Weekend cooking: Roast chicken pie

Let me first explain the origin of this recipe: most times, I tend to pay the utmost attention to the quality of the food I eat and cook... Most times. There are times when I am just so famished/dead tired/with no time to waste/unwilling to cook that I ... hmm, will get the less than good quality, readily-available cooked meal in front me, just to satisfy my primal instinct of survival. That's how this recipe happened. I looked at the roasted chicken in front of me at the supermarket, bought it and went home. I had my portion which, of couse, I drowned in all sorts of condiments and I was satisfied. 

The Classics Club: Lady Susan

(some spoilers included)

One of the earlier works by Jane Austen, Lady Susan is a novel that really changed my opinion of its author.  While I would regard Austen as a romantic writer in general (I am more into the misery of the Brontës' style of writing), I found Lady Susan really showcases Austen's sarcastic and sometimes mean description of the noble class. It is a treat for anyone enjoying the witty world of the "comme il faut" society and all the true work that goes on behind the scenes...

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme created by Marcia at Mailbox Monday and is being hosted all this month by Marie of Burton Book Review.

I'm participating in the Japanese Literature challenge 6, hosted by Dolce Bellezza - and I'm very excited for this nice pile of books (of course I will be reading in English, even though I would have preferred to read the original...):

Weekend cooking: Baked fish sticks

Like many children, one of my favourite moments in my mother's kitchen when growing up were the (ready-purchased, frozen) fish sticks.  A novelty at the time, it entailed all things good and healthy and tasty in my mind. The fact that they were deep-fried only served as the added bonus for being a good child...

Fast forward to present day, when I realise that I haven't had fish sticks for some decades, because: a. I'm not thrilled by deep-frying anything, b.  when frozen meat/fish is already covered in "breadcrumbs", I cannot see what the original looks like, and I do want to see the quality... c.  the end result more often than not has deceived me in the taste department.

Enter my friend Jessi (check out her great blog!), who - being the investigative mind - has looked around and come up with a great recipe for home-made baked fish sticks.  What a great invention!  I copied her recipe, made some changes (of course...) and I am thrilled to say I am happy again, like a child, to taste the fish sticks from so long ago...

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener

(photo credit)

I was recently going through a phase where there was too much of everything... So, when Katrina reviewed an Agatha Raisin book by M.C. Beaton saying that it was "a good book for a bad day", I knew I wanted to try as well - I started with Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (plus, it fits nicely in my Century collection...)

The first thing that came to my mind, of course, was the name of the heroine - Agatha.  I personally only know one other famous Agatha, Christie, and I was wondering how and if the two had any connection.  Well, in Beaton's biography, I read that she's considered the "new Queen" of crime (aha!) and, already in the first pages of the book, this is what I read when a new village neighbour greets Agatha:

The Classics Club: Bleak House

On the occasion of the bicentenary of Charles Dickens' birth, I read one of his epic novels, Bleak House.  In it, we follow Esther leaving her childhood home to go live with her guardian Mr. Jarndyce, as well as two other children, Richard and Ava, in Bleak House. Without further ado, we are introduced to the chaotic life of Mr. Jarndyce and of the infamous Jarndyce & Jarndyce court case, which has and is still destroying all the people in its proximity.

Bleak House starts in great writing style.  Dickens takes every pain to carefully describe the person, the case, the situation - even the helplessness surrounding the Jarndyce case... At times, he may give the impression of exaggerating, but I felt that all words had a distinct purpose.