sweet potato

Roasted Veges with Coconut Turmeric Sauce

Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don’t feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn.”
– Marilyn Monroe

Apologies for the radio silence, but I have a good excuse. We’ve just moved – both house and state – with all of the chaos that entails. After almost six years in Brisbane we’re back down south, back in the land of great coffee and cold winters, black outfits and flat vistas. Back home. Luckily, we’re down in time for autumn, my very favourite Melbourne season – purple twilight, red autumn leaves, wine bars, crisp mornings and sunny afternoons. Continue reading “Roasted Veges with Coconut Turmeric Sauce”

Roasted Sweet Potato & Turmeric Soup

It’s a mid-winter afternoon. The skies are heavy with bruised purple clouds, the light low and dark. I’m in the kitchen, sock-clad and lights on. The oven is heating and the room is warm; it smells of spices and roasting and comfort. The kids are sleeping and I’m listening to Philip Glass soft in the background. The bench is covered in peel and peppercorns and all kinds of mess. I’m cooking soup.

Soup is the ultimate comfort food. And spending time in front of a hot stove on a cold day is one of life’s pleasures. Soon after we moved to Brisbane we bought a big red Le Creuset pot. Over time it has become marked with use; scarred, if you will. No longer one of many exactly the same, but uniquely ours. There is something timeless about cooking a pot of soup in the Le Creuset, a sense of connecting to a long line of women cooking soup in big pots. My friend Nev describes it as a harking; “Le creuset is of a historical period, steeped in tradition and pretend memories.” Continue reading “Roasted Sweet Potato & Turmeric Soup”

Parsnip & Sweet Potato Fries

We celebrated the start of winter with a swim at the beach. Such is the life when living in the sub-tropics! We spent the weekend before last out at Stradbroke Island. Stradbroke is barely an hour from Brisbane but the act of getting on a ferry and leaving the car behind on the mainland amps the sense of distance. Along with some friends, we hired a house halfway up a hill with a view of the ocean and lazed away three days walking barefoot on the sand, swimming in the salty sea, pushing W on the swings, cooking and eating and talking.

The lovely thing about going away on holiday is the break from the pace and routines of the everyday. The slowing down. With two small people and work and life, things are pretty busy for S and I these days. Little T has just started teething, and his favourite place to sleep is in my (or S’s) arms. At home I use the kids’ nap times to do stuff – cook, work, write, yoga. But out at Stradbroke Island I let T nap in my arms to his heart’s content. And the smell of his little head and the twitch of his little lips warmed my soul. Continue reading “Parsnip & Sweet Potato Fries”

Roast Veges & Millet with Thyme Lime Pesto

How did it get late so soon?
– Dr. Seuss

Time is a tricky friend. It speeds up and slows down with no accounting. Some mornings stretch into a peaceful endlessness, only for evening to come around in the blink of an eye. Other days hours pass by so fast that breakfast suddenly becomes bedtime. Some days all of the plans to do this and that fall by the wayside. Other days so much gets done, with time to spare. It’s the ebb and flow, I guess. Continue reading “Roast Veges & Millet with Thyme Lime Pesto”

Kale & Sweet Potato Salad w/ Fried Haloumi

“Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark.”

From A Field Guide To Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

I had this post all ready to go last week – I just had to finish off some photo editing. But then, I had a baby instead. After a crazy heatwave weekend that seeped into the bones, my waters broke with a midnight storm. T was born later that afternoon in the hallway of our home, the sun and breeze streaming in through the front door. We lay in bed that night exhausted and elated. And then… there were four. Continue reading “Kale & Sweet Potato Salad w/ Fried Haloumi”

Sweet Potato Barley Bowl

This morning was one of those crisp bright winter mornings in Brisbane. Blue skies and clear fresh air, cool enough for a scarf, but warm enough so that by the time you walk down to the cafe you’ve shaken the cold out of your bones. We’ve discovered a favourite new cafe on the corner, opposite the park. It’s only a ten minute walk from home and W loves it because it means a run around in the playground and a shot on the swings on the way down (and usually on the way back as well!).

We don’t often go out for breakfast these days, but this morning we woke up and thought fuck it. It’s a public holiday, we’ve got a whole day with no plans, let’s treat ourselves. And it was so worth it. S got smoked pork with a fried egg served on lightly toasted flat bread with yoghurt, tomato, cucumber and coriander and I got homemade sourdough crumpets with poached rhubarb and honey macadamia ice cream. Pretty decadent for brekky, but let me tell you, SO GOOD. Continue reading “Sweet Potato Barley Bowl”

Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad with Kale Pesto

Summer in Brisbane is not for the lighthearted. By the time W wakes up from her morning nap and we get ready to go out, it’s so hot. We walk slowly down to the pool, the parasol our traveling circle of shade. After lazing in the water and playing in the grass, we walk slowly back home, one of us drinking icy-cold coconut water and the other craning her head back to see the crows in the trees.

The best time of the day is early in the morning, when the sun is still low and hasn’t built up to its midday strength, when everything feels fresh and clean, and not yet wilted beneath the sun. We like to get to the market early on the weekends, take our time with the shopping. By the time we’re finished up and heading home, the sun is strong and the market is busy. Continue reading “Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad with Kale Pesto”