Book Review: Restless

Family espionage in Boyd's page-turner.

Painting itself as a spy-story dusted with the complications of family allegiance William Boyd's Restless drew me in from the blurb. However, the 'final mission' we are told to be the action of the plot is in fact only a small portion of the story and Ruth and Eva's mother-daughter relationship is more complicated and enthralling than the spies.

As a reader we are allied with Ruth, who knows nothing more of her mother's past than we do. Ruth and Eva are not a team, and at no point is Ruth complicit with her mother's actions, being continually surprised by her unusual actions and history. As Eva gives her daughter chapter's of her biography to read Ruth learns of her mother's duplicity; does she even know her mother at all? How can she trust her now she knows that she is a spy? The reader gets taken on this journey with Ruth and i felt a genuine empathy with her situation, and the process to which she comes to terms with it is rational and believable.

Still strikingly fascinating to read was Eva's past life as a spy, Boyd gives such incredible detail to the espionage, the mission's significance to WW2 and to the processes Eva has to follow as a spy. He interweaves the kind of secret service war operation that we a think and want to exist. Everyone wants to believe there's a real Bond out there and Boyd's writing is intricate enough for me to believe it could be real.

I ended up reading this book in about 5 hours because i couldn't put it down. Before i went to bed and when i got up in the morning. The switching between Eva's biography and Ruth's reading of it stopped the plot from getting lack-lustre and made it one of those books that's perfect for reading on the tube; short chapters and constant cliff-hangers. There were points of romance (but not too much) and familial obligation that centred the out of this world spy plot in reality, which can sometimes be lacking in crime-thrillers that are too insane to be believed. A definite bed-time or tube-read recommendation.

Book Binge Smiths Edition

I often get an urge to read that doesn't come from a specific book and spend forever in book shops finding the perfect story to satisfy my mind. Just last week i was perusing Whsmiths online and found something i'd never even heard of before that just happens to solve my problem at a minimal cost.

I spotted it out of the corner of my eye- 'Great Book Bundles'; Smiths will put together a random selection of 10 books of a particular genre and deliver them to your house. Now you might be thinking that you'd rather pick your books yourself but these ones cost £12.99 FOR 10 BOOKS. That's £1.29 per book. Heaven. But what are they going to send me?

There are bundles for children, bundles of specific authors such as Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and Jacqueline Wilson, non-fiction bundles on cookery, travel writing and advice, fiction genres like histories, mysteries, classics, romances and fantasy. As a crime and thriller lover i passed over this option, figuring i probably owned many of the books they might send. I went for the bestselling fiction because i thought they would probably be from the last few years and therefore the things i've missed whilst studying the classics at University.

Inevitably the package arrived whilst i was out (i love you smiths but most delivery services do estimate delivery times and i definitely could have been there had i known) so i ran off to collect it from the depo this morning. Carrying it home was desperately annoying since i wanted to know what was inside but needed to take a picture of it before i opened it. Oh the perils of blogging. Anyway, i was really pleased with the results, i had heard of a few, new most of the authors and even got some very expensive books i'd missed out on last year...

Top to Bottom:
My Favourite Wife by Tony Parsons, RRP £6.99

Parsons is a best selling author and this particular book, published in 2008, was intended to be much the same. Although it doesn't have rave reviews online and it's not one of the ones i've heard of it does have a few of the themes that i personally like in my reading. Parsons tells the story of the ups and downs of a family from London living and leaving Shanghai and dealing with having to find work in another city.  An issue many of us traveller types consider, i might be getting some advice here that will help me if i find myself in a similar situation.

Jail Bird by Jessie Keane, £7.99

Keane is the author of the bestselling series featuring fictional Annie Bailey, and this particular novel sees Keane move away from this character and into a new story. I'm pleased not to have been sent a Bailey story, since i haven't read the others, and if i like Keane's writing style i'll definitely be exploring her most popular writes.

The Job by Douglas Kennedy, £8.99

The blurb of this novel intrigues me! 'His wife is threatening to leave him and his new job description includes fraud, embezzlement and murder'. Juicy. Seems i may have a hint of my favourite crime genre in this romance filled thriller.

This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes, £7.99

A bit of an ambitious title to start with, this might actually be the first book in the pack i read. Homes' protagonist Novak's life is saved when his boring healthy lifestyle is infiltrated by a doughnut-shop owner. Blending my love of books and baking Homes won't have to convince me that baked goods can save someones life, but i'll have to make sure the biscuits are stocked while i read it.

The First Casualty by Ben Elton, £7.99

Someone in my family definitely owns this bestseller, but fortunately i haven't read it. Elton is a prolific crime writer and i have a particular love of war fiction since studying some at Uni. As his 10th novel, it's sometimes scary to let yourself fall in love with a writer who you know is going to take up a LOT of your time.

Factotum by Charles Bukowski, £8.99

Peppered with black humour this novel strikes me as a bit depressing. I'm not such a fan of books without action but with little over 150 pages it's not such a problem here. An unknown writer i thought fiction like this would come into the bundle, but i'm glad it's just the one and i'll definitely still read it.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, £7.99

I just laughed when i saw this book. It's pretty much the reason i didn't go for the crime and thriller bundle. Although i'm not surprised, since its beyond bestseller fiction, if you check the banner at the top of my blog you'll see i already own the hardback and paperback of this book! Neverthheless, it is impressive that it's included in the bundle- only out last year, one of the top books of that year, and in my opinion totally excellent, i didn't think i could buy it so early for such a cheap price. I suppose i could read it again!

Restless by William Boyd, £7.99

A spy novel! This book sounds delicious. Women spies, secret service ops and one final assignment. Why haven't i already read this book?

The Final Testament by James Frey, £8.99

The blurb here leaves the story a bit of an enigma but a quick internet search reveals great reviews. The imagining of modern Jesus Christ i'm sure many readers would find the content controversial, but i had a taste of blasphemous fiction when i read Paradise Lost. Intrigued by the prospect of the story i'll try to keep my Miltonic expectations to a minimum.

A Week In December by Sebastian Faulks, £7.99

The number one bestseller this book is a another steal for me from the bundle! Piecing together the lives of several characters in London i can see this might really speak to me as a Londoner all my life. I love it when writers manage to interweave stories and i'm interested to see how Faulks does this and how many of the characters i can empathise with in modern urban life.

Well, i think that's pretty impressive. With authors like Dan Brown, Ben Elton, Jessie Keane and Douglas Kennedy, some novels being published as recently as 2011 and at £1.29 a pop the bundle really is brilliant. Bringing to my attention several books i'm really excited to read and might not have found searching around shops i'd also say that this has provided the much needed inspiration that fulfils my fiction urge from earlier in the week. A brilliant idea from Smiths at an even better price. Next time i'm getting the travel-writing bundle.

Indian Easter

With all the talk about Britain's current Indian Summer providing some of the best weather in years i was reminded that i'd yet to write an post on my family holiday to India back in April.
For me it was a bit of an unusual holiday. When i was a kid we went to Alastair Sawday's special places, usually in Greece, often reduced to sunbathing and light sight-seeing since me and my sister (as teenage girls) would complain about needing a tan (sorry Mum). Now i holiday from my family separately, and always plan trips myself that involve beaches, cute towns, adventure and attractions; i thrive in the planning process and find it so exciting looking up holiday options to make the most out of the time. Point is, India was our first family trip in years, there was to be no beaches, limited pool time, continual early mornings and everything organised by a third party! What could go wrong!

The trip provider was Riviera Travel (click for a link to the full itinerary) and they did a spectacular job of finding some great sights that i'm glad i got to see. Places like Ranthambore safari park (although we didn't spot any Tigers), Fatehpur Sikri, staying up in the Himalayas and getting to the Taj Mahal early in the morning to miss the masses, passport in hand (which i would never had known i would need to attend).

India is huge and we barely saw a quarter of it but the places we did see were a great mix of city and country. Our tour-operator was an English lady who was incredibly friendly and helpful throughout, going as far as to arrange for us to see Elephants because it was my sister's personal mission on the holiday. Our tour-guide had fascinating insights into Indian culture; from his opinions on the evident poverty and jokes on the road to his personal story of his parents several attempts at arranging his marriage. India is a Smörgåsbord of colour and fascinating people where you spend most of your time turning your head to take photos of scenes you can barely believe. Historical sights are so lavish it's hard to believe the poverty that tends to wait outside them; although it can be daunting and upsetting at times it's comforting to know that the tourism industry you are funding continues to help those who remain residential to the country. Our tour guides brought street sellers on to the coach to sell us hand made crafts and souvenirs, bridging the gap between them and us where alone we would be confronted and discouraged by their pushy sales techniques. 

The food in the high quality hotels we stayed in was always incredible! I particularly remember the restaurant in the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi bringing out a lavish portable burner to our table and firing up some fresh breads to accompany our spread of delicacies.

Normally, i'm not a massive fan of tours because i like to take charge and change my plans to suit my mood; in my experience, whilst travelling, things never go to plan and it's better to bend to their will. Things were sometimes strained by this, and at times the child inside my sister just wanted to sunbathe and we resented the early mornings and the fact that we were both the youngest on the trip by about 40 years. Having said this, from being around the country i got the impression that India isn't as well equipped for tourists and travellers as other countries. I rarely saw hostels that looked hygienic or cheap food outlets that wouldn't have you spending the evening in the bathroom. Sleeping safely and eating hygienically was worth sacrificing some of my curiosity to walk aimlessly and natural independence.
Something about the insistent sellers and lack of tourist outlets makes me feel like expensive tours and organised trips are the only way to maximise what you see, unless the more prominent, richer cities like Bombay and Mumbai (which i didn't go to) are more tourist friendly. Fortunately, there are several other tour options that might cater to younger people with small budgets, places like Black Tomato and STA.

Whichever way you do it ready yourself for incredible food and relentless exasperation for an unforgettable experience in more ways than one. I'm hoping that India will become more accessible to tourists in a few years, something that usually comes with the experience of how to deal with us westerners. A little less staring would be great at the very least (people actually wanted to photograph ME more than the TAJ MAHAL) and i'll definitely return with my backpack and friends. My parents, on the other hand, have already booked a second trip to Kerala in southern India. I'll try to keep my envy to a minimum.

Hollywood Bread

After the disaster of my macaroon cake i thought it best to try out another recipe in the Great British Bake Off's recipe guide. I thought it was going to be a really great cookery book and wanted to get rid of the feeling that it had failed me in the baking world!

This time i went for a recipe with Paul Hollywood's name and reputation slapped all over it: Crunchy Bacon Soda Bread. I love the idea that bread can be a full meal, and with bacon, parsley and onion in it, and slathered with butter, this is the perfect thing for lunch.

Bread is notoriously difficult, as is Mr Hollywood to please in the bake-off since the use of yeast is a tricky art, so in his words:

"Welcome to Yeast"

The recipe for this bread is uneblieveably easy! 

Step 1: Fry the bacon, onion and parsley

Step 2: Sieve flour, bicarb and salt, rub into breadcrumbs with butter

Step 3: Mix altogether with buttermilk, shape into a ball (NO KNEADING NEEDED, which i LOVE)

Step 4: Bake for just 35 minutes.

The outcome was a really nice lunch loaf, perfect with butter. I would rather add about 3 times the amount of bacon- because i do love bacon- to make a meatier, more substantial bread. Nevertheless is was surprised that such a luxurious sounding bread was so quick and easy to make and i'll definitely make it a regular. Thank god Paul pulled it out for the cookbook. Next i'll be doing the recipe for chocolate doughnuts!

Thailand's Top Tours #3: Full Moon Party or Glass Half Empty?

Reviews of Koh Phangan's famous Full Moon Parties usually come in two extremes- wild youths promoting the crazy atmosphere or concerned elders pin pointing the excessive danger of drugs and crime.
Let's put me into perspective here- i'm 22, went this year with a boyfriend and a friend, and despite loving a good night out, lots of drinks, bars and conversation, i don't like raves or clubs just because i usually lose everyone and things always get too caught up in drugs. Not my cup of tea. But the full moon party has an original reputation for bringing different people together, it's supposed to have fire dancers and fun drinks, hippies and travellers, and i thought that sort of vibe might really be something i'd regret missing out on.

We stayed half-way across the island, so grabbed a shuttle service to Haad Rin beach with a few other people from the hotel who were equally excited to see what it was all about. As we were dropped off we could finally see the hoards of people heading to the beach, everyone was dressed appropriately, by that i mean not really wearing anything at all but florescent paint and drunken smiles and it really was an exciting atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the further towards the beach we got the more things i started to recognise as the resemblance to European beaches became strikingly obvious. Gone were the amazing Asian dishes, clusters of tourists sitting around drinking and chatting, fire dancers amazing audiences and market stalls with hand-made Thai souvenirs like there had been on Koh Samui, Koh Tao, in sections of Bangkok and Chang Mai. Haad Rin was overrun with idiotic British revellers running around flailing their arms and shouting out offensive English chants like they're at a football game. The street littered in, well, litter, sick, lost property, glowsticks, fish and chips and pizzas. It could have been a strip in Magaluf, Zante or Benedorm. Local people were reduced to selling these horrendous buckets and the beach itself was packed- i mean, it was like sheep being herded into a really small field. Like fitting 100 people in a 2 bed flat. People were either mindlessly dancing and kissing random people or passed out on the floor.

Having fun guys?

I remember when i used to go to Reading festival every year as a teenage. It's just my kind of music and hanging out with a group of friends with absolute freedom was like a dream. Then, in 2010 i was no longer enjoying the atmosphere because the average age of attendee was lowering and lowering. I felt like i was surrounded by people who didn't want to watch the music, discover new bands and chill with their friends, they wanted to burn their tents, run around peeing everywhere, stealing wellies and getting high. They needent have payed for a ticket and stayed in their own back yard. And this is what i think has happened to Koh Phangan. With the mass attention the party got, and the ease of access getting worse by the minute as airports and services grow, it started to attract people uninterested in the experience that full moon originally intended. Hotels on the island have 4 day minimum stays- prelonging everyone's hangovers and making it compulsory to see the wasteland left by the world post-party.

I struggle with discouraging anyone from going anywhere, since experiences are often completely individual. I don't necessarily agree with advice that says that the island is dangerous, one teen being killed last year is hardly reason to damn the entire place. I didn't find any glass on the floor- but i was smart enough to wear converses, and i didn't hear of anyone drowning in the sea. But put it this way, if you describe yourself as i did above, and if your after what the party was like 20 years previous, your better off staying clear and can feel confident you haven't missed out on anything. If you are with a massive group of people, and you get drunk before you go i reckon that beer-goggles may trick you into having a good time, and you can pretend that the party is at it's peak, but in my opinion the glass is half empty for Koh Phangan and its totally past its sell by date.

MORE Macaroons

Having failed at the macaroon cake, and continually passing it in the kitchen with misery and regret, i decided to whip up some classic macaroons for pudding.
Whenever i make macaroons i pretty much always use a different recipe. The first ones i made equated the decadent outcome with complicated instructions where i had to add heated sugar syrup to meringue. I never found that doing that made the macaroons better, and simpler recipes made lighter, chewier cookies. I have found that sieving all the ingrediants makes the macaroons look better and taste lighter. I've also spent hours trying to recreate the vanilla filling inside macaroons from Paul's bakery; finally settling with a classic vanilla buttercream with butter, icing sugar and a drop of vanilla extract (not essence).

I found this particular recipe searching on google and it's from Gabriella's blog 'Thyme & Honey'. It's a nice sieve and whisk recipe and made chewy, light macaroons despite caking my kitchen in icing sugar.

I used Gabriella's chocolate and coffee icing for a 3rd of the cookies, my own vanilla buttercream for another 3rd and chocolate ganache (dark chocolate melted with boiled cream) for the last. They all look amazing as you can see...

They also didn't take as much time as you would expect, it's the resting time in the middle that gives the cookies the chewy skin (sounds a bit gross i know) and makes it seem to be a laborious process. They really shouldn't be so expensive. My boyfriend recently bought me an amazing box from Ladurée, which are an incredibly expensive bakery based in Harrods. 

Amazing as the gesture was, i would say that Gabriella's cookies are better, and consequently i guess so are mine.

Macaroon Mayhem

I love food blog posts with cakes and bakes that their writers claim are easy peasy, look incredible and taste amazing, but i've kind of got the opposite.

Following the recipe precisely i made the Macaroon Cake from GBBO's new cookbook, thinking i would end up with an extravagant show stopper fit for the show itself. Unfortunately, the whole thing was a little bit off- quantities, flavours and the instructions with a final product that i'll probably be throwing away.

Macaroon mixtures need to be smooth to make an aesthetically pleasing french cookie, which is why i was surprised to find desiccated coconut and flaked almond's in the recipe for these, along with no sign of a sieve to sort the rest of the ingredients. The macaroon's tasted great at the end, with the extra flavour of coconut, but they look pretty hideous- evidence below.

The cake itself is just a plain vanilla sponge, which could probably do with some cream or vanilla ganache in the middle to make it interesting. Plus, the layer of macaroon that you put on top of the sponge half way through baking stops the sponge from being able to bake entirely.

I think you can make a much better 'macaroon cake' by combining a good cake recipe with a cluster of classically made macaroons of your favourite flavour on top to make it show stopping! I hope this recipe is the brain child of the editors of the book and not Mary Berry or Paul Hollywood themselves, because if so i think they'd be very disappointed.

Plantain Tacos and Churros y Chocolate

I had a plethora of gorgeous street food at Wahaca, one of my favourite restaurants on friday night. I just couldn't help but share these scrummy snaps! Plantain Tacos with a spicy sauce, Black Bean Tostadas, Chicken Taquitos and Churros!

Founder of Wahaca, Thomasina Miers, has a fab recipe book that makes it seem easy-as-pie to recreate her restaurant experience in the comfort of your own home. It's got a great guac recipe and a steak fajita, and i love that she infuses these basic Mexican classics with some less than normal ideas like Frijoles refritos (a must addition to most meals in South America).

I did once try to make tortillas as Thomasina claims to have created 'a blissfully easy recipe.' I ended up with a mess of sludgy pancake mix, and nothing that could hold together meat and salsa. The masa harina and fine cornmeal were exceptionally hard to find, and although i found them in a specialist store, they made no difference to the disastrous end product.

A good way of classying up a fajita night, these recipes probably won't replace wahaca for an amazing Mexican meal- but that's probably what Thomasina intended!