As seen demonstrated by Annabel Karmel on Channel Nine’s Mornings' show, split toasted English muffins make great individual pizza bases when you're in a hurry. And by topping them yourself you can sneak in some extra veggies . . .

English Muffin Pizzas

Makes 4

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
½  red onion, chopped
½  small red pepper, deseeded and diced
½  small yellow pepper, deseeded and diced
50 g (2 oz) courgette, diced
50 g (2 oz) brown mushrooms, diced
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp garlic puree
2 English muffins
4 tbsp passata
1 tbsp sundried tomato paste
30 g (1 oz) Cheddar, grated
30 g (1 oz) mozzarella, grated
black olives, fresh basil leaves, mini mozzarella balls, piecesof red pepper, to decorate (optional)

Method
1. Preheat the grill.

2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, peppers, courgette and mushrooms for 8 minutes until soft and lightly golden brown. Add the thyme and garlic and fry for 1 minute.

3. Slice the muffins in half and arrange the halves on a baking sheet, cut side up. Mix the passata and sundried tomato paste together and spread over the muffins. Spoon over the mixed vegetables, then sprinkle the tops with the cheeses.

4. Grill for 4-5 minutes until the cheese has melted and is bubbling. Decorate with food 'faces' before serving, if liked.

Read more about Annabel Karmel >
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We can't get enough of Yotam Ottolenghi and his flavourful recipes. Shared Middle-Eastern foods and highlighting the humble vegetable, Ottolenghi's latest cookbook JERUSALEM is a smash hit.

Get to know Ottolenghi a little better and take a look at our 10 quick questions that he answered about food and cooking.

What is the first dish you remember making as a child?
I was more of an eater than a cook as a child – I didn’t find my feet at the stove until I was a student – but I used to love hanging out in the kitchen whilst grandma made her semolina gnocchi. I also remember making something called ‘Moses in his basket’, which was a kosher version of sausage roll. Weird!

What’s the one ingredient you couldn’t live without?
One trilogy, do you mean?! Olive oil, garlic, lemon . . .

What is your greatest tip for home cooks?
Taste as you cook, blanch rather than boil, have fun.

What would be your last meal?
Something comforting – nutty brown rice and miso vegetables, maybe – and a whole lot of wine.|

What is your most memorable meal?
Hainanese chicken rice from a stall in a hawker centre somewhere in Penang, Malaysia. This simple dish of chicken poached with ginger and spring onion and served with rice and various condiments is the best example of simple cooking artistry. I adore Malaysian street food.

Do you own any cookbooks? Which ones?
Which ones don’t I have, more like! I am quite obsessive. I have all of Karen Martini’s books. I absolutely love them.

What is your greatest fear in life?
Big-scale: family and friends, safe and sound etc. On a less cosmic scale, I wouldn’t be great without a bunch of work to do!

What is your favourite place to eat in Australia?
I had two remarkable meals: one at Quay, Sydney, and the other in Gigibaba, Melbourne, which is now sadly shut, if I’m not mistaken. So different and so, so good.

If you could invite 5 people (alive or dead) to dinner, who would they be and why?
Karl and myself, Claudia Roden, Lena Dunham and one of the Flight of the Conchords dudes. I reckon we’d have a fun time.

What is your favourite book and why?
THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES by Edmund de Waal kept me totally gripped on one holiday. I read it twice! Cookery books currently at the bedside include Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt’s The Gaza Kitchen and Deborah Madison’s VEGETABLE LITERACY.

Get your FREE recipe from JERUSALEM >
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Read more about JERUSALEM>

This delicious aubergine recipe really sums up Yotam Ottolenghi and his cooking style – flavoursome, middle-eastern food that showcases beautiful vegetables and spices.

There are many more recipes like this from his cookbook JERUSALEM, such as a roast chicken dish with Jerusalem artichokes, spice cookies and couscous with tomato and onion, cementing Ottolenghi as the Prince of Plenty.

Stuffed Aubergine with Lamb and Pine Nuts

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 medium aubergines (about 1.2kg), halved lengthways
6 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 onions (340g in total), finely chopped
500g minced lamb
50g pine nuts
20g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 tsp tomato purée
3 tsp caster sugar
150ml water
1½ tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp tamarind paste
4 cinnamon sticks
salt and black pepper

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C Fan/Gas Mark 7.

2. Place the aubergine halves, skin-side down, in a roasting tin large enough to accommodate them snugly. Brush the flesh with 4 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with 1 teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper, Roast for about 20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

3. While the aubergines are cooking, you can start making the stuffing by heating up the remaining olive oil in a large frying pan. Mix together the cumin, paprika and ground cinnamon and add half of this spice mix to the pan, along with the onion. Cook on a medium–high heat for about 8 minutes, stirring often, before adding the lamb, pine nuts, parsley, tomato pur.e, 1 teaspoon of the sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and some black pepper. Continue to cook and stir for another 8 minutes, until the meat is cooked.

5. Place the remaining spice mix in a bowl and add the water, lemon juice, tamarind, remaining sugar, cinnamon sticks and ½ teaspoon of salt; mix well.

6. Reduce the oven temperate to 195°C/175°C Fan/Gas Mark 5½. Pour the spice mix into the bottom of the aubergine roasting tin. Spoon the lamb mixture on top of each aubergine. Cover the tin tightly with foil, return to the oven and roast for 1 hour 30 minutes, by which point the aubergines are completely soft and the sauce thick; twice through the cooking, remove the foil and baste the aubergines with the sauce, adding some water if the sauce dries out. Serve warm, not hot, or at room temperature.

These are deliciously hearty and best served with some bread or simple rice and some pickles on the side. They are pretty hardy and can be left sitting in the tray for an hour or two, chilled, until you are ready to reheat them and serve.

Enjoy!

More FREE recipes from bestselling Random House cookbooks >
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Writing the Novel

The kernel for this novel formed years before I began writing it, when I was a student in St. Petersburg in college. I lived near a military school and every day I’d see these cadets, maybe sixteen, seventeen years old, marching along the street. They wore impeccable blue uniforms and peaked hats, they looked bright-eyed and eager, they could have been actors in a commercial advertising future leaders of Russia. About two blocks over was a metro station where veterans gathered. They were just a few years older than the cadets, and they also wore their uniforms, but most were missing limbs, most were homeless, and they survived by asking commuters for spare change. It just seemed like there was a chasm between those two streets. I couldn’t see how those kids could become those tragic vets.
 

And from that point on, I became fascinated by Chechnya. I read all I could. Chechnya has a fascinating history and culture. Traditionally they have been fiercely independent highlanders who’ve been a thorn in Russia’s side for centuries. In the Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn wrote that the Chechens were the only ethnicity in the Gulag system that refused to follow the orders of the prison guards, and the only ethnicity that the guards were too afraid of to punish.

And while I was reading all this non-fiction about Chechnya, I tried to find fiction set there. This was a few years ago, but I couldn’t find a single novel written in English about contemporary Chechnya. I found a wonderful short story by David Benioff, and that was pretty much it. And so really, I began this book because I wanted to write the type of novel I was searching for but couldn’t find. And this meant writing a book with the reader always in mind.

I mention that because I understand that a novel dealing with recent Chechen history may seem necessarily bleak. But I tried to approach the subject the same way David Benioff approached the Siege of Leningrad in City of Thieves. In terms of human suffering, there are few events in human history that compare to the Siege of Leningrad, and yet he manages to honor that suffering without ever forsaking humor or pathos or heart or hope, and that’s something I’ve really tried to do here as well. The lower the notes in a piece the more necessary those higher notes become, and this is a novel that plays both ends of the keyboard.

I say that not only because I think those are the best novels, but because I think that’s true to life in Chechnya. I’ve traveled through Chechnya and the people I met there are so generous and proud and hopeful and determined to rebuild their country. For example, I met a man who began building a scale model of his childhood village in his backyard after it was destroyed in the Second Chechen War. Ten years later, it’s grown into this immense complex of traditional homes, and stone towers, and irrigation channels that he’s single-handedly rescued from the past and preserved.
 

The love a parent feels for a child, or the love a sister feels for a sister, or the love that develops between two strangers, and the complexities and sacrifices that love demands. It’s a novel about these characters. They’ve meant a lot to me and I hope they will to you as well.

Read the first part of this blog >
Read more about Anthony Marra >
Read more about A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA >

About the Novel

My novel is called A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA, and it was published in May 2013 by Hogarth. It’s set in Chechnya, which as you may know is a republic in southern Russia that endured a series of devastating wars, occupations and insurgencies that began in 1994 after Chechnya declared independence from Moscow, and have only recently subsided. During this period Russian forces abducted and disappeared anyone suspected of abetting Chechen separatists, a practice which continues to this day.

The novel begins on a night in December 2004 in a snow-covered village, where a man named Akhmed watches as his neighbor and life-long friend is abducted by Russian forces. The soldiers are searching not only for the neighbor, but for the neighbor’s eight-year-old daughter. When they fail to find her, they set the neighbor’s house on fire and drive off. Akhmed finds his neighbor’s daughter hiding in the woods, and he takes her to the only safe place he can think of, a ramshackle hospital in the nearest city.

The hospital is run by a hard-nosed surgeon name Sonja, who is the only surgeon left in a city of thousands. As a character she’s tough-minded, ambitious, unsentimental, and determined, as she’s had to be to reach the top of her field in the highly stratified and patriarchal society of Chechnya. She was educated in London and returned to Chechnya to search for her missing sister. At first she’s unwilling to harbor the girl both because of her responsibilities as the only surgeon in this war-torn city and also because she doesn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize her sister’s return. But eventually she agrees on the condition that Akhmed begins working for her at the hospital.

These three characters, and the unusual family they become, remain the focal point as the novel begins to expand and to follow different characters into the past. For instance, we follow Sonja’s sister through a series of chapters set in earlier years and begin to see how her fate is linked to that of the girl, the girl’s abducted father, and Akhmed. We follow the village informer, who was once close friends with Akhmed and a godfather to the girl, as he tries to find the girl and surrender her to the Russian forces. We follow the informer’s father, a historian who has spent his entire life writing an epic multi-volume history of Chechnya. Every time he gets close to completing it, a change in leadership in Moscow requires him to go back and rewrite the entire book in order to conform with the nuances of the prevailing Soviet political ideology. At home, he cares for all of the dogs of those his son has helped disappear as he considers a more drastic course of action.
 

The backdrop for much of this is the hospital, and the idea of recovery and healing is as important to this novel as it is to, say, The Tiger’s Wife or THE ENGLISH PATIENT. The title itself, A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA, is actually the medical dictionary definition of life. There are six vital phenomena—organization, irritability, movement, growth, reproduction, and adaptation—and the constellation of these is what constitutes life at its most elemental, microbial level, and as life is structured as the consolation of these six phenomena, this novel is structured as the constellation of these six main characters.

Read the second part of this blog >
Read more about Anthony Marra >
Read more about A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA >

Thousands of Dan Brown fans have raced out to grab their copy of INFERNO, to follow Robert Langdon on his latest mystery. Don’t get left behind – read our Robert Langdon refresher to catch up on his previous adventures and then you’ll be ready to embark on Professor Langdon’s latest quest in the heart of Europe.

*Spoilers below

ANGELS & DEMONS

1. ANGELS & DEMONS begins with the murder of Physicist Leonardo Vetra at his laboratory within CERN, a physics company. Vetra was also a Catholic priest.
2. Robert Langdon, a Harvard University Professor, is called in by Maximilian Kohler, the director of CERN, to investigate Vetra’s murder.
3. An ancient brotherhood known as the Illuminati is said to be behind Vetra’s death. The Illuminati began in the 1500s as a group of physicists, mathematicians and astronomers who met to discuss the churches’ inaccurate teachings and grew to be the biggest adversary to the Catholic Church.
4. Robert Langdon and Vetra’s adoptive daughter, Vittoria Vetra, who is also a scientist, find themselves in Rome and the Vatican on the hunt for Vetra’s killer, but along the way they soon become the hunted.

THE DA VINCI CODE

1. Set in France, THE DA VINCI CODE starts off with the murder of curator Jacques Saunière in the famous Louvre Museum.
2. Joining Robert Langdon to solve the murder is cryptologist Sophie Neveu, the granddaughter of the man who has been murdered.
3. The first riddle is left on the Leonardo Da Vinci drawing, The Vitruvian Man.
4. Langdon and Neveu start to investigate the murder and find a bigger battle between secret societies, the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei. The Priory of Sion hold many secrets about the Holy Grail and the relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Opus Dei plan to find the truth and ruin the Vatican.
5. Langdon and Neveu follow a trail of riddles, secrets and clues to find out that Sophie is a descendent of Mary Magdalene and where the legendary Holy Grail is hidden. The murderer of Saunière is found and the secrets of the Priory are kept safe.

THE LOST SYMBOL

1. Professor Langdon is summoned unexpectedly for an evening lecture in the US Capitol Building by his beloved mentor and friend, Peter Solomon (who is also a prominent Mason).
2. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels and temples of Washington, DC, Langdon discovers Solomon has been kidnapped by Mala’kh, and to save Solomon’s life, Langdon must find the location of the Masons’ Pyramid and the Lost Symbol.
3. Mal’akh is on a mission to secure an ancient source of power and has posed as a Freemason to learn their secrets and get closer to Solomon.
4. After discovering the Pyramid in a package that Solomon had entrusted to him, Langdon is then forced by Mal’akh to unlock the code at the Pyramid’s base. Mal’akh is then ready to be sacrificed as he sees himself as the manifestation of an angel of the Black Arts, destined to become a demonic spirit and lead the forces of evil.
5. The book ends with Langdon being informed that the true Masonic Pyramid is atop the Washington Monument, and the true Word (the ‘Word of God’), is buried underneath the Monument’s staircase. The symbols on the pyramid’s base translates to Praise God.

Read more about Dan Brown >
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He doesn't have a Michelin star, nor is his face as familiar as many of the brash young celebrity chefs who dominate our television screens.

But Yotam Ottolenghi, who launched his career with a humble eponymously named cafe in London's Notting Hill a decade ago, has tapped into the Zeitgeist of casual, shared foods and Mediterranean flavours, and we can't get enough of him.

Ottolenghi's newest book, JERUSALEM, a follow-up to bestsellers OTTOLENGHI and vegetarian bible PLENTY, has been a smash hit in Britain and the US, making it on to The New York Times bestseller list within days. It has received a similarly enthusiastic response in Australia for its bold and flavourful recipes, from roasted sweet potatoes with fresh figs, and lamb-stuffed quince with pomegranate and coriander, to cardamom rice pudding with pistachios and rosewater.

Yotam Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Feasts, a four-part television series in which he travels to Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia and Israel, introducing his audience to the lesser-known flavours of the southern and eastern Mediterranean, aired on SBS in March, further whetting our appetite for this unassuming cook born to an Italian father and a German mother, who grew up in West Jerusalem. So what is it that has captured our attention when cookbooks and travelling chefs are a dime a dozen?

'It's a combination of a few factors, I think,' muses Ottolenghi on the phone from England. 'In London the food of the Middle East has never been exposed that much, at least not in a good way, though it is a little different in Australia with your large Lebanese and Turkish communities.

Second, I think it's our emphasis on non-meat dishes, which people are more and more keen on experiencing; they want to incorporate more vegetables and grains into their diet . . . Then there's the aesthetic.'

The Ottolenghi aesthetic is one of abundance - oversized platters piled high with brightly coloured salads or pastries, a sense of lavishness and plenty often lacking in more structured and traditional restaurant environments. At a loss to label his food style, Ottolenghi prefers to describe as 'noisy' the often-unusual ingredients he incorporates into his dishes.

'Normally when you try to describe a cuisine, you end up reverting to a part of the world; you talk about Vietnamese or Sardinian or a certain part of India, but we draw inspiration from many regions so [referring to] the ingredients is a very good starting point,' Ottolenghi says.

He and business partner and Jerusalem co-author Sami Tamimi like a lot of spices and herbs and citrus. 'We love garlic and all the sweet condiments such as date molasses - things that are substantial in flavour and hit you when you taste them. We find it more inspiring to work with them than with things that are subtle or understated.'

Tamimi and Ottolenghi grew up on opposite sides of the fence in Jerusalem - Tamimi from a Palestinian rather than Jewish background - meeting only as adults when working in London. Ottolenghi had trained for six months at Le Cordon Bleu London then worked in a variety of restaurants, cafes and delis as a pastry chef before opening his first cafe, Ottolenghi, in Notting Hill in 2002 (he has since opened three more, in Islington, Kensington and Belgravia). Tamimi joined him in the early days of Notting Hill. The pair's diverse cultural experiences and food heritage provided fertile ground for recipe development, as has collaboration with the Ottolenghi group's wider pool of talented young kitchen staff, including Australian Ramael Scully, who heads up kitchen at Nopi, the only restaurant in the Ottolenghi group, which opened in Soho in 2011.

'Within our business we have a lot of creative forces, and the chefs we work with have a big influence,' Ottolenghi says. '[Scully] came to us a few years ago and his food is very special, and different from what we used to cook. His flavours very much influence the stuff I publish and what appears on our menus.'

Like many chefs in hot demand, Ottolenghi admits he spends little time in the Ottolenghi kitchens these days, instead focusing on recipe development at the group's Camden test kitchen and writing books and a food column for Britain's Guardian newspaper.

'It's funny, when we opened that first cafe, lots of people asked if the owners were Australian - they thought there was something very Australian about it.'

This article was independently written for Wish Magazine. 

Read more from The Australian's Wish Magazine >
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We asked Emily Gale – the author of STEAL MY SUNSHINE, and children’s book buyer at Carlton Readings – what it takes to write for teens, and her answer was a little unexpected.

My world is divided into two camps: those who read children’s books all the time and those who find that more than a little strange. These camps are evenly populated, because on the one hand I work as a children’s book buyer, but on the other hand most of my other acquaintances are in unrelated industries. Some from the latter camp have had a brief reunion with children’s books as parents, before their kids learn to read independently, but they’ve never read a children’s book during their adult life for fun.

The reactions I get around publication time vary. Disclaimer: most people say kind and generous things even if they privately regard children’s books as inferior. But the reaction that gets my cogs turning is from those who assume I write for teenagers as a public service. Writing for teenagers means I’m going out of my way to do something selfless; I must be a nice person, more than a good writer, because I’m ‘doing it for the kids’.

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not nice – not like that, anyway. My passion for writing is totally selfish. As much as I take seriously the responsibility of writing books that teenagers will read, my drive as a writer differs from my passion for my day job. There are several reasons why I say I write about teens rather than for them.

I write about teenagers because they impress me and, above all, they interest me. Their futures are vast, clear canvases but they live in the now. Teenagers rarely see their own potential. I see it and I want to stand in their place, immerse myself in their untold stories. I do that for myself because those stories are rich in possibility.

Teenagers occupy a special place in any culture, in their own private zone – impervious to adults – and in the ways they interact with other generations. The not-child, not-adult is a great subject.

If we all have an inner child, mine’s fifteen. She’s annoyed that I grew up, had children and started sounding like her mother. She needs my stories because she spends most of her days in a state of anxiety, imagining what life is like instead of living it. I write for the teen I once was.

All of that said, when I ask myself what the best outcome of having my book published is, it's simply this: that a teenager other than my inner one has enjoyed it.

Read more about Emily Gale >
Read more about STEAL MY SUNSHINE >

Tuesday February 26th ­– Calorie Intake = immeasurable

3 pm
Have hit weekly calorie intake in just two days, through no fault of my own. Must colleagues continually celebrate their birthdays with cake? It would actually be rude to say no. Must demonstrate self-control and refrain from any further snacking until dinner.

3:30 pm
Just consumed half a packet of wasabi peas while fantasising about snowboarding mini-break to Tokyo.
Wonder if the Japanese people eat wasabi peas, or if they're just a cheap bar snack designed to enlarge the bottoms of Western women. My lips are starting to swell up from overconsumption of dehydrated peas.

MUST STOP EATING THEM NOW!

3:40 pm
Have chipped tooth on super-hard wasabi pea.
Am being punished for snacking on delightful cocktail food.

Wednesday February 27th – Dentist appointments = 1

8:50 am
Am in dentist waiting room. Wondering if I should admit to wasabi pea story or embellish the truth slightly . . . Can you chip your tooth while saving small children from impending death?
Dreading white-haired, ancient dentist sticking his wrinkling hands in my mouth for the next thirty minutes.

9:40 am
Am in love with my new dentist, Dr Dreamy^. Not ancient at all, but instead young, strapping dentist with five o'clock shadow and scrubs. Ding dong.

10 am
Oh God! Have realised while I was gazing into Dr Dreamy's lovely green eyes he was looking at me. Me with my mouth agape, lips protracted, gums revealed, wearing ugly eye-protector goggles. May have dribbled down chin and onto bib while rinsing mouth. Fuuuccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!

4 pm
Don't want to get ahead of myself . . . *cue bridal waltz* ‘And it all started over some irresponsible snacking on wasabi peas!’

Thursday February 28 – Phone calls from potential dentist husbands = 0

10:15 am
Wonder if Dr Dreamy is under some ethical-type code restricting him from looking up my number on my patient records so he can call and ask me out.
Are dentists not allowed to date their patients or is that just doctors?
Perhaps I need to change to a different dentist so Dr Dreamy doesn't feel morally forbidden to ask me out.

10:30 am
Have Googled ‘can dentists date their patients?’ and have discover that technically ‘it's wrong according to the Hippocratic Oath’, HOWEVER, according to a survey, ‘that's not enough to stop one in five dentists from having a relationship with a patient’. (Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/dentist/romance/prweb566737.htm)

Friday March 1 – Days until next dental check-up = 36 (but not counting)

2 pm
Have booked a ‘consultation’ with Dr Dreamy to discuss future orthodontic options. Will devise full-scale matchmaking plan before then.

^ Names have been changed to protect the privacy of my future husband and our children.

Did You Know? . . . 

• Cross is six foot three and about 90 kilos.
• Both his parents had passed away by the time he was ten.
• Of three brothers, all who were raised separately to him, only one remains.
• His first wife, Maria, was tragically killed in a drive-by shooting.
• Cross has three children, Damon and Janelle from his first marriage and Ali (Alex Jr) from another long-term relationship.
• Alex Cross is now married to Brianna (Bree) Stone, the rising star detective at the MPD.
• His PhD in psychology has special concentration in the fields of abnormal psychology and forensic psychology.
• He worked for the VICAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) as a liaison between the FBI and DC.
• Cross now works for the MPD as a special consultant to the Major Case Squad.

TIMELINE OF THE FIRST 10 CASES SOLVED

1. ALONG CAME A SPIDER
Life changes for Deputy Chief of Detectives Alex Cross when he is drawn into a high-profile case. Two nine-year-old children are kidnapped by a teacher, Gary Soneji, from the prestigious Washington Day School. Maggie Rose Dunne is the daughter of an actress, and Michael ‘Shrimpie’ Goldberg is the son of the Secretary of Treasury. A ransom of $10 million is demanded.

2. KISS THE GIRLS
Alex Cross matches wits with Casanova and The Gentlemen Caller. This time it is personal. Naomi Cross, twenty-two-year-old daughter of Cross’s deceased brother Aaron, is reported missing. She is a law student at Duke University. Cross goes to North Carolina, fearing the worst.

3. JACK & JILL
A game of Life and Death. Sam Harrison (Jack) and Sara Rosen (Jill) delight in their board game that has photos of famous people; a simple roll of the dice determines their destiny.

When sixty-four-year-old Senator Daniel Fitzpatrick is found murdered, the FBI makes a formal request for Cross. The FBI is stymied. The code name for President Thomas Byrnes is Jack. The First Lady’s is Jill.

4. CAT AND MOUSE
A killer named Mr Smith begins his murder spree in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then starts terrorising Europe. Bodies are found ‘gutted’. At the same time, Gary Soneji taunts Cross with murders in train stations.

5. POP GOES THE WEASEL
Geoffrey Shafer, the Weasel, works in Intelligence in the British Embassy in DC. He and three twisted friends play a Game of Death that involves unsuspecting women around the world.

6. ROSES ARE RED
Meet The Mastermind. He’s the man behind bank robberies and the murder of bank employees committed in Virginia and Maryland. Then a tour bus is hijacked in DC and a $30 million ransom demanded. Cross and an FBI team have less than two hours to deliver.

7. VIOLETS ARE BLUE
A string of gruesome murders points to a vampire subculture in the United States. Cross flies to San Francisco to meet with Inspector Jamilla Hughes, Homicide. They compile a list of unsolved vampire murders going back at least eleven years.

8. FOUR BLIND MICE
The Bluelady Murders occur at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Army wives are killed and their bodies painted blue. John Sampson asks Cross to talk to his friend and mentor, Sergeant Ellis Cooper, who has been convicted of the murders but swears he is innocent.

9. THE BIG BAD WOLF
Zamochit means ‘the breaking of bones’. It is part of a murder ritual practiced by members of the Red Mafiya. The ‘impossible’ murder of an Italian godfather in the high-security, supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, is just the beginning.

10. LONDON BRIDGES
Geoffrey Shafer, the Weasel, is found and abducted from Salvador, Brazil. The notorious Wolf then sends him on a mission. His first job is to completely wipe out an American town—Crescent Valley, Nevada. And once again, that is just the beginning.

Read more about James Patterson >
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Delve straight into the new James Patterson thriller SECOND HONEYMOON with our quick ‘Honeymoon Cheat Sheet’ to get you up to speed.

In Honeymoon we are introduced to FBI Agent John O’Hara who is on the case to catch a killer. The killer’s name is Nora Sinclair, a gorgeous woman who seems to have everything going for her.

Honeymoon is a thrilling ride of suspense as O’Hara tries to catch Nora before she can kill any more of the men in her life, including Agent O’Hara!

The Murderess, Nora Sinclair:

Nora Sinclair seems to have it all; she’s beautiful, has the charm, the intelligence and the sophistication, and is desired by every man she meets. However, her growing offshore bank account in the Cayman Islands has come at a price. With her first husband killed to acquire his fortune she now has her sights set on her new husband in Boston and her fiancée in New York!

Clearly not finished on her killing spree, both her current husband, an author in Boston, and Agent O’Hara are next on her list. After all she is just following in her mother’s footsteps as a husband killer.

The FBI Agent, John O'Hara:

FBI Agent John O’Hara knows there is something dangerous about Nora, something dark hidden among the unexplained gaps in her past.

As O’Hara continues his investigation, he can’t help falling victim to Nora’s charms and the two have a brief affair. As Nora’s suspicions grow about who O’Hara really is, she does her own investigating and it appears O’Hara is a happily married man with children. Not happy with this new development Nora sets her sights on O’Hara as her next victim!

SECOND HONEYMOON

In SECOND HONEYMOON, Agent John O’Hara is back this time on the hunt for a deranged killer targeting honeymooners. At the same time, Special Agent Sarah Brubaker is hunting another ingenious serial killer. As hysteria rises, John and Sarah work closely in a frantic attempt to decipher the logic behind two rampages.

Pick up or download your copy from 1 July, 2013.

Read more about James Patterson >
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It’s so easy to feel frustrated and powerless when your child simply refuses to eat certain foods. But the key is not to give in or give up. When my three children were growing up, I persisted with new foods and creative ways to hide the good bits. After all, vegetables contain the essential nutrients children need to grow and develop, so it’s really important.

Here are my top tips for helping your children get enough vegetables . . .

1. Offer them crudités. Many children who don’t like cooked vegetables will eat them raw. Vegetables such as carrot, cucumber and capsicum sticks make great snacks any time of the day and you can serve them with tasty dips like hummus.

2. Disguise vegetables by blending them into a tomato sauce and serve it with pasta. You can double bluff by leaving a few chunky vegetables in the sauce for your child to pick out, and then he’ll never suspect that there are still some in there. Try sneaking vegetables into other dishes such as wraps, cannelloni, lasagne or quesadillas, and hide under grated cheese in pizzas.

3. Overcooked soggy vegetables are a turn off. Steam rather than boil vegetables: they taste and look better. Alternatively, stir-fry vegetables. It’s worth buying a wok; stir-frying snow-peas in a little butter is much nicer than boiling them.

4. How about growing your own vegetables and getting your child involved? It’s surprisingly easy to grow vegetables such as potatoes, broccoli, zucchini and runner beans. Children will be intrigued to eat something they have grown themselves.

5. Try adding carrot or sweet potato to ordinary mashed potato. Sweet potato is also delicious on its own and contains more vitamins and fibre than ordinary potato. You can use it as a substitute for potato to make oven-baked potato wedges or mash. Interestingly, the more colourful the vegetable the better it is for you, as the pigment contains valuable antioxidants.

6. Try adding some more unusual vegetables like Chinese cabbage, snow peas, bean sprouts and baby sweetcorn to stir-fries. Add a splash of teriyaki sauce and some noodles for added child appeal.  Try them with some child-friendly chopsticks that are joined at the top – your child will have so much fun picking up the food, he will forget to make a fuss.

7. Children like eating with their fingers, so serve vegetables such as whole corn on the cob with butter, or baked potato wedges.

8. Children love things to be visually appealing. Vegetables are great as they are easy to present in a fun way. When chopped up and arranged in rainbows or little faces, it can spell the difference between kids viewing them as intriguing and approachable and pushing them away without hesitation.

9. Creating positive food experiences can decrease picky eating tendencies. A great way of getting your little ones eating their veg is to set up a reward system using stars on a chart.

10. If vegetables and healthy foods are relegated to an afterthought in your household, it’s tough to expect your kids to take to them.  Lead by example and include plenty of varied veg on your plate – and show them how much you are enjoying it!

Since parents are working harder than ever to keep their families happy and healthy, I have created QUICK AND EASY TODDLER RECIPES – the first in the series of ‘Quick and Easy’ recipe books.

The full-colour recipe book contains over 100 delicious, nutritious, time-saving recipes packed full of natural flavour. What’s more, tired mums and dads can enjoy these recipes too, so there’s clean plates all round.

Read more about Annabel Karmel >
Read more about QUICK AND EASY TODDLER RECIPES >

Setting off to the Sydney Writers' Festival, you need to make sure you’ve got your essentials packed, here’s a quick and easy list of what you must make sure is in your bag (or back pocket!):
 

1. Program – seems obvious, but you always forget one thing and this tends to be the most common. Make sure you know where you’re going, who you’re seeing and don’t end up in the wrong session!

2. Money – for all those books you’re going to be buying (and cakes and cuppas).

3. Pen and notepad – for the author to sign the above books, and for you to make lists of all the books you want to read next . . . because we're sure you need more books in your 'to-read' pile.

4. Phone – so you can get your photo taken with the author signing a book for you, and send it to all your friends, Facebook, tweet etc!

5. Sunscreen – well here’s hoping it's a nice sunny day. You might be standing outside waiting for an event or lining up to see an author in the direct sun. Come prepared for all types of weather!

Enjoy!

Read more about the Sydney Writers' Festival >
View books from Random House authors attending the Sydney Writers' Festival >
 

We love to read books set far away, in exotic and unheard of locations. Here are our top literary fiction picks to give you a glimpse into lives around the world. From Chechnya to Kabul to Papua New Guinea – transport yourself to a place you've never been with these compelling books.

	A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA by Anthony Marra 'Simply spectacular' – Ann Patchett. In a snow-covered village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa watches  as her father is abducted by Russian soldiers. Their friend, Akhmed, finds Havaa and he knows of only one person who might be able to help, tough-minded doctor Sonja Rabina. When everything else seems lost, watch out for the unexpected ties that bind us together . . .
	THE ORPHAN MASTER'S SON by Adam Johnson Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Pak Jun Do knows he is special. He knows he must be the son of the master of the orphanage, not some kid dumped by his parents. He knows he is special when he is picked as a spy and kidnapper for his country, the glorious Democratic Republic of North Korea. A ground-breaking story about a young man's passage through the prison camps and dictatorship of North Korea.
	THE RAINBOW TROOPS by Andrea Hirata Record-breaking bestseller – over 5 million copies sold! Ikal is a student at Muhammadiyah Elementary, on the Indonesian island of Belitong, where graduating from sixth grade is considered a major achievement. His school is under constant threat of closure. In fact, Ikal and his friends face threats from every angle. But in the form of two extraordinary teachers, they also have hope, and Ikal's education is an uplifting one, in and out of the classroom.
	WE NEED NEW NAMES by NoViolet Bulawayo Ten-year-old Darling has a choice: it's down, or out. Darling and her friends live in a shanty called Paradise in Zimbabwe, which of course is no such thing. They dream of the paradises of America, Dubai, Europe, where Madonna and Barack Obama and David Beckham live. For Darling, that dream will come true. But, like the thousands of people all over the world trying to forge new lives far from home, Darling finds this new paradise brings its own set of challenges.
	THE LITTLE COFFEE SHOP OF KABUL by Deborah Rodriguez Bestselling novel of 2011 and book club favourite. In a little coffee shop in one of the most dangerous places on earth (Kabul, Afghanistan), five very different women come together. Sunny, Yazminda, Candace, Isabel and Halajan. As these five discover there's more to one another than meets the eye, they form a unique bond that will for ever change their lives and the lives of many others.
	THE MOUNTAIN by Drusilla Modjeska Nominated for numerous book awards including the 2013 Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1968 Papua New Guinea is on the brink of independence, and everything is about to change. This sweeping novel takes us deep into this fascinating, complex country, whose culture and people cannot escape the march of modernity that threatens to overwhelm them.

Bianca Nogrady is the author of THE END: THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE OF DEATH. THE END is an exploration of that experience, exploring the human experience of death from every angle - the spiritual, the historical, the physical, the metaphysical; from the perspective of those who have witnessed it, those who face it, and those who have somehow stepped back from it. Below, Bianca shares with us the top 5 surprising facts about death that she came across during her research for her book.
 

1. We still don’t really know what death is

Walking and talking? Yep, you’re alive. Cold, blue, rigor mortis? I’m sorry, but you’re  obviously dead. It’s the spectrum in between those two that we’re not so clear on. The definition of death is so controversial that international conferences are held solely on the subject.

Is someone dead if their heart still beats by itself but they need help to breathe and there’s no sign of brain activity? What if that heart continues to beat for twenty years?

Or is someone dead when their heart stops beating, and if so, how long after it stops beating − two minutes, five minutes? What about the woman who was pronounced dead, then placed on a heart−lung bypass machine, and whose heart began to spontaneously beat again 23 minutes later?

2. We can control when we die

We are not as helpless in the face of death as we think. At the very end, we do have some control over the timing of our death. Whether it’s the dying grandfather who waits until all his grandchildren are at the bedside before he dies, or the mother who dies the moment her daughter leaves the room after a long bedside vigil, it seems we can sometimes die at the hour of our choosing.

Even money is motivation to hang on, or let go. Changes to estate taxes in both the US and Australia have been associated with significant shifts in death rates in the weeks before and after these changes were implemented, suggesting the dying hung on just those few extra days, or checked out early to reduce their heirs’ tax bills.

3. They can hear you

Those of us who have sat at the bedside of a loved one who is unconscious and near death might have wondered if they heard us say those things we wished we’d said when they were awake. The answer is (probably) yes. A study of patients in medically induced comas found they were able to hear what was going on around them but they processed that information in a dream-like state. So don’t let those precious words go unsaid.

4. ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ − the latest in tattoo fashion

Some people are taking the idea of an advance directive to the extreme. Worried that they might find themselves unconscious in hospital without anyone to make their end-of-life wishes known, some are getting ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ or ‘DNR’ tattooed on their chests.

5. Not everyone wants to go in their sleep

How many of us have secretly wished that death would sneak up on us without us knowing, or hoped that we might get taken out in a blinding flash with no awareness of what happened? Not everyone shares that view. Some people choose to face death awake and alert. For them, death is an experience they don’t want to miss out on.

Read more about Bianca Nogrady >
Read more about THE END: THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE OF DEATH >

Read the Top 5 Worst Mums in Literature here >
 

	Marilla Cuthbert in ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery Marilla is Anne's adoptive mother and while she comes across as rather stern and cold at the start, Anne manages to soften Marilla and they go on to share a special bond. Marilla is a no-nonense kind of woman, but we love her.
	Mrs Darling in PETER PAN by J.M. Barrie Mrs Darling is a loving wife and mother to Wendy, John and Michael. She nevers gives up hope on them returning after they go to Neverland, and when they return she adopts the Lost Boys and treats them like her own sons.
	Marmee in LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott The matriarch of the March househould, Marmee helps guide her girls in their pursuits and encourages charitable work and moral behaviour. She's affectionate, strong and adored by all her family.
	Topaz in I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith Topaz is the bohemian stepmother of Cassandra. She is supportive, free-spirited and loves everyone.
	Mrs. Hamley in WIVES AND DAUGHTERS by Elizabeth Gaskell Mrs Hamley is a patient of Molly's father and sents Molly to live with the Hamley family at Hamley Hall. Here, Molly and Mrs Hamley form a close bond and Mrs Hamley cares and loves Molly like she was her own daughter.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Rosy Icing

Makes 24
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
4 eggs
2 cups (440g) caster sugar
2 cups (300g) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (250ml) milk
125g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing
190g butter, at room temperature, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons rose water
3 cups (450g) icing mixture, sifted
3–4 drops red food colouring

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (140°C fan-forced). Line two 12-hole cupcake tins (50ml capacity) with paper patty cases.

2. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs for 4–5 minutes or until pale and creamy. With the mixer still running, gradually add the caster sugar and continue to beat for 3–4 minutes. The mixture is ready when it ‘forms the ribbon’. This means when the paddle or a spoon is lifted out of the mixture, a trail is left across the surface for a moment before it sinks.

3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold through the egg mixture. In the microwave or in a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter until just melted. Add the vanilla and gently fold through the batter. Divide the batter between the patty cases.

4. Bake for 20 minutes or until slightly risen and lightly golden brown. A skewer inserted into the centre will come out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before lifting out onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

5. To make the icing, cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until lighter in colour. Add the vanilla and rosewater and mix for a moment to combine. Sift the icing mixture into the bowl and start to combine on a low speed. When the mixture is all wet, increase the speed and beat until light and fluffy. Put a few drops of food colouring into the bowl and mix for a delicate, pale rose colour. Place the icing in a piping bag with a 1cm star-shaped nozzle and pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. For an extra touch of elegance, they can be topped with pink icing roses and green leaves.

Read more about Julie Goodwin >
Read more about GATHER >

Every classic tale has one, the despicable and appalling mother we all wish we never ever have! Here our are Top 5 Worst Mums in Literature. Read this list first and then take a look at our Top 5 Best Mums in Literature.
 

	The Stepmother in Hansel and Gretel in GRIMMS' FAIRY TALES by The Brothers Grimm The abusive stepmother of Hansel and Gretel convinces their father and her husband to abandon the children in the woods so that they can have more food for themselves. It's a case of karma when the children return with jewels and treasures, while the stepmother has died of unknown causes.
	Mrs Wormwood in MATILDA by Roald Dahl Mr and Mrs Wormwood are the dimwitted and greedy parents of prodigious Matilda. They pay no attention to her and see her special skills as foolish and idiotic. It's no wonder she left home to go live with her loving teacher Ms Honey.
	Mary in PRECIOUS by Sapphire Sapphire's mother Mary is dysfunctional and abusive. This is truly one of the saddest and most disturbing books we've read.
	Jeanette's mother in ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT by Jeanette Winterson Combative and controlling, Jeanette's mother adopted Jeanette because she wanted to train her daughter to be a servant of God. During the opening chapters, Jeanette's mother does appear to love her daughter, but this love is conditional upon the way that Jeanette fills her mother's expectations.
	Mrs Bennet in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen There was some deliberation in the office from the PRIDE AND PREJUDICE aficionados about whether Mrs Bennett was a truly a bad mother. After many discussions back and forth, it was decided that the small-minded woman who was fixated on getting her daughters married would be #5 on this list.