Browsing

Yesterday I had a chance to browse the main street of Orangeville. I popped in and out of a home decor store, a bakery, an art gallery, the library, chocolate shop, and last but not least, a book store. What a fabulous little retreat our book shop is. It is everything a small town book shop should be - complete with a middle-aged woman owner milling among her treasures. The front half sells new books, but the back is a second-hand collection. the bonus is that if you bring back a book you buy there, she'll give you half the price towards your next book! As our library has only a small collection, this is a fantastic alternative. I also hate the time crunch I feel when I borrow a book from the library. I usually have no fewer than 6 books on the go at any one time, and so a few weeks is never enough for me to get through something!

I spent the better part of an hour browsing through the wonderfully varied bunch of books and chatting with Veronica (the owner). We talked about the merits of historical fiction, the "drama" behind so many modern books (she likened reading any of the "Oprah" books to spending time with a girlfriend who can't seem to get it together - too much drama if you try to read more than a couple in a row!), and whether or not to read "War and Peace" (I have, and if you can stick it out through the first 100 pages and get used to the long character names, it truly is a classic for a reason.) We recommended books and authors to each other, defending our favourites with a literature-lover's passion.

In the end, I walked out with eight books! I found the "Anne of Green Gables" collection (6 books), the war-time novel "Sophie's Choice", and a fabulous one-pot cookbook. I had been contemplating the "Anne" series just that morning over breakfast, thinking about how one day I would love to read it with my daughter at nighttime (okay...no daughter yet, but maybe one day!).

Buying the cookbook is feeding another passion of mine. And the fact that it was all "one-pot" recipes - irresistible for my frenzied life right now. Many of the recipes are simple yet exotic, with exciting new ingredients and spices. Here's a sample of some dishes I'll try out over the next bit:

Fruity Lamb Casserole
Lemon and Chicken Soup
Tuscan Veal Broth
Spiced Cashew Nut Curry
Orange-Scented Risotto

Dinner's on!