Quarantine Adventures -- Make Zentangles

Always looking for something fun to do while in quarantine, I saw that the Kaukauna library was doing an online art activity. We were going to learn how to make Zentangles. I had no clue what Zentangles were but they sounded cool.

According to Google, "The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. We call these patterns, tangles. ... These patterns are drawn on small pieces of paper called "tiles." We call them tiles because you can assemble them into mosaics." Okay that sounds simple enough.

The librarian showed us a couple different patterns to begin with through Facebook Live.

The circle, the line, the flower, and the diamond were the patterns we were shown how to do.

Basically you draw a square or a tile on your paper. Then you fill it with one of the patterns.

You continue to make as many tiles as you like to fill you page.

We were told to quarter our page to start and then make the tiles in that that quarter.

It's just repetitive patterns to make a cool black and white or color and white drawing.

I did not find it very relaxing at all. I could only do 1 tile at time before my wrist got sore. However, I found the line pattern to be the most fun. The circle pattern wasn't bad either. I wasn't very good at the flower or diamond pattern. I'm sure they are more patterns out there if you Google it.

It was fun. If I come across another art activity at the library that fits in the schedule, I might join the Facebook live event. There are many that are during the day.

Quarantine Adventures -- A chat with Karen Slaughter

Browsing Facebook, since I had nothing better to do, I discovered an author event that sounded interesting. It was hosted by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation and the program was called "Final Draught: Home Edition -- at Home with Karen Slaughter." I barely heard of Karen Slaughter. I figured I had nothing better to do and could tune in.

Karen writes popular medical thrillers and is published in over 100 countries. I'm not sure how I missed hearing about her.  Her latest book, The Silent Wife, doesn't come out until July. It was really exciting to get a sneak peek of her book. The book is a continuation of The Last Widow but I was told I don't have to read the previous books to understand what is going on the book.

The Facebook Live event was very interesting. Karen talked about her writing process and the research involved into writing medical thrillers. She talks about the input she gets but she is very careful about it because she doesn't want to exploitative about the more sensitive topics such as domestic violence.

I really loved learning about Karen and her books. Her books have been added to my to read list but with all the author events I'm finding on Facebook my to read list has grown quickly. It will be years before I get to all of them.

I will keep an eye on the Charlotte Mecklenburg library Facebook page to see what other authors they are hosting. Since authors aren't touring they are doing a lot of Facebook live events with libraries and bookstores. It is a great way to meet new authors.

Quarantine Adventures -- Virtual Wine Tasting

I saw that one of my favorite wineries was doing a virtual tasting on Facebook Live. I figured I have nothing else to do and decided to check it out.

Vines to Cellar Winery in Port Washington started doing virtual wine tastings every Tuesday night during the pandemic. They would let you know about a week in advance of what wine they would be tasting and discussing. Meaning you should actually pick up the bottle of wine. Hmm.. kind of difficult to do a tasting without a bottle but que sera sera.

This week's bottle was Jacob's Ladder. They talk about how they name their wines. Jacob's ladder is named after their nephew.

Jacob's Ladder is an  Australian Cabernet/Shiraz that pairs well with red meat. I was told it has an intense Cabernet flavor along with chocolate Shiraz under tones. It might be too "red" for me. I am not a fan of dry wines. I prefer sweet and fruity wines. I am willing to try any wine though.

Sine I did not buy Jacob's Ladder ahead of time nor did I already have Jacob's Ladder in sparse wine collection I didn't truly get to taste the wine. I did learn more about the wine and the winery doing the 15 minute wine tasting.

Maybe I will try a virtual wine tasting in the future where I actually buy the wine ahead of time.. otherwise I will just have to wait til the wineries open back up for in person tastings.

20 in 2020 -- Make a new recipe -- Enchiladas

My mom and grandma both get Our Wisconsin magazine. Grandma gives us her copy when she is done with it. I read it and the hubby may read it. Then it sits on a pile on our coffee table for a few months til I get sick of the pile and weed out the old issues. Every issue includes a couple of recipes by readers. The hubby was going through the stack earlier this month and found a few recipes he thought sounded good. One was for enchiladas. So I bought the ingredients and put it them in the dinner rotation.

I'm more of a taco than an enchilada/burrito kind of person but the hubby prefers burritos/enchiladas. I've tried a couple of burrito recipes but the hubby wasn't overly fond of them. I was willing to try this one.

The recipe itself is pretty simple and can be made from simple pantry ingredients... chicken or turkey, cream of mushroom soup, salsa, sour cream, cheese, flour tortillas. I have a feeling the recipe was created to use up leftover turkey from Thanksgiving.

Basic instructions
1. Mix meat, sour cream, taco seasoning, half the can of soup, cheese, onion, salsa, and olives together in a bowl.

2. Spoon filling into tortillas and roll up and place seam side down in 9x13 pan.

3. Then combine the rest of the soup, sour cream and taco seasoning. Pour over enchiladas.

4. Bake for 25 minutes.
5. Sprinkles with the rest of the cheese and bake for 5 more minutes.

I only made half the recipe each night. I mixed the entire filling and topping but only cooked half the tortillas the first night. I figured they won't reheat all that well.

They were pretty tasty. We used picante instead of salsa so it had more pepper and tomato chunks than the hubby liked. The sauce was a bit much with the all that sour cream according to the hubby. That might be because we split it into two nights.

The recipe definitely needs tweaking for our tastes but it was good for the first try. It might become a keeper if I can figure out the whole sauce thing.

Quarantine Adventures: A Jam Session with Luke Coombs

I am not a big fan of listening to music. I will have the radio on the car when I'm by myself and listen to tunes while I run/walk. However, I rarely go to concerts, download songs, or watch music videos. However, when I saw that Luke Coombs was doing a Livestream on Y100's Facebook page.

I am not a big fan of new country. I prefer the country from the 90's and early 2000's when there was a fiddle in the band. Today's country is a lot more pop than toe tapping, boot scooting down home country.

Being stuck inside for the last month, I was excited to hear some live music. I tuned into the Livestream.

At first there was some technical difficulties with the sound. We couldn't hear him. Eventually they got it figured out.

Luke played his new song "Six Feet Apart". That song is the perfect pandemic song. I might actually have to go download it.

The livestream only lasted about 15 or 20 minutes but it was a break in the mundane. It was a good show. He actually puts on a good acoustic set. Not all musicians can do an acoustic set well.

Now I have to go find some more concerts to listen to while stuck inside besides our weekly Opry dates.

Quarantine Adventures -- DJ Palmer Book Launch

I managed to get an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) of DJ Palmer's new book The New Husband. I read it in about a day on the way to Arizona. It is an excellent thriller that is somewhat predictable but have enough twists and turns to keep you interested.

When I saw that Gibson Bookstore in New Hampshire was offering a free virtual book launch with DJ Palmer via Zoom. I RSVP'd and was sent a link.

Prior to getting a copy of The New Husband, I never read DJ Palmer before or even heard of him. The cover grabbed me to request an ARC. I never read Daniel Palmer before either.

I learned a few things from this book launch

1. DJ Palmer and Daniel Palmer are the same person. His editor wanted to signal that Saving Meghan was not what came before so DJ Palmer was born. Thanks to Noelle to reminding me of the connection

2. He is a funny guy and has many talents including guitar playing.

3. I can't wait to read more of his books. They are all medical thrillers or thrillers which is fine with me. It's a good break from romcoms.

The Book Launch lasted about an hour but possibly could have gone a lot longer. I am grateful for these bookstores and authors taking the time to doing these virtual book launches. It has allowed me to discover new authors, "meet" some of my favorite authors, and keep me from going stir crazy.

I have a few more book launches coming up in the next few weeks and I'm sure I will find others.

Quarantine Adventures: Lindsey Hamel and J'nell Ciesielski Book Launch

Facebook never ceases to amaze me when it suggests events for me. Scrolling through Facebook, I saw a Facebook Live Author Chat with two authors that I never heard of. It said there would be giveaways. I was hooked. Who doesn't love a chance to win free stuff.

Like the event page said, it was a very informal discussion with both authors who actual never met before doing a trial run of the event. They just happened to have books coming out at the same time by the same publisher.

Both Lindsey and J'nell are wonderful ladies. The hour sped by with them talking about their lives, writing careers, and their books. They talked about what it was like to write during quarantine while still doing the mom thing and home school thing. It is not easy.

Lindsey's book, The Joy of Falling, follows two sister-in-laws and their husbands' friend through the training and completion of an Ultra-Marathon in New Zealand. J'nell's book, The Socialite, is set in WWII and follows two sisters and their lovers across Europe while the sister is trying to bring the other sister back to England. Both books sound really good and went on the to read list.

I'll be honest the sole reason The Socialist went on the to read list (or at least the shortened version) is that everyone has tea at Hitler's place in Bavaria. That sounded like an amazing scene to read about especially when J'nell talked about the research involved in making sure she got the color of Hitler's patio umbrellas right in the book.

After going to a couple of these book launches and hearing the authors talk about the process of writing a book, I never realized how much research went into even a fiction book. Historical fiction, crime fiction, and other books with specific topics I get. I never would have thought about researching what happens to your toenails when running an ultra-marathon. It does make me appreciate a good book a whole lot more.

Doing virtual book launches does allow more readers to connect with authors easier and allows a peek into their homes. It is always fun to sit back and listen to an author talk. I find it much more comfortable to do so while sitting on my couch or bed than a stiff chair in a bookstore or a library. Maybe this trend should continue after the pandemic.

6342. Watch to an episode of the Manitowoc Minute

The Manitowoc Minute is literally a minute-ish long weekly news show about anything that is going on in the world. It is really a comedy news update that is broadcasted on You-Tube and there website. Being from Wisconsin and finding things like this amusing, I always wanted to check it out.

This is something I've wanted to check out but never really got around it since it required me to check out a website or You-Tube Channel neither high on my list of internet goals. You Tube videos are just not my thing.

Then a couple of weeks after the first Jump Around Phenomenon, I saw something posted in the Facebook Group that Jump Around Phenomenon was featured on the Manitowoc Minute. Well, now I have to watch it.

So I clicked on it and watched the video. It was highly amusing. The host, Charlie Berens, did an amazing job at covering a wide range of topics in 15-20 second blurbs including Tiger King, 2 headed goats, Jump Around, and various police reports and Craigslist ads. The whole show was about 5 minutes.

If you are not from Wisconsin, you probably won't find it as amusing as I did but it is still worth checking out.

Quarantine Adventures -- Make Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

The hubby is a big fan of cinnamon rolls.. especially homemade ones. Browsing Pinterest, because what is there to do, I found a recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls that didn't require any yeast or rising time.

The dough is literally 2 ingredients -- self-rising flour and Greek Yogurt.  Self-rising flour was as scarce as yeast. We managed to find a small bag of it at Walmart. I snatched it up.

Mix the flour and yogurt together and then roll out the door.

Once the dough is rolled out, brush with melted butter, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll into a log -- tightly. That part is hard. Then cut into slices.

Bake them.

Cool and then frost with an icing.

Enjoy.

Yes, they do have a slightly sour taste -- like sourdough. But they are quite tasty. Even the hubby likes them. I will definitely make them again.

Quarantine Adventures: Brenda Novak Book Launch

Browsing Facebook, I discovered a Facebook Live Event for one of the authors on my to read list. Brenda Novak's new book "One Perfect Summer" was just coming out and she was having a virtual launch party. Okay, I'll bite. I've not read her but the book sounds good and it's women's fiction. Besides I was told there would be prizes.. maybe..

Normally, I don't get to go to these fabulous launch parties or new book tours because they are usually in some glorious warm city in the south or other major metropolis not near me. So due to the pandemic, we are all forced inside thus launch parties and new book tours are going virtual. This makes me excited.

Brenda's launch party was fabulous. Not only did she talk about her new book and give away oodles of fabulous prizes (none of which I won), she had mystery guest authors join her to talk to about themselves and maybe their books. Because Brenda has written both women's fiction and thriller books, she had a wide variety of authors make an appearance. Susan Wiggs and Debbie Maccomber were among the guest authors. Not only did I get to hear some of my favorite authors, but I learned about a few new ones that made my to read list such John Lescroart, Susan Stoker, and Jennifer Snow.

Even though there were technical difficulties, it was a great evening. I did buy "One Perfect Summer" earlier today and started it. I can't wait to finish it and read other of her books.

I have a whole bunch of author events coming up in the next few days and weeks. Some I've never heard of, others I have read. Well at least this pandemic is going to let me connect with some authors I would normally never get to connect with since they don't normally venture this far north. Stay tuned to see which other authors I've discovered and hung out with.

Quarantine Adventures -- Hiking at High Cliff

Since it was nice out and the state parks were free, I convinced the hubby to go to High Cliff for a walk. The hubby isn't a big one for nature or hiking. I could go hiking or walking in nature any time. It is always nice to go outside. I've not been out to High Cliff in over a year or two. It's literally 10-15 minutes away.. probably closer than the Trestle Bridge in Mensaha.

High Cliff was pretty full when we got there in the early afternoon. I knew better than to initially park down by the lime kilns because the parking lot is small and the trails could be muddy. We headed to the upper trails. The were some parking spots available.

Yes, it was crowded but social distancing wasn't that much of a problem. People moved over to let you pass on the trail. Some people wore masks but not many.

We had a nice mile or so walk. We walked about a half mile based on the mile marker and then turned around and came back to our car. That was about all the hubby could handle.

After walking the upper trial, I decided we should go see the lime kilns. That lot was almost full and we were able to snag one of the last spots.

The lime kilns weren't too busy. Everyone walked by to get to the trail.

It was a nice afternoon. Hopefully we can enjoy the trails again.

Note: The state parks were closed later in the week because of over-crowding and vandalism. They will re-open a month later and only if people have passes.

Quarantine Adventures -- My First Foray into Opera

I stumbled across a video on Facebook for a quarantine opera performance. The original bucket list has "Go to an Opera" on it. I figured this would at least give me an insight into Opera.

The opera is performed on Facebook by Opera singers and musicians via video feeds and then put together as a performance. Every musician and singer is in their own residence.. in their own country.

The performance itself, including introductions, is about 5 minutes so by no means an entire opera. It is just the beginning of the performance I believe it is a part of the Opera "Carmen Habanera".

Personally I am not a fan of Opera. I did not understand anything that was going on. Despite that I was clueless about what was happening, it was still exciting to watch. It liked how the video was put together and actually makes me want to watch more of it. I know, even though I'm not a fan I want to see more to see maybe if I can understand what's going on.