Hekla's Children by James Brogden

Hekla's Children by James Brogden is difficult to pigeonhole. Is it a fantasy, thriller, horror story or all of these genres together?
It starts with a terrifying story from some prehistoric times when the evil spirit steals a child from the village. This evil spirit is called afaugh. The strongest and bravest warrior is sacrificed to combat the evil in the underworld and protect the human world.
Then the story jumps to modern times, a decade before the main narrative takes place, when one of the main protagonists, teacher Nathan Brookes, takes a group of four teenagers on a walk in the nature park. Nathan is preoccupied with his personal problems, as the woman he loves has just had an abortion and doesn't want to do anything with him. Out of selfishness, Nathan follows his ex, having neglected his students. The group of teens vanishes without a trace. Only a rucksack is found.
Then a day later, one of the girls reappears, starved, dehydrated and terrified. She claims to have no memory of what has happened to her and the other three.
Ten years later, Nathan is trying to forget his past, doing another outdoorsy job, when the news of the body found in the ancient woodlands is broadcasted. Could it be one of the missing children?
Tara Doumani, a lecturer in osteoarchaeology, is requested to help with the police investigation. The carbon dating tests come with the proof that the body preserved in the peat is thousands years old.

The beginning of the book reads like a thriller or crime fiction, but soon it starts descending into a fantasy-horror story, with very dark undertones. The surreal blurs with the real world. Good and evil become intertwined, with characters showing both sides.
You get lost in the bleak landscapes of Un, "the place that is no place", some sort of the spirit realm.

The book raises a lot of moral questions, and challenges our perceptions of the world: what is real, how are we connected to the past, can we escape the past or change it?
The plot is compelling and clever, with twists getting darker and more menacing, and the story is imaginative.
I picked the book in The Works, thinking it would be something like Scandi Noir, totally not expecting where it would go or that it would move into the fantasy genre.

Without giving any spoilers, it was hard to understand why the protagonist turned out the way they did.
So, it was not what I expected at all.
I'm not going into the whole "Was it better?"-debate, and will answer like Ross to Rachel, it was different.

New foodie discoveries - Chocolate edition

"Anything is good if it's made of chocolate"
Jo Brand

"Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world's perfect food"
Michael Levine

And Amen to both quotes. Chocolate has been my companion for as long as I remember. It's my guilty pleasure and my comfort food. Seeing a new chocolate bar is like going on a blind date: you don't know what you are going to experience. Keep your mind open and hope it's not going to be a total disaster.

New chocolate products appear on the shelves of supermarkets on a daily basis. It's impossible to try them all. Some are limited editions and are available only for a short time, some come to stay, some get discontinued after a while, perhaps due to a lack of demand.

In the last half a year our local M&S started to offer a wide selection of more unusual Italian and Belgian chocolate. While I don't claim to be a pro, I keep little notes while slowly going through some of their new ranges.
Since my guys love white chocolate, many of the chocolate bars we've tried in the past few months were white.

M&S Italian White Chocolate with whole pistachios is a thick slab of Fairtrade white chocolate, which is quite hard to break or bite.
It's not the best white chocolate taste-wise, but looks pretty.
Bonus: no palm oil
In comparison to some other white chocolate with whole nuts which we buy in Italy, it is not as good.
3/5

M&S Italian Milk Chocolate Stracciatella with creamy filling and dark chocolate pieces is another variety from the Italian range.
Nutritional info: 90kcal per 3 squares, or 537kcal per 100g
It includes a combination of oil including coconut, palm and palm kernel, cocoa solids 30% min.
Creamy and moreish, a bit on the sweet side, it's actually not bad at all.
4/5

M&S Italian White Chocolate Cappuccino is a white chocolate with a creamy coffee ganache. I like the combination of white chocolate and coffee, but found this bar way too sweet which is not a surprise at 49g of sugar per bar.
92kcal per 3 squares, or 553kcal per 100g bar
Made in Italy, packed in the UK
3/5 Would be much nicer with less sugar.

M&S Latte Coffee Kick Bar is a mini chocolate bar made with coffee beans, for when you need a coffee kick. At 149kcal per bar, it is just the right size for when you need a chocolate boost, but don't want to scoff a big bar.
Slightly bitter and a bit gritty. Melts in the mouth, but not very chocolatey.
3/5

De Villiers Skinny Cappuccino (£5) is a skim milk chocolate bar, with 51% cocoa. It is gluten free, sustainably sourced and contains no GMO.
The packaging says that though most of the world's cocoa beans come from Africa, little chocolate is made on the continent and even less is made by Africans in African owned factories. De Villiers chocolate is a "Bean to Bar" chocolate maker located in the Cape Winelands of South Africa.
Made with Ugandan cocoa beans. Even the design on the wrapping paper is an artwork by an African artist called Marien Freddy Nsompy.
It's a lovely melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. I would like a higher coffee content for a more distinct cappuccino flavour.
Top marks for the credentials and 4/5 for taste.

Dolfin Noix de Macadamia Caramelisées  is a Belgian milk chocolate with caramelised macadamia nuts (70g bar).
It comes in a very elegant packaging, in a wrapper inside a pale pink pocket.
Macadamia nuts are crushed into a small crumb, so don't expect bigger chunks. It has a hint of sea salt. Overall, excellent flavour and quite delicate.
It would make a lovely little gift for any chocolate lover.
5/5

Waitrose Eton Mess is a new Belgian white chocolate blended with strawberry powder and topped with mini meringues and dried strawberry pieces.
It's very pretty and decorative.
548kcal per 100g or 123kcal per 1/4 bar, and lots of sugar - 54g per 100g - basically more than a half is sugar.
Thumbs up from my white chocolate-loving men, but too sweet for me.
4/5 for taste from my family.

My boys and I love Polish Ptasie Mleczko waniliowe (lit. bird's milk) or vanilla marshmallows in chocolate which is available in Tesco online and in Polish delis.
Bird's Milk used to be my favourite Russian chocolate, when I was a child. These Polish marshmallows taste exactly as I remember them from childhood.
I did mention this product before in a post on Polish food from Tesco. Ptasie Mleczko is a range of marshmallows with different flavours - we have tried chocolate and soured cream before, but this range has a new addition - E. Wedel Ptasie Mleczko O Smaku Strawberry Shake. As you can guess, they are strawberry shake flavoured. They are also covered in white chocolate rather than milk or dark.
Full of calories (455kcal per 100g and sugar - 49g per 100G), they are very indulgent.

There are two layers in a box, with 36 marshmallows in total.

One more item of Polish confectionery worth mentioning is E.Wedel Pawelek Advocat dark chocolate bar with Advocaat flavour filling. I first spotted it in Tesco, but then also found in Sainsbury's.
This is a treat for grown-ups, as it contains alcohol. If you like Advocaat, you will enjoy this bar.
It comes at 209kcal per 45g bar and 26g of sugar.

I'm going to finish this post with two of my personal favourites.
I'm not the biggest fan of white chocolate, but Amedei white chocolate with pistachios is absolutely lush. Fine green pistachios come from Bronte. It is quite pricey at £5 for a 50g bar, but at the moment you can catch it at half price in M&S.
This is definitely not a chocolate for anyone on a diet. It has 580kcal per 100g and 42g of sugar.
It has a lovely hint of salt. Overall, it's very moreish and a special treat. You really need just a little piece with a cup of coffee for a blissful moment.
5/5

And just a few days ago I spotted a new product from Green & Black's - Velvet Fruit (available in 3 flavours - raspberry, blueberry and orange). I only bought a pouch of Raspberry flavoured dark chocolates, and this is easily my latest indulgence. These are small balls of dark chocolate with a real fruit centre.
At 129kcal and 13g of sugar per 8 pieces, they have no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives.
I'd say Bravo, Green & Black's, for introducing a novelty product to your already delightful range. I'm definitely going to try the other flavours of Velvet Fruit.
5/5

Have you tried any new chocolate flavours recently?

The Travelling Bag by Susan Hill

When life is stressful, there's nothing more enticing than to get immersed into a creepy ghost story or a cozy mystery and for a while escape the mundane and sad reality.
Susan Hill is an unsurpassed master of the supernatural fiction. I have read several books by her, and they are all disturbing, creepy, ghoulish and memorable. A perfect escapism, which sends shivers down the spine.

The Travelling Bag is a collection of five chilling stories.

The travelling bag is a story, narrated by a famous paranormal detective, who recounts one of his most intriguing cases. The setting of the men's club, dark and claustrophobic, is a great bridge between an everyday, humdrum unremarkable life and ghostly apparitions.
Walter Craig started his academic career as a brilliant promising scientist, his work is considered ground-breaking. After a serious illness, he hires a young assistant Silas Webb.
Then, one day Webb disappears, taking with him the most important pieces of research.
The person who dies in the story is an unpleasant, ambitious man who has stolen his mentor's academic research which propelled him to glory and recognition, while his old mentor's career was ruined. He was nasty in life, and turned nasty in the after-life. You almost feel it was the natural propensity for him.

Boy Twenty One is a sad tale of Toby Garrett, a lonely unhappy boy in a boarding school. He loves drawing maps and inventing worlds of his own, escaping the abandonment in the fantasy realm. A new boy Andreas comes to school, and Toby befriends him. They spend all the time together, finding comfort in each other's company. Then one day Andreas simply vanishes. Visiting an old manor named Cloten Hall with his school, Toby is startled to see his old friend.
It is not a spooky, ghoulish story as such, more of a melancholic narrative.

Alice Baker is a new office worker. She is efficient, but not friendly and doesn't socialise with her colleagues. There is also something strange about the smell of decay when she's around. Odd things happen in the old stuffy office. Moving to a new building with big airy offices seems like a new beginning, until the similar happenings begin to unnerve people. Who is this mysterious Alice Baker, and what does she want?

The Front Room is the most disturbing and menacing story in the collection.
Inspired by their vicar's sermon, a devout middle class couple Norman and Belinda Irwin decides to transform their front room into a living space for an elderly relative. Solange is Norman's evil step-mother. She is lonely and frail, and knows how to manipulate and guilt-trip people.
With her arrival, the dynamics in the house changes completely. Children are terrified to sleep, a tot has bite marks on his arm, they grow thinner and paler. Then the wicked old woman dies, and everyone sighs with relief.
But their relief is short-lived, as the house gets haunted by the evil ghost.
I hated this story. Absolutely hated it. Granted the skill of the author to create a suspence, this is just  nasty tale. I wish I didn't read it, as I found it upsetting.

Printer's Devil Court could have been turned into a book of its own. Two medical students plot a macabre experiment of raising the dead, and invite the third student, Hugh Meredith, who shares the living quarters with them to witness the process. What happens next, haunts him for the rest of his life.
This story raises moral and ethical questions of how far can the medical research go, and what is life.
The ending is unexpected, as just a few pages before you're lulled into thinking there's if not a "happy-end" as such, then a resolution of sorts.


If you liked this review, you might be interested in reading a review of another ghost story -
Dolly by Susan Hill

What's your favourite ghost story?

Photo diary: week 18, project 365

Another week, another mixed bag of good and bad days. There was quite a bit of aggro and stress, and I'm glad to wave Good bye to this week.

I can hear you groaning "Not another Gregg's sausage photo, please". Sorry. I've picked it as a Sunday photo because there is also Sasha seen in the corner. We popped into Gregg's, got the sausage roll, but they didn't have any seats available, so we went next door to Costa, where I got a latte and a drink for Eddie. Sasha was in Costa too, with his father, enjoying a slice of lemon cake with a Pepsi.

On Monday Sash had an overnight stay at a residential place. He goes there twice a month, and we tend to go out for dinner about once a month with Eddie, to give him a full one-to-one (or two-to-one) attention. He has chosen to go to Pizza Express. I like their pizza, and also had a 2 for 1 mains voucher, which made it even better. As we walked home past Witney Mill after dinner, the sky was bright pink and beautiful.

On Tuesday I treated myself to two new paperbacks in Waterstone's. I've read very good reviews of The Silent Companions, and just had to buy it. I stopped by in the vintage shop and took the photo of the book among their glassware display.

This year we had an abundance of red tulips, but only one purple tulip has survived from the year before. Last spring I had quite a few of those dark beauties.

On Thursday morning while waiting for a friend, I admired a new window display at Waterstone's for The house with chicken legs, which is a YA book, based on the Russian fold tales. It was a sunny morning, and I couldn't find a spot without reflections of the street.

Running to pick up Sasha from school on Friday, I snapped those dog statues. I wouldn't want them by my house, but like how solemn they look, guarding the entrance.

Today is pretty hot, and I was pottering in the garden, mainly weeding. Eddie was playing in the summerhouse. I also watered the tomatoes in the greenhouses. These are three of the tomato plants I bought last week.

Regency-style lemon almond tart + #ReadCookEat May linky

Reconstructing dishes mentioned in fiction is one of my passions.
I've recently finished reading The ghost of Glendale by Natalie Kleinman (read my review). It is a Romance with a ghost story twist, set in Regency times. There are not many mentions of food, except when the main protagonists Phoebe, her cousin Lydia, their beaus Duncan and Rupert as well as the other neighbours go on a picnic.

"It was all in good fun and, with an appetite that only the young seem to have, the various meets, cheeses, pies and other delicacies were consumed with eagerness which, had the kitchen staff of the various establishments been able to see, would have given them much pleasure."

I was curious to discover what dishes might have been served at picnics during the Regency and consulted a couple of food history books. Picnics were often quite a grand affair, with baskets upon baskets of food and chilled champagne in buckets with ice, carried by numerous servants.

I also consulted a cook book "Dinner with Mr Darcy" by Pen Vogler. In a chapter dedicated to picnic food she offers a recipe for Lemon cheesecakes (Georgian cheesecakes actually did not contain cheese). She cooks individual lemon cheesecakes.
I decided to bake one easy lemon almond tart, and it happened to be a delightful bake, easy and quick, and oh so good. I hope Phoebe and company would approve of it.

Regency-style lemon almond tart
Ingredients:
1 pack of shortcrust pastry
zest of 2 lemons
2tbsp lemon juice
100g caster sugar
1tbsp limoncello (optional)
2 medium eggs
2tbsp single cream
100g ground almonds
60g butter, melted
a big handful of flaked almonds

For the ease of cooking, use a ready-made shortcrust pastry. If you have time and inclination, prepare your own pastry by all means.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Unroll the pastry and cut out a big circle to fit in your tart dish or tin. Bake for 10 minutes.
In a medium mixing bowl zest 2 lemons. Add the lemon juice, caster sugar, limoncello, beat in two eggs. Add single cream, ground almonds and melted and cooled butter, and mix well.
Pour the almond lemon mix into the pre-baked pastry case, scatter flaked almonds on top.
Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 20+ minutes until golden brown.
Take out and let it cool a bit before slicing and serving.

This tasty tart is quite similar to Bakewell tart, minus jam, and with lemon flavours.

This is not an authentic Regency recipe, as obviously they would not have a pre-made shortcrust pastry, and I'm not sure whether limoncello or any other lemon liqueur was popular in England in those days. But lemons and ground almonds appear happily in many 19C recipes.

Have you read a book recently which inspired you to run to the kitchen and cook to your heart's content?

I hope you are inspired by books to join in the #ReadCookEat challenge.

The idea is to choose a book, either a world classic or modern fiction, or even memoirs and pick up a dish mentioned or described in that book and then recreate it in a recipe. Please say a few lines about your chosen book, and maybe even do a quote from the book.

If you decide to take part, please add the badge to your post and link up back to me, and either use a link-up tool or add the url of your post as a comment. Alternatively, email me with the link to your post (my email is sasha1703 at yahoo dot com).

I will Pin all blog posts taking part in this challenge, as well as RT and Google+

The Ghost of Glendale by Natalie Kleinman

Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres. Throw in a good old ghost story, and I'm hooked.
The Ghost of Glendale by Natalie Kleinman merges two subgenres - historical romance with a paranormal fiction.
The main protagonist, Phoebe Marcham, is a strong-willed young lady. Being a young unmarried woman at 24, Phoebe is quite resigned to spinsterhood. Thankfully, she has a comfortable life in a manor house and doesn't need a man to provide for her, looking after her father and being the lady of the house. She has always admired the deep bond between her parents, and wouldn't settle for less.

One day while riding in the woods she meets a handsome stranger. Duncan Armstrong stays at the neighbours' house. Phoebe and Duncan have much in common, they love outdoors, horses and do not care much for the conventions.
He is an adventurer, who left his home years ago to travel the world and study art.

Duncan is very much taken with Phoebe, and promises to help her discover the secret of the family ghost. Simon Marcham is the ancestor of the family, who has been moping around immersed in sadness for over two hundred years.

Phoebe reminded me of Jane Austen's Emma. Like Emma, she lives with her elderly father, and they are devoted to each other. She is the only child and the heiress to the family fortune. She knows her mind and does not shy away from expressing her opinions. Being a spinster in her 20s, she is allowed more freedom than the younger daughters of the upper echelons would have had.
For example, she is free to ride on her own, or in a male company, without a chaperone.
Thankfully, unlike Emma, she is not trying her hand at matchmaking and interfering into the other people's lives.
Phoebe misses her late Mum, and the quest (finding the secret of the family ghost) helps her to be closer to her mother, who in her turn tried to solve the old family mystery.

The paranormal element of the book is very much in the tradition of Regency period literature. It is not a malevolent spirit, but a rather melancholic figure, pining for his lost love.
It might be difficult to imagine a modern-age young man so much involved in the story of the star-crossed lovers, but keeping in mind, the action is taking place in the Regency period, it would be natural to expect young men to read melancholic poetry and cry over the sad verses.

The gentle style of the book retains old-world charm.

Disclosure: I received an e-copy of the book for the purposes of reviewing and taking part in the blog tour. You can check out what the other bloggers thought of this book, if you have a look at the schedule below.

April'18 Degustabox

We are always looking forward to our Degustabox delivery, which arrives every month and is full of foodie surprises. This monthly food and drink subscription box is an excellent way to discover products which have only just appeared in the shops or those which might have been around for while, but you haven't had a chance to try them yet.

Thanks to Degustabox, I have found new favourites to add to our shopping list, including some products which I probably wouldn't have tried otherwise.

Each time the box arrives, it's a total surprise. You get a good selection of foods and drinks.

If you haven't tried Degustabox subscription box yet and would like to have a go, I have a whopping £7 off discount from your first box (and you can unsubscribe any time) - just use a code 8EVI8 when you place an order.

What did we receive in the April Degustabox? Let's have a look.

a2Milk Long Life Semi-Skimmed Cows' Milk (£1.50) is a natural milk with a difference. It's naturally free from the A1 protein found in regular cows' milk.
a2 milk is easier to digest than the standard milk. Research has shown that the A1 protein breaks down more slowly in the body, and for some people this could bring on uncomfortable symptoms which are quite similar to lactose intolerance. a2 Milk is not suitable for cows' milk protein allergy.
We have already tried a2 long life milk in cartons, and it tastes just like the normal milk, you can't tell the difference taste-wise.
It's lovely in cereal or frothed for a cup of latte.

There are two tomato products from Mutti - passata and finely chopped tomatoes.
This is a new Italian brand for me. Mutti are winners of a prestigious Great Taste Award.

I used a tin of Mutti Polpa (Finely Chopped tomatoes) to cook a Fruity Aubergine and Chickpea curry.
Tinned chopped tomatoes were sweet and ripe, and worked beautifully in a vegetarian curry.

Mutti Passata was a perfect base for a sauce for shakshuka with falafel, another tasty vegan/vegetarian meal. It has a velvety texture and sweet, intense tomato flavour.

Idahoan's Perfect Mash Roasted Garlic (£1.50) is ready in just 1 minute, simply add boiling water to a bowl and stir in the flakes to make a mound of fluffy mash. It is GM-free and gluten free. You can find this mash in the tinned veg aisle for a quick midweek dinner with fish fingers or bangers.
I confess it's been years since I bought dried mashed potatoes. We haven't tried this product yet, I think I might use it to make fish cakes.

TREK Protein Energy Chunks (£1.15) are packed with precise cold-pressed balance of powerful wholefoods, delivering sustained energy when you need it. They are gluten free and vegan, and count as 1 of your 5 a day. There are two flavours - Cocoa Peanut Peak (high protein fruit, peanut, oat and crunch chunks) and Toffee Triumph (high protein fruit, nut, oat & crunch chunks).

N!ck's Kexbar is a Swedish crispy chocolate wafer with vanilla cream, covered in milk chocolate. It is gluten free and has no added sugar. Nutritional values: 195kcal per wafer.

It is a crunchy melt-in-the-mouth wafer. You can find N!ck's products on Amazon, and use code DEGUSTA1 for 20% discount.

The Food Doctor Full of Beans Protein Mix and Smokin' Edamame Mix (£1) are great as mid-morning savoury snacks. They contain a blend of corn and beans, high in fibre and are a good source of protein. Nutritional values: 127-128kcal per pack.

LioBites Strawberry & Banana Smoothie Bites (£2.25) are 100% natural fruit crisps made with the ripest and sweetest fruit in season to ensure the maximum nutrition and vitamins are retained. The fruits are quickly frozen and then dried to achieve a sweet, crunchy fruit crisp.
Vegan, gluten free, no added sugar and 1 of 5 a day.

Milkybar Wowsomes will please Milkybar chocolate fans. These milk & white chocolate mini bars have crispy oat cereal in a creamy tasting centre.
Nutritional information: 30% less sugar, no artificial sweeteners, colours, flavours or preservatives,
95kcal per bar. They are little treats which are handy to have with you, for when you need a sweet treat.

HARIBO Giant Strawbs are giant in flavour and in size. This is a traditional pick and mix treat. Strawberry shaped and flavoured, and boasting its own unique texture, they are suitable for vegetarians. A portion of 2 sweets (25g) contains over 10g of sugar and about 83kcal. One pack is 5 portions.
My boys love Haribos, and strawberries are among their favourites.

Juicy Fuel Cola (£2) is a cola made from entirely natural ingredients, with no added sugar, no artificial sweeteners and no preservatives. It also counts as one of your five a day, as its ingredients include fruit juices from concentrate (white grape, lemon and blueberry).
It contains 125kcal per can. It is still quite sweet, saying that, it is a pleasant and refreshing carbonated juice drink.
There are two flavours included in the non-alcohol version of the Degustabox.

Lucozade Energy Orange (£1.10) is a sparkling orange glucose drink with sugars and sweeteners. It is best served chilled, straight from the fridge. This energy drink has quite a lot of sugar (17g) and comes at 133kcal per bottle.

HappyDown Lychee Guava Chilli is a refreshing alcoholic premix. This drink will be found in the alcohol version of Degustabox, as it is blended with fortified wine. I'm curious to try it, but waiting for a warmer day, when we could have a BBQ. I imagine chilli adds a spicy note to the cocktail.

Mindful Bites Squeeze Sachets (£1.49) are a premium brand of unique nut butters blended with superfoods and highly innovative snacks. You will receive one of 4 flavours.
The sachets are light, mess-free and tasty, and will make a great addition to any lunchbox (if you don't have a nut allergy).
The creative flavours included are Almond & Maca, Hazelnut & Berries, Brazil Nuts & Cacao Nibs and Cashew Nuts & Baobab.

Disclosure: We receive a monthly food box from Degustabox for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are our own.