I was pretty surprised to find out that you could get luxurious handmade wedding dresses on Etsy. Yes I'd seen the boho chic ones but not these. Rara Avis has arrived with amazing designs at the fraction of the price one would expect for something this exquisite. The Teini dress is simply gorgeous. Gold embroidery, soft ruching and simplicity. Serving luxury from the comfort of your workshop. Its the age of the remote creative and hope its come to stay.
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| Teini Dress |
I'm a sucker for a great bathroom, that's the first thing I check out in a hotel room before I consider booking it . Warner Walker Architectures are a company based in San Francisco, and they did the thing with the creation of this house. It's modern and warm, which is a great feat for many architects. Click on the hyperlink to view the rest of the house. This is a luxurious bathroom appreciation post.
And my one Barcelona Collection favorite
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I decided to make my own and checked out a couple for oven made fries and learn some food science. I soaked some sliced potatoes in vinegar and water for about 14 hours to increase the crispiness, boiled them for 8 minutes with some salt and sprayed them with some oil. Then I baked them for 15 minutes at 225C. I then drizzled salt, vinegar and honey all over the fries. It tasted like pure genius.
Here's what I discovered. No point soaking in vinegar. The soaking creates a weak blunt vinegary taste that takes away from the sweetness of the potato. If you're boiling, soaking at all is kind of useless. Couldn't get away without adding plain vinegar to top the fries making the soaking pointless. Vinegar also makes the fries acidic and so it blunts the Maillard Reaction, that's what makes fried things go brown.I dont want blond oven fries. I would also get vinegar powder to maintain the crispiness of my fries and increase the sharpness of the vinegar taste. Yes I want to feel like I was slapped.
Next up I'll be making kettle chips, If I can unearth my mandolin. I will also attempt making my own vinegar powder because getting anything interesting in this place is a chore. Chao.

Alcatraz versus the evil Librarians is a wierd one. A really really weird one. This is Brandon Sandersons foray into young adult stuff and of course its fantasy. I can very boldly say i have never seen any thing like this. Im so sure this book must have had polarized reviews upon release. Love it or Hate it.
Alcatraz Smedry is the protagonist of this book. He's a young orphan boy who just always happens to be around when accidents happens. Turns out he's from a superhero family and he has the power to...break things accidentally. He is rescued from possible death by his granfather who appears out of nowhere and tells him he has powers. The world has been taken over by evil librarians who then keep the people ignorant. I can hear the eyerolls but gosh is it ever so fun.
The book is wacky and zany yes but it does get pretty dark. Character development is great. I can see how this would be a good read for older kids. Can't give any more details without spoiling it. Enjoy!

I love the Protagonist. With Brandon Sanderson that’s almost par for the course honestly. Siris’s curiosity and naivety are so endearing. Possibly because he’s not actually so ridiculous he gets a bed in the Too Stupid To Live dormitory. He is however extremely good at what he does know and is very self aware.
Sanderson has no problem writing women either,Isa is a great addition to the book. She’s skilled and the perfect foil for Sirus’s innocence but also not boorish in that try hard manner that YA authors trying to write strong women end up crafting. The protagonist is attracted to her but it doesn’t overwhelm the plot. They are hilarious together, an important ingredient for well written camaraderie.
I cannot wait to see how the rest of this short story goes. I love a good mass deception plot. 5 stars!
So we're back in this super advanced futuristic world and the apocalypse is nigh. Imagine a world where you're connected to an intergalactic internet that spans planets. The original team is split up and they are all going through their own trials and tribulations while facing off with the Shrike. Sol Weintraub's story is the most compelling. Filled with so much love and sacrifice...I don't think I will ever not tear up thinking about it.Imagine raising your child to a certain age,then watching regress with no solution. Martin Silenus gets on my nerve as usual. Colonel Kassad is looking for his one true love Moneta and the ultimate battle. Het Masteen never gets to tell his story. Father Lenar Hoyt is braving the pain of the cruciform. Brawne Lamia the brawny baddie is dealing with her connection to the AI world. The Consul gets to tell why he did the things he did, and goddammit I'm on his side!Gentrification and colonization will be the downside of a world with teleportation.Can we not have nice things?
This review is however a Meina Gladstone fan appreciation post. I need to shout out Dan Simmons for the way he writes women, he is so good at it! I love it! I don't know how he does it but it's clear that Gladstone is someone to respect. She is not made weaker for admitting that she had wanted Lamia. So classy and so cool. A minute of silence for the one who destroyed the world to save the world. Then died because she knew the new world shouldn't have a place for her.The moral lesson of this book, AI will be the death of humanity undoubtedly.Stay safe guys!










