Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books With Occupations in the Title (Submitted by Hopewell’s Public Library of Life)
The Postmistress by Alison Stuart - A young woman moves to a small country town in Victoria in the 1870s and starts working as the postmistress. (My review)
The Map Maker's Promise by Catherine Law - This is a WWII novel which follows a woman whose top secret job is to update the maps with new information following bombing runs. (My review)
The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy - I'm pretty sure I could find a lot of baker titles, but I am going to limit to just two. This one is one of the earliest WWII novels that is like the novels you would expect to read today. (My review)
The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller - I read this a couple of years ago as part of Cook the Books. (My review)
The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin - I really enjoyed this WWII novel which is set in both Portugal and France. (My review)
The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley - It was only when I read this book that I found out that The King's Messenger is a very specific role, and it still exists. (My review)
The Jam Maker by Mary-Lou Stephens - I have really enjoyed all of Mary-Lou Stephens historical fiction foodie novels set in Tasmania (My review)
The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner - This is another WWII novel where a dancer becomes caught up in resistance activities. (My review)
The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain - What happens when the president leaves his hat in a Paris restaurant. Quite a lot actually. (My review)
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai - The food detective help bring the memories of past meals back to life. (My review)
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books Set In X (Pick a setting and share books that are all set there. This could be a specific continent or country, a state, in outer space, underwater, on a ship or boat, at the beach, etc.) I am choosing to do books set in and around kitchens, so could feature cafe owners, cooks and more!
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - a scientist becomes a TV cooking show host. (my review)
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan - Four home cooks compete for the chance to co-host (my review)
The City Bakers Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller - A pastry chef flees Boston after a culinary disaster and finds herself in small town Vermont (my review)
Celebrations in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen - Sandy, the main character in this book, owns a baking and catering business (my review)
Finding Family at the Cornish Cove by Kim Nash - Gemma is running the local cafe in this book set in Cornwall (my review)
The Enchanted Garden Cafe by Abigail Drake - This cafe is run by a character called Fiona and is located in Pittsburgh. (my review)
Love and Saffron by Kim Fay - This is a story of inter-generational friendship that formed from a mutual love of food (my review)
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa - Another story of inter-generational friendship set in a cafe that only sells doriyaki. My review for this one will be posted in January.
Battle Royal by Lucy Parker - Two bakers compete for the opportunity to cook for a royal wedding.
Finding Love at the Christmas Market by Jo Thomas - Connie loves baking, and is looking for love online which leads her to a German Christmas market.
This book the current selection for Cook the Books. It's not one I remember hearing about before but I read it while I was on holidays and I thoroughly enjoyed it. With some books you know from the first chapter that it is your kind of book, and this was one of those books.
Olivia Rawlings is a talented pastry chef, but she does have other talents too, specifically for getting herself into troublesome situations that she then runs away from. The book opens when she accidentally sets fire to the restaurant she works at while carrying a Bombe Alaska. Thankfully she knows that she can run to her friend's home in a small town in Vermont, which will allow her lay low until the dust settles.
Once there she begins working at the Sugar Maple Inn, where her boss, Margaret, is a very opinionated woman with extremely high standards and very little warmth. Livvy needs the work and a place to live so she accepts the role regardless of the challenges that she knows she will face. Fortunately, other people in the town are more welcoming.
The food descriptions in this book were amazing! I often found myself wishing I was able to eat the food that was being described. It's not only about food though. There is lots of music, a story of found family, and yes, a touch of romance! One of the things that surprised me was the reference to a version of square dancing which took me back to my childhood years. My parents were square dance callers and they ran clubs. As an aside, I can't quite believe that it has taken me 18 years of blogging to mention that!
Livvy was a good character despite her tendency to run whenever the going got tough. I love the relationships that she build with some of the older characters in the novel.
This was Louise Miller's first novel and I am excited to read more from her, especially if the future books have a foodie feel to them too!
One of the big components of the book is that the owner of the inn, Margaret, wants to her pastry chef to be able to bake the perfect apple pie so that she can win the local baking competition, especially in the face of her lifelong feud with one of the other contestants.
When I was thinking about what to make it seems obvious that the best recipe to cook would be apple pie, but that wasn't really ap-peel-ing to me (see what I did there!). There was even a recipe for apple pie included in the book. I did, however, still intend to do something inspired by apple pie so I went looking for some recipes using that as my search term. I did look at some really very fancy Apple Pie Cakes but I must confess I have lost my confidence in making really complicated cakes. I should challenge myself to do something complicated again but not when I just got off a plane. It needed to be something simple this time.
If you break down the components of an apple pie, there is pastry, apple filling with cinnamon notes and then it is served with cream. So instead of apple pies, I bring you Apple Turnovers. I sort of took inspiration from a few different recipes for making this
Apple Turnovers
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and dices into small cubes
2 tsp cornflour 1 tspn cinnamon 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla extract Pinch salt 2 square puff pastry sheets
1 egg , whisked
Put apples in a large saucepan and then toss with cornflour and the add the rest of the filling ingredients. Cook on medium to medium-high heat, stirring regularly, for 5 minutes. Apple should be softened and the sauce slightly thickened.
Spread the filling on a large plate then let it cool completely
Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F (180°C fan).
Line a large cutting board with baking paper.
Allow the pastry sheets to thaw slightly and then cut into 4 squares (approximiately 12.5cm). Brush 2 edges with egg, then pile filling on the egg brushed side.
Fold over, seal with fork dipped in flour (prevents sticking to pastry) and then place on the paper lined cutting board.
Refrigerate for 20 minutes
Slide the paper with the turnovers on it onto a large baking tray. Brush turnovers with egg. Pierce a couple of times with a knife and then bake for 25 minutes or until golden.
Serve warm with whipped cream or fill with stabilised whip cream once cool, if you can wait that long.
These were delicious. The only thing was that my frozen pastry was a bit old and so there were parts that were a bit dry. Next time we buy some pastry I will make some of these again with fresh pastry.
The next selection for Cook the Books is Under Cooked by Dan Ahdoot. I will also be sharing this review with Foodie Reads hosted at Based on a True Story.
Weekly meals
Saturday -
Sunday - Apple Turnovers
Monday -
Tuesday - Mexican Chicken and Rice
Wednesday - One Pan Butter Chicken Thursday - Out
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 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.
