on the shelf #1

This is the 1st of what I hope will become a monthly feature on my blog – a place to share what I am reading, listening to, watching or simply paging through with my morning coffee! I often post links to music, or books I am reading so thought it would be a good idea to put them in one “book-club” kind of place. If you have a search on Instagram for the hashtag #readinginthemedina you will find books there too, and it would be great if you joined in and shared what you are reading.

Another 1st for me in this post is linking to my Amazon Affiliate Account – which basically means if you buy anything off Amazon following the links I post, it makes no difference to your costs at all, but Tea in Tangier will get a commission.

While some of this will be helpful for admin costs of the site I will, in a small attempt to share the love, donate 20% annually to a Womens’ Cooperative in Tangier – and will write more about this in posts to come!

I do like a cookbook and to be honest, a lot of the time I must confess that I only look at the pictures, but these two books have both become part of a family repertoire. I have written about the Cook For Syria Recipe Book before – not only is it a great cause but I can certainly vouch for some of the recipes. We have made the Shakriyeh (lamb and hot yoghurt stew) by @DaliasKitchen on more than one occasion . . . plates have been licked clean!

Another favourite of mine is the Za’atar Chicken from Palestine on a Plate: Memories from my mother’s kitchen – thanks to author Joudie Kallah, pomegranate molasses is now a staple in my kitchen cupboard!

Last year I asked for a simple old-fashioned CD player for my birthday  – and I got one this one which I love – a pretty retro style Steepletone Stirling Retro Style Portable Music System with 3 Band FM/MW/LW Radio/CD/MP3 Player – Cream

{music}: All I wanted was to be able to go through the boxes of CD’s and play them at will without faffing about with downloads and soundclouds – call me old fashioned!! And if you follow me on this blog or Facebook you will know I love the music of Moroccan Hindi Zahra – this CD Homeland gets quite a lot of airtime in our house!

You can also choose to download tracks HERE: Homeland (Bonus Track Version)

{film}: On a more visual note I love Wes Anderson movies, but The Darjeeling Limited [DVD] [2007]  has to be my all time favourite. I very rarely (intentionally) watch a film more than once – but this one I can watch repeatedly. I’m not sure why, but there is something about it that I love and realte to, aside from the typical Wes Anderson visuals and colours. Do you have a Wes Anderson favourite? I think I might start a collection so you might find more of his films in these posts in the months to come!

{books} I have read most of Zadie Smiths books so pre-ordered her latest Swing Time, which arrived last week.

If you prefer to pack your kindle when going on holiday, follow this link

I am being unusually disciplined and have not started reading it while I am finishing another book – maybe I will save it for the week we are spending poolside in Spain next month!?

image via https://www.pinterest.co.uk/teaintangier/books-films/

In the meantime, happy reading/listening/watching,

and if, like me you are in the northern half of our world,

Happy Summer xx

PS: Let me know what you are reading/watching/listening to