Book Beginnings on Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader. Hop on over there to get a linky to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Opening sentences from Swann: A Literary Mystery by Carol Shields:

As recently as two years ago, when I was twenty-six, I dressed in ratty jeans and a sweatshirt with lettering across the chest. That’s where I was. Now I own six pairs of beautiful shoes, which I keep, when I’m not wearing them, swathed in tissue paper in their original boxes. Not one of these pairs of shoes cost less than a hundred dollars.

My thoughts: I’m so curious to find out how the narrator got from point A to point B! Would you read on?

* * * * *

The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice.The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 (or 56% in your ereader) and find any sentence or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Here’s an entry from page 56 of Swann: A Literary Mystery:

The news they imparted was good, wholly positive, in fact: the lump removed from my mother’s side this morning was not, as they had feared, the pulpy sponge of cancer but a compacted little bundle of bone and hair, which, they told me, was a fossilized fetus, my mother’s twin sibling who somehow, in the months before her own birth, became absorbed into her body. A genuine medical curiosity, one of the devilish pranks the human body plays on itself from time to time.

Shades of My Big Fat Greek Wedding! (Swann  predated the movie by 15 years.) What do you think?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

I ran across this week’s words while reading the latest installment in Julie Mulhern’s Country Club Murders, Clouds in My Coffee. The protagonist, Ellison Russell, is an artist living in 1974 Kansas City, Missouri.

The world around us faded like a watercolor painting left in the rain. The soot, the brilliant leaves–burnt umber, orange-red, gamboge, and the Tyrian purple of the now-trampled pansies in my hosta beds dimmed.
gamboge: a gum resin from various Asian trees of the genus Garcinia, used as a yellow pigment; yellow or yellow-orange.

From New Latin gambog-, variant of cambog-, after Cambodia

Tyrian purple: a crimson or purple dye obtained by the ancient Phoenicians from gastropod mollusks (sea snails); also known as Tyrian red, royal purple, imperial purple.

Phoenicia, which roughly corresponded to modern-day Lebanon, was noted for its Tyrian purple dye, named after the city of Tyre, a maritime city of ancient Phoenicia. Tyrian purple was the most precious dye of its time, in large part because of the labor required to produce it.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. It’s hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion. Hop on over and see what wondrous words other bloggers have discovered this week.

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

Everything that landed in my mailbox this week was ebooks: one ARC from NetGalley and two purchases.
 

I was most excited about Julie Mulhern’s Clouds in My Coffee, due for release on May 10, 2016. This is the third installment in the Country Club Murder series set in 1974 Kansas City, Missouri.

The protagonist, Ellison Russell, widowed and “on the cusp of 40”, is smart and funny; and the electricity between her and Homicide Detective Anarchy Jones could run the lights in my house for a year. This time out, it seems someone is trying to kill Ellison, although no one can figure out why.

Wednesday’s BookBub mailing tipped me off to to Michael Alvear’s Eat it Later: Mastering Self-Control and the Slimming Power of Postponement on sale for $1. Although the title makes this sounds like a diet book, the author insists that it’s not, and I think he’s right. No doubt putting into practice what he advises will result in weight loss in the long run; but the goal, as Alvear say, is well-being.

I should write these things down because I’m getting old and forgetful: I can’t remember what twigged my attention to Karen Charlton’s Detective Lavender mystery series, set in Northumberland England in the early 19th century. Whoever it was, was talking about Charlton’s second or third book but intrigued me enough that I actually bought (at full Kindle price!) the first in the series, The Heiress of Linn Hagh.

 
Go on and visit Mailbox Monday and have a look at the wonderful goodies in other people’s mailboxes!

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

 
Weekend Cooking 16Apr16, sponsored by Candace at Beth Fish Reads, is a chance to share the food love. Follow the link to see what delish dishes other bloggers are talking about this week.
 

Patty at Books, Thoughts and a Few Adventures has mentioned the wonderful recipes in the cookbook Sheet Pan Suppers by Molly Gilbert a few times over the last few months. So when I saw a copy of it discounted at Book Closeouts, I snapped it up.

Sheet Pan Suppers is a beautiful book to behold: all glossy photos and heavyweight papers, although I do wish it would lay flat so that I could more easily stay on the recipe. But, of course, the true test of any cookbook is the recipes. And the recipes look wonderful!

The first recipe I tried was Lemon & Herb Sole on Crispy Potato Rafts. Gilbert notes that haddock, halibut and cod are also good choices for this dish so I used the wonderful frozen cod I get from the “fish guys” who come to my door in their truck once a month. I substituted dried thyme for the fresh and I skipped the capers because I didn’t have any on hand. I’m sure that made some difference in the finished product but the recipe still came out a keeper.

My seven-year-old grandson whose usual comment on my cooking for the past year-and-a-half has been consistently only “good”, pronounced these potatoes as “GREAT”. I’d have to agree. As Gilbert says: “They’re hot and crisp and supremely garlickly, a noble base for the delicately light, flaky, herb-, lemon-, and butter-flavored fish fillets.”

You can find the recipe here.

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

It was a strange week last week: I brought home no library books, I didn’t download any ebooks (nearly unheard of!), and I didn’t have one book come in the mail. It’s mainly because I’m trying to read my own books this year, but still – when I have had this kind of willpower before?

But, just as I was coming up empty for Mailbox Monday, I visited our local Caper Cafe where there is a bookshelf of “bring some, take some” books in support of an insect rescue/restoration fund. There I found this paperback. Look! Carol Shields? Check. Mystery? Check. Literary? Check. All my boxes were ticked before I even got to the cover: a vintage fountain pen, with a journal and a leather-bound book(!!)

There was no question I had to make a donation and bring this book home and, what’s more, begin reading it immediately!

Go on and visit Mailbox Monday and have a look at the wonderful goodies in other people’s mailboxes!

P.S. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase after clicking through on them, I will earn a small percentage of the sale.

This is the first time I’ve joined in this meme. It’s hosted by Books Are My Favourite and Best, and was inspired by Hungarian writer and poet Frigyes Karinthy. In his 1929 short story, “Chains”, Karinthy coined the phrase ‘six degrees of separation’. The phrase was popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare, which was later made into a film starring Stockard Channing.

On the first Saturday of every month, Kate chooses a book as a starting point and links that book to six others forming a chain. Bloggers and readers are invited to join in and the beauty of this mini-challenge is that I can decide how and why I make the links in my chain.

April’s starting book is A Prayer for Owen Meany. The Vietnam War plays a large part in the adult lives of the two main characters John & Owen, and I haven’t yet read a better book to explain (from the side that wasn’t protesting for peace) the emotions and politics of that war in the USA than Altamont Augie. It’s nothing if not thought-provoking.

The Headmaster’s Wager shows the life of the South Vietnamese people during that War, particularly the headmaster of an elite school. Seeing troubles on the horizon Percival Chen, said headmaster, sends his son to live in China, from where his parents emigrated decades earlier, not realizing that China is undergoing even greater change under Mao than Vietnam.

Those changes are only alluded to at the end of Pearl S. Buck’s Pulitzer prizewinning novel, The Good Earth set in mid-twentieth century China. Peasant Wang Lung’s very life is tied up in cycles of that earth that he works so diligently to acquire.

That same question of whether a person owns the land, or vice versa, is a central theme in The Meadow set in the Rocky Mountains on the Colorado/Wyoming border. The author, James Galvin, brings home the hardship of winter, a theme addressed more comedically, in Cathie Pelletier’s The Weight of Winter. It’s the third book in her Mattagash, Maine trilogy. I’ve just finished reading the first title: The Funeral Makers. (I hate reading books out of order, but this just happened.) That finishes up my version of this month’s Six Degrees of Separation – in Maine, next door to Irving’s New Hampshire where we began our journey.

So what six connections can you make from A Prayer for Owen Meany? Visit Kate’s blog and see how she got to Fates and Furies.

P.S. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase after clicking through on them, I will earn a small percentage of the sale.

I’m still unpacking the things I brought back from my mom’s in Ontario -and somewhere in there are the notes I made about the books that I read last October through December. I need to find those so I can finish off 2013 and start on 2014. This, just to explain why there might be another gap in posting here.
 

In the meantime, I’m also busy pinning all (or, at least the ones I remembered to record) of the books that I’ve read in the last 17 (that’s right – I said seventeen) years. I have only three years to go (2007-2009) but I just thought to tell you all. You can find me here if you want to follow along while I finish up.
 

I turned to trusty random.org and drew the winner of my contribution to the ninth Literary Blog Hop Giveaway hosted by Judith at Leeswammes’ Blog

Congratulations to

Aloi at Guiltless Reading

who has elected to receive Adaobi Tricia Nwabani’s I Do Not Come to You by Chance.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who entered this giveaway.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

I’m participating in the ninth Literary Giveaway Blog Hop, hosted by Judith at Leeswammes’ Blog, which is taking place from Saturday November 9th through Wednesday November 13th.

I’m offering any book by the following authors, all of whom I’ve read & enjoyed in the past three months. (Maximum value $15.00)
I’ve included African, American, Australian, British, and Canadian authors, so there should be something for everybody on this short list.

Barker, Pat
Endicott, Marina
Gilmour, David
Nwaubani, Adaobi Tricia
Nussbaum, Susan
O’Donnell, Lisa
Spark, Muriel
Strout, Elizabeth
Winton, Tim
York, Alissa

This giveaway is open to anyone living any place to which Book Depository delivers. You must subscribe to Exurbanis either by RSS or email.

To enter, leave a comment on this post with the name of an author of literary fiction whom you enjoy reading.

Be sure I have an email address to contact you. Then be sure to hop on over to Judith’s blog and see what the other participating bloggers are offering!

I will select the winner using random.org at 5pm Atlantic time November 13th.

Is anyone still out there? It’s been so long since I’ve blogged that I wouldn’t blame you if you’ve all taken your ball and gone home.

I’m working on the summaries of the books I’ve read over the past four months but, in the meantime, and to break radio silence, here’s a fun meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. I came across WWW Wednesday via Words and Peace.

 

 
What I’m currently reading:

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

My heart is breaking for all of the main characters. It’s very hard to put down.

I just finished reading:

Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain

This is women’s fiction set in 1960 North Carolina. I saw a decent review of this and needed an “N” title for my A-Z challenge, but I should have known better. Happy endings that involve unrealistic resolutions rub me the wrong way.
 

What I think I’ll read next:

A Far Cry from Kensington
Is something published in 1988 “vintage”? I guess it depends how old you are. Anyway, I expect this book will contain a lot of the protagonist’s memories of 1950s Kensington, which I’m sure is old enough to qualify. I’m hoping this is just my cup of tea.

How about you? What are you reading? Leave me a comment and let me know I’m not all alone in the blogosphere.

I turned to trusty random.org and drew the winner of my contribution to the eighth Liteary Blog Hop Giveaway hosted by Judith at Leeswammes’ Blog

Congratulations to

Anne Berger

who has elected to receive Anna Funder’s All That I Am

A big THANK YOU to all 90 visitors who entered this giveaway.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

I’m participating in the eighth Literary Giveaway Blog Hop, hosted by Judith at Leeswammes’ Blog, which is taking place from Saturday June 22nd until Wednesday June 26th.

I’m offering any book by the following authors, all of whom I’ve read & enjoyed this year. (Maximum value $15.00)

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Dunmore, Helen
Findley, Timothy
Funder, Anna
Hornung, Eva
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Jessup, Heather
Jin, Ha
Kingsolver, Barbara
Milne, A.A.
Pym, Barbara
Selecky, Sarah
Taylor, Elizabeth
Trollope, Anthony
von Arnim, Elizabeth

This giveaway is open to anyone living any place to which Book Depository delivers. To enter, leave a comment on this post with the name of an author of literary fiction whom you enjoy reading.

Be sure I have an email address to contact you. Then be sure to hop on over to Judith’s blog and see what the other participating bloggers are offering!

I will select the winner using random.org at 5pm Atlantic time June 26th.

I discovered both of these words (which I have may have encountered before but have forgotten through disuse) in The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton by Elizabeth Speller.

The protagonist, Laurence Bertram, is a scholar of church history, including their architecture.

Ammonite: (from the horn of Ammon – Jupiter – whose statues were represented with ram’s horns): Any of the flat, usually coiled fossil shells of an extinct order of mollusks.

pg 22 She indicated an ornate bench. Two stone ammonites supported the stone seat (. . .)

Pantile: A roofing tile having an S curve, laid with the large curve of one tile overlapping the small curve of the next

Pg135 A handful of nearer [houses], more finished than the rest, had leaded windows and hanging pantiles
.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. It’s hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

My new grandbaby is due to arrive this weekend and I’m having a hard time being patient.

This is the quilt I made for them: machine-quilted, but it’s the first pieced quilt I’ve ever made – and some of the first sewing in 25 years.

I really had no idea how to properly piece a quilt, but last year I saw a quilting frame in my neighbour’s front room when I stopped to buy some fresh eggs. So I did what I never would have had the nerve to do in the city: I phoned her and asked for help.

She and her daughter invited me to their home and spent a morning teaching and helping me with this project. I will be forever grateful for country neighbours!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books.

I turned to trusty random.org and drew the winner of my contribution to the first Non-Fction Giveaway Blog Hop hosted by Rikki’s Teleidoscope.

Congratulations to

Julie Roddy

who has elected to receive Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff.

A big THANK YOU to all who entered this giveaway.

Welcome to the first Non-Fiction Giveaway Blog Hop, hosted by Rikki at Rikki’s Teleidoscope. The list of bloggers participating is small, but if you’re interested in being in the roll call next time, I’m sure Rikki would be pleased to hear from you.

The best book I read in 2012 was non-fiction but I don’t read as much NF as I’d like to think I do, so I have a goal to read at least one each month in 2013.

My giveaway is any one of the books on the list below, drawn from my non-fiction reading over the past two years. I think that any of these books is worth your time investment.

The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard
A Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World by Edward Dolnick
Winter: Five Windows on the Season by Adam Gopnik
The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston

To enter:
1. Be a subscriber to my blog posts, either by email or RSS. (Orange ‘subscribe’ buttons are at the top right of this page.)

2. Leave me a comment, telling me which book you think you’d like (you can always change your mind if you win), AND the method & name you use to subscribe to my blog.

3. Limit of one entry per person. Contest closes 5 pm Atlantic Daylight Time Monday April 29th. Winner will be chosen from the comments, using random.org

This giveaway is OPEN INTERNATIONALLY, to anywhere in the world that Book Depository delivers.

Now – hop on over Rikki’s where you’ll find a list of the other giveaway participants!

This is my first blogging award: Trish at Desktop Retreat has selected me as one of her Sunshine Award recipients. I can’t count the beautiful pictures on Trish’s blog that I’ve put on my Reading Women Board on Pinterest. Thank you, Trish!

I’m supposed to answer these ten questions and then forward the award on.

1. Who is your favourite philosopher? I’m not a big fan of philosophy but I’ve found many nuggets of wisdom in the art of Mark Twain. If you tell the truth you won’t have to remember anything.

2. What is your favourite number? If I have to choose, then eleven. It’s symmetrical. Besides that, it’s my birth date.

3. What is your favourite animal? I’ve never met an animal I didn’t like. But then, I’ve never met a camel. I’ve heard they spit. Or a hippo. I’ve heard they charge. Or a . . . okay, let’s go with dogs – they’re the animal I know the best.

4. What are your Facebook and Twitter URLs? Like Trish, I keep my Facebook account for family and friends. If you find me and tell me you read my blog, I’ll likely accept your friend request – but you may get bored with my niece’s wedding plans and my husband’s music gigs. My Twitter handle is @DebbieRodgers

5. What is your favourite time of day? The afternoon. Email has been checked, daily chores taken care of, and now I can get to projects or, even, reading! I think Henry James “summer afternoon” quote is one of loveliest thoughts I’ve ever heard. {sigh} All too soon, it’s time to make supper.

6. What was your favourite vacation? Our honeymoon in Vermont. It was a magical week in October: the trees were still gorgeous but it was after the long holiday weekends, both American and Canadian, so it felt like we were the only people there.

7. What is your favourite physical activity? I overheat really easily, so anything that’s in water is for me. I particularly like aqua-fitness classes.

8. What is your favourite non-alcoholic drink? When I’m hot, ice water. When I’m cold, herbal tea. My current favourite is Celestial Seasonings’ Country Peach Passion. mmmm. . .

9. What is your favourite flower? Tulips, ideally pink. But I’ve been blown away by black ones interplanted with fierce orange. Then there’s peach and pale yellow and clear yellow and purples of all descriptions. . .anything but red. I don’t know why, but red tulips irk me.

10. What is your passion? Sending cards. Real cards. In the mail. Snail mail. From my computer. You can too.

TEN MORE WINNERS
I had such a hard time narrowing this list of worthy recipients to ten. I would have included Trish at Desktop Retreat if I hadn’t already mentioned her in this post. Without any set criteria, I’ve tried to include a variety of world location and types of blogs. I hope you’ll find at least one or two that will appeal to you.

1. In So Many Words I especially enjoy Yvette’s Sunday Salon collections of art on a theme. And be sure to scroll to the bottom of her page and visit her Pinterest universe!

2. Fleur Fisher in her World You’ll find Jane’s thoughts on an eclectic mix of books, and the occasional “dog’s blog”.

3. Dwell in Possibility Bonnie comments gently and intelligently on some lesser known works including some that talk about her faith.

4. Heavenali “Book reviews by someone who loves books”. Vintage books. Lovely vintage books.

5. Mary Okeke Reviews Mary will feed your passion for African literature.

6. A Penguin a Week It’s always delightful for me to see what vintage gem in Penguin’s diverse library Karyn will show us.

7. Diary of a Word Nerd As Julia says: “Enriching your mind with tips on words, books, and reading”.

8. Amy Reads “Diverse books for your balanced life” including quite a bit of non-fiction. I appreciate Amy’s decisive ratings and I have a number of books on my TBR wish list because of her reviews.

9. Rebecca Reads Rebecca is a home-schooling mom who reviews “classics, nonfiction, and children’s literature”. I discovered a number of books on Rebecca’s blog for reading to my grandson.

10. Kittling: Books I hesitated to include this link since Cathy has taken a hiatus from blogging – and, as bloggers, we all know that can mean odds are even that she’ll not be coming back. But even without current posts, there is a wealth of history here for anyone who reads mystery or crime novels (and Cathy clearly differentiates which any one book is). I really enjoyed her series Scene of the Crime interviews with authors.

11., 12., 13. . . I’m so sorry to have to left out so many other wonderful bloggers, but this has given me an incentive to get working on my blogroll links over the next month.

On Tuesday, Meredith at Dolce Bellezza posted about the pockets that the children in her class are making for Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 18th, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets.

The idea is to select a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others throughout the day. You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Poems from pockets will be unfolded throughout the day with events in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces, and bookstores.

Poem in your Pocket Day began in 2002 when the Mayor of NYC, in partnership with NYC Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education initiated it as part of the city’s National Poetry Month celebration. In 2008, The Academy of American Poets took the initiative National across the USA.

Although I really know don’t much about poetry, I’d like to make this celebration international by sharing this scrap of verse by American poet Strickland Gillilan that I actually carry around in my pocket every day. This is just the last stanza; you can see the entire poem here.

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a Mother who read to me.

I won’t be out and about today, so I’m sharing with you. Will you participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day? What poem will you be sharing?

This weekend’s weather forecast called for 10 to 15 cm ( 4 to 6 inches) of snow on Nova Scotia’s North Shore. But what started out as fat white flakes on Friday evening turned into heavy sloppy rain all day Saturday. Cold. Damp. Bitter. Chill. You get the idea: ugh.

Fortunately, Beth over at Budget Bytes (“My stomach is full and my wallet is too”) featured a great recipe last month for navy bean soup with sausage & spinach that sounded like just the thing for getting through winter’s last (I hope, I hope) fling with us.

Since I didn’t have smoked sausage on hand, I adapted Beth’s recipe a bit but I still give her full credit. You can get her recipe here, or see my (very slightly) modified version below.

And, by the way, this soup was wonderful: easy to make, beautiful to look at, delicious to eat, filling, and economical. What more could one possibly ask from a recipe? Thank you, Beth!

NAVY BEAN SOUP with SPINACH
1 Tbsp olive oil
6 oz bacon or ham (I used a combination)
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 lb carrots
2 cups dry navy beans
2 whole bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp salt
10 cups water
6 cups fresh spinach
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1. The night before, sort through the beans to remove any stones or debris. Place the beans in a bowl and cover them with cool water. Allow the beans to soak in the refrigerator overnight.

2. Chop the meat and add to a large soup pot along with the tablespoon of oil. Sauté over medium heat until nicely browned.

While the meat is browning, dice the onion and carrot into small pieces. Mince the garlic. Add the onions and carrots to the soup pot. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté a minute or two more.

3. Drain the soaked beans and give them a good rinse with fresh water. Add the rinsed beans to the pot along with the bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, pepper, salt, and the water. Stir everything to combine. Cover the pot. Turn the heat up to high and allow the soup to come to a full boil.

4. Once the soup boils, turn the heat down to medium-low to gently boil for 2 to 3 hours. You want the beans to go past the point of tenderness to the point where they are falling apart. Stir the pot occasionally.

5. When beans are of desired consistency, use a large wooden spoon to smash some of the beans against the side of the pot. This will help thicken the soup. Stir in the fresh spinach until wilted. Lastly, stir in the apple cider vinegar. Serve hot.

(This soup reheats well the next day too.)

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Candace over at Beth Fish Reads. Have a food-related posted this week, why not join the fun?

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Candace over at Beth Fish Reads. Have a food-related posted this week, why not join the fun?

We had a death in our congregation this week. After the memorial Saturday afternoon, we served refreshments, both sweet and savoury. These cheese squares are one of my stand-by items for any get-together.

I don’t know if the original “Julia” of the official title of these squares was that Julia, but I tend to think of these as Julie‘s, after my sister who introduced me to them.

(Recipe from Nifty Nibbles by Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli, authors of Muffin Mania

JULIA’S CHEESE THINGS

1 pkg refrigerator crescent rolls
4 tbsp. butter
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup broken salad olives
1 onion, chopped
4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
Dash cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce

Unwrap crescent rolls and pat into a lightly greased 9×15 pan, smoothing out the seams.

Mix all the remaining ingredients and pour over the dough.

Bake 350◦ for 15-2 minutes, until set.

Cool and cut into squares. May be served warm or cold, but taste best at room temperature.

These freeze well: After cutting in squares, put on cookie sheet to freeze. When frozen, put in freezer bags.