Hello weekend

I saw two double rainbows from our apartment this week, just days apart. In lots of ways it's been a good week, there was a book in the mail from a friend, early morning walks, a new ep of a fave podcast, and an exhibition opening with friends. But it was a challenging one too as my job continues to change ever so slightly. 

I'm especially grateful to have a weekend with no real plans. It's cold again here, so I'm baking bread, roasting a chicken and maybe making cookies too. All of the good and cosy things :) 

Here are some nice things to share:

Loved this tiny park wedding and the song they played after the ceremony. 

How to bake cinnamon scrolls at home! These are a cross between classic cinnamon scrolls and cardamom morning buns. And if you've never made buns before, I filmed the video inside the recipe. 

We just finished watching I May Destroy You (Binge) and it was insanely good. This article answered all the questions I had about the series and its writer/star/co-director Michaela Coel. 

I've just started listening to a new podcast, The Diversity Hires with Christina Lee and Neha Potalia. 

I also thought this episode of The Cut podcast with Emily Ratajkowski was great (it's based on the essay she wrote for New York Magazine). 

My friend Sarah gave me a copy of Pandora Syke's first book for my birthday. It's a book of essays covering everything from work and the pressure to self-optimise for peak performance to fast fashion. It felt spooky at times as she connected the dots of things that I've lived through - including silly things like discoveringThe Sartorialist blog in uni to the popularity of Zara.  

I surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying the Pavarotti documentary (Stan).

Very clever insights on work, social media and the pandemic from former Buzzfeed writer Anne Helen Peterson in Nisha Chittal's very excellent newsletter. 

And what Tina learnt from recovering from cancer in her twenties. 

Have a lovely weekend

X

P.S If you're still working from home, I highly recommend leaving your place whenever the mood strikes you (hopefully that's possible where you live). I went out to get big cookies one day, and a pot at Bunnings another. It was just the mental break I needed from being in the same space most of the time. 

Sunny days

It's been a very lovely week with visitors from Sydney, blue skies and a brand new cookbook. Spring is definitely bringing a lot of colour and happiness. 

We had my brother and sister-in-law over for dinner last weekend. It's still a thrill to set the table for more than two. We served roast chicken, a carrot salad, burrata with herbs and lemon, and salted caramel pannacotta (which only kind of worked) - all from Skye McAlpine's new book.

I've been trying to get back into making sourdough after a few dud loaves (I blame winter). While he was over, my brother helped troubleshoot my starter. I've since learnt to feed and observe it, instead of following a strict feeding schedule that doesn't match Canberra's cool weather.

Today I mixed up my first batch of bread in weeks and hope it works! Making bread during the week is one of my fave WFH perks (along with anytime snacks!). 

I ordered a copy of Carter's Cookbook after seeing it on Sophie McComas's Instagram and it arrived from NZ early in the week. Lately I've been craving a cafe-style big cookie (let me know if you have a fave in Canberra, maybe it's more of a Sydney thing?) and this book has plenty of good options. I can't wait to get stuck in. I'm going to make the green soup with feta and pesto this weekend.

On Sunday we visited a favourite cafe for the first time in months. It's small, so hard to get a seat at the best of times, so we felt super lucky to nab a seat inside with physical distancing in place too. They do doughnuts on Sundays, which was the best excuse to get out of bed.

A couple of other quick things to share - I have more than 20K photos on my phone (!!) and found this article from the NY Times so helpful! I'm going to make a photo book for 2019 and am also making time to review and delete pics from my phone from the past week so I stay on top of things. 

And the ABC Life recipe for this week is a very nourishing one-pot quinoa with sweet potato and beans from Heidi Sze. It's exactly what I feel like eating after winter's comfort food! 

I hope you have a lovely weekend. I've taken Friday off and have a burger date with Tony. I'm also going to get a start on my niece's birthday cake! Tell you more about that soon.

X

Early spring + a wedding anniversary

How nice is spring? 😭 I'm suddenly spending a lot more time out of the house - going for walks, seeing family and friends. It's felt especially important as I'm coming up to six months of working from home, with no return date in sight. 

I saw my office buddies last Friday for fish burgers and fries in the sun. I can't remember the last time the three of us were together (maybe late Feb?) and it was just so nice to see each other and shoot the breeze. It made me realise how much I miss being able to work things out together, without having to set up a meeting first.

Tony and I had our sixth wedding anniversary on Sunday and decided to book a nice lunch to celebrate. We hadn't been to a restaurant in months, so it felt extra special. We drank orange wine and ate the most delicious burrata with pistachios and blood oranges. And there was a creme caramel for dessert! 

We've been watching Succession lately, and while I'm hooked, some episodes just feel like a lot of talking in offices.

A few other sunny things. Like everyone on Instagram, I rushed out and ordered an iced latte in the first week of spring. It was barely over 20 degrees in Canberra but worth it. I found a cute new place to buy homegrown seedlings and changed over some of my pots for spring. My boss was right, it's really nice to have a hobby on the go! 

And it's strawberry season already 🍓I've been making the roasted strawberries from this recipe (the lemon yoghurt cake is great too!) and serving them alongside a plain dutch baby. And I made this lovely strawberry, rhubarb and almond crumble last weekend. My new daggy ritual is to vaccum the house after I finish work on Friday and make a nice dessert while listening to a podcast or nostalgic playlist. It makes the apartment feel fresh again and puts a bit of distance between work and the weekend. 

P.S You can bake fried rice in the oven and it's really good. Hetty McKinnon's version has all the flavours of instant noodles but feels a lot healthier!

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