Dinner and a Book Club

My mom invited me to join her and a friend at the PC Cooking School Dinner and a Book Club held this week at Loblaws near Masonville Mall. 

She praised the book "The Golden Son" by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. The story is based in rural India, so the menu was to include classic Indian dishes. Intrigued by both the book and the lure of delicious Indian food, I readily accepted my mom's invitation. 

"The Golden Son" had a long list of holds at the library, so I borrowed my mom's Nook for the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed reading this story. I was looking forward to our evening out.

The menu included the following Indian dishes, Aloo Tikki (Indian potato pancakes) with Tamarind Chutney; Pepper Chicken Masala with Lemon Rice; Tarka Dhal (stewed lentils/split peas) with Green Beans and Coconut; Naan Bread; and creamy Mango Lassi (yogurt-based shake) for dessert. Dinner was delicious. 

We were given copies of the PC Cooking School recipes listed above and instructed on how to prepare each dish. I transcribed the recipes including the chef's alterations into a pdf document. You can find the recipes here if you would like to try them too.

In between dishes we discussed the book. Our book club moderator was knowledgeable keeping our discussion lively and interesting. She also recommended other books I would love to read. I've listed them below if you're interested.

"The Secret Daughter" by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

"The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai

"A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry

"Book of Negroes" by Lawrence Hill

"The Illegal" by Lawrence Hill

"Can You Hear the Night Bird Call" by Anita Rau Badami

"His Whole Life" by Elizabeth Hay

"A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman

"The Wonder" by Emma Donoghue

"Room" by Emma Donoghue

"Incontinent on the Continent" by Jane Christmas

All-in-all it was a fabulous evening. I wouldn't hesitate to sign up for another PC Dinner and a Book Club event. I highly recommend it as an enjoyable evening out for $15 $30 per person.

Thanks Mom for the invitation. I had fun.

Correction: This dinner was actually $30 per person. I signed up for the PC Cooking School Holiday Insiders Collection dinner. That one is only $15 per person. I mistakenly assumed they cost the same. Thanks again Mom.

 Be the first to comment - click on No comments: below

Setbacks and Progress

Two weeks ago, I wrote about being happy with my efforts to add more natural movement to my daily activities. I was feeling good about my progress over the past four months. 

I was feeling good until the unexpected happened. I tried to do a cartwheel while walking the dog with my husband through the park after dark. I had not done a cartwheel in about 20 years, but had been doing handstands for a few months building my strength and confidence. How hard could it be?

Harder than I thought. I tried twice leading with my left leg. It wasn't pretty and didn't feel right. After all these years, I had forgotten how. I tried leading with my right leg. Realizing that wasn't right, I stopped. Unfortunately, my right foot slid forward in the wet grass. I did the splits then collapsed in pain. I had pulled my hamstring. It hurt from my foot to my butt. My husband helped me up asking "What was I thinking?"

I hobbled home discouraged and frustrated all at once. Not only had I failed to complete a cartwheel, now I could barely walk. Biking, squatting and handstands caused pain. This was a serious setback. It happened on Friday night of the long weekend. I rested Saturday and Sunday, then rallied enough to clean our patio cover, window screens and pool on Monday. It felt good to do something useful after two days of rest.

Unfortunately, all that cleaning resulted in another setback. Cleaning irritated my right shoulder. It hurt just to lift my arm. My whole right side was a hurting mess for the rest of the week. I decided to rest some more. I drove instead of biking to work, stopped lifting dumbbells and did not attempt handstands. 

By Friday, I was feeling a bit better and by Saturday, much better. My shoulder felt normal. Squatting continued to hurt, but I could do my dumbbell exercises and handstands. I took this photo using a 10-sec delay with my camera on a stool. It felt good to be making progress again.

Since my mishap, I have watched a few videos explaining how to cartwheel. I want to try again once my hamstring stops hurting. It may seem silly, but I think cartwheeling into old age will help keep me interested in maintaining strength and flexibility. It's these fun sort of challenges I love.

You may be wondering why I haven't mentioned crochet recently. I have been focused more on me and movement; less on crochet since I started sitting on the floor four months ago. It surprises me that after five years of total crochet obsession, I have lost interest. I started a little doll recently. Two arms and two legs are done. I'm not feeling terribly motivated, but will be sure to share photos if I finish.

For a change of pace, I joined a book club this week. The ladies in my Mom's neighbourhood take turns hosting a book club meeting once a month. They get together ostensibly to discuss the book. I went to my first meeting last night. Truthfully, we chatted about all sorts of things while sipping wine and munching snacks. It was fun. 

The London Public Library offers a Book Club in a Bag. You get 10 copies of a book in a bag for a month. They carry a large selection of titles. Our next book "Good to a Fault" by Marina Endicott looks interesting. I will start as soon as I finish the first book. I got my copy of "The Guest Room" by Chris Bohjalian two days ago, so am only half way through. It's a gripping story so far. I can't wait to see what happens next and how it works out in the end.

I am enjoying so many fun things besides crochet these days ... natural movement, reading, blogging and socializing just to name a few. Despite recent setbacks, I have decided to be satisfied with my progress. 

Be the first to comment - click on No comments: below