Book Review: Iron Druid Chronicles - Hounded

Atticus O'Sullivan, as he's known now, is the last of the Druids. He and his Irish Wolfhound, named Oberon, live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, trying to remain hidden from the powers that be and some trouble that he may have run into in the past.

Turns out that some of that trouble has returned to find him. Otherwise it would probably be a dull book.

Hounded is a fun book filled with intrigue, comedy, action, magic, and good writing. I'm a fan of the fantasy genre, and especially urban fantasy. Kevin Hearne, the author of this series, does a good job of drawing the reader in to the story by having many of his characters have to balance the modern day versus what they have grown used to over the years. When you're 2000 years old but look 21 that can get a little confusing!

The last of the Druids is in trouble as an old enemy seeks him out, marking him for death. The folklore is rich, as are the magical traditions. One of the great things about the way Kevin Hearne is how he blends multiple magical traditions and doesn't just try to shoehorn them into one neat box; all different kinds exist and they interact with each other in odd ways since not all magics were made to work with other magics.

It's a quick read, which to me is its only flaw but to other people may be a plus.

If you liked Harry Potter, enjoy the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher , and generally just love fantasy novels that you can devour in a few sittings, I would definitely pick up this book. Then the next couple. It's a great series with something for everyone.

Comforts for Baby

Not my child, but my product!

Comforts for Baby was a brand I reviewed a while back when I first received the coupons from BzzAgent. I liked the brand then and thought that I should revisit it, talk about it now that I've had a little more time with it.

The soaps and shampoos are definitely a favorite of mine. They smell nice, don't seem to bother my little one when I use them on her (no tears when washing her hair thus far), and aren't harsh on the baby's skin. As I said before, they also make a nice bubble bath!

The bibs are bibs; it's kind of hard to say much about them other than that they fit, they catch food, and they do exactly what they're supposed to do. I don't really see how someone could go wrong making bibs. I guess they could be ugly but these particular bibs are not ugly and they work just fine. I'd even go so far as to call them cute. Of course, maybe I'm wrong about a bib being a bib; my baby doesn't really use them all that much and as such we don't have a lot of experience with them. She's just not that messy of an eater, thankfully. Usually.

And the baby wipes. Well, I was a huge fan of these wipes at first because they're inexpensive and they worked just fine. The only issue I find is that when there's a little bit of diaper rash these wipes seem to be a little harsh on her skin; they're not quite as soft as some of the leading brands. They're durable, they clean well, but they're not quite as soft as we'd like. We'll still keep them on hand but we'll probably pick up a second brand for when sensitivity is needed.

Overall, Comforts for Baby is a perfectly good brand and I was happy to be a part of this campaign since it gave me an eye into new inexpensive and convenient quality products to use for my daughter.

Home Sense from BzzAgent

A new Bzz Campaign, made just for me!

The newest BzzAgent campaign landed me with a bunch of free Home Sense cleaning supplies; something I guess you could say I desperately need. It gave me a needed kick in the pants to get my kitchen clean.

I decided that I'd challenge myself to clean the kitchen using only Home Sense products. Obviously the laundry detergent and fabric softener wouldn't help me here but we'll see how the towels, disinfecting wipes, and dish washing detergent work out!

I really don't want this on the internet but here you go.

After a few busy days with friends visiting, many meals made, and a fridge that needed to be cleaned out the kitchen was a complete and utter mess.

I obviously couldn't expect the Home Sense to take out the garbage or empty out the fridge but the stains on the counters, the dirty dishes, the floors and walls? Home Sense could help me there!

With the garbage taken out, everything emptied, the dishes put in the dishwasher, I began cleaning.

Subtle product placement is subtle.

Before too long, the kitchen was clean and disinfected. The dishes were washed and the floors were sparkling!

I'll probably just continue using my sponge in the future since that's better for the earth but with a combination of Home Sense paper towels and Home Sense disinfectant wipes the kitchen was fairly easy to clean despite the soaked in mess I had allowed to happen.

Washing the old cast iron pan was no problem; a few paper towels, some salt, some water. Good as new!

More secret and hidden product placement.

Overall I was pleased with the cleaning ability of the Home Sense campaign. The wipes were a bit strongly-scented at first but the lemon scent that came in after everything was dried was subtle and pleasant.

The paper towels held up to my abuse with no problem.

The dishwasher detergent worked perfectly fine, leaving me shiny, clean dishes.

Overall I was satisfied. Home Sense is as good as any other brand when it comes to getting my kitchen nice and clean.

Spaghetti Squash - A Strange Thing To Review

Before today, the last time I had spaghetti squash for dinner with homemade red sauce was probably 5 or 6 years gone back. I vaguely remember having trouble splitting the giant gourd in half to cook it and then not really being all that satisfied with its texture when compared to actual pasta. It was like angel hair pasta if it were wheat, grainy, and stuck together with slime.

To say the least, I was disappointed.

I cooked some more spaghetti squash today because I'm a masochist, apparently. I started eating ketogenically about two months ago, eating no more than 30 grams of carbohydrates per day. I count my carbs carefully and even a few ounces of pasta puts me over my entire daily limit, so that was straight out.

Yet here I was with a bunch of stunning homemade sauce* and nothing to put it on.

Spaghetti squash to the rescue?

Looking at the large yellow gourd the size of my head I grabbed my chef's knife and went to work. Strangely, this one split in two with just a few quick pulls of the knife and was a cinch to split then clean of its seeds and entrails. I threw it in the oven, cut-side-down, and baked it at 350 degrees (F) for an hour.

I scored it out of its shell, threw some sauce on it and dug in, wondering if I once again had made a colossal mistake.

The only mistake I've made is in not eating spaghetti squash for the past 5 or 6 years.

It was delicious. Sure, it wasn't actually anything at all like pasta but after two months without pasta I don't have much of anything to compare it to; without that comparison the spaghetti squash was amazing and I'll be having more of it whenever I can find it at the store, especially as I still have a lot of sauce left.

My suggestion would be to try spaghetti squash. It's simple to cook, has a mildly nutty flavor that enhances the pasta sauce somehow, and a tiny bit of sweetness to it without being overpowering. Don't expect it to be like pasta; it's definitely its own thing. It satisfied my craving for something pasta-like.

Enjoy!

*I'm teaching a friend to cook and my red sauce recipe was the first step.

Perks of Being a BzzAgent!

One of the great perks of being a BzzAgent, aside from getting to try new products and spread the word about them, is that I sometimes get some really awesome coupons that I get to use and then share with friends and family.

Because of the Green Mountain Coffee campaign that's going on right now I received a booklet of coupons offering 50% off of Keurig machines on their website. They're going fast but I wanted to give everyone an opportunity to get their hands on one, so let me know if you'd like one of the codes please.

Free Trade Green Mountain Coffee K Cups!

Here's the thing: About a week after I signed up for BzzAgent's coffee trial our Keurig broke. Then I gave up caffeine because I'm very sensitive to it and get withdrawal headaches after only a couple hours without caffeine in my system.

Yuck, right?

That doesn't mean I can't tell you good things about this coffee!

Green Mountain Coffee is Fair Trade coffee which means they focus on sustainability and better trading conditions for developing countries! It's definitely not a new movement but it's one that's newly gaining steam in my area! I applaud Green Mountain Coffee in their support of Fair Trade and hope that you will too!

I have several coupon codes available if you're interested in trying their coffee so that you can help them support Fair Trade by buying their products. It's a very limited supply of coupons so let me know in the comments quickly if you want one!

Wine: Apothic Dark

Note: Does not actually smoke.

Apothic Dark is a red wine from the makers of Apothic Red, which happens to be one of my favorite wines ever made and a great wine to get non-wine-drinkers into enjoying red wines.

Right out of the bottle the wine is smooth with very little taste up-front but hints of chocolate on the back end. It was pleasant enough but not the full-bodied experience I expect when I have a wine from this particular vintner.

I let it breath for about ten minutes and on the next sip I found what I was looking for; the wine had come to life after being aired for just a few minutes. Suddenly the front taste had notes of berries, sweetness, carried on a nice heady scent. The back end woke up too, carrying more chocolate, a bit of the berries, and a finish of light coffee.

This wine has made its way into my list of favorites, right next to its sibling and I will be purchasing a few more bottles. Apothic Dark is on limited release so I will enjoy it while I can and save a bottle for a later time, probably a date night with my special lady.

I suggest picking up a bottle, maybe two, and enjoying it alone, paired with some very dark chocolate, or with a rich, delicious dinner of ribeye steaks and mashed potatoes. It will liven up any dish.

Apothic Dark: Break the mundane.