Almost summer

It's starting to get properly hot in Canberra, so I've made a hard switch to cold food. This weekend I'll be making Hetty McKinnon's chilled soba noodle salad with quick pickled cucumbers and avocado. It's delicious - I made it the other week to film a video for work and it's somehow refreshing and filling at the same time. It's so good I'm going to make it for Christmas.

Also on my list is this simple lentil, pesto and cherry tomato salad from a few years ago. It means I can still do some fun cooking over the weekend (making pesto!) without turning the stove on. 

I have a new, lazy dessert inspired by Elizabeth Hewson's cookbook Saturday Night Pasta. She recommends serving a simple dessert of ice cream, olive oil and sea salt. I was intrigued and a little scared but it's totally delicious! I have a container of cheesecake base crumbs in my freezer, leftover from the time I made this jelly tart - and I've been sprinkling it on top of this ice cream combo for a little extra crunch.

This might be the most 2020 thing but I bought myself a flour subscription! The flour comes from a mill in country Victoria and every month it's a surprise selection of flours plus a handmade zine with recipe ideas. I've never baked with Rosella wheat flour before and have heard it's the best for cakes and sponges. But first up, I'm going to try my hand at Russian Rye bread (I'm imaging it with smoked salmon, which I haven't had for almost a year). And I'm going to take some to Sydney for my friend Angie to have a play with. 

I'm starting to feel excited for Christmas and the summer holidays. I haven't had a week off since March, which happened to be the same week everything was shutting down. It wasn't the most relaxing week so I'm very much looking forward to three weeks off this December. 

In the meantime I'm watching The Crown at night (yay!) and seeing friends for pizza picnics, yummy lunches, and morning coffees.

Hope you have a lovely weekend! I'm going to walk up the street to get the paper and a coffee (there's a new place near our house that's great!), and maybe some baking supplies. Claire Saffitz's cookbook Dessert Person arrived this week and it's so much bigger than I anticipated. I'm thinking of starting with her pistachio pinwheel cookies.

And then on Sunday Tony's taking me out to lunch at our favourite restaurant :) He sold a big painting this week and we feel like celebrating.

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