Sunday Salon: 2020 in review

Well......what a year 2020 was hey?

I thought I should put my review post for last year together today, otherwise it is going to be June and I won't have done it yet.

Reading wise, last year was a pleasant surprise for me. I set my Goodreads goal at 50 books, thinking that was going to be quite optimistic, but by the end of the year I had revised that up to 75 books, and I exceeded that goal as well. 10 years ago I would have been horrified at reading 75 books in a year but now I think that goal feels about right. My best reading year since I started recording my reads was 243, but the worst during my prolonged reading slump was only 13 so 75 seems like a happy medium.

First off, I never got around to doing my monthly posts for November and December so I'll do that first. Things got very hectic at work at the end of the year and I only finished 3 books from mid November and one of those was an audio that it took me a couple of months to get through, so it's not even as though I read the full book in that month.

My November reads were:

From a Paris Balcony by Ella Carey (3.5/5) - The third and final book in the Paris Balcony trilogy by Australian author Ella Carey. Read my review here.

The Lost Village by Danielle Sacerdoti (4.5/5) - I really enjoyed this novel set in a small Italian village. See my review here.

Wildflower Ridge by Maya Linnell (3.5/5) - This is the debut novel by Australian author Maya Linnell. I learnt of this author via her posts on Instagram. I need to read the follow up novel soon.

The Flip Side by James Bailey (4/5) - This was a fun premise. A man is turned down when he proposes to his long term girlfriend, and vows to make all of his life decisions based on the flip of a coin.

And in December

Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan  (4/5) - I have really enjoyed all of the books set on Mure and thsi was no exception. Unfortunately it took me a good couple of months to listen to this book because it was just too hard to listen to while I have been so busy at work!

Clean Slate by Zoe Foster Blake (2/5) - I thought I would try this book, which I guess is more of a novella, because it was a short listen. I enjoyed the narrator, Australian actor Stephen Curry, but oh, my goodness, the characters were awful. 

So let's have a look at the stats for 2020 shall we.

I gave four books the maximum rating possible of 5/5. They were 

 The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke  (review)

The Goldminer's Sister by Alison Stuart (review)

The Heirloom Garden by Viola Shipman (review)

The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte (review)

The pleasing thing is that 3 out of these 4 books are by Australian authors. 

One of the ways that things did change for me a lot last year was that I read a lot more e-books than usual. I have had an e-book reader of some description for many years now, but I never really considered it my main format for reading. I was always more a paper reader, with a few e-books thrown in, but not anymore. Now, it seems, I have to make a concerted effort to pick up a paper book.

My ratio of male to female authors was at it's normal lopsided state with 8 books read by male authors. To be honest, when I was looking at my spreadsheet I had to look twice to check if that was right because it seemed kind of high! One of those was my sole non-fiction book for the year which was John Baxter's book, Saint-Germain-des-Pres: Paris's Rebel Quarter, which I read in anticipation of our trip to Paris which never actually happened!

Genre wise,  I stayed very much in my swim lane, with the vast majority of the books I read being either historical fiction, women's fiction or romance, with just occasional forays into other genres. I did have to do a double take when I was looking at my spreadsheet and saw a horror book there, but then realised it was Sun Down Motel by Simone St James, which I actually enjoyed a lot.

Of the 77 books I read, 40 were from new to me authors, which I have to say is surprising!

38 of the books I read were by Australian authors which I am pleased with. Of course, I should diversify as I know that there are a ton of great international authors, both female and male, that I am missing out on but I am also more than happy to support the local industry and authors as much as I possibly can.

Not surprisingly, most of my books were new releases, but there are a few older ones!

I have never been much of a re-reader. This year my re-reads were the first two books in the Poison Study series, Poison Study and Magic Study. I thoroughly enjoyed going back to the world of Ixia and I do intend to read more. I also read the third book, and have had the fourth book sitting on my shelf for at least 10 years so it might be time

This year, I have set my goal for 75 again. I am going to try and stay off Netgalley. I say that despite the fact that this morning I saw a post from Viola Shipman talking about his next book and someone commented that it is available on Netgalley and I was like okay, I need to log on NOW, so let's see how that goes shall we?

In blogging news, I was back with a vengeance this year after not blogging at all in 2019! And I am here to stay! I have to be now that I am hosting Weekend Cooking each week, and also hosting the Historical Fiction Reading challenge! I do have a couple of other ideas brewing, one of which is to do with music so hopefully that will come to fruition shortly.

And what have I learnt today? I need to do a crash course in doing graphs in the latest versions of Excel because I just could not work that out when I was doing this post! That will be my challenge for the coming week!

Vintage Weekend Cooking: Saved by Cake by Marian Keyes

This week I have finished an Aussie rural romance book called Wildflower Ridge by Maya Linnell. This is my first book by this author, and in fact was her debut novel, but I have been following her on Instagram for a while now. 

Like me, Maya loves baking, so it wasn't really a surprise to see baking mentioned more than once in this book, but I was surprised when I saw Marian Keyes' cookbook Saved by Cake mentioned. It has spurred me to reshare my thoughts about the book which I originally posted in 2012. The funny thing is all through this post I say that I am going to buy this book, and yet, I never actually did. Bad fan! And now, I wouldn't mind Red Velvet Cheesecake cupcakes.

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Can you remember the last time you laughed out loud when reading a cookbook? Admittedly when I am looking for a new cookbook it isn't at the top of my list of priorities, but it is an added bonus when it happens.

Irish author Marian Keyes has been a best selling fiction author for years but this book, Saved by Cake, is her first foray into writing a cookbook. As a reader, I hope that this isn't the last time she does so. As a fan, I really hope that she doesn't find herself in the same place as she was when she starting her cake making journey.

The title of this book is not just a fun title, it is a description of the role that cake played in Marian Keyes life. A couple of years ago Keyes found herself suffering with severe depression. In the introduction she talks about her depression and how baking gave her a lifeline. At one point she says "To be perfectly blunt about it, my choice sometimes is: I can kill myself or I can make a dozen cupcakes. Right so, I'll do the cupcakes and I can kill myself tomorrow." Keyes acknowledges that baking may not be the thing that saves everyone, but for her it was the thing that helped her be able to face one day at time. She went from not even owning a cake tin to having a Drawer of Dreams and so many cookie cutters. If you watch either of the videos that I have linked to above you will be able to see how much joy this new hobby that is turned into something much more has given her, which can only be  a good thing right?

I know that I said that this was laugh out loud funny but so far it doesn't sound terribly cheery but if you have read any of Marian Keyes novels, you know that she is not afraid to mix up important issues into humourous situations and her voice comes through loud and clear in this collection.  Even within the recipe you can feel her excitement and pride with the comments that are scattered through the instructions. For example, in the recipe for Lemon Curd and Pistachio Pinwheels one of the paragraphs is "When you take the pinwheels out of the oven, prepare to be amazed. They will look so professional and impressive and totally different from the last time you saw them."

In another example, in the recipe for Lebkuchen Hearts, when talking about the equipment needed - "Finally, as these are Lebkuchen hearts, you'll need some sort of heart-shaped cookie cutter. If you don't have any, you could try freestyling it with a sharp knife. Or you could simply use a different shaped cutter and change the name of the cookie to - oh, just off the top of my head - Lebkuchen Shoes. or Lebkuchen Handbags." You just know that she has done this herself before!

The recipes range from quite simple classics, where Keyes has had to resist the urge to mess around too much with the tried and tested, to more unusual recipes like a Balsamic, Black Pepper and Chocolate cake that she recommends be served with mascarpone cheese, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar which she admits sounds unusual but "at least I am not advocating anchovies".

The book is divided into sections which focus on classics, cupcakes, cheesecakes, liquid cakes, pastry, meringues and macaroons, biscuits and cookies, fruit and veg and chocolate and there is a good mix of easier and more difficult recipes in each section.

I got this book from my local library, and it is obvious that others before me have actually cooked from it, as I fully intend to do. One of the previous borrowers even left a few post it notes marking the recipes that they found particularly of interest. Their choices included Three Milks Cake, Mam's Apple Tart, Sean's Rosemary Truffles and Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes. To that list, I would add my own choices of Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes and Red Velvet Swirl Cupcakes (for which I have included both the recipe and the video of Marian Keyes making them) below. I left the post it notes in the book for the next library patron to discover too. I wonder how long they will last in there until someone takes them out.

I wouldn't have necessarily said that I was more interested in sweet themed cookbooks than savoury, but when I buy this, and I will be buying it, it will be the third such cookbook this year (I have talked about the other two here and here). They are all different in tone and content but I can see myself cooking from them all quite regularly going forward.

Red Velvet Cupcake Swirls

For the red velvet layer 

110g butter

170g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
40g cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon red food colouring
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
2 eggs
160g self raising flour

For the cream cheese layer 

200g cream cheese
1 egg
40g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Method 

Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with paper cases and pre-heat your oven to 170°C/325°F/gas 3. 

First, make the cream cheese layer by beating the cream cheese with the egg, sugar and vanilla extract. Keep it standing by. 

Make the red velvet mix by melting the butter. Put into a bowl with the sugar and beat well. Next - in this exact order! Something to do with chemical jiggery-pokery that I can't explain, but must be observed - add the vanilla extract, the cocoa powder, the salt, the food colouring and the vinegar, beating between each addition.

In a separate bowl, beat your eggs in a separate bowl and then add to the butter/cocoa mix. Sieve in the flour and fold through. 

Divide most of the mix among the paper cases, reserving perhaps a fifth, then dollop a lump of cream cheese mix onto each paper case on top of the red velvet mix. Then divide the remaining red velvet mix into the paper cases, on top of the cream cheese mix. 

Now, swirl. You can use a cocktail stick, but I used a bamboo skewer - something with a bit of length is nice because you can get right down into the red velvet mix and dredge up its murky depths - and twirl until the red and white mixes are beautifully striped. this is an extremely enjoyable exercise, so enjoyable that I never want to stop, but I must because if I don't, the two mixes will become one and the whole thing will be pointless.

Bake for 17 to 20 minutes. Cool fully on a wire rack.

You can watch Marian make these delicious sounding cupcakes in the video below:

This week.....

I'm reading....

I haven't listened to much of my audiobook over the last week, but I am still determined to listen to it, because I am enjoying it when I do get to it because I do enjoy Jenny Colgan's books, and this one, Christmas at the Island Hotel, is festive to boot. Let's hope I get it finished by Christmas!

Tomorrow I am going to be posting a review for a book that I thoroughly enjoyed, The Lost Village by Daniela Sacerdoti.

I am currently reading an Aussie rural romance called Wildflower Ridge by Maya Linnell. Whilst I haven't read this author before, I do really enjoy her Instagram feed which features lots of baking as well as books! I have a few days before I have my next must read book, so I am hoping to fit this one in, and then get back to the review.

I'm watching....

We took Friday off, so I could have done anything. We started with a delicious breakfast, and then, well then I spent the rest of the day watching Dash and Lily on Netflix! And I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Once again, it is another festive treat, but this time with the added bonus of New York! I spent the first couple of episodes saying we've been there, and we've been there. My husband then moved into the other room to do whatever he was doing. Not sure why!!

We then watched the first episode of season 2 of American Gods. You can't really get much different but still...

Life

We are now up to our 17th day of having no new cases of Covid19 and no new deaths - affectionately known here as double donuts. We are gradually starting to catch up with friends we haven't seen since the beginning of the year, heading to the hardware store and IKEA, but still all while still masked up. I know we have to wear the mask but I am glad to take it off once we get back in the car.

In bad news, there is a new outbreak in Adelaide at the moment which may impact my family's plans for Christmas but we will see how that all plays out over the coming weeks. Right now, any plans are up in the air.

Posts from the last week

Blog Tour: From a Paris Balcony by Ella Carey

Weekend Cooking: Chocolate Caramel Flan

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

This week....

 I'm reading...

This week I tried to sneak in some for fun reads. I think that I should have done required reading as now I feel a bit behind, but oh well. Part of the reason was to read something that came from the library.  They have just advised that we can now order library books to be delivered, and I have received a notification that there are some waiting for me. That's good news right? Well, it would be if I had actually read any of the books that I already have out, so I decided to pick one of those.

I decided to read Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop. I have read a number of her books over the years. She writes historical fiction set in Greece and this book was no exception. This time the author tells the story of a family that is torn apart by the political instability in Greece from the last 1930s through until the 1980s. Like so much of Europe, Greece was invaded by the Nazis, but after that they also had a civil war between communists and government forces.  Within the family, two of the siblings are on one side and the other two on the other. The history is very interesting, but I felt curiously disconnected from the characters.

I also started read The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline for a blog tour later this week. The Exiles tells the story of four women in colonial Australia. Thereason why I accepted this book is because I was curious to see what an American author would do with Australian history.

Finally I also started reading Bottlebrush Creek by Maya Linell over the weekend. I am not sure when I will finish it, but I will. 

I'm watching....

We actually watched a fair bit this weekend. 

I mentioned last week that I had watched the first episode of Emily in Paris. I did think it would take me weeks to watch because it would be something that I needed to watch by myself, but I put an episode on and next thing we knew we had both watched the whole series, and he really enjoyed it too.

We also started and finished watching Staged, which stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen...or should that be Michael Sheen and David Tennant. It is a show that has been completed filmed during lockdown and is them trying to start working on a play together. I had seen clips of them which made me laugh but I didn't realise it was a show. It was lots of fun, and has apparently has just been renewed for a second season.

We also watched Rebecca on Saturday night. Robert had never seen any version of the movie and so thestory was all new to him.. I don't think he was convinced that I had told him about the right movie at the beginning, but in the end it was creepy enough. I thought it was an okay version. Kristin Scott Thomas was really good as Mrs Danvers. The rest of the movie looked good without being great. It also counts as viewing towards RIPXV

Life

We took advantage of the restrictions that have been removed a little by going to the beach today. It was cold and windy, but it was so nice to be able to go and do that after so long of being stuck at home.

We had a four day weekend this week. There was a public holiday on Friday to celebrate the fact that it was the football grand final yesterday. Remarkable right? And not even the silliest reaso to have public holiday. That comes in a couple of weeks time but I am not really complaining about having a day off.

We used the long weekend to bring in a skip and managed to fill it in a about 2 hours. My husband, aka Bob the Builder, removed an old air conditioner ready for the installation of a new split system in the coming weeks. We also have a plan in relation to the next steps in our renovations. We spent time talking about 3 or 4 different projects that are on the agenda. Guess we are on the home reno kick again!

Posts from the last week

Blog Tour: The House by the Lake by Ella Carey
Review: The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Weekend Cooking: Spicy Ginger and Apple Self Saucing Pudding
Bestsellers Around the World

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