe because it's so damn easy to make.

The Only Artichoke Recipe You'll Ever Need:


-Whisk together 1 cup mayo, 1 cup parmesan, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp ground pepper, 1/4 tsp garlic powder. 
-Mix in two 14oz cans of well-drained and chopped artichoke hearts. 
-Bake for 25 minutes at 375, 35 minutes if chilled.
-Sprinkle an 1/8 tsp paprika on top. 
-Serve warm with thinly sliced and toasted baguettes. I popped mine in the oven with the dip for ten minutes. Or buy a box of crackers. Whatever floats your boat.



The artichoke dip was fresh out of the oven so I packed it up in my monogrammed, insulated casserole dish carrier. I thought I was so fancy and only a tad nerdy.




But then I got there and the other girls were all "I have one at home too! I love mine." Here I thought I was something special. Not so much.

Even still, I still think it is a great item to have and would make an excellent gift.




We had so much fun sharing a bottle of wine and briefly discussing the book. Inevitably someone would go off on a tangent and we'd end up talking about random issues like exporting infected potatoes to Algeria or the amazing video about the nine year old boy who started Caine's Arcade. Have you seen it? Watch it by clicking this.

It'll be the best ten minutes of your day.




Next month we're reading the story of Frank Lloyd Wright called Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. It's supposed to be awesome.

Anyone read it?



2 comments:

  1. yes. It's slow.

    I do an online (in the summer) book club but other than that- nada. SO JEALOUS!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ugh...not another slow one. Oh well, I probably won't read it since I'm leaving next week for the whole summer!

    ReplyDelete