Mediterranean-Style Braised Codfish

Mediterranean-Style Braised Codfish

Adapted from NY1

Ingredients:

2 6-7 ounce boneless, skinless codfish fillets

Small white onion, thinly-sliced

Fennel, thinly-sliced

Garlic clove, finely-minced

14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup (maybe more) chicken or vegetable stock

Kalamata olives to taste, sliced & pitted

Capers to taste, well-drained

Olive oil

1 anchovy fillet, finely-minced

Toasted bread

Garlic mashed potatoes

Directions:

Heat a large saute pan or cast-iron skillet with a splash of olive oil. Saute onion & equal amount fennel. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until soft.

Add garlic & anchovy & cook for additional minute.

Add diced tomatoes & 1/2 cup stock & bring to a simmer.

Adjust the heat so that it stays at a gentle simmer, tuck the codfish fillets down into the mixture & put a tightly-fitting lid on top. Keep your eye on it as it simmers & add a little more stock if it seems to be drying out (ours didn't).

Depending on the thickness of the fish, it shouldn't take much more than 8-10 minutes to gently cook through. Add the olives & capers & serve.

Serve each codfish fillet on top of a slice of toasted country bread & then ladle on some of the braising liquid.

Kim's Notes:

Tiffany emailed this recipe to me, saying she had made it & really enjoyed it. When I sat down to write out the shopping list, I texted her & asked if she served it over bread. She texted back that they served it over garlic mashed potatoes & that I HAVE to do that, as well. Done! And she was right. This was so good!

Every now & then John & I make a recipe that calls for an ingredient we've never used before. This time it was fennel. First of all, I had no idea what fennel looked like or how to cut/cook it, so we watched a YouTube video of how to cut fennel, haha. Then! The fennel bulb (bulb ?) I bought looked like a hand, so before cutting it, John chased me around the kitchen trying to get me shake his fennel hand.

Aside from the time it takes to slice the onion & fennel (& watch a how-to YouTube video), this was a pretty quick dish to make, & it's super healthy. We loved it & will definitely make it again. If you make it, highly recommend taking the garlic mash route - so good!

Thanks, Tiff!

Book Review: The Dive From Clausen's Pier

I recently finished reading The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer. This is another book that's been making it's way through Book Swap for awhile now. Everyone who's read it has really liked it, so I grabbed it when it came around last time.

The book is about Mike & Carrie, high school sweethearts, fresh out of undergrad & engaged to be married. In the first few pages of the book, Mike breaks his neck. Carrie, who was already having second thoughts about marrying Mike, has a complete breakdown & flees to New York. I obviously won't give away how it ends, but it's pretty heart-wrenching.

I kind of loved this book. The beginning, when Mike breaks his neck, reminded me so much of the first season of Friday Night Lights. And then later, when Carrie ends up in NYC, I sooo identified with that. I guess it's possible that everyone who picks up & moves to NYC one day has a similar story of wandering around the city, not knowing anybody, not spending any money because you don't know how long it's going to take to find a job, & living basically as a squatter in someone else's apartment. Reading this book brought back such of flood of memories of my time in NYC, mostly my first few months there when I was aimlessly wandering around the city starving for someone to talk to me, or just look at me.

Again, I really enjoyed this book. It's not a long book & I read it in a few days. I couldn't put it down. Also, kind of hilariously, there's a 2005 Lifetime movie of this book, which I may or may not have just added to the # 1 slot in my Netflix queue...

From Amazon:

Packer's engrossing debut novel begins without ostentation. On Memorial Day, Carrie Bell and her fiance, Mike Mayer, drive out to Clausen's Pier for their annual ritual, a picnic with their friends, a trip they make the way a middle-aged couple might, in grudging silence. Before their resentments can be aired, Mike dives into too shallow water, suffering injuries that change their lives. If Mike survives, he will survive as a quadriplegic, and Carrie faces unexpected responsibilities. Ultimately, Carrie does what is both understandable and unthinkable. She leaves her hometown of Madison, Wis., and shows up on the doorstep of a friend in New York City. There she discovers a different world, different friends and a different self. The hovering question--what will Carrie do? Abandon Mike or return to him?--generates genuine suspense. Packer portrays her characters--both New Yorkers and Madisonites--deftly, and her scenes unfold with uncommon clarity. But if Packer has a keen eye, she has an even keener ear. The dialogue is usually witty; more important, it is always surprising, as if the characters were actually thinking--one of the reasons they become as familiar to the reader as childhood friends. In quiet but beautiful prose, Packer tells a complex and subtly constructed story of friendship, love and the hold the past has on the present. This is the sort of book one reads dying to know what happens to the characters, but loves for its wisdom: it sees the world with more clarity than you do.

Loved this book! I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Weekend Wrap Up: Party, Party, Party Edition

{More photo info on Flickr & Instagram}

Friday:

John & I went to dinner at Korea House, then I came home & started watching Biutiful.

Saturday:

I got up early & went to Sculpt, then went to Whole Foods & bought an iced chai & muffin, assuredly undoing whatever good I did by working out. Then I quite literally squeezed my muffin top into a tankini & went to Book Swap, which was pool-side this month. I slathered on the 50 SPF & then never left the cover of the pool cabana. Oh well, better safe than sorry. Plus, I'm pretty sure I sweated off that muffin.

Saturday night everyone we know was having a party. Apparently July is party month. Who knew? First, we went to my friend Claudia's Aruba/honeymoon party at her parents' house in Old Hickory, then we went to Alexis' house for her birthday party that had started at 1pm, so we were around 7 hours late. But the party was still going strong, so we hung out there for the rest of the night.

Sunday:

I didn't feel so hot when I woke up yesterday. I felt like I had a cold, but in hindsight, I think it was just allergies. Regardless, I was pretty useless yesterday. The only thing I did worth mentioning is finishing Biutiful, which was really good.

Linda Calling

It's too hot to blog. Happy Friday, folks!

John & Linda spending some quality howling time together. Linda is usually a better howler than this. I think the camera threw her off her game.




Linda Calling from Kim Baldwin on Vimeo.

P.S. Linda totally started howling in her bed this morning when I watched this.

YMCA vs. Yoga

{Source: fitsugar}

I started this post about two weeks ago when I was REALLY sick of the YMCA & contemplating giving up my $68/month membership & joining a yoga studio instead. I've since changed my mind, of course. I realized I was bored with my work-outs & simply changing things up a bit & adding in some outside yoga made all the difference.

A brief back story. Before I lost my job in Nov, I went to the Downtown Y most days during lunch & worked-out. When I lost my job, I kept up most of my lunch work-outs, but started swimming because of my knee injury. Then I did that month long boot camp in May. Immediately after, I re-started my old/new job downtown & went back to my lunch time work-outs. And here we are.

For someone who doesn't like change, it's funny that my main complaint with these lunch time classes is that they haven't changed. But they haven't! And I've been going to them for years & I'm bored as shit! Plus, now that I've been through physical therapy, I'm hyper aware of how many muscle groups are getting repeatedly ignored in these classes. Hello, glutes!

I REALLY like yoga, so I talked to my friend Paige, who teaches at 12South Yoga, about quitting the Y & buying a yoga package. I was mostly trying to decide if doing yoga 1-2 times a week would be the same as attending 1-2 (sometimes 3) strength training class a week (my running is my cardio, so I mostly use the Y for strength training).

Here's what I've done. For the past 2 weeks, I've switched to the Green Hills Y & started trying some of their classes. So far, I really like them, although they're mostly after work, which is a challenge for me, but I've been powering through. I've also been doing the free lululemon yoga classes at sanctuary in the gulch every Thurs night. I'm so glad lululemon does this. It's a great way to try out various yoga studios & instructors.

So what am I ultimately going to do? Give up my Y membership & buy a yoga package? Meh, I don't know, probably not. For now, the new Green Hills classes are pulling me back in. Also, yoga packages aren't as expensive as I always assumed they were, so I may still buy a package somewhere. Now I just have to decide where.

To be continued...

Namaste!

Book Review: Garlic and Sapphires

{Source: goodreads}

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl is a book that's been making its way through Book Swap & I finally grabbed it for myself. This is the third book like this that I've read & the second book written by a NY Times food critic. I'm talking about Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain & Born Round by Frank Bruni, two books that I LOVED.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Garlic and Sapphires, it's just my least favorite out of these three books. I wanted Reichl to get more personal, to delve more deeply into her relationship with her mother. I did enjoy reading about her visits to all the various NYC restaurants, especially her foray into the more ethnic restaurants in Queens. She talked about the inner-workings of the NY Times more than Bruni did, which was interesting. I also really liked how her actual restaurant reviews are in the book - smart!

Here's the blurb from Amazon:

As the New York Times's restaurant critic for most of the 1990s, Reichl had what some might consider the best job in town; among her missions were evaluating New York City's steakhouses, deciding whether Le Cirque deserved four stars and tracking down the best place for authentic Chinese cuisine in Queens. Thankfully, the rest of us can live that life vicariously through this vivacious, fascinating memoir. The book—Reichl's third—lifts the lid on the city's storied restaurant culture from the democratic perspective of the everyday diner. Reichl creates wildly innovative getups, becoming Brenda, a red-haired aging hippie, to test the food at Daniel; Chloe, a blonde divorcée, to evaluate Lespinasse; and even her deceased mother, Miriam, to dine at 21. Such elaborate disguises—which include wigs, makeup, thrift store finds and even credit cards in other names—help Reichl maintain anonymity in her work, but they also do more than that. "Every restaurant is a theater," she explains. Each one "offer[s] the opportunity to become someone else, at least for a little while. Restaurants free us from mundane reality." Reichl's ability to experience meals in such a dramatic way brings an infectious passion to her memoir. Reading this work—which also includes the finished reviews that appeared in the newspaper, as well as a few recipes—ensures that the next time readers sit down in a restaurant, they'll notice things they've never noticed before.

Everyone I know LOVES this book, & I do recommend it; it's a good book. I just enjoyed Born Round more. Three stars.

Spanish Egg & Potato Tortilla

Recently my parents went to visit my grandparents in Oklahoma & my grandmother sent back her mother's (my Granny's) cast-iron dutch oven. It's bigger than our other 2 cast-iron skillets & it has a lid. In cleaning it to give to us, it got a little unseasoned, so we've been waiting to use it. Last night was the night. We weren't that hungry & I wanted something breakfasty. I also had a lot of left over fiery pepper sauce in the fridge that I wanted to use. Success! We had a good dinner & now the skillet is seasoned! Here's what we made.

Spanish Egg & Potato Tortilla

Adapted from The Best 30-Minute Recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 lb russet potatoes (2 potatoes), peeled & cut into 1/4" cubes

1 onion, minced

Salt & ground black pepper

10 large eggs

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to middle position & heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat oil in 10" oven-safe nonstick skillet (or cast-iron) over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add potatoes, onion, & 1/2 tsp salt. Cover & cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes & onion are soft, 8-10 minutes.

Whisk eggs, 1/4 tsp salt, & 1/4 tsp pepper together. Add eggs to skillet & cook, using rubber spatula to stir gently in circular motion, until mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Bake until top is puffed & edges have pulled away slightly from sides of pan, 3-5 minutes. Use rubber spatula to loosen tortilla from skillet, then slide onto cutting board, slice into wedges, & serve.

Fiery Pepper Sauce

Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:

2 red bell peppers

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

2 tbsp olive oil

1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tsp minced garlic

Splash of Tabasco

Directions:

Preheat broiler. Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise; discard seeds & membranes. Place bell pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil for 12 minutes or until blackened. Place in a paper bag, & fold to close tightly. Let stand for 20 minutes. Peel. Place peppers & the next 8 ingredients (through red pepper) in a blender or food processor, & process until smooth.

P.S. I saw this recipe on Crepes of Wrath yesterday & may try this next time.

Weekend Wrap Up

{More info on Flickr, or follow me on Instagram @theblondemule}

Friday:

This turned out to be the Baldwin weekend of hair removal. After work on Friday, I saw Jordan for a hair cut. Unbeknownst to me, John was also getting a hair cut. Great minds... Post hair cut, I saw Lynette at the Wax Pot Studio for some ladyscaping.

Saturday:

Continuing the hair removal trend, I took Linda for her summer shave & took myself to Gio for highlights. Freshly coiffed, we met Michael & Kim for dinner at THE WORST MEXICAN RESTAURANT IN NASHVILLE & then headed to The Basement to see Jonny Corndawg, who was AMAZING!

Sunday:

We met Megan & Will to see Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 2. So good! And ohmygod, did I cry. I think it's the most I've ever cried in a movie theater. I don't know what came over me. John finally looked over at me & just laughed. I was pretty ridiculous. But it was so good! And now it's over!

Jonny Corndawg

{Source: radio free chicago}

{Source: The Peoples Music}

Friends, I've been keeping a secret from you, and that secret is Jonny Corndawg. I'm sharing my secret now because Jonny Corndawg is playing at The Basement tomorrow night & I want ALL OF YOU to come. The show starts at 9:00pm & the cover is only $5. $5! You can swing that.

It's a Baldwin house rule that I can't talk about the music I hear coming from John's studio. For those of you who know me, you KNOW how challenging this is. This particular music was really hard to keep to myself because I loved it so hard. Jonny Corndawg's music fills a void I've spent the better part of my adulthood pretending I don't have. I've spent many years affiliating myself with the 'right bands'. But Jonny Corndawg blows that bullshit out of the water. He's got a song about bears. Bears! Do you know how much that song speaks to my soul?!

I grew up listening to late 70s/early 80s country, not by choice mind you, by default because that's what my parents listened to. For whatever reason, I always hated it. Probably just out of sheer rebellion. As soon as I got my first walkman & started buying cassettes, I kicked my parents' country to the curb & never looked back. Until now. I keep referring to Jonny Corndawg's music as 'ironic country', which drives John crazy, so I guess I should quit. But I don't know what else to call it! Regardless, I love it. I've been secretly listening to it for months, & now that the secret is out, I want everyone to hear it & see him live. If you know me, you know I'm a big word of mouth person & I'm also usually right. I assure you, I'm right about this, too. Come out to The Basement tomorrow night. You won't be sorry.

This first video below is a whopping 18 minutes long, so I don't expect you to watch the whole thing (although you totally should), but it opens with one of my favorite songs & the other one is at 13:39 if you want to skip ahead.




Meet Jonny Corndawg from Miku & Ryan on Vimeo.




The Basement
Sat, July 16
Jonny Corndawg w/ Nikki Lane and Andrew Combs
9pm, $5

Viva la Corndawg!

A Love Letter to Mario Badescu

Dear Mario Badescu,

You are so thoughtful to remember my birthday & to email me a $10 gift card every year. I am a huge fan of your products, especially your eye creams. I've been using your eye cream for about 7 years, purchased almost exclusively online. I appreciate your careful packaging & speedy shipping & I especially like that you've noticed what I tend to order & enclosed a product guide for dry/sensitive skin this time. What I like most of all though, is the 3 free samples you let me include with every order. I've been making my way through the various night creams & masks. I've loved them all so much that I can't decide which one(s) to buy!

In short, thanks for being awesome!

XOXO,

Kim

P.S. Here is what I ordered: hyaluronic eye cream & then these 3 samples: 1) bee pollen night cream, 2) orange tonic mask, & 3) cucumber tonic mask. I'm also a big fan of the azulene & calma masks, which really calmed my skin down when I was running outside this past winter.

Unemployment: How To Cope

Awhile back, I received an email from someone in a similar (un)employment situation, asking how I handled it. This particular person is in a new city with zero family & not a whole lot of friends yet. While he does have a job, it's a horrible, temp job & he's inconsolable driving home every day. I am by no means an expert on this, but I did respond to his email with a few things that helped me. Here is my response:

Hey Friend,

... For me, this started in Nov. The first 2-3 months were okay because I expected to land an awesome job ASAP, especially since I had just spent 2 years in graduate school. Well, you know how that turned out. Here's what's helped, in random order:

1) Getting out of the house.

I sat at home Nov, Dec & Jan. I started a part-time job in Feb, which helped tremendously. Now, I hated that job & my boss was a teenager who managed to insult me at least 2 or 3 times a day, but it gave me access to a printer, a fax machine & Microsoft Word, which was a huge help in my job search.

2) Be as crazy/depressed as you feel.

I was a basket case, but I embraced it. Accepting how much this sucks & how depressed you feel actually helps a little. It's like taking off the mask makes it easier, if that makes sense. And I swear, people are more receptive to you once they see what you're going through.

3) Ask for help.

No one will help you, if you don't ask. I harassed the absolute shit out of everyone I knew on a stalkingly-frequent basis. Ask for help. They have a job & you don't.

4) Lean on friends/family.

I don't know what your network is there, but lean on whoever you have. This was the hardest for me because it's not in my nature to A) ask for help; B) acknowledge I need help; or C) accept help. This was an incredibly humbling experience. I learned real quickly who my real friends are & it was honestly pretty surprising. I was surrounded by people who paid for all of my meals, called & checked in, sent me job leads, PAID FOR MY $120 HAIR APPOINTMENTS, took me to the movies, took me to get ice cream, made me meet them for walks/runs, sent me cards, flowers, etc..... Friend, you need people around you, or you're going to sink.

Does this help? Make you feel worse? Hang in there, buddy. It HAS to get better. It has to.

XOXO!

Two New Recipes

John & I made two new recipes that I found online last week. They were both really good, so I thought I'd share. Both of these recipes make way too much food for two people, even us, so plan for leftovers, or cut the recipes in half.

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

From Dishing the Divine

Recipe here. John doesn't typically consider things without meat a 'meal'. Luckily the man loves a bell pepper, so this was well received. I kind of messed it up because I only had instant brown rice, so the cooking time was off.... But it turned out fine, albeit a tad mushy. I added Tabasco & cayenne (like you do). We really liked this & will definitely make it again, although John requested we add either ground beef or ground pork next time. C'est la vie...

Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles

From Crumb

Recipe here. This was good as shit! We're totally making this again. We both loved it. We spiced it up a little because that's how we roll, but I'm sure if you're not a fan of the spice, it would be tolerable in it's original form. Also, if you don't dig on swine (MHG), you could obviously make it vegetarian by omitting the pork. Highly, highly recommend this recipe.

Thanks, internet!

Weekend Wrap Up: I Ate Too Much... Edition

Grilled cheese @ The Wild Hare

Day drinking @ The Wild Hare

Breakfast of champions @ Mitchell Deli

Coconut dipped cone @ Bobby's Dairy Dip

Friday:

I stayed in & watched True Blood Season 3, Disc 2. Slowly, but surely, I'm making my way towards Season 4.

Saturday:

We finally went to The Wild Hare! We had lunch there with our fellow West Siders, Mike & Amanda. It was so good! I think it's my new favorite restaurant. If you follow me on Instagram, you can see my food pics (@theblondemule). We shared a tomato stack & then I had the grilled cheese with tomato, Benton's bacon & avocado. OMG! Best sandwich ever! John got the burger & it was awesome. I had a slice of Amanda's wild hare pizza & loved it, too. I don't think you can go wrong with this place. I want to go back & work my way through the entire menu. So good!

We don't typically eat out twice like this in one day, but I hadn't been to the grocery store yet, so we were 'forced' to go out for dinner. We kept it local & headed to Kien Giang, so I could get my vermicelli # 3 fix. I'm obsessed!

Sunday:

I got up early & drove to Shelby Bottoms to run with Jessica. We ran 4 hot miles then treated ourselves to breakfast bagels at Mitchell Deli (best breakfast bagel IN THE WORLD). Because I technically didn't eat lunch, John & I went to Bobby's Dairy Dip. I wish I could quit you, coconut dipped cone.

For dinner, we made kebabs, specifically, this recipe. It was good. We accidentally over-salted it, but it was good, especially the fiery red pepper sauce, of which we have like a gallon left. Maybe I'll pour it over my cereal all week. Kidding!

The Future Is Now

John bought us both new phones yesterday, iPhone 4's to be exact. I've wanted an iPhone forever, but we were on Sprint & to switch to AT&T was expensive as shit, plus everyone hated AT&T. When Verizon got the iPhone, we decided to switch, but then I lost my stupid job.

Well, we have them now & they're awesome. This is my first smart phone, so I have no idea what I'm doing. Send me your app suggestions! The only ones I've downloaded are Twitter, Facebook, Fooducate, & Instagram (find me on Instagram @theblondemule). I also need to buy a coozy/skin/case - whatever they're called. The ones in the Verizon store were lame.

Anyway, I'm excited. Hooray for technology! Hooray for awesome husbands!

Weekend Wrap Up: 4th of July Edition

{More photo info on Flickr}

Friday:

John cut the grass & we stayed in & made kebabs on the grill. My new favorite kebab includes beef kielbasa -- so good! I also started watching Season 3 of True Blood. I don't have HBO, so I'm a season behind.

Saturday:

With a full paycheck in my pocket for the first time SINCE JANUARY, I went a little crazy. I spent the day doing what I used to - spending money on bullshit. I got my car washed, I bought some running stuff I needed, including a $40 Lululemon tank top. I shopped my way through The Hill Center, not buying anything else, but knowing that I could if I wanted to. I was in such a good mood, that I treated myself to a cookie & an iced coffee at Whole Foods. At 4 o'clock. Yeah, I never went to sleep.

For dinner, we met our friends Mike & Chrissi at The Melrose. John & I have both been there, but not for food. We both got hamburgers -- so good! Fueled by sugar & caffeine, I was in it to win it, so when we got home we watched Defiance via Netflix Instant Streaming. Aside from the fact that I'll watch anything starring Daniel Craig, this movie was actually really good.

Sunday:

After about 5 minutes of sleep, I got up to meet my friend Ashlee to run Belle Meade Blvd. We met at 7:30am, so it wasn't too hot yet, but I did somehow still manage to get sunburned. Stupid albino skin... After our run, we treated ourselves to Starbucks. OMG, the people watching. Typically the Belle Meade Starbucks is exactly what you'd think: housewives in their perpetual work-out gear & private school kids, but not on Sunday. It was what New Yorkers call the 'bridge & tunnel' crowd, meaning a lot of people driving in from rural counties to go to, oh let's say, Nashville Shores. Anyway, it was hilarious.

That night we trekked to East Nashville to cook-out at Jon & Ali's. I contributed squash casserole & Pimm's, which I finally cracked open. My one drink consisted of Pimm's, ginger ale, some weird organic mango lemonade that Ali had, lime, strawberry & a splash of vodka. It was good! And Jon made these half beef, half pork burgers that were possibly the best burgers I've ever eaten.

Monday:

We finally saw Super 8 yesterday. OMG, so good! After the movie, I made zucchini bread, then we went to our friends' Keith & Nicole's house to cook-out. We didn't watch any 'official' fireworks, but we saw our share of amateur pyrotechnics as we made our way across the Cumberland.

Aside from the 300 mosquito bites on my calves & feet, it was a good, relaxed 3-day weekend. Happy birthday, 'Merca!

Book Review: Outlander

Well, it took me 3 weeks, but I finally finished reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. This book, all 850 pages of it, kind of rocked my world. My feelings about the book changed a lot. In the beginning, I was a little bored, but mostly because I was just wondering when the time travel would happen. My boredom quickly transitioned to astonishment by how descriptive it is (& by 'descriptive', I mean pornographic). Somewhere between trying to understand Gaelic & laughing through the sex scenes, I fell in love with the main character, Jamie Fraser. Hot cha!

We've all had our fantasy crushes through the years: Brad Pitt, Jon Hamm, Robert Pattinson, etc., but never did I think a red-headed Highlander from the 18th Century would join the list, albeit one that I've only seen IN MY MIND. Jamie Fraser blows all the other leading men out of the water. Aside from his hulking physical presence, which, by the way, you totally want in an 18th Century Highlander, he's also educated, worldly, compassionate, &, oh yeah, an attentive lover.

This book defies traditional genres. It's part historical fiction, part romance (read: SEX), & part fantasy/science fiction. I actually hate all of these genres, which is why I waited so long to read it. It never appealed to me, but once I started reading it & realized it's merely a love story between two people, one of which who just happened to have time travelled, I was hooked. It's also pretty action packed. This is not a story where two people are lying around in bed all day. This book is filled with fights, captures, beatings, rescues... Once it gets going, it's pretty hard to put down. Ignore everything else & go into it knowing it's a great love story - a great love story that's physically expressed between the two main characters on just about every page.

I loved this book & see reading the rest of the 7-book series in my immediate future. If you're one of the few people who haven't read this book, read it. I need more members for my newly formed Jamie Fraser (Hottest Highlander IN THE WORLD) Fan Club.

From the book jacket:

The year is 1945, Claire Randell, a former combat nurse, is back from the war & reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon - when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach - an "outlander" - in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord... 1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life... and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scot warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire... and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

See?! READ THIS BOOK! Report back!

EDITED TO ADD: I just remembered I wrote a blog post about the trip to McKay Books that resulted in my purchase of Outlander: The Real Housewives of Galt's Gulch.