Tomorrow is International Coffee Day which is a day that my husband will be sure to celebrate with a coffee or three as he is a bit addicted to coffee. I am more of an infrequent drinker, maybe having one cup of coffee every couple of weeks or so.
I thought for this week's post I might share some songs about coffee.
Let's start with the man in black - Johnny Cash
Next up, Bob Marley
Nat King Cole has a song called You're the Cream in my Coffee, but I thought I would share Seth McFarlane's version instead
We are in Adelaide this weekend for a significant family birthday. Any one who has spent any time in Adelaide would know about Farmer's Union Iced Coffee. Back in the day the slogan for this was It's Farmers Union or it's nothing.
So my last song for today is Cold Coffee by Ed Sheeran
Weekly meals
Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Chicken Shwarma (Family dinner)
Monday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake
Tuesday - Meatballs
Wednesday - Mexican Chicken Rice
Thursday - Take Away
Friday - Away for the weekend
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
Today I m going to talk about reading via Kindle saves me money. Well, that's not precisely true. I have a tendency to be awake in the middle of the night, and finding myself browsing books. And let's face it, it's easy to shop when all it takes is just one click.
So how does it save money? Thankfully, it saves me from one clicking books that I have already bought. What happens is I think oh that book looks good. I hit the one click and it says....well actually you bought this book back in 2020.
During September I had some gaps in my reading schedule, so I was trying to just read whatever I wanted, but I did decide that I should read at least one book that I have attempted to buy more than once! And so, the next book that I tried to buy again was this one. And it just so happens that it is perfect for a Weekend Cooking post.
The Enchanted Garden Cafe by Abigail Drake is the first book in the South Side Stories trilogy. You may well ask South Side of where exactly? And the answer is Pittsburgh.
I am a sucker for a book that has a touch of magic, food and romance and this has all of these. The main character is Fiona. She helps her mother Claire run The Enchanted Garden Cafe. Where Claire is all about letting fate and karma take it's course, Fiona is about spreadsheets, plans and logic. Claire is happy enough to hold naked yoga on a regular basis. Fiona is worried about health regulations. Where Fiona is worried about the future of the cafe but Claire doesn't seem to be worried at all.
The reason Fiona is worried because there is a big developer who is determined to purchase all the businesses in the area so that they can be knocked down to build a car park. As the more and more of the shops in the other historical buildings in the area close down, the more likelihood that the cafe will suffer the same fate.
Luckily, one thing that Fiona doesn't have to worry about is her love life. She has recently met the perfect man. Scott is handsome and successful, looks great in a suit, and Fiona couldn't ask for more. The only problem is, every time they get close to doing the deed, something happens. For example, the fountain in the garden sprung a leak and destroyed his shoes on one occasion. Despite this everything is pointing towards an engagement any time soon
Given how happy she is with Scott, there is no reason why her heart should flutter uncontrollably every time she sees the new acoustic guitarist who comes to perform at the cafe every Saturday night, right?
To give you some idea of Fiona, here's a short quote from early in the book:
I enjoyed working in the shop, but the kitchen was my favorite place. I loved chopping and sifting and kneading. When the aroma of baking cookies filled the air and I smelled spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves, I felt happy and content. I couldn't cut a lemon without lifting it to my nose for a whiff of its bright, citrusy beauty, and there was nothing as satisfying as putting bread dough into an oiled bowl and coming back to see it doubled in size.
I needed a "Kitchen Witch" apron instead of "Kitchen Bitch" because this was the kind of magic I could believe in. It wasn't the magic Mom and her friends talked about, with omens, charms, and crystals. My magic was practical. Scientific. I mixed the right ingredients in the correct amounts and created something wonderful.
I planned my life this way, too, putting the right things together in the correct amounts to get the desired results. If I had a recipe, it would read, "Take four years of undergrad in a useful major. Add an MBA. Work hard. Stir in the right man, if desired, and enjoy a happy and successful life without ever worrying about things like peeling paint, broken air conditioners, leaky fountains, or irresponsible parents."
I sighed. Mom would never change, but at least I could control the other elements in my life. Any cook knows, to get the best outcome from a recipe, choose the highest-quality ingredients and buy only the best in kitchen supplies. That''s what I'd done by choosing Scott. He was as reliable as a good copper pot.
This book is full of interesting characters like Auntie Mags who was convinced that Fiona's chakras are blocked, the other staff in the cafe, and various other characters who play key roles in the battle to save the cafe. As that heats up, there are various things that happen. I enjoyed the book, but did feel like Fiona was a bit slow to figure out who she could, and couldn't, trust.
The other two books in the series are called The Hocus Pocus Magic Shop and The Dragonsong Law Offices. There are a couple of other books by Abigail Drake that sound good too!
Weekly meals
Saturday - Away for the weekend
Sunday - Away for the weekend
Monday - Butter Chicken pizza
Tuesday - Sausages in tomato and onion, mash and broccoli
Wednesday - Birthday dinner for my nephew
Thursday - Pressure cooker spaghetti bolognaise
Friday -Out for dinner
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
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on My Fall 2023 To-Read List but because I live in a land down under this is my Spring list instead
The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller - This is the next Cook the Books selection
Spring Clean for the Peach Queen by Sasha Wasley - My next read on a theme bookclub theme is a book with a colour in the title and I think this is the book I will read.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros - I think this book might be on a few lists this week.
Daisy and Kate by Meredith Appleyard - I love the cover on this one!
When We Were Friends by Samantha Tonge - This is one of several upcoming review books
Celebrations in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen - You know I love spending time in Bellbird Bay
In the Greek Midwinter by Mandy Baggot - One of my friends is in Greece at the moment and I am loving her pictures
The Starfish Sisters by Barbara O'Neal - I still haven't read the last book by this author but I will
The Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley - I nearly read this for my science book for the last read on a theme bookclub choice.
The Heart is a Star by Megan Rogers - I went to a book shop event where this author was the secret guest for the night.
I don't participate in Cook the Books all the time, but this month I was able to read the book, and it is a case of reading a book that I might not otherwise have read! When I started this book, I knew straight away that I was going to enjoy it! And I did!
Love and Saffron is an epistolary novel where we learn the story of the friendship between two very different women. Imogen is in her late 50s living in the Pacific NW and writes a regular column in her local newspaper. When a young woman named Joan who lives in Los Angeles writes to her, both women have no idea how much this friendship will come to mean to them.
Together the two women write about their lives, about food, about exotic ingredients such as saffron and garlic, about relationships and sharing their thoughts on some of the biggest events of the 1960s. Imogen shares her surprise that her husband suddenly starts cooking, and Joan talks about the impact of multi-culturalism in LA.
We follow them through the ups and downs of life and love.
There were a number of parts of the book that I really like, especially one part where one of the characters did something surprising. I really liked a section of the book where they talked about saving the Pike Place market in Seattle. We are visiting Seattle in a couple of months time and it really made me want to visit the markets. Then again, we just watched a show on Vancouver and now we really want to visit Granville Island markets as well. We might have to pick just one of them.
This was an easy read, and there were parts of the book that I was genuinely moved by. I am so glad that I got to read it.
There were a number of recipes shared in the text, as well as mentions of specific dishes but in the end we decided to go with a dish from a cuisine rather than a specific dish. Throughout the story, there was discussion about the influence of Mexican flavours so we decided to make a version of Beef Enchiladas from the Recipetin Eats: Dinner cookbook that we are still cooking so many recipes from!
This is another recipe that we will be making again and again from this cookbook!
The next Cook the Books selection is The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller and I will be trying to read along again.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Out for dinner
Monday - Takeaway
Tuesday - Steak Egg and Chips
Wednesday - Pork chops, mash, gravy and broccoli
Thursday - Beef Enchiladas
Friday - Away for the weekend
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
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Favorite Character Relationships (These can be platonic or not. Romantic relationships, parent/child, siblings, family bonds, friendships, found families, pet/human, etc.) but I am twisting it to just be about sisters.
The Starfish Sisters by Barbara O'Neal - I haven't read this yet, but I really want to! The Alphabet Sisters by Monica McInerney - I remember reading this book in one afternoon many years ago.
The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue by Ella Carey - What would you do if your sister disappeared in WWII France?
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley - I could have chosen any one of the Seven Sister
Outback Sisters by Rachael Johns - The fourth book in the Bunyip Bay series
The Goldminer's Sister by Alison Stuart - There's lots of books about various occupations sisters
Sisters of Mercy by Caroline Overington - I have read this, although I am not sure I remember much about it
The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen - I love this cover!
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett - Never miss an opportunity to post a book about Pratchett
My Sisters Keeper by Jodie Picoult - Can't tell you how much I disliked the ending of this book.
Each month I share the statistics for the previous month for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I always find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! This month I have visited all the reviews (or at least I think I have). As a result I think I added at least three books to my TBR!
In terms of the books, it was a good month for reviews with 58 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants, which is a bit less than this time last year. There were 56 individual titles reviewed, written by 52 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each this month. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 7 or just 1.
Let's move onto the books. There were 2 books that were reviewed twice during August. They were:
Death Comes at the End by Agatha Christie was reviewed by both Helen at She Reads Novels and by Laura at Laura's Reviews. I had no idea Christie had written a mystery set in Ancient Egypt.
Cathy from What Cathy Read Next read two books by Madalyn Morgan. China Blue is the third book in the Dudley Sisters series and Chasing Ghosts is the sixth, but is the sequel to China Blue, if that makes sense?
I know I am very late to the party but I have just finished reading Lessons in Chemistry. This book was voted as best debut novel in the Goodreads Choice Awards in 2021 and it was even a Cook the Books choice earlier this year. I did start reading it then, but review books got in the way so put it to one side.
This month, my read on a theme book club theme was science and so this was my chance to finally read the book. Actually I wasn't the only one to read it as several people in the group chose this book. I also listened to a book called The Botanists Daughter by Kayte Nunn so it was a busy science themed month for me.
So after the good intentions and the false start, what did I think? I really loved it. Once I restarted it again, I read the whole thing in less than 24 hours and I loved it!
Elizabeth Zott is a very unusual for her time. The role of a typical 1960s woman is not for her. Not staying at home to be a housewife, not waiting for her husband to arrive home with dinner on the table. She is first and foremost a scientist, but that is not easy in a world where people, or more precisely the men in charge, don't believe that women have what it takes. She has had to deal with sexism and much worse. She ends up working at Hastings Institute and you better be sure that she isn't going to put up with anyone's rubbish. There she meets fellow scientist Calvin Evans, a man who is destined to win the Nobel Prize. After a rocky start, Elizabeth and Calvin realise that they are destined to be together, and so they build their unconventional life together.
When tragedy strikes, Elizabeth finds herself out of work and so she sets up a laboratroy in her kitchen so she can continue her important work, even helping out her previous colleagues, for a price. After all, now she is a single parent to her daughter Mad and owner of Six-Thirty the dog.
Elizabeth knows that it is important to ensure that her daughter's nutritional needs are fully met. She is therefore incensed when she realises that one of her daughter's school friends is eating Mad's carefully planned lunches. She confronts the child's TV producer father who is stunned. He sees an opportunity to start a cooking show starring Elizabeth. Right from the beginning she is perceived as being difficult as she will not conform to the norms. For example, she insists on wearing a lab coat, and she insists on speaking scientifically. The bosses don't believe that this is what the viewers want to see, but for the women watching it is a breath of fresh air, empowering them one recipe at a time
Meanwhile, we learn about both Calvin and Elizabeth's pasts, about science, rowing, food and so much more. The book is very clever, it is funny and it is also sad. I recommended this book to my former boss and when she finished it she texted me at 7 o'clock in the morning to say that she had cried and it was all my fault. She is not normally a crier at all!
It would be remiss of me not to mention the secondary characters, in particularly Six-Thirty the dog. He is one of the more unusual animal characters in fiction.
I am sure you can tell that I really enjoyed this book, and I am very excited about the upcoming TV series which is due out in October. Here's the teaser trailer:
I thought I would share a quote from the book where Elizabeth is making...well....I am sure you will be able to tell what she is making, although I haven't ever seen it described this way before!
Holding an egg in the palm of her hand, she turned to him. "Here's a tip, Six-Thirty: never crack eggs on the side of a bowl - it increases the chance of shell fragments. Better to bring a sharp, thin knife down on the egg as if you're cracking a whip. See?" she said, as the egg's contents slipped into the bowl.
Six-Thirty watched without blinking.
"Now I'm disrupting the egg's internal bonds in order to elongate the amino acid chain," she told him as she whisked, "which will allow the freed atoms to bond with the other similarly freed atoms. Then I'll reconstitute the mix into a loose whole, laying it on a surface of iron-carbon alloy, where I'll subject it to the precision heat, continually agitating the mix until it reaches a stage of coagulation.
"LaLanne is an animal," Calvin announced as he wandered into the kitchen, his T-shirt damp.
"Agreed," Elizabeth said as she took the frying pan off the flame and placed the eggs on two plates. "Because humans are animals. Technically. Although sometimes I think the animals we consider animals are far more advanced than the animals we are but don't consider ourselves to be." She looked to Six-Thirty for confirmation, but even he couldn't parse that one.
I am also sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and with Foodie Reads hosted at Based on a True Story
Weekly meals
Saturday -
Sunday - Out for dinner
Monday -
Tuesday -
Wednesday - Pork Nachos
Thursday - Thai Red Beef Curry
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
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.
The starting Point for this month is Wifedom by Anna Funder whicch tells the story of George Orwell and his wife.
Another book about a famous author and his wife is Paris Wife by Paula McCain which tells the story of Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley Richardson and their lives in Paris.
Now the most obvious jump from here are the many many books I have read set in Paris but I am going to avoid this for now. We may still end up there! Instead, I am going to go to another famous literary couple who hung out in France, F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and their letters which were published in a book called
Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
I do like a really good book epistolary novel and I just happen to have read one last night called Love and Saffron by Kim Fay.
A while ago I read a dual timeline novel called The Secrets of Saffron Hall by Clare Marchant which is set in Tudor times.
This leads me quite nicely to Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, another book set in the Tudor court of Henry VIII.
And then to Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden, which is a historical fiction novel based on the life of Genghis Khan. I presume that his wife/wives might get a mention?
The starting point for next month is I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. Will you be joining us?
The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I baked in the previous month and it was a pretty busy baking month, where I go to experiment a little bit!
Creme brulee - well, Robert made them! My husband doesn't really do anything desserty except for a couple of South African ones and Creme Brulee. This was also an opportunity for use our new ramekins which I posted last month.
Vanilla cake with Russian Butter Cream - I have a couple of different vanilla cakes with different icings that I wanted to try. I made one with German Butter Cream a couple of months ago, but this month I made the Vanilla Cake from Dinner by Nagi Maehashi (which I reviewed here ) which I then covered with Russian Buttercream. I was trying to do three circles of sprinkles as the decoration but it didn't really work
I do seem to be buying more cookbooks at the moment so here are the two that I bought this month, along with a round platter I bought at a garden centre. I went to art exhibitions and saw a red and white resin platter that I really liked but it cost about $400 which was way too much. So then I was looking at Etsy to see if I could get something similar, which then sent me down the path of Italian ceramics. I have ended up with an Italian-ish version which I am happy. Yes, I am aware that this is not red and which check, but never mind. I can't explain how my brain works at the best of times.
I am sharing this post with Sherry from Sherry's Pickings for her In My Kitchen event.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake
Sunday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake
Monday - Beef Broccolini and Mushrooms
Tuesday - Chicken Shwarma
Wednesday - Beef Biryani
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
August has been another good month in the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge with over 50 new reviews being linked up during the month!
Great effort! Now...onto September!
I am looking forward to reading more of your reviews throughout the coming month! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers during the coming month and beyond!
If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.
Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.
Please remember...
add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review). A direct link to your Goodreads review is also acceptable
any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...). If you aren't sure if your book counts as historical fiction, check out this definition.
if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!
I have created a group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.
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