Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is the theme is Books With Nationalities In The Title (e.g. The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Mexican Gothic, An American Mariage, etc.) (submitted by Cathy @WhatCathyReadNext)
I am going to mix it up a little bit and focus on place names. I am, however, going to avoid Paris because I have only recently done a whole TTT only featuring titles with the word Paris in it!
A Sunrise Over Bali by Sandy Barker - I haven't actually read this book but I have read the one that follows it which was set in Tuscany. I am still choosing to use it as we only recently visited Bali
Italy and Forever by Leonie Mack - Leonie Mack writes a lot of destination style romances. This is the final book in her excellent Wedding Planners series. (my review)
The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin - Portugal is on my list of places I would love to visit! Even more so after reading this book! (my review)
The Nile Cruise by Caroline James - This is another thing that is on my list of places to do and see! I would love to cruise down the Nile one day. (my review)
Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - Pelican Crossing may not be a real place, but I love visiting it through the pages of the Pelican Crossing series. It is based on real coastal towns, so I am still counting it! (my review)
Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft - This book is the first in a trilogy set in a guesthouse on the shores of Lake Como! (my review)
A Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby - Whilst I have never been to Lake Como, I did go to Venice many, many years ago. One day I will go back. (my review)
Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki - Kagoshima is a city in Japan and is famous for being the location of the Samurai Rebellion, which saw the end of the samurai way of life. (my review)
Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn - I can't see myself walking the Camino, but I did like reading about it! (my review)
Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop by Kenji Ueda - Ginza is an area in Tokyo but we didn't make it to this area when we visited Tokyo last year.
One of the beauties of being involved in a book club is that some times you find yourself reading books that would otherwise not have crossed your reading radar. Some times, they don't work for you (Land of Milk and Honey, I am looking at you!) but some times they do. Call of the Camino is not a book that I recall hearing about before it being chosen for the current selection of Cook the Books. The question is did it work for me or not? Read on to find out!
When journalist Reina Watkins' nemesis at work is unable to make the start of a walk along the Camino that he was supposed to be doing for an article, she jumps at the opportunity. Not only is it a chance to get one up on Matt, but walking the Camino is something that she has always been interested in because her parents met on the trail years before. They both died when she was young, so armed with her father's journal, she is hopeful that it will help her understand her parent's story, and her own history.
Because it is very last minute, she hasn't done any training and she only has her trusty Doc Martin's the first few days are very trying for Reina, but as the trek continues she begins to understand the call of the Camino - why so many people have been taking this pilgrimage for so many years. When she hears that Matt, her rival, is hot on her trail, she is determined that this time she will be the one who writes the better article, especially given her personal connection.
Interspersed with Reina's story, we hear her mother's story. Reina always thought her mother was Portuguese but it turns out that she was from Andorra. Caught up in the middle of a historical family feud, Isabelle chooses to join the Camino to escape from danger. Ill-prepared, she hopes that the mantra of the Camino, the Camino will provide, is true for her.
The third voice in the story comes in the form of Reina's father's journal, and it is through this, and then a coincidental meeting that Reina learns more about Isabelle.
As readers, we are witness to the trials and tribulations of both women, from injuries to soreness, fatigue and danger. On the plus side there are the characters that they meet along the way, other pilgrims who are sharing in this significant journey, and it is this camaraderie that affected me the most.
I do know several people who have done the Camino. One of my friend's dads has done it three times, and her brother went with him one time and ended up meeting his now partner who lived in a different country. I definitely know that it changes lives, and we saw that with both of our main characters. Can I see myself doing the Camino? Not really. I do more steps when I am on holiday that I do the rest of the time but still, this kind of strenuous walking sounds too far, too far for me! I did, however, enjoy reading about it! And I would be more than happy to go to Spain at some point!
When this book was chosen, I immediately thought that I would be choosing some Spanish recipe. I did hope that something more would have jumped out of the text to help me decide. I thought about tortilla, but to be honest, I thought someone else would have chosen that to make.
Instead, it gave me the opportunity to pull one of my favourite cook books off the shelf. I say favourite, but it's a favourite book to look at. Even though I have owned it for years, and I posted about it for Weekend Cooking back in 2012, I don't believe I ever did get around to cooking from it! That changed this week.
The thing I loved about this book is that it gives you food history, regional specialties, spotlights ingredients and producers. It is an amazing book to look at and I love the dust jacket I have on my copy. The colours just pop! One thing I did find a little interesting was what wasn't in this book. It was originally published back in 2012, before the world went crazy for Basque cheesecake, alternatively known as San Sebastien cheesecake, and there is no recipe in the book for it! Just thought that was interesting!
I was hoping to choose a recipe that had been mentioned in Call of the Camino, or that at least came from the regions that the Camino passes through. In the end I chose this recipe for two reasons. One, there was a mention of roast chicken towards the end of the book, and I liked the fruitiness of this recipe, given that it echoed the part in the book where our characters stumbled across La Casa de los Dioses (The House of the Gods) where the walkers can help themselves to fruit. In the book it mainly talks about the watermelon, but I really, really don't like watermelon so I am going with apples and grapes.
In the intro to this recipe it mentions that in Asturias Reineta apples are used but the Golden Delicious variety is a good substitute. Asturias is one of the places that the Camino passes through so this recipe works as a regional dish. We ended up using a different variety of apples as there were no Golden Delicious at the supermarket.
It was an interesting recipe. I am not sure we would make it again. You can see the grape juice has kind of caught a bit, but the chicken itself was very moist, and it was interesting to have the apples and grapes with chicken. We would normally pair cooked apples with pork. We served it with roast potatoes as I wasn't really sure what else to serve it with.
The next selection for Cook the Book is called Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal. Not sure what to expect with this one. I guess I will find out when I read it!
I am sharing this post with Foodies Read, hosted at Based on a True Story.
Roast Chicken with Apples and Grapes (Pollo con manzanas y uvas) - Claudia Roden
Serves 4-6
5 Golden Delicious apples Juice of ½ a lemon 1kg white seedless grapes, destalked 1 x 1.5kg chicken Salt and pepper 3 tablespoons olive oil 75g butter
Peel and core the apples. Cut one in half or into quarters, so the pieces will push easily inside the chicken, and the rest of the apples into 8 slices each. Drop the slices into a bowl of water acidulated with the lemon juice to prevent them from discolouring.
Blend half of the grapes in the food processor and collect the juice by pressing the mush through a small-holed sieve with a wooden spoon. Discard the skins left in the sieve. You should get about 250ml of juice. Stuff the chicken with the halved or quartered apple and put it in a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and rub with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Turn the bird breast side down in the baking dish and pour in 125ml of the grape juice. Roast in an oven preheated to 190°C/gas 5 for 45 minutes, then take the chicken out, turn it over, pour the remaining grape juice over it and return to the oven. Cook for another 30 minutes or until the chicken is brown and caramelized and the juices run clear when you cut into the bird between the leg and the body with a pointed knife.
Saturday - Out for dinner Sunday - Roast Chicken with Apple and Grapes (new) Monday - Baked Gnocchi (new) Tuesday - Enchilada Wednesday - Molten Pumpkin Pasta Bake (new) 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
Last week I finished reading The Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn. This is the current Cook the Books selection. Now I am just trying to figure out what to cook to accompany my review. I am not sure exactly what yet but I will come up with something this week
After that I read the recently released The Seaside Book Club by Helen Rolfe which I enjoyed.
Next up I started The Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby which I am on a blog tour for later this week!
Finally, I started Poppy Kuroki's Gate to Kagoshima which is a time travel where a modern woman ends up living in 19th century Samurai Japan. In the end I finished this one as well on the train today. I have to say that there are some pretty scathing reviews on Goodreads but I really enjoyed this one!
I'm watching
It has been a good viewing week. We watched what is being called the third season of Good Omens but it was more a movie to finish off the story which started in seasons 1 and 2. I did enjoy the ending but it did feel like there was a story that was cut short.
It was my husband's birthday on Saturday and we chose to have a fairly quiet day. We did however go to the movies to see The Sheep Detectives. I can't remember the last time I went to the movies to see a family movie. It was a really lovely movie and I am so glad we saw i! It's funny, charming, deep and features some very big names! Go see it if you can! Here's the trailer
We also started watching Welcome to Wrexham season 5. Both of the first two episodes have been very emotional! Such good TV!
I was excited to see that the new season of Tucci in Italy is out so we watched the first couple of episodes as well! So far we have watched the episodes on Naples and Sicily
Life
Work is frantic and I can't see it changing any time soon!
This week I read A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa. The main reason I read it is because it fits the AAPI month category for the Goodreads challenge, but as a bonus it also counts for the Speccy Fiction Challenge. Hopefully I will will review it soon!
I also started The Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn. This is the next Cook the Books read so I need to finish it and cook something inspired by it too before the end of the month.
I did go to one event for Melbourne Writers Festival this week. As part of the in the suburbs series author Benjamin Stevenson came to visit my local library. Unfortunately I could not fit in any other events for the rest of the festival so I am glad that I at least got to attend this one! Benjamin Stevenson is the author of the Ernest Cunningham mystery series. It was very interesting to hear about his inspirations, about a potential TV adaptation, about how he nearly killed off Ernest at the end of the second book and so much more!
It was our read on a theme book club meeting this weekend. There were only 4 of us there but we still managed to have some lively discussion feature books about Mothers and Daughters. I read Amy Tan's book The Bonesetter's Daughter. Our next theme is Immigration, so I will have to see what books I have that suit this theme.
I'm watching
Now that we are back from holiday we have started watching Masterchef Australia. I wasn't sure whether we should go back and watch all the episodes from the beginning but in the end we just jumped in at episode 8 or so and went from there!
We also finished watching Alan and Amanda's Greek Job which features them renovating a house in Corfu! The series is always a lot of fun!
Life
It was back to work this week. I might have only done four days but I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the week!
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week the theme is Books on My Spring 2026 To-Read List but as always we are in the opposite season so this is my Autumn 2026 To-Read list
Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - If Maggie Christensen has a new book out then I am reading it! Turns out she has this one coming out in April and another stand alone novel coming out in June!
Love Blooms at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash - I do enjoy Kim Nash's books and this is the third book in the Sandpiper Cove series. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak - We are meant to be going to Turkiye in a couple of weeks time. I am not sure if that is going to happen or not given the state of the world. I have loved Elif Shafak's other books so this was a good opportunity to read her given that she is a Turkish author.
Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki - Someone reviewed the follow up book to this for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and I was intrigued!
Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama - I have read a couple of this Japanese authors books previously so I am keen to read this one
Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson - This is the fourth book in the Ernest Cunningham series. After reading this one I will be all caught up with the series and will have to wait for the next one.
Start at the End by Emma Grey - I am so excited to read this one! I read both of Emma Grey's books last year and they were both 5 star reads.
Early Mornings at the Laksa Cafe by Janet Tay = The title of this one caught my attention.
Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn - This is the next Cook the Books selection. I am expecting to feel the need to make something Spanish after reading this!
The Rebel Romanov by Helen Rappaport - Trying to read this one by the end of March as the Her Story category is the last one I need to finish for the current Goodreads Challenges
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