Peacefield

Lexie - that sounds like our version of tuna noodle casserole which was a staple growing up! Do you put anything crunchy on top while it bakes? My mom was a fan of cornflakes, lol. I don't usually cook much on my 9 and 10 hour work days and today is no exception! If I don't feel like having leftover chicken when I get home I'll probably just have popcorn! SO yummy.

ChrisJ, scallops are delicious!! There is a really good 'scallops gratin' recipe I have made several times now with white wine, butter, garlic, panco Japanese breadcrumbs, etc and I just die every time I eat it, lol. I got it off the Food Network from the Barefoot Contessa (aka Ina Garten).

Hmmm... this is tough! Here goes: 1. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 2. The Art Spirit - Robert Henri 3. Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 4. The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand 5. Ordinary People- Judith Guest

I jot down the occasional quote, but other than that I've only ever taken extensive notes on a book twice. Once when I was reading 'Dream of Scipio' by Pears because it was just so hard for me to keep track of characters/plots for some reason, and once after I read 'The Little Friend' by Tartt. I had so many questions after I finished and was so disgusted at the way she left everything, I had to write it all down, lol. After reading all these posts though I have to admit I might start taking more notes when I read. I think it'll help me in the future remember why I liked a book and help me decide what else to read even.

Hey Isla and welcome! Good luck w/the book and hope you like it here

Welcome, welcome, Karl! I'm a big fan of historical fiction too so we should get a long great!

Kylie - The Dante Club was a favorite book of mine from that year and I highly recommend it! To tell you the truth, I liked it more than the Poe Shadow, but that's just my personal taste. Longfellow and the other authors featured really appeal to me, and combine that with Boston just after the American Civil War and I was in love . I also spent some time in Boston and Cambridge just after reading it so it makes it even more appealing.

Jo-Bridge - did you see that Mickey Roarke won best actor for the Wrestler at the Globes? It's kind of a come back for him, but he freaks me out too and I had to turn the channel I couldn't even watch him give his acceptance speech! I'm excited for Angels & Demons too, and hope it lives up to the book since I liked that one more than DC. I'm not over the moon for Hanks either, so I guess we'll have to see... I also would like to see the following before the Oscars: The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, Happy-Go-Lucky, Revolution Road, Doubt and The Dutchess.

I hope you get to read 'Instance of the Fingerpost' this year, Kylie! I got very excited when I saw it on your list . It's one of my all-time favorite books by Pears and if you do get to it, I really, really, REALLY hope you like it!!! Oh! And I just saw a Matthew Pearl on your list too. Have you read his first book 'The Dante Club?' I just saw tonight that he has a third book coming out in March (Feb in the UK) called 'The Last Dickens,' so I went ahead and pre-ordered it, lol.

I just printed out a really good recipe the other day for Cous Cous Cakes from Giada De Laurentiis's show, Bethany, and I think it would work for you... except for the egg. Maybe you could substitute it with another binding of some sort or use egg substitute? Anyway, I haven't tried to make them yet but the recipe looked easy and super yummy! Here you go: Ingredients: 2 cups cooked couscous, prepared according to package instructions and cooled, 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander, 1 lemon, zested, 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup mild mango chutney. Directions: In a medium bowl, mix together the couscous, cilantro, egg, egg yolk, coriander, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture. Mix until combined. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Form 1/4 cupfuls of the mixture into 8 patties. Add 4 of the patties to the pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes each side until golden. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining couscous mixture. Serve the couscous cakes with mango chutney.

Hey there and welcome, Andy! I'm a big fan of the mystery genre too, so hopefully I'll get some good reading suggestions from you!

Welcome, Chesilbeach! Glad you found us and hope you have fun here.

Thanks for posting this, chesilbeach! I have added it to my ever-growing list and am glad to see that my library carries it too!

Is this the one, Chimera? http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=6961

I love to travel! Too bad I don't have the matching funds to go as often as I'd like. I have sisters in Los Angeles and San Diego so I try to get there as often as I can, otherwise just put me on a plane and I'll go wherever you want, lol. Oh, except for the Caribbean... it seems kind of boring there and relaxing on a beach isn't really my idea of a vacation I guess. I would love to go back to Europe, New York, Washington, DC and all of New England in general. I spent 3 weeks in NE a few years ago and it was one of the best trips I have ever been on. There is so much US history there to be learned not to mention all the art and information on my English ancestors that migrated there back in the 1600's. Plus, I would at least a week each to exhaust myself at the Met, the Guggenheim, the National and Boston museums

On my one-and-hopefully-not-only trip to England we took a road trip to Canterbury and along the way we had the most delicious fish and chips. I know it's common there but here in MN it's usually yucky processed stuff at a fast-food place. I've never had beans on toast either, but love both things! Especially a nice crusty hunk of bread to dip in olive oil or babaghanoush. YUM!!

I've heard of that show, Bee, but I've unfortunately never seen it. I'm hoping I can find it online somewhere since I'm not sure it's ever been aired on American television.

Oh yeah! Go potatoes!! lol I love them too. I've gotten to lately getting the little 'fingerling' style and chopping them up for stew - yum! I'm semi-okay with tomatoes. I'll eat them in a sauce or in bruscetta, but not on a salad or a sandwich, go figure. Bee, no butter, garlic, parsley or wine??!!! How do you function? They give everything such good flavor...

Yep, there's a ton of information online. I got a year subscription to Ancestry with my tree software and I use Cyndi's List a lot too amoung others. There's never a substitute for a nice road trip though, lol - I need to go to England again! Oh, do you know if Milligan is a Scottish surname?

Welcome to the forum, Keith! Hope you have fun here with us and congrats on the ebook

So does that mean you don't like tomatos or potatos either?! Mussels are delicious! Especially drowned in butter and garlic and parsley and wine... lol

What if they were homemade baked beans, Roxi?! I must admit I like them. I love mushrooms and garlic, so hopefully one day I'll get to try some as good as those you had when you were younger. When you said that about eating everyone else's it made me think of the time my mom overdid it on mussels on our trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada. We had never had them before and she went wild over them. Ended up getting sick from all the drawn butter, but she said it was well worth it, lol.

After reading all these posts about wine, it just makes me even more wish that I liked drinking it!! Honestly I think it's only because I've never had the proper wine along with the right meal. You know, like how coffee tastes a million times better if you have something sweet along with it?! Now when it comes to cooking with wine, I LOVE the taste of it then. I've only learned so far to use a white wine when cooking with chicken or seafood, and haven't tried red yet, but I hear it goes well with beef. Vineyards are few and far between here in MN, but maybe I can find one and go to a wine tasting class or something, lol. Or somewhere else where they teach you what kind of wine to eat w/what food.

Roxi those snails sound amazing!! The kind I've had definitely did not taste like that. Just another reason for me to go to Paris I guess! lol Mmmm cheesecake. My fave way to have it is plain w/mixed berries drizzled on the top. We have places here like the Cheesecake Factory, and while they have very tasty cheesecake, it tends to get way too rich with all this caramel and chocolate sauce. Stephanie, I hope you get to try lobster one day! It's delicious, but honestly a lot of work for not much to eat at the end, lol. Unless you get something all nicely prepared for you like lobster tail When you guys say beans, what do you mean? Green beans? Baked beans?

Mmm venison is delicious! We have it quite a bit here in the fall since that's deer hunting season and my friend's dad usually manages to give me some. We have it cooked like a roast, and he also makes it into sausage so it's really good for breakfast or with a vodka sauce over pasta. I've never tried Haggis either, and even though I'm part Scandinavian have never gotten up enough courage to taste Lutefiske. I smelled it one Christmas and swore I'd never eat it, lol. Oh, and when I started watching cooking shows on the Food Network, especially ones that take place down south, I realized I've never had things like collard greens and black eyed peas.