Book Review: The Witching Hour

The Witching Hour by Ann Rice.... dislike. I really wanted to like it, I did, but I cannot.

It started a little slow, which I could forgive. It started getting more interesting after the first few chapters but once I got past the hundred page mark, shit got boring. The story itself is interesting, if you just examine the bare bones of the plot. The problem is everything in between. All the small details and elaborate descriptions which get repeated further down the line. You could take out the whole 400+ pages which comprise the "history of the Mayfair Witches" and still know everything that you need to know about the characters. Towards the end, I just wanted to know what was going to happen, I wanted to climax, I didn't want to get pulled along hundreds or more pages setting up was proved to be an anti climatic ending- an ending which wasn't really an ending since this is just the first in a three book series.

I just can't give this book my recommendation. It's just too long. Too many useless descriptions. Too much repetition. More effort than it's worth....

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I have seen a lot of spinach artichoke dip recipes passing around on the internet and honestly, some of them are too complicated for what it's worth. In fact, the recipe I am about to pass to you is more complicated than it needs to be. First I'll give you the run down of the recipe I am using now, but after I'll tell you how much easier it could be.

mozzarella cheese not shown

First, lets gather all the ingredients.
8 oz. cream cheese
1 (14 oz.) can of artichokes (drained)
6 oz. frozen spinach (thawed)
sour cream, mayo, garlic, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses




Put a medium saucepan on the stove top set to low.

 Now this is the easy part, go ahead and add each ingredient one at a time to the sauce pan. First add your spinach, then your artichokes, then the cream cheese, then a dollop of sour cream and a dollop of mayo, then grate some mozzarella cheese and add about a teaspoon of garlic. Make sure you are stirring this the whole time and soon you will have creamy deliciousness. Also note, I give you no real measurements because really, you can't mess it up. If you have more sour cream and mayo, it with just be more smooth, if you add more cheese it with just be more cheesy, it really is all on you and what you like.

Transfer it into a serving bowl and serve warm. I topped mine with a little Parmesan cheese ( I can never have enough cheese) and ate it with some tortilla chips (you can use bread too!)







Now you might be asking, but how can it get any more simple than this recipe? Well it can. The first time I made this I used one can artichokes, once bag frozen spinach, one container cream cheese and what ever mozzarella I had left. I simply put it all in the saucepan and stirred it over low heat till it was warm and creamy. No fuss. And really, I add some more to it this time after seeing a lot of different recipes, but it was practically the same. Add m ore stuff to it if you want to, but it is just as yummy with four ingredients.

Movie Review: The Grey

Alright, I admit it. I watch a lot of movies. A lot. I can't help it, I love them. Even ones that I don't like, I still love. I love to analyze the movie afterwards, I love to point out flaws and I appreciate the little details. Now, it isn't that I didn't like Liam Neeson's latest movie, but let's just say it was not without flaws.

The quick rundown: Great scenery, cool idea, but don't get caught up in logistics or else you'll spend the whole movie saying "you got to be f'ing kidding me...." (much like I did).

The long rundown: Just a heads up, the whole movie was filmed to look a little grainy/gritty which I actually like. We find our fearless hero (Liam Neeson) up in east bum Alaska working with ex cons as a wolf sharp shooter. We know Liam is unhappy with his life and right from the start he is contemplating suicide. The next day the whole crew hops on a plane heading back to Anchorage. What I really did like about this movie was the crash scene. They did a real nice job catching the wild fury and panic of a plane crash. After the crash Liam steps up as a leader trying to get survivors to work together. Soon they realize they are in wolf territory and that's when things start getting unbelievable. The rest of the movie is about their journey from the crash site trying to find safety by getting stalked and hunted by wolves of mythical proportion. If you've never seen a Discovery documentary on wolves then maybe you wont care how ridiculous they are portrayed but you still will probably raise eye brows when the survivors have to jump over a cliff edge and hope they can reach the tops of trees since that is the only way off the cliff, but then once they get there the wolves are already waiting on the ground (they must have took the stairs?) As the survivors struggle for their lives their characters get developed further but let's be real, at this kind of movie you aren't here for the character development.

All in all, the movie was entertaining. You are there asking yourself what would you do in that situation? As ridiculous as some of the wolves were and some of the plot lines were and some of the stunts were... bottom line it is still an entertaining movie. You want the characters to survive, you fear for their lives and root for them to win (as in, beat the mythical wolves who want to kill them for pleasure more than for food).