Hello weekend

Lately I've been relying on comfort food to do its thing. Last night Tony's parents took us out to dinner and I ordered pappardelle lamb ragu followed by tiramisu. Afterwards, I felt great. My belly was full and my mind suddenly clear. It sounds ridiculous but it's been a big week, and it was just what I needed. Seven good things to share:

Finding your style when your clothing budget is $30 a month.

Hello chocolate snacking cake.

Equal parts terrifying and fascinating - the pelvic flaw in all of us.

Next level caramel slice.

Because I always have leftover herbs in the fridge, I'm going to make chimchurri and try it over some scrambled eggs.

Keep seeing this hair tie everywhere.

One of my favourite Canberra cafe reviewers has a new blog that covers food, motherhood, travel and lifestyle. It's beautiful and I'd love to try the hummingbird cake.

See you next week! Thanks always for hanging out here x

Five favourite newsletters

Ever since I deleted the Facebook app and stopped leaving it open in a tab at work, I've been relying on a handful of newsletters to fill the gaps. The best bit? Most pop into my inbox one a week and I can dip into them whenever it suits (usually over breakfast). Here are five faves:

Sophie Hansen's 5 Reasons to be Cheerful on Monday is the nicest way to start of each week. It's a picture-filled newsletter with podcast, TV show and article recommendations. Bonus:  Sophie usually shares a seasonal recipe each week - the peach pie from January was especially good.

Quarter Cup Crisis is another favourite food newsletter that I read every week. It's really entertaining and relatable (ahem, ambitious holiday house cooking projects gone wrong), and it's all about learning to cook in your early twenties. There's a recipe each week, some nerdy cooking facts, a funny GIF and my fave - Kitch Sitch, a flat lay of ingredients and objects that inspired the week's meals. 

A post shared by OKREAL (@heyokreal) on Jan 31, 2018 at 8:30am PST

For career advice and online pep talks, I subscribe to the OKREAL newsletter (which happens to look great too). It features interviews with a diverse range of women who work, whether they're in the media or own their own businesses. Their interviews are always funny and motivating.

Laura Olin sends a weekly list of 'lovely and/or meaningful things' that I love for being surprising and political. Two recent recommendations I enjoyed recently - this piece about creating your own dress code (choose a colour palette, and stick with it), and the 1963 March on Washington in GIFs. I was a huge fan of Laura's previous offering, Everything Changes newsletter, which wrapped up last year.

I also love... Cup of Jo's newsletter (even though I visit the site daily!), Extraordinary Routines (for excellent summaries of new interviews, and its take on creative life), similarly Creative Mornings and Jocelyn K. Glei's offerings (if you're interested in work and creativity). And I always get cooking ideas from Food52's weekly recipe highlights. This week they posted an Oreo ice cream cake!

(Photos: Citrus cake by Sophie Hansen, Kitch Sitch by Tanya Sichynsky, Letter by Letters of Note, Katsu and rice by Food 52)

Hello weekend

Did you have a good week? Mine was a happy mix of productivity and down time. Most days, I managed to leave the office while it was still light (also, more than halfway through winter woo!) and there was time for some after work cookie baking too.

This weekend I'm taking Tony on another surprise date (we're going to the Scandinavian film festival!), and we're going on a winter picnic with friends. I can't decide whether to make Nigella's olive oil chocolate cake (feels like everyone is raving about it), or a pear tart...
For your weekend:

10 minutes of pure wanderlust - parenting in Provence.

Spelt choc chip cookies - super satisfying, quick to make and not that bad for you either.

Planning to watch Namatjira Project this weekend.

Short stories aren't usually my thing but I'm averaging a story a night from Curtis Sittenfeld's latest. So funny and scarily true to life.

And a new-to-me Anna Jones recipe that came highly recommended - sticky green bean and chilli paneer. I've never made paneer before but I'd like to try it!

P.S I've been warding off colds with a combo of echinacea and olive leaf extract tablets that I take daily. I had one really bad cold at the start of the season, which motivated me to sort out my vitamin situation. So far, so good.

My birthday wish list

I'm starting to make plans for my birthday, which is less than a month away. I'll be turning 34, and while it isn't an age I've ever tried out in my head, I'm still excited to celebrate. My whole family will be in Canberra (minus my brother and his wife who live in London), and we're booked in for yum cha. I might also have a small celebration with friends, and make my own cake again.

Because I love to daydream, here's a wish list of things I've been eyeballing lately, starting with a Golden Age Cinema gift pass for my next Sydney visit.

They serve Gelato Messina choc tops at the bar, play cult films like Do The Right Thing, and the entire fit out looks it's straight out of a Wes Anderson film.

Because it's winter and we live in Canberra, some fancy face oil would boost my spirits! It was minus seven on Monday.

A new book, which requires zero waiting because it's not part of a library reserve queue :)

I feel like your thirties is when you start to accumulate beautiful things, like ceramics. I'd use this sweet Girl Nomad mug for my morning coffee. This is my night time tea cup!

And for extra luxurious baking, I'd savour a tiny bottle of vanilla extract from France.

Now to think of any last things I'd like to get done as a 33 year old!

Hello weekend

My friends Irini and Angie are visiting from Sydney this weekend. I'm excited to have some of my favourite people along for regular weekend things like yoga, brunch and a cosy dinner at home. And one thing I remembered this week - taking breaks at work helps me stay productive and happy. Things to share:

On order... this funny tee.

Jonathan from Queer Eye has his own podcast! Via Laura.

Excellent life advice from former Teen Vogue editor Elaine Welteroth.

Kids try 100 years of party snacks.

If you were captivated by the Thai cave rescue too, I found this recap of how the boys were lost and then found fascinating.

And I just finished reading The Year of Less by Cait Flanders, which I picked up on the recommendation of Anne. It was practical, real and only $1.89 in the Kindle store).

X

An unhurried cake

When we first moved to Canberra, one of the biggest adjustments was time - mainly the sudden lack of it. My daily commute was longer (to be expected when your previous one was a two minute drive!), and I was starting a new job with slightly longer hours.

Having lived in Wagga Wagga for almost five years, I pushed myself to adjust to our new city life and tried to cram everything in. That included making something for the weekly office bake off. I didn't miss a week that first year. I made cherry brownies, snowmen cupcakes, cheese tarts and chocolate chip cookies. It was partly a way to make friends in a newer, bigger office. I also loved to bake, and was excited about having more people to feed.

Three years, and a new job later, things have changed again. I bake maybe once a month, if that, part of a bigger effort to do less. Lately there's less rushing around in my lunch break to tick off extra errands, and fewer expectations of things I'll get done after work. It's really nice.

The latest cake I made was a pink grapefruit cake, made on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Tony was at his studio, so I listened to podcasts and got a start on dinner (this brisket!). I'd been wanting to bake all week but I was glad to have waited, because it was unhurried and extra enjoyable because of it.

Real talk though, bundt cards are hard.

P.S More on dropping the ball :) I'm going to tell you more about my new job soon!

Hello weekend

I hope you've had a good week! I spent a couple of days in Sydney and squeezed in some catch ups with friends around work. Other highlights included crab fried rice, pandan chiffon cake and dessert toast (covered in condensed milk!) at Boon Cafe. We're heading back that way in a matter of days, because my friend Haline is getting married! The plan is to check out Tony's work at the Salon de Refuses and have dinner at this favourite spot (we've only ever been for brunch). Here are five solid things to share:

Accidentally Wes Anderson is such a fun Instagram account.

For anyone who makes things, I loved hearing Roman Mars, host of 99% Invisible, talk about art versus commerce in the Zig Zag podcast. The whole episode is great but his interview (from the 20 minute mark) is especially inspiring.

Forever breaking my heart - Sleepover's advice for strangers.

Tina Roth Eisenberg may be my dream boss.

Pretty and healthyish - blueberry coconut galette.

Have a lovely weekend :) 

Night time rituals

Do you have any after work rituals? My morning routine has been pretty solid for the last six months - I go to yoga most mornings, have coffee at the studio and then head to work with a clearer-than-usual head. Evenings are far more haphazard, and I've been experimenting with a few different ways of winding down:

If I'm getting the bus, I walk to the city after work to get a dose of fresh air, which is always a refreshing shock after sitting in heating all day. It's a half hour walk and I'll listen to a podcast or some music and get on a bus that's more direct than the one I can catch right outside my office. The commute puts a nice gap between my work day and the night.

If it's been an especially busy day and I'm driving home,  I'll listen to Spotify's daily mixes after work, saving new podcast episodes for the weekend.

I'm easily distracted by my phone at night, so I've been setting a timer for some dedicated reading time, so I don't accidentally check the time on my phone and end up scrolling through Instagram.

And if I'm wrestling with a few things in my head, I'll write them down in a notebook. Sometimes it helps me identify exactly what I'm feeling, other times it just feels like I'm putting thoughts somewhere else, and which stops me from turning them over in my head or trying to remember them.

P.S How crazy is it that we're more than halfway through the year?!