Weekend Cooking: Bread as religion

We were supposed to be in France this weekend, not in Champagne, but in Normandy. I was hoping to find some amazing boulangerie or patisserie on our travels but alas we can't even go and find a patisserie here, let alone there.

When I read The Vineyards of Champagne earlier this year there were a few scenes that made me want to be in France,  eating bread, right now. This was one of them

The next day Rosalyn helped Emma into the front passenger's seat and climbed in the back with Emma's crutches.

At the butcher a few towns over, Emma and Blondine argued over which basket to buy and which pate was : the pate de campagne or the truffled  mousse. At the fruit stand, Emma  and Blondine argued over whether to buy apples  or pears, clementines or Valencia oranges, or dried fruits like plums, apricots, and dates.

And that was nothing compared to the long, drawn-out discussion at the counter of the boulangerie. Blondine insisted on bread that was pas trop cuit, not too cooked, which engendered yet another heated discussion with Emma, who was staunchly of the opinion that a well-browned baguette was best. Soon the baker emerged from the rear of the store to weigh in on the proper degree of doneness of a perfect baguette, and several other customers waiting their turn to order chimed in.

Rosalyn stayed out of it, relishing the opportunity to examine the baked goods on display. The boulangerie wasn't a patisserie - a shop that specialized in pastries and desserts - but nonetheless sold delectable looking choux, or cream puffs, as well as eclairs, madeleines, macarons, meringues  and tartes aux fruits, which were miniature open-faced fruit and custard tarts..How in the world did the French stay so skinny?

The boulangerie smelled like heaven, and Rosalyn hoped the scent would linger on her clothing the way the cigarette smoke had after the Epiphany party.

The disputants in the Great Baguette Debate at last called a truce - neither side had convinced the other, though all agreed the proprietor of the boulangerie had the best bread in all of Champagne - and  to appease Emma, Blondine bought several baguettes in varying  degrees of doneness, as well as an assortment of other breads to bring home with them.

Back in the car and once again en route to visit Madame Bolze, Blondine ripped off the heel of a baguette and handed it to Rosalyn.

"It's called le quignon, the bit you eat on the way home," she explained.

"There's a name for that?" asked Rosalyn, and took a bite  of the delicious fresh baguette.

"You don't even want to know how many words the French have to describe all types of bread, bread creation, and bread consumption," said Emma, letting her head fall back on the headrest and breathing out a weary sigh. "I'm telling you, it's a religion."

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. 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. For more information, see the welcome post.

Alphabet 2020: B is for Bunny....Easter Bunny

I don't know about you, but it is almost a surprise to find that is Easter this weekend. It most definitely does not feel like it at all. We went to do our essential shopping last weekend and we saw all the shelves full of Easter chocolates and I couldn't help but wonder about sales because in theory people won't be going to the shops as much, and you can't get together with your family to exchange eggs and eat together.

Having said that though, earlier this week a couple of my team members were talking about how they had already eaten their kid's Easter eggs while they were working from home and so they are going to have to go and buy more!

I can't see that we are going to buy too many Easter eggs. As long as I get at least one Lindt gold rabbit (which I did) I will be happy. But don't feel too bad for us. We are not going to be going without.

The Easter bunny has some things in common with Santa, but other things are different. I mean, after all, the bunny travels all over the country delivering the eggs in the same way Santa does his presents, but as far as I know there's no real requirement for good behaviour. After all, you don't often hear parents admonishing their children that they better be good or else they won't get their Easter eggs, and there's certainly no song about this.

There was a threat to egg delivery this year, as there are a couple of states in Australia that have taken the unprecedented step of closing their state borders due to the COVID19. There is a very strict list of reasons why you are allowed to cross the border and delivering eggs isn't on that list. That does make one wonder how on earth the Easter Bunny was going to make all the deliveries this year.

Fortunately, in  amongst all the important policy making decisions, the Prime Minister has given a special exemption so all is well.

A couple of years ago we tried making hot cross bun but I think that this year we are going to make something a bit more chocolately! Although, I am now thinking that maybe I should try the hot cross buns again or maybe cinnamon scrolls.

My intention for this weekend is to make this Easter Egg Rocky Road slice! A while ago I made a peppermint slice with similar concepts which was delicious so I am looking forward to this one. I am not quite sure who we are going to share the slice with though!

Finally, I thought I would finish with my favourite Easter cartoon. I first saw this years ago, and it still makes me laugh!

By the way....I hope you read the title of this post in your best James Bond voice because that's how I wrote it!

Bookish Quotes - Kondoing books.. and other things.

I am currently reading The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke and I am really enjoying it.  I really like the tone even though there is some subdued subject matter in one thread of the story.  And I love the idea of a lost song that has the power to draw people together.

For a bookish quote this week I thought I would share a few little sections where one of the main characters is taking stock of her possessions after returning from a long time overseas. The reason for the little sections is that this section goes for several pages, and I more wanted to give the idea of the passage rather than the whole passage. I am sharing it because....well....it sparked joy for me.

"Do you spark joy?" she silently asked the Husqvarna.
"I do," the trusty old sewing machine confirmed, reminding Evie of dresses past. It would be nice to make herself some new clothes, whenever, wherever she settled. Evie moved the heavy case to the side of the room she intended for the keep pile.
Next, she identified which of the cardboard cartons contained the china dinner service that had been handed down to her mother, from her own mother. When Evie's mother had died, Jacinta - the eldest of Evie's half-sisters - hadn't wanted the china, and neither had Stella. Evie had been only eight years old at the time, and Stella had decided to pack the boxes away in case Evie grew into the kind of young woman who would on day want a Royal Worcester dinner service.

A couple of paragraphs and then...

"Do you spark joy?" she asked the boxes full of china.
"Actually, no," was the answer from the dinner plates and the side plates, the soup plates and the bowls, the teacups and the saucers and the matching salt-and-pepper shakers. " We give you guilt and a storage problem."

And then a bit later

She sighed, summoned another modicum of strength, and approached a series of cardboard cartons clearly marked BOOKS. Inside, she knew  there would be novels and poetry, plays and non-fiction, old books, new books, books, books, books....
"Do you - "
"Don't you dare even ask," the cartons replied, and Evie moved them all to the "to keep" pile.

Evie then finds a box filled with old diaries

By the time Evie came to the last page of the last diary - I am casting off into the world, I wonder what I will find there - the light coming in through the shutters had the golden tone of late evening. She felt drained. Diaries, after all, had a habit of sifting out the average parts of life and leaving only the extremes, but sixteen years' worth of highs and lows was a lot to absorb in a single sitting. She loaded the diaries back into the archive box and replaced the lid.
"Do you spark joy?" she asked the box.
"What a dumb question," the box replied. "I hold the archive of your heart, Evie Greenlees - its joys and its sorrows."

And finally

Since arriving in Tavistock Row, she'd been contemplating the prospect of the banana lounges in the brick-paved courtyard in the front garden, and now seemed like the time to try them. On her way out the door, she picked up her guitar case.
"Do you spark joy?" she asked it.
"Cheeky cow," the guitar said. "You know I do."
"Just checking."

This week....

I'm reading....

Last week I said I was kind of surprised at how much I was reading. I might have spoken too early as this week I barely read anything!

Late last night I finished My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith but really that's all I have read! I am still reading, and enjoying, The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke but haven't made any progress on my audiobook at all, mainly because I think it is a bit darker than I need right now.

I'm watching....

We continue to try to take advantage of all the things that are available to us as a result of the current situation. On Friday night, we watched One Man Two Guvnors with James Corden which was streamed by the National Theatre from the UK. It was totally bonkers but so much fun.

We (by which I really mean me) also watched Josephs Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat starring Donny Osmond as part of the series of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals that are being screened. I am really looking forward to watching Jesus Christ Superstar starring Tim Minchin this weekend.

We (and this time I mean both of us) started rewatching Good Omens over the weekend for no other reason than ...just because. It is so much fun, and just makes us laugh so it's perfect for right now!

Have you done a movie screens with friends yet? On Saturday night we watched Skyscraper starring The Rock. We all pressed play at the same time and the comments were flying thick and fast within the Messenger group. with It isn't necessarily my kind of movie, but it is definitely fun to watch with others. I think we will do it again before this thing is over!

Life....

We had to have a rethink over the weekend around our working arrangements. Last week we were set up on the dining room table, but we reorganised the spare room into an office, got some additional screens and some proper office chairs. It is only one day in, but already my eyes are thanking me for making these changes, and it was definitely easier to get up and close the door at the end of the day tonight.

Posts from the last week

Reading Reflections
Alphabet 2020: A
Weekend Cooking: Puff Pastry
Six Degrees of Separation


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

Six Degrees of Separation: Stasiland to The Arrival

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. 

Normally when I participate in this my links are somewhat random. It could be locations, author names, titles, etc but this month I am going with a specific theme which is the immigrant experience, with a specific focus on Australian immigration, although I must admit the first couple of links might be a bit tenuous!

This month's starting point is Stasiland by Anna Funder. It's not a book that I have read but I have read All That I Am by the same author. All That I Am explores the story of a young woman who fines herself mixed up in anti-Nazi circles in the late 1930s. When telling the story she is an elderly woman who has lived in Australia for many years.  There's not a lot of detail about her life here though.

The Last of the Bonegilla Girls by Victoria Purman is predominantly set in a post WWII immigration camp in country Victoria. Here immigrants from many different war ravaged European countries are forced to come together as they wait for their new lives in Australia to really start. In the camp, they begin to learn English, the families wait for news of a job before they spread out across the country. The main characters are young women who become lifelong friends despite the fact that there are language and cultural differences.

The Women in Black by Madeleine St John also features immigrant characters  who are trying to make a new life here in Australia and how it was sometimes difficult to be accepted when there were so many cultural differences. This book was made into a movie last year and it is a lovely film. One of my favourite lines is where an Australian woman is meeting an immigrant man for the first time, and she asks him if he speaks English. His response is that he speaks several languages! Watch the trailer below to see it. It makes me smile every time.

Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung - Now a couple of non fiction entries featuring Asian Australians. I read Unpolished Gem a long time ago now. I think it might have been a book club read. I found this one interesting because Alice's family settled in Melbourne which is where I live.

The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do - Anh Do is arguably one of  the most famous Vietnamese Australians. He is a stand up comedian who has appeared in numerous TV shows, is a successful artist including having a TV show where he paints the portraits of famous Australians as he interviews them. It's one of our favourite shows to watch each week when it was on. He came to Australia on a boat as a very young boy. It was a harrowing journey where his younger brother nearly died, and where the young boys struggled to fit into such a different country. Despite this or maybe because of the struggles Anh became who he is today, and his younger brother was nominated as Young Australian of the Year in 2005. This book tells their story.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan -  My last book is a bit different in that it isn't an Australian immigrant story. It is a book with no words, just amazing art, which tells the story of a man who leaves his country to start a new life. Everything is different, from the food to the language. I know it's a bit presumptuous to quote from my own review but this is what I wrote when I originally read this book twelve years ago:

There are literally no words at all in this book, at least not words that we can recognise. Where there are words on buildings and things they are in a strange symbolic language. The images and the storyline represented are so strong that no words are necessary. The use of elements of fantasy to represent the threat in the old homeland and some of the things that are found in the strange new world are a very strong symbolic reminder to us that for many people who migrate to countries like Australia the things that they find here that are every day to us are sometimes completely foreign to the migrants.

And just because talking about it has made me want to watch the movie again, here is the trailer for Ladies in Black.

The starting point for next month is The Road for Cormac McCarthy - there's a fair chance it will be a long and winding road (to quote The Beatles) through the chain.

Weekend Cooking: Puff pastry

Is there anything better than crisp, crunchy delicious puff pastry? There are lot of ways to use puff pasty, and today I thought I would share a couple of really simple recipes using shop bought pastry sheets. I have made puff pastry once, and it was delicious, but for these two recipes I am using pre made pastry.

A  handy tip for both of these recipes. Use a pizza cutter to cut your pastry into strips or squares. Super quick and easy.

I guess we should start with the savoury recipe right?

This recipe was one that I saw on an episode of Eat Well for Less, a show that I posted about a couple of weeks ago. This was suggested as an alternative to buying bread sticks.

Cheese Twists

Puff pastry sheets


1 egg, beaten
Grain mustard
Gruyere, or whatever cheese you have to hand, grated
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the over to 200C/400F/Gas mark6 and line a baking sheet with silicone paper.

Brush the pastry with the beaten egg, then with the grain mustard.

Scatter the cheese over the pastry, then season with sea salt and black pepper.

Cut the pastry into strips 1.5cm  wide, then take the end of the strip and twist each strip in opposite directions. Place onto the baking sheet.

Cook in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot or co




The sweet recipe is one that I found on Facebook and it sounded and tasted really good! I made it a bit harder for myself because I had to make custard from custard powder rather than using store bought pre made.

Puff Pastry Cream Squares

Puff pastry

For the cream filling:

150ml whipped cream
100g custard

DIRECTIONS
1. Cut the puff pastry into squares of equal size.
2. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar, then bake at 180°C for 15 minutes.
3. Prepare the whipped cream and blend the custard into it.
4. Let the puff pastry squares cool, then add the cream filling.
5. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

I am also sharing this post with In My Kitchen

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. 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. For more information, see the welcome post.

Alphabet 2020 : A is for (not) Away

I am feeling a little foolish at the moment.

I was intending to join in Blogging A to Z challenge but I obviously did not read the instructions at all. You see the challenge is to post every day through April except Sundays. What I read was every second weeks for the rest of the year - not even close, and it doesn't even add up!

Given how tired I am at the end of every working day I don't have it in me to come up with that many posts in a short period, so instead I am going to do my own alphabet thing. It's not my first go around at this. Years ago I used to do the A to Z of Historical Fiction, which was hosted at Historical Tapestry.

So what I am intending is to post every couple of weeks until I run out of steam, reach the end of the year or the alphabet! There's no theme as such, but there's a fair chance that it will be mostly about books and bakes or whatever else I come up.

For the first post I thought I would start with a post about what we would be doing if the world hadn't gone practically into lockdown. If all the borders of weren't closed and if we weren't all practicing social isolation we would currently be in London, then heading to France, Kuwait and Singapore.

I used to live in London in another life time. but this would have been my first time back in London since 1999. Our intention whilst in London was to visit the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum and just generally soak up the atmosphere.

We were then heading to Stafford to see a friend that I shared a flat when I lived in London. It would have been our first time catching up since either late 1998 to 1999. One of my strong memories of this friend relates to when Princess Di died. I was staying with her that weekend so on when we woke up on that Sunday morning we were shocked and we spent the whole day in our pyjamas just watching the news. Admittedly, it's not a fun memory, and I do have lots of them, but it does mean that every year I think of her.

From there we would have visiting Sheffield because that is where I lived for 4 years and then back down to the town where my husband's daughter lives. It's not too far from Oxford so we would have been visiting there.

Next stop, we were planning to catch the Eurostar train from London to Calais. We were going to be spending time in Northern France with stays in Beauville, Bayeux and near Mont St Michel. The main focus was to be the D day beaches of Normandy with a visit to see the famous tapestry and monastery included.

And then Paris.....oh Paris. I last visited in 1994 and I have been dreaming of visiting again for many, many years. Sigh.....oh Paris. You only need to search the word Paris on my blog to see how long I have been thinking about visiting Paris.

From there we  were going to Kuwait, to visit my brother in law and his family. We haven't seen them since we were in South Africa a couple of years ago, and this would have been the first time I would have seen them since we got married.

Our last stop would have been Singapore. Really we were going to Singapore to hang out at the airport there because there is so much cool stuff to do there but I am sure that I would manage to find time to have a Singapore Sling.

Over the next week or so I am still going to post some of the posts that I had pre-scheduled ready for when I go away. They are already written after all!

The sign post photo that I have included in this post was one that we took when we were at the end of the famous jetty in Busselton in Western Australia. It was New Year's Eve and the world was a very different place. It feels like a different world and yet it is just over 3 month ago.

Once this is all over there will be opportunities to do this trip, or something similar. We have been lucky and got most of the money back that we spent, although we ended up with

So, there is A for (not) Away. Hopefully I will be back next fortnight with a B for something post as opposed to not being for something.

Reading Reflections: Jan Feb March 2020

I used to do a monthly reading reflection and I think I am going to start doing that again now. I will do it on a monthly basis going forward but for this post I will do all the books so far this year.

I have included the link where I have reviewed the book. It looks a little more impressive than it is because one post was for three books!

Here's what I have read so far  this year and the rating out of 5

January

The Cedar Cutter by Tea Cooper 4/5 (Australian Author)
Listen to the Wind by Susanne Dunlap 4/5
Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas 4/5
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell 4/5
Sixty Summers by Amanda Hampson 3.5/5 (Australian Author)
Water Under the Bridge by Lily Malone 4/5 (Australian Author)
Cafe by the Bridge by Lily Malone 4.5/5 (Australian Author)

February

Last Bridge Before Home by Lily Malone 4.5/5 (Australian Author)
The Vineyards of Champagne by Juliet Blackwell 4/5
The Little Bookshop on the Seine by Rebecca Raisin 4/5
Hearts on Hold by Charish Reid 4.5/5
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo 4.5/5

March

Saint-Germain-des-Pres: Paris's Rebel Quarter by John Baxter 3.5/5 (Australian Author)
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 4/5 (Audiobook)
Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran 3.5/5
Conspiracy of Lied by Kathryn Gauci 3.5/5 (Australian Author)
When it All Went to Custard by Danielle Hawkins 4.5/5
If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane 4/5
Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare 4.5/5

This week

I'm reading

I am kind of surprised at how much I am managing to read given everything that is going on, especially with Australia gradually descending into lockdown. I don't have my commute time to mess around anymore, and so in theory that should be cutting into my reading time, but it doesn't seem to at the moment.

What I am reading though is more light hearted, fun style reads rather than anything too heavy.

This week I finished reading If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane (not quite the romance I was expecting but still a lot of fun) and Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare which was exactly what I expected and needed!

Currently I am reading The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke and My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith. I chose to read The Lost Love Song after reading lots of really good reviews of it over the last  couple of months.  I am enjoying it so far, although it did take a turn quite early in the book that I kind of sort of knew was coming but still kind of sort of surprised me.

I decided to read the Alexander McCall Smith in a more roundabout way.  I saw mention of a book called The Second Worst Restaurant in France and thought food and France - that's a book for me. However, I then realised that was the second book in the series and so I needed to find the first book. Luckily I find McCall Smith a very calming read most of the time so it is a good read for when I am awake at 4.30 in the morning.

I am still listening to The Rise of  Magicks by Nora Roberts which probably doesn't qualify as light and fun but I did start this before the world went a bit crazy!

I'm watching

Not only am I getting to read but I am also getting to watch some shows.

If you asked me what I achieved on Sunday my answer would be going food shopping, doing my nails and watching pretty much all of season 4 of Outlander! I had maybe watched 2 episodes previously, but I knocked all the others out on Sunday. Of course, my husband tells me I am an underachiever because there are still 6 episodes of season 5 recorded to watch in due course but I will get to them. And hopefully it won't take me 18 months to do so.

On Friday night we watched the last episode of Star Trek: Picard. Is it too soon to say that I am already looking forward to season 2. There was a couple of slow spots in the series, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. In particular, I enjoyed seeing all the old faces returning and really enjoyed the new characters as well.

I have continued to seek out some of the interesting shows that are available as a result of shows and venues being closed down. On Saturday I watched Oklahoma starring Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lippman. This was a first for me, and I have to say, this show was much darker than I expected it to be. While I know a lot of the songs I don't think I have ever actually seen the show or movie before so some of the story line surprised me.

Tonight I watched the 60 minute Cirque du Soleil special. We were meant to go to Cirque du Soleil a couple of weeks ago but it was postponed. Somehow I have never seen one of these shows live so it was a real treat for me to watch this.

The other show that is quickly becoming must watch for me is the Grand Ole Opry. This week the show feature Vince Gill and Amy Grant as well as two of their daughters.

Life

We are how working from home full time and I think that we are getting used to it. It's interesting listening to my husband talk. Most of the time I have no idea what he is talking about but it is lovely to hear him interacting with his colleagues. Of course, he said to me the other day that he has no idea of what I am talking about either, but that I clearly know what I am talking about. I think that is a compliment!

On the weekend just gone, we should have gone to a couple of Melbourne Comedy Festival shows but, alas, it was not to be.

I think this week is going to be a little difficult in some ways because this time tomorrow we should have been sitting at the airport waiting to get on the plane to go to London. Whilst I know that everything is out of our control, it would have been an amazing holiday.

We have been quite lucky. So far we haven't lost too much money with all of our cancellations. Companies like Airbnb were amazing to deal with and gave us our refunds straight away. We have ended up with vouchers to use from the airline and a couple of other places. I think we will still have trouble with one of the hotels and one of the activities, but overall we will end up being okay.

In other not so great news, we found out today that we may need to spend around $3500 on a new  engine for my car. Lots of conversation and no decisions just yet as to what to do. Watch this space.

Posts from the last week

Where There's Music
Weekend Cooking: March  Bakes


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

Weekend Cooking: March bakes

I got a bit shock the other day. I opened the cupboard where we normally keep flour to find not one but two packets of vanilla cake  mix....what the heck. I haven't made a packet cake mix for years. I am not sure if my husband doubts my ability to keep him in the cake which he has become accustomed or is it something else! He said it was in case we run out of flour, but I think I am going to have to go supervise the shopping from now on!

I have been a bit torn about baking for the last couple of weeks. Yes, we need to keep living as best we can, but should we be limiting cooking to essentials given that we are mostly in shutdown, and the shortages we have seen in things like flour in the shops. I do think that we do need to find enjoyment and pleasure where we can though so every now and again should be okay right?

It almost seems surreal to think that it was only early March when everything was normal and yet here we are in a completely different world.

One of the things that is normal in my workplace is cake cart. Every couple of months, one of the teams in my division is responsible for bringing in cake which we then sell to the rest of the division and the funds raised go towards our Christmas party.

My contribution to the cake cart were Carrot, Walnut and Ginger Cake (which I have posted about before here) and Double Vanilla Custard Tarts. Both got rave reviews, especially the cake!

In addition I made this month's Queen Baking Club recipes. The first was a Sour Cream and Apple slice and the second was Raspberry and Almond Friands.

Let's see how much baking we get done in April!

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. 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. For more information, see the welcome post.

Where there's music

One of the things that I have been enjoying over the last couple of weeks is the way that music has played a part in our new way of life.

It's hard to go past the videos of the Italians and Spanish singing from their homes whilst they are in lockdown. I've been very emotional watching them
.
The other thing that has been cool is that artists and organisations have given us access that we would never otherwise have had.

The first one I saw was when Keith Urban did a 30 minute performance in his warehouse. He was there with only a couple of other people (including Nicole Kidman doing a great line in mum dancing). I have long been a Keith Urban fan so I have actually watched this a couple of times now. He gave us another one this morning my time from his basement.  I hope that we see more!

A funny story about Keith Urban. Last year we travelled to Nashville on our trip to the USA. I knew that I wanted to go to the Grand Ole Opry and as soon as we started planning I looked at the tickets and thought I really must buy tickets to the Opry. Every few weeks I would think the same again. Just before we left on our trip I thought I really must buy tickets to the Opry but I just didn't get to it.

As we were driving into Nashville my now husband pointed out a billboard asking did I know Keith was going to be at the Opry the next night! Ummmm, no I did not. You can bet that the very next thing I did was book tickets! And it was so fantastic to be in that famous place watching one of my absolute favourites play!

That's a very long introduction  to say that one of the other shows that we watched was the livestream from the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. It featured Marty Stewart, Vince Gill and Brad Paisley. It was so good to be able to say we've been there and stood in that circle that remains unbroken. And yes, I got a bit emotional then.

I also listened to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood this morning, and I hear that Robbie Williams has done a live karaoke today. My plan is to watch those tonight!

My husband likes classical music so we also enjoyed watching the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven's Symphony No.7. We will definitely be watching more of these if they are streamed.

There are so many opportunities to witness performances that just wouldn't normally be available to us in this way.

And I haven't even touched any of the theatre that is being made available from Broadway to London's West End to shows from the Globe Theatre.

Have you watched anything interesting lately?

This week...

I'm reading

What's yellow and dangerous?


Shark infested custard!

This week I have finished reading When It All Went to Custard by Danielle Hawkins which I really enjoyed! I am definitely intending to read more from this author. Rural fiction has been huge in Australia for years. This book is rural, but the difference is that it is set on a sheep farm near a small town in country New Zealand!

Given everything going on in the world at the moment, I am definitely looking for feel good reads. With that in mind I also started reading my first ever book by Mhairi McFarlane,  If I Never Met You. I know a number of bloggers who really love her books, and I love good British humour so I am sure I will like it. I am so far!!


I'm watching

I am also looking to watch feel good TV as well

We watched the first series of Fleabag this week. I wasn't quite sure at first, but it was a lot of fun, and it helps that the episodes are short. I think we will probably watch season two this week.

I  did have to laugh at myself this week. I saw a TV show from Belgium that I though might be fun to watch called Team Chocolate, but I am aware that my husband doesn't like to read subtitles. I was therefore trying to gently introduce the fact that this would be necessary when he asked what language is it in. When I replied Dutch, he looked at me a little oddly. Oh, that's right, he speaks Dutch. No subtitles required!!

Life

Once again, this week is a tale of what we didn't do. We did have plans to go a lecture at the museum which was about their collection of miniatures, but of course this was cancelled.

Also cancelled was our outing to Cirque de Soleil. I have no idea why but I have never actually been to one of their shows so I was super excited to be going, but obviously it wasn't to be this time. I am sure that there will be others.

The big change this week is that we are now practicing social distancing. We are therefore working from home  most days,  and I fully expect that to be extended to be changed to full time shortly.

For the most part I am okay, but I can't quite help but feel a bit anxious about what is going on in the world. I would most likely be okay if I was to get the virus, but there would be a chance that I wouldn't be given that I had pneumonia a couple of years ago and that I am overweight. Fingers crossed that we all manage to stay safe and happy during these uncertain times.

Posts from the last week

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran
Bookish Quote
Library Loot


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

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran

Recently I saw that Deb from Kahakai Kitchen was reading a book for an online book club called Cook the Books, and I straight away thought that it might be a book club that worked for me! I therefore requested the February/March read from the library straight away, which is Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran.

This is a book that I have been aware of for a long time but I hadn't read it before. In fact, I haven't read any of the books that have been selected for this year.

Pomegranate Soup begins with the three Aminpour sisters arriving in a small town in Ireland called Ballinacroagh. Marjan, Bahar and Layla are looking for another new home and are opening a cafe serving their traditional foods in a town that may not be ready for them

The three women escaped from Iran at the start of their revolution in 1979, making their way to Ireland by sneaking over the border into Pakistan, making their way initially to London and then to Ireland.

Marjan has unsurpassed ability with food. Her food can change your mood, and even the direction of your life in some cases. Each day, she and her sisters cook delicious lamb stews, pomegranate soup, bake elephant ears pastries and serve coffee using beautiful samovars, sending the delicious scents of cinnamon and other spices wafting into the main street of the town. Whilst there are those who are willing to accept strangers into their town, especially after tasting their food, there are others who are not.

There was lots to like about this book. I loved all the food content, the descriptions of the way that Marjan in particular nurtured those around her through her food. I liked that there were a number of recipes included in the book, and enjoyed the almost magical realism feel to it, focusing on the power of food to change the way that you are feeling. I guess I would call it magical realism lite for want of a better term.

There were some things that didn't work as well for me. Many of the characters felt almost like caricatures, especially the characters who weren't willing to accept the family, from the nosy busy body neighbour who spied on the women, and the local bar owner who had his own plans for the cafe space.

Overall, it's a readable book, without being amazing.

I am looking forward to reading the next selection of the Cook the Books bookclub which is Hippie Food by Jonathan Kauffman

The idea of the Cook the Books is that you cook something inspired by what you read. I am choosing to share a recipe for Persian Drizzle Cake which I made last year.  The recipe is from Queen.com.au. I chose to top my cake with Turkish Delight Easter eggs  rather than rose petals.

Persian Drizzle Cake

Cake
¾ cup (180ml) milk
Pinch of saffron
150g butter, room temperature
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp rosewater essence
1 ½ cups (225g) self raising flour
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp lemon zest (approx. ½ lemon)
½ cup (60g) chopped pistachios

Lemon Rose Syrup
⅓ cup (75g) caster sugar
80-90ml lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)
½ tsp Queen Rosewater Essence

For the cake

Preheat oven to 180°C (fan forced). Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.

Gently warm milk in the microwave for 40 seconds. Add saffron and allow to infuse while you make the cake.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla extract and rosewater essence and beat well.

Add flour, cardamom, lemon, pistachios and saffron milk and mix on low until just combined.

Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 55-60 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

For the Lemon Rose Syrup

During the last 10 minutes of baking, combine sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and heat until sugar has dissolved and mixture has slightly thickened. Add rosewater essence, stirring to incorporate. Straight from the oven, pierce the cake multiple times with a skewer and pour warm syrup over hot cake. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Top with rose petals, pistachios and icing sugar before serving.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. 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. For more information, see the welcome post.

I am also linking this post up with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story

And also at Novel Food

Bookish Quotes: A good book

I've been reading Conspiracy of Lies by Kathryn Gauci over the last week or so. I will confess that I have met Kathryn a few times because of a shared love of historical fiction author Sharon Kay Penman which is part of the reason I wanted to give her books ago.

This book is a split narrative but predominantly set in WWII and tells the story of a female spy.

For today's Bookish Quote I am sharing a short passage from the latter part of the book. The book below was mentioned another time later in the book but I can't share that part. I like what the author says here about books teaching us things.

"Will we meet again, Fraulein Bouchard?" he asked
"We will, when the war has ended. In the meantime I want you to continue your French lessons. Will you promise me that?"
She gave him a French edition of a book as a keepsake, with a dedication written in French: To Oskar, a student who shows great promise. Your friend and teacher, Fraulein Bouchard.
"One day when you grow up to be a successful you man, you will be able to read this, and when you do, I would like to think you will remember me. It's by a very famous American writer," she told him.
He read the title, trying to formulate the words. "The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. What's it about?"
"It's about a man who loves someone so much he reinvents himself to win her back."
Oskar looked puzzled. He wasn't sure what she meant.
"Oskar, one day you will understand that all good books teach us something. This one is very special. It teaches us that we can be anything we want, but we can't always have who we want."
"And I have something for you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of his toy soldiers."It's Frederick the Great. Papa said that even your Napoleon Bonaparte admired him."
Claire was deeply touched. "That's certainly true. I shall treasure it."

Library Loot: March 18

We worked from home today for the first day. The good news is  I still like my husband. The not so good news is that we had to spend a chunk of time on the phone trying to get our internet up and working again after it died a couple of days ago.

Like so many others  around the world, my local library has closed down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic so who knows when I will be doing my next Library Loot post, unless I start borrowing ebooks and audiobooks. The reality is that I have enough of both of those of my own so I probably don't need to borrow them!

Interestingly when I checked the library catalogue today, all of the books I have out have had their due date extended to 1 May which was unexpected!

Here's what I did borrow this week:

Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran - I finished the first book in this duo a week or so, and I am sufficiently interested to find out what happens next.

The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke - This is a new release that I had seen a few really good reviews for so I thought I would request it.

Palace of Tears by Julian Leatherdale - This author has a new book out which I have seen a few reviews for. I am not sure why but I was more drawn to his debut rather the new one.



Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

This week...

I'm reading

I mentioned last week that I was reading Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran and Conspiracy of Lies by Kathryn Gauci. I finished the first of those and will have a review up over the weekend (shocking I know!) and I am still going with the latter.

I did start listening to The Rise of the Magicks by Nora Roberts this week. This is the third book in the The Chronicles of the One trilogy. The trigger for this book is that there is a virus that sweeps into the world, decimating the population of the world. The Doom, the virus, is much much deadlier than we are seeing in real life, but still.

I also picked up When it All Went to Custard by Danielle Hawkins this week from the library. I have read the first couple of chapters because it was the only book I had with me when we were waiting for our dinner the other night. So far I am enjoying it!

I'm watching

Not much other than the news really. We are still continuing with our series that I have mentioned before. I need to make an effort to find some new things to watch. Any one have any must watch recommendations?

Life

If I thought last weekend was quiet this weekend was even quieter. We did have plans to go to see Robbie Williams in concert but that was cancelled. We have had several events that we had coming up over the next few weeks that have been cancelled.

My husband's son came down for the weekend, so it was good to see him. I guess that makes him my stepson but I don't think of it like that yet!).

The rest of our time is basically being preoccupied with what happens if scenarios, mostly around our holiday. We are supposed to be going to Europe at the end of this month but I think it is 99.95% likely that isn't going to happen now and so we need to start cancelling things with the hope that we get some of our money back. Once things have calmed down a bit we will then be able to make decisions about where and when we do go.

One of the disappointing aspects of cancelling is that I have actually been pretty organised and had quite a few blog posts written and scheduled for the period that we were away. Some of them will still get posted after being edited, but the others may never see light of day now!

I have seen Robbie Williams live before and it was a great show. It's one of those shows where you stand up and dance the whole show! I thought I would share a video below to remind myself of what we didn't get to see.

Posts from the last week

The History of the Future
Weekend Cooking: Eat Well for Less
Library Loot

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

The history of the future

As a historical fiction reader, there are times when I look at the things that are going on in the world and think this is history in the making, and that this will be the historical fiction of the future. I can't help but think that the start of 2020 has been full of those moments. We've had the catastrophic fires here in Australia, the whole Brexit thing, the whole Megxit thing and now, coronavirus.

It's true that every day is the history of the future, but let's face it, most days are just days. Things happen, but some days are bigger than others.

One of the things that has amazed me over the last week is how the whole world, in effect, has come to a standstill. I really don't think that I ever thought that it would be so easy to stop everything, except if we found ourselves in a war. And yet here we are!

I do find myself  reflecting on all the historical fiction novels that I have read over the years which have been set in times of war or hardship. There are so many novels where the authors tell you about how the characters had to line up for their ration of meat, butter, flour or bread. Not one of them mentioned toilet paper! Maybe there were other items that were difficult to come across that all the authors never thought to mention.

Or maybe, just maybe, our ideas of what are essentials are a little skewed right now. We went to the shops today for our normal weekly shop and it was very entertaining in a mind blowing way. We were having coffee just before going into the supermarket and we started to see people walking out with their prescribed packet of toilet paper. You could see the word spreading. Complete strangers were passing on the word as they walked down the shopping mall....there's toilet paper in Woolies!

Once we were in the store, there were people running to get kitchen towel and toilet paper. Why kitchen towel? I don't understand! As we walked up and down the aisles, it was interesting to see which shelves were empty. Flour, sugar, tinned vegetables were  all things I understood, but why are cracker biscuits and ice cream shelves completely cleared out? I don't understand. Is ice cream an essential now and we missed the memo?

What is clear is that there will be some people out there right now making money. The supermarkets were busier than they are at Christmas so while there may be some bleak months ahead, right now, their sales are going through the roof because people are buying things some of which they may never use.

On a personal level, there have been a few impacts for us in these crazy times.

It is 99.95% likely that we are not going on our trip to Europe, so now we have to see how much of the money we have already paid out can be recovered for flights, accommodation and activities. At the end of the day the money is already gone, so anything we can get back is a bonus.

I do think we may be cramping my son's style a little though. Apparently a friend of his was coming from interstate over Easter which was news to us. Now we'll be home the friend can still come but it might be a slightly different experience than it would otherwise have been.

It is also looking likely that we are going to be working from home at some point in the next couple of weeks, which I am not looking forward to. Aside from the environment where we have no desks, no screen monitors so we will be working off single screen monitors etc, I know that I have a tendency to get distracted by things when I am working from home. Oh, there's a TV show on that I like, or I'll so some washing, or I'll just drop down to the library or I might have a little snooze for 10 minutes, and then suddenly it is the end of the day and I haven't achieved as much as I should have. Ooops.

I should be clear that I have no issue with the instructions to stay home as much as possible. Whilst it is unlikely that I would be terribly affected should I catch the virus, I am more than happy to do my part in order to protect our more vulnerable members of the community. I think the wisest advice I have seen so far in all of this was something along the lines of don't prepare just in case you catch the virus, but prepare just in case you give it to someone else.

In the mean time I will observe the goings on with bemusement and incredulity at how crazy the world is right now. Hopefully, it isn't too long before things go back to normal, and then we will need to count the cost in lives, in livelihoods for those people whose business just don't survive this period of enforced closure, in our health care systems and in so many other ways that we can't even begin to imagine just yet.

Stay safe everyone.