Some zoo portraits for your Sunday (the piglet is my favourite!)

A very quick and surprisingly tasty winter dinner (pretty much the only thing I’ve cooked in the past week)

I love lipstick more than most, but this is unsettling.

This place doesn’t look like much from the street but the cocktails are incredible and they make possibly the best burger I’ve ever eaten.

Have I mentioned how much I love Justin Timberlake? My friends think I’m kidding but this is no joke. My sister and I even went and saw him in concert years ago and I’m hoping it won’t be the only time we get to see him live!

!!!

I started by cutting meat from my diet. It’s not forever. I love seafood (and the occasional cheeseburger) but for now, no meat. But then, what else to try? No dairy? Paleo? It all sounded so restrictive and unappealing. Then I found Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar in an airport news agency as I was waiting for my flight back to Sydney after a wine filled weekend in Adelaide. I’m not usually one for impulse buys (let alone drastic diets) but I thought it might be something worth reading into, especially given my mid-morning cake habit. So I bought the book. And I’m glad I did.

Sarah Wilson is well informed and reasonable in her approach. I identified with the way she ate before she quit sugar – like her I ate a lot of natural sugars (dried fruit, honey, less refined sugars and maple syrup) – and the reasons she had for quitting. Her book outlines an eight week program for eliminating sugar. No doubt you’d feel amazing for it, but right now, I’m taking things easy. I’m still eating some fruit and I’m not cutting out grains (oats, brown rice etc) but I have made many of the changes Sarah recommends. I’ve already made a sugar free granola (recipe to come – it’s delicious but needs tweaking), scrapped my snacks of hot chocolates, dried fruit and biscuits and stocked my kitchen with nuts, coconut oil and Greek yogurt. Does that sound insane? I promise this won’t become a cake-free zone but I have to admit that I’m already feeling better. I even made a lentil coconut soup tonight that is possibly the best soup I’ve ever eaten. Watch this space.

Phew! Moving on to much more exciting things, I visited Adelaide for the first time last week. Have you been? I had a fantastic time exploring McLaren Vale, Victor Harbour, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the gardens that seem to explode out of every corner of the city. We visited so many cute restaurants, cafes and bars (Clever Little Tailor, Botanic Bar) that I think I’ve developed an Americano habit (let’s not mention the sugar). It was heavenly, a very welcome break from the trust accounting study that’s been hanging over me lately.

I hope your week involves something more exciting than trust and office accounting. But if it does, I find music definitely helps to get me through.

*Listen to the whole album, please do. It’s divine. 

Finally, a fun music link: Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, ‘We The Common’.

Happy Tuesday friends. Back soon. Xxo

P.s. Just in case you could do with a sugary something, I made these delicious rum balls again recently and I’ve added a little more detail to the recipe. Yum yum yum.

This is all making me sound rather pathetic (probably true) but in my defence, I put Sunday to good use, baking this very fine loaf of bread. I made it because the process of making bread is so chilled but I didn’t expect the bread to actually be edible given that the recipe didn’t require fresh yeast or a sourdough starter hundreds of years old or a wood fired oven. Unbelievably (or maybe not so unbelievably given that the recipe is from The Bread Bible), it came out of the oven looking perfect. And it tasted as good as it looks. The loaf is enormous but I sliced it up and stashed it in the freezer. I expected it to last for months but I polished off the last of it this morning (it toastes brilliantly from the freezer). Thankfully, my calendar for this weekend is clear and there’s another loaf sitting on the kitchen bench rising right this minute.

*A terrible photo I know but my camera is currently at my sister’s place. Trust me that it was delicious?

Probably not very authentic New York deli rye bread (adapted from The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum via Smitten Kitchen)

Sponge

115 g bread flour (also called strong flour or bakers flour)

95 g rye flour

1/2 tsp instant yeast (not the same thing as active dry yeast which needs to be proofed before using)

18 g (1 1/2 tbsp) white sugar

10 g honey

1 1/2 c water, at room temperature

Flour mixture

80 g rye flour

270 g bread flour (or omit the rye flour and use 350 g bread flour)

1/2 tsp instant yeast

1/2 tbsp coarse sea salt (Deb uses 10 g, I find 6-7 g is plenty)

Dough and baking

sunflower oil

polenta

1. Beging by making the sponge. In a large bowl (use the bowl of your stand mixer if you are going to use it to knead the bread) combine the bread flour, rye flour, yeast, sugar, honey and water. Whisk until very smooth. Set aside.

2. Make the flour mixture. In a large bowl sift together the rye flour, bread flour, yeast and salt. Carefully spoon this over the sponge mixture to cover the sponge completely. Cover it with cling wrap or foil and leave to ferment for 1-4 hours. I realise this is a hugely variable amount of time. The want the sponge to bubble up through the flour mixture. I generally leave it for 3-4 hours. Gives you much more time for brunch and running errands should you be inclined to leave the house.

3. Mix the dough with a stand mixer or by hand. To make with a stand mixer, spoon over a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Mix with the dough hook on low speed until the flour has been mostly incorporated into the sponge. Increase the speed to medium it for 10 minutes or until the dough is very smooth and elastic. If it’s sticky, turn onto the (clean) kitchen bench and knead through a little more flour.

4. To mix the dough by hand, add a tablespoon of oil and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until it just comes together. Move it on to your lightly floured kitchen bench and knead for five minutes. Cover it with the inverted bowl and leave it to rest for 20 minutes. Knead it for a further 5-10 minutes or until the dough is very smooth and elastic.

5. Next up is the rise. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl (I use the same one I used for mixing the dough) and sprinkle a few drops of oil over the top of the dough. Cover the bowl with cling wrap or foil and leave to rise until its doubled, 1.5 – 2 hours.

6. Flip is onto the bench. Press it down gently and reshape into a rough ball. Leave it to rise for a second time back in the covered, lightly oiled bowl for 45 minutes. Now its time for the final rise. Turn the dough onto the bench again and press it down gently before reshaping. Put it back in the bowl, cover and leave to rise for 1 hour – 1 hour 15 minutes.

7. While the dough is rising for the final time, preheat your oven to 230′C/450′F. Place a baking tray or bread stone on the lowest shelf of the oven. If you’re using a baking tray, line it with baking paper and sprinkle over a tablespoon of polenta.

8. With a sharp knife make three or four 1/2 cm cuts in the top of the bread. Gently place it on the hot baking tray or stone and leave it to bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 200′C/400′F and bake for a further 30-40 minutes, or until the bread has a firm, golden crust and a skewer inserted in the middle of the bread comes out clean. Move the bread on to a cooling rack to cool.

Notes

• For cup measurements, head over to Smitten Kitchen. (But seriously, why have you not bought a scale already?) 

When we got to Three Blue Ducks I actually squealed – just a couple of doors down, Iggy’s Bread was open. I’ve been to Three Blue Ducks a few times now and each time Iggy’s has been closed. The selection is tiny – small or large rounds of sourdough, a light rye and caraway loaf or fiselle – in a bare bones shopfront. The lack of bells and whistles is a lovely thing. Bread is what it’s all about. And that bread? It’s delicious. I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed vegemite on toast more. Three Blue Ducks is worth visiting too, even without the attraction of an Iggy’s loaf. The coffee is smooth, the space comfortable and sweet (look at those little pots of herbs built into the walls) and the food is fresh, interesting and unpretentious. We scraped our plates clean.

Hopefully things will calm down just a little over the next couple of weeks.  We’re still surrounded by boxes and ikea furniture waiting to be assembled and it would be nice to straighten things out a little. I’ve got thousands of  recipes I’m itching to try too, including a coffee mocha cake (will this finally be the coffee cake to end all coffee cakes?) and this incredible vegetable lasagne. I’d like to catch up with friends, go to the movies, actually finish the book I’m reading (this one). No doubt I won’t achieve half these things, but it’s worth a shot …

There’s a hot cross bun calling my name so I’m going to leave you with some music I’ve been loving lately lately (do I finish every post off by saying that?). Enjoy your Easter long weekend. Xox

When I’m sick my appetite demands no more than toast and fresh fruit. So, this isn’t really a recipe, but more a loose direction to turn on your oven and pop in some stone fruit. Nectarines are unbelievably cheap at the moment and we have about 6 kilos threatening to take over our kitchen. This is one of our attempts to keep them at bay. The result is very delicious, all tart and tangy: stone fruit, lime and ginger were meant for each other.

Preheat the oven to 400′F/200′C. Halve and stone 8 nectarines. In a large bowl toss them with 3 tbsp brown sugar (I used beautiful muscovado), the juice of a lime, 1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground ginger and 1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. Place in single layer in a baking dish and roast for 25 – 40 minutes, until the nectarines are tender and their juices have mingled with the sugar and formed a loose syrup. (The cooking time depends on how ripe the nectarines are – the harder they are, the longer they take).

Serve them with muesli and yogurt for breakfast, with ice cream for dessert or eat them as they are. Any which way you serve them, enjoy! Xo

P.s. Some music for your Wednesday evening. I’ve been listening to the debut album, Woman, from Rhye on repeat for the past few days. Magical.

When I was in high school The OC was the hottest thing going, well I thought so anyway (my dear friend Amy once went on a trip to the US brought me back a photo of Adam Brody. Clearly, I had a crush…). If you feel like a blast from the past, these portraits of Adam Brody are gorgeous.

10 of the best nail polish colours around (I especially love Jade is the New Black).

The cast members of Downton Abbey cover One Direction.

I recently stumbled on a new blog called The Little Loaf and I want to make just about everything she features. I’d kill for a few sticky toffee cupcakes right now.

Madewell is killing it right now (why oh why don’t they ship to Australia?!!). I’m lusting after most of it, especially this romper.

Regardless of your political views, this is a fascinating article about the capture of Osama bin Laden and the treatment of military veterans upon their return to civilian life.

On a lighter note, I’m loving Jake Bugg right now, especially Two Fingers.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone. I hope this week is good to you. Xo

On Wednesday I woke up and went for a run before meeting my parents for breakfast. I exercised some self-control decided not to have a brownie for breakfast. Instead, I ordered  a broccoli quinoa salad (surely there is a medal for that kind of commitment to healthy living and don’t say longevity). Then I met friends for lunch at Reuben Hills. I had avocado, coriander and lime on toast and a mocha (just to balance out all those greens). There was a stuff up with our table so a courtesy coconut cake appeared out of nowhere. It’s at this point that my sanity is really called into question. The coconut cake was spectacular but just not a brownie, you know? So reader, I headed home to bake the darn brownies. I’m embarrassed to admit I ate the brownies straight out of the pan. I’m even more embarrassed to admit that I then went to Max Brenner with a friend where I ordered a hot chocolate so rich I had to drink eat it with a spoon. Of course, that couldn’t possibly satisfy a chocolate craving so after dinner I had more brownies with some ice cream for good measure.

Isn’t that horrifying?! Apart from the fact that I consumed my body weight in chocolate in one day, I’m somewhat sickened by the fact that my entire day revolved around eating. I need some new hobbies. In my defence the brownies were stupidly delicious. Does that make it any better? I hope so, because I have no other excuses.

I feel a little silly for posting a recipe for brownies so soon after Valentine’s Day. The thing is, we didn’t eat these for Valentine’s (we did have a delicious crumb cake my housemate cooked with peaches from her parents’ tree). In any case, they deserve better than to be trotted out once a year just because Hallmark said so. This brownie recipe should be printed off, laminated, framed, book marked, pinned or whatever it is you do with your favourite recipes. They are delicious. This recipe leans towards the cakey end of the brownie spectrum. They’re fudgey and gooey and soft, with a lovely crackled top, but they’re not soggy or stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth thick like brownies so often are. Perfect.

A note about the buckwheat flour. My new housemate (everyone say hello to Georgie!) has celiac disease and as a result we’ve ventured into the world of gluten-free baking. This often involves mixing together lots of different, hard to find, exotic flours. The joy of these brownies is that the couldn’t be simpler: buckwheat is all you need. And though these brownies are gluten-free, I would implore you to give them a try even if that isn’t a requirement for you as buckwheat adds another (delicious) dimension to baked goods. It’s available from the supermarket, it’s relatively inexpensive and it’s also super versatile (try buckwheat pancakes, waffles, peach upside down cake or even scones). I do hope you enjoy. In the meantime, there’s some brownies with my name on them waiting in the kitchen. I guess I’ll never learn…

Chocolate Buckwheat Brownies (recipe from London Bakes)

150 g unsalted butter

125 g chocolate (I used milk but dark would be delicious), roughly chopped

150 g caster sugar (I used vanilla sugar – yum!)

120 g brown sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

40 g cocoa powder

80 g buckwheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp instant coffee

pinch flakey sea salt (like Maldon)

1. Preheat the oven to 180′C/350′F. Grease a 23cm square baking tin or line with baking paper.

2. Melt together the butter and chocolate in the microwave (I start with 20 second bursts) or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water or in a saucepan over a very low heat.

3. When the butter and chocolate is melted, remove from the heat. Add the sugars and stir to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well between each addition. Add the vanilla and stir to combine.

4. Fold in the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, coffee and salt. Stir until just combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin. Bake for 20-25 mins (for me they took closer to 30 mins). The brownies are ready when they are coming away from the sides of the tin and feel just set if you touch them gently. Leave to cool in the tin before tucking in!

Like me, my Friend-With-The-Awesome-Name (of cookies-for-dinner fame) has had some time off over the summer. (She had to go back to work this week *sob*). We decided to make proper use of our break and get off the couch (Homeland, I’m looking at you) for a brunch date and a visit to the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the MCA. My friend even volunteered to take photographs of our exploring (Kapooring?). All these gorgeous photographs are hers. Thank you so much X!

We couldn’t decide where to brunch (it being such a huge decision and all) but when my friend mentioned that the space at Orto would photograph really well, it was a done deal. This might just be the perfect example of food blogging gone too far, when you choose a restaurant not for the food, but for how good it looks in photos. Fortunately, the food at Orto was delicious, as well as beautiful. I think that means I’ve bought myself at least a little extra time in which to ponder this deep philosophical question of twenty first century life in the Western world.

I ordered the tomato, olive tapenade and goat cheese on sourdough and my friend had  the apricot stuffed chicken thigh with pinenuts, ricotta, fior de latte and crispy pancetta on a cracked wheat salad. The chicken was perfect – filling but so light it all disappeared, sweltering summer heat notwithstanding. The toast was delicious too. I don’t eat eggs and it’s such a joy to be able to order something other than granola for brunch. There were plenty of other egg-free options too – waffles, corn fritters and tomato on toast – and I fully intend to work my way through them all.

The coffee and cakes at Orto looked great but it being coffee-soaked Surry Hills (I know, I need to start exploring other Sydney suburbs!) we couldn’t resist trying Sample Coffee, on nearby Holt St. It’s more nook than cafe but it’s well worth checking out if you’re into coffee. They serve ever-delicious Mecca espresso and there’s always an awesome soundtrack playing in the background too. It was such a lovely, lazy day I didn’t stop to look at the time until it was well into the afternoon. No wonder I’m not looking forward to going back to work …

I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to criticising what I cook. In other words, I’m never satisfied. A couple of years ago I baked a citrus olive oil that was going to taste like a little slice of heaven. The reality, unsurprisingly, fell far short of my expectations. The scent and flavour of the olive oil was so grassy and unrefined that the cake was tinged with green; so close to savoury there was no way it going to satisfy a 4.00 pm sugar craving. The whole episode was so disappointing I threw the cake away. (What? It was just sitting there on the kitchen bench taunting me with its unsatisfied potential). I returned home later that day to find my housemates happily munching away, having rescued the cake from the bin. They thought I was mad for chucking it. It was perfectly fine, tasty even, they said. Leaving aside the fact that you’d have to be mad to eat a cake out of the bin (love you girls!), the point is I didn’t want an adequate cake. I wanted the best freakin’ olive oil cake you’ve ever had.

This (quirk?) is how I came to attempt to bake every single peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe ever written. Sure, that recipe from Baked was delicious (my Friend-With-The-Awesome-Name tells me they make for a very satisfying dinner) but could really be The One? No way. And so, I moved right along. After flirting with a couple more recipes, none of which came close to the Baked recipe, I gave myself a good mental slapping and reminded myself that striving for perfection is exhausting and counter-productive. Short of a choir of angels appearing when you take a bite, these cookies couldn’t be better. (The citrus olive oil cake, on the other hand, remains illusive. I’d love to hear if you have a favourite recipe).

Mustard yellow kitchen circa 1973. Awesome right?

These cookies are soft and chewy, certainly not snappy and crisp. However, unlike other recipes I tried, these are not dense. The crumb is so tender the cookies dissolve into a mess of peanut butter and chocolate as you eat them. Yum. I like my cookies extra soft so I underbaked these, taking them out of the oven at the 10 minute mark. As a result they veer towards delicate. If you want yours a little sturdier, leave them in for 12-13 minutes. They’ll still be chewy but a bit more sturdy.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe adapted very liberally from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito)

170 g butter, at room temperature

150 g (3/4 c) white sugar

150 g (3/4 c) brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c peanut butter (crunchy or smooth but I wouldn’t advise using the all natural stuff)

200 g (1 1/3 c) plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

120 g chocolate chips (milk chocolate or dark)

1. Preheat the oven to 190′C/375′F. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

2. In a stand mixer beat together the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the vanilla and peanut butter. Beat until incorporated into the butter mixture.

4. Add half the flour mixture to the butter. Mix for 15 seconds. Add the rest of the flour and beat until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips by hand. Refrigerate for at 3 hours (I’ve refrigerated it for up to 2 days without any problems).

5. When you’re ready to bake the biscuits, roll heaped tablespoons of dough into balls and place on the baking trays a few centimetres apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are turning golden at the edges (they should still be soft to touch). Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Apricots // Plums // Peaches // Crumble

Even

After

All this time

The Sun never says

To the Earth,

“You owe me.”

Look

What happens

With a love like that.

It lights the

Whole

Sky.

- Hafiz, 14th century Sufi poet