Saturday 23 January 2016

Welcome, the coffee is made and I have books, come and join me!




Hello and welcome to my new blog!



I have been an avid reader of book and parenting blogs for many years, but it was not until I joined the Rukia Publishing Social Media Team that I started to realise what really goes on behind the scenes of blogging and what an important role it plays in the platform of an aspiring writer like myself. So here I am launching my blog and joining the Rukia Book Blog Tour Team. Wow, it's a bit scary, but as my good friend Sarah Jane Butfield often says, "he who dares wins" so with those words in mind I would like to set the scene for my blog.
Firstly, I am a multi-genre reader and I love to write book reviews so the starting point for my blog will be to share my book reviews with you. Secondly, I love to network, I am a virtual chatty person so please comment and leave a link to your blog so we can chat. Lastly, for now, I love my kids, coffee, red wine and all foods, not always in that order! Therefore, I will also post and reblog from my parenting and food friend's blog sites.

BOOKS!
I will start with a couple of reviews for an author I recently discovered, Robert Fear.

Recent reviews
Travel Stories and highlights by Robert Fear
5*****
What an amazing collection of very individual travel stories from around the world. I really enjoyed reading about places I would still like to visit and also reading another person's experience of a place I have already visited. Something for everyone in this great compilation which makes easy reading and is very entertaining.

Fred's Diary 1981
5*****
I really enjoyed this book. I have never visited Asia so I was keen to experience it through this diarised account of a young man's travels in the 1980's. A sense of honesty comes through, which is a strong influence in this format of writing as it is an open and detailed account of the people, the places and personal adventures he experienced. I applaud the author for including some of what we might call 'ordinary' aspects of travel and day to day living as it reinforces that this is true and not fictionalised. Highly recommended for travel writing fans.


FOOD!
This weekend I am trying a recipe from Sarah Jane's Our frugal summer in Charente because I have some left over Tiger bread and I love bread sauce.


Sarah Jane’s Bread sauce
Ingredients:
½ pint of milk
1 small onion, peeled and halved
2 cloves
50g of breadcrumbs
Seasoning

Method:
Put the milk, onion halves and cloves in a saucepan. Place on a low heat and bring to a simmer. After 30 minutes remove the onion halves and cloves and add the bread crumbs, continue to simmer until it reaches a sauce consistency. Season to taste. Remove from the heat and serve in a warm dish

As we continue with our French experience, the plans for our garden and our lifestyle are evolving. Everything that we have experienced will shape the decisions and plans for the future. The moral of our story is that living on a frugal budget does not mean sacrificing on taste or variety.

Thank you for visiting and reading my debut blog post and keep in touch via this blog or on Facebook or Twitter




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5 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Shontae! I wish you the best with your blog! I'm sure it's going to be great. :)

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    Replies
    1. My first comment! Thank you Belinda you rock! Do you have a blog for me to follow?

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  2. Hi Shontae - a great start. Wish you well with it

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  3. Welcome to the blogging world Shontae, and thanks for the mentions :)

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