This official first week of winter has been cold and the urge to hibernate is rising. I have been spending a fair bit of time snuggled up (boy, cat, fluffy stuffed toy, blanket – it doesn’t matter) but at the same time dreaming about warm comfort food and hearty winter cooking. So I decided to scour Pinterest and make a little … Read More
Negroni Poached Pears
It’s no secret that I love creating boozy desserts, so I’m sneaking in just under the wire with a recipe to celebrate Negroni Week. If you’re not familiar, the negroni is an aperitif with just three ingredients – campari, gin and vermouth. Sophisticated and a little bit bitter, it’s a great way to start your Friday night and stimulate your … Read More
Simple Dinners 13 / Pumpkin Turmeric Soup
I wrote about soup way back in 2008 and called it an Intrinsically Good Thing, which I still think is so true. Different cultures around the world have been making and eating soup for millennia. Some of our favourite dishes these days are what the peasants would cook to make do – using every part of the animal (like the … Read More
Chocolate Whisky Pudding with Passionfruit Ice Cream
The weather here in Sydney has been crazy. We’ve had record amounts of rain, a freak weekend hail storm that had the inner west building snowmen. The winds got downright scary up here on Heartbreak Hill. Luckily save a broken window and a few umbrellas, we had no damage, but thousands of people did. The amazing volunteers at the SES … Read More
Simple Dinners 10 / Beef and Shiraz Pie
Winter and comfort food intrinsically go together. It can remind you of a different time and warm you up from the inside out, what could be better? For me personally, the best comfort food is anything meaty and cooked slowly for hours – or containing pasta and cheese, obviously! Recently I spent a wonderful relaxing Sunday just chopping, simmering and … Read More
Caramelised Banana and Rum Cake
After a very busy July, I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole work/life balance thing. Ask anyone you know how they’ve been and ‘busy’ or even ‘crazy busy’ seems to be the default answer. A badge of honour for the ambitious. I know it’s true for me! We pack our schedules with work or self-imposed obligations, check our emails before … Read More
Plum, Blueberry and Thyme Galette
Happy Friday! I’m thankful for a great week filled with work, but also some laughs, good food and exciting opportunities. There is the slightest chill in the air. With daylight savings ending, it’s starting to feel like autumn is truly setting in. Truth be told, autumn might be my favourite season in Sydney. Before I get into the Plum, Blueberry … Read More
Chocolate & Stout Puddings with Ice Cream
I definitely have a love/hate relationship with winter. I love coats, scarves, boots, scotch, red wine and winter comfort food, but I seriously dislike rain, wind and cold – all of which we have unfortunately had in abundance! It’s been a while since I made one of these lists, so I thought it was time to get my grateful on … Read More
Pumpkin Pie with Caramel Pepitas
This post is sponsored by Nuffnang My mum has a huge recipe archive. But unfortunately it has got to be one of the least organised collections in history. I remember poring over it as a kid, in the days before food blogs, Pinterest boards and dedicated recipe websites, going through hundreds of scraps of paper, magazine cutouts, handwritten notes and … Read More
Ricotta Hotcakes with Mulled Wine Stewed Rhubarb
I didn’t mean for so long to go past without a new post, but there’s been quite a lot happening around here and it’s taken a little while to get back into the swing of things. I’m house-sitting for a friend and living by myself for the very first time, which I love… most days, anyway… Over the weekend, I … Read More