Category: Yelly Reads

The books I read and how I feel about them.

Yelly Reads

College Orientation

Yelly

I haven’t blogged in a while and I think it’s quite fitting that my next post is about family.

A little family book promotion can’t be bad, can it?  My cousin Karen Bendersky has written a book with Catherine Chastain-Elliot called College Orientation.  It’s available on Amazon on to pre-order and the release date is 01 January 2013.  Amazon describes the book as:

College Orientation targets freshmen entering four-year institutions and is designed for use from college orientation programs until graduation day and beyond. It provides a roadmap for campus staff and faculty offering orientation programs to facilitate behaviors that increase retention, improve four-year graduation rates, and ultimately, reduce student loan debt. Students receive the information they need to adapt to college life and stay on track towards a degree–all the while learning behaviors that promote achievement after graduation. This comprehensive reference tool is written from an insider’s point of view and has a distinct focus on promoting appropriate college conduct. It covers a multitude of topics that help students navigate the university system while learning how to adapt this information to their future workplace.

If you’ve got someone prepping for college or, as they say in the UK, uni, this book might come in handy!

College Orientation by Karen Bendersky

Yelly Reads

The Fabulous Boy Who Bakes

Yelly

I love Twitter because it makes celebrities more accessible.  Now, before you think that that statement sounds lightly stalkerish, I don’t mean you follow their every tweet.  It just allows you to post a comment and it allows the people you look up to to respond to your message.

I’ve had a few fan girl moments on Twitter where my baking heroes have actually responded to my tweets.  It can be quite the giddy moment.

I have quite a few favourites on Twitter from the Great British Bake Off.  One of them being the first ever winner Edd Kimber.  I’m not ashamed to say that I very much wanted Ruth Clemens to win that series but it was, really, an undeniable truth, that Edd was quite the baking talent.  I became quite the Edd Kimber fan when I was given his cookbook.  His blueberry streusel pie is absolutely amazing and the streusel recipe is so versatile!  I’ve used it for other baking projects and it has been a wonderful addition to my other fruit pies!

Edd has a stall in Maltby Street Market selling his lovely baked treats from his Eddibles Bakery.  I’ve been twice now.  And today, I had the chance to get his new book (which is on my cookbook wishlist) and get it signed too!  Edd was lovely and very accommodating.  He talks to the people who visit his stall and talk to him about the GBBO and his baking and his books.

I felt really cheeky asking him to sign the book for me but he did, even saying that he brought a pen for “just in case!”.  I asked if he could take a photo with me and he said yes!  Total fan girl moment.  I was honestly feeling a bit under the weather this morning but this certainly lifted my spirits!

Thank you Edd!

I’m soooooo looking forward to trying my hand at making the rainbow cake…and the lamingtons…and the bourbons…and the custard creams…

Yelly Reads

Book du jour!

Yelly

Someone has very kindly given me the book I so wanted (see post on 25 September!).

It has now been added to my Kindle and I cannot wait to get stuck in!

Apart from that new development, there is nothing new.  I’ve still got so much to write about but as usual, I am plagued with inertia and the lack of initiative to find the time to write about things.  Not good, I know.  I will get over this writing hump though.  I really will!

Yelly Reads

I want this book!!!

Yelly

I’ve got a list of favourite authors and I collect cookbooks.  I have stopped counting my cookbooks since I started this blog because, considering the size of my flat, I’ve got an obscene amount.  At least in my opinion, it’s obscene, considering the storage limitations.  My next project is to source a book case that can hold my burgeoning cookbook collection!

I do, however, want this book.  It’s supposed to be released on Thursday, 27 September.  And it’s already creating quite the ruckus.

It’s J.K. Rowling’s next book, aimed at grown up readers.  The tagline they’re using to promote it is “A big novel about a small town.”  I should have pre-ordered my book, but things have been hectic and I didn’t get around to doing anything about securing my copy.  The Kindle edition is more expensive than the hardcopy.  But really, I am a J.K. Rowling fan.  I think I’m more than likely to get the actual book!

Yelly Reads

My new toy!

Yelly

This arrived yesterday (and I have been waiting for this for ages!  I preordered this in…early February, I think!).  I received an email from Amazon saying they expected the package to be delivered on March 18.  I waited, and waited and then Mr Postie came and it arrived!  Let me tell you, I was doing tiny jigs of happiness inside!

Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook: Cake Days

This is my second Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook.  I knew it was going to be worth waiting for the cookbook because the recipes are never-fail ones.  As long as you stick to the recipe and have no major deviances from the recipe and the directions, the recipes always, always come out perfectly!

The first recipe I tried was the Chocolate Guinness Cake (I found it quite cute that it was St Paddy’s Day 2 days before and a pint of Guinness would’ve been a good drink to down on the day.  Instead of drinking Guinness, I baked with it!).  You might think I was being over-eager, but I’d waited for this book for absolutely AGES!  I’d heard about the book late last year.  And having used the recipes in the first book (where I got the pecan pie recipe and where I learned to bake my favourite kind of cake: lemon drizzle!)

Anyway, Saturday dawned lovely and sunny and…I WAS ILL!  But I wasn’t about to let a little thing as an illness stop me from trying out the recipes in the new book (I’d bought all the ingredients the night before!  I was that determined!).  2 hours later, there it was, that beauty of a chocolate cake, iced and dusted with cocoa powder.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!  The slice was so pretty that I had to take a picture!

Chocolate Guinness Cake

So for anyone wanting to start baking, I would recommend getting either of the Hummingbird Bakery cookbooks because their recipes are so easy to follow!