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2025 Reading List

Welcome to a new year of reading!

I read 28 novels and 26 graphic novels last year. Not bad! This year, I’m putting recent acquisitions and reads at the top. That does not mean READING order, just PILE order.

Never Flinch, Stephen King. This was a surprise from Amazon, we’d pre-ordered! I started it immediately after I finished Bazaar of Bad Dreams. It is another Holly book – he just can’t quit her!! This novel was good – not great. I do fervently wish the next book is called Two For Flinching, however.

Goodwill Hurl, 10 June 2025
After, Amy Efaw.
Little Deaths, Emma Flint.
Everything You Want Me To Be, Mindy Mejia.
The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever, Jeff Strand. Started this one and it reminds me of the movie Super 8.
Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout.
Country of Origin, Don Lee.

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Stephen King. This is a re-read. It’s a short story collection – a style that King excels at. The foreword has valuable info about writing the short story and a bit about his process. Nick has been on a King binge, so I thought I’d join him.

Taste / My Life Through Food, Stanley Tucci. Yes, this is a second read of his memoir. It is SO GOOD. He is extremely witty and you’ll read it in his voice. He shares family recipes along the way. HIGHLY recommend.

Burn the Place, Iliana Regan. Yes, I did read this a couple of years ago, but I picked it up again at Ollie’s. Memoir of being a self taught chef, rising to Michelin heights. It’s about being a queer, self taught chef. STILL a great read. Found the other copy in a pile that Nick moved. WORTH getting twice!

Home, Marilynne Robinson. Pulitzer Prize winning author. This book is one of Oprah’s, so I look forward to reading it. Eh, well, it’s as wordy as you’d suspect for a Pulitzer Prize winning author. It’s slow and ponderous, and feels English to me, despite the author being American. It’s just OK. Finally finished. Not a fun read by any means. Her catchphrase is “he put his hands to his face”. WAY overused, as is a character crying on every other page and saying “it doesn’t matter”. UGH. Probably will not read the other one (below).

Lila, Marilynne Robinson. Same author, same reason for getting it.

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina, Zoraida Córdova. This author does a lot of fan fic and even writes romances under another name. She is from Ecuador but lives in New York. I think this is a fantasy book set in Ecuador. We’ll find out!
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Looking for VSG/Bariatric info?

Hi there! If you’d like to see ONLY my extensive research on Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, bariatric diet and managing GERD (reflux), you can filter out all my other posts and see just those by clicking HERE. You can see my vlogs about my VSG journey here.

To see any category (recipes, for instance), use the drop down menu to the right labeled “View Posts by Category” and select the category you’d like. Thanks for stopping by!

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Roasted Green Bean and Asparagus Salad

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Roasted Green Bean and Asparagus Salad

Roasted veg, a punchy vinaigrette and a pop of blue cheese makes this one elegant salad! It looks fancy, but is super easy to make.
Course Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American, Italian, Mediterranean
Keyword asparagus, green beans, salad
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Author misangela

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups green beans, in 1-2" pieces
  • 1 cup asparagus, peeled and cut into 1-2" pieces
  • 10 grape tomatoes, halved
  • 2 Tbl red onion, brunoise (very small dice) or shallots
  • 2 Tbl minced parsley half in vinaigrette
  • 1 Tbl fresh thyme leaves only 1 tsp if dried, half in vinaigrette
  • blue cheese crumbles or feta or goat cheese
  • pepitas or nuts if you need more texture

Vinaigrette

  • 2 tsp garlic paste or smash up 2 cloves of garlic very fine
  • 1/3 cup EVOO
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 Tbl rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard or whole grain
  • 1 Tbl of the minced parsley above
  • 1/2 Tbl of the thyme above
  • S/P to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  • On a sheet tray, put the green beans and asparagus in a single layer with a little EVOO to keep from sticking. Lightly S/P. Pop in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the veg starts to get soft.
  • While the veg is cooking, whisk together the vinaigrette until it is emulsified.
  • Once the veg is soft, turn on the broiler and broil for about 5 minutes to get some colour on them. Then pull from the oven and cool for a few minutes.
  • Put the warm roasted veg in a bowl with the tomatoes, onion and herbs. Stir in the vinaigrette. Don't use too much, there should only be a Tbl or so in the bottom. Use any leftover vinaigrette on a salad!
  • This can be served room temp or chilled. When serving, top with the crumbled cheese of your choice and pepitas or nuts if you like.

Notes

This recipe is for 4 smallish servings. It took half a bunch of asparagus and half a small bag of ready to go green beans. It can be easily doubled to use all the veg and make a good sized bowl. 
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Wool Gathering

Got kind of a random list of stuff on my mind, so this post will be loosely organized, however not as fanciful as the title implies. HA!

The main thing on my mind is something I’ve been struggling with for a while now. It is my status as The Party Girl™. I’ve always been known for knowing how to have a good time and I’ve certainly leaned into it over the years. I do love me a good party, true, but now that I’m getting old and slowing down, it has been damned hard to move people away from the perception that every interaction with me needs to be a party. This may seem to be a minor thing, and for most people, perhaps it is, but for me, it has become an issue. I can’t have people over for dinner without it becoming an all night affair. Again, I like to party as much as the next girl, but I simply CANNOT do all nighters any more (I don’t even do it at CONS any more FFS!). I am simply too old. It takes me DAYS to get over it – the fatigue, the detox, the angry tummy, all of it. Late night parties are just not worth the price any more! BUT I can’t seem to get anyone to understand this. Every person to the one is deeply embedded with the belief that if you’re at MY house, then baby it’s gonna be a par-TAY! I know change is hard and all that, but I really need my friends to be more open to having a relatively early evening (1am I can do!) and perhaps not all of it spent smoking (which is getting harder for me to recover from). I AM capable of having movie night, or game night, or whatever without it being a balls to the wall party. Sigh. This is my cry for help!

I had a keratosis thing on my cheek recently. It just appeared and was pretty big and ugly – keratosis is basically a skin bump. I fished around the intertubes and found a thread about diclofenac (yes, arthritis cream) being useful to get rid of them. I had some, so I thought: what the hell! I’d already been using microneedle blemish patches with a little success, as well as hyaluronic acid moisturizer and retinol serum. Well, the diclofenac WORKED! Who knew? I also now have eczema spots all over my body, which I find most irritating. They don’t itch, they just look awful. My neighbor works for Dermalogica, and she gave me some serum stuff that has plant STEM cells for the keratosis. It did little for the keratosis, BUT it did help with the eczema spots. I’ve never had so many issues with my skin. UGH. I hates it.

My chronic GERD has advanced to a LOT more spitting up and/or vomiting up the whole meal. It is fairly random, but sometimes I can feel when it’s going to happen and stop eating immediately. Yes, I know that getting a revision to a full bypass would solve this, but I just can’t. I may be driven to it at some point, but for now, I just can’t face another surgery. So I’ll live with occasional bulimia. Sigh.

Shasti is starting to show her true age. We think she is probably 15+, which is 4 years more than we initially thought. Her eyes have begun to show age with the irises changing colour and the pupils becoming a bit cloudy. She sleeps a LOT more. Her kidney numbers are not great, but holding steady for now. I have to get her on fluid therapy, which means I have to learn to do it myself ($145 a pop? NOPE.). I have a difficult time with the hard jab necessary to pierce that tough skin on her scruff. I’ve managed to get her to take her kidney and constipation meds in her food, but now we are trying to do a week of antibiotics every month, rotating the kind, to see if we can keep that gum infection at bay. THAT is proving nearly impossible to put in food – it is the pink stuff, clavamox, and she is supposed to get 1ml a day. It is too much for food and gods I hate fighting her to take it orally. I spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with the cat.

And finally, I guess I’m just a little on the depressed side lately. I feel misunderstood, I am always tired and I have no motivation to do anything. BUH. It will pass, it always does, but it’s just a DRAG. I try daily to remember that I have a basically good life with a nice home, good friends and a wonderful partner in crime. I try to avoid the news and avoid thinking about this country going down the toilet because I am trapped here and can’t leave, so what good is it to waste time worrying about it? I just try to accentuate the positive, baby.

And with that, I go forth to find some happiness. Which means I’ll probably cook something. ;)

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Quick and Easy Cheesecake Souffles

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Quick and Easy Cheesecake Soufflés

This is a riff on a cheesecake pie recipe I have. I only had one brick of cream cheese, so I came up with these easy little soufflés instead. Yummy!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, French
Keyword cheesecake, souffle
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings 4 ramekins
Author misangela

Equipment

  • 4 Ramekins small 4-5oz size
  • 1 sheet pan with a lip to hold water, or use a casserole dish
  • 1 hand or stand mixer

Ingredients

  • 1 8oz cream cheese regular brick, not whipped or any of that
  • 2 Tbl sour cream heaping Tbl, regular not low fat
  • 3 Tbl key lime juice or reg lime, or lemon - use zest, too!
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 Large eggs, whole
  • large crystal sugar at the end for crunch, optional

Instructions

  • This recipe actually only takes about 10 minutes to assemble, the first 30 minutes is to let the cream cheese and eggs come up to room temp.
  • Preheat oven to 350ºF and thoroughly spray ramekins with food release spray.
  • Take the room temp cream cheese and put in a microwave safe bowl. Nuke for 20 seconds at a time until it is soft and creamy. This will eliminate lumps!
  • In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, sour cream, citrus juice (and zest if you have it), vanilla and sugar on med low until smooth. Once blended, add the eggs and beat for 2 mins on medium.
  • Fill ramekins to the lip (usually about 1/4" from top). This recipe was 4 ramekins with 2-3 Tbl over for me. My ramekins are about 4.5oz.
  • Put ramekins on sheet pan and put on oven rack. Add hot water to about 1/2" deep.
  • Bake for about 25 minutes or until they are set and just barely starting to brown around the edges. I tossed on some large crystal sugar at the end, just because I had it. Optional, but a nice little crunch. Or mix a little zest with sugar and add that!
  • Cool completely and refrigerate before serving. Or if you are like me and impatient, chuck one in the freezer for a few minutes, then devour it partially chilled. :D

Notes

I think I like these better than the original cheesecake pie recipe! The pie is in a graham cracker crust and I find that I like the filling more than the crust anyway. Perfect! 
This is a cross between cheesecake pie and key lime pie. I substituted key lime juice to get that flavour rather than lemon. It's good either way. 
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To Be Perfectly Clear

For those who need more clarity about what’s up:

– I am not here to be your personal chef, therefore I do NOT owe you any dinners at any time. If you find this offensive, then leaving my sphere is the best move. I don’t miss you, HS.

– I will not stand for abusive behavior couched in the notion that it was “for the best”. NOPE. Abuse is abuse and I don’t regret ditching you crazy bitches one little bit, CBH & JC. The children have also been damaged and that is unforgivable as well. Don’t miss you in the least.

– I do not care about your widdle fee fees, RC. YOU are a Nazi sympathizer and Felon worshiper. There is no excuse for that level of complete self absorption. I don’t miss you, either.

I will not acquiesce to demands made by crazy self absorbed people any more. I’ve done it for years to keep the peace and I’m done. IDGAF if I have only a few select friends – I’d rather have FEWER of better quality than a bunch that I don’t really have ties with in the first place.

If any of this offends you, you know where the door is. I’m old, cranky and out of time to waste with people who are just out for what they can get for themselves. I want quality over quantity.

That is all.

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Valentine’s Dinner at Trader Vic’s

Trader Vic’s Atlanta did NOT disappoint!

Chef Julio runs a damn fine kitchen! HERE is their site, but it’s pretty awful, and here’s their FB and IG.

We had the Honi Honi Valentine’s menu, which was:
– Tiki Drinks (Can’t remember the names, Nick’s was passion fruit something, mine, as you can see, was ON FIRE! LOL)
– Pork Bao buns (not pictured, we scarfed them too fast)
– Chateaubriand with carmelized onions and demi glace
– Creamed spinach
– Duchess potatoes
– A fancy chocolate and raspberry dessert

Everything was seasoned to perfection (you know how I am about SEASONING) and Chef Julio is very sweet. The manager (Jesus? Maurice?) is also FABulous!


The table starter is crackers with a dolled up peanut butter. It has honey and soy sauce whipped in. The Bao Buns came with spicy fried onion bits and a thick sesame sauce. They were yummy!

Chateaubriand was cooked perfectly to temp (midrare) and served with a strong demi glace and sweet 6 hr carmelized onions. Perfectly executed and delicious. The duchess potatoes and spinach were seasoned appropriately and, again, executed perfectly. The duchess potatoes were light and fluffy (they have egg in them, then they are baked) and the spinach was creamy with a bechamel.

Our server (shoutout: Chryslin!!) was delightful and we had a great time dragging on this couple that came in immediately complaining about time (another server’s section), ordered, THEN SENT THE FOOD BACK because they were in a hurry. ASSHOLES! Look, you hipster fucks, this ain’t McD’s, yanno? God people are fucking FERAL. I’m glad we scooted out before the big rush at 7! We had fun dragging on them with the manager, too. HA!



Finally, we had the VERY fancy dessert which was a chocolate enrobed trifle of sorts. It had dense chocolate cake on the bottom, then a cream gel (think panacotta) with luxardo cherries, then chocolate mousse, all set inside a milk chocolate shell. It is topped with chocolate mousse covered in raspberry powder and cryo frozen raspberries. All the fancy pieces – even the doily – were edible! It was delightful.

Overall, this was a really nice dining experience! I HIGHLY recommend following their socials for the Luaus and other events they do over the year. The next one is a tasting dinner with Chef Julio, which I’m sure will be OUTSTANDING.

Five stars FOR SURE for Trader Vic’s!