This weekend has been a bit unusual in that I really was not reading anything. Normally I have an audiobook on the go, plus an e-book and a paper book, but having finally finished The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley on audio, I hadn't yet started a new one. I also finished reading Tiny White Lies by Fiona Palmer this week.
So really, the question should be what I am a going to be reading?
I have a number of library books about to be delivered to me this week, so I think that I should really read the final book that I had checked out when all the social isolation restrictions started back in March, and that book is Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran.
I will also be starting Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees for an upcoming blog tour on ebook, and The Spanish Promise by Karen Swan on my phone.
On audio, I am looking forward to starting to listen to The Switch by Beth O'Leary. I read The Flat Share last year and loved it so I am looking forward to this one. This will also be the first audiobook that I have listened to from Netgalley.
I'm watching
This has been a bits and pieces kind of viewing week too. We were looking forward to watching South African/New Zealand comedian Urzila Carlsson's Netflix comedy Overqualified Loser as soon as we heard about it. We did enjoy it, but it was very similar to the show that we saw live a couple of years ago.
I watched the first episode of Cable Girls which is a Spanish Netflix show. I knew that the show was in Spanish but I assumed that it was subtitled. Most of the time when I am watching TV I am usually reading blog posts, or writing them, or just generally doing other things so subtitles don't really work. However, I found out this week that it is actually dubbed rather than subtitles, and therefore I could watch it. I might go back to it. We'll see.
One thing that we did watch this weekend was the new Tom Hanks movie, The Greyhound which is a WWII movie about the Battle of the Atlantic. I really enjoyed it. It is very much a war movie. There's very little in the way of background story, or getting to know the characters but it is very well done.
For the coming week, we come to the end of Masterchef. It's been a long season, but a great season. This year, the judges changed which I think plenty of people were worried about. How would Masterchef work without the judges who have been there since the beginning? And now, old judges who? The new judges have been so great, the food has been amazing, and I am sure the producers had to work overtime working out how to make the competition work given that they were still filming when all the social distancing came into being!
Life.....
We are trying a couple of new things food wise this week. I saw an ad on Facebook not too long ago which was a French patisserie on the other side of the city that would deliver freshly made pastries, and then you could cook them yourselves. Seeing as we were ordering something I figured we might as well buy some macarons. Everything was so good. We are definitely going to be ordering some more.
This week we are trying a meal box. The idea is that this restaurant provides you with a different cuisine for three meals in the week, with all the food, along with the instructions on how to cook it, and access to the head chef's instructional videos. This week the cuisine is from Morocco and I am really looking forward to trying this. I have never done anything like this, so it's a first in lots of ways.
We did also start our third lockdown jigsaw. This one is all about different landmarks around the world and boy, it is challenging. It will keep us going for a week or so.
Blogging wise, I started something a bit new in an old way, which was a Vintage post where I find a post from the archives and repost it. I do have some more vintage posts coming up, with a specific focus on historical fiction. I am also seriously contemplating a Facebook page. Do you have one? Would you recommend having one?
The Moroccan cooking sounds really fun! I've thought often of having a meal service like that and doing it with my mother who's on her own for most meals. The pandemic has put a hold on that idea, but maybe I'll do it once we're really in the clear here.
ReplyDeleteOne of my friends is going to do the meal box as well, and then we are going to do a Zoom meeting so it will almost be like going to a Moroccan restaurant for dinner.
DeleteThe meal box idea is a great one! I hope it works out well. I think Moroccan food sounds really good, I'm not sure I've ever tried any! And good luck with the lockdown- I hope cases go down for you there. Things are of course quite bad for us here in the States- some areas worse than others of course- but it is a scary time. Be safe and well!
ReplyDeleteSome of the numbers of coming out of the US are so scary Greg. Stay safe.
DeleteI am going to love your vintage recipes (I am doing the same thing as I transition over to my new blog, shhhh!) because a really good recipe should not be shared only once. This week I am reading "More Home Cooking, a Writer Returns to the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin. Plus I have ordered knitting needles to learn to knit socks...wish me luck.
ReplyDeleteKnitting socks is brave! Good luck with that Melynda!
DeleteI've not got much reading mojo at the moment either, hopefully we will both soon be happily caught up in good books! I do have a facebook page, but it doesn't get as much interaction as my blog, although I don't really promote it and join in memes, so it's not surprising really! My children (who are no longer really children) inform me that Facebook is for "old people" and that Instagram and TikTok is the place to be. I think I'll stick with FB though because too much social media just overwhelms me!
ReplyDeleteI have a personal Insta page but I don't do a lot of book stuff on there Louise! And I have no interest in TikTok. If that makes me old, so be it!
DeleteA few years ago subscription services that delivered all the ingredients for making a meal (including little spice packets), plus instructions, were really big here. Their popularity and economic success faded because the subscribers learned to cook by doing what they said.
ReplyDeleteWhen all the restaurants here closed, some of them restarted the trend, like the ones you mentioned. I wonder what will happen when the restaurants re-open.
be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
It's a good question. I guess this is a way for these restaurants to have some business during this challenging period Mae
DeleteI do enjoy bringing out vintage posts, and I do that every now and then. Perhaps it's time to do so again!
ReplyDeleteI loved The Flatshare, and I'm eager to get my copy of The Switch.
The Greyhound sounds good.
Sometimes I have to take a break on the weekend, after finishing the books from the week. That's when I double down on the binge-watching.
Good luck with Lockdown Phase 2. Parts of California are like that, but here, in this residence, we haven't left Phase One. And, knock wood, no infections among the residents.
Enjoy your week, and stay safe.
It is fun to look back through your own archives Laurel-Rain! I have found quite a few things where I have thought...gee, that was a good post!
DeleteI’m just starting Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook.
ReplyDeleteBecause I rely on the Facebook pages app on my iPad, I don’t find Facebook pages itself very useful anymore to be honest because there is no way to access the ‘follow pages‘ feed from the app. Though I do post to my page regularly
Wishing you a great reading week
I hope we both enjoy Miss Graham;s Cold War Cookbook Shelleyrae
DeleteI have so many good suggestions for books from you and ShelleyRae that I have started a notebook with the titles and wrote your names next to the ones you have read.
ReplyDeleteOff to Netgalley and Amazon for a few of them! I hadn't heard of Tom Hanks new movie but I am interested.
I hope you get to read some of them Tina, and that you enjoy them!
DeleteThose food boxes sound intriguing. We have been doing lots of cooking since the pandemic started but are mostly concentrating on the American Heart Association Cookbook and 500 Low Sodium Recipes cookbook. Since my brother's heart attack we have both been trying to eat in a more healthy way. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteYes, well we probably should be concentrating on some recipes to lose weight. Maybe next week
DeleteI saw this book on another blog this week, so now it makes sense--a virtual book tour. I would love to read that one.
ReplyDeleteTom Hanks is great in all he does. I will have to check out that movie.
The pastries look wonderful. We haven't tried any meal boxes lately. I find their version of a four-person meal is literally just enough for everyone to eat, but nothing left over, and my husband has a good appetite.
Hope you have a nice week.
http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2020/07/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-july-20.html
I do think that these boxes might help us with portion sizes as part of this Cheryl.
DeleteThose pastries look so delicous!
ReplyDeleteThe meal box from a restaurant sounds like a neat idea.
The pastries were so good! We are definitely going to be ordering more!
DeleteSometimes I spend hours deciding on my next read too. Apart from tour commitments, I am very much a mood reader. The best macaroons I ate were in NYC. We bought them at Laduree. I think the packaging cost as much as the macaroons!
ReplyDeleteI have had Laduree before here in Melbourne. I am looking forward to when we can go back to Laduree.
DeleteI hope you enjoy the audio of The Switch. I'm really looking forward to that one.
ReplyDeleteIt's really good Tanya. One of the narrators is the actress from Normal People.
DeleteSo the meal box is from a local restaurant? That's a nice touch. I would feel better about supporting a local place. We did Hello Fresh, which is a big corporate meal box service here in the States. It was convenient but they were shipped with so much packaging and so very little of it seemed recyclable, that I eventually nixed the idea. I hope your service works out well for you! Enjoy your week!
ReplyDeleteWe have Hello Fresh here. The box arrived today and there was actually very little in the way of packaging. All the vegies were loose, there was a cold bag for the meat and some containers with sauce in but that was it.
DeleteThe Celia Rees book looks good. I want to see the Tom Hanks movie. It looks like another winner for him. Hope you have a great week.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good movie Yvonne
DeleteThose food boxes sound like an awesome idea. I don’t think I’ve ever had Moroccan food, but I’d love to try it. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
We like using Moroccan flavours but I am looking forward to trying these recipes
DeleteSo glad to hear The Greyhound was good. Our library just opened with a limit on the number of patrons and each patron has a time limit to pick out books. Nice to have some things return to being more normal. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteMy branch never actually reopened but a couple of the others did.
DeleteI've been wanting to watch Greyhound (because Tom Hanks!), but I think I have to be in the right frame of mind to handle an intense war movie like that.
ReplyDeleteoh, I love the idea of the meal box! I would definitely try that here if I could find it. We used to eat out quite often and haven't eaten out since early March. I'm tired of my cooking and having to cook it :) Our state just mandated masks but so many people not doing it I fear that it will have much impact :(
ReplyDelete