Good mail...

Arriving home from Sydney on Monday, I was greeted by a two foot high lawn, three dozen eggs in the fridge and some very exciting mail.

Hot off the press, there was a copy of Little One Kids Annual, featuring a simply gorgeous article written by that clever wordsmith Jodi accompanied by photos by the talented Jen Rayner.  It's such a lovely article.  I'm so thrilled to be included in such a gorgeous magazine and I have a permanent reminder that yes, there was one day that the children's rooms were actually that tidy....

But I was even more thrilled about finally getting my hands on a copy of Rohan's book that he so generously sent me. Oh I love it.  We made pumpkin gnocchi that very night.  And it was delicious.

Whole Larder Love is a vibrant, colourful and practical guide to the admirable way Rohan feeds his family.  Grow, gather, hunt, cook :: it's not preachy, just friendly, welcoming and bursting with enthusiasm.  Just like Ro himself.

Now, another omelette before I'm off to tackle that lawn....

Sydney food mission

Today I failed blogging 101 by going out on a Sydney food adventure without my camera.  Sigh.  And what loveliness there was to photograph.   We'll have to make do with snaps from my phone.  

Nevertheless, we were up early to get to the Eveleigh Farmers Markets by 8:30 to beat the rush.  First stop, croque madames at Bird Cow Fish.  Divine.  After demolishing those it was off to Kylie Kwong's stall to eat pancakes filled with omelette and crunchy vegetables and a side of steamed pork buns.  Another sigh. So tasty.  

Coffee, bread, butter and purslane purchases later, we finished with a fruity freshpop - salty watermelon for me and rose and raspberry for the peeps.  So good.

Then we made tracks to The Grounds, along with a good proportion of the Sydney population.  Oh my. That place was busy.  And I can see why.  Utterly gorgeous grounds and gardens served with amazing coffee.  An irresistible combination it seems.

We hit the highway home with our bellies full of deliciousness, and even considered for a moment moving back to Sydney...then we got stuck in traffic and came to our senses.  

So, that's my Sydney food mission accomplished.  I loved every mouthful. 

Creative Homebodies

Hello!

I wrote a post over at Justb.  You can read it here.

Kitchen by Mike

We're back in Sydney this week for a family visit and whenever I get back to the big smoke, I compile an ambitious list of places to visit that usually involve eating.  Top of the list was Kitchen by Mike at the new Koskela showroom.  After a long trek across town, Elsa and I went there for lunch yesterday.  The fit out is gorgeous, reusing lots of industrial materials and the showroom is full of beautiful things.  But the best thing?  The food! 

There's no menu, you line up, straining your neck from the back of the queue to get a glimpse of the enormous selection spread along the huge counter.  I ordered some salads, piled high onto an enamel plate, that were so delicious they stopped you in your tracks.  But I think my favourite was the massive loaves of crusty sourdough bread.  Thick rough cut slices served with an enormous knob of that hand churned butter again. Worth a visit for that alone. 

Next stop,  Eveleigh Farmers Markets for some more Sydney deliciousness. 

Morning tea in the mountains

Morning tea in the Blue Mountains today.  At a rambling weatherboard house, we sat on the sunny balcony surrounded by shady trees and rickety fences.  We ate Tasmanian jam and Hominy sourdough with lashings of Pepe Saya butter.  We drank coffee and hot chocolate and lots of cups of tea.

Then we walked through the magic gardens with magpies and chickens and then we picked lemons.  We tasted snow peas and admired stone walls and got lost in a wild and secret garden that went on forever.

Bliss.

A field of sunflowers

I watched a great film a few years ago and recall this inspiring scene but I couldn't remember the title. So I googled "movie, field of sunflowers, road trip, collector, wall of boxes" and up came the title.  Phew! I love that.

Ever since I saw the film Everything is Illuminated I've fancied a huge field of sunflowers around my house.   Not really practical, digging up the lawn for sunflowers, but what a beautiful summer you would have.

Every spring I manage to plant a few sunflowers in the garden, although nothing on this scale. This year I'm dreaming big.

There are plenty of scrappy spots in the garden I could turn into a mini field of sunflowers.  The seeds have arrived. I just need to prepare some beds and start sowing.  Let's see what happens.

Do you like sunflowers?  Have you seen Everything is Illuminated? I loved it!