(no subject)

Another week passes. Things were actually pretty busy overall at work, so my week passed swiftly.

The prep work begins for Thanksgiving. I need to go grocery shopping this weekend for another dish I plan to make, but the nuts are done and sealed up for the reveal on Thanksgiving Day. I suspect that my beloved will also need a few items too, so we'll probably go together later today.

Earlier this week, we finally watched X-men: Apocalypse via Netflix disc. A spectacle, but I found it mostly didn't engage me. I found it difficult to care about the characters. Too bad. OTOH, last night we went out to the movies and saw Arrival. This one I thought was a well-presented SF piece about First Contact and the effects of language on thought. I really enjoyed it, though I think my wife mostly put up with it. It's likely that at some point this week we'll probably go see the Rowling-inspired film as well, but that will depend on how things go making ready our home for Thursday.

I will be working next Friday, but at some point maybe we'll actually go to LosCon for a change. It's been years since we actually attended the convention, though we'd occasionally visit to go to a party hosted by friends at the con. I think it will depend on how much energy we have left after the holiday event.

A couple of nights this week we stepped out for meals. First place was Mix Bowl, a Thai place nearby that used to be a solid place, but uncomfortable and crowded. This week when we went for the first time in months, it turns out that they've done a bit of a remodel; it looks fresher, there's more room, and to top it off, they seem to have modified their dishes a bit so that they tasted better than previously, and back then they were good to begin with. That was a delightful surprise! Another place that we visited last night was Swad of India over in Ontario. Bridget has apparently gone there with friends a few times for lunch and liked it; we went for dinner and the food was very good. I can only hope that these really good places can keep going. We'll try to support them!

A happy and delicious holiday to all in the upcoming week!

(no subject)

As to books completed, let's see...

First was Soup: A Global History which was OK, but nothing special.

Next was Osprey Warrior #42: Redcoat Officer 1740 – 1815 which delves pretty deeply into the mindset, training, and lifestyle of the officers of the British Army of the period. I really found this one to be a pretty solidly interesting read. It supplements nicely a series of fiction novels that I've read by Bernard Cornwell about a fellow named Sharpe. Good read.

Then, Dates: A Global History which had a few tidbits of information about this foodstuff that I'd never known. Not bad.

Following that I read Spices: A Global History which I found structurally uninteresting. The problem is that there are so many spices that the author had to pare it down to fit this small book format, and then instead of dealing with each spice in history and usage, he built the chapters on history, and gave each separate spice, followed by usage, and divided it up by each spice. I really didn't care for the structure at all. YMMV.

Next was Osprey Warrior #43: Matchlock Musketeer 1588 - 1688, the care, training, feeding, arming, clothing, etc.ing of this particular subset of soldier. Pretty good read.

Then it was Death's Bright Day by David Drake, an SF military novel part of a series in which Drake emulates Patrick O'Brian's series of Napoleonic era sea stories in an SF universe. I've always liked this series but I have to admit that this particular one is a bit of a minor addition to the tales. Leary and Mundy, the protagonists, fly off to stop a rebellion in a lesser region of space.

Next, Osprey Warrior #45: US Infantryman in World War II (1): Pacific Area of Operations 1941 – 45. This one was structured oddly for this series as well. It follows one specific regiment through the Pacific War, a National Guard unit that was called up and sent off to fight. Thus, the book deals with its training, tactics, equipment and then the history, making it out that this was typical for the force. I think it's well put together, better than some other books I finished this week.

Lastly, there was Vodka: A Global History. I mean, what can you say about a beverage that tries to taste of nothing?

Have a wonderful week!