Book Review - Good Enough To Eat by Stacey Ballis

I was recently given a copy of Good Enough To Eat by Stacey Ballis. It's a novel about a woman who loses half her body weight and her husband but gains so much more.

The main character, Melanie Hoffman, a former lawyer loses half her body weight and opens a gourmet take-out store specializing in healthy and delicious food. Soon after her husband leaves her for a woman twice her size. She gets hit with a financial crisis and takes in a quirky roommate and gets involved with an area documentary film maker.
This was a quick enjoyable read. As someone who has been plus sized most of my life, I could easily relate to the character. Something that those of us who lose weight deal with often are the unfamiliarity of it, the issues with how we deal with others and our weight loss, the idea that you still sometimes feel like a fat person in a thinner body.

The book's chapter titles are names of dishes and the way the story is told, relates what she identifies with that dish. At the end of the book are 40 pages of recipes. Some of them healthier versions of a dish, others the decadent version.

From Amazon.com About The Author:

"Stacey Ballis is the author of several novels, including Inappropriate Men, Sleeping Over, Room for Improvement, and the upcoming The Spinster Sisters due out in March of 2007. She is also a contributing author to the anthologies Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, due out in May 2007, and Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned From Judy Blume, due out in June of 2007."

Good Enough To Eat by Stacey Ballis is available at Amazon.com, Borders.com, Barnes And Noble.com and your local bookseller.

Lola's Diner Disclaimer: I was given this novel to review. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this book review.

Lola's Diner ©2008-2010

What's In A Name Meme

The TT questions are brought to you by Bud, the color of Kimber’s hair(where did she go?) and thenumber 333.

1. We are changing your name. You have no choice. You get to pick it, but we must approve it. You must have a good reason. Ok, what is the name and reason?
Ellen DeGeneres. I think it's obvious!

2. I say Shotgun, you say? I'm drivin'.

3. We are sending you away. Africa or Mexico? Africa sounds more interesting.

4. When you’re home alone, do you still close the door when you use the restroom? What do you mean by “Still”? If I get up and go anywhere there is a parade of felines following me. Close the door? Right, then they stick their little paws underneath and try to grab the door from the bottom to open it.

5. Berleen told me that I have to ask a mean question. Tell us about a horrible memory. I think the loss of a parent is a horrible memory.

6. What are your plans for October? I hope to go camping. And I'll be celebrating my girlfriend's birthday. Got any ideas?

7. Is there anyone that you regret ever meeting ? Not that I can think of at the moment.

8. You have 3 months left to live, what do you do? Spend it with my family and girlfriend.

9. You wake up in an unfamiliar place, what is your first reaction? Make sure I'm not nekkid. After all, I was sleeping.

10. Your phone rings at 4am, just before you kill this person, who do you expect it would be? Probably an automated message from my bank about a payment I made. Why do they always send those things in the wee hours?

11. You’re having a bad day, what one thing can make your day better? A smiley face text from my girlfriend.

12. You are doing a meme written by the blogosphere shadiest character. Is there anything else that you should be doing right now? Can’t think of anything off hand.

13. If money were not a problem, (and it never is, right? Yes, I stole this f$%*ing question. Sue me.) where would you like to live? Since money isn't a problem, I'd get a nice big house here and then perhaps one in Florida and one in Italy.

Lola's Diner ©2008-2010

Change of Seasons...Change of Decor

Isn't it funny how when the seasons change we make changes to our decor? In Spring, we clean the inside of our house and organize, organize, organize. In the Fall, we're all outside getting those last touches done on the outside of our homes. Dividing bulbs/rhizomes; planting bushes; pruning; getting the snow thrower tuned up for the coming winter.

As the cooler months start to come we get ready for the bitter cold of winter, when we hunker down and spend more time at home. This is the time that I usually spend looking to spruce things up around the house. One room that tends to get overlooked at my home is the bedroom. How often do you change your bedroom decor? How often do you buy new sheets? Couldn't we all use more modern bedding? Maybe a new duvet cover, a new bedding set, new pillows, or a new quilt for those upcoming cold nights when you turn the thermostat down to save money?

Since I've been in a new relationship, I've been more conscious of trying to keep my bedroom in order and trying to make it a romantic sanctuary. One of the things I really find luxurious are those high thread count sheets. Those 200 thread count sheets just don't cut it anymore.

These 400 thread count sheets would be perfect with my duvet cover and sham set:

Right now any order from the Inhabit section of the site is 15% off when you use the Promo Code "Inhabit15" at checkout.

Lola's Diner ©2008-2010