Saturday, September 04, 2021

Watching, Reading, Cooking & Sipping

It’s the first week of September and for some reason I always think we’re going to get cooler weather. Nope. It gets very hot as early as April and stays that way until October.  But every year....we hope.

Here's the roundup for this week.

Watching/ The Life of Pi.  Have you ever read a thread about visually stunning movies? The link here is from an article in 2016 so I will add Passengers to this list.  We decided to watch a few from the list and started with Life of Pi. I may need to get Slumdog Millionaire as well.



Reading/ This week I’m focusing on the cookbooks I’ve been reading. I had some inspiration for meals from the Donna Hay cookbook as well as Tessa Kiros’ cookbook about Greek cuisine.

 In the Kitchen /  Leftover mashed potatoes turned into fried potato cakes.  If we'd had picadillo I would have made Papas Rellenas again.


Served with grilled chicken and salad.



Vine ripe tomatoes, sliced green onions, red onions, lettuce, cucumber and fresh corn. A bit of salt and pepper and your preferred dressing.

From Food from Many Greek Kitchens I made a lentil soup chock with carrots, garlic and onions.


The longer it simmers the thicker it will get. A bit of flour can help with that too.


Sipping/ Loving Joel Gott unoaked Chardonnay. Such an enjoyable wine and it's not too expensive, can be found in the grocery store wine section (at Publix here) for about $18. I tried a few other Chardonnays but I just don't like the oak. This is one I will keep around.



That's for me.  Hoping to read what you are up to in your kitchen, what you are reading and watching. Take care!

Linking up with:







36 comments:

  1. Look at all that great food! I have that Greek cookbook -- you've inspired me to take it off the shelf.

    Thank goodness we FINALLY have cooler weather. I'm so ready for fall. :)

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    1. BFR, me too, so ready for cooler weather. Hoping to sit out more but... our true cool temps will start in October. Yes to Greek cookbooks!

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  2. Funny thing -- In the last few days, we have also had salad with exactly those ingredients, we have had grilled chicken thighs with the salad, we have had carrot and lentil soup, and we have had Joel Gott wine. Your potatoes look delicious too.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com (your kitchen doppelganger?)

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    1. Mae, that’s an amazing coincidence we had the same week of meals!

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  3. The potato cakes and the lentil soup look very appealing. Recipes?

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    1. Nan, I’ll put a link up or add the lentil soup recipe. It was great!

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  4. What a good idea, making potato cakes with the leftover mashed potatoes! And Joel Gott's 2018 Sauvignon Blanc is a good one too.

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    1. Claudia, thanks for the tip, I will try the Sauvignon blanc soon.

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  5. Vicki, leftover mashed potatoes are so good. My mom also made the potato cakes and added green onion sometime. The movie list has some good ones.

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  6. I hope the evenings will at least start becoming cooler so I can open the windows, but, yeah, summer holds on as long as she can. I hope you enjoyed The Life of Pi. I haven't read the book or seen the movie. I loved Slumdog Millionaire. I hope you have a great week!

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    1. LF, I haven’t read Life of Pi but it may be interesting to do so now that I’ve seen the movie. The actor who played Pi was also in Slumdog Millionaire, just saw that tonight.

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  7. I have that Donna Hay cookbook! I must pull it off the shelf and seeif I can find something in it to make!

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    1. Marg, the potato, pea and chickpea curry is great!

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  8. Love potato cakes and still make them like my mother did. You MUST get Slumdog!

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    1. Jackie, I love most things with potatoes. I grew up with potatoes making a regular appearance on our dinner table. Doug grew up with rice on the dinner table so we alternate the starches :-)

      Just got the Slumdog movie!

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  9. I want to eat at your house! Potato cakes are the best. I rarely make mashed potatoes but whenever I do, enough for potato cakes are part of the plan. Haven't made lentil soup all summer... maybe this week. Joel Gott is one of our go-to chardonnays, too. Even after a few years, I still marvel at the ability to buy wine in grocery stores in FL. So much more convenient ;-) Hope you have a good week, Tina.

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    1. JoAnn, you all are always welcome! That’s good to hear about the Chardonnay as I discovered that one one day, decided to try it. Claudia in Hawaii said the Joel Gott Sauvignon Blanc is good too.
      Yep, grocery stores here have wine available even on Sunday! I grew up in Pennsylvania & it’s not as easy to shop for alcohol as I remember.

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  10. I don't get to any reading here lately, I sure hope I can change that come winter. When I make potato cakes, I always think of my grandmother, she always made them from leftover mashed potatoes. And honestly I will have to enjoy wine through your words, it is the one thing my ulcers do not permit....Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Melynda, I hope you get to your books in winter. I'm guessing you'll be in a lot in Montana!

      Well, I'm meant to be cutting back on the wine and if I had ulcers I would abstain like you do.

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  11. Mmm all that food looks delicious! And I loved Life of Pi, both the book and the movie!

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    1. Jinjer, I have not read the book but maybe I will this year. Is it different than the movie?

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  12. You, my friend, have been cooking it up! I love the fried potato cakes, the white wine, and the lentil soup...all my kind of comfort food.

    Those cookbooks should serve you well and be full of new favorites!

    Wanted to say thanks for all the feedback and tips. I'm still fighting with the dang sidebar. I can get anything to work so I guess it'll be way different going forward.

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    1. Kim, I am delighted to cook in my "new kitchen" and it was just one of those days. Inspired I guess.

      Wish I could help with that sidebar, it sounds like a pain :-(

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  13. Everything looks amazing! I am going to have to try the lentil soup--I'm surprised I haven't made it yet as I love the cookbook. The potato cakes and salad look delicious. Thanks for sharing at Souper Sundays this week.

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    1. Deb, I am always up for a potato dish, will have another soup for you soon!

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  14. We get occasional cool fronts in September and October, but it doesn't really get cool here until after that. I feel your pain!

    I love to see all the cooking you are doing. I especially like the lentil soup and the salad. Some of my favorite reading is cookbooks.

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    1. Deb, by this time of year we do get hopeful but it won't be too long before I can wear a coat again!

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  15. So many good things in this post! I agree on the chardonnay, we much prefer it lightly or completely unoaked. I think you will like Slumdog Millionaire and Passengers, we enjoyed both of them. My mother also used to make those cakes from leftover mashed potatoes, I love the contrast between the crispy outside and creamy inside. How did you like the Donna Hay cook book? I have several of hers and find the pictures wonderful. I hope your weather cools soon.

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    1. Thank you, Liz! Yes, in the futire I will avoid the oaked Chards as I kept trying them but, still go back to the unoaked.
      Potato cakes seem to be a favorite of so many and they remember it from their childhood. I love them.
      Oh, the Donna Hay cookbook I bought is good but I wasn't as excited about the next Clasics book she has. It has so much baking and sweets and while I like sweets, I'm not as much of a baker.

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  16. Oh yum! I need to get a few new cookbooks from the library. I've hit a major rut when it comes to cooking. I really want to try the Greek cookbook. It looks really good. I've tried other cookbooks Donna Hay and really liked them so I'm adding both to my wishlist.

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    1. Katherine, if you have time maybe check out I Heart Cooking Club and see the themes for each week. It's so flexible and you can get motivied i the kitchen. I am still working on which chef/recipe I want to try this week.

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  17. I think the wine is pricey - but then again we live in a wine growing region and we are very spoilt! I tried The Life of Pi twice and got to the exact same point both times and gave up.

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    1. Tandy, I just looked up the currency exchange rate and I see what you mean! This bottle would probably be about $5 in American currency.

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  18. Love those potato cakes! Sometimes the simplest refashioning from leftovers is the best. I'm quite partial to a nice bottle of wine, unless the pricetag is nuts I don't think about it too much :) life is short, drink wine!

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    1. DoS, I agree about life is too short to NOT imbibe when you’d like 😁

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