Robbie Cheadle's Blog, page 14

Robbie’s Inspiration – Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon, 2024 and a recipe #2024HoHoHoRAT #recipe #bookreviews

Carla from Carla Loves to Read blog is a Christmas Elf in the #2024HoHoHoRAT. You can read Carla’s post here: https://carlalovestoread.wordpress.com/2024/11/19/ho-ho-ho-readathon-2024hohohorat/

From November 21st through December 2nd, you are invited to enjoy as many holiday & winter books or listens as you can. Along the way, take part in the challenges, meet new friends and have fun! Be sure to use the hashtag #2024HoHoHoRAT so participants can cheer you on!

Make sure you pop over the Kimberly’s post to find out about the various challenges and activities you can participate in to win a prize. Just sign up at the linky and your will eligible to enter the giveaways. I am an elf again this year, so I hope to see lots of you enter my giveaway.

I have three reviews to share with you today. One is a new review and the other two are re-shares of delightful Christmas books I read previously and often re-read.

Hullaba Christmas: Lulu and the Snatched Santa by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

Hullaba Christmas is a entertaining and whimsical Christmas story full of this author’s wildly imaginative characters, some of which are human, and some of which are not. Lulu is tired of the desert and travels home to Grandfather’s speakeasy for the Christmas season. No sooner has Lulu started to settle in with a few Angel-bot friends and some giggle-water, than an automated reindeer-bot turns up with the astonishing news that Santa has been kidnapped. Lulu is the person who needs to help save Christmas, despite the despicable behaviour of the kidnappers who are determined to ruin Christmas, so that all the children of the world become selfish and self centred as a result of their disappointment.

Lulu is the same clumsy, independent woman of the world she has always been, and she agrees to take up the challenge of trying to save Christmas and deliver all the presents in a single night. Of course, she won’t be able to heed Santa’s requirement that once Christmas is saved, she stay out of the situation. Lulu couldn’t possibly do that and neither could her friends. They will have to travel to Santa’s home and try to save Santa too.

An enchanting and fast paced Christmas story that will fill any reader with delight and the Christmas spirit.

Purchase Hullaba Christmas: Lulu and the Snatched Santa from Amazon USA here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D33MN3NJ

Pass the Turkey: The Small Dog’s Christmas by Sue Vincent

Every Christmas Time, I share a review of one of Sue Vincent’s marvelous books. I still miss Sue and her wonderful posts very much.

My review

Pass the Turkey: The Small Dog’s Christmas is a delightful book full of Christmas cheer. Ani, the small dog, is reflecting on Christmas’ past, present and future through a combination of letters to Santa and poems. The perplexities of ‘fake’ Santas, the ‘theft’ of a favourite sofa, and gifts of tennis balls and a chicken flavoured biscuit, all require Ani’s consideration. Her naughty secrets are also revealed such as the time she ate all the left over turkey and salmon and fell through the ice in the pond [it was shallow]. The indignities of baths and having to wear reindeer antlers are also shared.

Join Ani and her two legs, Sue Vincent, for a glorious romp through advent and Christmas Day.

A few of my favourite verses:
“I’ve tried to help with household chores,
I’ve laundered all my balls,
I’ve chased the pigeons form the shed
And spiders from the walls.” from Request

“She’s like a puppy when it snows
We just go out to play…
And if she wraps up warm enough
We might stay out all day.” from Wishing for the White Stuff

“The windows are all closed at night
The keyhole seems to small
To wriggle through with turkey
And a brand new tennis ball.” from Chimneys.

Purchase Pass the Turkey: The Small Dog’s Christmas from Amazon USA here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1910478237

A Homemake Christmas by Carol Ann Taylor

A Homemade Christmas is a delightful collection of recipes from an excellent cook and baker. This book is a treasure trove of delicious traditional recipes from the supporting dishes like garlic buttered peas, cranberry sauce, three kinds of gravy, and sage and onion stuffing, to the main event which could be turkey, ham or roast pork. For the more adventurous, there are a few recipes with an Asian flair to spice things up such as beef brisket with an Asian twist and Thai fried peanuts with basil leaves.

Well known Christmas snacks including pigs in blankets, sweet mincemeat, and sausage rolls make an appearance, together with recipes for traditional Christmas cake and homemade marzipan, Christmas pudding and fruit salad, for those watching their calory count.

My two favourite sections of this book are the sections relating to the use of Christmas leftovers. I love that as leftovers are always a ‘problem’ after a large and overdone meal. I had a laugh while reading about using leftovers for stuffed flat breads and bubble and squeak. It reminded me of Geoffrey and Una Alconbury’s New Year’s Day Turkey Curry Buffet which used up the Christmas leftovers (If you don’t know, this reference is from Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding – the book!).

Lastly, there is a wonderful section on Edible Gifts. I am a big fan of edible Christmas gifts so this section is very welcome.

After reading this book, I have made some changes to my proposed Christmas menu and am looking forward to trying out a few of these recipes. I follow Ms. Taylor’s blog so I know the recipes will all work well and there is no risk of recipe failure.

Purchase A Homemade Christmas by Carol Ann Taylor from Amazon USA here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CP7LD6H4

HoHoHoRAT Mini Challenge – share a recipe

Carla is also hosting a mini challenge as follows:

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Well not yet, but it will be here soon enough. Welcome to my Ho Ho Ho mini-challenge. Who doesn’t trying new food during the holiday season. Whether it’s a drink, an appetizer, cookies or a side dish, we all have our favourites. I am always looking for new recipes to try, so that’s what’s behind my challenge.

You can join in here: https://carlalovestoread.wordpress.com/2024/11/19/hohohorat-mini-challenge-share-a-holiday-recipe

A little bit of Christmas Shortbread

Picture caption: rectangles of delicious lemon shortbread sprinkled with icing sugar

Picture caption: rectangles of orange and chocolate shortbread

My mother is a big fan of shortbread and always asks me to make it for Christmas. I use my basis shortbread recipe and add different additional ingredients to create different taste experiences while keeping the basis shortbread texture. Shortbreads lasts for longer than most other biscuits which makes it a great treat for mom who likes to eke out her biscuits for a few weeks of teatime treats.

In December 2022, I decided to make shortbread as my Christmas treat for my work colleagues. I made two different batches: orange and chocolate short bread and lemon shortbread. Both variants were delicious and were received with great enthusiasm.

The ingredients for these two types of shortbread are a bit different but the method is the same so I’m only including it once.

RecipeIngredients for orange and chocolate shortbread

575 grams plain white cake flour

220 ml castor (superfine or baker’s) sugar

360 ml corn flour

1 kg melted butter

50 grams orange zest

250 grams 70% cocoa chocolate drops

Ingredients for lemon shortbread

600 grams plain white cake flour

Zest of two large lemons

220 ml castor (superfine or baker’s) sugar

360 ml corn flour

1 kg melted butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Combine the cake flour, corn flour, castor sugar, and lemon zest or orange zest and chocolate drops in a bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave and allow to cool. Pour the molten butter into a well in the dry ingredients and mix using your hands, until a soft dough forms.

Transfer the dough to a prepared shortbread or other baking tin with sides. Using your hands press it into the tin until it is evenly layered. Using a fork, prick the shortbread in rows down the length of the dough. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown on top. Allow to cool slightly, sprinkle with icing sugar (lemon shortbread) and cut into 30 squares using a sharp knife.

Just a reminder that Michael and I have a Christmas Sir Chocolate book which includes two recipes and two Christmas activities that parents can do with children.

This is the book trailer:

You can purchase Sir Chocolate and the Missing Christmas Harp here: https://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Missing-Christmas-holidays-books-ebook/product-reviews/B0BNHX8XGC

Robbie’s Inspiration – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland edited and annotated by Frank Prem #childrensfiction

Frank Prem is a wonderful poet and has a large array of beautiful poetry books. He also has some delightful children’s books, all of which I’ve read and reviewed. Most recently, Frank has been dabbling with creating new editions of well know classics, one of which is Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. Frank has managed to create a delightful version of this classic story using many of the original pictures.

I am a huge Alice fan and so when I saw Frank was creating a unique version of this book, I immediately knew I wanted it. My lovely new Alice arrived a few weeks ago and has now joined its eight other Alice friends on my children’s classic books shelf.

This is what Amazon says about the book:

Wild Arancini Classics invite you to tumble down the rabbit hole again, with Alice and the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter and the Dormouse in a new edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, featuring twenty coloured illustrations by John Tenniel.

All your favourites from Wonderland brought together in a new edition of this timeless classic.

When this wonderful story demands of you READ ME!, you know something interesting is going to happen!

These are some photographs I took of the cover, illustrations and formatting of the book.

Picture caption: Book cover of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland featuring my favourite picture of Alice with the caterpillar smoking a hookahPicture caption: Illustration of Father William and his son – this is a favourite poem of mine

This is my reading of Father William:

Picture caption: Alice with the Duchess and the baby

Picture caption: An example of the layout in the book. I remember this layout from the original book.

You can purchase Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland edited by Frank Prem here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1923166018/

You can find all of Frank Prem’s books on his website here: https://frankprem.com/

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog: I do not cry on Chewers by Masticadores #poetry

Thank you to editor, Nolcha Fox, for publishing my poem, I do not cry, on Chewers by Masticadores.

“I do not cry” by Robbie Cheadle

Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon #2024HoHoHoRAT

Picture caption: Banner for the Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon

Thank you to Carla from Carla Loves to Read blog for introducing me to this Readathon. I rarely read seasonable books but seeing as I had a few on my TBR, I decided there was no time like the present to read and review them.

This is the information:

Grab Your Winter & Holiday Reads…

From November 21st through December 2nd, you are invited to enjoy as many holiday & winter books or listens as you can. Along the way, take part in the challenges, meet new friends and have fun! Be sure to use the hashtag #2024HoHoHoRAT so participants can cheer you on!

Make sure you pop over the Kimberly’s post to find out about the various challenges and activities you can participate in to win a prize. Just sign up at the linky and your will eligible to enter the giveaways. I am an elf again this year, so I hope to see lots of you enter my giveaway.

Carla is also an elf and you can find her Elf post here: https://carlalovestoread.wordpress.com/2024/11/19/hohohorat-mini-challenge-share-a-holiday-recipe

I am going to share a recipe from Michael and my Christmas Sir Chocolate book – Yay!

Today, I am sharing two of my four Christmas reads for this readathon.

Miracles and Ghosts: A Christmas Collection by D.L. FinnPicture caption: Cover of Miracles and Ghosts featuring presents under a Christmas treeWhat Amazon says

Miracles and Ghosts: A Christmas Collection’s eight tales bring light in the darkest of circumstances. In the novelette, A Perfect Ghostly Christmas, Julie has survived the foster care system and finally comes home. She now owns her grandparents’ house and has received an offer that appears too good to be true. On top of that, the family she felt had abandoned her during her difficult times has reentered her life. But it’s the otherworldly experiences that lead her to something her grandparents left behind. This discovery changes everything and opens a door to danger. The seven short stories explore fractured families, a widower’s loneliness, a mall shooting, financial struggles, strained relationships, woodland kittens, and a woman haunted by a red truck. Whether it’s a ghost, an angel, or Santa, some unseen force is there to provide help when needed. A reminder in the busy holiday season or anytime we are never alone, and miracles are possible.

My review

Miracles and Ghosts is a delightfully uplifting Christmas read comprising of a novella and seven short stories.

I loved the novella. It was long enough for me to become very fond of the main character, Julie, who had lost her family effectively three times. The last time was particularly bitter due to the conniving of the ruthless and greedy people involved and their deliberate and planned destructive actions. I appreciate how the author draws clear parallels between her ‘good’ characters and her ‘evil’ characters and I think it works especially well for a Christmas collection. I also liked how the ghostly presences in the book are all positive forces and extensions of the love the deceased people had for their surviving relatives. It is wonderful to think that our loved ones look after us from beyond the veil, especially at Christmas when we miss them the most. This story takes the well worn path of a sad and destroyed life back to a fulfilled and happy life, but brings lots of beautiful scenes and delightful characters to the party to make it unique and enjoyable. A beautiful story.

The short stories are all delightful with meaningful, if not always traditionally happy, endings. I loved A Man and His Cat and enjoyed how the sad thread running through the story worked out well at the end. It was uplifting and satisfying.

The Red Truck took me a while to get my head around and it takes an unusual writing format. Once I understood how the story telling worked, I thought it was a brilliant concept and I enjoyed the story very much.

This is a lovely collection and would make a wonderful addition to any reader’s Christmas reading list.

Amazon US purchase link for Miracles and Ghosts: A Christmas Collection: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DDWFNR1D

Book of Angels by Judy MastrangeloPicture caption: cover of Book of Angels featuring one of the authors amazing child angels. What Amazon says

Learn all about angels with this great new children’s book from noted painter Judy Mastrangelo! “Book of Angels” is a beautifully creative, traditional children’s book filled with illustrations your children will love. Who doesn’t love angels? Read along and learn with your children as you delve into a magical fairytale world of make believe and wonder!

My review

This book comprises a delightful collection of poems about angels illustrated with Judy Mastrangelo’s amazing illustrations.

The illustrations are gorgeous, vivid and colourful, and will capture any child’s imagination. The messaging is positive and uplifting.

Adults can also enjoy this beautiful book. My favourite poem in the collection is called The Little Angel and this is the extract:

“This Little Angel represents the Child in all of us.
All we have to do is reach inside our Souls,
and therein dwells
our Youth, Dreams and Aspirations.
If you keep in touch with your “Child Angel”,
you have a Key to Eternal Happiness.”

This book would make an extraordinary addition to any child’s Christmas stocking.

Purchase Book of Angels from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PMBII7E

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog: Guest post about Why Elephants Matter?

Thank you to talented and prolific children’s book author, Darlene Foster, for sharing this post about Why Elephants Matter as part of my Sesi says goodbye to Granny book blog tour.

Darlene has a delightful blog where she shares lots of interesting information about her own travels and doings. She also shares news about her wonderful children’s book series starring Amanda’s, who travels to different cities and countries and always finds an adventure waiting for her.

Let’s Talk About Elephants – Why Elephants Matter?

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog: Meet poet Maggie Watson and a review of Pieces of Me, A collection of poems

Thank you to talented poet, Maggie Watson, for being my Treasuring Poetry guest today. Maggie writes deep and emotional poetry and I have included my review of her latest book, Pieces of Me, A collection of poems.

Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

Treasuring Poetry – Meet poet Maggie Watson and a review of Pieces of Me, A collection of poems #TreasuringPoetry #poetrycommunity #bookreview

Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday, W3 and Sunday Stills #poetry #photography

W3 #133

Carol Anne’s prompt is as follows:

Form: Write either 1) a haiku, 2) a tanka, or 3) a senryu;*Click* here to learn about haiku;*Click* here to learn about senryu;*Click* here to learn about tanka;Must include: the word “strength”

You can join in here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2024/11/13/w3-prompt-133-weave-written-weekly/

I wrote a tanka of a slightly different type.

The Advertisement

Required: Mental Strength

Determination a plus

Role: New parenting

Pay: Unconditional love

Perk: It can be done in pairs

Tanka Tuesday

Willow’s prompt is as follows:

Chose a piece of music.The music can have lyrics or not as you choose.The music can be of any genre.Then write a syllabic poem about how the music either makes you feel or what it suggests to you.

You can join in here:

#TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge, Music Inspires, 12 November, 2024

I have written an etheree, and yes, Michael’s music is discordant to me and literally hurts my ears in comparison to the soft and expressive music I like.

Opposites don’t attract

Soft

Music

Uplifting

Noninvasive

Promotes concentration

Opposite to pulsing beats

Loved by hormonal teenagers

Who release emotion through moving

To discordant, jarring cacophonies

This is the song I chose as the inspiration for my poem:

Sunday Stills

Terri’s Sunday Still’s challenge colours are brown and auburn. I’m sharing a few animal pictures for you to enjoy.

Picture caption: A warthog on the run. They are always on the run.Picture caption: A lucky shot of a tree squirrel in the bushPicture caption: Two young warthog also know as bush snacks or pigs in blankets for lions – hehe!Picture caption: African painted wild dogPicture caption: African Cape Buffalo

You can join in Sunday Stills here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2024/11/17/sunday-stills-monthly-color-challenge-the-earth-laughs-in-brown-and-auburn/

Robbie’s Inspiration – Jose Pizarro “Basque” cookbook review and a recipe #cooking

Jo from https://brookfordkitchendiaries.wordpress.com/2024/10/27/bkd-cookbook-club/ has taken over the cookbook club and today I am sharing my first cookbook review for this new season. The book selected by the group is Jose Pizarro “Basque”.

Picture caption for the cover of Jose Pizarro “Basque”My thoughts on the book

This is not a book I would ordinarily have picked up as it uses a lot of ingredients that I would not usually buy and that are not readily available at the stores where I shop, for example duck, pork trotters, partridge, rabbit, and quail. For this same reason, I struggled to find a recipe that my family would enjoy and for which I could get the ingredients.

The only suitable recipe was for Sukalki – A typical beef ragu. This recipe was similar to Hungarian goulash and is adjusted for the ingredients I could purchase locally.

Ingredients

1,5 kg beef short rib and beef blade (I couldn’t get beef shin per the original recipe) seasoned with black pepper and salt to taste

2 medium onions, diced

3 medium carrots, chopped

150 ml good quality brandy

30 ml paprika

2 large pepperoni peppers, diced

750 ml beef stock

1 kg peeled and chopped medium potatoes (I cut into quarters)

200 g fresh shelled peas

Method

Brown the beef short ribs and beef blade in a little olive oil and remove from pot. Add the onion, carrot, and peppers and cook until the onion is transparent. Add the brandy and allow the alcohol to burn off. Add back the meat and the paprika. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Turn down and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the potatoes and simmer for a further 60 minutes.

Serve with rice.

My family enjoyed this meal and said it was tasty.

You can find the recipes from other participants here: https://brookfordkitchendiaries.wordpress.com/2024/11/15/basque-by-jose-pizarro/

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog: Guest post about African Elephants and climate change

I am visiting terrific Australian blogger, AC Flory, today with a post about Elephants and Climate Change. If you don’t know Meeka’s Mind blog do take a look around. AC Flory shares fascinating videos, many of which she creates, and all sorts of interesting point of view posts. She also has some great books which you’ll find in the side bar.

African Elephants, by Robbie Cheadle

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog: Read and Cook with Robbie Cheadle

Today’s post is a celebration of America’s entrance into WW2 and a tribute to all the lives that were lost in the Pacific. I have reviewed To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor and shared a recipe for American crabcakes.

Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

Read and Cook with Robbie Cheadle – To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor and American Crabcakes #bookreview #cooking #crabcakes