~All The Ugly And Wonderful Things Bryn Greenwood A provocative story of the love that develops between Wavy and Kellen. When the two first meet Kellen is twenty-four and Wavy just eight but there is an instant connection between the two. Wavy, who speaks very little and refuses to be touched or eat in front of anyone, so deeply scarred is she by years of abuse, immediately attaches herself to Kellen like a leach, clinging on for dear life. And Kellen feels the need to protect and care for this fragile and delicate child who hides a fierce intelligence and resilience…
Pudding&Mess Posts
Many years ago in Portland, Oregon, there was an uber cool, uber chic bar named the Brazen Bean. It was in the upper part of an old Victorian house and was one of the best places to go in town for an interesting cocktail. Over time I tried many of them but I always seemed to be lured back to the Brazen Martini. So simple and chic, it consists of 1 part vodka to one part Parfait Amour. Parfait Amour is a French liqueur with hints of orange and vanilla and can sometimes prove elusive to find. If you can’t…
By Its Cover is a series of posts wherein I read a book based solely on my love of the cover. No reading the jacket, no checking reviews! Ben Ziskind, former child prodigy, recently divorced and feeling very sorry for himself is at a cocktail party in a museum that his twin sister has all but dragged him to. When he spies a painting of an old man hovering above a city which he recognizes from the wall of his childhood home, he steals it. Just takes it off the wall and waltzes out the door with a million dollar Chagall.…
~The Night Manager Until watching this series I was pretty unfamiliar with Tom Hiddleston. While I knew of him, I certainly couldn’t remember actually watching him in anything. But this. This is an exotic, sexy stunner of a political thriller — and I must confess that I may have fallen just a teensy weensy bit in love with Tom’s mellifluous voice and mega watt smile. Hiddleston is Jonathon Pine, ex-soldier turned hotel night manager whom we first meet in Cairo. He is drawn into political drama by the beautiful, sensuous Sophie who asks him to photocopy a document detailing arms…
Consider this a PSA – do not fork over your hard earned cash to buy simple syrup. A recent Amazon search revealed a variety of bottles selling for anywhere between ten and twenty dollars. Some are artisanal and small batch and, I must admit, very nicely packaged. But the truth of the matter is that simple syrup takes minutes and pennies to make. Equal parts sugar and water heated gently in a pan until all the sugar has dissolved. That’s it. Done. Finito. Nothing could be simpler (pun intended). And once you’ve mastered the fine art of this tricky little recipe,…
By Its Cover is a series of posts wherein I read a book based solely on my love of the cover. No reading the jacket, no checking reviews! In May of 1952 Claire Pendleton arrives in Hong Kong with her husband of a few months. He is an engineer assigned to oversee the building of the Tai Lam Cheung reservoir. Claire doesn’t particularly love her husband. While acknowledging that he is a good man, she married him to escape a dull life. To fill her days, Claire becomes a piano teacher for Locket, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy Chinese couple, Victor…
Doctor Foster I had heard a great deal about Dr Foster being one of the best British TV shows of 2015. Now, usually when you hear so much about a British show it’s because it’s gritty and deep and plunges you into the depths of despair — because this is what good British TV is all about. So I was surprised to watch this and find it a little, well — soapy. Here’s the premise. Dr Gemma Foster is a successful GP with a handsome, property developer husband and a bright, charming son. Life is good and Gemma is happy. We…
I’m a huge fan of the flower still life paintings of the Dutch masters. Whilst my own world tends to be filled with muted tones and neutrals, I find the rich and vivid colours of those flowers set against a dark background, highlighting light and texture, to be just stunning. Hardly surprising then that this book cover would lure me in, not only for that gorgeous tulip but because the pages within seem to promise an historical setting. The title refers to an interesting in Holland’s economic history. Holland in the 1600s was experiencing a Golden Age. The creation of the…
For all those who love to cook, love to read and must surely then enjoy nothing more than curling up with a great cookbook that reads like a book, here are five of my favourites. The Cook And The Gardner Amanda Hesser This is such a charming read. Hesser writes about her time in France, cooking for Anne Willan, herself a well-known cookbook author, at Anne’s seventeenth century chateau in Burgundy. The gardener at the chateau, Monsieur Milbert, is something of a crotchety old bugger, but Ms. Hesser is determined to win him over and learn all she can about…
~Lillian Boxfish Takes A Walk Kathleen Rooney Lillian Boxfish, aged 85, walks to Grimaldi’s for her annual New Year’s Eve dinner. She stops in at a bar beforehand, having decided to walk to the restaurant in an attempt to work up an appetite after munching on one too many Oreos. After dinner she makes an impromptu decision to walk to another restaurant which she has not visited since her divorce, which inspires contemplation about the life she has lived. Lillian’s character is based upon a real person — Margaret Fishback — a celebrated and successful writer in the advertising department at…