Words of Radiance, Puppies.

I wrote about this ginormous book on July 1 and on July 14 I finally finished reading it. It was fairly slow going, I found I needed to keep stopping, I think, in order to absorb what I had read maybe. It is an excellent book but way too big. You can get an e version from Amazon for about a quarter of the hard book price. However, one would miss out on the drawings, at least that is my assumption. I must say I now would like to read it again and I just might end up getting the e version of both The Way of Kings and the Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. As I said before, the book weighed over 3 lbs and was about 3 1/4 inches thick. Very heavy to read but I am glad I read the book the first time rather than a Kindle version first. I now discover that there are supposed to be 10 books in the series, horrors. I have a nasty feeling I may not be here to read the end. If it takes anything like as long as some other books I have read, The Wheel of Time Series or Earth’s Children for instance. I haven’t said much about the story, I am not too sure how much I have taken in anyway. The concept is excellent but there is a hell of a lot to push into my poor little brain and I am no reviewer. It did jump around a bit especially at the end when the climactic scenes are unfolding and one jumps from one protagonist to another.  Like I said, I would like to read both books again and may well do so either by borrowing from the library again or by purchasing Kindle versions.

I had kind of determined not to blog until I had finished the book and possibly not til the end of July. My blogging may still be intermittent for the next couple of weeks. In the two weeks following this one we will not be bowling as they are doing renovations so we might do a bit of travelling around. Ve shall see. A friend has invited us over to lunch and as she is due to get a new puppy we might wait until she has it at home. She is replacing her Australian Sheepdog with another one and has been posting pictures of the puppies on Facebook, absolutely adorable. I had to include the second picture, tickled me. I think my friend will likely go for the brown and white. I loved the dark brown one but I can’t have a puppy sadly.

This sounded a good summer recipe from Food and Wine.

Avocado-and-Shrimp Salad with Red Goddess Dressing

Contributed by Jonathan Waxman

SERVINGS: 4 to 6

Chef Jonathan Waxman makes his tangy goddess dressing red instead of the classic green, using red bell peppers for color and flavour.

1. 1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
2. 1 shallot, minced
3. 1 garlic clove, minced
4. 1 teaspoon minced jalapeño
5. 3 tablespoons plain yogurt
6. 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
7. 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
8. 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
9. Kosher salt
10. 1 head of lettuce, torn into large pieces
11. 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
12. 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
13. 2 Hass avocados, cut into wedges
14. 1 pound cooked shrimp

1. In a blender, combine the roasted pepper, shallot, garlic, jalapeño, yogurt, vinegar and lemon juice and puree until smooth. Scrape the puree into a medium bowl and whisk in 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Season with salt.
2. In a large bowl, toss the lettuce with the cilantro leaves, lime juice and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil; season with salt. Arrange the dressed lettuce, avocado wedges and shrimp on plates and drizzle with some of the dressing. Serve the remaining Red Goddess dressing on the side.

Make Ahead The dressing can be refrigerated overnight.

Have a great day