A few words about "THE CLUBS"

I am such a book club geek and I will admit it! I had TWO thise week and since I had a knitting project in progress, I was in heaven- sitting around knitting, talking about books and being SPOILED by a WONDERFUL friend who made me a yummy cake and THEN the best coconut macaroons I have ever eaten!!!

Mish, our hostess for book club, went ABOVE and BEYOND this month- she actually called the author of the book and we all got to talk to her and aske her questions about the book, characters, and the process of writign and publishing a book. We read the first book in the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman Trilogy, An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aiken. It is really a fantastic book that views the story of Pride and Predjudice from Darcy's perspective and gives us insight into him more as a character.

Mish also (somewhat) hostessed the Pre-teen Exclusive book club that I WAS invited to (ok, I did ask to come too) where she made the FANTASTIC macaroons! We were discussing the book The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale- a fun book that has girl power with out being preachy. I enjoyed hearing the 9 to 13 year old girl's opinions and especially the random sweetness that we tangented off in to!

I did finish my knitting project btw and it is soooo totally cute, but I can't post pix and patterns until the person I made it for gets it!

Coconut Macaroons (From the BH&G cookbook & Mish!)
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup Sugar
1 1/3 cups flake coconut
Preheat oven to 325, line cookie sheets with Parchment paper (or lightly grease). mix egg whites and canilla on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar about a tablespoon at a time and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Drop mixture by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart. bake for about 20 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. makes about 30 cookies.

they are lovely and fluffy and crunchy and creamy. I am going to mess around with them and see if I can use eggbeaters or splenda or something, and I will let you know the results!