In My Kitchen: November

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I share everything I have made over the previous month. When I say everything, I mean not much. I am struggling with a bit of motivation to make things and hubby seems happy to just have the same old, same old, so I haven't been making much and when I do make something it is an old favourite. 

The first thing I made this month was Banana Bread which is always a winner. I like banana bread with either choc chips or with cream cheese frosting, but Robert just likes plain banana cake which he then has with butter. Now I really want cream cheese frosting on something!

I did try one new baking recipe this month. About 6 weeks ago or so I shared a quote about making scones from a book. In the comments CLM from  Staircase Wit shared a recipe that her family uses for choc chip scones. Rather than being the traditional round scones, these ones were made in wedges with quite a different method. They were good but I have now been asked to make normal scones with jam and cream. I think that is more about the cream rather than the scones because my husband is a cream fiend.

We spent the first couple of weeks in the month slowly making through the bag of chocolates that we bought in duty free in Colombo. We bought a bag as we were going through duty free in Colombo and we really enjoyed them. We wanted to buy another bag in  Male but they were charging $41USD which is crazy expensive.  We ended up buying them again as we transitted through Colombo at a much more reasonable $17. It's still expensive but not extortionate.

Another thing I was excited to pick up in duty free was this bag of treats. We discovered them on our first trip to the together 7 years ago. I then came home and realised we hadn't eaten the last lot that we bought when we were last in the US. 

We did get some new glasses this month. They were the free ones that you get from Hungry Jacks with a meal. I don't know why but we really like these glasses and we have quite a lot of them with different patterns on. They are a great size and they feel like they are good quality.  I guess we are just suckers for a freebie.

So there wasn't a lot of baking, but what there was is a lot of foodie experiences. The weekend we got home from our holidays it was our 6th wedding anniversary. I wasn't a hundred percent sure of how tired we would be after the holiday so we didn't plan anything that weekend so we didn't go out to celebrate until the week after.

Our anniversary dinner was at something called Le Petit Chef and Friends. Basically it is an animation than uses your table cloth and plate as a screen and tells a story about each course that you are going to eat. It was a lot of fun and the food was surprisingly good as well. The steak was one of the best pieces of steak I have eaten in the last few years and the dessert was amazing, served in a rush of dry ice. I forgot to take a picture of the dessert. Apparently there are at least 6 different versions of this so you could go again and have a different experience. There are at least two other types of this kind of show, so maybe we will do another one eventually

Last week I posted about our three eating on trains experiences recently, two of which occurred in November. One was at a burger joint that is in a repurposed commuter train carriage which is on top of a multi story building, and the other was a fancy meal on Q Train - a moving restaurant that serves good quality regional produced. 

Finally, last weekend we went to do an afternoon tea at a place called Oxi Tea Rooms. We have been before, but the menu changes every six month and this was a completely different experience. I will post more about this in a couple of weeks, but hopefully this photo shows just how amazing the food looked!  We did also score a couple of spoons that one of the courses was served on. This is because it was the second last day of the menu that we had and so presumably they didn't need them anymore!

52 Recipes Challenge

Here are the new recipes we tried this month.

Jollof Chicken and Rice - I made this for Cook the Books

Choc Chip Scones

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

What We Ate on Holiday's: Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure

Cook the Books: Maame by Jessica George

Eating on Trains

Weekly meals

Saturday - 
Sunday - Pork chops, mash and cider gravy
Monday - Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognaise
Tuesday - Chicken Parma, Chips 
Wednesday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Steak and salad

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

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025: Wrap up posts

And just like that, we are almost at the end of the 2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Whilst there is still another couple of weeks to add your December links (the linky post for December is here), now there is an opportunity for you to add your wrap up post links if you have done one. You don't have to, although it is always interesting to see what people have read throughout the challenge.


I expect that I might read at least one more historical fiction book, but in the meantime, I thought I would share my reads for the year. I am pretty happy with the fact that I more than 50 hist fic novels...so far. 

Please bear in mind that I am a bad book blogger and I am a bit behind on my reviews from the last 6 weeks or so. I am aiming to get caught up by the end of the year as one of my goals was to review all the historical fiction I read. Here, though, are the historical fiction books I have read this year so far, including links where there is a review. The ones that have reviews are in bold.

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

The Storytellers Daughter by Victoria Scott

The House of Echoes by Alexandra Walsh

The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick

The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner

The Woven Lie by Liz Harris

The House of Light and Shadows by Lauren Westwood

A Santorini Secret by Rose Alexander

The Jam Maker by Mary-Lou Stephens

The Shadow on the Bridge by Clare Marchant

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

The Girl from Sicily by Siobhan Daiko

Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe

White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton

The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn

Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley

The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer

Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood

The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson

The House at the River's Edge by Rachel Burton

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club

The Madamoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester

The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

Half Truth by Nadia Mahjouri

The Girl from Normandy by Rachel Sweasey

The Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary

The Lost Story of Sofia Costella by Siobhan Curham

The Secrets of the Huon Wren by Claire van Ryn

A Bakery in Paris by Aimee K Runyan

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

The Cryptic Clue by Amanda Hampson

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

The Deadly Dispute by Amanda Hampson

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

One Hundred Years of Betty by Debra Oswald

Glorious Exploits by Ferdi Lennon

The Girl from the War Room by Catherine Law

The Florence Sisters by Tessa Harris

The Whisky Widow by Karen Brooks

The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas

The Lost Garden by Angela Petch

Daughter of Genoa by Kat Deveraux

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Daughters of Batavia by Stefanie Koens

The Tea Planters Wife by Dinah Jeffries

Dear Mrs Bird by A J Pearce

Foster by Claire Keegan

There's some really good reads on this list! I gave 5 of them 5 stars. They were The Jam Maker, The Winter Sea, The Women, The Summer Before the War and The Whisky Widow.

I am already looking forward to next year's historical fiction reads!

Feel free to share your wrap up post below!

Daughters of Batavia by Stefanie Koens

I was born in Perth in Western Australia and lived there until I was around 10 years old when my mum, my sister and I moved to Adelaide in South Australia. There isn't a lot I remember about my early years of schooling (or life really) but I do remember going on a couple of school excursions, one of which was to the port city of Fremantle. There we visited the Round House (a prison) and what was then called the Maritime Museum but is now known as the Shipwreck Museum. 

I remember seeing the salvaged and carefully preserved hull of the ship known as Batavia which was wrecked on the Abrolhos Islands off the remote northern coast in 1629, and I have been interested in the story ever since. Most times when I go to Perth I will head down to the museum and wander through the galleries. I am moved every time by the grisly fates of the crew and passengers who had to survive not only harsh terrain but also their own murderous companions.

In Amsterdam in 1628 a young woman named Saskia boards a boat named Batavia to take her aunt and her cousin on a journey that will take them to the Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia) where they will join her uncle. Saskia's aunt had adopted her following the death of Saskia's mother and she rules with an iron fist. The main thing that matters is keeping up appearances. The only thing that Saskia has of her mother's is a small porcelain tulip that she wears as a pendant. 

They settle into life on the Batavia where Saskia meets Aris Jansz, the ship's under surgeon. She also makes friends with other passengers, some of whom probably wouldn't meet with her aunt's approval but she is confined to her cabin with chronic seasickness.

However, there are mutinous acts being undertaken by the crew, led by Jeronimus Cornelisz, an under-merchant, and others, and it isn't really a safe place for a young woman to be wandering around a ship. 

Fast forward to the present and Tess is a high school teacher who is grieving the sudden loss of her father. She has been tasked with completing an article for a scholarly publication about the shipwreck of Batavia and the subsequent atrocities which led to the survivors of the shipwreck having to fight for their lives, both to survive in the harsh and unforgiving environment but also at risk of being murdered by their shipmates.

Tess heads to the Abrolhos Islands with her guide, Drew, where she is taken to an archaeological dig where the archaeologists are searching for clues about what happened all those years ago.

It turns out that Tess has a recently discovered connection through her mother's side of the family to some survivors from  Batavia. The modern day story and the historical run in parallel as the archaeologists locate an item and then we hear the story as it unfolds in the past. While Saskia and Aris do whatever they have to do to survive, Tess is in a fight of her own to try to find a way through the terrible grief she felt at the sudden loss of her father. 

The descriptions of what happened to the people on board Batavia are harrowing and made even more so by the fact that many of the incidents are historically accurate. I think that the author was very brave in not shying away from sharing the terrible atrocities that were committed in the days and weeks that followed the shipwreck with the reader. 

I listened to the audio of this book. I do often struggle when I transition from one audiobook to another with different accents and this one did take me a long time to get used to the Australian accents. I know that probably a bit weird given I am Australian and so I hear Australian accents all day every day. I liked two of the narrators but the third didn't really work for me and I am not really sure why. 

I do want to give a shout out to the cover designer of this novel. It's a really lovely, eye catching novel. 

In what is a pretty big coincidence, I found out just before we visited the Netherlands for Christmas in 2022 that the town where my brother in law lives, Lelystad, is also the home of a replica of Batavia and so we spent a morning wandering through the ship and learning all about the techniques for making things like rope, building ships and more. 

I am heading to Perth in mid January to watch the sailing, and you can be sure that I will once again be visiting the museum, and this time I will also have the story of Batavia, as told by Stefanie Koens, in mind as I wander the galleries. 

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here.  

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2026 Sign Up!

Welcome to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge for 2026! I am super excited to be hosting this challenge again this year. You are welcome to join if you are have participated before or if it is your first time!

Reading Challenge details

Each month, a new post dedicated to the HF Challenge will be created where you can add the links for the books you have read. To participate, you only have to share your review links!

Everyone can participate! If you don't have a blog you can post a link to your review if it's posted on Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram or Amazon, or you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish.

Add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to the monthly post (please use the direct URL that will guide us directly to your review)
Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, History/Non-Fiction, etc.). The link to the monthly post will always be in my sidebar.

During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

20th Century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books
Prehistoric - 50+ books

To join the challenge you only need to make a post about it, add your link in Mr. Linky below or just leave a link to your blog if you are not yet ready to post about it yet. If you don't have a blog you can just leave a comment for this post saying that you are joining, and link to your Facebook, Goodreads or other social media page where you will be sharing your reviews.

Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Christmas books that remind me of songs

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a freebie so no set theme. I am choosing to do Christmas books that remind me of songs. The first five are books that I have read (or at least started to read) and the next five are books that remind me of my favourite Christmas songs.

Last Christmas by Clare Swatman - I started this right near Christmas last year but never finished it. I will try again this year because the concept was interesting. 

So This is Christmas by Helen Rolfe - Christmas in Vienna! Yes please! (my review)

Will You Stay Another Day? by Samantha Tonge - I read this book earlier this year. (my review)

Someone Like You by Sandy Barker - This one is set in both London and Seattle! (my review)

A Skye Full of Stars by Sue Moorcroft - This was the second book in the Skye Sisters trilogy set on the Isle of Skye in Scotland (my review)

Let it Snow by Beth Moran - Beth Moran has a lot of books that have Christmassy titles!

How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly - This might not sound or look very Christmassy but How to Make Gravy is a classic Australian Christmas song. There is even a Gravy Day on December 21 and last year they made a movie of the story in the song. I have included the video below if you want to take a listen.

Driving Home for Christmas by Emma Hannigan - Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea is one of my absolute favourites!

All We Want For Christmas by Phillipa Ashley - Phillipa Ashley is another British author who has lots o Christmassy titles

I'll Be Home for Christmas by Linda Lael Miller, Catherine Mulvany, Julie Leto and Roxanne St. Claire  - Another favourite song. This book is an anthology featuring four short stories.

Do you have any books with titles that remind you of Christmas songs? Or favourite Christmas songs that you would love to see as a book title?

This week....

Can you believe it is December already! Before I get into what I have been reading, watching and doing this week, I wanted to mentioned that I will be launching the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge for 2026 on Wednesday! If you love historical fiction, reading challenges or both, please consider joining us!


I'm reading

Last week I finished reading Life Begins at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash. I reviewed it last week and I think it is her best book of the ones I have read. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai is another series that I really enjoy so I was always going to read the third book, Menu of Happiness. So far, it's making me...happy!

The other book I read this week was Christmas at Hollybush Farm by Jo Thomas, which is set in a struggling farming community in Wales.

I feel like my new normal is to read about 8 or 9 books a month. This month it was 9 book and while I didn't have any 5 star reads, there were 4 books that I gave a rating of 4.5/5 and they are pictured at the top of this post.

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

Here's where I travelled through books in November

Europe

UK - Dear Mrs Bird, Maame, Life Begins at the Cornish Cottage, Christmas at Hollybush Farm

Ireland - Foster

Asia

Japan - The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park, Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop

Australia

Victoria - The Midwife's Christmas Miracle 

US

Good Spirits 

I'm watching

It's always a good day when the new season of Great British Bake Off starts. I have already watched two episodes and I am now waiting for inspiration to strike so that I can start baking again!

I did watch my first Christmas movie this week, which is a bit of a late start for this year. Fortunately I thought Champagne Problems was a good one, but there was always every likelihood that it was going to be when it is set in France, features a handsome French man and a beautiful chateau in the wine region of France!

We did watch a really interesting documentary series this week. It is called When the War is Over and it is hosted by actor Rachel Griffiths. It looks at the role of art in all it's forms in telling the story of war. The first episode was all about the impact of the movie Gallipolli in telling the story of Aussies in WWI. The second episode focussed on two songs which profoundly impacted the way that Vietnam veterans were viewed after they returned to normal life. The two songs are Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel and Nineteen by Redgum which is a song that quite often makes me cry! It's so poignant. You can watch the video for Nineteen on Youtube.

Other episodes focus on Afghanistan and the role of the official war painter, the role of music in helping prisoners of war cope with their incarceration in Singapore's Changi prison during WWII, and finally the Australian wars which is basically the story of the killings of Aboriginal men and women as the British colonised their lands. 

Here's an intro video about the series

I did also catch 3 episodes of Dish podcast this week on Youtube. It is a show that just brings me so much joy. I watched the episodes with Bob Mortimer, Millie Bobbie Brown and the live show with Jack Whitehall.


Life

We went and enjoyed an afternoon tea with friends yesterday. We have been to the Oxi Tea Rooms before but the menu changes regularly so it was different experience. The menu was called Palete Through Time: Before and so the dishes were inspired by different eras from Ancient Egypt through to Elizabethan era through to now. As usual the food looked spectacular and tasted amazing too. Interestingly, one of the features of this experience was that each dish was accompanied by a different scent. 

The menu actually changes in two days to something completely different, so I will be trying to visit Oxi Tea Rooms again to try that menu!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: The last ten author events I have been to
Blog Tour: Life Begins at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash
Weekend Cooking: Eating on Trains
Festive Treats so far....





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: December links

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in November for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. Currently there are nearly 40 links! I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month. 

Can you believe that it is December already? I certainly can't but even so I have been getting ready to announce the challenge for 2026. The sign up post will be up on Wednesday, and I will also have a post for you to add your wrap up posts for this year's challenge up on Friday.

I am looking forward to reading December reviews and wrap up posts! I am sure there has been 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 probably too late for this year, but if not, the sign up post is here. And I would love to have you join us for next year's challenge. 

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!!

Festive Treats - so far....

 

I feel like I got a really early start on the Christmas books this year, but that I have done a lot less Christmassy things so far, at least compared to last year. Maybe it's because I wasn't working this time last year so I have more time. Or maybe I am just not in a Christmassy mood yet!

August to November

1. Will You Stay Another Day? by Samantha Tonge (my review)

2. Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop by Jessica Redland (my review)

3. So This is Christmas by Helen Rolfe (my review)

4. Lost Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express by Rebecca Raisin

5. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

6. Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin (my review)

7. A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft

8. A Family for Christmas in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen (my review)

9. The Midwife's Christmas Miracle by Fiona McArthur

10. Good Spirits by B K Borison

11. A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft (my review)

12. Life Begins at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash (my review)

13. Champagne Problems (movie)

14. Dish with Millie Bobbie Brown (podcast/Youtube series)

15. Christmas at Hollybush Farm by Jo Thomas