New Cookbook, Something in the Air & Jelly Oranges 🍊

Hey <3 it's a sunny 17C (62F) here today. I hope the clouds are parted where you are and that you have something lovely planned for yourself this weekend. I start doing a house sit for a few weeks this evening. It's not far from home, so I'll still see Merlin everyday and play around with recipes in the kitchen. Just quite a change in routine. Hopefully this time in a fortnight I'll have well and truly settled in. I have Ted Lasso S3, Deadloch and Queen Charlotte on my list for the quiet evenings - if you have any other recommendations for cosy content, I'd love to hear them!

I've just written and deleted this paragraph a bajillion times. I don't want to share for the sake of *content* - but I also know that the things I feel are so pRivaTe, a lot of people are going through. I think I'll just speak vaguely. It feels like life is in a cycle of becoming quite stressy & then calming down again? I think a lot of people are going through it, so if you are too - I feel ya there! We'll ride through it, and remember it won't last forever. If it's any help to hear - after a dark dip a few weeks ago, my life feels more exciting and warmer than I could have foreseen at the time. I have multiple projects on the go I feel passionately about and I'm spending more time with loved ones. So moral of the story, stick around bb & be brave. Give that thing a go.

Above is a recent cake I made for an order and a flock of Cockatoos that came to visit our Maple tree earlier in the week for some brekkie. The sound they make while munching the seed pods is wild hehe! Australian-bird asmr. It is... loud. But I love it.

WORK.

I have so many different pieces of writing on the go, and it feels amazing. Writing is such an up & down process. I looove a piece one minute then loathe it the next. But I'm learning that if you just keep showing up, your time and energy does usually pay off. So much of it is outside your control, at least for me - I rely on things bubbling up from my subconscious as I go, ideas coming together neatly during the process, it's quite humbling but exciting at the same time, because how it unfolds is a little unpredictable.

A saying I love that I think applies to writing (and most things in life) is that you should pay attention to what your piece is becoming, not what you thought it was going to be.

I've also started recipe testing for a new cookbook. I'm not forcing myself to pump this one out (I don't have the stamina to do that these days anyway), so whether it will come together by the end of 2023 I'm not sure. But I am committed and having a delicious, learning-journey as a result lol.

KITCHEN.

Some recent experiments, jelly filled oranges (before being cut into wedges) which are a lot harder to execute than I appreciated. Kinda fiddly! My appreciation for kindy mum's (kindergarten mum's) who prepared them for birthday parties has gone up ten fold. On the right are some red lentil wraps with lemongrass tofu. Inspired by a recipe that used to be on The Vegie Bar's menu (in Brunswick). Incredible.

'Honey' cornflake scones. Bloomin' delightful. Kind of like warm bread with a honey joy baked into it? Then on the right was a 7 layer dip kind of a thing. Very delicious. Only it kind of killed the vibe that I made this when I was home-alone for the week. Share-plates loose their star power when they become a repeat meal haha.

Brownies with a choc-hazelnut crème. Need I say more?! On the right is a crispy rice waffle with sushi-salad-like toppings. I'm having a lot of fun playing around with our waffle maker. I'm yet to master actual vegan/gf waffles, but the savoury things I've tried out in it have been great!

READ.

None of This is Serious, By Catherine Prasifka | This is a coming of age novel by a young Irish writer who I have since learned is SALLY ROONEY'S SISTER IN LAW?! This explains a lot lol, because the tone is quite similar - it's not character or plot driven, and the protagonists angst and inner monologue and the main features. It's about a 22-year-olds relationship to social media as they navigate post-uni identity & life crisis, crappy relationships and a mysterious purple "crack" that's opened up in the sky around the world (so major *global crisis effect on young people* vibes - although interestingly it was conceived/written before the pandemic).  I couldn't sTanD the main character, but in Normal People fashion, I would probably sympathise with her if this was made into a TV show and I didn't have to be inside her head with her somewhat insufferable inner dialogue. Good book, but I hated it haha.

Ellen Outside The Lines, By A.J. Sass | This is a middle grade young adult book about a young autistic girl Ellen - who during a school trip to Barcelona befriends another gender-queer student who turns their black & white view of the world uPsiDe dOwn! I loved the premise of this book, but perhaps because I'm a bit older than the ideal target audience, I found it incredibly boring haha. Most of the book is Ellen & her friends completing some scavenger hunt & finding clues around the city - the point to which was never fully explained. It allowed for the identity-discovery, first crushes & characters archs to unfold, but was also bat-shit boring. Great representation though!

RECIPE.

I have a bloody good recipe I will shoot & post on the website early next week. I'm so sorry I don't have it for you today - I haven't had the time.

Thank you for reading & supporting my work!

Phoebe (they/them) x

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