Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge statistics for December and the whole year!

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

This month I am also sharing the stats for the whole of the 2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge!

First, December. 

In terms of the books read in December, there were 58 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. There were 56 individual titles reviewed, written by 52 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who shared 5 or more reviews this month. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 12 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in December? There were two.

The first, somewhat fittingly given the Season, was Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. This was reviewed by Barbara from Stray Thoughts and Laura from Laura's Reviews. Click on the links to see their thoughts!

The second was Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd which was reviewed by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and Helen at She Reads Novels. The links take you to their reviews.

I do have to be careful when I do these statistics as this month we had two different books with the title Euphoria, so it did look like there was another one, but there wasn't!

I already shared this in the Facebook group but there were a lot of books with a variation of the word murder in the title this month. Maybe there is every month, but it jumped out at me this month. There were 8 of those titles, plus another one with the word Death!

There were a number of authors where there were reviews shared for more than one of their books.

Barbara from Stray Thoughts shared two novellas from Amanda Dykes, and I have to say that the Tin Can Serenade one sounds really good to me!

Barbara also shared her thoughts on two books by Roseanna M White - An Honorable Deception and Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor. 

Finally, there were two reviews shared for stories written by Charles Dickens. Alexis at Goodreads read La battaglia della vita which is The Battle of Life. I read The Chimes, which is one of Dickens lesser known Christmas stories. And yes, I do read for this challenge, I just don't often get to highlight myself in these posts (;-))

So those were the stats for December. Let's get to the stats for the whole of 2024!

In terms of the books read and reviewed in 2024, there were 665 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 34 participants. There were 600 individual titles reviewed, written by 502 different authors. There were 7 reviewers who shared 30 or more reviews this month with our top contributor being Laura from Laura's Reviews who contributed an amazing 101 reviews!. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 101 or just 2.

This compares to 846 reviews in 2023, 841 reviews in 2022 and 775 reviews during 2021

So which book was reviewed the most during 2024? To be honest, I am not completely surprised given that this book one the Goodreads Choice award for Historical Fiction and has appeared on many best of lists. I will say though, it does seem to be a very divisive book. People either really, really love it, or they really don't!

Drumroll please!

The book with the most reviews during 2024 was The Women by Kristin Hannah

The next highest number of reviews was for The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonsen which was reviewed 4 times.

There were then 8 books that were reviewed three times:

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner

Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd

James by Percival Everett

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhorn

The Household by Stacey Halls

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein

As I mentioned earlier, it can be a little tricky sometimes with books with the same title. Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein was reviewed 3 times, but there was also another book with the same title as well by C J Barker.

Here's a breakdown of review by author numbers

5 reviews - 1

4 reviews - 1

3 reviews - 8

2 reviews - 84

1 review - 548

If we look at the authors who were reviewed multiple times, then Agatha Christie is the runaway winner with 19 different reviews contributed. I don't think that is a surprise given that quite a few people are doing both this challenge and the Read Christie challenge.

Other honourable mentions go to Roseanna M White who had 6 stories reviewed. Amanda Dykes and Verity Bright both had 5 stories reviewed!

There are a couple of little anomalies here. Kate Quinn writing solo was reviewed 3 times, but she was also reviewed 3 times for her collaboration with Janie Chang! Similarly, Hazel Gaynor and Aimie K Runyan were reviewed both as individuals and for their collaborative novels. There are probably others as well, but those are the ones that stood out to me.

Here's a breakdown of review by author numbers

19 reviews - 1

6 reviews - 1

5 reviews - 2

4 reviews - 6

3 reviews - 27

2 reviews - 56

1 review - 408

And here is the breakdown for the number of reviews for month

Oh, and for the record, there were 42 different books reviewed that had some variation of the words death and murder in the title! I am thinking of adding this into the monthly stats!

This year I added a column for the times I thought "oh, I would like to read that" when I read someone's review. That happened 68 times! And how many did I actually read - just one. Just goes to show that this challenge is bad/good for your TBR pile, depending on your perspective!

So now we look forward to the 2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. If you are interested in joining us, the sign up post is here. We would love to see what you are reading!

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Weekend Cooking: Best of 2024

Last year, I decided it was a good idea to start doing an annual post at the end of the year where I would announce what my cookbook of the year was, and the recipe of the year. 

Last year, that was easy for both catgories. There was one clear winner when it came to the book that we had cooked the most out of. The big issue for me this year is that if you asked me the question again of what was the cook book you used the most during 2024, then the answer is...the same book, which is Dinner by Nagi Maehashi.

There was a new cookbook from Nagi (yes, we call her just her first name in our house) during 2024, and we have cooked quite a bit from that one since we got it, so I thought for my Best of 2024, that would be the book that I chose, but as you can see from the picture, it really is about both of the books

I haven't shared any thoughts about Tonight yet, so I thought I would take this opportunity to do so! We were very excited when news broke off a new Nagi cookbook, and I was very interested to see what she would come up with. Interestingly, all the recipes in this book are new, with the exception of one which was the very first recipe she ever put up at the Recipetineats website, which is the Sticky Pantry Chicken. We liked that recipe. Her first cookbooks was a mixture of website and new recipes

The idea behind this book is that when you get the question What's for dinner tonight then you should be able to use this book to find something that you have the ingredients for in your pantry and that will be easy and delicious. What you do get in this book are options. For example, there is a recipe for Veitnamese Coconut Lemongrass Pulled Pork where there are four different ways to serve it.

The book is broken up in to the follow chapters

What I Crave

The Fastest Recipes

My Favourites Made Easier

What You've Got on Hand

Charlie

One 

Salads I Love

I love Roasted Veg

Sunday Suppers

Sweets 

Sides.

The chapter I was most interested in when we first started hearing about the book was the Charlie chapter. Charlie is what Nagi calls her base stir fry sauce and now, if we are making her stir fry, we always make a batch and have some in the fridge for using next time. I was therefore interested to see what the other recipes were that she used it for. Our favourite recipe in this chapter is Honey Pepper Chicken. It's so good!

I think that the recipe that we have cooked most out Dinner is an Indian Coconut Prawn Curry. Think butter chicken but with prawns. It's pretty quick and easy and delicious. We do have to wait for my son not to be home as he won't eat prawns.

Other recipes we have tried including Normandy Pork Chops, One Pan Chorizo Couscous, Every Day Stir Fry, Chicken and Tomato Pasta and an Orange and Poppy Seed Loaf. There is still plenty left for us to explore!

Oh, and the other thing to mention is that they fixed the index so that it is much easier to use than the one in Dinner!

What about the best recipe for 2024? Again, not as clear cut as last year. The recipes that we cooked the most this year were from Nagi with the one that we made over and over again being this one for Spicy Pork Noodles.

I have, however, chosen the single recipe that I got the best reaction for and that I spoke to people about most. If the subject of cheesecake comes up, I can't help myself. I have to talk about the recipe for Baklava Cheesecake from Georgina Hayden's book, Greek-ish. I even talked about it to an American lady who was on our Scotland tour about it. She was very keen to go home and make it! The full title of the recipe is actually Baklava Cheesecake, I Love You! and I have to say I love it too! I loved the idea of using filo pastry for the base, and the baklava flavours with the white chocolate cheesecake are so delicious!

Baklava Cheesecake, I Love You - Georgina Hayden

225g caster sugar
1 lemon
1Tbspn rose water
60g unsalted butter
100g walnuts
1 tspn ground cinnamon
250g filo
200g white chocolate
200g feta
280g full-fat cream cheese
200ml double cream
3 Tbspn honey
Chopped pistachios, to serve




First, make a syrup.Place 100g of the caster sugar in a small saucepan with 125ml of water and two strips of lemon zest (use a peeler for this). Bring to the boil on a medium heat, swirl to dissolve the sugar, then reduce the heat a little. Simmer for 5–8 minutes, until you have a thick, but not coloured syrup. Stir in the rose water and leave to cool completely.

Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6. Grease a 20cm springform cake tin with a little of the butter. Place the walnuts in a dry frying pan and toast for a few minutes on a medium heat. Once they start to smell nutty, stir in the ground cinnamon and 25g of the caster sugar. Let the sugar caramelise slightly, then tip the nuts out onto a chopping board. When they’re cool enough to handle, finely chop.

Melt the rest of the butter in a small pan. Lay two sheets of filo over the cake tin, overlapping slightly, so they completely cover the base and sides, then brush all over with the melted butter. Sprinkle a quarter of the chopped walnuts over the bottom, and repeat the process twice more with filo then butter and walnuts (keep the remaining walnuts aside). Top with a final layer of filo, really push it in to the bottom and sides, then brush with butter. Trim off any excess pastry around the top with scissors and bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes, until crisp and golden.

When the filo shell is ready, remove from the oven and drizzle the cold syrup over the hot pastry, particularly down the sides. Leave to cool.

For the cheesecake filling, break the white chocolate into small, even pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Either melt in a microwave or over a pan of simmering water — be careful that the bowl doesn’t touch the water in the pan or the chocolate will seize up. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is just melted.

Meanwhile, break the feta into pieces into a large bowl. Add the remaining 100g of caster sugar and blitz with a stick blender till smooth. Add the cream cheese and finely grate in the remaining lemon zest. Beat with a whisk, not a stick blender, until smooth (electric beaters would be best if you can handle more washing up). Add the double cream, whisk until light and then finally stir in the melted white chocolate.

Spoon the filling into the baked and cooled filo case, loosely cover and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, overnight if possible. Just before serving, drizzle with a little honey and scatter over the reserved walnuts, and some chopped pistachios for a pop of colour.

And finally, for this year these are the cookbooks that I accumulate throughout the year! Do you own any of these?

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

Silos, sculpture, scenery and so much more! - The Silos

Recently we spent some time in South Australia. We went to Adelaide as my brother was hosting Christmas, and we thought we would take the opportunity to see a bit of the state given that Robert's work has a compulsory shutdown period. We decided to focus on the Eyre Peninsula, as I hadn't spent as much time there as I had in other places.

In order to try and share as many pics as possible without taking up too much space, I was going to try creating some groups of slideshows. however I couldn't really get them to work so apologies in advance but this post is very image heavy! Originally I was going to do the silos, sculptures, scenery etc in just one post, but I think I will break it up into different posts just to make it easier!

I have shared some individual photos here and there over the last couple of weeks, but this will be more comprehensive.

So let's start with the silo art. We have seen quite a few art silos now. You can see others by clicking on this link. Most of them have been in Victoria but we had previously seen one in South Australia and one in Western Australia. Our route for this road trip was really designed to see as many as we could, but we did surprise ourselves by adding an extra in on the way to Adelaide that we hadn't actually planned for. 

We then planned to see more on the way to Wallaroo where we stayed one night, and a couple more on the Eyre Peninsula. All up, I think we saw 13 different silos on this trip. Actually, we saw many, many more of them but 13 of them had art on them. Now when I see unpainted silos I just see a blank canvas just waiting to be decorated.

We won't mention the fact that I got sea sick on the ferry trip from Wallaroo to the Eyre Peninsula

Horsham - we had seen this one before!

Arkona - This was a new one to us, and was interesting because it is an invisible man, and something a bit different. The way I interpreted it was about how important sport is in country communities.

Albacutya - This was one that we only realised was close by when we were at Arkona. When I say nearby, it was about 70kms away, there and back. Distances is relative right?

Kaniva - We had seen this one before, and I only had a couple of minutes to grab a photo because I had added on more travel time by going to Albacutya 

Coonalpyn - The first of our South Australian silos. This one is right on the main road between Melbourne and Adelaide and so we have seen this one before!

Eudunda - This one is about story and books, and honours a famous South Australian author called Colin Thiele who came from near this town

Farrell Flat - Great colours on this one!

Owen - We have seen one of this artists other silos in Victoria before. 

Bute - All of these have lovely details in them. In this one I liked how the flowers seem to be flying off her dress.

Wallaroo - This one is a bit different in that the silo isn't painted, but there is a light projection that is shown every night as it gets dark.

Cowell - This one commemorates a local legend and his camels! Yes, we have lots of camels in Australia. 

Tumby Bay - I swear you can feel the joy in this one!

Kimba - The last of the art silos for this trip. Kimba is approximately half way across Australia going from East to West.

I will be back with the customary What We Ate of Holidays post for Weekend Cooking in the next week or so and the other posts in the next few days, hopefully!

I have added the map below to give some idea of where we went. The blue line is a very approximate idea of the route we took.  All up we travelled approximately 3500 kms, so it was a fair bit of driving. We did try to plan to only drive a maximum of 4 hours each day after the first day,  and we mostly stuck to that!

Blog Tour: A Love Like No Other by Kate Frost

 

Having read a number of Kate Frost books before, I knew I would say yes when I saw there was a blog tour for this book. When I looked at the blurb though, I realised that this one had a different feel to the others I had read by her. Whereas the other three are set in Greece or Portugal, and are about new starts this one is not.

Pippa Green wants one thing more than any other. She has always wanted to be a mum. She met her husband and they started trying straight away, but several years later and it just hasn't happened for them. Contrast this with her younger sister Georgie. Georgie has a young daughter, and her husband wants another, but Georgie is lamenting the fact that she got married and had her daughter quite young. She feels like life has passed her by a little. It hurts Pippa to see other people having the one thing that she desperately wants and yet not appreciating it, and Georgie is conscious of how she feels, so there is a bit of an emotional distance between them.

Pippa and Clive are on the rollercoaster journey that is IVF, which takes an emotional toll as they follow all the medical procedures, the hormonal treatment, the injections and the hopes that the embryos will be successfully implanted and stick. Whilst her family knows that they are doing IVF, they don't necessarily understand how hard it really is, especially knowing that there are only so many times they can afford to go through this process financially.

Contrast this with Connie's story. Connie and her husband Felix are also on the IVF journey, but she is telling no one, not even her family. Luckily Connie and Pippa meet in an online IVF forum and realise that they live relatively close to each other, that they are at similar points in the process and they quickly become good friends.

The fourth person whose story we read is Pippa's best friend Sienna. She loves her boyfriend, but isn't ready to commit to anything like moving in together. She loves her independence, her job in TV and she is ambitious, and having a child is never going to be part of her plans. Never.

Even with that short summary above, you can likely imagine that there is a lot of emotional ground covered in this book. Obviously, infertility and motherhood are front and centre, along with the emotional pressures that going through infertility can bring to relationships. There is also a strong focus on female friendship, and how even the strongest friendships can be damaged by omissions and half truths, despite everyone's best intentions.

This feels like a very personal story, and so it is no surprise to learn in the epilogue that the author has experience so many of the emotions that she writes about: the hopes as each IVF cycle begins, the despair of not being successful, the joy when it looks like it has been.

I found myself contemplating my own journey to motherhood, and those of people around me. I know people who have tried and failed with IVF, as well as some who are currently trying very hard and reading this book helped me put myself in their shoes, just a little bit

This book was originally self published back in 2016 with the title Beneath the Apple Blossom. I already own the connected book to this one - The Baobab Beach Retreat. It's a little odd as that one is listed on Amazon as being book number 1 in the Romantic Escapes series, and not as being connected to this one whereas Goodreads says that these two books are connected. Anyway, none of that really matters given I am going to read all the books eventually anyway!

Whilst this was a change of pace from the previous Kate Frost books I have read, it was an important story, told very well, and I am glad that it was the first book that I finished reading in 2025.

Rating 4/5

About the book

A Love Like No Other

Four women struggle with their life choices and the hand fate has dealt them…

All Pippa Green has ever wanted is marriage and kids, but at thirty-four and about to embark on IVF, her dream of having a family is far from certain.

Pippa’s younger sister Georgie has the opposite problem, juggling her career, her lover, a young daughter and a husband who wants baby number two. She seems to have it all. But does she?

Carefree Sienna, Pippa’s best friend, is happy travelling the world with her successful career in film, however, long term boyfriend Ashton is desperate for Sienna to commit to their future. When mother nature has a surprise, will it make or break them?

Happily married Connie shares her fertility journey with Pippa, but while their blossoming friendship is cemented through the highs and lows of shared experiences, Connie underestimates the impact being unable to conceive will have on her and her marriage.

As their lives collide in a way they could never have predicted, will any of them find lasting happiness?

Perfect for fans of Rowan Coleman, Dani Atkins and Sian O'Gorman.

Previously Published as Beneath the Apple Blossom by Kate Frost

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

About the Author 

Kate Frost is the author of several bestselling romantic escape novels including The Greek Heart, and The Love Island Bookshop. She lives in Bristol and is the Director of Storytale Festival, a book festival for children and teens she co-founded in 2019.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @katefrostauthor

Twitter: @katefrostauthor

Instagram: @katefrostauthor

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

Bookbub profile: @KateFrost

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025

 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 in the First Half of 2025

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (April) - I expect to see this on quite a few lists today!

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (January) - Speaking of books I expect to see on lots of lists!

Kate and Frida by Kim Fay (March) - I enjoyed Love & Saffron when I read it a couple of years ago so looking forward to this one!

Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey  (January) - Over the last 18 months, Gillian Harvey has become one of my must read authors so I am looking forward to this one.

The Bad Bridesmaid by Rachael Johns (January) - Rachael Johns has long been an autobuy author for me. I read the connected book to this one, The Other Bridget, in one sitting late last year. I expect to love this one just as much!

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods (March) - The description for this book could be written just for me - Paris, Baking, a bit of magic

The Many Future of Maddy Hart by Laura Pearson - The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine was one of my favourite reads of 2024. I then read The Last List of Mabel Beaumont and loved it! I have high expectations for this one.

The Jam Maker by Mary-Lou Stephens (January)- Another food based historical novel set in Tasmania!

The Paris Bookshop for the Broken-Hearted by Rebecca Raisin (February) - I love the way that Rebecca Raisin writes about books, food, and Paris!

Three Juliets by Minnie Darke (April) - I loved The Lost Love Letter by Minnie Darke. I have since read With Love from Wish & Co and listened to the Audible short stories she has written. I am very excited a new book from her.

Do you have any of these books on your list this week?

This week

First book of the year

Every year Sheila from Bookjourney asks us to share our first book of the year. I am usually still deciding what that book might be come 1 January, so I am always too late to share it with her, but here it is this year! And I have to say, it's a good one!

Also, note that shiny new Kindle Scribe! Yes, I am very excited that my husband got me one for Christmas!

I'm reading

I was very determined to finished Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang in 2024, as I really didn't want to carry it forward into 2025. Fair to say I didn't love it, but I read it for Cook the Books and it did provide plenty of inspiration for food to make. Expect that post in the next couple of weeks!

Whilst I started There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak my first book, I ended up then picking up A Love Like No Other by Kate Frost for a blog tour this week. 

I then started The Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi which was a delight! I read this for Japanese Literature Challenge and my own version of January in Japan!

In other news, I decides to restart again at Storygraph for my 2025 reads. If you are on Storygraph, look me up! You can find me there as Margreads. I am also on Instagram as Intrepidreaderandbaker!

I'm watching


We really have only been watching bits and pieces. For example, we watched the Last Night of the Proms,  and the Russell Crowe version of Robin Hood

Life

We finished our South Australian road trip, coming home via Adelaide and Mount Gambier! I am planning to do a post about all the big things, silos and art we saw along the way but for now here is the Big Lobster in Kingston SE and the Blue Lake in Mount Gambier.

One of the highlights was wandering around the Botanical Gardens in Adelaide seeing the 16 piece of art that are currently on show by famous artist Dale Chihuly. We really enjoyed the display. It would have been great to see it at night where it is all illuminated but we couldn't make the dates work!

After we got home we have been doing a lot around the house in terms of cleaning out the pantry and things like that, but not much more. The last couple of days in particular have been hot, hot, hot! 

Posts from the last week


Countdown to 2025: Day 29 and 30

Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books of 2024
Countdown to 2025: Day 31
Festive Treats 2024

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: January links

2025 Challenges

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in My Kitchen in December

Six Degrees of Separation: Orbital to The Secret Daughter of Venice




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

Six Degrees of Separation: Orbital to The Secret Daughter of Venice

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

This month's starting point is Orbital by Samantha Harvey.

Usually when I sit down to write this post, I just have to look at the book title and the idea of where the first link, and then the second link, etc etc will take me. My main challenge is in completing a chain not using books I have used multiple times before. This was not one of those months. Part of the reason is that I was trying to force a direction but it just wasn't working. Sometimes, you just have to keep it simple. 

Over the last 18 months, British author Gillian Harvey has become a must read author for me. She writes books about life in France and starting over. Her new book, Midnight in Paris, comes out in the next couple of weeks and I am looking forward to reading it!

Midnight in Paris is a movie that I have seen quite a few times and which features several very famous authors who lived in Paris in the golden years of the 1920s. One of those authors was Ernest Hemingway and the book I am choosing is A Moveable Feast.

From a moveable feast I am then linking to Immovable Feast: A Paris Christmas by John Baxter. Baxter is an Australian who has lived in Paris for many years and published a number of books about the city and his experiences.

My most recent read about Christmas in Paris was Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel by Rebecca Raisin. I do have several books that I could have chosen about Christmas in Paris. Is anyone surprised.

Moving from Paris to Venice, my next choice is The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods, which I read recently.

Also set mostly in Venice is The Secret Daughter of Venice by Juliet Greenwood. This is the second book in the Shakespeare Sisters series, and tells the story of a woman who is trying to find her true identity during WWII.

I mentioned that I struggled at the beginning this month. Once I get going though, the connections do just happen. I was just finalising this post when I realised I had accidentally done a seventh degree. I could probably keep going as well. Maybe I will do a Top Ten Tuesday one day with ten connections! 

Next month, the starting point is Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Will you be joining us?

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in My Kitchen in December

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I usually share everything I have made over the previous month. Given that I was away for a couple of weeks of the month,I actually managed to make a few things, which I guess isn't surprising given the time of the year!

Before I start though....

Happy New Year to you all!!

My first attempted bake for the month was Brooki's Chocolate Chip Cookies. Note the word attempted! I followed the recipe that was provided on a Facebook reel, but it turns out the recipe is different than that provided in the Brooki Bakes book. I followed the instruction, which includes putting the cookie dough balls into the fridge for at least two hours, which helps to prevent the cookies spreading too much when you bake them. That's a pretty normal technique. That definitely worked because my cookies didn't spread at all, and so at the end of the cooking time I still had very, very solid cookie balls. They tasted good still, but I will be remaking these to see how they work out next time!

I then decided to make two recipes from Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas by Anja Dunk. I made both Schokokusschen (Chocolate kisses) and Kokosmakronen - Coconut macaroons. I have to say that I loved making the macaroons. Both recipes were pretty simple, but the macaroons were surprisingly simple and tasty! Especially seeing as I don't normally love coconut as a flavour. I reviewed the book here, and shared the recipe for the Chocolate Kisses.

We also made Peppermint Crisp Tart, which is a South African dessert, which was one of the two desserts at our first Christmas celebration. I have shared this recipe before. The other dessert was a Christmas Tree Cake. The picture for both of these is at the top of this post.

I posted a couple of weeks ago about my experience of doing a cake decorating class where we produced the Christmas Tree cake. The class was run at a decorating supplier over the other side. Whilst I was intending to not buy much, I did end up buying a new rolling pin, a large offset spatula and some spray glitter! 

We also got a new air fryer. To be honest, this came a bit out of the blue as we already had an air fryer which we never really used. The new one has two drawers which I think will make it a bit more usable, and we have now got it out on the bench rather than hidden away on a shelf in the pantry. We also got an over microwave shelf which has helped us with reorganising things to make it possible to put it in a more visible place.

One of the things I realised before Christmas is that I really struggle with nice pictures, so I headed off to the shops and ended up buying a few decorative plates. Whilst that still might not help with the photos, at least I can occasionally have a more interesting background than just a plain white plate. Then I went in the garage and realised that my husband has quite a few decorative blue and white plates that he has owned for years. Not sure if I will use them as he used to have them on the wall, but never say never.

I was very spoilt at Christmas and got some great presents. At our first Christmas, I was given a new tool for the Kitchenaid that I have been eyeing off for a while, I got some magnetic measuring spoons, and a personally signed copy of Bakes with Brooki by Brooke Bellamy, yes, the same one I mentioned for my cookie fail above.I am looking forward to trying some of her recipes. Brooke owns a bakery in Brisbane called Brooki Bakehouse that has really taken off and now has branches in various locations including places like Abu Dhabi. and also a cookbook all about New York and food called New York Cult Recipes by Marc Grossman!

I am a bit excited about the measuring spoons. They are dual ended. One end has a round measuring spoon, and the other end has an oval spoon, so in theory it should fit inside spice jars. There is also a leveller. I also hope that the fact that they are magnetic should bake it easier to be able to find the right spoon easily.

At our second Christmas, I also received a personally signed copy of Emelia Jackson's new cookbook, Some of my Best Friends are Cookies.

Speaking of Emelia Jackson we actually went to an event just prior to Christmas where Emelia was appearing along with three other chefs, Alice Zaslavsky, Tony Tan and Ben Shewry, who each have new books out at the moment! It was a really fun night, where they talked about their books, about obsession and so much more.

After spending time in Adelaide for Christmas (more about that in this post!), Robert and I went on a roadtrip to the Eyre Peninsula. I have shared a couple of pictures in this post! 

This is prime seafood territory, and is part of the Seafood Frontier trail which starts in the far west of South Australia on the Great Australian Bight and ends in Whyalla. I will be back next week with my post about our trip, I couldn't help but mention the Seafood Experience that we had at 1802 Oyster Bay in Coffin Bay. We aren't really oyster people, but the experience was all about fresh tuna, prawns, mussels, squid and kingfish. It was a delicious, and memorable, meal!  The picture above is the curried Kingfish Collar. I don't think that I have ever had the collar of a fish before, but it was delicious! More about the trip next week!

The other surprising meal I had was our New Year's Eve dinner at a Thai restaurant. I ordered a chicken pineapple Thai fried rice! I didn't expect it to come out in a pineapple!

We also picked up a salt pot in Port Lincoln for sea salt. It can now sit proudly beside the giant mug that we got in San Francisco last year which we use as the receptacle for cooking salt!

In not very exciting news, we spent Friday cleaning out and then reorganising the pantry. A big reason for doing this is so that we actually know what we have in there, which should then men a reduction in food waste as we will only buy something as it is running out rather than having multiples of everything!

Finally, I am going to be setting myself (or should I say us given that my husband does most of the cooking!) a challenge for this year, taking inspiration from Joanne from Brookford Kitchen Diaries. She has challenged herself to cook a recipe from 52 cookbooks during 2025. I do have more than 50 cookbooks, but I have decided to adapt the challenge a little bit. My challenge then is for us to try 52 new recipes in 2025. I will try to do this from as many cookbooks as possible, but maybe not 52! That equates to one new recipe a week on average! I will keep you updated as we go along each month.

New Recipes

Baked Tuscan Chicken - This recipe from Adam Liaw is definitely going to be part of our regular rotation or recipes now!

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

A Tale of Two Christmases

A Christmas Tree Cake

Advent by Anja Dunk

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.

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

2025 challenges!

The beginning of a new reading year means thinking about which challenges you are going to be participating in. 

I am very much committed to making the challenges fit my reading as opposed to specifically reading for a challenge. Of course, the first challenge I am going to mention is one where I will go exactly opposite but never mind!

The first I am going to mention is Japanese Literature Challenge 18, hosted by Dolce Bellezza. I have several books in mind to read during January and February for this challenge!  I am also intending to post a few other things during January about all things Japanese which will be for my own January in Japan, but we will see how we go!

The next challenges are all year long challenges. 

The first is the Bookish Books challenge hosted by Susan at Bloggin' Bout Books

The levels are

Toe in the Door: 1-10 books read
Picking and Perusing: 11-20 books read
Lost in the Stacks: 21-30 books read
Living in the Library: 30+ books read

And I am choosing Picking and Perusing!

The challenge is the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog, where you can add any books you read that have been released in 2025.

The levels are

1-30 books per year – New Release Newbie
31-60 books per year – New Release Pro
61-100 books per year – New Release Veteran
101-200 books per year – New Release Enthusiast
200+ books per year – New Release Obsessed

And I am aiming for New Release Veteran

Of course, I need to also participate in my own challenge, the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge! You can find out more about the challenge here.

The levels are

20th Century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books
Prehistoric - 50+ books

I am aiming for Ancient History!

 I reserve the right to add more challenges at any time. I am also declaring now that ,of course, I am going to be participating in Paris in July when the time comes!

Oh, and I have set my Goodreads Challenge at 104 books!

What challenges are you participating in this year?

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - January links!

Welcome to the 2025 edition of the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge! I am very excited to get the challenge underway for this year!

I am really looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.

Just to recap what participants need to know for this year's challenge. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.

Please remember...

• add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky I'll be adding to the monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review). A direct link to your Goodreads review or social media post is also acceptable
• any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
• if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!
• Each month I will do a wrap up post highlighting some of the most reviewed books and authors, as well as some statistics

You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.

Let the reading begin!!

If you have any links to add, please add them to the February post which can be found here

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge Participants

1. By Any Other Name(Jenia@Story For Dessert) 2. The Draughtsman (Cathy@WhatCathyReadNext) 3. Under the Mistletoe by Mary Balogh (Laura's Reviews) 4. Cloaked in Beauty by Karen Witemeyer (Laura's Reviews) 5. Hired Guns (Mark @ CC) 6. Pirates and Patriots (Shellie@ShellieLovesBooks) 7. A Yuletide Bride by Kasey Stockton (Laura's Reviews) 8. The Colony Club (Constance at Staircase Wit) 9. Homeseeking (Cathy@WhatCathyReadNext) 10. The Matter of the Secret Bride by Darcie Wilde (Laura's Reviews) 11. The Saint Laurent Muse (Laura@RBA) 12. Jack of Spies by David Downing (Maphead's Book Blog) 13. The Stolen Queen (Davida @ The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog) 14. Set the Stars Alight (Barbara H. @ Stray Thoughts) 15. A Golden Life (Laurie @ Classic Laurie) 16. Ana Maria and the Fox (Susan @ Reading World) 17. Remember When (Susan @ Reading World) 18. To Carve Identity (Susan @ Reading World)

19. Mrs. Lowe-Porter (Susan @ Reading World) 20. The Night on the Darling River by Darry Fraser (Laura's Reviews) 21. Teogonia (Alexis Drake 22. There Are Rivers In The Sky by Elif Shafak (Bree @1girl2manybooks) 23. Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson (Sarah @ Reading the Past) 24. The Night on the Darling River by Darry Fraser (Sarah @ Reading the Past) 25. Confessions by Catherine Airey (Sarah @ Reading the Past) 26. City of Silk by Glennis Virgo (Sarah @ Reading the Past) 27. The Storyteller's Daughter (Marg @ The Intrepid Reader) 28. A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales (Laura's Reviews) 29. Miss Aldridge Regrets (Shelleyrae @ Book’d Ou) 30. Earl Crush (Reading World) 31. Villainy in Vienna by Kelly Oliver (Shellie@ShellieLovesBooks) 32. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (Laura's Reviews) 33. Murder at Mallowan Hall (Mark @ CC) 34. Ace, Marvel, Spy (Davida @ The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog) 35. Heart of the Glen by Jennifer Deibel (Laura's Reviews) 36. The beast of London (Alexis Drake

37. The Diamond Eye (Cathy@WhatCathyReadNext) 38. Jennifer Jones 39. Another Man in the Street (Cathy@WhatCathyReadNext) 40. The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory (Tracey @ Carpe Librum) 41. Maurice by EM Forster (Reading World) 42. The House with Nine Locks (Cathy@WhatCathyReadNext) 43. Death Below Stairs (Shellie@ShellieLovesBooks) 44. The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer (Laura's Reviews) 45. The Pianist's Wife(Jenia@Story For Dessert) 46. When Stars Light the Sky by Elizabeth Camden (Laura's Reviews) 47. There are Rivers in the Sky (Marg at The Intrepid Reader) 48. The House of Echoes (The Intrepid Reader) 49. The Ghosts of Rome (Helen @ She Reads Novels) 50. Five Little Pigs (Shellie@ShellieLovesBooks) 51. The Whole Art of Detection (What Me Read) 52. Harvest of Gold (Kym @ Just A Second)

Learn more about Historical Fiction Reading Challenge here.

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