Friday, February 8, 2013

January Book Club 2.0

Hostess: Alyssa
Book: Horns by Joe Hill
Food:  Crepes, cranberry couscous, King Cake
Month: January
Wine of the Night: Bric de Bersan



Entering Alyssa's house is kind of magical -when you walk in, you are greeted with a profusion of art and cats and puppies and Alyssa's own little imps.  There is always something on the stove top, ready for you to eat.  Last night we all trooped in, and pulled our chairs up to the table, pouring wine all around. (well, into glasses)  We chatted a bit about what was going on in our lives, especially Kelly's upcoming trip to London and what she can bring us all back as souvenirs. Lol. 

After a bit, Alyssa got up and made us our crepes. I love crepes, I could eat them everyday, they are so yummy yummy.  She served them with a side of cranberry couscous, and we all gobbled them down pretty quickly.  The pièce de résistance, however, was the King Cake directly from New Orleans.  Despite having visited New Orleans many times, I have never had King Cake, which is a Mardi Gras tradition.  Alyssa told us that growing up in New Orleans, she and her classmates would take turns bringing in a king cake - everyday! King Cakes have a plastic baby baked inside. If you get the piece with the baby, it is your turn to host the next party. Chrissy and Kelly were super paranoid about this, they thought they were either going to chip a tooth or hack to death on it. Kelly ended up having the piece with the baby, and thank goodness she neither chipped a tooth nor did she choke.  




This time around, mostly everyone had read the book, and loved it!  Alyssa, Chrissy and Mary all had quotes from it that they really enjoyed.  We talked about the meaning of different things, what we liked and didn't like- it was great! (My review of Horns will be up either later tonight or tomorrow morning.)  

Alyssa wasn't able to make the December book club and gift exchange, so we got our handmade gift last night.  They are so cute and clever and I love mine!  Her 7 yr. old daughter painted portraits of one of each of our cats. She did a wonderful job!  I am pretty sure this is a portrait of my cat Miso, my only cat with blue eyes.



We all had a great time last night, although we missed Jennifer who was ill, and Jill, who had to work.  Jill has been so busy between school and work that she has missed the last couple of book clubs, so I pulled up a picture of her on my phone so everyone could remember what she looks like. Hopefully she can make our next book club, at the end of this month.  We are reading Blankets, my choice.  

  

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