Weekend Cooking: 5 Ingredients Meditteranean by Jamie Oliver

I have had a version of this post saved in draft for a few months now, but it looks like today is the day that I am actually going to post it. And I have to say that my thoughts now would probably be different compared to what it would have been! This is mainly because I buy a few too many cookbooks and so I may have been able to pick more recipes previously than I can now.

This is one of those cookbooks which I originally borrowed from the library, but I decided that there were enough recipes in it that we would want to cook that it was worth actually buying it. In the end we have tried a few recipes, but there really is one recipe that we have made quite regularly.

I am always a bit wary of 3/4/5 ingredient cookbooks. Quite often the recipes are nice enough, but not really delicious. Of course, I like easy and simple recipes, but sometimes you can tell. And sometimes, the reality is that the recipes have one ingredient which is made up of multiple ingredients. For example, in one of the recipes one of the ingredients is a medley of frozen vegetables which feels a bit like it is cheating. Now, we can't actually get that specific medley of vegetables here but we did just use a different medley of vegies instead.

The book is broken up in Salads, Soups & Sarnies, Pasta, Veg, Pies and Parcels, Seafood, Fish, Chicken & Duck, Meat, and finally Sweet Things

Recipes we've tried so far

Beef Ribs Rioja - This was delicious and given how cold it is, we should try this again. Given how cold it is here, we should definitely make this again.

Herby Steak and crispy potatoes - We did make this a couple of times. I should suggest we add it back into our meal planning

Chicken & Merguez Stew - We had to use different sausages as it isn't easy to find Merguez sausages here.  

Creamy Mustardy Pork - More about this below

Giant Baked Beans - This was okay.

I would like to make at least some of the following recipes:

Baked Tomato Soup

Tunisian Prawn Spaghetti

Tortilla Frittata

Pork and Peppers 

Simple Steamed Fish

Crispy Paprika Chicken

Za'atar Chicken

Couscous & Chicken Bake

Apple Tart

Lemon Curd Tart

It is mostly the meat and chicken chapters that I can see us coming back to time and time again!

The recipe that we have made multiple times is the Creamy Mustardy Pork. It's super simple to make, and as long as you have the ingredients the sauce is something that we could use on chicken, on pork chops and potentially even steak. It's pretty versatile and given that it takes about 10 minutes to cook, it's a great midweek meal, especially served with mash! We don't usually use the rocket either!

Creme Fraiche is in the supermarket but is not a mainstream ingredient here so we tend to use either yoghurt or sour cream.

Creamy Mustardy Pork

Golden Mixed Mushrooms, Creme Fraiche & Peppery Rocket

300g pork fillet

200g mixed mushrooms

1 heaped teaspoon wholegrain mustard

2 heaped tablespoons creme fraiche

40 g rocket 

Place a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat. Slice the pork into 6 medallions, bashing to flatten slightly, and roughly slice the mushrooms. Place them in the pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until the mushrooms are golden and the pork is just cooked through, the remove just the mushrooms to a plat. Go in with the mustard and creme fraiche and cook for 1 last minute, loosening with a splash of water, if needed. Taste and season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper, divide between plates,, then scatter over golden mushrooms and rocket, and finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Nice served with rice

Serves 2

Weekly meals

Saturday - Green Curry Chicken Pie
Sunday - Korean pancakes (new0
Monday - Takeaway
Tuesday - Takeaway
Wednesday - Fried Cabbage, Bacon and Onion (new)

Thursday - Steak, fries and egg

Friday - Shaking Beef and rice

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2024

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2024


Let's get started!

Dirrayawadha by Anita Heiss (July) - I really enjoyed this authors last book, and after meeting her in person last weekend, I am definitely even more keen to read this one.

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (August) - I only heard about this last week but I immediately added this to my list. I loved her last book and this one sounds just as good!

A Love Letter to Paris by Rebecca Raisin (July) - I have this book to read in the next couple of weeks, perfect for a post for Paris in July!

The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley (August) - OMG! A new Susanna Kearsley book. I am ready!

Tonight by Nagi Maehashi (October) - Nagi's first cookbook, Dinner, was my cookbook of the year for 2023 and we still cook at least one thing from it every week, if not more. I am already saying that I expect this new cookbook to take that honour this year! 

Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (September) - I went and listened to Toshikazu Kawaguchi speak at Melbourne Writers Festival last month. He announced that this book was coming so I immediately pre-ordered the audiobook. I have listened to the previous books in the series on audio so there was no reason to do otherwise with this new book.

What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci (October) - Remember last February when I went a bit crazy over Stanley Tucci? Of course I have pre-ordered the audio of this book! When I listened to Taste, it was almost like he was whispering in my year!

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai (October) - I really enjoyed the first book in this series and can't wait to read this one!

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T J Klune (September) - I suspect that this book might appear on a few lists this week!

A Certain Kind of Starlight by Heather Webber (July) - I really enjoy Heather Webber's books so I am hoping to get to this book soon!

Are any of these books on your list this week?

This Week...

Life

We have had a very pleasant weekend. If we start with Sunday, we went into the city and visited the Pharoah exhibition which is currently on at the NGV. Every year, they have a winter masterpiece exhibition and it is always good, and this one is no exception! Part of the joy of going to the exhibitions held at NGV is to see how they are staged, and this one was once again excellent!!

Friday was Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. I wouldn't normally do anything to celebrate solstice, but I happened to see an ad for a Winter Solstice event at the winery down the road and thought why not! We have driven past this winery so many times and had never been there. There was live music, fires and a fire guy who came and did tricks for the crowd! It was a different way to spend Friday night.

I'm reading

I finished reading Midnight Blue this week. I then promptly started another translated book, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum. This is a Korean book, and will be my fourth book in translation this month! I'll have to convince my fellow book clubbers to have this as a theme again!

I haven't mentioned my audiobook for a while, but I think I will finish Song of the Sunbird by Shankari Chandran this week. This is a book that covers around 60 years of Sri Lankan history. If you know anything about the recent history you might recall that there was a civil war in this island country so there were times when listening was quite confronting. I have enjoyed the book, but I do think I will be listening to something a bit lighter next!


I'm watching

A few weeks ago my sister mentioned a show called Home Town when we were talking about feel good shows. I started watching this week and it definitely qualifies as TV that you can watch and be left feeling better about life afterwards. The show features a couple who renovate homes. The twist is that all the houses are in their small home town of Laurel in Mississippi.  I will definitely be watching more.

A friend mentioned a documentary called Mont St Michel: Resistance Through the Ages. We visited Mont St Michel when we were in France 18 months ago. In fact, we were there on New Years Eve and we had an amazing night! Even without having visited, the documentary would have been fascinating but it was even more so seeing as we have visited.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Winter 2024 To-Read List

Cook the Books: Family Tree by Susan Wiggs
Sunday Salon: Rachael Johns Book Club Reader Retreat 2024



I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Sunday Salon: Rachael Johns Book Club Reader Retreat 2024

Last weekend, I spent the weekend with around 100 other readers and 18 authors at the Rachael Johns Book Club Reader Retreat. After the success of last year's event in Hahndorf, this one had a bit of a different feel as it was held at a big hotel which was located one block off the beach on the Gold Coast. It was nice to head up to Queensland where the weather was warm, the water was even warmer (at least according to the pilot when we were coming in to land), and there was much fun to be had! Robert came with me as it was an opportunity for him to visit his son who lives just up the road in Brisbane! Pretty sure I can't write a post about going to the Gold Coast without having at least one photo of the beach so here it is

The Friday night event was an Op Shop Glamour Cocktail Party. I don't really like shopping at Op Shops but I did find two outfits. One was a black dress with a glitzy part on the side. The other option was a purple ruffled number which is what I went with because I knew that I was bringing out the sparkles on Saturday night. 

For those that were keen you could either choose a run or some yoga early on Saturday morning. I chose to sleep! 

First up on Saturday, we had some readings from upcoming books from our hosts, Rachael Johns and Anthea Hodgson. I am a big fan of Rachael Johns - she was one of only two authors I continued to read when I had a reading slump that lasted years. I have only read two books by Anthea Hodgson. As soon as she started her reading, I knew exactly where the book was set and I already know I want to read the book when it comes out, presumably some time next year!

All through the weekend there were many different bookish related activities and plenty of chances to make catch up with old friends and to make new friends, all of whom have one things in common - a love of books! It was great to spend some time with Bree from All the Books I Can Read too! Here we are at the Op Shop Glam event. Bree is the administrator extraordinaire for the book club, and she also hosted one of the panels over the weekend!

It amazes me how much some people read. Some of the people on the retreat have read nearly every book club selection over the last few years. Back in the day I used to read a lot, but not so much these days.

Over the course of the weekend there were two book club sessions. The first was for Rachel Treasure's book Milking Time, which I hadn't read. I did read Tilda is Visible, so it was good to hear the author, Jane Tara, talk about the book.

One of the highlights is the author speed dating sessions which we had on both Saturday and Sunday. Each author comes around to the tables in turn, and in some way interact to tell us about their books, or just to have fun in some ways! I have definitely added books to my TBR list after these sessions! I posted about just some of these in last week's Top Ten Tuesday post.

There were also some interesting panels, and the weekend finished with a debate where the question asked was basically What's more important - plot or character. I found myself changing my vote with each speaker!

On the Saturday night it was the formal dinner where the theme was black and white. I bought out the sparkles big time. We were lucky enough to have author Anita Heiss at our table and we had a lot of fun!

There is so much more I could say, but I think I will leave it there by saying that this is the kind of event that  fills my cup! There won't be a retreat next year, but I already know I will be doing my best to attend the one in 2026, wherever it will be. There might be some dinners. Who knows, we might just find ourselves tripping up to Sydney so that we can go and see our table mates!

Weekend Cooking/Cook The Books: Family Tree by Susan Wiggs

This book is the current selection for Cook the Books, and the first I have read from Susan Wiggs which is kind of surprising given how long she has been writing for, and that she writes the kind of books I love.

Annie Rush has basically brought her dreams to fruition. Even as a young girl she used to pretend to make cooking shows, sharing the recipes that she learnt from her grandmother. As an adult, she now produces a very successful TV show called The Key Ingredient which features her charismatic and handsome husband. And now, she has just received some news that she can't wait to share with him.

Fast forward a year later  and Annie is back in her home town of Switchback, Vermont and she has to literally learn to how to live again. She needs to rely on her mother, father and brother for the most basic of activities, which brings its own challenges given that her mother and father have been divorced for years, and they don't get on at all. Whilst her father moved onto a new life, her mother stayed on the family farm where they produce maple syrup, and it is back on the farm where Annie begins to rebuild her life, one action, one memory and one dream at a time.

While Annie is still in hospital she is visited by Fletcher, her first love, the man who she left behind while she chased her food dreams. When Fletcher first moved to town as a teenager, her mother warned her off, but Annie and Fletcher gravitated towards each other time and time again, until life made them have to choose which paths to take and those paths lead away from each other. But Fletcher's path lead him in unexpected directions and he has ended up living a life that would have been hard for anyone to believe. 

The story is kind of fluid. We hear Annie's story as she recovers, as she recalls each new memory from the past and has to deal with her reaction to that memory. We also follow her to various times in her past as she recalls her relationship with Fletcher, about how she met her husband and more.

As Annie recovers, she gets the opportunity to build a new dream. The question is will that dream once again take Annie away from Switchback and away from Fletcher.

This was a very easy to read book and it is very food forward, and there were a lot of delicious sounding foods. I loved how passionate Annie was from a very young age, and this passion was very clear as we heard the story of how The Key Ingredient came to be the show it was. One of the questions for Annie is what does the future look like. Can she still live her food dreams or was her life changed irrevocably in the accident?

Assuming that more of Wiggs book that foodie focus, I will certainly read more from her!

When it came to deciding what to make for the cooking part of Cook the Books, I really wanted to to find a maple flavoured recipe. I mean, this book is set on a maple farm so it seems obvious. I did search through a few sites for maple syrup recipes, but it turns out that I am returning to a recipe that I first made a few years ago which came from the Queen website. The key maple syrup element is in the maple butter. This is a really simple way to inject maple syrup into a recipe and could potentially be used in a number of ways. For example, you could use whipped maple butter on pancakes, on other loaf style cakes like banana bread, on top of roasted pumpkin. So many uses! The last one might seem a bit odd but I did see a lot of roasted pumpkin and maple syrup recipes so the flavour combination should work! Although I probably wouldn't add the vanilla if I was going to use it on pumpkin!

Maple Butter Date Loaf

Loaf

300g pitted dates, chopped
1 ½ cups (375ml) water
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
130g butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (150g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 large eggs
2 cups (300g) self-rising flour

Maple butter

60g unsalted butter, room temperature


2 tbsp maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla bean paste


Preheat oven to 170C (fan forced). Grease and line a 23cm x 13cm loaf tin with baking paper.

Combine dates and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Take saucepan off the heat, add bicarbonate soda, and let sit for 15-20 minutes or until dates are tender.

In the bowl of a stand mixer. beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition. Turn the mixer down to low and add a third of the flour, followed by a third of the date mixture. Repeat using remaining flour and date mixture 1/3 at a time until fully incorporated.

Pour mixture into prepared loaf tin and bake for 55-60 minutes or until inserted skewer comes out clean. Let cool in tin for 10 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack.

For the maple butter, while loaf is cooling in tin, using a stand mixer or hand beaters, beat butter for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add maple syrup and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes. Serve the loaf warm with a smear of the whipped maple butter, or more accurately in our house, a generous slathering of the maple butter.

I am sharing this post with my fellow Cook the Books participants and with Foodier Read hosted at Based on a True Story

Weekly meals

Saturday - Away
Sunday - Away
Monday -Pork chops mash, beans and gravy
Tuesday -Chicken and vegetable stir fry
Wednesday - Tomato and Rice Soup
Thursday - Pork nachos
Friday - Fancy 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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Winter 2024 To-Read List

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 Summer Winter 2024 To-Read List. Now I am going to twist it a bit and talk about just some of the books by authors who attended the Rachael Johns Book Club Reader Retreat over the last weekend (pictured above). I do feel a bit guilty that I can't talk about all the authors, but this is Top TEN Tuesday. I will talk more about the actual event next weekend

Anita Heiss - I am very much looking forward to reading the next book, Dirrayawadha, which is out in July. I am also looking to seeing at what books come out under the indigenous imprint which Heiss talked about this weekend.

Rachael Johns - I bought The Other Bridget months ago. Now it is signed I should probably read it right?

Sophie Green - I feel like I should have already read Sophie Green!

Clare Fletcher - I love the sound of Clare Fletcher's book, Five Bush Weddings.

Michael Trant - The only male author at the retreat!

Susan Mackie - I love the story behind the covers of the books in the series. And a book about a book club - yes please!

Fiona McArthur - I have read a couple of Fiona McArthur books which were part of a connected series. Time to read some of her other books!

Karina May -With a title like Duck A L'Orange for Breakfast, I should already have read this!

Leanne Lovegrove - When Leanne said that she adds a little twist of France into each book, I knew I would need to read this.

Cathryn Hein - I read this author as part of the same connected series as Fiona McArthur.

This week....

Max

It was this handsome boys second birthday last week!

I'm reading

It's been a really busy reading week this week!

I finished The Itinerary by Penny Pentley, started and finished Clara Reads Proust by Stephani Carlier, both of which continue my recent run of French inspired reads. 

Next up I started and finished a short intro prequel to a series called The Barrington Series. I heard about this series over the weekend. The newest book in particular sounds appealing, but I thought I would start with this free prequel.

Finally, I started reading Midnight Blue by Simone van der Vlugt. This is a third book that will count for my read on a theme bookclub. The theme this month is Translated Books. I suspect they will give me some grief about over-achieving. What can I say?

I'm Watching

Who has time to watch anything!

Life


It's been a really busy week! Last week I spent a couple of days in Sydney as I was welcoming a new team member. I flew up on Monday, which was a public holiday, so I had a bit of time. I therefore took the opportunity to do a harbour cruise to see the amazing lights around the harbour as part of #vividSydney. 

I was home for a day and then we flew up to the Gold Coast for Rachael Johns Book Club Reader Retreat. This is the second retreat which I have attended, and it was fabulous. This is an opportunity to interact with other book people and authors. I plan to write more about this over the weekend!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Same, Same But Different!

Blog Tour: The Riviera House Swap by Gillian Harvey

Weekend Cooking: Masterchef Alumni







I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Weekend Cooking: Masterchef Alumni

Last weekend we splurged and went for dinner in a new pop-up dinner which was run by a former alumni of Masterchef Australia. We justified this by saying that it was a special occasion, but really we loved the idea of eating a menu that has been put together by a former contestant on Masterchef.

Over a period of a couple of months, there are several different chefs who are hosting the Alumn restaurant at the casino. The first chef was Kishwar who appeared on Masterchef Australia in 2021. The third chef is Khan Hong from 2018, and then there is a mystery chef who will be announced later in June which I am assuming will be the winner of the current series. We chose to attend the second pop-up which was hosted by Calum Hann, who was in the second series of Masterchef Australia in 2010.

The dinner was a four course set menu, which means that there were several things on the menu that I wouldn't normally pick if I was going to choose items off a menu.

The first course was Rosemary Foccacia with Brown Butter Hummus and Oysters with Cherry Vinaigrette and Chive Oil. Now I don't love oysters, so it isn't something I would normally choose but I did enjoy these ones. The hummus was amazing, especially the roasted chickpeas which added a really crunchy element to the dish

.

The second course was Venison Tartare with Black Garlic and Artichoke Chips, which is something I wouldn't normally pick from a menu.  The other dish was Kingfish Crudo with blood orange and ponzu. The chef recommended eating the fish first as it was lighter.

The main course was a slow roast lamb shoulder with zhoug and pearl couscous, served with a persimmon and fennel salad.

The final course was a chocolate cremeux with a mandarin sorbet and a salt and pepper chocolate bark. The bark was really interesting. In addition to the salt and pepper, there was something herby included in the bark and I haven't quite figured out what it was. Maybe lavender, but that is a total guess.

One of the cool things about this pop-up was that the chef, Calum, came around to talk to every table. In our case, he delivered the second course, asked us what our favourite parts of the first course was.

It was only later in the night that I realised that there was a table nearby which had 4 of the competitors from the current series of Masterchef on it. It's not the first time someone from Masterchef has wanted to eat with us. When we were in Broome a while ago, Mel Leong, one of the previous judges, was at the same restaurant we were. What can I say....we're trendsetters.

This definitely counts as a memorable meal! I am tempted to book in for the mystery chef but we'll see

I am away this weekend and so no Mr Linky. Please leave your links in the comments..

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

Blog Tour: The Riviera House Swap by Gillian Harvey

 

When Nina receives divorce papers on her 40th birthday she knows it is time for a change. She has been quite conservative, staying in a job she didn't love for 15 years, in a marriage where she wasn't happy. It's time to do something new. 

When she thinks back, the moment where she was happiest was when she met a handsome French boy named Pierre while she was on a school exchange programme when she was 15 years old. What if he was really The One. I mean, Pierre and Nina had intended to elope and live happily ever after but it didn't end up happening...obviously.

With the divorce going through and her house for sale, Nina knows that her immediate fate is to move into her parents house. And so, in a moment of madness, Nina finds a house exchange with a man named Jean-Luc. She will travel to his house on the French Riviera and he will come to England to live in the house that she is about to sell.

Once she arrives at Jean-Luc's house she meets his siblings, Sabine and Antoine, and soon they too are helping her in her attempts to track Pierre down. It doesn't actually take long but the question whether Pierre remembers Nina with as much fondness as she does him.

I always really enjoy Gillian Harvey's books and this was no exception.  When this book was announced I felt quite surprised. We had already had a new book this year (the excellent Bordeaux Book Club) so this was a bonus! 

What do I love about her books? I love the taste of France that she brings to life in each and every story. While each book is about expats living in France, it is always a different aspect of life. In this case, Nina is just planning to be in France for a month rather than moving there. I would be very happy to find myself living in France for a month, although I would be with my husband and not looking for a long lost love.

I did like this book, although Nina does make some strange choices! I really liked the friendships that Nina built with Sabine and Antoine, as well as the friends from home. There was a lovely little side story as well.

Once again, Gillian Harvey brings us a very readable about life in France. I just read on her socials that she has moved back to the UK after 10 years in France. I will be interested to see if there comes a point where she starts writing about life in the UK or if her love for France will sustain her through a few more books yet.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour below to see what others thought.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog.

About the Book

The Riviera House Swap

Would you swap houses with a stranger?

Nina has always played it safe. But when her divorce papers come through on her fortieth birthday she decides enough is enough.

She’s always chosen the sensible route, staying in her stable job and marrying her rather boring ex. In fact – she realises – she’s chosen security over excitement for years. Ever since she refused to elope with her first love: beautiful, poetic, thoughtful Pierre, the man she met aged 17, on her French exchange. The only man who ever made her heart race.

Maybe it’s time to take a few risks?

Impulsively she goes online and finds another kind of French exchange… a house-swap. She can’t imagine what French businessman Jean-Luc wants with her terraced home in rural England, but she can’t wait to stay in his beautiful, spacious, bougainvillea-strewn villa on the French riviera.

She’s not just there for the house though. She’s decided to find the love she missed all those years ago. But will Pierre still be the man of her dreams after all this time?

As two lives collide, will love bloom on the French riviera?

Purchase Link  - https://mybook.to/therivierahousesocial

About the author 

Gillian Harvey is a freelance journalist and the author of two well-reviewed women’s fiction novels published by Orion. She has lived in Limousin, France for the past twelve years, from where she derives the inspiration and settings for her books such as A Year at the French Farmhouse and A Month in Provence.

Social Media Links –  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gharveyauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GillPlusFive

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gillplusfive/

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/GillianHarveyNews

Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gillian-harvey

Top Ten Tuesday: Same, Same But Different

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Bookish Wishes (List the top 10 books you’d love to own and include a link to your wishlist so that people can grant your wishes. Make sure you link your wishlist to your mailing 

address or include the email address associated with your e-reader in the list description so people know how to get the book to you. After you post, jump around the Linky and grant a wish or two if you’d like. Please don’t feel obligated to send anything to anyone!).

Now, I have more than enough books so don't need anyone to buy me any, so I am going with my own theme. I have had this post sitting in draft for a while now since I first thought of it so it seems like a good opportunity to post it.

So I bring you different books with the same title

The Secret Ingredient - Sue Heath and Nancy Naigle - I read the Sue Heath book earlier this year and loved it.

Inheritance - Nora Roberts and Christopher Paolini - It's pretty clear from the covers that they are very different books

The Tea Planters Daughter - Janet McLeod Trotter  and Sara Banerji - I think I have both of these books on my Kindle

Hungry Ghosts - C J Barker and Kevin Jared Hosein - These books were both reviewed for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge so it threw my stats out a little bit until I realised it was different authors 

Life After Life - Kate Atkinson and Jill McCorkle - I listened to the Atkinson book years ago.  Must get to the next book at some point.

Can you think of other examples? There are lots out there.

This week...

I'm reading

Last week I mentioned that I was starting An Astronomer in Love by Antoine Laurain. What a delight this book was. I am planning to review this and a couple of other books by this author as part of Paris in July. If you haven't read Laurain before, keep an eye out for his books!

I then continued my book visit to France and read The Riviera House Swap by Gillian Harvey. I really like her books and this was no exception. My review for this will be up later this week. 

I then have a big gap before my next review book is due, so in theory I could read anything. Do you know how hard it is to choose what to read next when there are no parameters. Talk about paralysis by analysis. In the end I started The Itinerary by Penny Pentley. You can tell from the cover that at least some of this book will be set in Paris.

I'm watching


Nothing much!


Life


The highlight of the last week was my birthday dinner. We went to a pop up restaurant called Alumni which was being run by Masterchef Australia alumni, Calum Hann. It was a four course set menu and that means that you end up eating things that you might not otherwise try! More about that in Weekend Cooking this week.

I am in Sydney for work for a couple of days this week, and then going to the Gold Coast for the weekend so it's a bit frantic here at the moment.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Happy! 

Blog Tour: The Golden Gals' French Adventure by Judy Leigh

Weekend Cooking: The Chocolate Factory by Mary-Lou Stephens

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May Statistics



I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May stats

For the last couple of years I have been sharing statistics each month for the Historical challenge, and my plan is to continue to do this again this year. I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I think I have visited almost all the reviews submitted and have added a couple of books to my never ending TBR list

In terms of the books, there were 62 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 24 participants. This is an increase over the last couple of months. There were 58 individual titles reviewed, written by 58 different authors. There were 3 reviewers who reviewed more than 5 books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 8 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in April?  There were actually 4 3 books that were reviewed twice, which is the most we have had for a while.

The first one was A Plague of Serpents by K J Maitland, the fourth and final book in the Daniel Pursglove. This book was reviewed by Helen at She Reads Novels and Cathy at What Cathy Read Next.

The next book which was reviewed twice was Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner, which is the third book in the Jane Austen Society series. This book was reviewed by Laura at Laura's Reviews and by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews.

Next up we have a book called For a Lifetime by Gabrielle Meyer, which is book 3 in the Timeless series. This book was reviewed by Barbara at Stray Thoughts and by Laura at Laura's Reviews

In a strange coincidence we had two book reviewed which both have the title Hungry Ghosts but they were by different authors!

We did have one other author who had more than one book reviewed this month. Bev at My Reader's Block read the two latest books in the Sebastian St Cyr series by C S Harris, Who Cries for the Lost and What Cannot be Said.

I look forward to seeing what everyone reads in June for the challenge

Weekend Cooking: The Chocolate Factory by Mary-Lou Stephens

A couple of years ago I read and enjoyed Mary-Lou Stephen's debut novel, Last of the Apple Blossoms, which was set in Tasmania and is about the demise of the apple orchards. This novel, her second, is once again set in Tasmania but this time focuses on the establishment of the Cadbury chocolate factory in a town called Clarement, just outside Hobart, in the 1920s.

Our story starts with a group who are making the journey from the original Cadbury factory near Birmingham in England. Together they are travelling across the world to Hobart where work has begun to build a new Cadbury factory. Our main character is Mrs Dorothy Adwell. She had worked for years in the original factory, and shown a keen interest in the mechanical aspects of the machinery in the factory. Her talent and potential have been recognised and she has been chosen to go to Australia as a supervisor.

Mrs Adwell employs a young woman called Maisie Greenwood. Maisie has had to work from a very young age to help her mother make ends meet. After an interview process which included a home visit to establish her character and her familial situation, Maisie is excited to begin working at Cadbury's and not just because of the endless supplies of chocolate. She hopes that the additional benefits such as night school will help her get on in life. Her main aim is also to ensure that her bright younger sister might escape needing to start working at the tender age of 14 and that she will be able to continue her education.

Both Dorothy and Maisie inadvertently get caught up in in plots to steal the much coveted recipe for Cadbury Dairy Milk. It's hard to believe that establishing a chocolate factory could be such a hotbed of controversary and industrial espionage. There were already Australian chocolate makers and so they weren't keen to have what is one of the largest confectionary companies in the world come to Australia. There was also controversy about how much it was costing Australians in subsidising the new factory.

As much as this book is about starting a new industry in Australia, it is also about the aftermath of war. Each of our characters are dealing with the legacy of WWI. Dorothy is dealing with the loss of her husband. Similarly Maisie and her family are living a life where they are having to work hard due to the loss of her father in the conflict, and there are characters with shellshock, for examples.

If you know about the history of British chocolate makers, then you may be aware that Quakerism has  played a huge role in the industry. This is yet another strand of the story that we get to know in the pages of this book.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review, Foodie Reads hosted at Based on a True Story and with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host.

When the book was released, the publishers shared a couple of original recipes from the 1920s, so I thought I would share a couple of them here.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Apple and Rhubarb pie with custard and cream
Sunday - Steak nachos
Monday -Chicken Kiev, mash, beans and gravy
Tuesday -Chicken and vegetable stir fry
Wednesday - Pork chop, mash, broccoli, carrots, gravy
Thursday -
Friday - Fancy 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

Blog Tour: The Golden Gals' French Adventure by Judy Leigh

 

I am sure that you all know that I am a sucker for anything to do with France. It turns out I am a sucker for Judy Leigh books too, so a Judy Leigh book set predominantly in France....winner, winner!!

69 year old Fliss appears to have it all. Appearances can be deceiving though. She has run a successful business, she has amazing shoes, a glamourous wardrobe, a lovely house, she can pop over to Paris whenever it suits her, and she can attract unsuitable men without even really trying. What she doesn't have is any true friendships, or anyone to share her life with. 

Thankfully Fliss has a Shirl. Shirl is her cleaner, driver, confidante and anything else that she needs. Shirl is also a mum, and grandma. She is the kind of woman who will do anything for anyone, to the point that it might seem as though she is being taken advantage of. She's been known to pick up an inebriated Fliss from late night drinking session, and still be on call to be chief babysitter for her cute granddaughter, Macey Roux.

Shirl also challenges Fliss to do better, to be better. After Fliss meets an old flame in Paris, she is impressed by his change of outlook. Manu invites Fliss to his hometown of  Plouvannec-Sur-Mer in Brittany, and so she convinces Shirl to come with her, even if it means that Macey Roux has to come with them.

In the town of Plouvannec-Sur-Mer, Fliss and Shirl get to meet a wide array of French characters including Manu's feisty father Maurice who is doing his best to hide from Clotilde, who wants to kiss him whenever she can, Manu's grumpy brother Theo, Joel who owns the local restaurant, and not to forget Bernard who learnt English from an old novel and therefore has quite an odd grasp of the language.

We get to explore the food and culture of Brittany through Fliss and Shirl's eyes, and this is one area where the author excels. It is not her first book where the characters end up in France and her love of the area shines through. I also enjoyed the way that learning the language was portrayed. I am currently learning French through Duolingo, just a few minutes each day, and I found myself able to follow on with the basics at times, which was lovely.

Whilst some of the characters have some real soul searching to do, it is done in such a way that it is balanced with humour and charm!

This is another fun read from the prolific Judy Leigh, who writes under more than one name! She is described in her bio as the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre, and it is in apt description.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog.

Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Check out some of the other stops on the blog tour.

About the Book

The Golden Gals' French Adventure

Sixty-nine-year-old Fliss has lived a life!

A career running her own successful business, a beautiful home, a wardrobe full of designer clothes – Fliss has everything she ever wanted. So why does she feel so lonely?

Sixty-six-year-old Shirl didn’t expect to be looking after a baby again, let alone a grown woman who should know better. But with her daughter Gemma struggling to adapt to motherhood, and her boss Fliss increasingly reliant on Shirl to run her life, Shirl never gets a moment to herself.

Fliss might not be great at life’s chores, but she is great at seizing opportunities, so when the chance for a jaunt to France’s beautiful Brittany comes her way, she decides it’s just what she and Shirl need. And as the sun-soaked town of Plouvannec-Sur-Mer begins to work its magic on the women, they realise there’s another way to live.

From cake-laden patisseries, to joyous local fetes, from food, views and beaches to die for, to a community quick to embrace them, not to mention some rather fine French men for company, perhaps it’s not too late for Fliss and Shirl to embrace a new adventure and look forwards to a totally different future.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/thegoldengalssocial

About the Author –

Judy Leigh is the USA Today bestselling author of The Old Girls’ Network and Five French Hens and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.

 

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