Rating: 4/5 Neal Stephenson, Anathem (New York, NY: William Morrow, 2008). This is a book that’s all about the journey. It’s quite long (almost a thousand pages), and I’d certainly classify it as a “slow burn.” The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world (but not your run-of-the-mill post-apocalypse) in which...

I was lucky enough to have another gaming glut over the holidays. I just don’t get enough gaming time! As much as I love concentrated playing periods like this, I would much rather have regular play sessions throughout the year. I can’t complain, though! It was great to spend time with the nieces and nephews. Over the...

Smitten Kitchen is a very attractive and long-standing food blog. I haven’t been able to make any of her more complicated recipes, but I have quite the list of things I want to try. Adele and I love lemonade, and when I saw this idea I had to make it. I know summer is over (this is something ideal for a really hot...

Rating: 4/5 Robert Charles Wilson, Spin (New York: Tor Books, 2005). I managed to squeeze in at least one new book this summer. Wilson’s Spin is a sci-fi novel that follows two families (three main protagonists) as the world tries to figure out what happened to the suddenly invisible stars. The narrative alternates...

Adele and I were able to visit with some close friends and their kids for a couple weeks this summer. Normally we would spend 8 hours a day blowing each other up in various video games, but this time ’round we didn’t have all the computers available, so we played board games instead—lots of them, it turned out. Over 13...

Rating: 5/5 Patricia A. McKillip, Riddle-Master (New York, NY: Berkely Trade [imprint of Penguin], 1999). The Riddle-Master trilogy is an oldie (1976) but goodie. I read it as a kid and absolutely loved it. I’ve read it a few more times over the years, but it had been quite a while since my last reading. I wanted Adele...

This is my favourite bread. I skipped a couple of weeks, and when I finally got back to it, I was reminded all over again how delicious this bread is. It’s soft, moist, and much more flavourful than plain white bread and has a nice chewy crust. This recipe is adapted from one found in: Eric Kastel and Cathy Charles,...

Rating: 5/5 Hugh Howey, Wool (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013). What a pleasant surprise! I just kept hearing about this book from all sorts of different people, so I finally checked it out from the library. I’m so glad I did! When it comes to speculative fiction, authors are faced with the very difficult challenge of...

I love, love these brownies! No sooner do we finish a pan, I make another one! This recipe only uses chopped chocolate (no cocoa powder), so the quality of your chocolate is really important. Use the best you can get your hands on. Go make a pan now. You won’t regret it. The following yields a 9×13 pan. Cut it in half...

This is part of my podcast series of posts (the last, if I’m not mistaken). Below is a list of the various podcasts (in alphabetical order) and my thoughts on each of them. The name of the podcast is linked to the feed itself. The “(info)” link will take you to the podcast’s homepage. As for ratings, clearly I like the...