Dinner, 13/1/15: Broccoli pasta with parma ham breadcrumbs

This was a nice, easy pasta dish, a little different from some of the ones we have regularly. It might go in the rotation!

Book 5: The Long Way Home, Louise Penny

This is the latest (both to me, and unfortunately, that has been written) in the Gamache series - and while it lacks the intensity of suspense of the previous one (which had been building up for a number of books in several areas), it was still a compelling story with a clever and unexpected resolution. And frankly, I wouldn't have wanted another one as intense as How the Light Gets In, anyway!  I've really been enjoying this series a lot - a visitor left one of the books with me (A Trick of the Light - I think  number 7 in the series) when she came to lunch as she knew I read some crime fiction, and as I really enjoyed it, I went back and followed the series from the beginning. They are very well written, particularly becoming tightly-woven and polished after the first few (which are still good, don't get me wrong) and I enjoy not only the characters, but the settings, most of which are quite foreign to me. This one is a bit more personal than police, but that's ok too - it works, and works well. It will be interesting to see where she goes from here!

Dinner, 12/1/5: Roasted Parsnip and Parmesan Soup

Using pre-roasted parsnips from the other night, so it was very quick and easy. And made parmesan biscuits to go along with it (yes, I cut them with the snowman cutter instead of the usual circle - so?)

Dinner, 11/1/15: Beef and Aubergine Tagine

This is a slow-cooker recipe, which we've had before, though not recently. I like to do a slow-cooker meal on Sundays when I can, as it gives the illusion that the weekend lasts longer, as I don't have to use the bulk of the end of my weekend in the kitchen cooking. We take what we can get!  Last time we made this, I had noted that we thought it would benefit from some veg thrown in a bit later for more texture, so I used one small aubergine to start and added a second about halfway through the cooking time. Which was nice - the aubergine was still soft, but there were some identifiable chunks there, much to the disgust of my children. There was also a note that we'd like more lemon - I didn't add more lemons as I only had a partial jar, so I just used what I had.   From the Cookbook I (heart) my slow-cooker, by Beverly LeBlanc.

Book 4: The Seas, Samantha Hunt

This was a short, bleak, poetic novel, dreamlike in many aspects, but also compelling. The story of a 19 year old girl living in a an unspecified small, cold, dreary, alcoholic, northern (American) place, with a mother but no father (him having walked into the sea when she was a young girl). The unnamed protagonist is in love with an older man, himself haunted by his experiences in Iraq. I constantly found myself unsure which aspects of the story were real and which were in her head - or rather, I should say, which were "actually happening" rather than "real", as I am reminded of a great line from Harry Potter - "Of course it's happening inside your head,  Harry, but why should that mean it's not real?".  Something completely different from the last - and from the next, as I have collected my latest (and indeed, the latest written) Louise Penny from the library today, so it's back to crime fiction for another book or two!

Dinner, 10/1/15: Roast Duck with Roast Potatoes & Parmesan Parsnips

The duck was on sale on Ocado (online supermarket) - about half price, I think - so it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. And with the parsnips also on sale (buy one bag get one free) it seemed sensible to buy them, roast them all, and put aside some of them to make roast parsnip soup later in the week - a nice quick weeknight supper that way. 

Dinner, 9/1/15: Sausage, Oven Potatoes, Green Beans

Sausages from the Farmers' Market - mmm.

Book 3: Foxglove Summer, Ben Aaronovitch

This is the latest (fifth, I think) in a series about the side of the London police force which deals with all things strange and magical, including (but not limited to) demons, faeries, revenants, genius loci (gods/goddesses of places), magicians, ghosts, and so forth. It's written with humour and plotted cleverly, and both Geoff and I enjoy them very much. This one was a bit of a departure in not being set in London, but there are reasons why that worked very well. It's a good series if you like police procedurals with a heck of a lot of weird stuff thrown in (but thrown in well & thoroughly dealt with). But read them in order - in particular, reading the first one (Rivers of London) first is a must.

Dinner, 7/1/15: Courgette, Spinach & Pesto Tart

Another tart, though this one very different, as it had puff pastry as a base. It was basically an exercise in using things up, inspired by a friend who consulted me for a similar using-up exercise (though her tart ended up very different). This was just a sheet of pre-rolled puff pastry from the freezer, with some leftover vegetarian pesto from the half-jar in the fridge (of which there are still a few tablespoons to use - it was a large jar), some bits of courgette from both my own and my neighbour's fridge (we are cat-sitting and house-minding, and got gifted all the perishables left when they went away), a half-bag of spinach (wilted and squeezed out) left from the girls making healthy smoothies with their new smoothie making thingy they got for Christmas*, and three different ends of cheese (again from both our house and our neighbours). It was excellent.

*The girls have been experimenting with lots of types of smoothies - the most popular tend to involve frozen fruit and juice or coconut water (also the easiest/quickest to make) but the spinach one - on a green theme, featuring also cucumber, green grapes, mint and a bunch of other stuff was actually the best tasting one yet...

Dinner, 5/1/15: Chili Chicken, Stir-Fried Oriental Vegetables

No recipe for the vegetables - just some mix oriental veg, stir fried, with soy sauce on at the end. The chicken was from this recipe (although I threw in another chili as I had three) and was really tasty - quite spicy, but that's good for us - and the vegetables weren't spicy, so it was a nice balance.

Book 2: Arabella, Georgette Heyer (re-read)

I've been a fan of Georgette Heyer for a long time, and have read (and re-read) many of her books, though I'm sure not quite all of them - she was very prolific. She is a clever plotter of historical romances, and the characters - and her observations about them - often remind one strongly of Jane Austen; the main difference of course being that Austen was observing her contemporaries. Frequently when I feel a bit lazy in my reading - not adventurous to try something of unknown quantity, or - as in the case this week - when I am looking for a quick read that I can put down if need be - I turn to Heyer. I also love these new, larger format paperbacks and try to pick them up whenever I see them in charity shops, etc - much easier and more pleasant to read than old, small, yellowed paperbacks!

However, Arabella is happily settled with her gentleman and my own husband has finished reading the book we ordered from the library to both read, so it's on to something completely different...

Dinner, 4/1/15: Potato, Taleggio & Spinach Tart

Technically, this was a potato, reblochon & spinach tart, as Sainsbury's had no taleggio yesterday. But who's counting!  We've had this before, with various cheeses. and always enjoy it. The crust, because it's a bread crust rather than pizza, makes it very filling (tonight I made the dough for the crust in the bread machine - and remembered to start it early enough to give it the long dough cycle, rather than the quick pizza dough one), so it goes a lot further than you might think.   Another recipe from Good Food magazine - it can be found online here. 

Dinner, 3/1/15: Golden Veggie Shepherd's Pie

Another dish we've had before a number of times - it's our favourite of the various non-meat shepherd pies we've tried - just has a really nice, deep flavour. Usually I just make a partial version of the recipe, as it makes enough for two pies (the second a bit smaller than this one). But this time, I forgot to cut back until I had started cooking, which is fine - just means we'll be eating this a second time in the week - makes a nice, no effort weekday supper anyway, so it's not a problem.  This time I chopped the mushrooms really fine as well, as I always get loads of complaints from 2 out of 3 kids about the mushrooms (or, more accurately, 2 out of 3 don't much like them - only one complains like the world is going to end). This is a recipe from Good Food Magazine, and you can find it on their website, here. 

Long-tailed tits

....are a pain to take a photo of, as they are very ephemeral on the feeder - really like to flit and fly. But here they are, holding still for just about long enough to snap a picture...and then they were off again!

Book 1: Watership Down, Richard Adams (re-read)

This book was mostly read in 2014, as it has been my bed-time book  with Alex - we finished it up tonight after the panto. It's actually the second time I've read it aloud (I read it to the girls many years ago) - I've read it a number of times, not sure how many but quite a few, and it's always a firm favourite - and it always gets me. No matter how many times I read it, I'm still tense, wondering if the rabbits will succeed in their endeavours (no spoilers!) and if the plans will come together this time. That's the sign of a great story, I think - that it can do that even when you actually know how the story will come out. It was Alex's first time, though, so he got to encounter all the great characters for the first time; Hazel, Fiver, BigWig, Keehar, General Woundwort and so on.  And the older I get, the more I enjoy the stories and fables the rabbits themselves tell. I keep meaning to get a really good grip on where Watership Down is, so I can make sure we drive past it some time if we are ever in the area, but never quite get around to it!

Dinner 2/1/15: Vegan Lancashire Hotpot

This is a meal we've had many times before - it's a favourite from the Simon Rimmer cookbook "The Seasoned Vegetarian". I've cooked a number of things from that cookbook, and I think we've enjoyed all of them, but this is certainly our favourite. It just tastes really rich and glorious. I often add mushrooms as well. 

The recipe can be found online here, if you want to give it a try - even confirmed meat-eaters will enjoy this, I promise!

Book Plan for 2015

While I AM the type of person to obsessively make lists about things, I don't usually plan out what books I am going to read in the coming year - and I still don't intend to do that. What I do intend to do, though, is try to read as many of the books which I own, which are on my unread/to be read shelf as I can, and (here's the really tricky part) not buy any more books, even in charity shops.  I'm not really sure I can actually do that, so I'm going to allow myself a couple of freebies - unplanned ones. But I'm going to try hard.  I will, however, allow myself to take some books from the library - I have a couple of series which I am looking forward to finishing this year, and there are two or three books on my list of things I'd really like to read which I will either order from the library or ask for, for Mother's Day or Birthday presents.

The picture above of course isn't a prediction of which ones I will choose for my favourites of 2015 (though I wouldn't be surprised if some of them appear on it), but I wanted something visual in the post, to keep it from being boring. Most of the titles used in the collage are either ones I've read before or books by authors I've read other books by. But not all of them.

To help myself out with this monumental reading task, I'm going to make a list of all the books which are on my shelf and then I can cross them through when I either read them, start to read them, decide I don't like them and send them to the charity shop, or decide I'm never going to read them and send them away unread (this probably won't happen with many, as I have winnowed this selection down quite a bit already).

In the past, I've done a monthly review of books read (not all the time, but often) - I'm not going to do that in 2015, as it frequently becomes this hideous task looming over me and I have to work up a lot of effort to do it - or at least, it feels that way - instead, I'm just going to do a little mini blurb about each book as I read them - far more easy (I hope) to keep up with...

Anyway. To kick that off, here's the list of books I have waiting around to read - some of these are books by authors I've read and enjoyed before, some are books I've always meant to read but haven't got around to, some are books that looked interesting in the bookshop/charity shop/whatever, a few might even be gifts I've received which I haven't got to yet. And one or two are books I've read a long time ago and want to read again. I think there are about fifty of them, but I haven't counted (though I will once the list is made!) Most of these, I don't know how long I've had them, though a few I can date - and then feel guilty about not having read yet!

1. Karin Altenberg, Island of Wings
2. James Anderson, The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy
3. Gerhand Bakker, The Twin
4. The Small Hours, Susie Boyt
5. Bill Bryson, One Summer: America 1927
6. Michael Collins, The Resurrectionists
7. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone (this one would be a re-read)
8. Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
9. Jim Crace, Harvest
10. Esi Edugyan, Half Blood Blues
11. Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex
12. Jim Fergus, One Thousand White Women (Summer 2013)
13. Anne Fine, All Bones and Lies
14. Ford Maddox Ford, Parade's End (Nov 2012 - birthday present - bought after the BBC adaptation - but I knew I wouldn't read it straight away as I wanted to let time pass from the adaptation.  Enough time has probably passed now...)
15. E M Forster, Howards End
16. Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Christmas 2014)
17. Miles Franklin, My Brilliant Career
18. Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling
19. Patrick Gale, Rough Music
20. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (re-read, bought shortly after his death - spring 2014 - as I was reminded how much I enjoyed it)
21. Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
22. Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm
23. Rumer Godden, Kingfishers Catch Fire
24. Laurie Graham, A Humble Companion
25. Graham Greene, Brighton Rock
26. Nicholas Griffin, The House of Sight and Shadow
27. Jane Haddam, Glass Houses
28. Laurell K Hamilton, Bloody Bones
29. Samantha Hunt, The Seas
30. Jennifer Johnston, Foolish Mortals (Autumn 2014 - charity shop find)
31. Anjali Joseph, Sarasawati Park
32. Jim Lynch, The Highest Tide
33. W Somerset Maugham, The Magician
34. Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs
35. Kate Morton, The Distant Hours
36. Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran
37. Kate O'Brien, The Land of Spices
38. Regina O'Melveny, The Book of Madness and Cures
39. Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table
40. Anuradha Roy, An Atlas of Impossible Longing (Winter 2013, bought in a cheap shop in Oxford)
41. Kathy Reichs, Spider Bones
42. Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Watcher in the Shadows (Christmas 2014)
43. Richard Russo, Straight Man
44. Simon Sebag Montefiore, One Night in Winter
45. Muriel Spark, Memento Mori
46. Mark Slouka, The Visible World
47. Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Summer 2013 - a re-read, as I read it when a teen)
48. Magda Szabo, The Door
49. Amy Tan, The Valley of Amazement
50. Scarlett Thomas, Pop Co
51. Barbara Trapido, Frankie and Stankie
52. Rose Tremaine, Merivel
53. Rose Tremaine, Music & Silence
54. Barry Unsworth, Losing Nelson
55. Barry Unsworth, The Ruby in her Navel
56. Ayelet Waldman, Love and Treasure (new in December 2014)
57. December, Elizabeth Winthrop

So there they are - 57 books I own which I want to get through before buying (many) more books. I know there are a few I will borrow from the library during 2015 - one, indeed, is already reserved, though Geoff will read it first (Foxglove Summer, Ben Aaronovitch - the latest in a series we both like) - I will finish off the Southern Vampire mysteries by Charlaine Harris, there's one more Louise Penny I haven't read, I want to read The Miniaturist, there's a new Marilynne Robinson out...  Life needs to be more full of free time, so I can read more!  Still - I read around 100 books in 2013 and quite a few in 2014, so 57 in 2015 shouldn't be impossible, even with a few sidesteps.  Wish me luck!

December Round Up

WHAT WAS FOR DINNER, DECEMBER 2014

• 31st: Saddle of Lamb, Roast Potatoes, Cabbage
• 30th: Veg & Chorizo Soup
• 29th: Chili con Carne (Geoff cooking)
• 28th: Creamy Sausage and Rocket Pasta
• 27th: Pork and Turkey Curry
• 26th: Christmassy Leftovers
• 25th: Christmas Dinner with all the fixings!
• 24th: Christmas Eve party
• 23rd: leftovers from freezer
• 22nd: out (up town)
• 21st: Christmas party at a friend's house
• 20th: Vegetable Paella
• 19th: Filled pasta bake
• 18th: fend for yourself
• 17th: Roast Haddock Supper
• 16th: Chicken and Vegetable Soup
• 15th: Pasta with Brussels sprouts and pancetta
• 14th: Chicken Pot Roast with Veg and Potatoes
• 13th: Pizza (Homemade)
• 12th: Tikka Salmon
• 11th: Pork Chop, Spinach, Potatoes (Geoff only)
• 9th: Ginger and Chicken Noodles
• 10th: Chickpea and Chorizo Soup
• 8th: Fish, peas, potatoes (Geoff & Alex only)
• 7th: Beef Bourguinon
• 6th: Sausages, mixed chard, oven potatoes
• 5th: Fish fingers, oven chips, peas
• 4th: pork chop, greens, potatoes (Geoff only)
• 3rd: Lamb Steaks with Orange and Redcurrant Jelly, peas, mash
• 2nd: Roasted Squash and Red Onion Pasta
• 1st: Celeriac and Bacon Soup

Dinner, 31/12/14: Saddle of Lamb, Roast New Potatoes, Cabbage, Gravy

A lovely rolled sadlle of lamb from the Farmers' Market, helped us with our New Year's Eve dinner... New Year's Day will be full of leftovers, as it happens - lots in the fridge which wants using, and as I always spend New Year's Day taking down Christmas decorations and cleaning the house, it will be a nice way to have a good dinner with very little work!

What I read in 2014

Looking back at my book lists for the past few years, I see that I tend to read about a hundred books a year - this year, I'm sure it's a bit less, as I know I haven't been averaging 8 books a month, especially the latter half of the year. Still, it's worth checking. This is the list in reverse order, and includes books I didn't finish, which I will have to subtract from the total. The important thing, though, is not how many, but which ones I thought were best. In the manner of previous years, I have highlighted those I thought my absolute favourites (not counting re-reads) and underlined the ones I thought very good but not quite among the best...

It's unusual this year in that a non-fiction book made my list of favourites - I have a strong preference for fiction and don't really read much non-fiction, but I'd been meaning to get around to Barbara Kingsolver's book about her family's experiment in living locally (foodwise) for a while, and was not disappointed - it was highly readable and very thought-provoking without being preachy. Of course, I really enjoy her fiction, so I knew the writing would be good.

Turns out, there are 91 books in the list. Of these, one I haven't yet finished (it's on the Kindle, which isn't mine, so I don't like to take it out of the house and sometimes it's being used when I'm inside. I counted it, though, as I will finish it). Of the others listed, there seem to be only 5 I didn't like enough to finish. Amazing - usually there are at least twice that many. Which means that I've read 86 books this year, which is just over 7 per month, which is not as bad as I thought it would be!

• Northanger Abbey, Val McDermid
• The Christmas Mystery, Jostein Gaardner
• The Accidental, Ali Smith
• The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell
• The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman (Dec 2014)
• Dead in the Family, Charlaine Harris
• One Moment, One Morning, Sarah Rayner
• Lost Dogs, Kenton Kilgore
• How the Light Gets In, Louise Penny
• The Anteroom, Kate O'Brien (Nov 2014)
• Allegiant, Veronica Roth (YA)
• Insurgent, Veronica Roth (YA)
• Divergent, Veronica Roth (YA)
• The Virgin Blue, Tracy Chevalier
• Dead and Gone, Charlaine Harris
• The Beautiful Mystery, Louise Penny
• Bones to Ashes, Kathy Reichs (Oct 2014)
• The Secret Scripture, Sebastian Barry
• Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny
• The Unfortunates, Laurie Graham
• The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton
• Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes (Sept 2014) (mostly)
• The Glassblower of Murano, Marina Fiorato
• Angelmonster, Veronica Bennett
• The Elusive Language of Ducks, Judith White
• The Brutal Telling, Louise Penny
• Where Three Roads Meet, Sally Vickers
• No Book but the World, Leah Hager Cohen
• The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden, Jonas Jonasson
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver (August 2014)
• The House of Silk, Anthony Horowitz
• Unexploded, Alison McLeod
• Perfect, Rachel Joyce
• My Life as a Fake, Peter Carey
• Rule Against Murder, Louise Penny (July 2014)
• Tinkers, Paul Harding
• Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• There but for the the..., Ali Smith
• 1000 Days in Venice, Marina de Brasi
• Sisterland, Curtis Sittenfield
• In the Time of Butterflies, Julia Alvarez
• Black Narcissus, Rumer Godden
• The Last September, Elizabeth Bowen
• From Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris
• All Together Dead, Charlaine Harris
• Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
• That Summer at Hill Farm, Miranda France
• Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen, Susan Grigg Gilmore (May 2014)
• Washington Square, Henry James
• The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, G W Dalquist (50pp)
• Garment of Shadows, Laurie R King
• Sex and Stravinsky, Barbara Trapido
• The Road, Cormac McCarthy (re-read)
• I Know this Much is True, Wally Lamb
• The Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Ardin (re-read)
• The Silver Metal Lover, Tanith Lee (re-read)
• The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
• Margarettown, Gabrielle Zevon (April 2014)
• The Witch's Daughter, Paula Brackston
• The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier
• Lunch in Paris, Elizabeth Bard
• Number 9 Dream, David Mitchell
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie (reread)
• An Icy Cold Grave, Charlaine Harris
• Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie (reread)
• Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris
• Dead as a Doornail, Charlaine Harris
• A Caribbean Mystery, Agatha Christie (reread)
• The Moving Finger, Agatha Christie (March 2014)
• The Cruellest Month, Louise Penny
• The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, Catheryne Valente
• Stardust, Neil Gaiman
• Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie (reread)
• Black is the Colour of my True Love's Heart, Ellis Peters (reread)
• Dead Cold, Louise Penny
• Acceptable Loss, Anne Perry
• The Piper on the Mountain, Ellis Peters (reread)
• The Monster in the Box, Ruth Rendell
• Never Pick up Hitchhikers, Ellis Peters (reread)
• Break no Bones, Kathy Reichs
• Brooklyn Bones, Triss Stein (50pp) (Feb 2014)
• Grave Secrets, Charlaine Harris
• Grave Sight, Charlaine Harris
• The Return of the Soldier, Rebecca West (half)
• Embers, Sandor Marai
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce
• Olive Kitteridge, Eilzabeth Strout
• Food of Love Cookery School, Nicky Pellegrino
• The Almost Moon, Alice Sebold (50pp)
• Bitterblue, Kristen Cashore (Jan 2014)

I can't really choose a favourite, but I have to say that The Bone Clocks, The Goldfinch and Life After Life were all particularly good - though I expected to like them all as I've like at least some of the other books these authors have written. Olive Kitteridge was by an author I didn't know, but I thought it was fantastic. And surprisingly for me, a non-fiction book made the top part of the list - I'm not a big reader of non-fiction. But Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was highly readable and very interesting, about her family's attempt to live for a year sourcing almost all their food locally and ethically. Thought provoking, but not, I thought, in a preachy way.