[Review] Modern Potluck: Beautiful Food to Share

Modern Potluck: Beautiful Food to Share

Uncover the best dish
 Modern Potluck is a cookbook and guide for today’s potluckers that delivers Instagram-worthy dishes packed with exciting, bold flavors. These 100 make-ahead recipes are perfect for a crowd and navigate carnivore, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and vegan preferences gracefully. With beautiful color photographs and lots of practical information such as how to pack foods to travel, Modern Potluck is the ultimate book for gathering friends and family around an abundant, delicious meal. 

review

I have always been obsessed about potlucks since coming from a different country, it was more like a way of eating than an actual event. We would always bring dishes whenever we went to someone's house and with several families that attended, that was our "potluck". Modern potluck is a gorgeous book that really does tell you how to present the dishes best and cook enough for the whole crowd. 

Beautiful presentations and amazing variety on the dishes, Modern Potluck really is an amazing book to get your hands on and hopefully actually taste the dishes! 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

Continue reading →

[Review] The Wurst of Lucky Peach: A Treasury of Encased Meat

The Wurst of Lucky Peach

The best in wurst from around the world, with enough sausage-themed stories and pictures stuffed between these two covers to turn anyone into a forcemeat aficionado.

Lucky Peach presents a cookbook as a scrapbook, stuffed with curious local specialties, likecevapi, a caseless sausage that’s traveled all the way from the Balkans to underneath the M tracks in Ridgewood, Queens; a look into the great sausage trails of the world, from Bavaria to Texas Hill Country and beyond; and the ins and outs of making your own sausages, including fresh chorizo.

review

If you enjoy eating sausages as much as thinking, cooking, and dreaming about sausages - you will enjoy the "sausage" book. It was a combination of history, stories around the world and recipes about pretty much every sausage you can imagine. And if you think that this did not make sure drool - you are wrong. Because I want sausage as I speak about this now lol 

Overall, loved the humor and the stories, definitely must if you want to know what's up about your sausage ;)

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

Continue reading →

[Review] The Sleep Revolution

The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time

We are in the midst of a sleep deprivation crisis, writes Arianna Huffington, the co-founder and editor in chief of The Huffington Post. And this has profound consequences – on our health, our job performance, our relationships and our happiness. What is needed, she boldly asserts, is nothing short of a sleep revolution.  Only by renewing our relationship with sleep can we take back control of our lives.

In her bestseller Thrive, Arianna wrote about our need to redefine success through well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving. Her discussion of the importance of sleep as a gateway to this more fulfilling way of living struck such a powerful chord that she realized the mystery and transformative power of sleep called for a fuller investigation.

The result is a sweeping, scientifically rigorous, and deeply personal exploration of sleep from all angles, from the history of sleep, to the role of dreams in our lives, to the consequences of sleep deprivation, and the new golden age of sleep science that is revealing the vital role sleep plays in our every waking moment and every aspect of our health – from weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease to cancer and Alzheimer’s.  

In The Sleep Revolution, Arianna shows how our cultural dismissal of sleep as time wasted compromises our health and our decision-making and undermines our work lives, our personal lives -- and even our sex lives. She explores all the latest science on what exactly is going on while we sleep and dream.  She takes on the dangerous sleeping pill industry, and all the ways our addiction to technology disrupts our sleep. She also offers a range of recommendations and tips from leading scientists on how we can get better and more restorative sleep, and harness its incredible power.

In today's fast-paced, always-connected, perpetually-harried and sleep-deprived world, our need for a good night’s sleep is more important – and elusive -- than ever. The Sleep Revolution both sounds the alarm on our worldwide sleep crisis and provides a detailed road map to the great sleep awakening that can help   transform our lives, our communities, and our world.

review

I need more sleep, that's the whole idea behind my stress. And I know that. So when I picked up The Sleep Resolution, I really thought that it would be a good book to read and figure out a way to get better sleep. And although it had a lot of great information on different facts that had to do with sleep and the science behind it, I felt like it was repetitive and kept saying that you have to commit to sleep. 

Overall, even though a good read to knowledge yourself about the structure and facts of sleep and sleep deprivation, I was slightly disappointed with it. Hope that everyone that does get this book is not reading it up all night and actually gets some sleep :) 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

Continue reading →

[Review] The Productivity Project

The Productivity Project

A fresh, personal, and entertaining exploration of a topic that concerns all of us: how to be more productive at work and in every facet of our lives.
 
Chris Bailey turned down lucrative job offers to pursue a lifelong dream—to spend a year performing a deep dive experiment into the pursuit of productivity, a subject he had been enamored with since he was a teenager. After obtaining his business degree, he created a blog to chronicle a year-long series of productivity experiments he conducted on himself, where he also continued his research and interviews with some of the world’s foremost experts, from Charles Duhigg to David Allen. Among the experiments that he tackled: Bailey went several weeks with getting by on little to no sleep; he cut out caffeine and sugar; he lived in total isolation for 10 days; he used his smartphone for just an hour a day for three months; he gained ten pounds of muscle mass; he stretched his work week to 90 hours; a late riser, he got up at 5:30 every morning for three months—all the while monitoring the impact of his experiments on the quality and quantity of his work.

The Productivity Project—and the lessons Chris learned—are the result of that year-long journey. Among the counterintuitive insights Chris Bailey will teach you:
·         slowing down to work more deliberately;
·         shrinking or eliminating the unimportant;
·         the rule of three;
·         striving for imperfection;
·         scheduling less time for important tasks;
·         the 20 second rule to distract yourself from the inevitable distractions;
·         and the concept of productive procrastination.
In an eye-opening and thoroughly engaging read, Bailey offers a treasure trove of insights and over 25 best practices that will help you accomplish more. 

review

The Productivity Project was definitely one of those books that made me feel lazy at first. This guy has done nothing but sleep only a couple of hours a day and then accomplish more in 24 hours than I would in a month, hell maybe a year! But the realization from Bailey's technique was really incredible because it made me realize that I could put some of these items to use. Some of the chapters really made me consider changing the way I live right now and what I spend my time on. His "What would you do if you had more free time" line has really gotten to me. 

Ever since I've read The Productivity Project, I really started to think about my life. It is a very good and easy read that makes you keep your attention longer. Some of the stories were just incredible to read, I'm glad I picked this up. 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

Continue reading →

Amuse Bouche by BITE

Amuse Bouche by BITE

Thanks to Influenster, I was able to try the new product before it came out and I am absolutely in love! Definitely another luxurious item I have received while being with them. 

I was lucky enough to receive 3 of their best products that many of the beauty gurus have been buzzing about. 

review

I always had a love/hate relationship with lipsticks. I never really thought that any of them would look good on me but couple of years back I finally was brave enough to try them. Now pretty much all of the lipsticks I have are being used and I couldn't be happier with my updated makeup. Amust Bouche are a brand new line of lipstick by BITE that is made with natural ingredients and actually is used from the juice of fruit. With such an intense color, this is a must for anyone!  

With so many colors to choose from, it is the best product for those who is obsessed with color! Application is smooth, and it even smells amazing!  5 Stars!!!

 

Continue reading →

[Review] Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction

Superforecasting

A  New York Times Bestseller

An Economist Best Book of 2015

"The most important book on decision making since Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow."
—Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal
 
Everyone would benefit from seeing further into the future, whether buying stocks, crafting policy, launching a new product, or simply planning the week’s meals. Unfortunately, people tend to be terrible forecasters. As Wharton professor Philip Tetlock showed in a landmark 2005 study, even experts’ predictions are only slightly better than chance. However, an important and underreported conclusion of that study was that some experts do have real foresight, and Tetlock has spent the past decade trying to figure out why. What makes some people so good? And can this talent be taught?
 
In Superforecasting, Tetlock and coauthor Dan Gardner offer a masterwork on prediction, drawing on decades of research and the results of a massive, government-funded forecasting tournament. The Good Judgment Project involves tens of thousands of ordinary people—including a Brooklyn filmmaker, a retired pipe installer, and a former ballroom dancer—who set out to forecast global events. Some of the volunteers have turned out to be astonishingly good. They’ve beaten other benchmarks, competitors, and prediction markets. They’ve even beaten the collective judgment of intelligence analysts with access to classified information. They are "superforecasters."
 
In this groundbreaking and accessible book, Tetlock and Gardner show us how we can learn from this elite group. Weaving together stories of forecasting successes (the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound) and failures (the Bay of Pigs) and interviews with a range of high-level decision makers, from David Petraeus to Robert Rubin, they show that good forecasting doesn’t require powerful computers or arcane methods. It involves gathering evidence from a variety of sources, thinking probabilistically, working in teams, keeping score, and being willing to admit error and change course. Superforecasting offers the first demonstrably effective way to improve our ability to predict the future—whether in business, finance, politics, international affairs, or daily life—and is destined to become a modern classic.

review

Ever since I have started learning about stocks and the Wall Street market itself, I was really interested in how people forecast the future and predict on what is going to happen. Superforecasting really showed on what it is like to have that ability and learn the skill in the modern world. 

It was a good book to begin with but over time, it felt a little predictable. And if you're reading a book about forecasting and it becomes predictable, it's either you already a pro at this subject or it's getting boring. I still have gotten a lot of information but the overall morale of the book was clear: Use number to make your predictions in a well established time frame and always question your predictions until the time runs out. 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

Continue reading →

Marc Jacobs Beauty VoxBox

Marc Jacobs Beauty

I cannot stop to be amazed how much Influenster loves their users! With a new Marc Jacobs Beauty VoxBox, this is the most luxurious item I have received while being with them. 

I love lucky enough to receive their Velvet Noir Volume Mascara that many of the beauty gurus have been buzzing about. 

review

I LOVE THIS MASCARA! I have very weak lashes from my previous extensions so having a mascara that's right for them is very important. They cannot weigh on too much of my lashes and that is the number 1 reason why Velvet Noir was so amazing. 

Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir has to be the best mascara I have every tried and will remain my favorite. It's revolutionizing and defines my lashes like no other. I have been asked if it's fake lashes and I'm proud to say that "nope, just a freaking amazing mascara". It is pretty hard to get off the lashes without rubbing too much so wipes and remover is a must. 5 Stars!!!

 

Continue reading →