Really Random Tuesday #57: Two Book Winners, Homemade Yogurt, and Mailbox Monday

Two books are better than one!  In celebration of this month's paperback release of Crazy Enough by singer-songwriter Storm Large, Kristin from Simon & Schuster offered to give away two copies of this bold and absorbing memoir.  Please help me to congratulate my two randomly chosen winners, hkmichellec87 and Lainy from So many books, so little time (so many of us can relate to that!). Congratulations to you both! 

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There are many recipes in Jamie Oliver's Great Britain that I'd like to try, but this one sounded so good and easy, and I had the two ingredients required on hand to make homemade yogurt--milk and some yogurt or "starter"--so I quickly mixed some up this morning.  I've made yogurt in my yogurt maker numerous times, but I liked the idea of mixing it up in a bowl and just letting it sit and become yogurt, fresh and homemade, without using a machine of any sort.  It's a very simple recipe (I think this is how my grandmother made yogurt), and I hope Jamie doesn't mind if I highlight it here.  Basically, I just added four heaping tablespoons of yogurt to 2% milk that I'd heated up slowly to a simmer.  I let the milk cool a bit and then I mixed in the starter (since I have a yogurt maker thermometer, I used that to make sure the time was right).  I'll leave this bowl out to "incubate" until I go to sleep tonight, then I'll put it in the refrigerator.  Tomorrow morning, I'll try a dollop or two of this yogurt on top of my oatmeal. 

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Although I don't get a ton of books in the mail each week, Mailbox Monday is one of my all-time favorite memes.  Originally created by Marcia from The Printed Page,  Mailbox Monday has been on tour for the past couple of years, and I'm honored to be the host for the month of December.  I hope you'll join me as we share our new books during the holiday season.
 

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Appearing on random Tuesdays, Really Random Tuesday is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related things you can think of.  I often announce my book giveaway winners in these posts.  If you're inspired by this idea, feel free to "grab" the button for use on your own blog, and leave a comment so I'll know to stop by.

Your comments are welcomed, as always. 
 

Really Random Tuesday #56: An Ugly Word?, a Book Winner, and a Thank You List

Blog is a four-letter word, but is it also an "ugly" word?  The protagonist of the book I'm currently reading, Lunch with Buddha by Roland Merullo, calls it ugly. :(    (I'll admit that there have been times when I wished I could call this a book website instead of a blog for that very reason.)  Aside from feeling a bit insecure about this (ugly itself is an ugly word, isn't it?), I'm enjoying the book a great deal so far; please stay tuned for my upcoming review and giveaway of Lunch with Buddha. 

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Today I have a book winner to announce, as I often do in these Really Random Tuesday posts.  Please help me to congratulate Leslie from Under My Apple Tree, the winner of Lola's Secret by Monica McInerney.  I think Leslie  will enjoy this sequel to The Alphabet Sisters.  If you didn't win this time, please check the other giveaways posted on the right side of my blog, which are often updated.

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Happy Thanksgiving

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I came up with a list of book-related blessings I'm thankful for:

• Google and Blogger, who provide the opportunity to have a book blog that's international
• Amazon.com, who has revolutionized the way we shop for books and much more
• My followers, occasional readers, and "the competition", other book bloggers (many who've become friends)  
• TLC Book Tours, who feeds my addiction to books and provides them for giveaways 
• Packages from Random House, Putnam, and many other publishers
• Authors who share their work with me
• People who leave comments on my posts
• Those who tweet my posts and giveaways, or link to them on their own websites or Facebook 
• Books I've won, including a recent win, a brilliant, new cookbook from the blog of Peppermint Ph.D. (in conjunction with TLC), which I'm super excited about, Jamie Oliver's Great Britain
• My daughter, who helped me set and photograph this table 
• Time to read--whether it's a few minutes, a few hours, or somewhere in-between, reading is a favorite pastime

Can you think of anything to add to this list?

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Appearing on random Tuesdays, Really Random Tuesday is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related things you can think of.  I often announce my book giveaway winners in these posts.  If you're inspired by this idea, feel free to "grab" the button for use on your own blog.  Your comments are welcomed!