A World of Women

April 16, 2022March 30, 2025 / Brienna / Leave a comment

First off, when I requested this book from NetGalley, I didn’t realize it was originally published in 1913.

I found the (newly added?) introduction to the book to be terrible. That should have a been a clue! Regardless, I skimmed and skipped over the intro and started reading.

This novel has a great premise – a plague that seems to affect only/mostly men, and is always deadly. It seems as though it could be highly relevant today, and an interesting read.

No! The dialogue is horrible. Also, the characters are horrible too. I didn’t connect with any character, and quite honestly, didn’t care what happened to them.

I enjoyed a brief section where the well-off daughters go on a binge trying on fancy clothes they have no use for, but that was about it.

There are some interesting concepts buried in here, but none fully developed. What happens when there is only 1 man for every 100 women? What becomes of marriage? Monogamy? Industry? Touched on, but there is such potential in developing this story along any of those plot lines.

Now, since it was written in over 100 years ago, maybe this is to be expected, but this novel presents a very sexist view point. The women that are most like men, or have “masculine” inclinations are implied to be best suited to the new world.

Also, SPOILERS ahead:

Continue reading →

Maisie’s Peak

April 9, 2022March 30, 2025 / Brienna / Leave a comment

I haven’t been hiking much lately, and I wanted to try out my hiking boots before going to Canada next month. We’ll be doing some hiking at Banff National Park and I need to decide whether to pack them or not.

I decided to hike up to Maisie’s Peak. In the past, I have hiked at Fremont Older Open Space Preserve, but I have never been to this part. AllTrails suggested starting from Stevens Creek County Park, and crossing over into Fremont Older, so that’s what I did. The hike is listed as a moderate intensity hike of 2.5 miles, taking approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete.

The way up. Most of the trails on the Stevens Creek County Park side of my hike looked similar to this. Narrow, shady, in some places rocky, and there were a lot of steep areas, with some switch backs.

I was a little skeptical of the suggested parking, with AllTrails giving me coordinates on the map, rather than an address or a marked place. It did indeed turn out to be a real parking area, unfortunately it was closed.

Thankfully, there’s a lot of trailheads in the area, and I had just passed an open parking location. I figured even if I had to pick a new route or destination for my hike, at least I could still hike from there. Luckily, the trail I ended up at led easily to my original intended route, and only added about a half mile to the total hike.

This is where I crossed into Fremont Older Open Space Preserve. Over here, the trails are wide, with fewer switch backs, and shade is rare.

In the end, the hike was approximately 3 miles, and it took me 50 minutes up and 30 minutes down, so the timing of 1 hour and 20 minutes was spot on, despite the slight detour.

There’s a lovely view at the top, and a nice wide lookout area. Too bad there’s no place to sit and no shade.

All in all, the hiking boots worked out pretty well. I may change the insoles, as right now I have in some custom insoles with arch support. They are a bit different from the ones I normally use, and hurt my feet a bit towards the end of this hike.

Also, I felt very out of shape on the uphill parts of this hike. I really need to get out and get active again! Anyone local wanna go for a hike with me?

Plant-based nachos

March 20, 2022March 30, 2025 / Brienna / 2 Comments

I ❤️ nachos and I order them any chance I get.

However, I hate the fact that often they aren’t vegetarian due to the refried beans, and the chips are always soggy or bare.

I decided to make my own plant-based nachos and see how they stack up to the competition.

It turns out, if you put the chips on the side, this solves the problem having soggy and bare chips! A nacho purist might argue against this, but I feel this is 100% needed improvement.

I’m pretty happy with how these came out, and would definitely make again.

Plant-based nachos recipe

Ingredients

Vegetarian refried black beans (Amy’s)
Fire roasted diced tomatoes
Plant-based cheese (Chao Mexican blend)
Avocado
Garlic – minced
Lime juice
Cilantro – chopped
Plant-based sour cream (Sprouts)
Hot sauce (Today I used Orange Sauce from La Vic’s)
Tortilla chips

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 375°

Layer in an oven-safe dish: refried beans, tomatoes, and then cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted.

While that’s baking, combine avocado, lime juice, garlic, and cilantro. Add salt if you like! I typically use 1 avocado, 1 teaspoon of lime juice, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, and a pinch of cilantro. Adjust lime juice depending on how ripe the avocado is.

When the cheese is melted, remove from oven, top with avocado mixture, sour cream, hot sauce, and additional cilantro.

Serve with chips on the side.

Meant to Be

March 11, 2022March 30, 2025 / Brienna / Leave a comment

Meant to Be by Emily Giffin is a romance novel centered around a fictional Kennedy-esque family.

While enjoyable, I often found the story to be bland, the characters shallow, and overall less than what I expect from Emily Giffin.

Touching on a plethora of issues—domestic abuse, dead parents, the pressures of being from a famous family and dealing with the paparazzi—Meant to Be fails to connect on an emotional level. Throughout the novel, our narrators Cate and Joe are telling instead of showing us the story. This distance makes it fairly emotionless.

Standard rom-com plot format. Some backstory, a meet-cute, the dating period, “the event” that separates our couple, the subsequent reconnecting, and finishing off with a happy ending.

Thanks to Netgalley.com and Ballantine Books for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.