john le carre
Are you a Le Carre fan? I think we’ve read every book he’s written and watched every film based on those books. His newest and final book Silverview was well received, too. Years ago we were in a bookshop in St Ives when the owner began chatting to us. Imagine our surprise when we finally realised it was le Carre himself!
Of course, Silverview is a spy story based on retired spies who were active during the Bosnian War in the former Yugoslavia. It involves Julian who has retired from his high flying broking job in London and moved to a small British seaside town and opened a bookshop. He is befriended by Edward, a Polish émigré who lived in ‘the big house’ at the edge of the town.
Their lives become entangled, first by Edward persuading Julian to take a message for him to a mysterious lady in London and then Julian becomes friendly with Edward’s daughter who has returned to the family house to help nurse her mother, another spy from the same era.
This clever story is about spies, the secrets they kept, sometimes from each other and the impact on families. The last great read from Le Carre who died in 2020.
with my little eye
Written by Sandra Hogan this is the incredible true story of a family of spies in the suburbs. Set in Brisbane in the 1950s during the Cold War the story describes how the whole family worked for ASIO. ( Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation) The three children were taught to recall car number plates, the colour and number of cars parked in streets or driveways, to wait patiently while their father ‘did business’ sometimes for hours and to never draw attention to themselves.
There was a beach holiday with Vladimir and Evdokia Petrov, Soviet defectors, who were hiding with the family. The father’s relationship with Abe Saffron, a property developer and major figure in organised crime in Australia in the latter half of the 20th century were never explained nor discussed amongst the family. This book is a snapshot of comfortable suburban life in the 50’s with the added layer of intrigue associated with their secret world. Another great read!
domestic occupations
One of our nation wide supermarkets publishes a magazine promoting their brands and lots of recipes. The photos are very enticing! We spent a lot of time preparing some dinners for the week and a few to go into the freezer.
One of these was a recipe from the magazine for poached chicken and vegetables intended for our dinner. The photo was gorgeous. The poaching liquor with ginger, star anise, chopped up spring onion and soy sauce smelt lovely as the chicken poached. Then the meat was left to cool under foil and the vegetables were quickly boiled in the strained liquor.
Looked good, smelt good, tasted awful!
Delicious aromatics. Dinner looked good. It tasted awful. I couldn’t eat it and my husband couldn’t eat the vegetables cooked in the poaching liquor and wasn’t thrilled by the chicken, either. The dog had exotic dinner. But what to do with the rest of the poached chicken?
The next day we washed the breasts and sliced them into smaller pieces. They still smelt lovely but we weren’t tricked! I fried a big spoonful of green curry paste then added some yoghurt, some tinned tomatoes and finally, the leftover chicken. Towards the end I added a finely chopped quarter of preserved lemon (here) and it was really, really good.
Deliciously recycled chicken breasts with roasted vegetables.
eggless chocolate cake
Have you ever made eggless cake? Me neither but I knew lots of eggless cake recipes were popular during WW2 when eggs were scarce. We don’t really celebrate Valentines Day but I have always made a heart shaped cake for the family. There was a problem, though; I’d boiled all the eggs the day before for curried egg sandwiches!
Went searching online for an eggless cake and found a step by step recipe (here) Having very specific instructions is good for me as I tend to be a bit relaxed about cake making measurements but they always turn out well.
Rich, moist and delicious!
February is BAKE FOR YOUR FAMILY month. Well, that’s pretty easy to celebrate, isn’t it?