A weekly round-up of books, news, thoughts, recipes, and miscellany for the weekend.

Read:
It’s just about time for some good fiction summer reads! I read almost entirely nonfiction, since it’s what I specialize in as an agent, but every once in a while I get a hankering to jump into a novel. And that hankering has now hit hard. The problem is, I’m completely hopeless about deciding on just one book when there are so, so many fantastic summer reads I hear about through industry folks. I just can’t do it.

Right now, I’m leaning toward picking up The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty, because it’s guaranteed to be a knock-out (and it has one of the most striking covers I’ve seen in awhile). But what’s everyone else reading? Recommendations wanted!

 

Eat:
The Fourth of July calls for some all-American cookout food–burgers, corn on the cob, and definitely hot dogs. I’m usually picky about eating quality meat, but honestly all my principles and standards get a swift kick out the window when it comes to hot dogs. Good Lord, I love hot dogs. I usually go for the healthier Applegate brand, but I won’t say I haven’t eaten my fair share of 99-cent street corner hot dogs. Intellectually, I’m disgusted by them. But I just can’t resist them flavormotionally (a completely made up word I’ve decided to use for emotions fueled by flavor rather than reason). I may have too many flavormotions.

Luckily, I get dogged out pretty quickly, and then I’m ready for some healthy, fresh food that doesn’t come with a side of guilt and acid reflux. If you’re also looking for something a little more exciting than dogs and burgs, try these grilled chicken drumsticks with basic chimichurri.

I scavenged up this recipe when we were trying to empty out the fridge before leaving town for a week, and it was surprisingly delicious. The chicken is perfect paired with a big green salad, crusty bread, and a refreshing beer (or a boozy Arnold Palmer!). This recipe is also great  for an easy dinner on Saturday or Sunday, when you’re partied and porked out. It’s simple to make:

Put drumsticks in a ziptop bag and cover with beer. Let sit in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

For the chimichurri, combine 1 cup fresh Italian parsley, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 2 garlic cloves, a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, a pinch of cumin, and salt and pepper to taste in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.

Brush your grill (or a grill pan) with oil, heat over medium high heat, and add the drumsticks. Grill for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cooked through, then drizzle with the chimichurri.

Or, try these amazing Sweet & Spicy Asian Grilled Drumsticks:

Drink:
The Fourth of July is one of the few times of the year where we can be hopelessly hokey about making Technicolor drinks. Red drinks, blue drinks, red-white-and-blue drinks–bring ’em on.

Here are a few of the drinks I’ll be trying to coerce others into making for me this weekend:

Raspberry Beer Cocktail: Men will cringe, women will rejoice.

To counterbalance, some blue: Blackberry Mint Julep.

And for a break from boozing, try this delicious fruit water, with fresh fruit frozen right into the ice cubes:

Hope your weekend is filled with lots of leisure reading, cooking, drinking, and relaxing with friends and family!