Weekend links

I've been rushing home from work this week to make tiny props for an upcoming chocolate photo shoot! Now the props have been posted, I'm looking forward to having a restful weekend.

Just in case you missed it - Annabel Crabb hosted an all-female Q&A this week. I especially enjoyed the discussion around being a contradictory feminist.

A birthday on a houseboat!

Ira Glass interviewed by Alec Baldwin on Here's The Thing, in which Alec doesn't hesitate to ask big questions like - Do you believe in God? And, what's life like without kids? 

Some very cute wedding cake toppers from a bride who made most of her wedding desserts. I love Molly Yeh.

I finally watched Boyhood last weekend and have been thinking about it all week. Such a great film. I'm tempted to do a Before Sunrise/Before Sunset marathon this weekend.

Wishing you a happy weekend! I'm off to make a lemon drizzle cake :) 

What will you read next?

I can't decide what is more exciting - finishing a book or choosing a new one. I'm hoping to finish my third book for the year (!) this week and have already picked out what I'll read next.

I'll be reading Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. It's on loan from the library and ready to go. I first heard it mentioned by Annabel Crabb on her podcast and have also become curious about Joan Didion who pops up as a frequent reference on this style blog.

This year, aside from trying to finish a book per month, I'm also trying really hard to read more broadly and sample authors and titles I might not ordinarily. Currently I'm reading Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which appeared on my desk at work last month just as I was finishing up a novel. My friend Larry loved it and passed it on.

P.S Here's what I was reading in January and here's how to find more time to read.

Food I make for friends

Last year when my nephew was born and I was living in Sydney, I started making up care packages to drop off on weekends. Since then, making food for new parents has become one of my most favourite things to do.

I love to cook and cooking for new parents brings me a special kind of joy. It's celebratory and nourishing too and I love fussing over little things like packaging and meal combinations. I also love making the drop offs, it's the nicest excuse to check-in and is hopefully without the pressure of a proper visit.

When I'm planning a care package I try to make three things - a main meal, something sweet and a healthy snack or easy breakfast. If I'm pressed for time, I'll skip the main meal and if I have the day off, I'll ask if there are any special requests.

Lately, I've been making these salted chocolate chip cookies, which I hear are good for visitors and almond and date bars from Smitten Kitchen's cookbook, which I hear make a delicious midnight snack.

In the past I've also made cranberry and coconut granola, these blueberry, oat and yoghurt muffins - after my sister-in-law told me that oats were great for breastfeeding - and granola parfaits. Now that it's getting cooler, I'd love to make an apple pie, it's the ultimate comfort food.

It's fun to add little gifts too, like a cute nightie, a packet of Thank You cards, a bottle of wine or even a baby book, a tub of fancy ice cream or a funny DVD. 

I'm excited to make another drop off tomorrow and something nice - some of my friends call me the food fairy :)

My week - Sticky date pudding season

Hello! I hope you have a fun weekend planned, I'll be working a bit and am very excited to be part of the Jugiong Writers' Festival.

This week I met a new person - he is wonderfully warm to hold and very special.

I pre-ordered this book after hearing it was 10 years in the making.

Two new friends recommended this podcast about William Burroughs. It happens to be one of the best podcasts Ira Glass heard in 2014 and is voiced brilliantly by Iggy Pop.

I'm making this delicious looking sticky-date cake with toffee sauce tomorrow for visiting friends. It is autumn after all :)

And I loved this Japanese notion of being mindful and keeping time.

Catch you next week.

Very cute Airbnb studio in Sydney

I've had two consecutive long weekends so naturally I'm dreaming about going away again this weekend. Instead, I'm going back in time and sharing this cosy Airbnb studio in Sydney. I have a soft spot for tiny houses and this one even had a freshly baked birthday cake on arrival!

We've stayed in a few mini-houses through Airbnb, usually ones that've been built in backyards and I love seeing all the things you'd have in your own home whittled down to the essentials.

This one in Sydney's Marrickville was especially cute. It had a loft bedroom, a kitchen nook and a comfy mini lounge room. We stayed last year after our bucks and hens parties so that we could spend a few extra days in Sydney and get a headstart celebrating my 30th birthday.

As it turned out, our host was a food photographer and along with the white chocolate mud cake, there was also freshly baked sourdough and some raspberry meringues leftover from a shoot.




Here are two other tiny houses that people live in, they're both in Melbourne. Here's a garage that has been converted into a cosy home and a simple and functional apartment in the heart of the city.

If I was spending this weekend in Sydney, I would make a booking at this amazing pizza joint in Balmain (we went last weekend and loved it!) and make a stop at Cremeria de Luca in Five Dock immediately afterwards for really great gelato. Thanks to Amanda for the gelato tip-off!

Wedding: A first dance in the rain

We made a 72-hour trip to Sydney on the weekend to see two friends get married. It was the first wedding we'd been to since we were married and it was the nicest way to spend the last day of summer. We sat on picnic rugs on a lawn overlooking the harbour as the sun went down and then danced late into the night. There was also a very delicious chocolate cake with a hint of rose. 

One of my favourite parts of planning our wedding was having a neighbour teach us how to dance. Anne’s a ballet teacher who lives around the corner and one winter’s night we traded some homemade waffles and a bunch of sweet peas for an hour in her home studio.

I was there to learn really basic things like - where do I put my hands? But Anne had other ideas. Having listened to our song, she choreographed a handful of simple steps that would get us to the chorus when everyone would join in. 

I was pretty hesitant about having a routine but went with it that night. It was really fun to be in our wedding shoes, with the music up loud and someone to reassure us that dancing was just like walking. 

With some convincing (on my part!) and a bit of practice, we did Anne’s dance at our wedding. Having steps gave me something to concentrate on when I was nervous and really happy too. 

It started sprinkling during our first dance, which was one of my happiest memories from the day. We danced under fairy lights and our friends and family joined us as the rain became heavier. It was a simple and yet really magical gesture. 

Also - two of my friends did a super fast version of chicken dance (the best!) and I spied one of my oldest friends dancing with her partner, while they kept an eye of their newborn son who was not yet a week old and asleep in his pram.

P.S It just so happened that I chose the walking-down-the-aisle song (Only You, Yazoo) and Tony picked the waltz song (Look At Where We Are, Hot Chip). 

Photos by Wattle + Lace.

Do you celebrate anniversaries?

Today is Tony and my seven year anniversary and for the first time we've decided not to do anything to celebrate because this year we're switching to wedding anniversaries!

I'm so curious about what other couples do to mark relationship milestones. For our very first anniversary, we went to the aquarium at night to see the dugongs and ate dumplings afterwards. It was really fun - did you know that dugongs eat whole heads of lettuce and can smile?

Since then, we've made fancy meals at home (one year Tony made poached chicken and blue cheese Arancini balls!), exchanged silly cards (I've been buying these ones for years), shared cupcakes and used it as an excuse to go to Momofuku Seiobo.

I'd love to know what you do, if you do celebrate. My brother-in-law and his wife have been back to the place where they had their wedding reception for lunch and friends have stayed in a fun new hotel for a wedding anniversary. We're tempted to stay in the exact same place come September.