Historical Fiction Reading Challenge Statistics: December and the whole of 2025!

 

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing. I try very hard to visit all the links, and often end up adding books to my own TBR pile as a result!

This month, I will be sharing the statistics for both December and for the whole of 2025!

In terms of the books read in December, there were 44 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 15 participants. There were 43 individual titles reviewed, written by 41 different authors, There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 8 or just 1.

So which book was reviewed more than once for the challenge?

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones was reviewed twice. It is billed as both horror and historical fiction. We don't often see horror on our list. It was reviewed by Bree at All the Books You Can Read and by Laura at Laura's Reviews who said it was "one of the best books I’ve read this year or ever".

Their were two authors who were reviewed twice this month but with different titles. Shellie from Shellie Loves Books shared two Agatha Christie reviews with us. The first was The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding which I want to read now just because of the title! The second was The Sittaford Mystery. 

Now, let's move onto the stats for the whole of 2025.

There were 709 reviews linked up for the challenge throughout the year, shared by 35 participants. There were 613 individual titles reviewed, written by 41 different authors, There were 4 reviewers who shared links for 40 or more books each. Our top contributor was Laura from Laura's Reviews who contributed an amazing 96 reviews! Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 96 or just 1.

This compares to 665 reviews in 2024, 846 reviews in 2023, 841 reviews in 2022 and 775 reviews during 2021

So which books were reviewed the most during 2025? Drumroll please!

There were two books that were reviewed four times each.

The Predicament is the second book in the Gabriel Dax mystery series and it was reviewed by Cathy at What Cathy Read Next, Helen at She Reads Novels, Margaret at Books Please and by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. After reading these reviews I picked this book up, although I do need to read the first book in the series first. 

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry was reviewed by Jenia at Story for Dessert, Barbara at Stray Thoughts, Laura at Laura's Reviews and by Laura at Reading Books Again.

There were a further 9 books that were reviewed three times which were

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

The Elopement by Gill Hornby

The House of Seymour by Joanna Hickson

The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn

The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue

The Versailles Formula by Nancy Bilyeau

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Here's a breakdown of review by title

4 reviews - 2

3 reviews - 9

2 reviews - 52

1 review - 570

If we look at the authors who were reviewed multiple times, then perennial favourite Agatha Christie is up there with 20 different reviews contributed. I don't think that is a surprise given that quite a few people are doing both this challenge and the Read Christie challenge. However, the other author with 20 reviews was Laurie R King, thanks wholly to Kim on Goodreads who worked her way through the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series this year.

Other honourable mentions go to Irina Shapiro who had 7 stories reviewed as did Kate Quinn, although she also contributed to a short story collection so technically could be counted as 8! The late, great Kerry Greenwood also had 6 reviews, all of her Phryne Fisher series. 

Here's a breakdown of review by author numbers

20 reviews - 2

7 reviews - 2

6 reviews - 1

5 reviews - 2

4 reviews - 6

3 reviews - 25

2 reviews - 81

1 review - 375

And here is the breakdown for the number of reviews for each month

And for the fun stat, there were 58 different books reviewed that had some variation of the words death and murder in the title!

Last year I added a column to my spreadsheet for the times I thought "oh, I would like to read that" when I read someone's review. That happened 42 times! And how many did I actually read - just three. Just goes to show that this challenge is bad/good for your TBR pile, depending on your perspective!

So now we look forward to the 2026 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. If you are interested in joining us, the sign up post is here. We would love to have you join us and see what you are reading!

Weekend cooking: Three Japanese books set in cafes/restaurants

I now have a number of Japanese foodie related series on the go, and today I am sharing about three of them. For the most part, I find them to be very easy, smooth reads which is perfect when you are looking for a book to get lost in.

The Menu of Happiness by Hisashi Kashiwai (translated by Jesse Kirkwood)

Menu of Happiness by Hisashi Kashiwai is the third book in the Kamogawa Detective Agency series which is a series that I really enjoy. So far there are 11 books published in Japan, and I am really hopeful that we will continue to see these books translated into English.

There is no doubt that this book fits a very common structure for lots of these cozyish books. In fact, all three of the books I am talking about today have the same characteristics with short stories where the  connection is that they feature the same main characters. Often, the story is about looking back to people who they miss.

 In Menu, as in the previous books in the series, we have a several individual characters who come looking for the small restaurant in Kyoto which is home to the Kamogawa restaurant and is also home to the detective agency. And lets not forget also home to the cat named Drowsy

In each story, the character is looking for a very particular taste that brings back memories of a particular time in their life. Food, like music, is definitely a key that can unlock memories of particular people or situations. They come to the cafe and share what details, if any, they remember of the dish and then former policeman turned chef Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter Koishi then try to track down the exact dish. Then the customer returns two weeks later to see if they have been able to recreate it correctly.

In this book the dishes that he needs to recreate include 

Kake soba

Curry and rice

Yakisoba

Gyoza 

Omurice

Croquettes

I like that the food is very accessible. It's not fancy, and some times it is the merest change of an ingredient that changes the dish from just the every day to something that the customer remembers so well!

There are a lot of lovely little details in each story. For example, one of the customers is the person who makes the special lacquerware that they use in the restaurant. Having been to Japan I now have a much better idea of what they are talking about, as we had some meals that were served in some beautiful little bowls

Even though this third book is more of the same as the previous two books, the stories still delight me! Bring on the fourth book.

Best Wishes from the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki (translated by Jordan Taylor)

When we travel we like to collect Christmas decorations. When we were in Japan last year, we looked in quite a lot of the tourist shops and didn't find any Christmas decorations anywhere. I was aware from previous reading that a Japanese Christmas cake is basically a fluffy strawberry and cream cake and that lots of Japanese people like to have Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Day but that was about it in terms of Christmas traditions, which isn't all that surprising given that the majority religion is Shinto. It was therefore a bit of a surprise to realise that this book is a Christmas book. 

This is the second book in the Full Moon Coffee Shop series which features giant talking cats, a magical cafe that generally only comes out on full moons and amazing sounding food and drinks. However, the magical cafe can also pop up anywhere in the week leading up to Christmas and this is when this book is set. 

This time the stories are also a more connected than they sometimes tend to be in these styles of books. Satomi works hard and long hours in an advertising agency in Tokyo. She is afraid that her boyfriend is going to propose and that he is going to expect her to move away from the sitter. Koyuki is a temp at the same agency. She does good work but never seems to be able to convert her temp work into a permanent role. The final main character is Junko, who is Satomi's sister in law. She has long been estranged from her parents, but when she gets a message to say her dad is dying, she takes her young daughter to meet him for the first time. 

For each woman, the encounters at the Full Moon Coffee Shop helps them to look at both their past and their present to understand what happiness might look like in the future.

I mentioned the fantastical sounding food. In this case there is a Cheese Fondue and Candy Apples, a New Moon Mont Blanc and Sparkler Iced Tea. Here is just part of the description of the tea:

"I have prepared this drink for you," he said placing a rather large glass in front of me. It was transparent and shaped like an ancient vase with no handles. Inside was tea, ice and a sparkler firing off bits of light. "It is Sparkler Ice Tea."

I brought my face close to the glass in astonishment, staring dubiously at the sparkler twinkling inside the liquid. How in the world does it work?

The master said, "Tea and memories are extracted like leaping sparks. It will be ready to drink when the sparks have scattered and the last fragment falls."

I read this one on a plane trip to Brisbane and it was the perfect way to pass the time.

This series currently has 6 books in the series. Once again, I will be looking for the next book in the series.

The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Cafe by Yuta Takahashi (translated by Cat Anderson)

The Chibineko Kitchen is in a small seaside village not too far from Tokyo. They specialise in kagezen, which are traditional meals offered in remembrance of loved ones. The twist here is that it is possible that, for the duration of the meal, you can have one last conversation with them, one last chance to tell them that you love them, and to say goodbye.

This book is the second book in the series, and once again we meet both Kai, the young man who runs the restaurant after taking over from his mother, and Kotoko, who was one of the people whose stories we read about in the first book. And then there is Chibi the calico cat.

There are four stories in the book

The first is about Nagi, a young woman who has been ill for most of her life. She has broken up with her boyfriend when he proposed to her because she thinks it would be unfair to marry her. Now, she has come to the restaurant to talk to her mother, who also died young.

Next, we meet a man named Keita who had basically shut himself in the apartment that he shared with him mother. When she dies, he takes on her job cleaning at the community aged care centre and begins to find a purpose.

The third story is about an older lady named Mitsuyo who feels isolated despite living at the aged care centre. She comes to the restaurant hoping to talk to her favourite singer. 

And finally, Kumagai, who is in the same theatre group as Kotoko, visits the restaurant to see his son

What makes this book a little different is that you not only get the stories, but you also get the recipes for the food. They include

Tofu no Misozuke (Miso-marinated tofu)

Buta Bara no Kara-age (Fried pork belly)

Iwashi no Kabayaki-don (Soy glazed sardines on rice)

Shime no Kare (Curry using leftover hotpot)

There are currently 10 books in this series in Japanese but this is only the second one to be translated into English. 

It is interesting that not only food and structure connects these stories. Cats also play a part in all three of these stories. The other connection is also that, even though some of these stories feature characters who have suffered great loss, particularly in Menu and Calico Cat, ultimately they are stories about finding hope and joy. 

I am sharing this post with the Japanese Literature Challenge, hosted by Dolce Bellezza, with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story, and the Books in Translation Challenge hosted at Introverted Reader. Best Wishes at the Full Moon Cafe also counts for the Speccy Fiction challenge hosted at Book'd Out.

Weekly meals

Saturday -  Baked chicken fried rice
Sunday - Curries, rice and roti
Monday - Chicken Stir Fry
Tuesday -Sausages in tomato sauce with mash potato
Wednesday - Homemade pizza
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Two Historical Fiction novels - The Wartime Book Club by Kate Thompson and The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jeffries

 Last year my stated goal was that I wanted to read all the historical fiction I read and all the Australian authors I read. I did pretty well at that until I went back to work, so now I am just trying to tidy up by sharing some mini reviews. Today I bring you mini reviews of two historical fiction novels I read towards the end of last year. To be fair, I could probably have just posted them individually as they are not really that mini!

The War Time Book Club by Kate Thompson 

I had been meaning to read Kate Thompson for the longest time. Now that I have finally read her I will be meaning to read more of her books sooner rather than later. Part of the reason I enjoyed this book is the setting. I find the WWII history of the Channel Islands completely fascinating, given that it was the only part of the United Kingdom to be occupied by the Germans. This fascination started with books like the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society but continues with TV documentaries and more.

Grace Le Motte and Bea Rose are more than best friends. They grew up together on the island of Jersey, and Bea is involved with Grace's brother. The island is now occupied by the Germans, and soon the two women are finding whatever small ways they can to resist. For Grace, the local librarian, this means hiding books that the Germans have declared must be destroyed because of their content. For Bea, it means using her position at the post office for good, misdirecting mail and on occasion becoming privy to information that she probably shouldn't

As the war drags on, food and medicine supplies dwindle and so does morale. Grace starts a bookclub at the library where locals can come and hear a story under the watchful eyes of their German invaders. 

We also meet many of the locals. Some, like the older men who work at the post office, take Grace under their wings and try to protect her from her own tendency to be a bit hot-headed and get into trouble. Others are young girls who start dating German soldiers, much to some people's disgust.

When both women catch the attention of the commander, their lives will be changed in ways that neither of them could have imagined.

This was an engrossing read, made all the better by the extensive author's notes that were included which gave extensive details about what the true events were, who were real people and so much more.

I am sharing this review with Bookish Books Challenge hosted at Bloggin' Bout Books and with British Isles Friday hosted at Joy's Book Blog.

The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jeffries

This book takes place on another island, but it couldn't be more different in setting. This time the island is Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as it was known them. I was looking for a book that was set there before we went on holidays. I knew that we would be spending at least some of our time in the tea plantation area and so this felt like a good option.

I actually read most of this book on the way to Sri Lanka on the plane and then we carried it around all over the place to try and get the perfect photo!

After a whirlwind romance Gwendolyn Hooper marries Laurence, a handsome widower who owns a tea plantation in Ceylon. Her marriage means that she needs to uproot her whole life and move to a different country. She arrives in Galle, where the air is laden with unfamiliar scents and humidity. Also unfamiliar is the running of the big house on the tea plantation where there are servants with specific roles, rules about who can do what in the house and absolute rules about visiting the worker's homes on the plantation. Most unfamiliar is the brooding, inattentive and non communicative man who her husband has become, seemingly overnight.

Whilst Gwendolyn knows that Laurence is a widower, he hasn't exactly been honest about the death of his first wife, and he is in no mood to discuss the matter with his new wife. Then there is his spinster sister who seems intent on being as difficult as she can. Gwendolyn soon finds herself on the wrong side of the plantation manager, and caught up with an enigmatic Sinhalese man who her husband forbids her from seeing. It's all very dramatic.

Of course, the problem with keeping secrets is that the truth inevitably comes out, in the most dramatic way possible. The book is set in the late 1920s and there was an interesting twist in the tail of the book from a history of tea perspective.

Whilst I did enjoy the book, there were things that bothered me but I think they were meant to. For example, the way that the husband behaved with their friends and, in particular, his sister was all a bit odd. I absolutely enjoyed reading about life on the plantation, and it helped me visualise how the plantations operated when I was visiting the modern equivalent. 

This was my first Dinah Jeffries book, and I see that she has an extensive backlist set in all kinds of different locations. At some point I will likely pick up another one. Maybe I should check if she has one set in our next holiday destination!

I am sharing both of these reviews with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. I gave both of these books 4/5 ratings but if I had to say which book I enjoyed more it would be The Wartime Library!

Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I Read in 2025

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Best Books I Read in 2025

I am generally pretty stingy when it comes to giving a book a grade of 5/5. Looking back over the last 5 years I have given somewhere between 2 to 4 books the top grade each year. For 2025, I have 13! I am pretty sure that is the most ever for me. So what was different this year? The only thing that I can think of is that I wasn't working for the first 7 months of the year, so I was reading purely for enjoyment. I wasn't trying to read on the commute, or before going to bed or during lunch breaks. There's certainly been a drop in the grades since I went back to work.  Other than, it might just have been an extraordinary first half of the year.

So here are my top 10 13 books for 2025

Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey - I started off with several books set in Paris. I have read quite a few of Gillian Harvey's books over the years and enjoyed them all, but this one just really worked for me! (my review)

The Paris Bookshop for the Broken-Hearted by Rebecca Raisin - Another author who I have read a lot of books from. I love the way that she writes about places, books and foods, and this one combined those very well. (my review)

The Wedding People by Alison Espach - I had heard such good things about this book and it completely lived up to expectations. (my review)

The Jam Maker by Mary-Lou Stephens - I went to hear Mary-Lou Stephens talk about this book and knew that I was going to enjoy it! (my review)

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - I don't reread much, but I have read this book about 4 times now. it is still a 5/5 read for me every time. This one isn't pictured in the collage in order to fit all the others in. (my review)

Pictures of You by Emma Grey - I met Emma Grey at a reader's retreat a couple of years go but it took me that long to actually read one of her books. This was the first of two 5/5 reads by this author this year! (my review)

The Women by Kristin Hannah - This book seems to be a love it or hate it kind of book. I loved it! (my review)

Beartown by Fredrik Backman - What can I say that hasn't already been said about Fredrik Backman. I really must find time to read the second book in this trilogy! (my review)

Eat Your Heart Out by Victoria Brownlee - This was a surprise 5/5 book for me! It was just so much fun. (my review)

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson - I have enjoyed all of this author's books now, but this one is my favourite. (my review)

The Whisky Widow by Karen Brooks - This book had me wondering why on earth I had not read Karen Brooks before. So good! (my review)

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey - The second entry from Emma Grey on this list! Can't wait for her new book! (my review)

An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister - This author is an academic who specialises in romance and popular fiction, and you can tell! This book is now doing the rounds of my book club. Even our octogenarian member enjoyed it! 

One of the pleasing aspects of this is that 7 of these books are by Aussie authors!

I love seeing everyone's best of lists each year! Do we have any in common?

This week

I'm reading

Happy New Year everyone! 

The beginning of the year means resetting everything, including the counter for the number of books read. However, the counter now sits at 2 after the first 4 days of the year. Admittedly I finished two books yesterday otherwise it would still be at zero. 

I finished reading The Sweet Life Cafe by Helen Rolfe which I really enjoyed. It is set on an island in the Channel Islands. In the list of books it is shown as a standalone novel, but it really does feel like it could be the start of a duology or trilogy! I am planning to review this later in the month!

I also read So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan. Her books are very short, but they do pack a punch!

Finally, I started reading The Girl from Lake Maggiore by Siobhan Daiko.

Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen

Bookish travel

Here's where I travelled too through the pages of books during December

Asia

Japan - The Menu of Happiness, Best Wishes from the Full Moon Coffee Shop

Europe

Scotland  - The Secret Christmas Library

Britain - Golden Girls on the Run, Hot Desk, The War Time Library, One December Morning, 

Ireland - The Oyster Catcher

Normally this is where I talk about my best books for the month before. I read 8 books in December and they were all good but there was nothing exceptional. I gave every book I read a grading of 4/5. That may well also reflect how busy my brain is with other things!

I'm watching

We went to the movies on New Year's Eve and watched Nuremberg which stars Russell Crowe as Hermann Goerring, Rami Malek and Leo Woodall. It tells the story of the Nuremberg war trials, starting with the arrest of Goerring through to the verdicts in the first trial. It's a serious subject but the movie was very compelling. Here's the trailer

After we got home we watched the concert from Sydney leading up to the always spectacular fireworks. We do get a bit of a show in our local area with all the illegal fireworks!

On the lighter side we also watched Big Fat Quiz of the Year, hosted by Jimmy Carr, which is always a fun way to revisit some of the bigger stories of the year.

Life

On New Year's Day we decided to go and visit the Melbourne Museum where they currently have an exhibition called Treasures of the Viking Age which all about the Galloway Horde which was found in Scotland in 2014. The exhibition itself was very interesting. We also took the opportunity to take a look around the other parts of the museum. They have recently reopened the natural history part of the museum with all the stuffed animals etc. It is now very modern, very interactive with the use of lots of technology like screens etc. It's a very different space to what it was when I used to take my son to the museum! My favourite part is the garden, and it was great to see so many families out there!


Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recent Additions
One December Morning by Emma Davies
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - January
January in Japan: Since the last January in Japan
In My Kitchen: December
Six Degrees of Separation: The Four Dutchmen to Case Histories


I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Six Degrees of Separation: The Four Dutchmen to Case Histories

 Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings

This month is a wildcard to begin the year so we start with the book that we finished last month’s chain with, which means I am starting with The Four Dutchmen by W Somerset Maughan. My instant thought was to o with a Dutch connection but I actually did a whole Dutch chain a couple of months ago so had to give it some more thought.

I very nearly still went with a Dutch related book for my first link but instead I am going in a completely different route. My first choice this month is The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. This is a book featuring dragons in a romantasy setting.

My next selection is also a book with dragons but this time the setting is real history, with a twist. Temeraire by Naomi Novik is set against the background of the Napoleonic Wars! This book was also published under the title His Majesty's Dragon. (my review)

From here, I had a decision to make. One choice would have taken me down the path of books published with different titles, but in the end I have chosen to focus on the word dragons, even though there was no sign of actual dragons in the book. My next selection is Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman which is one of a trilogy of books which tells the history of Welsh royalty

The book that I have read most recently that was set in Wales is Christmas at Hollybush Farm by Jo Thomas. (my review)

The most recent book that I read which was a Christmassy book was One December Morning by Emma Davies. (my review)

A book that was mentioned in that book was Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. (my review)

So there's my Six Degrees of Separation which has dragons and no dragons, a bit of time in Wales and some Christmas fun. 

Next month, the starting point is Flashlight by Helen Choi, a book that I am currently trying, and struggling, to read.

Will you be joining us?

In My Kitchen: December

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I share everything I have made over the previous month. Like the last few months, motivation has been hard to come by when it comes to baking!

I haven't really been baking much and then I decided that I needed to make some Christmas biscuits but couldn't decide what to make. In the end, I made four different types! The first two were a classic shortbread and then a pistachio, sour cherry and white chocolate version. These are both made from the same base recipe. Shortbread is one of my husband's favourite and I have made these before using the recipe from Emelia Jackson's second book Some of My Best Friends are Cookies. 

The other two recipes came from Advent by Anja Dunk. The first recipe was one that I made last year and was Chocolate Meringue Kisses. The new recipe that I tried was Weihnachtsroschen or Christmas Swirls. These are meant to be neat circles which you then put a dollop of jam into the centre. When I made the dough, I did try to pipe it into circles but the dough was way too stiff to pipe so I ended up just rolling it into balls and then putting a thumbprint into the dough and adding the jam. The dough was really fun to play with as it had a lovely feel.

For breakfast on Christmas day we had pancakes with berries and cream. That meant that we had a ton of berries left over, so I decided to make a relatively simple no bake cheesecake which is vanilla with a ginger nut biscuit base. It is one that I have made and shared the recipe before. What I didn't do is take a picture! Oh well. I will have to make it again at some point.

Christmas for us is very traditional. Robert and I started on Christmas Eve with a heap of prawns (pictured above). We then had the pancakes for breakfast and then went to lunch at my sisters. We always have a very traditional lunch, no matter the weather. Fortunately, it was quite cool this year so it was perfect for a hot lunch. We started with Prawn Cocktail, and then the main course of roast turkey and vegetables, ham and bread rolls. For dessert, there was a selection (shown above) but the centrepiece is always the homemade plum pudding that my sister makes which is then set on fire just before serving it!

Speaking of Christmas, I did quite well in the foodie Christmas gifts department. I was given new kitchen scales, Everybody Love Cake by Alisha Henderson and a baking mat, some chocolates and a bottle of Baileys (not pictured).I also got the pet treat maker and Christmas baking kit when we played Naughty Santa. If you don't know what that is, basically you take turns to open presents but then someone else can either choose to open a present or they can choose to steal your present and then you get to choose to open or steal! 

At the front you can see new kitchen scales. This was a welcome gift as the ones I have been using for years were starting to play up. When you turned it on and pressed the button to make it get to 0, you had to wait as it slowly went into the negative. It usually ended up at around -15g, so if you wanted 100g you would have to do the maths and say if I want 100g then I need the scales to say 85g! I am looking forward to not having to do maths when cooking!

We have been talking about buying a drinks fridge to put in the garage. We had decided that we were going to wait for the Boxing Day sales to buy one, but then someone put one up on our community Facebook page for $50 so we snapped that up instead. Fortunately, it seems to work fine

I mentioned last month that we love a free glass and this month we picked up 6 champagne glasses. One of our supermarket chains, regularly has promotions where you get points for shopping with them, and then you can exchange those points for whatever the promotional items are. Currently, they are giving away European glassware. Given that this supermarket is where we do most of our shopping, it doesn't take too long to accumulate enough points. We got 6 glasses and I think we probably still have enough points to get more glasses. We'll see.

52 Recipes Challenge

A tthe beginning of the year I declared that we were going to try 52 new recipes in the year. I mean, that's only one new recipe a week which feels doable. It turns out it was not! To be fair, at the end of June we were on track but since then we have tried very few new recipes, so we only ended up trying 38 new recipes for the year.

I don't think that we will be doing this challenge again this year!

Here are the new recipes we tried this month.

Pork Schnitzel

Crumpets

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Pork chops, baked potatoes and coleslaw
Sunday - Roast chicken, potatos
Monday - Chicken Shwarma
Tuesday - Smash Burgers
Wednesday - Out for dinner
Thursday - Steak, mash potato and broccoli
Friday -

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

Best of 2025

Afternoon Tea Diaries: Palate Through Time: Before at Oxi Tea Rooms

Christmas at Hollybush Farm by Jo Thomas

In My Kitchen: November

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page