What I Ate Over Summer + YouTube Recommendations + Basic Bitch Muffins 💘

Long time no inbox drop : )

This year should slow down already! I still haven't caught up with friends I said I would over summer and we're 15 days into autumn already – for pete's sake! Since I last wrote I got a job, turned it down (see vlog), had four family members come and stay at different times, worked on an exciting writing job and ridden out a LOT of fatigue.

On that note – the perfect nap (I've come to realise) is for 1-2 hours between 8:30 and 11:30am. A morning nap you say? I do! I mean it sort of relies on you being an early riser (I'm up at 6:30am) – but you wake up with none of the heavy brain fog you get from an afternoon snooze and still have enough hours left in the day to have a second shot at it!

I've read a lot this past month (some new favourites mentioned further on) and been enjoying watching food-including vlogs from relatively new accounts with few subscribers and a whole lot of mundane authentic charm. Mai Toyokawa is 25, living in Japan and sharing beautiful videos with extremely relatable inner thoughts about navigating your 20s. Her smile (I realised) is exactly like Kitty Tait from The Orange Bakery !!

Hikaru Takeuchi is Japanese living in the happiest country in the world – Helsinki – sharing her apartment happenings and delicious vegetarian food from her wonderful working kitchen. And Jen Bianca just shares really chilled, follow along – sewing, reading, working, cooking vibe vlogs which draw me in. DM me your small account recs on insta – I'm loving seeing so many fresh faces which are in my age/life bracket!

RECIPE.

Here are some won't let ya' down, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. I don't think I can look at another loaf of banana bread again (after seriously over-doing it 2016-2020) – but I still need a way to use up my squishy, over-ripe narnies. And I can make an exception for buttery, delicate banana muffins aesthetically flecked with choccy. A cosy streamlined recipe for the southern-hemisphere-ers to take into autumn.

WRITING.

I've been working on an important piece of writing for an Australian literary magazine. Writing for which has has been a personal goal of mine for sometime now. It's my first 'contributing to public discourse' piece and is connected to the Nara Smith hoop-la and just general circus of feeding ourselves in the current climate.

It's been an un-comfy steep learning curve but I hope all my work pays off and I get to holler about it here soon :)

YOUTUBE.

there's a new vlog up !! it's a weekend re-set with honest job, writing, autism label adjusting chit chat :)

FOOD & KITCHEN.

Bursts of energy and waves of fatigue have meant a mix of go-to meals on repeat (like my favourite sushi bowl) along with various recipe tests ("honey" tater tots over whipped vegan feta) and recipe tin eat recipes (because they are reliably good and easily adaptable). This one was a Vietnamese "pork" bowl.

Summer through a straw (mango passionfruit coconut yoghurt smoothies), summer zucchini-glut fritters (used up all the vegan cheese nibs in the fridge = so moorish!) and feeding my brother's never ending appetite while he visited (lemongrass and coconut tofu + Hetty McKinnon's coriander pesto potato and fennel salad).

Beige is actually all the rage! This chickpea curry pie (Pavilion is the brand – found at Sunnybrook Health food Store in Ormond) + chickpea puffs was a solid comfort meal. Lentil wraps with lemongrass tofu inspired by a dish I had at the Melbourne institution Vegie Bar (maybe 8 years ago now... I perfect recipes eventually). Delicate strawberry chamomile cakes never stop being a good idea.

Tried a deliiiiicious bagel from Tuckshop in Moorabbin which has the right idea of offering the most golden hash browns that ever waddled out of a fryer. Self-serve açai I think is the only acceptable açai going forward (I don't like granola on mine – it's all in the warm peanut butter to açai ratio for me). A homey dish shared with my grandparents – tofu ricotta cannelloni with basil butter roast vegetables.

A flopped coconut, raspberry and lime cake with cream cheese icing (too soft & sticky). A very very good homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and this gentle curry dinner which is a hug from the inside.

WATCHED.

Poor Things | I think I should have read the content warning before watching this film. It's a wonderful, bizarre and head / stomach churningly beautiful commentary on humanity, life and growing up. I just wish I was prepared for so many fucking penises omg!! Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe plus the brothel Madam (who we'll probably all recognise from Harry Potter lol) stole the show for me. Whether it was his acting or the sheer un-likability of his character – Mark Ruffalo felt like he was trying to keep up to Emma Stone's brilliant standard. But maybe it was all the furious jumping lol.

READ.

I powered through Just Friends, by Gyan Yankovich on a library 7-day hot reads loan. I think there's simultaneously something in it for everyone and potential to disappoint – as it just doesn't scratch the friendship-theory itch I was so hoping it would. I enjoyed the commentary on the singles tax and lack of attention / credit given to single-pringles (that's single people slang) in society. The cost of relationships on friendships was on point as was the relationship-boosting properties of having intimate friendships!

(McMindfulness) This sneaky TikTok rec unexpectedly scratched ALLLL the itches relating to the ickiness I feel about the wellness / mindfulness industry. It's predominantly from a USA / UK perspective but is a super page-turning whip smart critique of capitalism's obliging co-opting of a practice that will never threaten to challenge it. The parts about how mindfulness have been adopted by conservatives, the US military, schools, corporations and hospitals is really frightening / revealing. The main mindfulness-peddler the author critiques was interestingly cited in a mindfulness hand-out my grandmother got when she visited hospital last year, so evidently his work has trickled down to Australia too.

I was very excited to read Devon Price of UnMasking Autism's new book Unlearning Shame, which did not disappoint. The parts on sustainable activism and unpicking individual responsibility conditioning were so important and I think really relevant to the fight for Palestine ongoing at the moment. Highly recommend!

After all the teenagers at Mecca hoo-har that was happening a couple of months back, I've had my eye on some accessible childism (child rights) literature I could get stuck into. Because I Said So randomly caught my eye at the library and it's A MUST READDD!!! Apart from one stray tiktoker who rightfully checked my un-nuanced annoyance at the "overly spoiled teenagers" everyone was talking about, I don't see many people talking about discrimination against children across all classes and how that plays into public discourse towards children. It's by the person who is known for coining the term 'gentle parenting'. Please read it, for yourself and your world view more than anything!

Thank you for reading & supporting my work,

Phoebe x

(they/them)

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