Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This
week the theme is
Typographic Book Covers (Book covers with a design that is all or mostly all words. You can also choose to do books with nice typography if that’s easier!) (Submitted by Mareli @ Elza Reads)
It is interesting when you look at trends in covers. If we look at historical romance as an example. Not too long ago most covers were clinch covers with women in gorgeous dresses but these days it isn't as standard. Now, there are font covers or cartoonny in amongst the big dresses.
I haven't focussed on just one genre, but here is my Top Ten Tuesday post featuring typographic book covers.
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich - The reality is that you could have picked any one of the Stephanie Plum books as they are pretty much all typographic covers!
Love Stories by Trent Dalton - Given that this is a selection of very short stories, this cover makes sense as there isn't one single story to tell
Someone I Used to Know by Paige Toon - Plenty of rom-coms have wordy covers!
The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks - This cover is very eye catching.
The Great Passage by Shion Miura - This book is all about the words, inside and out!
The People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry - All of Emily Henry's covers have been wordy so far.
Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - Such a fun cover and book!
Normal People by Sally Rooney - Quite a few of the covers for this book have bold typography on the cover.
Don't You Forget About Me - Another author who has a lot of these style of covers.
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - This cover does not convey the emotional nature of this book at all!
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the topic is Dynamic Duos (Submitted by Elley @ Elley the Book Otter). My orginal thought was that I was going to really struggle to come up with many dynamic duos, so I started to do a twist on the theme. However, a bit of thought and I managed to come up with ten so my twisted topic will need to wait until the freebie in April.
Some of my duos are more dynamic than others but they are all memorable in their own ways.
Jamie and Claire from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Murderbot and ART from Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (part of the Murderbot series)
Death and Susan from the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
Alex Clairmont-Diaz and Prince Henry from Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Yelena and Valek from Poison Study series by Maria V Snyder
Madame Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi from the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series
Alexander and Tatiana from The Bronze Horsemanby Paullina Simons
Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Nicholas Brisbane and Lady Julia Grey from The Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn
Amelia Peabody and Emerson from the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week it is a freebie, but related to love! When I was deciding what books to choose, I decided to share the last ten romances I read which I rated as either 4.5 or 5 out of 5.
Snowy Mountains Daughter by Alissa Callen - I really enjoyed this book and I am super excited that the follow up has just been released.
Red White and Royal blue by Casey McQuiston - Despite loving this book I still haven't read the follow up book.
The Prenup by Lauren Layne - This was so much fun!
Beach Read by Emily Henry - Another really fun read. I liked The People We Meet on Vacation too and I am very much looking forward to Book Lovers which is out in May.
Something to Talk About by Rachael Johns - Rachael Johns is one of my go to authors and has been for many years
Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare - Once upon a time I read a lot of historical romance, but not so much anymore. Tessa Dare is an exception as she makes me laugh.
Hearts on Hold by Charish Reid - A sexy librarian features in this interracial romance.
Last Bridge Before Home by Lily Malone - I enjoyed this one and I am looking forward to the new Lily Malone novel.
The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary - I mentioned before that I used to read a lot of historical romance, but I didn't read a lot of contemporary romance. This book is an example of why my reading has swung around, along with several other books on this list.
Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - My final choice is old school and a book I have listened to mulitple times on audio.
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is 2021 Releases I was excited to readd but didn't get to. Now, it's going to be a very short post if I just say all of them, so let me work through some of my posts from last year!
Go Tell the Bees That I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon - I have been invested in this series for at least 20 years. Normally by this stage I would have bought the book the first time I saw it in the shop and finished it. I will read it at some point I am sure.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston - I really enjoyed Red, White and Royal Blue so I was very excited about this book coming out.
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah - I have several books still to read by Kristin Hannah. I did intend to read this one!
The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley - I have listened to all of the Seven Sisters books and they are all very long books. I am just not sure when I am going to have time to listen to this one.
From the Ashes by Kristina Gruell - This is the first in a series written by a friend of mine who I met on the forums for Sara Donati back in the day.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - I haven't actually read Andy Weir before, but the movie of his book The Martian is one of my all time favourites.
The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper - This author wrote one of my few 5/5 reads for last year so I really should read this one.
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr - I loved All the Light We Cannot See and I have heard good things about this book too.
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin - I have heard such good things about this book
Still Life by Sarah Winman - Several people I know have raved about this book. I just started it this week and so far so good.
Whenever I read a book I always mark passages about food, books, Christmas or Paris which might then make it to be posted one day. Books don't have to be particularly foodie to have passages about food. Or particularly bookie to have passages about books. Or particularly Parissy to have passages about Paris, although generally they at least have to be partially set in Paris for that to happen.
Last week I read Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, which is a romance about what happens if the First Son of the United States happened to fall in love with a prince from Britain. It was a very entertaining read. There were a couple of passages that stood out, both of which related to both food, but also the time before the main character's parents got divorced.
Here's one of those passages:
Oscar may be the cook of the family, but Alex's mom was the one who grilled. It didn't always track in Pemberton Heights - his Mexican dad in the house diligently soaking a tres leches while his blond mom stood out in the yard flipping burgers - but it worked. Alex determinedly picked up the best from both of them, and now he's the only one here who can handle racks of ribs while Oscar does the rest.
The kitchen of the lake house faces from the water, always smelling like citrus and salt and herbs, and his dad keeps it stocked with plum tomatoes and clay-soft avocados when they're visiting. He's standing in fron of the big open windows now, three racks of ribs spread out on pans on the counter in front of him. His dad is at the sink, shucking ears of corn and humming along to an old Chente record.
Brown sugar. Smoked paprika. Onion powder. Chili powder. Garlic powder. Cayenne pepper. Salt. Pepper. More brown sugar. Alex measures each one out with his hands and dumps them into the bowl.
And then a bit later
They eat later that evening, big piles of elotes, pork tamales with salsa verde, a clay pot of frijoles charros, ribs. Henry gamely piles his plate with some of each and eyeballs it as if waiting for it to reveal its secrets to him, and Alex realises Henry has never eaten barbecue with his hands before.
Alex demonstrates and watches with poorly concealed glee as Henry gingerly picks up a rib with his fingertips and considers his approach, cheering as Henry dives in face-first and rips a hunk of meat off with his teeth. He chews proudly, a huge smear of barbecue sauce across his upper lip and the tip of his nose.
That last line is why ribs are something that I generally wouldn't order in a restaurant.
It just so happens that a couple of our kids are coming for dinner tonight and we are going to have barbecue, but not this kind of barbecue.
I have posted before about the differences in language and meaning which occurs between English speaking countries.
If my understanding is correct, then in some parts of the US what is described above is definitely barbecue whereas my definition of barbecue is more along the lines of grilling. To me to grill something is to put it under the grill section in the oven, which I think in the US would be called broiling. Fortunately we don't call anything broiling as far as I know! Of course, in our house, there is also a difference between a barbecue and a braai (the South African version of barbecue). Whilst the tools and equipment are similar, there are some differences between what you cook. Even just thinking about the braai we had when we were there has my mouth watering at the thought of really thick cut bacon being braaied - something I haven't had here. I have, however, had normal thickness bacon cooked on the barbie with eggs for breakfast. Anyway, I digress.
Last year we were given a slow cooker/pressure cooker combo which has been one of most successful gadget acquisitions. We have used it a quite a lot, which is good compared to those gadgets that you have to buy and then they sit in the cupboard unused. One of the recipes that we have cooked quite a lot is one for pork ribs. It comes from a book that we picked up quite randmoly but which we really enjoy cooking from. It gives you the recipes for cooking something either in the slow cooker or in the pressure cooker so you can decide which method suits you onthe day you are going to make it. So handy.
The actual recipe in the book includes a Cheesy Coleslaw, which we haven't yet made from scratch. Last time my son made this recipe we bought a pre-packaged coleslaw mix but he still added in the cheese. What a revelation that was!
Smoky Sticky Pork Ribs
2kg (4lb) American-style pork ribs
1 1/4 cups (310ml) water
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 cup (280g) barbecue sauce
1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
1/4 cup (55g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Cut pork ribs into pieces that will fit into the pieces that will fit into the pressure cooker.
Combine ribs and the water in a 6 litre (24 - cup) pressure cooker: secure lid. Bring cooker to high pressure. Reduce heat to stabilise pressure; cook for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Preheat grill (broiler)
Release pressure using the quick release method; remove lid. Drain ribs; combine with barbecue mixture. Place ribs, in a single layer, on oiled wire rack over large shallow baking dish filled with 1cm (1/2 inch) water. Grill ribs about 8 minutes or until browned, turning halfway through cooking time, basting with remaining barbecue mixture.
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.
Last week I finished reading The Winemaker''s Wife by Kristin Harmel which I did enjoy. It is set in the region around Reims in France, which is where champagne is made. I have read books before which talked about how the caves were used in both world wars, which didn't make this book any less interesting! I will definitely read more from this author.
I also started and finished reading Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston which I loved. It is a book that I have been aware of for quite some time, and I listened to the author speak as part of Melbourne Writers Festival last year. What finally prompted me to pick the book up and actually read it was a Goodreads recommendation for Valentine's Day about 52 Most Popular Romances in the last 3 years and this was the first book on the list.
I am going to start the new series by Aliss Callen which begins with Snowy Mountains Daughter. I own a number of Alissa Callen books from her previous series which currently has 7 books in it but I haven't read any of them. I am therefore choosing to get in right from the first book for this series!
I'm watching...
I have so many things to watch on my list but for whatever reason we just don't seem to be actually watching much.
We did start watching Wandavision. The first couple of episodes didn't make a lot of sense, but now that we have watched all the available episodes it is all coming together, and it is all very Marvel universe. I guess now we wait for each new episode like everyone else.
Life...
Well, we are back in strict lockdown again. In theory it is for 5 days so due to finish on Wednesday but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it is extended.
I was tested for the first time yesterday and fortunately the result came back as negative in less than 24 hours. I have a head cold that seems to be moving to my chest and so because of the similarity in symptoms I thought it was a good idea to get tested. The other reason is that I wanted to be able to go and see a doctor should I need to. A few years ago I had a bout of pneumonia so I am also a bit cautious about chest infections.
If lockdown is extended it will have another impact for us. My lovely Granny died at the age of 100 last week. We already knew that we wouldn't be able to go over to Perth for the funeral because you can't get into Perth without doing a 2 week self isolation, but with our current lockdown you can't even do that. We will therefore be watching the funeral online. I am hoping that we will be able to watch with my sister and her family, but we will see what happens. If the lockdown is extended we won't be able to watch it together.
My grandmother, Olive, was born in London in 1920, but lived the majority of her life in Perth. When I think about her life, I can't help but think of the changes that she saw. She sailed to Australia (twice, once on her own), she lived on small farms for the majority of her life, saw the introduction of television and the internet and so much more. We moved away from Perth when I was 10 so lived apart for a long time, but my grandparents always did everything they could to stay connected to us, which I will always be grateful for. For many years she could remember everyone's birthdays (from grandchildren to great grandchildren of whch there are many) and what she couldn't remember was always in the little book by her chair.
Over the years she worked hard, including for years as a housecleaner, but she also bred prize winning Australian Silky Terrier dogs. She knitted and crocheted for charities until she was in her late 80s/early 90s. She loved The Wind in the Willows book and adaptations. My grandfather died 9 years ago at the age of 103 after more than 65 years of marriage, so it is nice to think of her being reunited with him now.
I know that I have been very lucky to be nearly 50 years of age and to have only just lost the last of my grandparents. My parents are also both still alive. If I mention the fact that Granny's mother died at the age of 104 then that suggests that we are a long lived bunch, although I don't think I will be continuing that.
Speaking of lucky, we were able to have a nice dinner for Valentine's Day. It just looked a bit different than we expeected. Originally we were planning to go to dinner at a local winery but obviously once the lockdown was announced that plan went out the window. Instead, we ordered a steak meal from a French restaurant near the city which we just had to finish off and then we sat on the deck for dinner. It was a lovely meal and now I am thinking that we need to actually visit that restaurant.
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