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Tuesday, December 27, 2022

A Meal to serve when someone comes home from the hospital after being smashed by a truck #CooktheBooks

 Our Cook the Books Club December/January Selection was a delightful novel about accepting yourself, taking care of yourself and believing in yourself.  

Miss Cecily's

Our host for this selection is Deb of  Kahakai Kitchen.  You can see her invitation post and learn how to join in the fun at our CTB homepage and guidelines page.   You still have over a month to join in the fun.

This novel follows Kate, a thirty something woman who finds herself in a deadend job and deadend relationship while worrying that her biological clock is ticking and seeing no way out of either of these predicaments.  

Looking for a sense of purpose Kate volunteers at a retirement/assisted living complex where she meets Cecily, a cantankerous, blunt, demanding and very outspoken lady.  Miss Cecily shares a cookbook that she had written and had published many years ago.  

The cookbook, like Miss Cecily, is very blunt and has a meal for every occasion with titles like Breakfast with a Hangover and Dinner for a Charming Stranger.  Each chapter of the cookbook features a menu that Cecily served for whatever was going on in her life at the time.  

As Kate reads and cooks through the cookbook she also visits and reads to Miss Cecily who begins sharing the story of her fascinating life with Kate.  Kate learns, through these stories and visits, that it is never to late to chase your dreams and change your circumstances.

Dinner Plate

I started this book right before Thanksgiving.  On the day after Thanksgiving, while going for my daily walk, I was struck by a Ford 250 pickup truck, resulting in a 3 week hospital stay for multiple fractures in my left arm, a broken eye socket, broken pelvic bones and fractured wing plate.

I finished this book during that stint in the hospital.  When I returned home to continue my rehabilitation, my husband who had taken over all the household duties, was the perfect caregiver of all my needs, including meals.  

Some of the meals that he made were meals that I had planned for blogging, like these Copy Cat In and Out Burgers and this Sourdough Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  One night he made these chili lime chicken skewers, steamed rice and stir fry vegetables.  It was a delicious dinner and I thought that, if I were Miss Cecily, I would add it to my cookbook as "A Meal to Serve When Someone Comes Home from the Hospital After Being Smashed by a Truck".

I am also sharing this review over at Foodies Read.  Stop by and see what the other foodies are reading and cooking this month.




16 comments:

  1. WHAT??? Omg!!! I'm so glad you made it out of that alive! Was the driver drunk? Prosecuted? Going to jail?

    I'm so sorry that happened to you. And glad you have a good husband to take care of you and make food for you.

    That book sounds like something I would totally enjoy reading and I have just downloaded the Kindle from the library! I needed something light and easy to finish out the year and I think this will be perfect! Thanks also for the recipe links in your post.

    I hope you continue to heal and recuperate nicely and have a wonderful new year!

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    1. Thank you Jinjer. I am doing very well, and I, too am glad that I made it out alive. The driver was a 16 year old kid, had the truck for only a week. He stopped right away and his parents have him in therapy to help him cope. It was a very traumatic incident for him as well. I hope you enjoy the novel. Think about joining us over a CTB, we would love to have you.

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  2. I am so glad that you are home and that you are recovering so quickly. What an ordeal! And this looks delicious, too. Good job to Frank for being such a rockstar.

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  3. Oh my gosh Wendy! I am so glad you are okay--how awful and how scary. Here's to quick healing and thank you for joining in with all you have going on. Sending you positive, healing thoughts. <3

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    1. Thanks Deb, I was glad to have the book while recuperating. Cecily made me more determined than ever not to sit around feeling sorry for myself.

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  4. I’m glad you are out of the hospital now and on the mend. That sounds awful.

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    1. Thanks Heather. It was pretty awful but much better than it could have been. I am very blessed and healing up quickly.

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  5. Dear Windy, sorry to be only wishing you well at this late date, being as I was off computer for awhile myself. Yikes! What a good title for his lovely meal welcoming you home. We need to continue with the PT! I put it off too frequently.

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    1. No worries Claudia, I was unaware of your fall as well. Glad that we are both on the mend. Push yourself with the PT....we're too young to be old LOL.

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  6. Great job, Frank! All the best to you, Wendy, for a complete recovery :)

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  7. While I enjoyed everyone's play on Cecily's recipe titles, I wish yours was different. I am so glad you're on the road to recovery. Keep on keeping on!

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  8. Thank goodness for your husband's support and it sounds like you're recovering pretty well. What a thing to happen to someone -- cathy from Delaware Girl Eats

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    1. Yes, God has been very good to me Cathy and giving me Frank as my life partner was one of His greatest gifts.

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