I’m delighted to see some progress in my garden. While it’s not as full of flowers as I’d hoped, it’s exciting to see things moving in the right direction. Spotting fresh buds sprouting on the stems is always a joy, even though the unpredictable weather—torrential rains one day and scorching heat the next—has kept me on edge.

I’ve been itching to make Pan de Coco ever since I kicked off the Panadera series. This bread holds a special spot in my memories. When I was a kid, we’d visit my grandma’s house and make a beeline for the neighborhood sari-sari store across the narrow footpath. We’d grab a handful of pan de coco. The lola who sold them kept the coconut filling separate from the buns, which was a bit unconventional, but still absolutely delicious.

I had heard of Mary Roberts Rinehart before but had never actually read any of her books. I’m thrilled to say that this American counterpart to Christie pleasantly surprised me with a highly enjoyable book, The Man In Lower Ten, sharing many qualities I love in the genre.

A petty thief discovers a locked room containing seven dead bodies. But is this suicide or murder? A no-nonsense detective and a lovelorn journalist have the task of finding out!

Let’s kick off the year (never mind that 2024 started a couple of months back) with some fresh reading challenges. I’ve hauled about a dozen books from home that I’m eager to re-read this year and they’re gonna be part of the challenges.

This year, I’m jumping into Bev’s Vintage Scavenger Hunt Challenge over at My Reader’s Block. It’s pretty simple – all you have to do is pick up a mystery book from either the Golden (pre-1960) or Silver Age, as long as the cover showcases one of the listed scavenger items. Easy-peasy!

TDLR – I’ve been busy catching up with my family, cooking and eating food that I missed, and playing with our cats.

I’ve been busy with work since the latter part of November. It’s taking up a lot of my time and energy that I usually would have used for my hobbies, …