Sunday, June 28, 2020

Wednesday Night Bible Study June 24, 2020 Titus Chapter 2

Father's Day - Sunday, June 21, 2020 - Haven of Rest

Return to Sender by Tonya Kappes

This is the fourth installment in the Mail Carrier Mystery Series. Here's the Goodreads description:

Bernadette Butler has a penchant for solving murders while keeping her ear low to the ground listening to gossip while on her mail carrier route.

Bernie tries to deliver a return to sender package and a certified letter to a local man and finds him dead.

When the death turns up suspicious, Bernie uses her amateur sleuthing skills along with the gossipy help of the Front Porch Ladies to cross reference who exactly in their small southern town stamped out the victim.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd love to see more of this series. Bernadette is one of my favorite characters, and who could forget the ever fabulous Rowena? All of the characters in this series are so real that I can see people I know in the parts. I will definitely keep reading! I did read an Advance Reader Copy so that I could review the book.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can join Tonya's Reader Group on Facebook here. She has a whole host of entertaining cozy mysteries in several different series.  Check her out on Goodreads!

Sunday, June 14, 2020 - 1 John Chapter 1 - Haven of Rest

Blogger is not letting me search for any videos from YouTube at this time, so I am just adding links.

1 John Chapter 1, June 14

Titus Chapter 1 - Haven of Rest Backyard Bible Study - Wednesday, June 10, 2020

It doesn't want to let me add the video, so I'm posting a link.

Wednesday, June 10, 2020 Titus Chapter 1

Sunday, June 7, 2020 - Real Love

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Read it. Seriously. 

When I first started reading this one I wasn't sure how much I would like it. It took me awhile to get into it, partly just because there was so much going on in my world and I had to keep putting it down.

And then a friend encouraged me, letting me know her daughter had really enjoyed the series. And her sister chimed in, saying that she had enjoyed it as well. I have found some great reads from following the advice of these ladies, so I picked up the book and began to read, and from that point on I could not put it down (feel free to ask my husband). I carried it around with me and read every spare moment till I had finished the story.

Yes, I will read the rest of the series. Yes, there are questions to be answered and a plot to be continued, but I am so thankful that it did not end on a complete cliffhanger, allowing me resolution to all the questions and situations of the moment.

I can't give you details, because that would be a definite spoiler, but I was right about at least three major points, though the extent of the one was deeper than I'd realized (I bet you know which one I meant when you get there). 

Bottom line, it's a good story, a good book, a Goodread. I will read the rest of the series and I am looking forward to seeing what happens.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - 2 Timothy Chapter 4

Sourdough Pretzels

Today's exploration was my first foray into the world of pretzels. They are actually a lot of work! And while I am comfortable using my food processor for many things and it does a great job with bread and other doughs, I do not recommend it for this type of dough because it is very, very sticky and heavy, and it was a nightmare to clean!

I snagged this recipe for Sinful Sourdough Pretzels on Pinterest from a Chick and Her Garden. I did switch up the order a bit, because when I make dough in the food processor it starts with dry ingredients, and a fat if it's separate, then adding the liquids while the processor is moving.

I went ahead and melted and dissolved the butter, sugar, and hot water in a bowl, but I put the flour in the food processor and added the butter mixture and the sourdough starter to that.


Butter, Sugar, Hot Water                 Sourdough Starter                  Butter Mix and Sourdough Starter

                   

 Flour in the food processor                                        Putting things together

 Dough in the greased bowl, preparing to rise.     My trusty assistant, Hadley

Toward the end of my two hour rise time I put the water and baking soda on to boil.

Punched down dough, ready to turn onto a floured surface

Turned and kneading

Here's my log.  I was really having a hard time getting the dough to roll into a log, so I ended up separating it into smaller pieces first and rolling those instead of making one big log.

I did have trouble getting them to stick together in the water, so I started giving them a little pinch to hold together, and an extra twist. 

I don't have a drying rack, so they did drip dry on the counter before going onto the baking sheet.

Brushed with egg and sprinkled with coarse salt, ready for the oven.

They tasted fantastic and disappeared from the platter in a flash

 (and of course I forgot to take a photo of the platter)!

Can't forget clean up!