Onion Budgie

Yes, that was one of the problems I had with the book. Playing Eleanor for crass laughs seemed a bit "off" to me, to be honest. (That, and the utter predictability of the plot!)

I made veggie "meat"balls for the first time this week, and they were just SO good with homemade pasta sauce and spaghetti. Having the leftovers of those this evening, along with some spicy roasted chickpeas and steamed broccoli.

Still reading A Change of Climate by Hilary Mantel. I'm almost two-thirds way of the through it. It's good, but slow-moving and bleak, so I'm reading it in small chunks. When I finally finish it, it'll be September -- which means I'll be diving back into my murder mysteries for the onset of autumn! Wahooo! Agatha Christie (et al), here I come.

A glass of chilled Chenin Blanc, before I start preparing dinner. It's hitting the spot.

Just finished Crystal Skulls by Judy Hall. The majority of the book was fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable. A few sections came across as bats*!^ crazy. That's how it goes with any book that's written on this subject. 4/5 I'm now about to dive into A Change of Climate by Hilary Mantel.

I read that at the beginning of the year -- and loved it! One of my 5-star reads.

Oh gosh, I'm just looking at my list that I made back in March, and I still haven't read anything by any of those authors! I must choose one for my next read...

I finished The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. It started out well enough, but ultimately waded into a bottomless pit of self-absorbed introspection, and I found myself irritated with the protagonist. How did this win the Man Booker? 2/5 Next up is a bit of non-fiction: Crystal Skulls: Ancient Tools for Peace, Knowledge, and Enlightenment by Judy Hall.

One I can think of straight away is Love and Death on Long Island by Gilbert Adair. It was also turned into a film with John Hurt in the lead role.

20 so far, which is great for me. Out of those, only three have been a 5-star read, and a further three have been 1-star clunkers. Optimistic for some great reads for the rest of the year!

Yes, what a cracker of a storm. It woke me up at around 5.30am. I was too bleary to peer out of the window at it, but I heard the hoo-hah and all the rain that went with it. Since then, it's been sunshine all day, but rather humid.

Red lentil bolognese, with a corn on the cob, some steamed veg, and a sliced avocado on top. I'm STARVIN'. Can't wait!

I've finished my Patrick Suskind binge. Three books in a row -- it was fun! I didn't enjoy his short stories quite as much, though. Now I'm just about to start The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, which I've heard nothing but good things about.

I'm on a Patrick Suskind binge. I just finished The Story of Mr. Sommer (it was great), and am about to start On Love and Death. As it's only 78 pages, it shouldn't take me too long!

Eggs, chips and beans. Because Friday. And because chips. Also throwing in some marinaded tofu, and a few hearty splodges of ketchup and HP sauce.

I finally finished Gently By the Shore by Alan Hunter. It was terrible! Lazy, predictable plotting, and the writing was so dated and weak. 1/5 Now on to The Story of Mr. Sommer by Patrick Suskind, which I'm sure will be much better, because I love Patrick Suskind.

Yes, I remember now. At that time I think I was enthusing about her first memoir, Underfoot in Show Business. Re. the bit in spoiler tags: That choked me up too. Beautiful.

Woot! I just LOVE Helene Hanff. Letter from New York is simply lovely, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Ha! Alas not! Would have been nice, though.

With the sun blazing outside, my thinking today was: "It's way too hot for a (veggie) roast dinner! I'm going to make something else instead!" So I made a curry. No, I don't know either. It was a really good curry, mind you. A chickpea and vegetable one. Served with white rice and steamed broccoli.

Mine is a wordplay on the Indian snack, onion bhaji. No particular reason for it other than I like wordplay almost as much as I like budgies.

I'm halfway through Gently By the Shore by Alan Hunter, and it's a dreary read. How this evolved into a 46 book series I'll never know! Looking forward to finishing it so I can move on to something better.

Looks like we're buckling in for a storm here. The wind's picking up, and the clouds are grey and heavy.

A spicy red lentil & tomato pasta dish, with steamed kale and broccoli. It was delicious! Will definitely be making again.

I tried making pineapple guacamole last summer. It was a disaster. The avocado was underripe, and I didn't have any red onions (had to use brown), so I ended up with this uber-lumpy, overpoweringly-onioned bowl of muck masquerading as something edible. The pineapple made it even worse!