A Thankfully Reading Recipe Challenge

A Thankfully Reading Recipe Challenge


Part of the Thankfully Reading Challenge 2012




What is your perfect reading recipe?

"What ingredients when combined together make for a perfect read for you? This could be any combination of time, place, book, or refreshments. Does this book and that meal make for sweet reader’s bliss? Or is it this room, that recliner with this type of book make you scheme for reading time to yourself?



 I have a lot of "reading recipes!"

My perfect reading recipe can depend on my mood. Sometimes I'm really in the mood for a nice hot cup of loose black tea with one of my small tea pots with some snacks to eat in my recliner beside my little lamp that I love so much. I usually have a throw blanket on my lap and my cat on top of that, lounged and reading in the peace of finally having my own home again. Hot tea especially goes well with mysteries, especially spice black tea or cinnamon.

I love throw blankets and think they add a nice touch to reading, something about getting all snuggly and cuddly with them.  Sometimes the snacks can be chips, sometimes cookies, a lot of times different quick tea breads like banana nut or cinnamon raisin swirl with honey butter. I also make these little donut muffins that go perfectly with it too, and small blocks of cheese on crackers.

Other times I love when the weather is cool and I can sit on my porch with a blanket, a nice tall glass of ice and soda, my book, and the wind coming through the screen porch. Most of the time on the porch I have my rabbit hopping around for some exercise, or my cat in the chair beside me. I especially love reading at this time of day around 6 pm when the sun is going down a bit and the clouds are overcast. Reading outside on the porch when it's raining is especially awesome, and sometimes if it feels a bit humid from it I put on the fan. Reading outside in the rain is my favorite, and it's even better when it's a bit stormy and I can feeling the wind blow.

And even other times it's in a hot bath reading a book with a drink beside me. I love water and how relaxing, invigorating, and refreshing it is. I find it therapeutic and especially love reading romances and relaxing stories in the bath. I keep refreshing the hot water to keep it the right temperature. This is a perfect way to unwind after a stressful day. Taking a long walk at night before the bath makes it even more perfect. I then put on a thick, snug robe and then go to finish in bed before sleep.

I used to have another reading recipe I don't do any longer. I loved doing this but I'm not friends with the person any longer. I'd go to a lake by my house and there's a small stretch of sand almost like a mini beach by a small section of the lake. There were always people out there but usually less than 10. We'd bring a cooler with drinks and picnic food and my mp3 player hooked to the small radio and listen to oldies while I laid on a blanket and read while they fished. It was beautiful, peaceful, and I'd spend hours relaxing that way.

I'd really love to live in the mountains again someday, to be able to sit on a wooden porch overlooking beautiful trees, a lake, or other nice scenery while reading. Hope to retire like that as an ultimate reading recipe, with music softly drifting in from outside and the air always cool and refreshing.

What about everyone else?