The truth is I'm not reading much at all. I started reading The Vanishing Days by Susanna Kearsley and only got a couple of pages in. I thought about reading something else, but didn't. I need to read the next four chapters in The Sundial, but haven't quite made it there yet.
I was listening to The Winter Sea, and I was listening to The Bear and the Nightingale, but didn't get very far with either of them.
And I need to start thinking about my book club choice. I did think vaguely about listening to The Midnight Library, but I should probably have started a few months ago if I intend to finish it.
Next week will be a better reading week.
I'm Watching
We have now watched all the available episodes of Ted Lasso and I am sad. I am not sure if Robert is up for it or not but we might need to watch them all again. We have already watched the first season twice, so I might be able to convince him. Or I might not.
We also watched a couple more episodes of Squid Game. We will watch it to the end in due course.
I did start watching another Korean series which has a totally different feeling to it. As in, it could not be more different to Squid Game if it tries. It is a series called Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha. Basically it is about a big city dentist who moves to a small country town right on the ocean. So far it's very cute.
Last night I started watching a show called The Parisian Agency on Netflix. It is a reality TV show that focusses on a family that sells high-end real estate. The parents work with their three sons, and they are all super close but also pretty vocal with each other. The houses they look at are pretty amazing, even if their buyers aren't that impressed, so I might watch a bit more of that because, you know, Paris.
We also watched the first episode of Celebrity Masterchef Australia. It was so good to be back in the Masterchef kitchen!
Life
Nothing much to add here either. We are still in lockdown. Robert's daughter moved into her newly built house this weekend. We haven't been able to see the house since the framing stage. We are hoping to get some more freedoms soon and get to go and see her new house, and them, but we will see.
Whilst I am definitely ready for lockdown to be over, and I am ready to be able to do things on the weekends, I am not sure that I am ready to do things with vast crowds of people. I know that is contradictory, but to be honest, that pretty much reflects my mind right now. Over it all, but not ready to take the risk of leaving the house except for very specific reasons.
Recently my friend has started a new bookclub. It is something we have tried to do for a while now, but it never worked out, so this time she put a call out on Meet-Up and has bought together a group of people who share a desire to read but are otherwise a group of strangers. Well, other than the two of us who already know each other.
I was really keen to have this be a read-on-a-theme bookclub rather than nominating a specific book to read, although we may also do that on occasion. The theme for this time was Spring and I chose to read The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens because blossoms mean spring right? It was a book that I already had on my ereader as a review copy and it also counts for Weekend Cooking - it's a triple whammy!
The story opens on 7 February 1967, a day known as Black Tuesday in Tasmania. On that day, there were horrific bushfires in and around Hobart and many people were killed, injured or made homeless.
I count myself very lucky to have never been too close to a bushfire. The closest was a few years ago when there was a grass fire a couple of suburbs away and we were instructed to evacuate. As an Australian, every summer we dread the days when the news headlines start with stories of bushfires raging, of the volunteer fire fighters risking their own lives to try and save the homes and towns of others, of heartbreaking stories of homes lost or even worse, lives. Whilst I haven't personally been affected, I know people who know people who have lost it all. And we have all smelt the smoky air as it drifts across the country, felt the gloom descend and the pride that we feel in those people on the front line who give so much of themselves to help others.
The first few pages of this book were gripping as the author took us into the face of these horrendous fires in Hobart. The fear and the panic, the desperate need to get back to your family, and the heartbreaking moment when you realise that you have lost significant parts of your livelihood or heritage, and, even worse, members of your family. It was so well written, I could feel the tension, fear and the heat.
Our main character is Catherine Turner, a young teacher who grew up on her family's apple orchard in the Huon Valley. As the fires spread Catherine makes is charged with supervising the children who can't get back to their families due to the fires closing in. As soon as she is able, she makes the somewhat reckless, actually make that very reckless, decision to try to get home to her family's orchard. The roads are closed, and she and her friend are told not to proceed, but they do and in doing so they place themselves in the path of danger.
When she does get home, it is to scenes of utter devestation all through the valley. Fire is fickle. It can destroy great swathes of land and yet some structures will remain standing. For the Turners, they pay the ultimate price. Their main house is gone, and their young son/brother is dead. Fortunately a cottage remains for them to live in while they start to rebuild their lives. Catherine's father has always been of the opinion that the land is no place for a girl so the orchard was always going to go to Peter, despite the fact that he wanted to be a vet and Catherine wants to be an orchardist. Catherine's mother has been devestated by the loss of her son and withdraws into herself.
What follows is a history of the apple industry in Tasmania, since that fateful day and some of the key events of the late 1960's through to now through the lens of Catherine and her friends and family's lives. Tasmania is known as the Apple Isle but the apple industry has been decimated over the last 50 years thanks to the fires, to changes in the export markets and increasing transport costs. These changes resulted in schemes from the government to pay people to rip out their trees, and families moving away to find a new life off the land. On the positive side there are the introduction of more efficient farming techniques and the introduction of organic farming methods.
Catherine's closest friend is Annie who is married to Dave Pearson. On the day of the fire, she is at home with her kids, plus young Charlie who is the son of Dave's friend Mark. Annie has five sons and a much wanted newborn baby girl. Annie grew up in an affluent family in Hobart, but she was disowned when she married Dave. Mark is living on their property with Charlie seeking an escape from his life in Melbourne, although Annie would like him to be gone.
As Catherine gets to know the shy Charlie, she also begins to get to know Mark, but there are many impediments, not least of all the fact that he is married to the absent Lara. Catherine faces many challenges to keep her family legacy, whilst still having to deal with the ongoing trauma that is the legacy of the fires and her brother's death.
This is the author's debut novel, and it is a strong debut. I enjoyed learning about the history of the apple industry and the lives of characters. Some of storyline was a bit unlikely, but it was definitely readable.
It should come as no surprise that there were lots of mentions of food, most of which were apple recipes. I wanted to make something apple-y, but I wasn't sure what until Mae shared a poem about apple pie a couple of weeks ago. I have also been thinking that I needed to try and make a "proper pie" which sent me off on a search for recipes.
Mae had mentioned having cheese with her apple pie, which is a new flavour combination to me and, in the end, I took that idea and twisted it a little and made a cheddar cheese flavoured pie crust, filled with apples and topped with a streusel which apparently. Apparently this style of pie (without the cheddar) is called a Dutch Apple Pie.
I took bits and pieces and inspiration from various recipes and put them all together, but predominantly it was based on this recipe from Olive and Mango. I didn't use the nuts in the streusel because we have a nut allergy in our house (my son is allergic to tree nuts) so I looked around at various other streusel recipes until I decided to use rolled oats in my streusel.
And the verdict? I enjoyed the flavour combination, but it got mixed reviews in my house. Robert said that he would like it to be made again but with just a plain crust and my son wouldn't even try it! So overall, I would use that recipe for the apples again, but it would be a different pastry and an adapted streusel.
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
Welcome to this week's edition of my Music A to Z feature. Each week on Thursday, I am going to share a song where either the song or the artist name begins with the letter for that week. This week, the letter is....
S
Fairground by Simply Red - I have been lucky over the last 10 years to be able to see many of the bands that I love. There are, however, a couple that I still have on my must see list. Simply Red is one of these
Stop by Sam Brown - Do you have a song that you just have to yell (note yell not just sing!) when it comes on the radio. This is one of those songs for me. It does have a couple of notes that are way outside my vocal range and so it isn't pretty for anyone who happens to be in hearing range, but I am definitely enthusiastic!
Don't Stop Movin' by S Club 7 - This is definitely a get up and dance kind of song! I could have easily chosen several of their songs and said the same thing
Slice of Heaven by Dave Dobbin and the Herbs - This song always makes me think of my grandfather. Not because he was a fan of this song, but rather because this song is on the soundtrack to the movie Footrot Flats and he was a big fan of that cartoon, at least in book form.
Do you have any S songs? Share them in the comments!
I actually read a couple of books this week which is quite a surprise!! I was partly able to do this because we took Monday off and then we were forced to have Tuesday off because we didn't have any power. What else can you do but read in that situation when there is no power and no internet?
The first book I finished was Flora's Travelling Christmas Shop by Rebecca Raisin. It's not too early for Christmas books is it? As usual I love the way that Rebecca Raisin writes about food and books, and this was a fun read. My review for this one will be up in a couple of weeks.
Once I finished that book I was back on the familiar question of what should I read next. Because we had no internet, I couldn't download anything new to read and none of the 270 books that I already have downloaded on my Kindle were calling my name.
I was struggling until I happened to see my library books from last week and it was a case of decision made. I absolutely loved Viola Shipman's book The Heirloom Garden when I read it last year, so when I saw the library copy of The Summer Cottage by Viola Shipman sitting there that was it. This is inadvertly going to be the first of three books over the next few weeks. I was excited to be approved for a review copy of The Secret of Snow which is out later this month. Then that same day I went to the library and The Clover Girls was there waiting for me!
I also picked up The Fence by Meredith Jaffe and The Goblin Empire by Katherine Addison.
I am now reading The Sundial by Shirley Jackson, the readalong book for RIPXVI. I am three chapters in and I have to say it isn't exactly what I expected.
I'm watching
I mentioned RIPXVI and the two new series we started this week both easily fit for that challenge. On Friday night, we started watching the series of What We Do in the Shadows, mainly because we had just watched the latest available episode of What If? What We Do in the Shadows is a comedy/horror about a group of vampires that live in Brooklyn. It was a lot of fun. We'll see if we watch any more or not.
Speaking of horror, we started watching Squid Game last night. On Wikipedia this is classified as a "survival drama" series, but it is pretty scary as far as I can tell. The body count is certainly high. This is a big hit on Netflix right now and you can see why. Think The Hunger Games on steroids! Have you watched it?
Life
Other than a couple of days off as I mentioned above, it was a pretty normal week, whatever normal means. We are still in lockdown here, but we are now able to go 15kms from home and we are allowed to meet other people outdoors, so we can start to meet friends. We did that yesterday as some of our friends are moving to the country in a couple of weeks.
We are looking forward to having more freedoms, but I think we will still be a bit wary of venturing too far from home. There are definitely days when we are over being at home.
I did attend our second book club meeting on Zoom this weekend. There were four of us in attendance this time and I enjoyed the conversation. We are doing a read-on-a-theme bookclub, and this month the theme was Spring. The next theme is "Books about books". So far I have thought of three different options, all of which were packed in a box which is in the shed, so I am going to have to come up with something else.
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.
The starting point for this month is a short story called The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. I found this story online and so, somewhat unusually, I have actually read this one. However, I wrote this post before I read it, so it didn't really colour my choices.
My first link is to The Sundial by Shirley Jackson. This is the readalong book for Readers Imbibing Peril XVI (RIPXVI) for this year. I did think about using RIP reads as my through theme but I ended up going in a more random direction.
My next link is to The Clockmakers Daughter by Kate Morton because the sundial is a way of telling the time as is a clock.
My link to the next book was supposed to be the word daughter but when I went to look for the cover I realised that the book I was thinking of is actually called The Cartographer's Secret by Tea Cooper (not the Cartographer's Daughter).I read this book earlier this year and loved it. So my connection can either be the possessive title or the fact that both books are historical fiction by Australian authors.
Let's get this chain back on track. My next choice is based on the fact that a cartographer is someone who draws maps, my next choice is The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks which I currently have out from the library.
The connection to my next choice is the word year. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks is a book that I read years ago and loved....well, except for the epilogue.
My final choice is The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks, because of the shared surname.
I have just realised that other than Shirley Jackson, these authors are all Australian, which wasn't deliberate. It just worked out that way, or maybe is reflecctive of my reading patterns.
Next month, our chain starts with What Are We Going Through by Sigrid Nunez. I am looking forward to it!
Recently I listened to Historical Novel Society Australasia's podcast interview with Mirandi Riwoe which is part of it's Imagining the Past series. Whilst I had heard of the author before, I wasn't that familiar with the books that she has written so it was interesting to listen to her talk. I was especially interested in reaading her work given that her books have unusual historical settings. I love a World War II historical fiction book as much as the next person, but it is nice to venture further afield both in location and timing.
The Fish Girl is set in Dutch colonial Indonesia and features Mina, a young village girl, who is unwillingly sent away by her father to work in the house of a wealthy Dutch merchant. Whilst she is a simple village girl who loves the sea, she soon catches the eye of the master and begins to serve his meals, including when he is entertaining. One evening, he has four Dutchmen come to dinner and one of them quickly becomes besotted with Mina and so begins to visit her, ostensibly for lessons on how to speak Malay. It is, however, clear that he is interested in her, bestowing her with gifts. However, Mina's interest is with Ajat, the son of the head man from her village. He is handsome, and a link with home. In the village, she would be too lowly for him, but here, they are drawn together.
This story is inspired by another short story, W Somerset Maugham's The Four Dutchmen. In that story he tells the tale of four Dutch sailors who travel the seas together and have a pact about retiring together at the end of their lives. One of those has a penchant for Malay girls, and this is where Riwoe has taken inspiration. Whilst in Somerset's story, the young girl is only referred to as a "Malay trollop", Riwoe has given her a name, a backstory, hopes and dreams. What she cannot and does not do is give her a different future than the one in the original story.
The first two thirds of this novella are packed with food descriptions, from the simpler food of the village to the richer food served in the Dutch merchant's house. Mina works in the kitchen with the always grumpy cook, Ibu Tana, who really doesn't like her, especially as she is shown favour by the master and his guests.
Ibu Tana tries to teach her to cook other dishes besides fried fish with sambal. The cook grumbles that nobody can live on fried fish alone. Of course, Mina knows this to be untrue. She is aghast at the variety of food the master and his guests insist upon, that even the servants enjoy. Only on very special occasions is a chicken or goat slaughtered in her village. And only the men eat their fill; women and children busily clear the cooking pots, douse the fire, sweep the hearth while waiting for what rice or meat might remain. But in the Dutch house Mina eats well, tastes sauces and sweets she never knew existed. She wishes her mother could try these wonderments, and vows to take her some food wrapped in banana leaves when she returns to the village for a visit, even if she has to steal morsels from behind Ibu Tana’s back.
One of the first things she learns to cook is pisang epe. Ibu Tana teaches her to fry the banana with palm sugar until it is brittle and sweet, how to recognise when to take it from the pan. Mina learns to knead dough for Dutch desserts and Chinese dumplings, how to slice the shallots and garlic so finely that, when fried, they become as wispy as wood shavings.
Once the day’s cooking has been done and all the dishes washed and sorted, Mina stands on the kitchen balcony and breathes in the traces of spice left on her fingertips — the peppery coriander, the tang of the lime leaves. She smells the night air, searching for the salt of the sea on the evening breeze. She closes her eyes and strains to hear the ocean’s whisper, which is occasionally disrupted by a dog barking or the night call of an owl. It’s in these closing moments of each night, when she feels the ocean’s presence, Mina remembers who she is. But the memory has weight, sinks in her chest like a pebble in the sea. She misses her mother. She misses the silence of plaiting the netting with her, she misses their rhythm of scaling the fish. She misses falling asleep besides her mother’s soft breathing, while the ocean whispers to her through the gap in the wall.
Where this novella shines is in the descriptions of the places and the food, bringing to life the smell, taste of food, the smell of the ocean and more. Mina's connection to the sea has an almost mythical feel to it which adds another layer to the story.
The novella is broken into three parts. I loved the first two parts, which concentrated on Mina and her new life but the third felt a little rushed, and very sad, but as I mentioned previously Mina's fate was already determined in the original story.
I do find the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia to be an interesting period of history, I think because I never really made the connection in my mind between the two countries until much later than school. We learned about early Dutch exploration of Western Australia, and that they were in the vicinity because of the Dutch East Indies Company and spices. I also have distinct memories of being in primary school and seeing the wreck of the Dutch ship Batavia. Years later I was reading a book which was set in Batavia and I had an aha moment about the fact that the Dutch were in Indonesia and they I remember when I was on my European tour, we were in Amsterdam and the included dinner was at an Indonesian restuarant, which I remember being puzzled by. It is a subject that I have been intending to read more of. I am also mindful that there are very few, if any, colonisation stories that end well for the local people.
It is of greater interest to me now because my husband is of Dutch descent. His parents were both born in the Netherlands so he is really 100% Dutch, despite being born in South Africa. We do eat some Indonesian food on occasion, in particular Nasi Goreng served with fried banana and egg, and we recently made a nasi spice mix, which needs some refinement, because right now it is a bit hot!
I really liked this novella and it was nominated for a number of prizes, including winning the Seizure’s Viva la Novella prize. I am definitely going to be seeking out Mirani Riwoe's latest book which is called Stone Gold Sky Mountain and is setting on the gold mining fields of Queensland, which will be a new setting. I know about goldrushes in Victoria and Western Australia, but I don't know much about the history of gold mining in Queensland at all.
Rating 4/5
About the book
Winner of the 2017 Seizure Viva La Novella Prize
Sparked by the description of a ‘Malay trollope’ in W. Somerset Maugham’s story, ‘The Four Dutchmen’, Mirandi Riwoe’s novella, The Fish Girl, tells of an Indonesian girl whose life is changed irrevocably when she moves from a small fishing village to work in the house of a Dutch merchant. There she finds both hardship and tenderness as her traditional past and colonial present collide.
Told with an exquisitely restrained voice and coloured with lush description, this moving book will stay with you long after the last page.
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
Thank you to everyone who shared a review this month! We had nearly 5
0 reviews in September which is awesome! I can't wait to see what you all share in October.
I am starting to think about next year's challenge, so if you have any thoughts plesae feel free to share them in the comments!
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. 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 we’ll be adding to our 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 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!
I have created a group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.
Here is the link for you to use to share your reviews this month! Happy reading!
Welcome to this week's edition of my Music A to Z feature. Each week on Thursday, I am going to share a song where either the song or the artist name begins with the letter for that week. This week, the letter is....
R
Today's songs are mainly from artists I have seen in concert, with one exceptions.
Rolling in the Deep by Adele - I am so glad that I got to see Adele when she came to Australia. From what I hear she isn't the biggest fan of touring so who knows if I will ever get the opportunity again. I saw this video on Youtube a few weeks ago and thought it was amazing so sharing this
Lonely No More by Rob Thomas - I have seen Rob Thomas in concert a few times and then seen Matchbox Twenty as well. I did have a very odd experience at a Rob Thomas concert which I wrote about here
Angels by Robbie Williams - I had wanted to go to a RW concert for the longest time, so I was so excited when we finally got to see him. It's one of those concerts where you start standing up from the first song to the last, with the exception of maybe two songs. I would totally go and see him live in concert again, and I wouldn't mind if it was the big band experience or his hits show.
Rich Girl by Hall & Oates - I haven't seem Hall & Oates in concert, but I would totally love to go and see them if they ever come to Australia!
What are your R songs? Feel free to share them in the comments
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is, well, it's a freebie, so there isnt really one.
I had a few different ideas for a theme, but I have ended up choosing books with fruit in the title. This came about because I just finished reading The Last of the Apple Blossom yesterday, and I also have Apple Tree Yard sitting on my bedside table, so that's where my inspiration came from! And you have to take inspiration where you can find it, right?
The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephen - I just finished this today.
Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty - I got this as part of a blind date with a book. I really need to read it so I can hand it to the next person.
The Oak Apple by Cynthia Harrod Eagles - This is the fourth book in the sprawling Morland dynasty series with this one focussing on the period during the reign of Charles I. I've read 7 books but there are still around another 22 to go. I haven't read one for years though
Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris - Apparently I owned this book at one point. I have no idea if I still have it or if it was victim to a cull a couple of years ago. When I finish the current cull and packing I might have more of an idea.
Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss - I definitely own this one. We were planning to go to a town called Cowra last week which is very close to where this book is set but because of lockdown we couldn't go anywhere.
Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigani - I haven't read this one. I did read the first book in the series many years ago and I suspect I borrowed this one from the library at least once. I just never read it.
Watermelon by Marian Keyes - If I was making an actual fruit salad one thing that wouldn't be included is any type of melon. Bleugh!
A Crown of Bitter Orange by Laura Florand - I loved Laura Florand's books, and she was one of only a couple of authors that I kept reading during my massive reading slump a few years ago.
Spring Clean for the Peach Queen by Sasha Wasley - This one is on my list to read soon!
The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen - I do enjoy SAA's books.
For those of you who might not be familiar with the Wiggles, this song is the reason why my post is called Fruit Salad Yummy Yummy!
Last week I was ruminating on what to read next, and having now just finished the book that I chose, I am back at the same point. I could start the RIP XVI readalong book which is The Sundial by Shirley Jackson. I could read a Netgalley book (several options but lets go with with The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley as one of many) or I could just read something fun.
The book that I did end up reading this week was The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens. The new bookclub that my friend is starting meets for the second time on Saturday but this will be the first time that we will be talking about the specific books. I have mentioned before that we are trying to be a read-with-a-theme bookclub rather than choosing one specific book and all read it. The theme for this meeting is Spring, and I chose this book because I had it on my Netgalley list but more precisely for the word blossom. I enjoyed the book, and I am planning to post a review of it for Weekend Cooking over the next couple of weeks. Assuming that I sit down and write an actual review that is!
I did also start listening to The Winter Sea. This is one of my favourite books so I thought I would try to see if listening to an old favourite would help me with my audiobook listening issues! It's taken me a while to get used to the narrator. This book is also linked with the new book by Susanna Kearsley that I mentioned before so that is another reason for listening to it at the moment.
I'm watching....
I don't think it will come as much of a surprise to learn that we watched a few more episodes of Ted Lasso this week. I think we are only a couple of episodes behind now, so I will be happy when we catch up but also not looking forward to being at the point where there are no more new episodes.
We have also been watching the Australian version of Making It. We binge watched the US version last year. It's always a bit hit and miss when there is an Australian version of a show like this, but so far I think this one is a hit. The hosts are quite good, and I like the judges so we will definitely keep watching.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we are more Marvel than DC fans. This week we watched Black Widow and we have also caught up on the last few episodes of What If? I like some episodes more than others (I didn't really get the zombie one) but I like all of the episodes more than the whole series of Loki! The whole world (or maybe that should be multiple worlds) is pretty amazing. So much capacity for story telling.
We did watch the grand final of the AFL this weekend. Melbourne is my third football club (after Adelaide Crows and West Coast Eagles) so I was happy to see them win. Having said that we have literally not watched any AFL all year so I have not exactly been invested up until now.
Life
The big story here last week was the earthquake that we had on Wednesday. Earthquakes are very unusual here, especially ones that are that big. It's certainly the biggest one I have ever experienced. There was very little damage and no lives lost which is great news. A bonus was that it gave everyone here in Melbourne something to talk about other than Covid, anti lockdown protests and the weather!
It was my son's 23rd birthday on Saturday. When I started this blog he had just turned 7. Where has all that time gone? As a joke, I handed him the kid's birthday cake book I picked up recently and said pick a cake. He flicked through and chose a flamingo cake, but said he wanted it to be green. Voila! One green flamingo! I did choose to use a new technique to make the feathers. The book says to use lollies/candies to make the wings but instead I did chocolate feathers. I am no good at doing perfect icing but it turned out pretty well.
It's the last Saturday of the month and that means it is time to share what I have baked during the month of September.
It's been another busy baking month, helped no doubt by the fact that I had plenty of time thanks to taking a week off work
Chocolate Babka - I started the month by attempting to make a chocolate babka. I say attempted because while I think the braiding to form the patterns is not bad, I am not sure that the dough proved enough. It tasted good though so I might try making it again at some point.
Hummingbird Cake - I really wanted something with cream cheese frosting, and this cake definitely fitted the brief. It also tied in nicely with Cook the Books this month.
Cheesecake brownie - I have been meaning to try making cheesecake brownies for the longest time. Will definitley be making this one again.
Coffee Meringue Shards - When BethFishReads and I did a joint review of Nadiya Hussain's Nadiya Bakes recently, she shared the recipe for Coffee Meringue Shards. I hadn't really noticed this recipe in the book, but I am glad that I made these.
I used these a couple of ways. The first way was with whipped cream, as a sort of coffee eton mess. Simple but delicious.
The second way I used them was by making the coffee cream cake that I originally made a couple of months ago and used these as the decoration.
Today I am making a flamingo cake for my son's 23rd birthday. Yes, that's what he chose, except he wanted a green flamingo! That's something to look forward to seeing in my October post!
Weekly Meals
Saturday - Potato, Pea and Spinach curry
Sunday - Bunny Chow
Monday - Salmon Teriyaki Noodle Stir Fry
Tuesday - Spanish Tuna Bake
Wednesday - Beef Pepper Pie
Thursday - Chicken kebabs, baked potato and coleslaw
Friday - Take away
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
