The Intrepid Reader and Baker

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Handwriting on the Cover

2026-06-09T01:29:00.000+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week theme is Books with Handwriting on the Cover (Or fonts that look like handwriting. Titles, subtitles, covers with letters on them, etc.). There is a publisher that I read quite a lot from who tends to put their author names on the cover in a cursive like font, but I am going to see how far I can get but focussing only books where it is the title that is in cursive. On some covers it might be the whole title but on others it is just words like the or on!

A Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby - I read this a couple of months ago and enjoyed it a lot.

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson - This one was sitting on my desk right in my eye line so I couldn't not have this on the list even though I haven't read it yet!

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page - same with this one really

An Italian Island Love Story by Leonie Mack - This might look more like handwriting if you squint at it slightly but it is there!

Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Cafe by Jessica Redland - Isn't this cover fun?

The Seaside Book Club by Helen Rolfe - This is a cute cover too!

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa - This is such an eye catching cover. I am glad that it is the one that got.

The Cottage at the Edge of the Woods by Jane Lovering - The contrast between the block letters and the cursive is very effective as we can see on several covers in this list.

The Resistance Knitting Club by Jenny O'Brien - It's only one word but it still counts!

The Boulangerie on the Corner by Susan Buchanan - And now I want to eat France and eat lots of fresh bread.

This week...

2026-06-08T06:24:00.000+10:00

I'm reading

Do you ever feel like it doesn't matter how much you read, the amount of books that add to your TBR is always far greater than the number of books that you actually read! That is definitely the case for me at the moment.

I did get get through several books last week, and then I started or picked up other books that I had previously started and put down.

I finished reading Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. We went to see the Movie of The Sheep Detectives a few weeks ago and I picked up the book after that. It is fair to say that this is one of those rare occasions where the movie is better than the book. To be fair, they have two completely different story lines which only have some character names and the basic premise of the sheep doing the investigating in common but still.

The I sped through First Time Caller by B K Borison. I have only read a couple of her books so far but I have loved them both and I know that I am going to enjoy whatever she puts out!

I also read The Maid by Nita Prose. This was a selection for one of the Goodreads challenge categories. It's not my normal genre but I did enjoy it!

I then read Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais. I swear I saw that someone had read it for a previous iteration of Paris in July but I can't find who. It has been years since I read a YA book, and there were a couple of things that bothered me but overall it was a fun read. My review will be up in July as part of Paris in July

I am on the blog tour for Charlie's Last Angel by Maggie Christensen this week so I need to get on and write the review.

I then started This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page. I am not very far in but I am loving it already. Can't wait to get back to it!

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon is another Goodreads challenge selection, so this is the book I am reading when I can't sleep at night!

I am making a concerted effort to finally finish War and Peace. My aim is to finish it by the end of this month! Currently I would need to read an average of 8 pages a day to get there. Wish me luck.

I was sorry to see the news that Iranian/French author Marjane Satrapi has passed away at the very young age of 56. Many years ago her Persepolis books were doing the rounds in the blogosphere. I also loved the movie adaptation of her book Chicken with Plums. In particular there is a montage scene towards the end of the movie which I still remember with fondness now.

I'm watching

A couple of months ago we re-watched the first two seasons of Ted Lasso. This week we started re-watching season 3 so it should be relatively fresh in our minds for when the next season comes out in August.

I did go to the movies this week to see a Mexican/Uruguyan film called Nothing Between Us which is showing as part of the Spanish and Latin American Film Festival. It is about two people who have an affair while on a work trip to Mexico. I am going to see a Spanish film this week so I will post about both of them soon.

Life

It was my birthday on Sunday so we went to our favourite afternoon tea destination. As always it was an exceptional experience with amazing customer service!

My husband bought me this cute booknook for my birthday! Now to find the time to start to put it together!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Author names - Jane who?

20 Books of Winter: 2026 reading list

The Seaside Book Club by Helen Rolfe

In My Kitchen: April/May

Six Degrees of Separation: The Post-Office Girl to Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Six Degrees of Separation: The Post-office Girl to Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

2026-06-07T00:20:00.000+10:00

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig

The first book I thought of when I saw the title was The Postmistress by Alison Stuart, set in the goldfields of Victoria in the late 19th century. (my review)

Alison Stuart has written a mystery set in colonial Singapore under the name of A M Stuart. Singapore Sapphire is the first book in the Harriet Gordon series which is set in the early 20th century.

A recent release that I really want to read is The Singapore Secret by Clare Willis which is set in WWII Singapore

I had some Singapore books in a recent Six Degrees post, so I wanted to make sure I didn't choose those same books again. Therefore, instead of choosing another book about Singapore, I am going a different route (pun intended). The last time I travelled via Singapore I was reading The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa, which was the first time I had participated in the Classics Spin. (my review)

I am participating in the Classics Spin again this time and the book I will be reading is Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliot which is set in 1920s Australia and won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 1963.

A recent Miles Franklin Literary Award winner that I have read is Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran, which won the award back in 2023.

Next month's starting point is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Will you be joining us?

In My Kitchen - April/May

2026-06-06T02:30:00.000+10:00

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I share everything I have made over the previous month. Actually this month, I am bringing you two months worth of post. In April we spent two weeks in Turkiye so there wasn't a lot of baking going so here's what I baked in my kitchen during April and May!

Honey Sponge Roll - This is an old favourite recipe because it tastes great and it is pretty quick to come together! I first posted this recipe here.

Apple and Marmalade Crumble - I am a member of the Lamb's Ear Cookbook club and their selection for May was a book called Home Foods by Elizabeth Hewson. They also usually select an ingredient for the month as well, and this time it was apples and pears so this recipe ticked both the boxes. I was tasked with providing dessert for a Mother's Day family lunch and this got thumbs up all round!

Vanilla Chiffon Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce - It was my husband's birthday in May and when I asked him what he wanted he said a chiffon cake and then said with salted caramel and this was the result. I cheated and used salted caramel topping but it worked.

Pear and Sticky Ginger Cake - This is another recipe from Home Foods, and it was great! It kind of served double purpose because it was light in the form of a cake but we also heated it a little and had it as a dessert!

I got two new cookbooks recently. As soon as Emelia Jackson announces a new book, I know I am going to buy it! Her latest book, You Had Me At Cake came out recently so I was excited to receive it!

In theory, I am trying to not buy every cook book that I see. I had also tried a couple of Poppy O'Toole's books before from the library and I was underwhelmed so when I borrowed her book Poppy Cooks: Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cook Book I really didn't expect to find much to cook, but we loved it and cooked multiple recipes. There were also lots of other recipes that we still wanted to try so I ended up buying this one. I wrote about this book here.

I posted about our trip to Turkiye a few weeks ago, and we have some fantastic food memories. While we were walking through the Grand Bazaar we saw lots of different things we could buy as souvenirs, but this set really caught our eye. I love that you can use it either with the individual little sections or as a whole set.

One thing that we loved during our trip was all the Turkish tea which was usually served in tulip shaped glasses, which is a traditional shape, given that tulips are native to Turkiye. We visited a pottery factory and we picked up these cups.

Whilst we drank lots of normal flavoured Turkish tea in Turkiye, we also had lots of apple flavoured tea and now we have picked up this apple flavoured drink. I am not sure that it is the same but certainly it's hitting the spot when we have it as a hot drink on a cold day. It is pretty sweet though.

New recipes

We tried quite a few new recipes over the last couple of months!

Beef Rendang - From Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cook Book by Poppy O'Toole

Sausage and Broccoli Pasta - From Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cook Book by Poppy O'Toole

Marry Me Chicken - From Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cook Book by Poppy O'Toole

Tomato and Paneer Curry - From Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cook Book by Poppy O'Toole. We have made this several times now! (Recipe)

Apple and Marmalade Crumble - From Home Foods by Elizabeth Hewson

Vanilla Chiffon - As requested by my husband for his birthday

Pear and Sticky Ginger Cake - From Home Foods by Elizabeth Hewson

Spiced Rice with Crispy Mince and Jammy Tomatoes - From Home Foods by Elizabeth Hewson

Ramen - From Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cook Book by Poppy O'Toole

Curried Beef Cottage Pie- From Home Foods by Elizabeth Hewson

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

Le Assaggiatrici (The Tasters)

The Actually Delicious Slow Cook Cook Book by Poppy O'Toole

Taste of Two Continents Food Walking Tour - Istanbul

What We Ate on Holidays: Turkiye

A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa

Cook the Books: Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn

Weekly meals

Saturday - Italian Meatballs
Sunday - Spiced Rice with Crispy Mince and Jammy Tomatoes (new)
Monday - Ramen (new)
Tuesday - Enchiladas
Wednesday - Out for dinner
Thursday - Spaghetti Bolognaise
Friday - Curried beef cottage pie (new)

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

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

The Seaside Book Club by Helen Rolfe

2026-06-05T01:29:00.000+10:00

LIke many of us I am a sucker for a book about books. As soon as I saw this title I knew I needed to read it, particularly given that I know that I enjoy Helen Rolfe's writing.

The centre of this book is an unusual international book club. The members of the club are mainly in the UK and Australia. Given the time difference that means that, for the UK members, the meetings occur in the middle of the night. As someone who is often awake in the middle of the night this does sound appealing, although, to be fair, I never actually get out of bed then. I usually play games or red.

Howard loves meeting online with other book lovers from across the world. He is one of the stalwarts of the group, ever present, and often providing a sounding board to the other members. He loves books so much that he bought a bookshop when he retired. Now, he is fighting off the developers for as long as he can, to keep his bookshop dream alive

Margot attends the midnight book club in secret. Her controlling husband sleeps very heavily and she can sneak into another room and talk freely with the other members. If he had any idea of her activities, she knows he would absolutely put a stop to it. She does not however share her struggles with her friends, not even when she decides that she has had enough and secretly makes plans to leave.

The leader, for want of a better word, is Faye. She inherited the book club from her aunt and she is determined to keep it running, despite the fact that people she counted as true friends are leaving thanks to a huge scandal involving her twin sister. After her fiancé breaks off their engagement over the phone, she decides to join her father in the UK, where she can't be mistaken for her sister. She does not tell the group that she is in the UK, or that her engagement is off.

When Howard uncharacteristically misses a couple of meetings, Faye and Margot decide independently to try and find out what is going on. They both end up staying in picturesque Dorset and they are disheartened to find Howard's beloved bookshop closed. What is going on?

Soon, secrets are being revealed, bonds being strengthened and new friendships developing as everyone comes together, and for some of the group brings new beginnings.

I really enjoyed the conversations about books where everyone had the freedom to share their thoughts even when there are differences of opinion. I also appreciate seeing where people who have met online are able to come together as friends in real life as well. I have a number of online friends that I have met in person thanks to our mutual love of books.

This was a lovely comforting bookish read. It's the kind of read that I meet right now given how intense work is for me. It was warm and uplifting, despite some of the difficult subjects that are explored through the various characters.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews, Bookish Books Challenge hosted at Bloggin' Bout Books and British Isles Friday hosted at Joy's Book Blog. Thanks to Netgally and the publisher for this review copy.

Rating 4/5

20 Books of Winter 2026 reading list

2026-06-03T06:04:00.000+10:00

1 June so the beginning of the 20 Books of Winter reading challenge which this year is being hosted by Anna(Book)Bel. I really enjoyed participating in the challenge last year so I am looking forward to this year now as well.

Here's my current list, subject to change of course.

Charlie's Last Angel by Maggie Christensen

Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft

Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal

The Three Juliets by Minnie Darke

The Kings Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick

The Story Collector by Evie Woods

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

The Maid by Nita Prose

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson

The Couples Retreat by Mercedes Mercier

The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien

The Nile Cruise by Caroline James

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

First-time Caller by B K Borison

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevens

Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott

I have shared my reasons for picking each of these in recent Top 10 Tuesday posts which you can read here and here.

Happy reading everyone!

Top Ten Tuesday: Author names - Jane who?

2026-06-02T01:43:00.000+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week theme Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read but I feel like I did a variation on that not too long ago. I have had this post half written in draft for weeks so I decided to go with this theme instead. I do see myself doing variations on this theme on occasion in the future too!

Have you ever noticed how many authors there are with the same first names. There are a proliferation of books who are written by people named Susan (however it is spelt) or Elizabeth or Jane or Kate or Victoria. Today, I am focussing on the name Jane! So here are ten books written by author's whose first name is Jane.

Jane Austen - Hand's up if this was the first Jane you thought of when I said what my theme was this week!

Jane Harper - I am a long way behind on Jane Harper's books but I do like their Australian setting.

Jane Lovering - A recent favourite author. I have read a number of her books over the last few years.

Jane Tara - I read this book club a couple of years ago.

Jane Harrison - This book tells of the arrival of British settlers from the point of view of the Indigenous people who witnessed, and then suffered because of it

Jane Yolen - A while ago I was reading a lot of fairytale retellings and this was a good one!

Jane Sanderson - I liked this book because it was set in both Adelaide and Sheffield which are both places I have listed

Jane Harris - I don't know why I haven't read more by this author.

Jane Smiley - I liked this book but I didn't love the abridged audio.

Jane Yang - This is one that is on my Kindle.to read.

Do you have any other authors named Jane that immediately come to mind?

This week...

2026-06-01T01:44:00.000+10:00

I'm reading

It's been a pretty good reading week for me this week, including a 5 star reads!

I mentioned last week that I had started The Little Wartime Bookclub by Kate Thompson. I was surprised when I first picked it us to see how long the book is. It's very close to being a chunkster, but despite it's size I sped through it in just a couple of days. I loved it! And it was a 5/5 read!

Next I picked up Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Japanese author Michiko Aoyama. This is the third book I have read by her, and it was her debut and I thought it was fabulous. I am looking forward to reading the sequel to this book which is out in a few weeks. I will post a review of this one for Weekend Cooking in a couple of weeks time.

I then read The Paradise Pact by Anita Heiss. It has made me laugh out loud a couple of times but it also irritated me at times. I made it to the end though.

Finally, I started my first Twenty Books of Winter read which was First-Time Caller by B K Borison. I think I started it too early though as I could easily have finished it yesterday. I had to pace myself so I could finish it today and have it count as a June read!

How on earth is it the end of May already? And isn't that what I think at the end of every month! May was a pretty good month for me. I had two 5 star reads this month being In the Paris Fashion by Sophie Beaumont and The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson. Shout out to Hot Chocolate on Thursday which was a standout read too, even if it didn't quite make it 5 stars. It was very close. In total I read 11 books for the month so that it s a pretty good average.

Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen

Bookish travel

Here's where I travelled too through the pages of books during May

Asia

China - The Bonesetter's Daughter

Korea - A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang

Japan - Gate to Kagoshima, Hot Chocolate on Thursday

America

California - The Bonesetter's Daughter

Hawaii - The Paradise Pact

Europe

Italy - An Italian Island Love Story, A Venice Summer

Spain - Call of the Camino

UK - The Seaside Book Club. The Little Wartime Library

France - In a Paris Fashion

I'm watching

We are big fans of Welcome to Wrexham, so the other night we watched the first episode of Nexacas which is where Eva Longoria buys into a Mexican soccer team. It is aiming for the same kind of feel as Wrexham. Not sure we will watch all the episodes but it was interesting. Now it has been announced that there will be a similar series about the Bonds Flying Roos which is the Australian Sail GP team owned by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.

On Saturday night we finally got around to watching Remarkably Bright Creatures, which is based on the book by Shelby van Pelt, which I read and loved last year. I listened to the audio where the voice of Marcellus was provided by Michael Urie. When I first heard that they were making a movie I did hear that Urie would once again providing the voice which I was excited about. However, in the end Marcellus was voiced by Alfred Molina and he did a great job.

Here's the trailer

Life

On Thursday night we went to a new to us restaurant and had a delicious dinner and then we went to an event at the Immigration Museum called Enlightenment which is an immersive light and sound experience. The light show is set to the music of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It was a really nice evening. I do think we will go back to the restaurant, particularly because they had some truly amazing looking cocktails!

On Sunday afternoon I did something a bit different for me called Sip and Slay. Basically it was a makeup class accompanied by as much wine, champers or soft drink as you like, which may or may not be a good combination. Most days my idea of putting make up on is foundation, mascara and something on the lips, and the thought of having to put eye shadow on puts me in a cold sweat. It was a fun afternoon and I did learn a bit but I am not sure I can do the full routine that we learnt while I am sitting at traffic lights in the car!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite books by favourite authors
Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki
Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - June links

2026-06-01T00:46:00.000+10:00

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in May for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. It's been a good start to the 2026 challenge. I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month.

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

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

Just to recap what participants need to know. 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).
it doesn't matter where you review - Bookstagram, Goodreads etc as long as you share a direct link to your review.
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!

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

Let the reading begin!!

Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn

2026-05-30T01:43:00.000+10:00

One of the beauties of being involved in a book club is that some times you find yourself reading books that would otherwise not have crossed your reading radar. Some times, they don't work for you (Land of Milk and Honey, I am looking at you!) but some times they do. Call of the Camino is not a book that I recall hearing about before it being chosen for the current selection of Cook the Books. The question is did it work for me or not? Read on to find out!

When journalist Reina Watkins' nemesis at work is unable to make the start of a walk along the Camino that he was supposed to be doing for an article, she jumps at the opportunity. Not only is it a chance to get one up on Matt, but walking the Camino is something that she has always been interested in because her parents met on the trail years before. They both died when she was young, so armed with her father's journal, she is hopeful that it will help her understand her parent's story, and her own history.

Because it is very last minute, she hasn't done any training and she only has her trusty Doc Martin's the first few days are very trying for Reina, but as the trek continues she begins to understand the call of the Camino - why so many people have been taking this pilgrimage for so many years. When she hears that Matt, her rival, is hot on her trail, she is determined that this time she will be the one who writes the better article, especially given her personal connection.

Interspersed with Reina's story, we hear her mother's story. Reina always thought her mother was Portuguese but it turns out that she was from Andorra. Caught up in the middle of a historical family feud, Isabelle chooses to join the Camino to escape from danger. Ill-prepared, she hopes that the mantra of the Camino, the Camino will provide, is true for her.

The third voice in the story comes in the form of Reina's father's journal, and it is through this, and then a coincidental meeting that Reina learns more about Isabelle.

As readers, we are witness to the trials and tribulations of both women, from injuries to soreness, fatigue and danger. On the plus side there are the characters that they meet along the way, other pilgrims who are sharing in this significant journey, and it is this camaraderie that affected me the most.

I do know several people who have done the Camino. One of my friend's dads has done it three times, and her brother went with him one time and ended up meeting his now partner who lived in a different country. I definitely know that it changes lives, and we saw that with both of our main characters. Can I see myself doing the Camino? Not really. I do more steps when I am on holiday that I do the rest of the time but still, this kind of strenuous walking sounds too far, too far for me! I did, however, enjoy reading about it! And I would be more than happy to go to Spain at some point!

When this book was chosen, I immediately thought that I would be choosing some Spanish recipe. I did hope that something more would have jumped out of the text to help me decide. I thought about tortilla, but to be honest, I thought someone else would have chosen that to make.

Instead, it gave me the opportunity to pull one of my favourite cook books off the shelf. I say favourite, but it's a favourite book to look at. Even though I have owned it for years, and I posted about it for Weekend Cooking back in 2012, I don't believe I ever did get around to cooking from it! That changed this week.

The thing I loved about this book is that it gives you food history, regional specialties, spotlights ingredients and producers. It is an amazing book to look at and I love the dust jacket I have on my copy. The colours just pop! One thing I did find a little interesting was what wasn't in this book. It was originally published back in 2012, before the world went crazy for Basque cheesecake, alternatively known as San Sebastien cheesecake, and there is no recipe in the book for it! Just thought that was interesting!

I was hoping to choose a recipe that had been mentioned in Call of the Camino, or that at least came from the regions that the Camino passes through. In the end I chose this recipe for two reasons. One, there was a mention of roast chicken towards the end of the book, and I liked the fruitiness of this recipe, given that it echoed the part in the book where our characters stumbled across La Casa de los Dioses (The House of the Gods) where the walkers can help themselves to fruit. In the book it mainly talks about the watermelon, but I really, really don't like watermelon so I am going with apples and grapes.

In the intro to this recipe it mentions that in Asturias Reineta apples are used but the Golden Delicious variety is a good substitute. Asturias is one of the places that the Camino passes through so this recipe works as a regional dish. We ended up using a different variety of apples as there were no Golden Delicious at the supermarket.

It was an interesting recipe. I am not sure we would make it again. You can see the grape juice has kind of caught a bit, but the chicken itself was very moist, and it was interesting to have the apples and grapes with chicken. We would normally pair cooked apples with pork. We served it with roast potatoes as I wasn't really sure what else to serve it with.

The next selection for Cook the Book is called Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal. Not sure what to expect with this one. I guess I will find out when I read it!

I am sharing this post with Foodies Read, hosted at Based on a True Story.

Roast Chicken with Apples and Grapes (Pollo con manzanas y uvas) - Claudia Roden

Serves 4-6

5 Golden Delicious apples
Juice of ½ a lemon
1kg white seedless grapes, destalked
1 x 1.5kg chicken
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
75g butter

Peel and core the apples. Cut one in half or into quarters, so the pieces will push easily inside the chicken, and the rest of the apples into 8 slices each. Drop the slices into a bowl of water acidulated with the lemon juice to prevent them from discolouring.

Blend half of the grapes in the food processor and collect the juice by pressing the mush through a small-holed sieve with a wooden spoon. Discard the skins left in the sieve. You should get about 250ml of juice. Stuff the chicken with the halved or quartered apple and put it in a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and rub with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Turn the bird breast side down in the baking dish and pour in 125ml of the grape juice. Roast in an oven preheated to 190°C/gas 5 for 45 minutes, then take the chicken out, turn it over, pour the remaining grape juice over it and return to the oven. Cook for another 30 minutes or until the chicken is brown and caramelized and the juices run clear when you cut into the bird between the leg and the body with a pointed knife.

While the chicken is roasting, heat the butter with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan. Put in the drained apple slices and the remaining grapes and sauté over a medium heat, turning over the fruits and shaking the pan gently until the grapes are soft and golden and the apples tender and caramelized. It can take 20 minutes. Transfer to a baking dish with their juices and reheat in the oven when you are ready to serve.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Roast Chicken with Apple and Grapes (new)
Monday - Baked Gnocchi (new)
Tuesday - Enchilada
Wednesday - Molten Pumpkin Pasta Bake (new)
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Takeaway

Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki

2026-05-28T07:31:00.000+10:00

A little while ago Laura from Laura's Reviews shared a review of Passage to Tokyo by Poppy Kuroki which is the second book in the Ancestor Memories series. I was sufficiently intrigued by the premise that I knew I wanted to read the books, but I had to start with the first book. That was both because I prefer to read series in order but also become of how gorgeous that cover is!

Isla McKenzie may have a Scottish accent and red hair but she has always been attracted to Japanese history and culture, thanks to her Japanese grandfather and ancestry. She travels to Japan with the hope of finding out whether her one of her ancestors was a Samurai as per family legend, through doing some research and visiting local Samurai sites. She travels to Kagoshima at the very south of Kyushu where the Satsuma Rebellion started and finished, effectively marking the end of the Samurai era in Japan in the late 1870s.

However, no one would have expected that being stuck in a temple during a severe thunderstorm could possibly lead to a journey back in time. Suddenly Isla finds herself in the historical city in the weeks leading up to what she knows will be the end. Found by two warriors, Isla is put under the charge of Keiichirō. As a foreigner, Isla is not trusted, especially given how strangely she is dressed and her lack of understanding of the world around her.

Keiichirō comes from a family with a long history in the Samurai tradition. However, his family has fallen out of favour and so Kei is keen to do everything he can to please the Samurai leader. It doesn't really please his sister to have the foreigner in their home though.

Whilst the first half of the book really focusses on Isla and settling in to her new life, the second half of the book follows the rebellion with numerous brutal battles portrayed. Isla knows that it is not going to end well, and as her feelings for Kei grows she faces several agonising choices. How does she warn him of what is coming, will that change his decisions, and what will it mean for her if she can't get back to her own time. Does she even want to return to her own time, if she can?

I haven't read a lot of Japanese history, so this was really interesting to read. I think it was also a case of the right book at the right time as I enjoyed this! I am really looking forward to reading the second book, and hoping that there will be more books in the series!

I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here and the Speccy Fiction Challenge hosted at Book'd Out.

Rating 4/5

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Books by Favourite Authors

2026-05-26T06:47:00.000+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is My Favorite Books by My Favorite Authors (Pick your ten favorite authors and your favorite book written by each one of them.) (submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext). After going rogue with my topics for the last two weeks, this week I am back on track.

I have broken this into two separate groups. The first five are authors who I have loved for years. The second group are more recent discoveries for me.

The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick - I have gotten really behind on EC books but I still count her one of my favourites. I have given a lot of her books very high rating. At the time I read this one I gave it a 4/5 but this is the foundational book for me, about William Marshal and a several of her later books focus on him or his descendants.

The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman - This is SKP's book on Richard III, the first one I had read by her and is absolutely a 5 star read.

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - I loved the first 4 books in the Outlander series, but if you are forcing me to pick a favourite it is the third book in the series

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - I could not do a list of favourite authors without including Susanna Kearsley. I also could not do a list of favourite SK books without mentioning The Winter Sea. It's a book I have reread 3 times and I am not a rereader.

The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns - Rachael Johns is one of only two authors that I consistently read when I had a years long reading slump a while ago.

Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey - This author writes a lot of books featuring people moving to France for a new life. This one was a bit different but I loved it!

Head Over Wheels by Leonie Mack - I don't read a lot of sports romances this day but this one featuring professional cyclists was a lot of fun. And book 2 in this world is coming out soon. Can't wait. I also am enjoying her Wedding Adventures series. And her standalone books. You get the idea!

The Paris Bookshop for the Broken- Hearted by Rebecca Raisin - I love the way that Rebecca Raisin writes about food, books and places, especially when she writes about Paris.

The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine by Laura Pearson - This was my first Laura Pearson and I loved, loved, loved this book!

Summer in Bellbird By by Maggie Christensen - In the last 5 years I have read 26 books by Maggie Christensen. She must be a favourite by definition right? They are my definition of comfort reads for sure.

Do we share any favourite authors?

This week...

2026-05-25T05:47:00.000+10:00

I'm reading

Even though work is absolutely crazy and I am exhausted at the end of every day, I am still managing to get some reading time in. Being so tired does impact my enjoyment of books. Last year I had many, many more 5 star reads by this point in the year. However, I did have one 5 star read this week which was exciting.

I finished reading A Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby. I had previously borrowed a Lynne Shelby book from the library so I went back on to request it again given that I enjoyed this book so much. It seems a bit weird to me, but the book is no longer availabe which is a bit sad. I guess I will have to buy it if I want to read it!

Last weekend we went to see the movie The Sheep Detectives which is based on the book Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. I was a bit concerned about reading the book now having seen the movie so recently but I am going to say that the movie is more inspired by the book than based on it. A lot of the story is different to the movie, and it needed to be so that the movie could get a family friendly rating. I am half way through the book right now so will be interested to do a full comparison of the two versions once I get to the end.

My 5 star read this week was In the Paris Fashion by Sophie Beaumont. I had read and enjoyed Beaumont's two previous books set in Paris so I knew I would like it. It felt like the right book at the right time for me as I read it in a day, and I closed it with a very contented sigh. Does the book have some flaws. Absolutely. Will everyone love it like I did. Probably not. Did it leave me smiling long after I finished the book. Yes. And that's what makes it a 5 star read for me!

I did also start reading The Little War Time Library by Kate Thompson this week. I am finding it hard to put it down! It is due back at the library already so I need to hurry up and finish it

I shared my Classics Spin list last week, and the spin landed on number 9, so I am going to be reading the Australian Classic, Careful, He Might Here You. I am looking forward to getting started on it once I pick it up from the library.

I'm watching

We had a date night on Saturday night which consisted of going to a Turkish restaurant for dinner and then watching The Mandalorian and Grogu at the cinema. The dinner was good, and we would totally go again. The movie was fine. The story could easily have been done as a TV series. My husband is a big Star Wars fan so we were likely always going to go and see it.

Life

See last week's comment about work being frantic. It's true again this week with weekend work and late nights. Not sure it is going to calm down yet.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: 20 Books of Winter (Part 2)

Blog Tour: A Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby

Weekend Cooking: A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Weekend Cooking: A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa

2026-05-23T05:45:00.000+10:00

When her grandmother dies, Yeon-hwa inherits a debt-ridden bakery shop called Hwawodlang (which translates as the Flower Moon Temple Pastry Shop. It is not, however, a normal bakery. The will specifies that the shop can only open until 10pm until midnight, and it also specifies that Yeon-hwa must run the shop for at least a month. A month seems doable!

It turns out though that this bakery is different in other ways. The customers are spirits, making their final stop before passing on into the afterlife. There is also a black cat who watched Yeon-hwa with very knowing eyes and shaman named Sa-wol who are helping Yeon-hwa to understand the true nature of the bakery, the connection with a temple and ultimately to understand her grandmother.

Yeon-hwa has always felt a distance from her grandmother even though she stepped in to care for Yeon-hwa when she was a young girl and her parents were killed in a car crash. Now, Yeon-hwa wishes their relationship could have been different, and they could have had conversations about life, about her parents and about the bakery, but it is too late.

The various chapters feature a different sweet being made and we learn the reason why the spirits are requesting this particular item. It always have some meaning to the spirit and to the person it is intended for. The other thing is that obviously ghosts don't usually carry cash, so they in effect pay for their pastry by leaving an item that means something to them behind.

Chocolate Jeonbyeong Crackers - A woman asks Yeon-hwa to make these for her daughter and leaves behind something precious.

Plum-Blossom Manju Buns - A shy man who had only just summoned up the courage to ask a girl out asks for manju buns to be made for her, to help her move on.

Green Tea Dango - A woman asks for this to be delivered to her fellow artist colleague and friend

Strawberry Chapssal-tteok - A young boy wants to give Strawberry Chapssal-tteok to his older step sister who blames herself for his death.

Chestnut Yanggaeng of Goodbye - We learn more about Sa-Wol and Yeon-hwa learns more about her parents and grandmother.

Along the way, we also learn some of the rules of the afterlife which includes the fact that a spirit has 3 years to pass into the after life, otherwise they will be stuck forever.

While there are plenty of Asian books which people returning from the past/future/afterlife to have one final conversation with their loved ones, that is not the case here. Yeon-hwa is the one who has the interactions, including seeing details of their lives and then she and Sa-Wol act as conduits to the loved ones. It does have that familiar episodic structure that we see in so many of these types of books

I enjoyed reading this book but I didn't feel as connected with it as I might have expected to be. I don't think we particularly go to know Yeon-hwa as well as we could have. It was almost like we were kept at arms length which is a bit like Yeon-hwa's own relationship with her grandmother. However, it does have the same feel as a lot of those books so it is feel good and affirming without being excitable.

I was wondering how I was going to be able to describe all the different pastries which are mentioned in this book while writing this post, so I was very pleased to find a link to this video which shows what all the different desserts look like

Doesn't it all look so pretty!

This book was nice to read without being compelling, so I have to ask myself would I read more books set here and the answer is probably. It doesn't look like the author has written any more books yet, but she might!

I chose to read this book as it fit the AAPI Heritage category on the Spring Goodreads challenge. I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story, with the Books in Translation Challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader and the Speccy Fiction Challenge hosted at Book'd Out.

Rating 3.5/5

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Beef Rendang (new)
Monday - Sausage and Broccoli pasta (new0
Tuesday - Mexican Chicken and Rice
Wednesday - Pork chops, mash and cauliflower
Thursday - Tomato and Paneer Curry
Friday - Takeaway

Blog Tour: A Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby

2026-05-20T08:44:00.000+10:00

A couple of months ago I borrowed a book by Lynne Shelby from the library but I had to return it unread because that's just what happens with library books right? I had initially heard about the author who as author of the day in an online group I am in and I thought I liked the sound of her books. They feature fun locations like Venice in this book.

When this book came up for a blog tour, I jumped at the chance to read it, and I am really glad I did! I feel like I got a fun reading experience, a visit to Venice, some art history and a whole lot more!

Rose Bennet is down on her luck but thanks to a friend she gets the chance of a lifetime. She goes to Venice to work on a restoration of a 16th century painting. No one knows who the subject of the painting is or who painted it. After years of neglect, it is up to Rose to restore it and bring it back to life!

The painting, which is called Portrait of a Young Woman in a Blue Dress, is part of a significant art collection owned by Luca Casserini. Luca is the head of one of the historically important families in Venetian history and owner of the Ca’ D’Ambra, a six hundred year old palazzo that he is in the process of turning into an art gallery. Like many old homes, the Ca’ D’Ambra takes a lot of money to upkeep and the hope is that by turning it into a gallery with a private living quarters he can save the beautiful home from becoming a luxury hotel or something similar. Luca is head of the family in more ways than one. He is also responsible for caring for his much younger sister, a task he takes very seriously. Like many old homes, the Ca’ D’Ambra takes a lot of money to upkeep and the hope is that by

As Rose works on restoring the painting, she begins to reveal previously hidden details such as the young woman's hair colour and features, what she is holding in her hand, and she begins to wonder who this young woman really was. She also begins to wonder about the broody Luca who likes to play the guitar in the garden when he is thinking things through. When Luca offers to show Rose the sights of Veniice, is he just being polite as her boss or is there something more. If it is something more, Rose has to be careful. After all, she is only in Venice for the summer.

The Venice that the reader is introduced to in these pages is a combination of touristy Venice but also the Venice that only Venetians know. Short walks down laneways take us to unexpected areas of the city, or a water taxi takes us to other locations. We also get to see glamourous Venice with art, music, and yes, even a masked ball colliding on the pages.

One of the things that I enjoyed was a surprise dual timeline where, as Rose wondered about the girl, the reader meets the young woman in question and we learn her history. There is nothing in the blurb to indicate this so it was a lovely surprise to me. Whilst as far as I can tell the art history was based on real people but imagined for the purpose of the story, I was fascinated by all the art, and history, that was mentioned throughout the book.

Now that I know that I enjoy Lynne Shelby's work, it might be time for me to reborrow that book and see where her next books takes me!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour below too!

Rating 4/5

About the book

A Venice Summer

Art conservator Rose Bennet is still reeling from a bad break-up when she is offered a dream job in Venice, restoring an art collection in the Ca’ D’Ambra, a six-hundred-year-old Venetian palazzo. Despite her fears about travelling to a foreign country on her own, Rose is soon heading to Italy for the summer.

While she is awestruck by the breathtaking beauty of Venice, Rose finds the owner of the palazzo, the arrogant and short-tempered Luca Casserini, insufferable. When he questions her ability to do her work, she almost heads straight back to London, but decides that she won’t let herself be intimidated or driven away before she’s even had a chance to ride in a gondola.

Losing her way in Venice’s picturesque maze of canals and alleyways, the last person Rose wants to see is her employer, but when they meet by chance and, to her surprise, he offers to show her around the city, she feels it would be churlish to refuse.

Spending sunlit summer days exploring Venice with Luca, Rose discovers a passionate side to him, very different to her first impression, and her feelings towards him begin to change …

Rose knows she can restore a damaged painting, but can she mend Luca’s damaged heart?

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Venice-Summer-sunlit-summer-romance-ebook/dp/B0GGX58TWJ/

https://www.amazon.com/Venice-Summer-sunlit-summer-romance-ebook/dp/B0GGX58TWJ/

About the Author

Lynne Shelby writes contemporary and dual-timeline women’s fiction/romance. Her debut novel, ‘Meet Me In Paris,' (originally titled French Kissing), won the Accent Press and Woman magazine Writing Competition, and her fifth novel, Love On Location, was shortlisted for a Romantic Novelists' Award. When not writing or reading, Lynne can usually be found at the theatre or exploring a foreign city, writer's notebook and sketchbook in hand. She lives in London with her husband, and has three adult children who live nearby.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LynneShelbyWriter

Instagram: lynneshelbywriter

Website: www.lynneshelby.com

Top Ten Tuesdays: 20 Books of Winter (part 2)

2026-05-19T06:02:00.000+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Favorite Secondary/Minor Characters. However, I am following on from last week's post and giving you the second part of my 20 Books of Winter list.

Here are the second group of ten books that I am intending to read before the end of August.

The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin - I really enjoy this author's books. I already had it on my list as a review book but now I am going to be on the blog tour for it in July.

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson - I am attending the Rachel John's Bookclub Readers Retreat in June and this is one of the two book club reads.

The Couples Retreat by Mercedes Mercier - This is the second book club read

The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien - This is a blog tour read for July

The Nile Cruise by Caroline James - Another July blog tour read

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak - This is a library book that I have borrowed a couple of times now. Hopefully I will read it this time!

First Time Caller by B K Borison - I have really enjoyed the two B K Borisin books I have read so I am looking forward to this one!

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood - This is a historical fiction novel that has had good reviews since it's been released

Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson - This will be a book I read for the Goodreads challenge

Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott - This is my Classics Spin selection

This week

2026-05-18T17:54:00.000+10:00

I'm reading

Last week I finished reading The Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn. This is the current Cook the Books selection. Now I am just trying to figure out what to cook to accompany my review. I am not sure exactly what yet but I will come up with something this week

After that I read the recently released The Seaside Book Club by Helen Rolfe which I enjoyed.

Next up I started The Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby which I am on a blog tour for later this week!

Finally, I started Poppy Kuroki's Gate to Kagoshima which is a time travel where a modern woman ends up living in 19th century Samurai Japan. In the end I finished this one as well on the train today. I have to say that there are some pretty scathing reviews on Goodreads but I really enjoyed this one!

I'm watching

It has been a good viewing week. We watched what is being called the third season of Good Omens but it was more a movie to finish off the story which started in seasons 1 and 2. I did enjoy the ending but it did feel like there was a story that was cut short.

It was my husband's birthday on Saturday and we chose to have a fairly quiet day. We did however go to the movies to see The Sheep Detectives. I can't remember the last time I went to the movies to see a family movie. It was a really lovely movie and I am so glad we saw i! It's funny, charming, deep and features some very big names! Go see it if you can! Here's the trailer

We also started watching Welcome to Wrexham season 5. Both of the first two episodes have been very emotional! Such good TV!

I was excited to see that the new season of Tucci in Italy is out so we watched the first couple of episodes as well! So far we have watched the episodes on Naples and Sicily

Life

Work is frantic and I can't see it changing any time soon!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: 20 Books of Winter (Part 1)
What We Ate on Holidays: Turkiye

Classics Spin #44

Classics Spin #44

2026-05-17T05:42:00.000+10:00

Last Classics Spin was my first time participating and really enjoyed my experience of reading The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa so I am excited to see what the spin throws up for me this time!

The idea is that you put up a list of Classics you want to read numbered 1 to 20, the spin will happen and that is the number book that you have to read. You can find a much better explanation of the rules at the Classics Club itself, but I am sure you get the idea.

The lucky spin number will be announced next Sunday so not too long to wait to see what book the fates have selected for me. The big challenge will be to see if I can complete the read and share a review by July 5!

Here's my list of 20 books

1 The Sound of Waves Yukio Mishima

2 A Little Princess Frances Hodson Burnett

3 A Room with a View EM Forester

4 Three Men in a Boat Jerome K Jerome

5 The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbery

6 The Plains Gerald Murnane

7 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark

8 The Moonspinners Mary Stewart

9 Careful, He Might Hear You Sumner Locke Elliott

10 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte

11 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen

12 The Talented Mr Ripley Patricia Highsmith

13 Passing Nella Larsen

14 The Songlines Bruce Chatwin

15 Wives and Daughters Elizabeth Gaskell

16 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie

17 Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery

18 The Tree of Man Patrick White

19 A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L'Engle

20 The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

What We Ate on Holidays: Turkiye

2026-05-16T08:17:00.000+10:00

Last week I shared a post about a foodie walking tour that we did in Istanbul. Today, I am going to talk about some of the food highlights from the rest of our trip.

It seem a bit strange but I am going to talk about Chinese food first. It does make sense I promise. When we first booked our flights we were going to be flying via Dubai, including a stopover on the way back. However, with everything going on in the world, we had to decide if we were going to cancel our trip or if we were still going to proceed. In the end, we decided to rebook our flights via China. That meant an 11 hour layover in Guangzhou. What to do in a very boring airport for that length of time!

It turns out that the good people at Guangzhou have a solution. If the times work, and your layover is more than 6 hours there is a free city tour that you can do. This includes stops at Huacheng Park where there is a really great view of Canton Tower, Archaeological Site Museum of Nanyue Palace (ruins of a 2000 year old palace), and the shopping streets of Beijing Road. And, most importantly, it included a free yum cha lunch in a local restaurant. The dishes included noodles, dumplings and spring rolls.

The most surprising thing we tried was a cheese and pumpkin pancake which is not something I have had before and it was so good! It almost tasted a bit cheesecakey which was a surprise. I would totally order this if I saw it on the menu somewhere.

One thing that was interesting is that the guide shared with us a particularly Cantonese tradition of using the first pour of your tea to in effect wash your chopsticks. Again, haven't seen that before.

I do have to mention we found a really lovely Chinese cake. It was light and fluffy with what was like a custard flavoured layer. We had one cake before we went on our day tour, and then we bought two more before we got on our flight. We then bought another one on our way home. You could say it was a hit.

Now, onto Turkiye! We had some really, really great food during our time in the country, and I learned some things about myself.

As an aside, if this is how much I have written about the first day, this is going to be a very long post, so I am going to sort of skip over a few things even though they were highlights. On our first full day in Istanbul, we did a lot of walking, but we also had our first of many baklava and we went on a dinner cruise on the Bosphorus which featured a 3 course dinner and cultural dancing. It was a really fun night and the food was fine. The next night we had a lovely dinner with our daughter and her partner who had come to spend the weekend with us. They live in London and we hadn't met her partner before. We were at a rooftop restaurant with an amazing view!

After doing the walking tour we knew that we wanted more Turkish breakfasts, and we had a couple of really delicious ones over the first few days. The first one in this photo was up near Taksim Square, after which we walked down İstiklal Avenue. And yes, we had kunefe for as our second course for breakfast!

However, if you want to talk about the total experience, probably my favourite Turkish breakfast was the one that we had at Dolmabahce Palace, which was literally a 5 minute walk from where we were staying. We sat right on the waterfront and watched the ships go buy. It was a beautiful morning and the typical Turkish breakfast was really good! Even our travel companion Ellie enjoyed it!

Of course we had to get ice cream from one of these guys. Have you ever tried Turkish ice cream, which is called Dondurma. The dondurma is delicious, so creamy, but it has a very different texture to our ice cream, to the point that it is possible to eat it with a knife and fork. Because of the ingredients it doesn't melt in the same way and it has a kind of chewy texture.

One of the more unusual things that we tried was jug kebab. The idea is that all the ingredients are put inside a clay jug, and it is then cooked. It is bought to the table and then they break it open while you watch! So fun!

One thing that surprised me was the Turkish Delight. In Australia if you buy proper Turkish Delight it is in the traditional cube shapes but in Istanbul in particular there were many, many shops where your could buy different flavours and the big piles just look so gorgeous in the displays. Among the flavours we tried were banana and walnut, rose, kanefe inspired flavour and more.

Once we on the tour, obviously there was a lot of time on a bus. When we visit new countries we like to try some of the snacks and along the way we tried a number of different types of biscuits. We particularly like the cheesecake flavoured biscuit

One of the reasons why we went to Turkiye was to attend the Dawn Service at Gallipoli on Anzac Day. The town that we stayed in was called Cannakale. One of the regional specialities is a baked polenta dessert which was delicious. Another specialty that we tried on a different day was a yoghurt dish that is apparently only made at one specific roadside stop. It features yoghurt which is then topped with honey and sesame seeds. It is not dissimilar to the clotted cream and honey that featured at most breakfasts. It was so good.

I mentioned that I learnt a couple of things about myself. One of the things is that generally I don't enjoy nuts or honey. It turns out that when it comes in baklava or kunefe format I am more than happy to eat it. Maybe it's only shop bought Australian honey that I don't love. Or maybe I just need to try it again here to see how I feel about it now. And as for nuts, I think it is mainly only peanuts that I don't lvoe.

I haven't even touched on all the kebabs we ate, or the great pide I had in a city called Konya, home to Sufi sect and the whirling dervishes, the various flavours of tea that we had in copious amounts or the lunch that we had at a restaurant in Cappadocia.

Speaking of Cappadocia I have to mention our balloon trip there. Whilst this cake and drink would not necessarily be that special in any other circumstance, it was served up after we had done our dawn balloon flight which was an experience of a lifetime!

As you can hopefully tell, we had an amazing time in Turkiye. We loved Istanbul including visitng the mosque, the Basilica Cistern, Topkapi Palace, experienced a Turkish bath, cruising the Bosphorus and more. The experience of visiting the Gallipoli Peninsula and attending the Dawn Service was inspiring. Visiting places like Ephesus, Pammukale and Cappadocia was awe inspiring. We would love to be able to go back!

Weekly meals

Saturday -
Sunday - Chips, cheese and gravy
Monday - Pressure Cooker Spag Bol
Tuesday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake
Wednesday - Pie and chips
Thursday - Korean Chicken Burger
Friday - Egg Curry

Top Ten Tuesdays: 20 Books of Winter list (Part 1)

2026-05-12T02:02:00.080+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is May Flowers (This is a companion to the April Showers topic from last month. Interpret however you’d like: books with flowers on the cover, colorful covers, books set in springtime, books where flowers/plants are a common theme, titles with flower names in them, characters named after flowers, covers that are as pretty as flowers, books featuring gardens, etc.)

However, I have done a flowers on the cover theme for the last couple of years now, so I am turning my thoughts to the 20 Books of Winter which is hosted by AnnaBookBel this year. So here are 10 of the 20 books I am planning on reading for at some point between 1 June and 31 August. I'll be back next week with the next 10 (assuming that I have completed building my list!)

This list is subject to change but at this stage, this is the plan

Charlie's Last Angel by Maggie Christensen - I read a lot of Maggie Christensen's books that are part of series, but this one is a blog tour for a standalone novel.

Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft - I do enjoy Sue Moorcroft's books. It's been a while since I read one of her books set in Italy. This is also for a blog tour

Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker - My final blog tour book is this one which is the fourth book in the Holiday Romance series. I am due to review this in July but it looks like publication has been pushed back to October so that date might change.

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal- This is the next Cook the Books selection

Three Juliets by Minnie Darke - The next three books are all books that I meant to read last year but I ended up swapping out so they are back on the list for this year. I actually read at least a third of this book but I will have to start again now.

The Kings Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick - It's been so long since I read an Elizabeth Chadwick so I need to prioritise this one.

The Story Collector by Evie Woods - I have had mixed results with Evie Woods books so far, so I am interested to read this one to see where it lands for me!

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - Last year I was trying to read War and Peace and I was doing pretty well until I started work again in August at which point I stopped. I think I have about 300 paged to go so my plan is to finish it. This will also count for a Goodreads challenge.

The Maid by Nita Prose - Both this and the next book are for Goodreads challenges

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon - This book has been on my TBR pile for a long time now. I plan to read it before the end of June.

Are you planning to participate in the 20 Books of Summer/Winter?

This week....

2026-05-11T01:42:00.002+10:00

I'm reading

This week I read A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa. The main reason I read it is because it fits the AAPI month category for the Goodreads challenge, but as a bonus it also counts for the Speccy Fiction Challenge. Hopefully I will will review it soon!

I also started The Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn. This is the next Cook the Books read so I need to finish it and cook something inspired by it too before the end of the month.

I did go to one event for Melbourne Writers Festival this week. As part of the in the suburbs series author Benjamin Stevenson came to visit my local library. Unfortunately I could not fit in any other events for the rest of the festival so I am glad that I at least got to attend this one! Benjamin Stevenson is the author of the Ernest Cunningham mystery series. It was very interesting to hear about his inspirations, about a potential TV adaptation, about how he nearly killed off Ernest at the end of the second book and so much more!

It was our read on a theme book club meeting this weekend. There were only 4 of us there but we still managed to have some lively discussion feature books about Mothers and Daughters. I read Amy Tan's book The Bonesetter's Daughter. Our next theme is Immigration, so I will have to see what books I have that suit this theme.

I'm watching

Now that we are back from holiday we have started watching Masterchef Australia. I wasn't sure whether we should go back and watch all the episodes from the beginning but in the end we just jumped in at episode 8 or so and went from there!

We also finished watching Alan and Amanda's Greek Job which features them renovating a house in Corfu! The series is always a lot of fun!

Life

It was back to work this week. I might have only done four days but I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the week!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today
Weekend Cooking: Taste of Two Continents Food Walking Tour - Istanbul
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April Statistics

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April statistics

2026-05-10T17:31:00.002+10:00

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

In terms of the books read in March, there were 46 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 18 participants. There were 46 individual titles reviewed, written by 44 different authors. There were 5 reviewers who reviewed 4 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 7 or just 1.

Interestingly, there were no individual titles that were reviewed more than once this month! This only happens occasionally. As I was visiting all the links I was beginning to wonder if I would have anything interesting to share this month! Thank goodness some of you enjoy reading series!

We did have two authors who were read more than once this month! Barbara from Stray Thoughts read both The Prince of Spies and A Gilded Lady by Elizabeth Camden. These are the second and third books in the Hope and Glory trilogy.

Bev from My Reader's Block read both Murder on Eaton Square and Murder by Plum Pudding by Lee Strauss. These are books 10 and 11 in the Ginger Gold Mystery Series

As always I added several titles to my TBR list after visiting all the posts this month. Goodness only knows if and when I will be able to read them though! There was quite a mix of settings this month including Australia, Bulgaria, Ireland, China and more!

If you enjoy reading Historical Fiction why not join us? You can find all the details here.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Weekend Cooking: Taste of Two Continents food walking tour - Istanbul

2026-05-09T14:12:00.133+10:00

Whenever we travel we like to do something foodie, whether it be a fancy meal or some kind of tour. Our recent visit to Turkiye was no exception. The food that we had over the whole trip was amazing, but one of the first things we did was a walking tour.

Istanbul is a pretty special city and it is proud of the fact that it has one foot in both Europe and Asia, and this walking tour had elements on both sides.

After meeting at a location near to the Spice Markets, the group of 9 made our way through the markets collecting various different ingredients for the first tasting, which ended up being a full Turkish breakfast. This is a tour that you need to come hungry for. I really didn't even need the hot chocolate that we started with!

This Turkish breakfast really set the scene for all of the breakfasts that we had throughout the tour. It introduced us to a number of different elements that I might not otherwise have tried and we continued to eat them throughout the period we were there.

The breakfast that we had included grilled olives, several different cheeses including tulum cheese, simit (looks like a bagel but has molasses added to it and is covered in sesame seeds), red pepper paste , pasturma (pastrami), menemen (scrambled eggs with onion and tomato), hazelnut paste and honey and kaymak (which is a type of clotted cream) all washed down with turkish tea.

Everything was really delicious. Actually, I didn't try the olives because I don't like them, but everything else was really delicious. The real revelations were the hazelnut paste and the honey and kaymak. We are all familiar with Nutella which is the mix of chocolate and hazelnut but this was just hazelnut flavoured and it was so good! Interestingly, this was only served with the breakfast in Istanbul. Once we got out of the city we didn't see it again.. However, the honey and kaymak (clotted cream) is something we saw pretty regularly.

The thing with the honey and kaymak that was such a surprise to me is that I generally don't like honey that much. I will have it in small amounts but certainly it's not a topping that I reach for as a general rule, but as a combination with the simit.....and it turns out other types of bread....so good!

After our breakfast we make our way down to the waterfront and caught a ferry over the Bosphorus to the Asian side of the city in the area of Kadıköy where we wandered through a market area making various stops.

The first stop was at a restaurant where we tried Beyran soup which is a regional breakfast soup. It includes pieces of lamb in the tomato based soup. This is where we also tried ayran which is a sour milk based drink that we saw all over Turkiye. That one might be a bit of an acquired taste. More palatable was the lahmacun which is a Turkish pizza style dish but you roll it up to eat.

As we were walking our guide pointed out a number of kokoreç stores. When he explained what it was I wasn't sure if I would want to try it, but when in Istanbul.... kokoreç is basically lamb intestines which is wrapped around different types of offal and then grilled. The way we had it was very finely chopped and served on bread. It was quite tasty, although it's not something that I would go out of my way to have again.

You may have noticed that there is a lot of bread in this food, and we weren't done yet. Our next stop was to have an Iskender Kebab. I guess I really only though that there were kebabs, but there are multiple different versions. What sets this one apart is that the pita bread is at the bottom of the plate so by the time you are get to it, it has been soaking in all the juices. When it is served, there is also a flourish of butter sauce added. It was so good!

The next stop was something I have never seen before. It was a pickle shop, but it isn't just your normal pickles. The window display included things like pickled avocado, corn and all sort of other things. I don't like pickle so this wasn't a stop for me. It also might be another acquired taste, but it did look very pretty! We saw pickle stores all over the city where people just buy a cup of pickles and juice and they just eat it like that!

We couldn't complete a tour without having proper Turkish coffee and Turkish Delight, and then our final stop was a dessert shop where we got to try Turkish ice cream (which is dondurma) and baklava. We ended up going to this chain of dessert shops multiple times throughout our time in Istanbul. The dondurma is delicious, so creamy, but it has a very different texture to our ice cream, to the point that it is possible to eat it with a knife and fork. Because of the ingredients it doesn't melt in the same way and it has a kind of chewy texture.

I mentioned above that I don't generally love honey. The same is true of nuts, and yet I ate baklava at every opportunity, and honey and nut are a big part of baklava! The guide did tell us that you should eat baklava upside down which was interesting!

That was the end of the a very interesting day. The tour itself lasted around 5 hours, and the guide was very approachable and knowledgable. He also shared plenty of tips about good places to eat. Once the tour as done we had the opportunity to hang around a bit longer in Kadıköy which is what we chose to do. We then caught the ferry back to Kabataş which was very close to where we were staying.

it was a really fun, informative and filling day! We did out tour through a company called Yummy Food Tours and we would totally do another tour with them!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Away
Sunday - Away
Monday - Presure Cooker Spag Bol
Tuesday -Pork chops with mash and gravy
Wednesday - Beef and Broccoli
Thursday - Chicken Katsu Curry
Friday - Bacon, mushrooms and eggs on toast

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today

2026-05-05T01:46:00.009+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today (These could be authors who have passed away or retired/are taking a long hiatus from writing. You could also spin this and share authors who have switched to a genre you’re not interested in.) (submitted by Rebecca @ Top100Books)

When I checked I realise that we did this topic a couple of years ago. Most of the names are the same (although I chose different book covers to share) but I did change a couple of them! For the most part I have chosen authors who have passed away, except for the last two!

I did have another author in my list and it was only when I went to Fantastic Fiction to check that I realised that she has actually had about 5 books out in the last few years. Whoops!

Anyway, here's my list.

Diana Norman/Ariana Franklin - I loved the Mistress of the Art of Death series which this author published under the name of Ariana Franklin, but I first started reading her books under her name Diana Norman, and I particularly enjoyed her Makepeace Hedley trilogy which started with A Catch of Consequence

Sharon Kay Penman - I love SKP's books and often mention books like The Sunne in Splendour or Here Be Dragons in relation to her. This time though, I am going to use the first of her Justin de Quincy mysteries as my choice.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon - I think it is maybe time for me to reread The Shadow of the Wind. I loved that book so much.

Susan Vreeland - It appears I have only read three of this author's books, but they definitely left an impact!

Lucinda Riley - When Lucinda Riley passed away before the last book in the Seven Sisters series was released, her son took over the writing. Recently, it's been announced that he has written a new book set in the same world. I am invested enough to want to read the book, but also not sure how I feel about it all!

Terry Pratchett - I do occasionally find myself wondering what Sir Terry would make of the world right now.

Stieg Larsson - Remember how popular this author's books were back in the early 2000's. Crazy to think that he passed away before the books were published and so successful.

Kerry Greenwood - When this Australian author passed last year I was sad to think that we had no more Phryne Fisher novels to come, even though I still have a lot of the series to read.

Laura Florand - Laura Florand will always appear on these lists for me. No, she hasn't passed away, but she no longer writes. When I went through a reading slump that lasted for years a while ago, she was one of the few authors who I still read!

Lisa Kleypas - Don't panic. Lisa Kleypas is alive and well. In fact, she probably shouldn't be on this list at all given that she has recently announced that there will be a new book coming out from her soon. It's just that it has been a long 5 years since the last one! This is one of her standalone books which is probably lesser known, but it is also one of my favourites.

This week....or more precisely the last couple of weeks.

2026-05-04T09:31:00.002+10:00

First of all.....Happy Star Wars Day

It's a bit strange to me that I am all over this Star Wars thing now. Up until about 10 years ago I had never seen a Star Wars movie but my husband is a big fan so we now watch all the spin offs and I already know we will be going to the movies to see the new Mandalorian movie when it comes out soon. I still have never seen all of the movies though.

I'm reading

As a general rule, I don't read as much while I am holidays as I do when I am home. Occasionally we have holidays where that doesn't apply, but over the last two and a bit weeks where we have been in Turkiye it has definitely been the case.

Since my last This Week post I finished reading both New Chapters on the French Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet and The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin (which I reviewed here and here respectively).

I then decided to read The Astral Library by Kate Quinn, as it fit two categories in the Goodreads Spring challenge, and because I really enjoy her historical fiction writing. This one is most definitely not historical fiction. I enjoyed it, but it did take me a while to get through, and it isn't my favourite book of hers.

After that I read The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. My read on a theme book club theme for May is Mothers and Daughters and this book definitely met that theme. I have only ever read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, and that was in the 1990s so it was interesting reading this book now.

My final read while I was away was An Italian Island Love Story by Leonie Mack. This is part of her Wedding Adventures series which I really love! it was perfect plane reading!

My reading numbers were down for April (mostly because I was too busy being on holiday). I read 7 books in total. I gave most of them a grade of 4 out of 5 but nothing really jumps out as being a best of the month. Hopefully next month.

Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen

Bookish Travel

While I didn't read many books, I did visit quite a few places in April (both in real life and through books!)

Europe

UK - Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Cafe

Greece - The Islander's Daughter

France - New Chapters on the French Riviera

Portugal - The Hotel by the Sea

Australia

Queensland - Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing

America

Maine - The Seven Rings

Massachusetts - The Astral Library

I'm watching

We flew a Chinese airline this time as we had to rebook our flights to avoid the conflict in the Middle East. We would absolutely fly them again, but I know to expect that the entertainment selection is limited. I therefore only watched a couple of documentaries. One was about various destinations in China and another was an Italian documentary about The Hermitage museum in St Petersburg. When I say watched, I am being literal here as I couldn't understand what was being said in either of them!

Life

We had the most amazing time in Turkiye! Apart from one day we had amazing weather, we saw some amazing sights and food. If you have ever thought about visiting Turkiye, then do it. We would both love to go back!

The first few days we were there daughter came to stay with us with her partner we had never met before so we enjoyed time with them visiting some of the major sights including The Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and we did a foodie walking tour. After they left we did a Turkish bath, visited the Basilica Cistern and more. We then joined our tour which included a visit to Topkapi Palace.

After that we left Istanbul and headed to Cannakale which was our base for spending time on the Gallipoli peninsula. The whole reason we booked this tour was so we could attend the Dawn Service at Anzac Cove on Anzac Day and it was a truly memorable experience.

After that we headed to see the ancient cities of Troy and Ephesus, visited places like Pamukkale and finally Cappadocia where we were able to take a hot air balloon ride!

It was a such a fantastic trip!

Now I have to get ready to go back to work tomorrow!

Posts from the last week

Blog Tour: The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May Links
Six Degrees of Separation: Wild Dark Shore to The Enlightenment of Bees

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings