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Top 5 Tuesday: Surprising 2019 Reads!

December 3, 2019December 3, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read12 Comments

I swear I'm not leaving again! It just turns out that back-to-back Thanksgivings and hosting 14 people was a little more than I anticipated. Who would've guessed?! Idk, maybe everyone. Anywho, the Holiday week was a freaking whirlwind to say the absolute least. I did have a wonderful time and everything went really smoothly with our first hosting of a family holiday so I'm putting this one in the win column!

2019 has been kind of a disappointing year, reading-wise for me. With so many things going on (liver donation surgery, my husband finishing his PhD, moving to New Mexico) reading has taken a back seat. I'm really looking forward to 2020 and stepping everything back up again with my reading, reviewing and blogging. We've also got our first ski trip coming up this weekend and I literally couldn't be more amped. Anyway, today I wanted to participate in Top 5 Tuesday! A weekly meme hosted by Bionic Book Worm and this weeks topic is 2019's most surprising reads!

Review: The Other Woman by Sandie Jones!

November 25, 2019November 25, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read16 Comments

So, apparently hosting a Thanksgiving for 14 people is more than I previously anticipated. Apologies readers for missing my Food Friday post but I've got a new recipe scheduled for this Friday so keep an eye out! Especially since everyone will be particularly hungry right after Thanksgiving! In the mean time, I'll be reviewing The Other Woman by Sandie Jones!

Review + Recipe: Children of Blood and Bone + Jollof Rice!

November 20, 2019November 20, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read25 Comments

Welcome back to the table readers! I'm really excited to be bringing y'all my first recipe and a read post since my short hiatus. It really is one of my favorite things about this blog that I get to explore different techniques and foods from all over the world. I've made Korean, English, Cuban, Middle Eastern, Italian, Mexican and the list goes on. It's so fun and I'm thrilled to be taking y'all (any myself) to another new location: Nigeria! Jollof rice is one of the most common dishes in West Africa and there's tons of regional variations. I'm sticking with a more traditional recipe for today but in my research I saw numerous incredibly tasty looking options.

Top 10 Tuesday: Reading Changes!

November 19, 2019November 19, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read20 Comments

Y'all. The universe, straight up, does not want me to get a hair cut. Can't a girl just try to look nice when she's hosting her first full Thanksgiving for 14 people?!?!?! I've had my appointment cancelled twice now and it's a for real beat down. You know what isn't a beat down though? Top 10 Tuesday! This one always stresses me out a little because coming up with 10 things always feels a tad overwhelming.

But you know, because I'm a *maverick* (just kidding) I'll be participating in this weeks Top 10 Tuesday ANYWAY. Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Artsy Reader and this weeks topic is changes to your reading life!

Food Friday: Buffalo “Chicken” Salad!

November 15, 2019November 15, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read6 Comments

As I mentioned earlier this week I want to integrate some more content into my blog. The main focus will remain reviewing books and pairing recipes mentioned in those books with my reviews. However (again) as I said, I have so many original recipes that I've wanted to share with y'all but they've not coincided with any of my books so they just sit in my recipe book, un-shared. Granted, even when I explore a new recipe or style of food for my blog I make it a few times, making changes that fit my households pallets and to give it a little *original* flare. However, that's not really the same as a recipe I've been making and working on for months or years. So here I am, with my first official Food Friday post! Today's recipes is one of my husbands all time favorites and was originally inspired during our time doing Whole30 back in January. However, it's seriously morphed since then and is not Whole30 any longer.

Top 3 Thursday: Favorite Backlist Reads!

November 14, 2019November 14, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read17 Comments

As I mentioned in a few of my previous posts, I'm a SHEEP when it comes to reading. I always find myself looking at my TBR saying "you know, I'm gonna read this book that's been sitting here rejected for 56 million years" and then I see a shiny new release that all my GR and blogging friends are reading and I toss that sentiment to the wind and board the hype-train. Leaving these non-new releases sitting sad and alone, when they deserve to shine too! So tickle-me-pink when I see that today's Top 3 Thursday post is all about our favorite backlist reads from 2019!

Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager!

November 13, 2019November 13, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read22 Comments

Jules Larsen does not have an enviable life. In fact, her life is decidedly a raging dumpster fire. She's lost her job and she's lost her boyfriend - and all in one day. She's got no family to lean on, no money in the bank and no prospects on the horizon that might help pull her out of the hole she's found herself in. Living on her best friends couch with a bleak outlook on the future Jules seems to have hit rock bottom. But that's the thing about "rock bottom" isn't it? Once you're there, there's no where to go but up.

Top 5 Tuesday: Authors I Need to Read!

November 12, 2019November 12, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read21 Comments

On today's episode of "Things Christina Learns About Herself", Christina learns that she starts all of her blog posts with some iteration of "Happy [insert something related to the day of the week as if the readers of this blog don't know what day of the week it is]". So to break with tradition I'm wishing you all a very somber, sad Tuesday. Just kidding! But I do need to come up with some other shtick to start my posts, good lord but I'm redundant.

Today I'm participating in Top 5 Tuesday a weekly meme hosted by Bionic Book Worm where different topics are explored each week. This week is "authors I need to read", so off we go!

Review: Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

November 8, 2019November 11, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read7 Comments

Happy Friday to all my party people! I'm doing my level best to not make *another* liar out of myself and delivering on the 86 million backlogged reviews I have waiting for you! I'm starting however, with a few more of my recent reads since they're fresh on the brain.

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Books On My Current TBR!

November 6, 2019November 7, 2019 Christina - Recipe & A Read21 Comments

Happy hump-day fellow readers! As I mentioned yesterday I'm working on getting back into the swing of blogging and I've got another review coming at y'all on Friday. I didn't want to stack too many of them back to back and I love these little bookish memes so I thought this would be a fun way to break up the week! I know it's technically Wednesday, but Top 5 Wednesday is on a hiatus so I thought #yolo I'd just to the T5T post today!

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bionic Book Worm where various topics are explored every week. If you haven't checked out her blog I can't suggest it enough! It's a great way to explore lots of fun book options.