Robbie Cheadle's Blog, page 35

Growing Bookworms – Meet children’s fiction and adult fiction and non-fiction author, Toni Pike and a review #growingbookworms #childrensfiction #bookreview

My June Growing Bookworms children’s book author is the talented Toni Pike. Toni has some very engaging children’s books and also some terrific thrillers and non-fiction books for adults. Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

Writing to be Read

Today, I am delighted to introduce children’s and adult fiction author, Toni Pike. Toni is a prolific writer with at least two non-fiction books, six adult thrillers, one women’s fiction, and two children’s books, all available from Amazon. Today, we are focusing the discussion on Toni’s two children’s books in the Brody Cody series. I’ve read both and they are wonderful for middle school children.

I love your books about Brody Cody as they are filled with excellent, age-appropriate humour without resulting in facetious child characters which is a pitfall with many modern children’s books. Is there any particular children’s book author whom you admire and consider to be a role model for your writing?

Thank you so much for your lovely comments, Robbie – I’m delighted that you liked my characters. That means so much to me, coming from such a wonderful writer.

Roald Dahl is my favourite children’s…

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Moroccan roasted chicken

The original inspiration for this recipe was from the Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean which I was introduced to through Bernadette from New Classic Recipe.

In accordance with Michael’s new low sodium diet, I was light with the salt. Nevertheless, this was a very tasty dish and the whole family enjoyed it. Even Dad, who is very miserable about the new menu which excludes roast potatoes drowned in vegetable spice and salty French fries.

Ingredients

150 ml olive oil

15 ml garlic flakes

30 ml cumin seeds

30ml ground paprika

2 1/2 ml cayenne pepper

White pepper and salt to taste

10 ml brown sugar

10 ml lemon juice

30 ml dried parsley

45 ml chopped origanum

16 chicken thighs with skin

Method

Cover baking trays with silver foil. Slice two deep cuts into the skin side of the chicken thighs. Sprinkle chicken with salt.

In a small pot, heat the olive oil (I used stovetop plate setting 3 of 6). Add the garlic flakes and cumin seeds, allow to sizzle for a minute. Add the paprika, cayenne pepper and white pepper, cook for 30 seconds then remove from heat. While the oil mixture cools slightly, in a separate cup mix the parsley, origanum, sugar and olive oil. Add to the oil mixture. It will be thick. Spoon the mixture over the chicken pieces and into the cuts.

Heat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Cook for 50 to 60 minutes.

Serve on a bed of rice.

6 – 9

Thank you to Freya Pickard from Pure Haiku for selecting my haiku for publication.

purehaiku

Fragrance seeking beesEfficiently pollinateBut don't make honey!© Robbie Cheadle 2023I write poetry to capture vivid and turbulent emotions and thoughts at a point in time.Robbie's haiku were shortlisted for this themeThis haiku is part of our ORCHID series.

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Robbie’s Inspiration – A spectrum of colours #TankaTuesday and a fondant tree #CFFC

Colleen’s poetry challenge this week is colours. You can join in here: https://wordcraftpoetry.com/2023/06/06/tankatuesday-weekly-poetry-challenge-no-323-6-6-2023/

Instructions:From the chart: choose a color and use the color in your syllabic poem.Also: Choose ONE word from the descriptions under the color you chose, and add it to your syllabic poem.Remember, if you write a freestyle poem, please include a syllabic form along with it.

I got a bit carried away this week and wrote one shadorma poem for each colour.

Backwards thinker (Yellow)

I focus

Yellow light expands

Clarifies

New ideas

Answers soon manifest as

Completed puzzles

Cloudy outcome (Gold)

Golden sun

Provides energy

Solar Power

Sounds perfect

Cloudy weather renders it

Unreliable

Needful adaption (Black)

Denial

Inevitable

Black thoughts come

Unbidden

Mind embraces acceptance

For self protection

Don’t wait (Purple)

Swollen eyes

Sporting dark bruises

Purplish

Fear tattoos

Follow your intuition

Before it’s too late

White disturbance (White)

Bright white light

Kills serenity

Reminder

Of anguish

Time spent in hospital rooms

Hoping for the best

Choices (Pink)

Anger brands

Pale cheeks a bright pink

Forgiveness

Is needed

To restore internal peace

A difficult choice

Seeking joy (Peach)

Juicy peach

Bursting with flavour

So tempting

Refreshing

Simple pleasures bring much joy

Transform attitudes

The student (Red)

Red blood pumps

Burning with passion

Misguided

Ill-fated

Destined to end in anguish

Life’s steep learning curve

The lie (Green)

Our planet

From space; green and blue

Wounds hidden

Smog disbursed

No healing necessary

The distorted truth

I don’t want it (Magenta)

Take it back

I hate magenta

Not purple

Not crimson

Confused colour in between

Take it back, I say

Lacking purpose (Grey)

Cloud cover

White tinged with light grey

Impassive

Nonchalant

Neutrality its purpose

No rainfall, no sun

The Balance (Blue)

Sky and sea

Dark blue meets light blue

Dramatic

Powerful

Nature’s great balancing act

Of air and water

Mislead

Those who seek

Sophistication

Purchase teal

Do they know

The namesake of the colour?

A small, dappling duck

By Robbie Cheadle

Fondant tree and Fruitdrop fairies from Sir chocolate and the sugar dough bees story and cookbook for Cee’s Weathered Wood challenge here: https://ceenphotography.com/2023/06/06/cffc-weathered-wood/

A Five-Star Review – for Lion Scream: Syllabic Poetry About Southern African Wildlife by Robbie Cheadle

Thank you to fabulous author, Toni Pike, for this wonderful review of Lion Scream. I am thankful and delighted to read positive reviews of this book which means so much to me.

Toni Pike

I’m delighted to share my latest review, for Robbie Cheadle’s brilliant new book: Lion Scream: Syllabic Poetry About Southern African Wildlife. Robbie was inspired to write this book by her extensive travels to African game reserves and the understanding that gave her about the sixth mass extinction. Needless to say, this book is very moving, informative and impactful.

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Robbie’s Inspiration – fish stew with green olives and capers

It was a busy weekend filled with cooking, baking, and art. I am busy with a series of 6 drawings using watercolor pencils for a project and they are great fun to create.

Terence is still away in Turkey so I had all my time to myself but no sous chef. I got a lot done in the kitchen, all on my own. Somehow, when I cook or bake alone, there is a lot less washing up – smile.

This recipe is one I developed after looking at about 10 low sodium variations of fish stew. Capers and olives both contain high levels of salt but I used fairly small quantities and no other salt so they are my compromise.

Ingredients

140 grams chopped red onion

Olive oil for cooking

7,5 ml garlic flakes

1.25 ml turmeric

2.5 ml smoked paprika

Milk for cooking

350 grams baby marrows, chopped

250 ml white wine

400 gram can of diced tomatoes

15 ml dried parsley

7,5 ml dried thyme

79 grams drained green olives, pitted and halved

6 large caper berries, chopped

5 ml fennel seeds

Zest and juice of 1 medium lemon

Method

Place 600 grams of a white fish (I used hake) and 400 grams of Norwegian salmon in a large frying pan and cover with milk. Skin should be upwards. Bring the milk to the boil and turn down to a simmer. Cook for approximately 8 minutes.

In a pot on the stove, brown the red onions in the olive oil. Add the smoked paprika, turmeric, garlic flakes and fennel seeds. Cook for a few minutes. Add the baby marrow and the white wine. Allow the wine to reduce about 5 minutes.

add the dice tomatoes, thyme, green olives and capers and cook for 20 minutes.

Remove cooked fish from the pan and remove the skin. Discard skin and milk. Using an egg lifter, break the fish into large chunks.

Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley. Stir in cooked fish and serve with rice.

Art: Y. González n Botero + Extinction: Robbie Cheadle + Podcast

Thank you to podcaster, blogger and writer, da-AL, for sharing my post about wildlife conservation and whether zoos and wildlife sanctuaries play a role in this vital undertaking.

Happiness Between Tails by da-AL

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6DJPGN1Qog58xE1P4htqtt?si=cbd905c15fe14714Click podcast player above or link below to hear today’s audio version of Happiness Between Tails.

Click here for the Spotify for Podcasters Happiness Between Tails page, where you’ll find links to subscribe, hear, and share it via most any platform, from Spotify and Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts and Breaker, to Pocket Casts and RadioPublic and Castbox and Stitcher, plus many more and an RSS feed. The full list of 50+ places is here.

Writers, including novelists (about my books here), need food for the soul. Long Beach’s Museum of Latin American Art is small and modest, yet it always inspires me…

Yolanda González gave a wonderful talk for their current exhibition of her art. Chicana by birth, she mines the world for insights into her multi-disciplinary work. She spoke of how, in addition to the Chicano/a/x movement, the German Expressionism has influenced her from…

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Robbie’s Inspiration – low GI, low sodium health muffins

Michael had another high blood pressure interlude. This time was worse as the blood pressure readings were higher. After three days in hospital having lots of tests the cause has been determined as years and years of treatment with high doses of cortisone. He is on blood pressure pills and a new low GI and low sodium diet. This means we are all on this diet which can’t hurt I suppose.

This is a healthy muffin recipe that I developed from a few recipes and which is very nice.

Ingredients

2 eggs, lightly beaten

160 ml plain low fat yogurt

150 grams grated carrot

50 ml sunflower oil

2 small bananas, mashed

60 ml (1/4 cup) honey

5 ml vanilla essence

200 grams high fiber wheat flour

125 ml (1/2 cup) rolled oats

7.5 ml baking powder

7.5 ml bicarbonate of soda

10 ml connamon

15 ml pumpkin seeds

15 ml sunflower seeds

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Measure the oats, flour, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and baking powder into a bowl. Add the grated apple, beaten egg, yogurt, sunflower oil, and honey. Combine. Add the vanilla essence and banana and combine.

Spoon the mixture into cupcake or muffin holders and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Lion Scream by Robbie Cheadle

Thank you to Thomas from Leonbergerlife blog for this wonderful review of Lion Scream. Thomas has a lovely blog with lots of interesting information about these amazing dogs. He also shares book reviews from time to time.

Leonberger Life

This is a Leonberger blog but sometimes I post about books that I want to promote. This post is a review and a promotion of a very good wildlife and poetry book called Lion Scream: Syllabic Poetry About Southern African Wildlife Paperback – February 8, 2023 by Robbie Cheadle.

Front cover of the Lion Scream by Robbie Cheadle. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback.

The paperback version of the Lion Scream, which is what I bought, is 163 pages, ISBN 979-8376647318, item weight 10.7 ounces, dimensions 6 x 0.39 x 9 inches. You can buy Lion Scream from Amazon, as a paperback or e-Book. The paperback version is currently $20.50 on Amazon. The Kindle version is $4.59 or free if you are part of Kindle Unlimited.

Below is my Amazon review of Lion Scream. Click here to visit the Amazon review.

Wildlife…

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Robbie’s Inspiration – Book review: Coming Home by Smitha Vishwanath

What Amazon says

Twenty-six-year-old, Shanaya, finds her idea of home and family ripped apart when she loses her mother. Her effort to drown herself in her job proves to be financially rewarding and her work is recognized by the organisation. But, even this is not enough to fill the vacuum in her heart or answer the questions, her mother’s sudden death had given rise to. In her quest for peace and the need to hold her family together, she leaves her job in the Middle East and moves to India. The story finds Shanaya journeying across geographical planes and inner landscapes to finally reach ‘home’. Coming Home is a heartwarming story about self-discovery, relationships, loss, love, destiny, the choices we make, and how these choices eventually lead to what we are destined for.

My review

Coming Home is a delightful romance set mainly in India. Shanaya is shocked by the untimely death of her mother from cancer. She has been living on her own in her parents apartment in Dubai while her mother undergoes treatment in India under the watchful care of her father. Shanaya is devastated when her mother dies unexpectedly before she can travel from Dubai to India. The loss of her mother hits Shanaya hard and she finds it difficult to set her grief aside and become immersed in her job and life in Dubai, especially as her sister has gone away to college and her father has elected to remain in India. Shanaya decides to make some big changes and leave her safe job, returning to India to care for her father.

Naturally, nothing in life is ever as expected and Shanaya is in for a few shocks when her father decides to make some changes to his own life. Before her death, Shanaya’s mother had been encouraging her to settled own and marry a young and successful doctor. The marriage would be an arranged marriage as the couple had not met. Shanaya does not view this as an impediment to marriage as her own parents had married by arrangement and their marriage had been happy and fulfilling. Shanaya has it in her mind that she will meet the doctor and fulfil her mother’s wishes with regards to her marriage. Once again, life happens while she makes plans and things don’t turn out quite as expected.

The romance storyline is pleasant and enjoyable, but it is the insights into Indian culture and lifestyle that made this book particularly interesting to me. I know about arranged marriages, but I did not know how they came about or how modern couples felt about it. There were lots of opportunities for the author to share information about life in India and I enjoyed learning about death and burial rites and traditions, engagement clothing and celebrations, as well as a restorative visit to a remote wellness clinic where Shanaya learns yoga, meditation, and other useful tools for a healthy life. Many aspects of life in India are fairly different from my own lifestyle and I found this information very engaging.

The author is also clearly knowledgeable about banking and wrote with insight about Shanaya’s banking career. This was pleasing as the details about Shanaya and her colleagues jobs rang true and added to the overall storyline.

Coming Home is a story about coming to terms with loss and change and learning to cope and move on. It is also cautionary about making rash and hasty decisions and promotes taking life at a slower pace and following your instincts.

Coming Home is an enjoyable and entertaining read that all lovers of romance will enjoy.

Purchase links

For the Kindle and paperback edition of the book, please click here. The book is available in most countries.

You can get your copy of the paperback edition in India by clicking here.

You can find poems, book reviews, and other posts by Smitha Vishwanath on her blog here: https://smithavpennings.com/blog/