Book group

Book group last Friday at my house.  The book was pretty poor and we all enjoyed picking holes in it.  We decided the author, who's a  historian, should stick to writing history and leave novels alone.  He didn't seem to understand women or have much insight into romance.  It seemed as though he thought he had found a use for bits of information left over from other historical research.  It didn't work for us.  Occasionally he was downright banal, as when he describes life under Stalin as "an odd system".  Something of a ridiculous understatement!  In case you're interested the book in question was 'One Winter Night' by Simon Sebag Montefiore.  Of course the exercise of our mental faculties left us feeling hungry so we repaired to the kitchen for tea.

On offer, Vietnamese summer rolls with peanut dipping sauce, barm brack (Irish tea bread), Moroccan orange and almond cake and banana muffins (an American recipe).  Pretty international fare!  The banana muffin recipe suggested making the mixture entirely in a zip lock bag, but I didn't have the nerve and used a blender instead.    My cake making skills are not of the best and I'm always amazed when things turn out approximately right.  The muffins were excellent!  The orange and almond cake was pretty good too although rather too much of it got stuck to the side of the tin making it look a trifle moth-eaten and leaving the air a pretty shade of blue!  The Vietnamese summer rolls were made with rice wrappers.  I didn't think they were afternoon tea fare but a friend had requested them and they disappeared quickly.  Just enough of everything left over to keep me happy for a few days!