I’m a little late with my monthly favourites post because Andrew and I were away in Charleston, South Carolina for a few days last week. I’ll start by telling you a little about that trip and then move on to my favourite books, food, and games of the month.

In Charleston we stayed at The Vendue, “Charleston’s Art Hotel,” in the French Quarter near the waterfront. We enjoyed strolling around the hotel looking at the hundreds of original artworks from local galleries. The continental breakfast was a step up from the usual, with crusty bread, salmon spread, mixed berries, and fancy pastries. The hotel also provides complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres every afternoon, along with an art tour, and cookies and milk before bed. If you are looking for a unique upscale hotel in Charleston, The Vendue fits the bill!

Since our getaway was fairly short, we focused on walking around the historic district and waterfront, and trying out some of the many restaurants. We ate she crab soup, fried oysters and scallops, grits, hushpuppies, softshell crab, pulled pork, and more. (I did order a salad once!)

Now on to my favourite things from earlier in the month…

Read

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to spend more time reading and so far it’s looking like a good reading year! My favourite novel of January was Where’d You Go Bernadette. Liane Moriarty’s latest, Nine Perfect Strangers, was certainly a page-turner but not her best (try Big Little Lies or What Alice Forgot).

Two readalouds the kids and I enjoyed were The Orphelines in the Enchanted Castle and The Talking Cat and Other Stories of French Canada — but my favourite was Because of Winn-Dixie;
I feel like I’ve missed out by never reading it before!

Three interesting and practical non-fiction books I read were Answering the Call, Off the Clock, and The Sleep Solution.

Finally, two of the best picture books that I read to the kids were Saint George and the Dragon and What’s On Your Plate.

Eat

Besides the food already mentioned some highlights of the month were making orange pomegranate scones and honey mustard pretzels from this cookbook.

I also loved this Canadian Living recipe for fruit and seed bran muffins. (I used poppy seeds instead of pepitas; I think either would be nice.)

A few weeks ago we enjoyed a fancy lunch with a friend at Duncan’s Cafe in Collingwood. The art provides a fun topic of conversation, too.

Going back to the beginning of the month, our son had his first birthday, which he shares with our pastor’s son. Check out the fancy cake they made and shared with us!

Play

Our kids quickly became obsessed with Catan Junior when we borrowed it from the library. I guess we’ll check it out again soon.

Meditate

Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
– Amos 5:23-24

Care to share any of your January favourites?