Lovely Books and Things - 6.8.19

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update
Linking up with:
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

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HAPPY THINGS:

1. Yummy dinner outings to celebrate my birthday

2. Preparing and creating post for arm-chair book traveling to Paris, France ;-)

3. Monthly chocolate happy hour at Fog City News!

It poses here with Angie Kim's Miracle Creek which I picked up a couple weeks ago and the program for the CAAMfest37.

May pick:
chocolate - SOMA chocolate based in Canada
Crazy 88, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, 88%
Origin: Costa Esmeraldas, Ecuador + Ucayali. Peru + Canoabo, Venezuela
Cacao content: 88%
Tasting notes: black tea, balsamic vinegar, fresh cream, lemon, jasmine, apricot, walnut

description:
Canoabo Ucayali. Hacienda victoria. if these names mean something to you then you are on of us: nutty. cacao-obsessed. and ready to infiltrate the world of chocolate flavor.

Crazy 88s seek out the best cacao from all over the globe.

Secret mission: to skillfully blend different origins to make a potent, and beautifully nuanced extra dark chocolate.

Crazy 88 is our secret flavour weapon.

Crazy 88 ninjas cast a shadow in the form of a cat.

Updated posts:
Hamburger post includes an extra picture of something I found (here)
Bloom post includes a picture of what I created inspired by Martha Stewart Living magazine (here)

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Author event:

Bookshop in West Portal hosted a celebratory event (with some bubbly) to cheer for Cara Black's 19th book in the Aimee Leduc mystery series. Fellow mystery writer, Jacqueline Winspear was also in the house for a conversation and Q&A with Cara.

Murder in Bel-Air
by Cara Black
-Mystery, Paris | Goodreads

The American Agent
by Jacqueline Winspear
-Mystery, Historical, WWII | Goodreads

Library:

Killing November
by Adriana Mather
-Mystery, Thriller, YA | Goodreads
HYPE got me curious about this one. Listening to the audio version.


AND watched: in theatre

The Third Wife (2018)
Director/Writer: Ash Mayfair
Stars: Long Le Vu, Mai Thu Huong Maya, Nguyen Phuong Tra My
-Drama | imdb | my rating: 5
19th century rural Vietnam, fourteen-year-old May is ready to become the third wife of a wealthy landowner. Little did she know that her hidden desires will take her by surprise and force her to make a choice between living in safety and being free.

LOVED the lush scenes and scenery of daily living in the country.

Booksmart (2019)
Director: Olivia Wilde
Writers: Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Katie Silberman
Stars: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein
-Comedy, High School | imdb | my rating: 5
On the eve of their high school graduation, two academic superstars and best friends realize they should have worked less and played more. Determined not to fall short of their peers, the girls try to cram four years of fun into one night.

SUPER fun ensemble cast. Light and comedic side of high school.


AND watched: in theatre for SF DocFest (here)

Candice (2019)
Director/Writer: Sheona McDonald
Star: Candida Royalle
-Documentary, Biography | imdb | my rating: 4
Now a sexagenarian, adult performer Candida Royale tells her story as a "godmother of feminist porn," who began thirty years ago to direct films of her own focusing on women's sexual enjoyment.

WHAT a lady, what a life. She rocks!


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* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Blog All About It: Sweet

SEE:

Sweets themed art work by Yukari Sakura who is part of Creativity Explored. See more of her works (here).


EAT:

I tried ube (purple yam) with condensed milk drizzle on toast at Rise & Grind Coffee and Tea shop.


READ:

Gingerbread
by Helen Oyeyemi
-Literary, Magical Realism | Goodreads
Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories--equal parts wholesome and uncanny, from the tantalizing witch's house in "Hansel and Gretel" to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can--beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe.

Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druhástrana, the far-away (and, according to Wikipedia, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. In fact, the world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend, Gretel Kercheval--a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.

Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader.


WEAR:

Super cute Dolce Gabbana ice cream dress to dream about.


WATCH:

Sweet Home Sweet Honey (2015-16)
Woorijib Ggooldanji (original title)
tv series
-Drama, South Korean | imdb
Found this sweet Korean drama available at the local library.

GO:

Monthly chocolate happy hour at Fog City News! (here)

April picks:
magazine - Little White Lies, cover story on film High Life directed by Claire Denis
chocolate - Castronovo Chocolate (here)
White Chocolate infused with Lemon Oil & Lemon Salt
Signature Collection - Patanemo, Venezuela 70%

FYI: Based in Florida, Castronovo is headed by one of the few female chocolatiers in the U.S.

She is in fact the only U.S. female chocolate maker to have ever been honored at the International Chocolate Awards, taking home awards in 2014, 2015 and 2016. -You May Be Surprised That Florida Makes Some of the World's Best Chocolate
May, 2017, Huffington Post (full article)

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* part of the Blog All About It Challenge (here)

Lovely Books and Things - 3.30.19

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update
Linking up with:
Stacking the Shelves (details)
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

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HAPPY THINGS:

1. The kid home for spring break :-)

2. Variety of work at work and volunteer locations

3. Monthly chocolate happy hour at Fog City News!

February picks:
magazines - frankie and Little White Lies, cover story on film Roma directed by Alfonso Cuarón
chocolate - Mirzam Dark Chocolate Dates & Fennel 62% from Dubai

March picks (here)


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Library: part of this year's Tournament of Books (here)

There There
by Tommy Orange
-Literary | Goodreads

Washington Black
by Esi Edugyan
-Historical, Canada | Goodreads

Bought:

The Hole
by Hye-Young Pyun
-Mystery, Horror, Korea | Goodreads
FOR my face-to-face group, Foreign Mystery Book Club.


Freebies: from free box at Green Apple Books

The Dinner List
by Rebecca Serle
-Magical Realism, Chick-lit | Goodreads

The Propsal
by Jasmine Guillory
-Romance, Chick-lit | Goodreads

The Age of Light
by Whitney Scharer
-Historical fiction | Goodreads
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* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

Thanks for stopping by :-)

March: Women's History Month

SEE & MEET:

The main library branch held a thrilling event just right for Women's Herstory month.

A presentation about the NY Times photo essay, Redefining Representation: Women of the 116th Congress and a Q&A session with Times’ photo editor Marisa Schwartz Taylor, photographer and Times-contributor Celeste Sloman and Times’ journalist Nellie Bowles.

It was interesting to find out that the photo theme included classical old master's setup (found in paintings) and using consistent lighting and color tone.

See the article with images of the 130 congresswomen (out of a total of 131 women elected into office) (here).


LISTEN & LEARN:

I discovered Kate Loder while listening to The KDFC morning show with Ray White. It was interesting to learn that Kate was an English composer and pianist during Jane Austen's time who could not pursue public performances due to the societal restrictions for women of the times.



READ & EAT:

I picked these up at the monthly Fog City News chocolate happy hour.

March picks:
magazine: womankind
chocolate: 9th & Larkin - Tien Giang, VIETNAM, 70% Cacao from a Bean to Bar San Francisco local shop

Per womankind (here):

Womankind represents a new era for women: Womankind is an advertising-free women’s magazine on self, identity and meaning in today’s society. Womankind magazine features leading journalists, authors and artists in a 132 page, perfect-bound magazine – offering a signature mix of reporting and commentary on culture, creativity, philosophy, nature, and ways to live a more fulfilling life.

Womankind‘s aim is to introduce ideas that challenge contemporary thought and conditioning. Are our thoughts and aspirations truly ours?

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* image Kate Loder (here)

* image source from National Women’s History Project - The National Women’s History Theme for 2019
Visionary Women: Champions of Peace & Nonviolence