Weekend Cooking: Che Dio perdona a tutti (Holy Cannoli)

I love a good foodie film, and I love a good foreign film. When you get the mixture of those two things, you know I am going to making plans to go and see it!

Originally released in Italy under the title Che Dio perdona a tutti (which translates as God Forgives Everyone), Holy Cannoli is a fun movie set in Sicily which was recently showing here as part of the Italian Film Festival.

Arturo enjoys his job as a real estate agent, and he is pretty good at getting people to overlook the flaws in properties and getting them to sign on the dotted line. He is an enthusiastic participant in the office soccer team, performing his role as the goalkeeper pretty badly, and he is also unlucky in love. 

He has always been an enthusiastic follower of Italian football, even believing that god answered his prayers back in 1982 when Italy beat Brazil in the World Cup. However, at that same moment he realised that there would have been another boy in Brazil praying for the opposite result. From that point, Arturo stopped believing in the concept of god

His real passion is Sicilian pastries. He has an active social media account where he films each pastry and then gives his verdict on them.

His two worlds collide when his boss asks him to show a new client some properties. Her father is the owner of one of the most famous pasticceria in Palermo. The instant that Arturo meets Flora, he is consumed with passion for her. She is beautiful, successful, and an amazing baker. In short, she's the perfect woman and Arturo can't stay away. The only thing is that Flora is a devout Catholic and it is important to her that her partner is too, and so Arturo lies about his own (lack of) faith, leading to some very funny situations, including one which might remind the viewer of a famous scene from Life of Brian by Monty Python

The film takes a turn into the fantastical when Flora and Arturo have a fight about religion. He is stuffing himself with sciù (eating 35 of them) and suddenly the Pope appears in his apartment to give him spiritual advice. Arturo goes from one extreme to the other, suddenly trying to live his life by the strict wording of the gospels, and things go even more awry at this point both at work and in his relationship with Flora.

Most of the story is told through Arturo's perspective as he is confessing to the Pope all the things that have gone wrong in his life recently. 

Featuring football, religion, and pastries - so many amazing looking pastries - this is a really fun movie which doesn't take itself seriously at all. It was a delicious way to spend a couple of hours. I would recommend not going in hungry as you will come out wanting to go and eat sciù or cannoli or cassata, or all of them!

Arturo is played by a man who is so well known in Italy that he just goes by the name Pif. His full name is Pierfrancesco Diliberto and he previously made the film The Mafia Kills Only In Summer, which I would love to watch now. The gorgeous and talented Flora is played by Giusy Buscemi, and together they made a great couple, trying to navigate the perils of a new relationship in modern Italy.

Weekly meals 

Saturday - 

Sunday - Takeaway

Monday - Smashburgers

Tuesday - Chicken Stir Fry

Wednesday - Nothing

Thursday - Pizza

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 in the comments. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Blog Tour: The Last Christmas by Liz Fenwick (includes UK Giveaway)

 

Nonagenerian Meredith Russell has returned to her family home in Cornwall for Christmas. She has lived in America for many years, working professionally as a professor and raising her family, but she has always kept hold of Kestle. Now, she must decide what to do with the property.

Accompanying Meredith is her granddaughter Grace, who was forced to travel by her mother given that she only works in a bar which isn't a real job. Grace is the odd one out in her family. Her mother, Marina, sees her as directionless and an underachiever. She certainly has no interest in becoming an academic like her sister, her parents and her grandparents.

What Meredith hasn't told anyone is that she knows that her time on this earth is coming to an end. She is looking forward to being reunited in the afterlife with her beloved husband Jake. This visit is a chance for Meredith to say goodbye to friends, and to visit the places that have been so important in her life and to spread her husband's ashes. The memories are strong at Kestle, including those of her marriage to Jake on Christmas Eve 66 years previously.

Meredith, Jake and her mother lived quite extraordinary lives, particularly during WWII. Meredith worked in the map rooms, and she worked closely with someone who is very well known now, but for different reasons, Ian Fleming. In addition, her mother worked behind enemy lines. Don't be mistaken, whilst Meredith does share her memories and I would love to have heard more, these WWII memories are not the true focus of this book. Rather they help us understand Meredith and Jake were when they met and fell in love.

One of the last things Meredith wants to do is to help Grace map out what her life might look like, but with Marina interfering from the other side of the Atlantic it's not going to be easy. The longer Grace spends at Kestle, the more she begins to bloom. 

Yesterday I reviewed another Christmas book where I used words like silly, fun and festive to describe it. This book is no less Christmas focussed but has a completely different feel. The words that I would use to describe this book would be emotional and poignant

I love that this book references quite a few instantly recognisable things. For example, the property has Frenchman's Creek as one of its boundary, which you may recognise as the name of one of Daphne du Maurier.

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below, and if you are in the UK, enter into the giveaway.

Rating 4/5

The Last Christmas

When a final goodbye in Cornwall is only the beginning…

Meredith Tremayne Russell has spent her life mapping the world, first in intelligence during WWII, and later as a professor. But at ninety-eight with time running out, she faces a journey she cannot chart, a return to her old Cornish home to sell it and to scatter her beloved husband’s ashes.

With her is her twenty-five-year-old granddaughter, Grace, a dyslexic who believes she is a failure in a family of academics. For Grace the trip is a welcome escape from her mother’s demands. But when she unlocks her great-grandmother’s abandoned art studio, she finds a legacy of a passionate artist and a French resistance fighter.

As Meredith relives the frozen December of her 1946 wedding, she understands her final mission isn't to say goodbye to her old home, but to draw one last map—showing Grace how to navigate a life of her own making.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HH9QRQYL (ebook)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HH9QRQYL (Amazon US)

https://www.lizfenwick.com/store-1/p/the-last-christmas (paperback)

About the author

Liz Fenwick, dubbed ‘the queen of the Cornish contemporary novel’ by The Guardian, is an award-winning author of emotional, immersive, feel-good fiction. Her books are filled with history, mystery and love. She loves stories that pull her into their world like they did when she was young so that’s what she writes. When she’s not writing, she’s procrastinating on Instagram, plot walking, reading and painting. She lives in Cornwall with her husband and two mad cats.

Social Media Links – 

@liz_fenwick (insta & twitter & threads) 

@lizfenwickauthor (TikTok)

Giveaway to Win 3 x Paperback copies of The Last Christmas (Open to UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Win 3 x Paperback copies of The Last Christmas (Open to UK Only)

Blog Tour: The Christmas Rift by K L Crear

 

Everyone knows that it is expensive to live in London, even in flats that are in less than trendy areas and that might not be the most modern space. Given that the two women who live at 42 Miller Avenue call their flat Mildew Avenue, it's clear from early on that this is not exactly des res. However, there are two other inhabitants in the flat. First, there is Nigel the debonair mouse, and Winston the spider.

For Daisy and Kate, Mildew Avenue is home. They can barely make ends meet, but they have each other. It is close to Christmas and Daisy is busy trying to wrap presents using pre used sticky tape and Kate is planning her next acquisition for her collection of crystal fairies.

Their equilibrium is shattered when their effusive landlady excitedly announces that she has found a new tenant named Maxi to help share the rent costs.  However, it turns out that Maxi is a wannabe male model and to be honest, a bit of a tosser. He tells the girls that he is vegan but then eats their non vegan treats, leaving them to accuse each other. 

When Daisy first meets Maxi, she sees a blissful future complete with wedding bells. For Kate, there is an equally instant reaction, although hers is more sexual in natures. 

Soon, Nigel (the mouse) is despairing as the girls turn against each other, Maxi is revelling in being the centre of attention. Something needs to be done!

If I was challenged to review this book in only three words, then I would choose silly, fun and festive. Admittedly, silly might not always be a good thing, but I read this book straight after quite a heavy read and so it was the perfect palate cleanser. It was a quick read, and I literally laughed out loud at several scenes. It helps to have an appreciation for British humour!

There are several interesting choices that the author has made in this book. The most obvious is the inclusion of multiple points of views telling the reader about each event from their different perspectives, and yes, that includes Nigel. 

This was a really pleasant surprise. Fun and festive. Just don't expect anything too serious!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Thanks to the publisher and Random Things Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 3.5/5

About the book

The Christmas Rift

Christmas is coming... and so is the biggest rift this tiny flat has ever seen.

When Daisy and Kate's glamorous new housemate is announced, they picture another girl.

Instead, they get Maxi.

A ridiculously handsome male model with an ego the size of Lapland, an appetite that empties the fridge daily and a nasty habit of encouraging two best friends to compete for his attention.

Before long, Daisy's mentally picking out wedding dresses, Kate's having far less wholesome thoughts and the flat has descended into festive warfare.

Watching every drama unfold from the safety of the skirting board is Nigel, the house's delightfully eccentric resident mouse. Sporting an abandoned contact lens as a monocle and never knowingly short of an opinion, he's firmly convinced humans are the daftest creatures ever created.

He's probably right.

A laugh-out-loud Christmas comedy about friendship, festive disasters and why some housemates really should come with a warning label.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HF54P5FM

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HF54P5FM

About the author

Karen (K.L. Crear) is an author, over-sharer, and walking cautionary tale. Think: a sweary teenager trapped in the body of a menopausal woman who can’t sneeze without risking a wardrobe malfunction. You’re welcome.

Once upon a time, she worked in banking, the Civil Service, and property management, or as she likes to call it, The Beige Trilogy. She spent decades being respectable (ish), responsible (occasionally), and quietly losing the will to live. Then one day she found herself broke, baffled, and built entirely out of biscuit crumbs and unresolved trauma. So she did what any sensible woman would do, she wrote it all down and flogged it in paperback.

Karen has battled cancer twice, and her coping strategy was to laugh at wildly inappropriate moments and shout “F*ck off!” at inspirational quotes. Spoiler: it worked. Her sense of humour is deeply questionable, but it’s kept her just about sane through grief, illness, love, lies, and the time she gave herself food poisoning with a dodgy prawn ring from Iceland.

After years of procrastination (and one too many vinos), she finally swapped Pinot for a pen. She now writes jaw-dropping memoirs and hilarious women’s fiction about women who’ve had enough, snapped slightly, and are thriving in spite of it all, usually with a glass in hand, some top mates, and a solid alibi.

Her hobbies include eating anything wrapped in pastry, shouting at the Real Housewives (“She’s definitely had something done - she’s melting!”), and threatening to adopt an axolotl because they look so absurdly cheerful. She once turned down hugging a sloth in Mexico, it dangles upside down, pees on itself, and honestly felt like a warning from the future.

Karen lives in a sleepy Northern town with her long-suffering husband (he’s partially deaf, which helps) and their cat Pickle, who looks permanently disgusted with their life choices and the ongoing Dreamies rationing.

A portion of every book sale goes to Women’s Aid, Great Ormond Street, the Epilepsy Society, and Macmillan. because she knows what it’s like to need help. The world’s a shitshow, but we can all make a little difference in our own way.



Social Media Links –

https://www.klcrear.com

https://www.facebook.com/klcrearauthor

https://www.instagram.com/klcrear_author

https://www.amazon.com/author/klcrear

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Published under multiple names.

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Things That Make Up My Perfect Day (Share the people, places, activities, foods, circumstances, etc. that make a day perfect for you. Go into as much or as little detail as possible!) This is such a good prompt that I did something very similar a couple of days ago for the prompt of happy! I am therefore going to go off topic this week and bring you books published under different names. It could be because the books were given different names in different markets, or they were given a post publishing revamp, or who knows why else publishers change the name of a book after it is released.

Sophia's Secret/The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - Yes, I am unashamedly using this same book in a TTT list two weeks in a row. Sophia's Secret was the original UK title.  (my review)

People We Meet on Vacation/You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry - A lot of the time the title change is just for different markets. You and Me on Vacation was again the UK title, and because we are part of the Commonwealth we often get the same titles.

The Brides of Rollrock Island/Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan - The bottom cover here is the Australian title. I think I preferred both the title and the cover from overseas. 

The Scandal/Beartown by Fredrik Backman - Sometimes the different titles are due to being published in different languages. For example, the book known as Beartown in English was originally published with a title that would translate to Scandal, but there was at least one edition that came out in English with that title. (my review)

The Chibineko Kitchen/The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi - I think the idea here was to really cash in on the role the cat plays in this book! (my review)

Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies/The Woman Who Wanted More by Vicky Zimmerman - It is interesting to me that the cover is so similar even when the title is so different.

The Life and Loves of Becca Valentine/The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine by Laura Pearson - I loved The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine and loved the title, but I do think that the bottom title is probably more accessible. (My review)

Falling for the Italian Dream/An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack - I am not sure why this one got changed. An Italian Wedding Adventure was a good title for this book. (my review)

The House at Riverton/Shifting Fog by Kate Morton - Finishing up with two older books. You can tell straight away that the top cover here was the Australian cover. Every historical fiction book being published around this time had a woman on the cover

Cross Stitch/Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - Cross Stitch was the UK title, and it was the one I read!

This week

I'm reading

It's been a busy reading week. It always looks even busier than usual when I finish an audio book and start the next one which is what happened this week.

I finished listening to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. Given that this book was published in 1995 it is possibly a little surprising that I am only just reading it now. I did enjoy it but I was expecting to love, love, love it! Never mind. The narration was by Saskia Maarleveld as she did a very good job, as she always does. 

For my next audio, I started listening to The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion Vol 1 by Beth Brower. The good news is that this is a very short book so the audio comes in at around 3.5 hours. I already think I will be picking up the next book in the series. 

In terms of books I read rather than listened to, I finished Twenty Dates by Ko Porteous which was a lot of fun. I reviewed this book here.

I then read The Christmas Rift by K L Crear. If I was going to give a one word review for this book it would be "silly", but it was exactly what I needed. I need to to come up with more than one word for my review which will be up later this week. I do have another review due later this week too. Better start reading that one soon!

It was book club meeting on the weekend. Normally we are a read on a theme book club but every 18 months or so we agree to all read the same book like a more traditional book club. This month, our choice was A Far Flung Life for M L Stedman. Most people liked it well enough, but I absolutely loved it and have given it a 5 star rating! We had lovely weather over the weekend, so it was nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air while we met this time. We have never done that before!

I'm watching


We had a pretty quiet weekend but we did go to see an Italian movie called Holy Cannoli on the weekend. It was a really fun movie, with plenty of soccer, religion and cakes! Here's the trailer

Life

All of our visitors left during the week so a quiet weekend really! And most of the major deliverables have been done, so now I have to focus on all the things I didn't get done over the crazy last few weeks!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Opposites!
Blog Tour: The Twenty Dates by Ko Porteous
Weekend Cooking: The Slow Cooker Supper Club by Sue Heath
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: September Statistics




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

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: September Statistics

 

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

September was a very good month. There were 60 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. There were 51 individual titles reviewed, written by 50 different authors. There were 5 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 13 or just 1.

You may not recall but in May and June this year we had months where there was no book that was reviewed more than once for the challenge! That is NOT the case this month! This is most I have seen for a long time.

There was one book that was reviewed 3 times during the month, which was The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, by challenge favourite Nancy Bilyeau, and it is a sequel of sorts to Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. This book was reviewed by Helen at She Reads Novels, Laura at Reading Books Again and Laura at Laura's Reviews

In addition, there were 5 other books that were reviewed twice.  They were

Cold Sunset by William Boyd - Third book in the William Dax series, reviewed by Helen at She Reads Novels and Cathy from What Cathy Read Next

The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain - An imagining of Daphne du Maurier's life which was read by Helen at She Reads Novels and Cathy at What Cathy Read Next

The Lost Perfumes of Paris by Australian author Christine Wells - This was read and reviewed by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog and Laura from Laura's Reviews

The Newer World by Sebastian Barry - Reviewed by Helen at She Reads Novels and Cathy at What Cathy Read Next

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon - Reviewed by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out and myself

The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman - review by Laura at Laura's Reviews and by Kim on Goodreads

In addition, there were two different books reviewed by Elizabeth Goudge. Both were reviewed by Barbara at Stray Thoughts reviewed both The Scent of Water and The Bird in the Tree which you can read here and here respectively.

If you enjoy reading Historical Fiction why not join us? You can find all the details here.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Weekend Cooking: The Slow Cooker Supper Club by Sue Heath

 

Erin can't believe that she has made such a major oversight. As a seasoned traveller, she should know the expiry date of her passport and so it is embarrassing when she can't board the plane on her latest trip. Now she needs to apply for a new passport, so she needs somewhere to stay for as long as that will take.

When her aunt lines up a housesitting gig with her friend Marie, who is off on a four-month cruise, Erin says yes, knowing full well (and disclosing) that she probably won't stay for the whole time. Once she has her passport, she will be off again. Marie has only a couple of requests. Erin will need to care for her dog, Bella, and keep an eye on her section of the community allotment. Oh, and she needs to continue to host the Thursday Night Slow Cooker Supper Club.

Not long before Marie's husband passed away, he bought her a slow cooker. It sat in the cupboard for a while but one day Marie decided she would use it and invite her neighbours in the Station Cottages to join her, and the Thursday Night Slow Cooker Supper Club was born. 

The club became a weekly highlight for all the neighbours. There is Eva, the elderly but still feisty and nosy neighbour. There are Phil (as in Philomena) and Johh who both have suffered losses and then newcomer Danny, who is recovering from a breakup and trying to decide what direction he wants to take in his career. Together they forge friendships and a sense of community that sees them working together

When Marie goes on her cruise, they are going to miss her, but they are also keen to get to know Erin. Erin doesn't necessarily want them to get to know her. She has been moving from one place to another for years and so doesn't really form friendships, but it doesn't take long before she feels part of the little community. The longer she stays, the more settled she feels.

She is a bit daunted by the supper club as she isn't much of a cook, but with the direction of the local butcher, she is soon able to rustle up a dish and bring some of her own experiences to the table. 

However, there are reasons why Erin has made some of the decisions she has made, and staying in one place and growing friendships with her neighbours has her reexamining her life and maybe thinking about reaching out to her family. The one person she doesn't need to reexamine her relationship with is her ex, Tim. Will Tim get in the way of her growing friendship with Danny?

As you would expect with a book set in a supper club, there are plenty of mentions of food ranging from Poulet Breton to ox tail stew, pulled pork and bread and butter pudding I did think that food would be more central to the story, and would love to have seen a recipe or two at the end of the book 

This is my third book by Sue Heath. I absolutely adored The Secret Ingredient and loved The Storytellers. This one, I liked a lot, but if I had to rank them, then this would be the third on the list. Interestingly, Sue Heath also writes romances under the name Zara Stoneley

What each of the books by Sue Heath has in common is the coming together of a group of people to form a found family, but she does it in a way that feels quite organic and not contrived at all! Whenever I finish one of her books I am already looking forward to the next one, and this time is no exception!

We love our pressure cooker/slow cooker combo appliance. Maybe this week we will pull it out of the cupboard and use it. It has been a while. 

I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and with the New Release Challenge hosed at The Chocolate Lady's Book Blog

Rating 4/5

Weekly meals

Saturday -  Nothing
Sunday - Out for dinner
Monday - Pasta Alfredo
Tuesday - Chicken Stir fry and rice
Wednesday - Italian Meatballs
Thursday - Steak, egg and chips
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 in the comments. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page