My new kitchen utensils

Tonight (last night since it is after midnight?) was Young Audiences' fundraiser/gala, A Taste of the Arts. There were five stations set up in a theater, with decorations, a performing artist and food from a different country/region: Africa, India, Europe, America, China. When you entered, you got a "passport" that you could get stamps in. Silent auction, live auction, artist and student performance, dessert and champagne. It was well attended, better than past fundraisers, in part because our honoree is active in the arts community but also the business community, and lots of people on his rolodex attended. Plus, two of the people on the committee were just awesome.

Students from the ACCE (don't remember what this stands for, but it's an afterschool program in the inner city) performed with Ssuuna, an African dance and drum artist (he's a master teacher, amazing, you can check out one of his songs on iTunes if you search by his name). The kids were incredible and got a standing ovation.

I bid on two things that I was interested in during the silent auction -- a gorgeous bead necklace and a goodie bag from Trader Joe's, but didn't win either. I put a starting bid on a big pot with a bunch of "gourmet" kitchen utensils, thinking someone else would pick it up. Nope. So I now have a bunch of stuf that I'll probably never use. Although a couple of things, like the wine saver and the exopat baking sheet will probably see some use.

There was a ring toss, too, onto empty wine bottles. I managed to toss a ring around the neck of a bottle, so I won a bottle of wine :)

For Beth, who likes to know what people ate, I had samples of: strawberry salad (yum), seared tuna, a meat pie/tart made of ground lamb and beef with beer, honey, nutmeg and other good stuff (also yum), a Senegalese dish of chicken and onions, and chocolate cake with cream cheese icing. The cake tasted good, but the best part of it was the decoration -- the decorator took one of the invitations and reproduced it in icing. The place that made the Senegalese dish is a new place in my neighborhood -- gotta check it out.

Henry VIII

Via Doug --

Congratulations! You are Katherine Parr.
Katherine Parr spent nearly her whole life married to crotchety old men: Henry was the THIRD old fart she was forced to marry. Is it any wonder she turned to books and religion to occupy her time?

Katherine wasn't just smart, she was a tiny bit uppity, too: she almost got herself thrown in jail for arguing with His Royal Fatness about some theological issues. After Henry croaked, Katherine dropped the prim and proper act and married Thomas Seymour, a handsome, dashing pirate kind of guy who was also as dumb as a post.

Which goes to show you that even bookworms know how to get it on.





Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?
this quiz was made by Lori Fury

Squeeze Play by Kate Angell

Curveball:
Getting thrown for a loop whevever
Jacy Grayson was near him.

Throwing heat:
Being around a vixen hotter than the steaming
coffee she served at Jacy’s Java.

Home run:
Having the woman of his dreams say “yes.”

Play Ball:
Risk Kincaid was finding out that the life of a pro baseball player wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. The fame, the fortune, the fans – what good were they when he kept striking out with the one woman who really matter to him? Jacy Grayson was sassy and spirited, but she only saw him as her rebound lover – the man who picked up the pieces when her heart was broken. Yet Risk had never stepped down from the plate before, and he certainly wasn’t going to start now. The bases were loaded – all Risk needed to do was show her that the diamond he had in mind wasn’t found on a baseball field.

Why did I pick this book? I liked the cartoony cover, plus the fact that it has a sports theme. Plus, I finished my commute book on the morning ride in and needed a new one for the ride home.

How was the cover? Cartoony, with primary colors. Eye catching and kind of cute.

Did I enjoy the book? It was okay, not awful but also not stellar. The book opens in game seven of the World Series, with Risk Kincaid at bat. He does the whole Robert Redford-The Natural thing, pointing to the outfield where he’s planning on hitting the ball. Okay, whatever, copycat.

Immediately after the WS, Risk heads home to Frostproof, Florida, to see Jacy and to participate in a charity event to raise money for a town park/rec. He and Jacy have been each other’s “rebound” lovers since high school. Well, really, fake rebound lovers. He seldom dates, but shows up when she needs him, after breaking up with whomever she’s been dating. Except she hasn’t really been dating -- every so often, she makes up a breakup and call him; he shows up for an overnighter or a weekend, then goes back to Richmond, where the team is. But he’s decided that’s not enough and he’s going to establish a real relationship with Jacy. Which is fine, but since there is no real conflict, just a sophomoric inability or unwillingness to speak to each other and bare their hearts, it takes most of the book to get to that. Lots of mental lusting and some hot sex.

There are two subplots going on, both involving baseball players. One is Zen Driscoll, teammate of Risk, who accompanies him to Frostproof. He falls for Stevie Cole, who has been hung up forever on Aaron Grayson, another baseball player and character in the 3rd subplot. Aaron has been weaning himself away from Frostproof and Stevie, and the charity event seems to be a last hurrah for him in town. [ETA: Afterthought: having just worked on a charity event, I thought some of the bidding amounts from the townspeople were unrealistic. Maybe it is just a matter of community wealth, but the idea of the average person paying thousands of dollars (as opposed to hundreds maybe) for a date at a bachelor auction seemed over the top. Of course, my charity event was different; maybe people are willing to pay more to date a baseball player than for a cruise or a golf weekend or the use of a beach house.]

I liked Angell’s voice, and Squeeze Play wasn’t bad . . . but in the end it was only so-so. Too much going on, not enough plot or character development. If I’m wrapped up in a story, I’ll let little things slide, but when I’m bored, they become noticeable and irritate. That’s what happened here. The nicknames of the players were supposed to be macho, but really they were too much – Risk; Zen; Psycho; Romeo, etc. Jacy’s business, Jacy’s Java, was ridiculous and pornographic, not to mention unhygienic. Maybe small town coffee shops are different from the Starbucks and Caribou Coffees that I’ve been to, but sugar and “blows” during rush hour wouldn’t really work. And the appearance of the Bat Pack (three young players) screams series set up to me.

Would I recommend this book? Only with major qualifiers.

Keep or pass on? Pass on.