Book Review: Summer Harvest By Georgina Penney

This is a book review and sneak preview of Summer Harvest by Georgina Peeney that was recently published by Penguin Books Australia on 1 February 2016.

Georgina Peeney has lived in towns all over Australia and now calls the Scottish countryside home, which she shares with her husband. Georgina has been a fan of romance books since she was eleven and has written books within the modern romance genre ever since - this is her third book.

This is a modern romance story about Beth a 30 something english woman who is recovering from cancer, divorced her husband, and has been living a sad and lonely life with her grandparents in England.

Beth's free-spirited grandmother sends her on a holiday across the miles to Australia. Beth is unsure how she will cope on her first overseas adventure so decides to spend her entire holiday on a vineyard in Margaret River, south of Perth, Western Australia.

Beth soon mixes with the local farmers, wine makers, makes friends and has some love interests. The holiday fling candidates enter the story straight away and this makes for a fast paced, entertaining and saucy modern day romance.

While there were some heavy topics covered (like cancer) it was kept lighthearted, honest and realistic. The characters are all very likable especially the down to earth country folk.

I loved the small country feel of this book and there's something about a vineyard that makes for a perfect rural romance setting.

I recommend this book to readers who want a fun and saucy rural romance about learning to love again.

I give this book 4 stars out of  5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch paint dry than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd give up a bottle of the worlds best champagne for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

Summer Harvest can be purchased from the author here and Penguin Books Australia

Sharing my book review on Good Reads here and Netgalley

Disclosure:  NetGalley partner with bloggers such as me to help promote authors and their books and I was given this ebook published by Penguin Books Australia to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

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[Image via Penguin Books Australia] 

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Recipe: Scallopini Veal Cutlets

Earlier this week I wrote a book review of Fremantle's Family Cookbook by Peter Vinci

Well I can't do a cookbook review without cooking from it right!

So I picked this delicious main course recipe for Scallopini (Veal Cutlets) with a creamy mushroom sauce that is too tasty not to share with you all. 

Now I know sometimes veal can be hard to find or not to everyone's taste so you could use pork for this recipe as well. 

Scallopini (Veal Cutlets)

Fremantle's Family Cookbook
Serves 2

Ingredients

4 Veal scallopini (2 per person)
1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp tarragon, chopped
1 tbsp chives, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 sage leaves
2 tbsp marsala
2 tbsp white wine
2 tbsp water or chicken stock
1/4 cup cream  (optional, but makes the sauce extra creamy)
Olive oil

Method

1.  Season the veal with salt and pepper and lightly coat with plain flour. Heat up a fry pan with olive oil.

2. In a saucepan add the olive oil, butter, garlic, shallot, mustard, sage, mushrooms, marsala, white wine and water/chicken stock. Saute until the mushrooms are brown. When the sauce is about to come to the boil, add the cream, tarragon and chives.

3. Add veal to the hot pan and cook for 3 minutes or until golden.

4. Serve veal with generous spoonfuls of the creamy mushroom sauce on top.

Enjoy with a side of potatoes and tomatoes roasted with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper
..... and a bottle of wine!

This is the kind of dish you can make for a dinner party for guests or a special meal at home, it's simple with just a few ingredients, but you will wow them with the delicious and rich flavours.

What's your favourite dinner party dish?

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Book Review: Fremantle's Family Cookbook By Peter Vinci

This is a book review of Fremantle's Family Cookbook By Peter Vinci that was published by Fremantle As It Was in September 2015.

Peter Vinci is a Fremantle local and the founder of the Non For Profit Charity Fremantle As It Was, As We Were. Whilst the cookbook is the brainchild of Peter, it is a collaborative effort, with the recipes cooked by Chef Anthony Farinaccio and members of the community.

This is a beautiful cookbook which is a collection of recipes from the families who migrated from across the world to live in Fremantle, Western Australia.

Those families bought with them the recipes and tastes of their home and these are shared in this cookbook. There are also recipes from some of Fremantle's favourite restaurants like Culley's Tea Rooms, Roma and Capri.

This is a real community project and it shows in every page from the description of the recipes, to the stories of where the dish originated from and the family who created it. There are many photos of the dishes as well as photos of the community of Fremantle.

There is a strong Italian influence to the recipes with over 60 dishes covered from starters, soups, antipasto, pasta, bread, mains and desserts.

The recipes are really easy to follow with fresh ingredients and simple methods so it's perfect for home cook that likes to make rustic Italian meals.

I made the Scallopini veal cutlets with a creamy mushroom sauce which tasted delicious (pictured below, recipe will be shared later this week). Some other recipes I have flagged to make are: Green Olives and Breadcrumbs, Stuffed Artichokes, Spaghetti with Mussels, Chilli Blue Swimmer Crab and the Coffee Granita.

This cookbook is like looking through your family's prized recipe book, it's filled with not only tasty recipes but you get a real feel for where the dishes are from and the families that created them.

Retaining recipes for future generations .... it's such a simple concept and one that makes this cookbook not just a great source of recipes but also a sentimental piece of our local history.

I recommend this book to Western Australian's who want to cook simple and rustic Italian meals at home from tried and tested recipes that have been made with love for many generations.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch paint dry than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd give up a bottle of the worlds best champagne for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

Fremantle's Family Cookbook RRP $39.95 and can be purchased direct from Fremantle As It Was

Sharing my book review on Good Reads here 

Disclosure:  A big thank you to the author Peter Vinci for providing a hardcopy of this book for review and giving permission to reprint a recipe. As always, all opinions are my own.

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[All image my own]

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DIY Bride: Photobooth + Wedding Guest Book

One of the projects I was most excited about for Mr P and I's wedding was making my own photobooth and guest book for guests to have fun with at the wedding reception.

I got prices for a photobooth and it would cost around $1000 and being a DIY bride I took on the challenge to do it myself on a $300 budget - I spent $360 in the end because I splurged on a beautiful custom made guest book (which took up a third of the budget!) I found on Etsy. The cost breakdown  with links to shops is at the end of this post.

It was definitely worth the money spent, plus a bit of creativeness to make the photobooth and props, this was a great feature to have at the wedding and can be used again in the future for Birthdays or special occasions.

This is how I made the photobooth and wedding guest book .....

The custom made guest book - I found the guest book on Etsy which had so many amazing creative stores to shop from. I finally decided on Lorgie who is based locally in Fremantle so that I could collect it. I got a large wedding album with black pages as I love how it looks with white pens. I kept the design simple and had our names and wedding date engraved on the front.

The instant camera - I researched the best reviews for instant cameras and liked the Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Camera. I shopped around and got it on sale at Myer.

It's the instant film that's expensive - It works out to be about $2 per photo if you buy the film in-store, but if you buy in large quantities from Ebay it's half the price and works out to $1 per photo. I purchased 100 film online which was enough for a photo of each guest and had about 40 leftover as most guests had photos in groups.

Camera accessories - I found a pretty box from the discount store that I filled with all the extra film, spare batteries, photo glue, photo stickers and white pens which I tied with ribbon to pretty them up.

For the photobooth props - I found a pack of props from The Reject Shop and jazzed them up with embellishments and stickers. 

I invited a few crafty girlfriends over to help with this and under the influence of a bottle of french champagne and the promise of a home made dinner we got to work and had a lot of fun making them.

I made some of the photobooth props - By printing out free templates I found online - these included drinks, lips, moustaches and masks. 

I simply glued them onto cardboard and then cut around the shapes and attached a wooden skewer. Then decorated them with embellishments, stickers and different papers.

For the larger photobooth props - Like hats, gloves, wigs and scarves I borrowed a vintage suitcase from a friend, lined it with pretty fabric, and filled it with the props.

Photobooth sign - I typed up instructions and framed them in a wooden frame so everyone would know what they were meant to do.

Now for the backdrop for the photos - We needed something pretty to stand in front of and for this we made a frame, covered it in a canvass painters drop sheet we already had and attached paper flowers to it to give it a textured background. 

Mr P made the frame by attaching PVC pipe and brackets together, the base was wide with the rear base extra wide to support the frame so it didn't topple over.

To cover the frame we hung a large canvass drop sheet over the frame and attached it using velcro. The drop sheet was perfect for this as it was thick fabric, hung well and was inexpensive.

We wrapped the sheet all around the pipe to hide it, including wrapping it around the base of the frame.

I ran the iron over the sheet to try to remove some of the wrinkles and creases, my iron is almost 20 years old and not a very good one but it got most of the wrinkles out and I figured the flowers will cover most of it anyway.

I marked the corners of the sheet so I knew where to start decorating it and for the decor I had some paper flowers my brother had bought back from a holiday in Vietnam for me. The flowers were pretty cheap I got about 80 flowers for $20 and they added great texture and colour to the backdrop.

I took the sheet off the frame, laid it down flat on the floor and placed the flowers around and then went to work with the hot glue gun sticking each one on.

Once the flowers were stuck on I hung the sheet over the frame again and then labelled the frame and sheet with "top" and "bottom" so the wedding venue setting it up would know how to do it. 

We pulled the frame apart to transport it and the venue assembled it for us on the wedding day.

Set up at venue - There was an area at the wedding reception that was set up with the photobooth frame and drop sheet, a table for the suitcase and jars of props, and the camera and guestbook on another side table (sorry I don't have any photos of the set up of it at the wedding!)

Photographer friends - I asked some friends to be in charge of the camera on the day to make sure it had film in it and the batteries didn't go flat. I also asked them to be photographers and take a few photos to get everyone into the spirit of things and this worked out really well pretty soon guests were lining up to use it!

Overall the DIY photobooth was a real hit and I have lots of gorgeous instant photos now stuck into the wedding guest book.

The photobooth frame and backdrop sheet have been packed away but I can't wait to get them out again for another party - it would be perfect to use at a spring bash or baby shower!

I also have the camera which I have used again (but now I'm out of film and need to buy some more!).

The guest book has doubled as a scrapbook for both the engagement and wedding so while this was a splurge it was worth it to me as it's such a beautiful keepsake and it's large enough to keep everything together so all our memories are in the one book.

I have stuck in all our invitations and stationary, the engagement party messages in a bottle, and lots of photos from the engagement and wedding as well.

Seeing how much fun everyone had using the photobooth at the wedding was the best part!

If you're a bride on a budget I would highly recommend DIYing a photobooth similar to this.

This is what our DIY photobooth cost: 

Fujifilm Instax Mini8 Camera, Myer $84.15
100 film, Ebay   $94
Box (for film and spare batteries), Red Dot  $2
Custom wedding guest book, Etsy shop - Lorgie  $115
Photo glue and photo stickers, Target  $4
White pens, Kikki-k  $6
Frame (already had) typed up instructions DIY  $0
Old suitcase and props (borrowed from a friend)  $0
Pack of props, The Reject Shop  $5
Gold cardboard, Spotlight  $2.50
Embellishments, stickers, papers, sticks (already had)  $0
PVC pipe and brackets to make frame, Bunnings  $20
Velcro, Bunnings $5
Canvas drop sheet (already had)  $0
Paper flowers, from Vietnam  $20
Total $357.65


Sharing with link parties:
Curly Crafty Mom - The Creative Corner
The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty Monday
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

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[All images my own - images 21 and 22 via Sam Proctor Photographer]


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Book Review And Preview: Try Not To Breathe By Holly Seddon

This is a book review and sneak preview of Try Not To Breathe by Holly Seddon that is due to be published by Random House on 23 February 2016.

Holly was born and raised in the southwest of England and now lives in Kent with her husband and four children. In her 15 year career, Holly has worked in some of the UK's most exciting newsrooms, as a freelance writer she's been published on national newspaper websites, leading consumer websites and magazines. This is her first novel.

I am so impressed that this is Holly Seddon's first novel and I hope it won't be the last - she is a brilliant writer. Her previous work experience in newsrooms shines through with the knowledge she had of the journalist in this story.

Right from the start you will be drawn into the mystery surrounding the main character Amy and want to know what happened to her as a young impressionable teenage girl that put her in a coma where she has laid for the last 15 years.

The story is broken into chapters from the past and leading up to the present, each chapter getting closer to the details of the story and who committed the crime.

There are 3 main characters who tell the story - Occasionally it's Amy who is locked inside herself but starts to relive what happened to her ....... Sometimes it's Jacob who was Amy's teenage boyfriend and is now a husband and father to be ....... But mostly the story is told by Alex a journalist trying to find out what happened to Amy, to solve the crime and get justice.

All the characters in the book are well developed, realistic and keep you interested in the story of their life and how Amy's situation has affected them.

This was a very fast paced thriller that won't disappoint even the most impatient of mystery readers. This is one of the best thrillers I've read (and as you know I read a lot of books!)

I recommend this book to suspense and mystery readers that like fast paced thrilling reads with realistic characters.

I give this book 5 stars out of  5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch paint dry than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd give up a bottle of the worlds best champagne for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

Try Not To Breathe: A Novel can be purchased from the author here and Random House 

Sharing my book review on Good Reads here and Netgalley

Disclosure:  NetGalley partner with bloggers such as me to help promote authors and their books and I was given this ebook published by Random House to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

For exclusive extras and daily updates ... follow Jarrah Jungle on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

[Image via Random House] 

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Honeymoon Travels: New Orleans, Louisiana USA

Today I'm sharing part three of our honeymoon travels around the USA .... After leaving Louisville, Kentucky we caught a plane to Charlotte and then another plane onto New Orleans, Louisiana where we stayed for three nights.

I had heard so much from friends about the food, party atmosphere and culture of New Orleans and was really looking forward to having some fun here!

I was unsure how the recovery from Hurricane Katrina (which was 10 years ago now) would be and it was good to see they have recovered really well with twice as many restaurants as before which means there's even more tourists going to NOLA now which is great for the economy.

We stayed in a beautiful old 1830's Inn on St. Ann just off Bourbon Street where all the action happens with bars, clubs, street drinking and buskers aplenty. 

I booked a great midweek deal on their best suite which was stunning and spacious and we had our own private balcony where we could relax and enjoy a drink while watching all the interesting characters go by! 

Day 1 - French Quarter

We walked around the French Quarter every day which has a mix of everything - from old world character and charm, beautiful old buildings and architecture, horses and carriages, to the river front with steam boats, and streets with voodoo shops and ghostly vibes. New Orleans is really something else!

Of course we couldn't go to the birthplace of jazz without seeing some live music so after dinner at an oyster house we ventured into the old jazz district where the locals go to listen to live music.

Day 2 - Culinary and History Tour

I didn't book any tours beforehand for NOLA but after having such an awesome time on the New York - Free Tours By Foot, we decided to book with them again on a Culinary History Tour of the French Quarter.  

We did this on our second day which was a great way to be taken around the town and to learn the history of the area, the different people and cultures, the cuisine and food influences that were brought here - creole, cajan, french and spanish to name a few!

We were told where the best places to eat were which was great because on our first night we didn't have the best experience as we didn't know where to eat! I highly recommend doing a local tour as soon as you can when you arrive in a new place as it really gives you a great insight of where the locals go to eat and drink.

I loved the food here especially the fried shrimp po' boy, seafood gumbo and of course the freshly made beignets dusted in icing sugar and washed down with a cafe au lait for breakfast. We also visited the French Market and tasted the famous muffuletta sandwich from Alberto's Cheese and Wine which was so good we went back the next day for another one!

Day 3 - A Cruise Down The Mississippi River

On a beautiful hot and sunny day we went on a cruise down the Mississippi River on the iconic paddle steamer boat - Natchez Steamboat.

Once onboard we found a spot in the shade outside to sit and watch the river views while enjoying a few tasty cocktails from the bar and listening to a live jazz band. 

You can't go to New Orleans without a cruise down the Mississippi River and we had the best time onboard.

New Orleans was a really different part of the USA to visit with it's culture, the people, and delicious food and I'm so glad we did, it was really something special. 

Have you been to New Orleans? What did you love about it?

Check out my other honeymoon travels around the USA here: 
Honeymoon destinations in the USA
Tours around the USA
Part 1 - New York
Part 2 - Louisville, Kentucky
Part 3 - New Orleans, Louisiana
Part 4 - Las Vegas, Nevada
Part 5 - San Francisco, California
Part 6 - Los Angeles, California

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[All images my own]

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