Earlier this year I became totally obsessed with all things Stanley Tucci. I watched the movie Big Night, listened to and loved his book Taste, watched the first series of his TV series Searching for Italy twice and more!
I still need to watch the second series of Searching for Italy and I am already looking forward to the next series he is going to be working on which is apparently about British food. Just call me a Tucci fangirl!
When I was thinking about what to post this week I thought it might be time to revisit some Stanley Tucci and bring you a Christmas cocktail recipe from his book.
A Christmas Cocktail
Here is my (as in Stanley Tucci's) holiday version of a Cosmopolitan
Serves 1
1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds
50ml Ketel On vodka
25ml Cointreau
25ml cranberry joice (either unsweetened or cranberry juice cocktail. Your preference)
25ml pomegranate juice
Ice
1 raspberry, 1 mint leaf and fresh rosemary, to garnish
Put the pomegranate seeds into a shaker and muddle until muddled
Add the booze
Add the juices
Add the ice
Shake it
Strain into a coupe or a Martini glass
Garnish with a raspberry wrapped in a mint leaf and skewered with a small stalk of rosemary.
Today, I just happened to looking at Youtube and I found this so it would be rude not to share it!!
For us this year it is going to be more likely to be mulled wine rather than cocktails. Do you have a favourite Christmas cocktail?
Weekly meals
Saturday - Nothing
Sunday - Roast Beef Rolls with Gravy
Monday - Pepper Beef Pie
Tuesday - Pressure Cooker spaghetti bolognaise
Wednesday - French Chicken casserol
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Prawns, chicken pieces
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 pageere
I originally posted this review back in 2021, but given that we are about to head off to Europe, it seemed like a good time to bring it again as a Vintage Weekend Cooking post. (Did I say 2021 - actually I meant 2011)
We are going to be in the Netherlands for Christmas. Of course, I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for a white Christmas, but if possible I would like it to snow on the day and then disappear ready in time for us to start driving! Is that being too selfish?
A witty cultural and culinary education, Immoveable Feast is the charming, funny, and improbable tale of how a man who was raised on white bread—and didn't speak a word of French—unexpectedly ended up with the sacred duty of preparing the annual Christmas dinner for a venerable Parisian family.
Ernest Hemingway called Paris "a moveable feast"—a city ready to embrace you at any time in life. For Los Angeles–based film critic John Baxter, that moment came when he fell in love with a French woman and impulsively moved to Paris to marry her. As a test of his love, his skeptical in-laws charged him with cooking the next Christmas banquet—for eighteen people in their ancestral country home. Baxter's memoir of his yearlong quest takes readers along his misadventures and delicious triumphs as he visits the farthest corners of France in search of the country's best recipes and ingredients. Irresistible and fascinating, Immoveable Feast is a warmhearted tale of good food, romance, family, and the Christmas spirit, Parisian style.
One day I was listening to The Book Show on our ABC and they interviewed an Australian author who had spent many years living in Paris after shorter stints in the US and Britain. They were talking about his book The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: a Pedestrian in Paris and given my infatuation with all things Paris recently I knew I wanted to read it. Unfortunately, my library didn't have it but they did have this book! Whilst I still want to read that one this was a worthy substitute!
John Baxter grew up in country Australia and dined on the bland food that was staple of the past. Whilst now Australian cuisine is varied, multicultural and based on fresh ingredients, it wasn't always the case. Baxter compares the Australia of his past and share how he learned to cook, how he impressed dates by being able to cook after he left Australia and compares and contrasts both the different dining experiences of the various countries he has lived in around the world and the way that Christmas is celebrated in Australia and France.
The main focus of the book however is detailing his quest for the perfect Christmas menu. After being accepted by his now wife's French family he took on the cooking duties each Christmas often trying new dishes that wouldn't normally grace the French table. Later this month I will share a passage from the book about his first French Christmas.
He takes us with us as he searches for the perfect ingredients - oysters, cheese, a piglet with skin so that he could share the perfect crackling - one of the great pleasures in life that is virtually unknown in France where most pork is sold without the skin! And with this list of perfect ingredients he can create an unforgettable menu for the Christmas festivities.
This was such a fun read. It was warm and funny and made me salivate as I read it! I can't wait to read more from Baxter. There were whole sections that I could have quoted from for weeks of Weekend Cooking posts, and it gave me several other ideas as well!
If you fancy indulging in some French festivities this Christmas, then this is a perfect book to read!
Each year as I am reading, I keep an eye out for quotes about three things. The first is books. If a passage which talks about books, libraries, reading or anything else bookish catches my attention, I save it ready to post on a rainy day.
The second thing is food. It may be a quote that inspires me to make something or about a particular ingredient which I then save to use for a Weekend Cooking post.
Wait, there are four things. The third is quotes about Paris and France.
And now, the whole reason for this long intro. The last quotes that I save are related to Christmas, and so over the next few weeks, I will be sharing some of the quotes with you all.
Today I am starting with this quote from Karen Swan's The Christmas Party:
"Oh my God," Ottie gasped in amazement again.
Was this still Lorne, Willow asked herself? Unlike Ottie, she at least seen some of the transition from what it had been to this: she had seen the tatty stair carpet lifted, the million and one rugs rolled away, the stern ancestors no longer bearing down from the walls. She had helped pack away all the photos and vases, jugs and trinkets, shields and heraldic memorabilia, the hall tables and chairs, Rusty, their entire lives, so that all that remained was this basic framework - the imposing split staircase, coffered panelling, galleried landing.
But where once the wooden walls and floor had been a rich, polished, almost burgundy oak, now it was pale and stripped back to a raw, texturized blonde. And she had certainly never anticipated seeing, hanging from the centre of the ceiling, almost filling the gallery space, four metres tall and upside down, a Christmas tree! There wasn't a bauble or swag of tinsel to be seen on it, instead its bushy branches splaying floorwards as though reaching for the guest as they passed underneath, its lush verdancy so tactile she wanted to reach out and brush her palms against it. There was a purity to this bold design statement that felt modern but also timeless, putting a stress on the natural, the raw, the crafted - and not the grand, as she had expected.
"That thing's not going to fall on us, is it?" Ottie muttered under her breath, as they heard the gasps of the other guests coming in behind them.
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books on My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List. Of course, it is summer for me but then again I am goign to be spending a number of weeks in the Northern Hemisphere soon so maybe it is that my theme should be summer/winter to read list. Or maybe I should say my first quarter reading list and that way I don't have to worry about what the weather is!
The Night Ship by Jess Kidd - I started this a while ago but I intend to read it while I am on holidays.
The Hidden Beach by Karen Swan - This is another book I have already started, but I really need to finish this one before I go on holidays which means I need to hurry up.
The Drifter by Anthea Hodgson - This was recommended to me recently with very high praise!
The Work Wives by Rachael Johns - This has been on my TBR list for a while now!
One French Summer by Gillian Harvey - This is for an upcoming blog tour
The Flame Tree by Siobhan Daiko - And this one!
An Island in the Sun by Kate Frost - Another blog tour book!
Finding Refuge in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen - And this one too!
Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman - This is the current Cook the Books selection.
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan - And this is the next selection for Cook the Books
This year as part of the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge I have been providing some stats after each month and then at the end of the year I will do an overall wrap up for the year. Today I am sharing a few stats about November.
During November there were 87 reviews shared by 27 participants. There were lots of people who shared multiple reviews, including 6 people who shared 5 or more reviews. Thank you to everyone who has shared! I am part way through visiting everyone this month, and there were some fascinating titles, and I added more than one book to my TBR list!
In terms of the books, there were 85 individual titles reviewed, written by 79 different authors, although at least one book was co-authored and I am never quite sure whether to count those more than once!
There were two books that were reviewed multiple times. The first book was Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby. Interestingly, this was the only book that was reviewed multipe times in September too, and as far as I can recall this is the only book where this has happened.
In additon, there were four other authors who were reviewed multiple times. The first is Agatha Christie (who didn't have any books reviewed last month at all), Mimi Matthews, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch and Rhys Bowen.
I will be quite surprised if we don't see Mimi Matthews near the top of the authors reviewed for this year challenge. She has made the stats post a couple of times now. It was interesting to see Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch on this list as she hadn't been reviewed at all before this month.
I can't remember where I came across this book, but I do know that as soon as I saw it, I wanted to read it. I was not disappointed.
This book is actually a very simple in its idea and execution. The artist, Alice Oehr, has chosen 50 different cakes from around the world, illustrated them and then added no more than a couple of paragraphs to describe their importance and history as well as regional variations that may be found in other countries as well.
In her introduction, Oehr says "My own love for cakes isn't founded in baking, nor even simply in their eating. Luscious flavours aside, it's the flamboyant decoration of the patisserie cabinet - each minature creation a monument to pleasure - that never fails to lift my spirits"
And so it was for me reading this book as I turned each page to see the illustration and then read through the description. For the most part I recognised most of them, either having made them (lemon tart, pavlova, chocolate cake, cheesecake) or at least seen them on Bake Off or another baking show (crouenbouche. There were a couple though which were new to me. For example, I am pretty sure I have never heard of Punschkrapfen from Austria which are cubes consisting of "layers of rum-soaked nougat, chocolate, apricot jame and cake crumbs" all covered in thick pink icing.
At the end of the book, Oehr has included a handful of recipes for carrot cake, chocolate cake, lemon tart, pavlova, sponge cake and tiramisu.
I thought that I might share an example of the book, and had thought about maybe doing angel food cake, but instead I bring you the page on Fruit Cake and then talk about fruit cake in general.
I love a good fruit cake at Christmas time, especially one that is covered with pristine white icing, and maybe a touch of decoration. It is one of the few recipes that my my mother cooked that I have always wanted the recipe for, so 18 months or so I asked her for it.
Eventually, she sent over two recipes and she did say that one of them was my grandmother's recipe. However, I happened to be talking to one of my aunties and she was pretty sure it wasn't and so she sent me a third recipe. And then I found a recipe for a 4 ingredient fruit cake that has chocolate milk as one of the four ingredients! So now I have four recipes to try. I did have intention of trying this Christmas, but I am fast running out of time, so it might be next year.
Whilst the two recipes from my mum are still packed up in a box somewhere, I do have the recipe that my aunt said is my grandmothers so I thought I would share it here.
Granny's Boiled Fruit Cake
2 cups dried mixed fruit
1 cup sugar (preferably brown
1/4 lb butter
1 tspn carbon soda
1 cup water
Place in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for one minute only then cool and add 1/2 cup plain flour and 1and a 1/2 cups self raising flour and 2 eggs. Bake in a moderate oven for 1 and a half hours.
You'll notice in the image from the book that the first line talks about how fruit cake is described as a "sturdy combination of very little cake and an awful lot of dried fruit all generously soused in alcohol" and yet there is no mention of alcohol in the recipe. Neither my mum or my grandmother used alcohol but I am assured that it can be added.
I mentioned above I am going to run out of time to actually make a fruit cake myself. We are away for the weekend this weekend so I was very pleased when our host offered us fruit cake with custard and cream. Yummy!
Weekly meals
Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Burgers
Monday - Pork nachos
Tuesday - Massaman curry pie
Wednesday - Butter chicken and rice
Thursday - Takeaway
Friday -Dinner with friends
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
And just like that, we are at the end of the 2022 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.
Whilst there is still another couple of weeks to add your December links (the linky post for December is here), now there is an opportunity for you to add your wrap up post links if you have done one. You don't have to, although it is alway interesting to see what people have read throughout the challenge.
I expect that I might read at least one more historical fiction book, but in the meantime, I thought I would share my reads for the year. Please bear in mind that I am a terrible book blogger and don't review anything near all the books I have read. Here, though, are the historical fiction books I read this year, including links where there is a review. I will try to do better next year!
In the village of Combe Pomeroy in rural Somerset, there is a monthly bookclub that brings a group of locals together. There's Ruth (the local librarian), Aurora who still pines for her lost love from her youth, Verity and her argumentative husband Mark and Danielle, who has just split up from her husband. And then there is Jeannie, an apple grower and cider brewer who has been running the family business for years, as well as looking after her grandchildren and her aging mother, who has a corny joke for every occasion.
Jeannie is getting to the point of realising that she is going to need to make some changes soon as she is bone tired. But what will she do if she retires, and does it mean selling the family business? Or can she take on board some of the suggestions from her granddaughter, Ella, who seems very interested in taking over the business one day. but will that mean that she will feel redundant.
For the other members of the group, there are also major life changes to contemplate. And thankfully they have each other to lean on. A trip to the village's twin town in France brings them all closer together and gives them the friends they need as time brings changes for each of them. I loved that the changes weren't the obvious ones for all of them!
The structure of the book also follows the cider seasons: Summer, and new apples, harvest time and winter wassailing and along the way we were introduced to some of the traditions of both English and French cider making. I was particularly interested in the information in relation to the French cider making traditions given that we are going to be in the Brittany area of France in a few weeks. I always forget that it is much easier for people in Europe to pop over to another country, whereas our couple of days in Brittany is very much planned.
I mentioned that Jeannie's mother has a joke for every occasion, one of my favourites of the jokes that Jeannie's mother tells is "Oh, now, what did the farmer say when he spilled apple juice all over his laptop?" He said, "Oh, no - there's been a cider attack.""
In the author bio below, Judy Leigh is described as "the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction". That's not a term I have heard before. I do, however, enjoy reading romances where the main characters are older which I have seen referred to as late in life romances. As I have mentioned before, I didn't meet my husband until I was 46 so I totally believe that you don't have to be young to find love.
Having said that, the majority of characters in this book are quite a bit older with several of them being in their early 70s.
I did find it interesting that all of the bookclub books that were discussed were quite serious books, which I thought was an interesting contrast to her own books which her readers are reading! For example, one of the selections was Lady Chatterley's Lover.
I hadn't read Judy Leigh before, but I am definitely looking forward to reading more.
About the book
The Golden Oldies Book Club
Deep in the Somerset countryside, the Combe Pomeroy village library hosts a monthly book club.
Ruth the librarian fears she’s too old to find love, but a discussion about Lady Chatterley’s Lover makes her think again.
Aurora doesn’t feel seventy-two and longs to relive the excitement of her youth, while Verity is getting increasingly tired of her husband Mark’s grumpiness and wonders if their son’s imminent flight from the nest might be just the moment for her to fly too. And Danielle is fed up with her cheating husband. Surely life has more in store for her than to settle for second best?
The glue that holds Combe Pomeroy together is Jeannie. Doyenne of the local cider farm and heartbeat of her family and community, no one has noticed that Jeannie needs some looking after too. Has the moment for her to retire finally arrived, and if so, what does her future hold?
From a book club French exchange trip, to many celebrations at the farm, this is the year that everything changes, that lifelong friendships are tested, and for some of the women, they finally get the love they deserve.
About the Author Judy Leigh is the USA Today bestselling author of The Old Girls’ Network and Five French Hens and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week it is a freebie so I am choosing to post a theme from earlier in the year. Back in October, I did all the thinking around the theme is Favorite Bookstores OR Bookstores I’d Love to Visit. I chose all the books, I just had to add the pictures and the words and I was done. Except I never got to it! My twist to the theme is that I have focus on fictional bookstores rather than real bookstores. So, here are ten books set in bookstores.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Starting out strongly with one of my favourite boosk ever!
Aria's Travelling Bookstore by Rebecca Raisin - I love that way that Rebecca Raisin writes about food, books, Paris and more!
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - What a delight this book was!
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan - I must get back to reading or listening to Jenny Colgan's books!
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George - I am hoping to visit at least one Paris bookshop soon. I am happy with big or small!
The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton - I haven't read this book yet but the title is intriguing.
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin - This book is on my must read soon list.
Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan - this is another bookstore book I haven't read yet. It sounds like fun.
The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman - I know that this is an extra one but I thought I would share it seeing as it is a really short short story that is a recent release.
Before I get started this week I am going to mention that the sign up post for the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is up! If you like reading challenges and you like reading Historical Fiction, or maybe want to try a new genre this is the challenge for you. The sign up details are here:
This week I started Golden Oldies Book Club by Judy Leigh. I have heard good things about this author's books but this is the first time I have read one myself. So far it is a lot of fun! I need to finish this book shortly as I need to have my review up this week.
Despite the fact that I knew that I had a deadline for Golden Oldies, I did also start a book called Finding Love at the Christmas Markets by Jo Thomas. I read and enjoyed Jo Thomas earlier this year and when I saw this title I knew I had to read it. We are heading to Europe soon and our first step is The Netherlands. We will be spending time with family there, but the one thing that I said that I had to do while we are there is a Christmas market!
I also started listening to Mrs Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Garrico, narrated by Juliet Stevenson.We watched the movie a month or so ago and really loved it. You can tell that there has been some changes made due to political correctness (the book was originally published in 1963) but so far I am really enjoying the listening experience.
I'm watching....
I was excited to see that there is an adaptation of The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary. I have watched the first couple of episodes and liked it. I am going to watch the rest of it this week.
If I find time, my intention is to finish watching more of season 2 of Only Murders in the Building, at least before we leave.
One series we did finish was Andor. The ending of the series definitely was suggestive that there will be a second series. Here's hoping at least!
This time of year is festive movie time. This weekend I watched a British Christmas movie called Your Christmas or Mine
Life
This weekend we went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the theatre. It was actually really good. Generally when we go to the theatre we see musicals or comedians, but this play was good too!
It was also the final bookclub of the year. Our first theme is "New". Could be a book about a new start, a book I just bought, a new author to me, or anything. I have no idea what I am going to read but I am sure I will come up with something.
Last week we went to see Sandy Toksvig which was a lot of fun.
We have a big weekend this weekend coming and then the holiday that we started planning three years ago at least will begin. Cannot wait!!
Festive treats...
It's time to start thinking about what I am going to read and watch and eat in the lead up to Christmas. It is going to be a bit different this year as we go away part way through but we will see what we can add to the list.
1. Christmas in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen
2. Twenty One Nights in Paris by Leonie Mack
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Holidays Special
4. The Great Christmas Cook Off by Helen Buckley
5. Your Christmas or Mine
6. Greg Wallace's Weekend Breaks - Christmas Markets in Vienna
7. Sarah Addison Allen's Instagram Advent Calendar
Welcome to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge for 2023! I am super excited to be hosting this challenge again this year. You are welcome to join if you are have participated before or if it is your first time!
Reading Challenge details
Each month, a new post dedicated to the HF Challenge will be created where you can add the links for the books you have read. To participate, you only have to follow the rules:
Everyone can participate! If you don't have a blog you can post a link to your review if it's posted on Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon, or you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish.
Add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to the monthly post (please use the direct URL that will guide us directly to your review) Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, History/Non-Fiction, etc.)
During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:
20th Century Reader - 2 books Victorian Reader - 5 books Renaissance Reader - 10 books Medieval - 15 books Ancient History - 25 books Prehistoric - 50+ books
To join the challenge you only need to make a post about it, add your link in Mr. Linky below or just leave a link to your blog if you are not yet ready to post about it yet. If you don't have a blog you can just leave a comment for this post saying that you are joining, and link to your Facebook, Goodreads or other social media page where you will be sharing your reviews.
Don't forget to use the challenge hashtag #histficreadingchallenge, join in on the Facebook page, and grab your challenge badge here:
I look forward to having you join us in reading some great Historical Fiction during 2023!
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