Tag Archives: #summerreading

Savouring Summer with Food

2022, Food, Recipe Books, Summer, Summer reading, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

Beaches, swimming, holidays, reading and sun loungers. There are so many great things about Summer time and one of our favourites is the food that we get to enjoy. Summer time food is full of flavour, sharing and taking your time to enjoy meal with friends and family. We have found six tasty books that will help you inject a little extra into your Summer meals whether you choose to whip up a cheese platter, blend an icy cold drink, add a little spice to a dish, or take your time to marinate. 

Before you read on, please make sure you have eaten today because these books are sure to make you hungry just reading about them!

Summer: A Cookbook by Marnie  Hanel

Whether for cocktails and bites at the lake house or a come one, come all dinner with friends, Summer has more than 100 seasonally inspired recipes guided by the principle that summer cooking means keeping things loose (and the oven off when it’s just too hot out). Fuel up for a surf day with a basket of Fantastic Focaccia Sandwiches, host lunch on the deck with a Grilled Shrimp Louie salad, pass around the beach picnic fare (hello, Spicy Pineapple Spears and Landlubber’s Lobster Rolls). It’s a cookbook and so much more, with perfect party menus – how to choose between a Paella Party and Grilled Rib Revelry? – tiki cocktails, Five-Minute Frose, tips on building a beach fire pit. And to wrap it all up on the sweetest note, what could be better than Six Sensational Ice Cream Sandwiches?

Fabulous Food Boards by Anna Helm Baxter

Whether you want to make a weeknight meal more interesting or wow guests at your next get-together, Fabulous Food Boards! delivers with incredible presentation ideas that go beyond the classic charcuterie board. This over 200-page cookbook explores different themes and taste palettes on every spread. Food boards are amazingly versatile and are sure to have a little something for everyone at your table, even the most selective eaters. Through beautiful, full-colour photographs and step-by-step assembly instructions, you’ll be able to recreate the artful and unique arrangements of each food board.

Inspired Grazing by Laura Billington

Inspired Grazing is designed to spark creativity and excitement by encouraging personality and individuality in every platter. At its heart, this book aims to fuel a passion for grazing, whether you’re a kitchen connoisseur or a cheeseboard newbie. Over 75 recipes provide ideas for every occasion and take you on a tour of the seasons, alongside hints and tips on pairing flavours, building your own beautiful boards, and bringing that personal touch to all your creations. With stunning photography, the book is packed with grazing boards so beautifully crafted, they almost look too good to eat! It also includes recipes to suit little grazers, as well as extras such as Cheese Straws, Caramelised Onion Chutney, Cinnamon Candied Pecans, Chocolate Hazelnut Dip and much more.

Taco Loco by Jonas Cramby

This one is an oldie, but it is a goodie. In Taco Loco Jonas Cramby takes us  on a trip through one of the world’s most exciting street food cuisines, recreating all-time street-food favourites with delicious recipes that are bursting with authenticity. Crunch your way through the crispiest corn tostada, feast on a classic quesadilla, and then cool off with a thirst-quenching fruit agua fresca. Jonas will teach you all the tips and tricks to recreate these mouthwatering dishes at home, from the best recipes for antojitos (snacks), to dulces (sweets) and bebidas (drinks). Plus, you’ll discover how to make traditional sugar skulls to celebrate Día de los Muertos, the simplest way to to make the ultimate tortillas, and the trendiest tunes to ask a mariachi band to play! And, of course, you will learn how to make tacos. Lots of tacos. An incredible amount of tacos.

World of Flavour by Matt Preston

Matt Preston’s mantra is flavour. Tasty and easy-to-make food that puts a smile on your face is what he’s all about. In this colourful new cookbook, Matt brings together our favourite, flavour-filled dishes from all over the world – from carbonara and chicken korma to potsticker dumplings and Portuguese custard tarts – with the intriguing and myth-busting stories behind them. Some recipes are in their classic style, others have a special ‘Matt twist’, and all of them use easily found ingredients. With Matt Preston’s World of Flavour, you’ll not only have the ultimate delicious recipes to perfect and enjoy, but also their surprising histories and facts about them to share around the dinner table.

Rubs by John Whalen

Rubs is a game changer and a sure fire way to up your bbq game. This book will be your guide to season any dish to create your own signature concoction. 

There are over 175 recipes for rubs, marinades, glazes, and bastes along with instructions and explanations for the types of proteins on which each one works best. Rubs is a little handbook that is perfect for those who bbq, enjoy cooking in the great outdoors, along with recipes you can use in the kitchen. With this flavour-packed handbook at the ready, you won’t believe how good these easy-to-follow recipes will make your food taste.

Enjoy!

Winding down with Booko : great books to read on the beach this Summer

New authors, New Release, Recommended, Summer, Summer reading, Top Books, , , , , , , ,

Summer holidays are a time many of us look forward to. It’s that post-festive season quiet time where we find a quiet spot to sit on the beach, picnic rug or hammock and loose ourselves in a fabulous new book. We have scoured the internet and rustled up six great books that are sure to be popular this summer. Make sure you leave a comment below to let us know what you have been reading over the break. 

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be … dangerous. When Rose discovers that she cannot fall pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple. Fern’s mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of unexpected love.

Fancy Meeting You Here by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus

Evie Berry is a thirty-year-old wannabe screenwriter who spends her days managing a London cinema bar and making the podcast Pasta La Vista with her best friend Ben. She’s also obsessed with Hugo Hearst. Have you heard of him? Of course you have. He’s only one of the most influential and not to mention swoon-worthy bestselling writers of his generation. When Evie’s not hooking up with her on-again, off-again booty call ‘Ever-Ready Freddy’ (and sometimes even when she is), she fantasises about what might have been if she’d met Hugo years ago, when he was just a struggling writer. After Evie interviews a psychic to the stars on her podcast, her life is catapulted ten years into the past. But the grass isn’t quite as green as she remembers. Fancy Meeting You Here is a hilarious and heartwarming love story about reliving your early twenties and testing out that old saying: be careful what you wish for.

Two for Joy by Zoe Sugg and Amy McCulloch

Two for Joy is the chilling sequel to the #1 YA bestseller The Magpie Society  – One For Sorrow. Audrey and Ivy, determined to bring their fellow student Lola Radcliffe’s killer to justice, find themselves in the middle of another mystery when a friend disappears in suspicious circumstances. Their only clue is a mysterious card left by the enigmatic Magpie Society. With time running out and the police baffled, Audrey and Ivy must delve deeper than ever into the dark secrets that their school is hiding. But someone is playing a deadly game. And to beat them, Audrey and Ivy have to start rewriting the rules.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

When Jane, a broke dog-walker newly arrived in town, meets Eddie Rochester, she can’t believe her luck. Eddie is handsome, rich and lives alone in a beautiful mansion since the tragic death of his beloved wife a year ago.

A man who seems perfect, Eddie can give Jane everything she’s always wanted: stability, acceptance, and a picture-perfect life. But what Jane doesn’t know is that Eddie is keeping a secret, a big secret. And when the truth comes out, the consequences are far more deadly than anyone could ever have imagined.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardised when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.

Meanwhile in present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, running from her own demons. When she stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago, her life collides with the apothecary’s in a stunning twist of fate and not everyone will survive.

With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating debut novel of secrets, vengeance and the remarkable ways women can save each other despite the barrier of time.

Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz

This is not just another novel about a dead girl. When she arrived in New York on her 18th birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city’s latest Jane Doe, an unidentified murder victim. Ruby Jones is also trying to start over; she travelled halfway around the world only to find herself lonelier than ever. Until she finds Alice’s body by the Hudson River. From this first, devastating encounter, the two women form an unbreakable bond. Alice is sure that Ruby is the key to solving the mystery of her life and death. And Ruby, struggling to forget what she saw that morning, finds herself unable to let Alice go. Not until she is given the ending she deserves. Before You Knew My Name doesn’t ask whodunnit. Instead, this powerful, hopeful novel asks: Who was she? And what did she leave behind? 

Enjoy!