Talkie Tuesday: Reality Bites

 

"Inevitably, there are always surprises."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome back to the delightfully delicious reviews that center all around Hannah Swensen and her moonlighting gig as a detective.

 

Honestly, the whole premise is cute, even if slightly unbelievable, but hey, we've seen way worse on this blog site.

 

The latest installment in the series FINALLY seems to establish a bit more ground in the romantic department, and here's to hoping the writing follows up on what's already been TWO invitations to a date, or else we riot.

 

I mean, Hannah's already basically said yes twice.

 

So without further ado and more jabbering from me, let's get right down to the nitty-gritty, and figure out why this one didn't land as well as the others before it.

 

The resident baker-sleuth is back in Reality Bites!

 

Talkie Tuesday: A Sprinkle of Deceit

 

"Not again."

 

Hello everyone!

 

I seem to be in a rather mysterious mood at the moment. Or, at the very least, in a mood to solve a whole lot of mysteries, judging by the book blog from last week and this week's choice of movie review.

 

Yes, yes, I know, the inauguration was yesterday, blablabla.

 

Not really in the mood. I'd prefer something a lot more drama-friendly!

 

So here we are, returning to one of my usual favourite sleuthers that I kind of tucked away by the wayside to return to at some point or other. The movie I watched this weekend actually aired, er, well, in autumn of last year. They're releasing the newest installment this February so I thought to myself, you know what? Maybe I should catch up!

 

So I did.

 

And honestly, I keep forgetting how much I enjoy this light-hearted kind of thing where you don't have to use so much brain energy and just have fun.

 

Hallmark Movies and Mysteries serves a lot of that in A Sprinkle of Deceit.

 

Saturday Snippet: CAKE!

 

When in doubt ... bake cake!

 

xx

*video not mine

Talkie Tuesday: Just Desserts

 

"I really am not one for coincidences."

 

Hello everyone!

 

This is it.

 

We made it.

 

If you've been following this blog then you'll know that the last month or so has been dedicated to the Hallmark Channel series Murder, She Baked.

 

Or well, the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel to be exact.

 

Either way, it's five movies that explore the world of a fictional little town called Eden Lake where Hannah Swenson, the local baker, tries to figure out who committed some murder or other along the way of finding true love.

 

But as the course of said true love never did run smooth, you know there's bound to be trouble when you're least expecting it.

 

And as I keep saying, this isn't necessarily Agatha Christie, but it's certainly enough to keep you occupied for the ninety or so minutes each part runs, and from what I gather there's an entire book series this was based off of, which means I have some exploring to do.

 

Gotta keep current with the books and all that!

 

However for right now, the grand finale, let's take one last stroll through Eden Lake in Murder, She Baked: Just Desserts.

 

Talkie Tuesday: A Deadly Recipe

 "What if's aren't evidence."

Hello everyone!

Look at us go, we're on the second-to-last movie of this franchise, and this now makes me want to go back and rewatch some other Hallmark series that I thoroughly enjoyed so that I can review them on here.

But alas, while the dogs are barking and the caravan passes on, there's also a bunch of new movies that I've yet to have a look at, which means Hallmark might take a backseat for a short while.

Returning to the topic at hand, we are once again in Eden Lake this week with Hannah Swenson who just can't keep her nose out of trouble, no matter whether either of her boyfriends wants it to be so, and it's kind of funny because apparently she's the person everything happens around.

So naturally if you like mystery, mayhem, and a touch of romance in any of your movies or series, I think this is the one for you. Like I've said before, it may not be top of its class in terms of mystery solving to begin with, but it's highly entertaining if nothing else.

Murder, She Baked: A Deadly Recipe tells us that basically no one is safe, no matter how much they might think they are!

Talkie Tuesday: A Peach Cobbler Mystery

"How could I have known that a simple choice would lead to disaster?"

Hello everyone!

We're continuing with our Murder, She Baked mystery series on this blog, since, you know, we're still missing three out of the five movie line-up that Hallmark Movies & Mysteries rolled out about five years ago.

Aren't I on top of things?!?

I do have one or two more recent movies that I'd like to watch and review from them, but for the time being I'm sticking to this because, well, I like finishing one thing first and then moving on to the next one.

Besides, we have yet to see just who Hannah Swenson ends up with!

Not that it's the most important bit of the series, but, it kinda is. Why else would you watch anything from Hallmark to begin with?

And since the weather has turned sufficiently cool over here, I'd say it's pretty safe to go with Murder, She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery.

Talkie Tuesday: A Plum Pudding Mystery

"Murders have to be solved."

Hello everyone!

Okay, yes, this isn't exactly the time to talk about this particular movie installment in the Murder, She Baked series, considering it happens at Christmas time, but there's nothing to it - it's the second one that follows A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery.

And I'm big on chronological order, you know.

Plus there's just something about this particular series that keeps me both amused and entertained at the same time!

It might be Alison Sweeney, or it might be Cameron Mathison.

Either or, although I'll also admit that the stories and the lines running through them are also quite interesting to follow along, if you go into this simply for entertainment's sake.

Agatha Christie it will never be, but it IS something to enjoy just the same!

Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery is up next!

Talkie Tuesday: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery

"Given the right circumstances, everyone is capable of murder."

Hello everyone!

I'M BACK!

And oh my gosh did this take forever.

I do apologise, but this year I decided to just not say anything as we headed off to vacation, and spent a lovely two weeks just decompressing and relaxing.

Then I thought I might be able to get some things done last week, but turns out the whole get your wisdom teeth removed surgery is a little bit more complicated than that.

I caught a light fever mid-week after the Monday situation and so took it easy for the rest of it.

So now, here I am!

With another Hallmark thing. Because obviously Hallmark.

I started a new series (for me anyway) while away, and I have to admit that I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. I mean it's not Agatha Christie level, but it's definitely entertaining.

Murder She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery is up!

Saturday Snippet: Chocolate Chip Cookies

CCC!

xx
*video not mine

Saturday Snippet: Banana Pudding Pie

Hello everyone!

So my sister can make me do just about anything. Seeing as she's my LITTLE sister, you can probably understand how this happens. This time, it was incessantly begging me to bake a pie. Not just any kind of pie, but banana and vanilla pudding pie.

Of course I had no clue how to do it, and so off to the interwebz I went to get some information. I found a recipe alright (not the one above), but the dough did NOT cooperate so I'm going to give you what I did to make it work.

The dough itself I made from my apple pie recipe; the other dough was left to "rot" although I threw it into the oven for 20 minutes after it had been left alone for hours. I think I might retry the original recipe sometime and leave the thing overnight in the fridge, then bake the next day. Might just work.

Anyway, the only difference in this apple pie dough is that I added rum and vanilla sugar into the mixture (per special request). Then I spread it into the pan (which I first rubbed with some butter) and made a rim.

For the filling, I made vanilla pudding from half the bag (or you can cook a full batch, it usually comes with instructions on the back, follow those to a T and then just take as much as you think you need), mashed three bananas (the original recipe says two, but three is better!) and mixed them in, poured it over the dough, popped it into a pre-heated oven at 175 degrees, and baked for roughly twenty-three minutes, but at twenty I started checking if it was baked. It was, I just left it a little longer since my family likes a slightly more baked pie.

And that's it!

xx

*image is mine

Saturday Snippet: Apple Pie

Hello everyone!

So alright, I will admit - like I've said a while ago, me and baking or me and cooking don't really go together. BUT I have a lot of time when I'm at home (or I shovel time aside, sometimes you just have to be violent) to experiment a little bit.

Browsing through random stuff in the kitchen, I stumbled over an old notebook of my mother's, which used to be tagged with blood red letters saying DO NOT TOUCH, MOVE AWAY SLOWLY BEFORE SOMETHING GOES BOOM.

Haha that's just the way you see it as a kid!

But it was a book of her old recipes, and I found the one for apple pie that my maternal grandmother used to make (and we all LOVED to devour). Here it is below!