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this week

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Figs on my tree. I think this time next week they will all be ready to eat.

Grateful for

Health. Safety. Love. Enough to eat, clean water.

More granularly, I was grateful for the kind words and encouragement from my friend and fellow creative writing PhD candidate who just gets it, as it’s been a bit of hard slog this week. Also deeply grateful for this Charlotte Wood interview where there were two very comforting things said that I really needed to hear:

“It’s taken me a very long time to trust that the book will show me how to write it if I just pay attention. If I don’t freak out too much, if I don’t resist what’s happening as I write…but it’s hard to trust that, because a lot of the time you’re throwing stuff away because it’s wrong! With the first draft, the only thing I can do is go with it.”

“I’m always telling younger writers to normalise rejection. It’s not something that you can avoid and it’s not something you should attach too much meaning to. Your work will find its way if you pay attention to the work. The best way for me to deal with rejection is to go back to my work. When I’m really dug in to a work, all of that anxiety about the outside world and what people think of you just drops away. Which is kind of why I write, I think.”

In awe of

Those in the medical profession. How they stay so calm, professional and caring through it all.

Reading

Frankie Magazine: Where to recycle your clothes and shoes in Australia

The Saturday Paper: Bruce Pascoe on why we should bring back Aboriginal food industries

The Audacity: The Ladies Room by Nancy Powaga - “Listen, you can’t tell a person’s gender based on how they look, and you shouldn’t assume or tell someone they’re in the wrong bathroom.” A very moving and powerful piece. I particularly appreciated Nancy’s point about how all forms of oppression are connected.

The Planthunter: A Message From The Flood Zone - “I have read many peer reviewed scientific papers about the link between a warming climate and extreme weather events like flooding and bushfires. I knew, intellectually, that events of this nature would happen in my lifetime. But knowing something intellectually is very different to living it.“

The Conversation: The new IPCC report’s grim predictions, and why adaptation efforts are falling behind. This is rather terrifying reading.

My Body by Emily Ratajkowski. The perfect read to follow bingeing the Pam and Tommy series.

Listening to

Black Magic Woman: Interview with Reconciliation Australia’s CEO, Karen Mundine

ABC Conversations: Dr Anne Aly’s passion for justice

Life Examined: Alain de Botton and the complexity of modern day love

Eating

One-pan orecchiette puttanesca from Ottolenghi’s Flavour (pictured)

Crowd-pleasing Tex Mex casserole (perfect vehicle for leftover cooked rice, FYI)

Tinned tomato risotto - but this time with fresh tomatoes from the garden, and I veganised it.

I also turned some of the huge pile of cucumbers my neighbour gave me into a pickle, which we’ve eaten with tofu and rice so far. Homegrown cucumbers are indeed a revelation.

Drinking

This jalapeño and lime soda is nose-pricklingly tangy and really good! Perfect with Friday night nachos, which seem to have become a thing.

Picking

Silverbeet, chard, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes and… celery! A friend gave me a celery plant during the national lockdown of 2020, which I kept in a pot until a few months ago, when it became increasingly clear it was confined and starting to suffer. I planted it in the ground and it has thrived. Instead of being more like a herb that I’d use as a parsley substitute, it has become quite substantial. Hence I am now harvesting pencil-thick stalks of celery.

Watching

TV-wise, not much! The last episode of Pam and Tommy (Disney+) which I am still reeling from and a bit of chain-watching The Simpsons (also Disney+) because we haven’t watched it for 10 years and suddenly have hundreds of episodes we’ve never seen, which is a huge novelty. I’ve also caught up with my YouTube favourites in my lunch breaks…but that’s about it.

Wearing/applying

Despite Tasmania lifting the mask mandate for indoor retail spaces, I am still wearing one everywhere.

My Bell Jar t-shirt and favourite old Jack Wills hoodie.

Yoga leggings and smart jumpers for WFH (I know - JUMPERS, when it was 27 degrees last week) and posh jeans and dresses for the office. Which nobody sees unless I’m walking to the kitchen or the library, as I’m all alone in my office. Which is not a bad thing when you’re trying to write a book, but I do miss seeing people. As masks are mandated in any shared indoor spaces at uni, which I fully support, either everyone is WFH or coordinating it so we’re not in the office at the same time. It’s just what we have to do right now but it is a bit lonely.

My Vitamin C serum has run out but to be honest I wasn’t wild about it so I’m on the hunt for another…

Thinking about

Things I’m looking forward to. It’s the only way to stave off the despair and overwhelm - but, as Sarah Wilson put it in her excellent newsletter, maybe we should be overwhelmed. We should surrender to it, because then we will stop being so tolerant of the intolerable. Maybe then things will change.

Favourite experience/s of the week

Coffee with my PhD friend. Starting a new embroidery. Listening to compositions for the violin from 1815 by an early Tasmanian composer in an empty room in the library, marvelling at the two centuries that have passed, at how humanity has been here before and it will be again.

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this week

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A high angle shot of a woman's hand holding a donut. Her brightly patterned jumpsuit is in the background.

A sourdough donut eaten the sun in a quiet, leafy corner of a city park is a pleasure I don’t indulge in enough.

On a current hiatus from social media, I’m finding myself wanting to blog more. So I thought I’d try something different here and do a little newsletter-like update of things I’ve done and thought about during the week.

So without further ado, this week I’ve been:

Grateful for

My health and my safety. To live somewhere untouched by severe floods and war. Moving back home has not been without its challenges, but there hasn’t been a single day that I’ve not been unbelievably grateful to be here. I don’t feel I have anything of value to add to the horrific, terrifying events currently unfolding both in Australia and overseas. But there are many ways we can help.

In awe of

Olia Hercules, Alissa Timoshkina and all the food writers in the UK who have banded together for #CookForUkraine. I have Hercules’ first book Mamushka on order.

The community in Mullumbimby who are coordinating an incredible local rescue operation in their flood-ravaged region, where landslides and broken roads have left countless people stranded. This was sobering reading.

Reading

An old favourite, What Helps by Satya Robyn, a book I often turn to when things feel overwhelming.

I discovered the American poet Jane Hirshfield in January and have just finished her 2020 collection Ledger. How her poems manage to be so confronting as well as consoling I do not know, but I loved every minute I spent with them.

Devotion by Hannah Kent, a writer of beauty and integrity who never disappoints me, whose lyrical power keeps growing and growing, and whom I’ve been fortunate enough to interview!

A pile of Flow magazines I “borrowed” from my sister.

Listening to

My inner autumn and inner winter playlists on TIDAL.

James and Ashley Stay At Home: How to remake the world with Sarah Senteilles, author of Stranger Care

Writes4Women: Heart of Writing, Nikki Gemmell on her new memoir, Dissolve

The Diary of a CEO: Fearne Cotton, THIS is how to build confidence and set yourself free

Wild with Sarah Wilson: All the Ask Me Anything episodes

Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter, Nils Frahm, Sophie Hutchings - all their albums, on repeat, always. Perfect writing music.

Eating

The Nacho Average Nachos from Charity Morgan’s amazing book Unbelievably Vegan - this is the fourth time I’ve made them in two weeks. It’s our new favourite summer meal! Lots of prep, admittedly, but you get enough of the fixins to get about 8 servings out of them. The queso is quite out of this world. Everything I’ve cooked from Charity’s book has been delicious but this dish has been the stand-out so far.

I made Tasmanian culinary icon Sally Wise’s vegan coconut blackcurrant ice cream which turned out beautifully. I was delighted my basic ice cream maker I bought in 2013 still works! I will experiment with a salted caramel flavoured one next.

There’s also been our standard pizzas on the barbecue (I will write you the recipe at some point as they deserve a post of their own), this new favourite zucchini pasta, and as I’ve had a few nights working late, curry from the freezer!

Picking

I grew these!

Strawberries, chard, kale, spinach, a few figs, a handful of tomatoes. I also finally successfully grew my own garlic! The green beans are back with a vengeance so I’ll look forward to picking those next week. The potatoes are also starting to look ready to dig up, but they might be a few weeks more yet.

Watching

Pam and Tommy (Disney+) - I really didn’t think this would be for me, but I am OBSESSED. Also adoring all the 90s music.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (Amazon Prime) - not only starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy, but Taika Waititi and Nick Cave as well, so what’s not to like? A biopic about a little-known (to me at least) eccentric inventor and artist in Victorian London that is hilarious, sad and utterly charming. A refreshingly diverse cast too. We loved it!

Wearing/applying

This jumpsuit from local Tassie designer Keshet which has elicited many comments from friends and strangers alike. You can see it in the first photo with the donut too!

This is my SPF - I wear it every day, in every season.

This is the perfume I wore this week that got the most “you smell great” remarks.

Thinking about

Covid. Floods. Incompetent public officials. Ukraine. Peace. War. Mental health. Climate change. Insecure housing. All the biggies.

Favourite experience/s of the week

Spending time with my sisters - I had dinner with one and her family on Saturday and got a pedicure with another on Sunday, such little things I couldn’t do for many years - and going for a run on Tuesday morning after we’d had heavy rain the night before, inhaling the incredible scent of dripping eucalypts. I also got a Wordle in two guesses (that’s only happened twice).

Same time next week? Wherever you are, I hope you’re well and finding things to savour. Thanks for being here xx

a jelly-fish

Visible, invisible,
A fluctuating charm,
An amber-colored amethyst
Inhabits it; your arm
Approaches, and
It opens and
It closes;
You have meant
To catch it,
And it shrivels;
You abandon
Your intent—
It opens, and it
Closes and you
Reach for it—
The blue
Surrounding it
Grows cloudy, and
It floats away
From you.

— Marianne Moore (“A Jelly-Fish”)


This morning I woke up from a disorienting dream about someone I haven’t thought about for a long time. In the dream, an encounter was recreated and, unlike what happened in reality all those years ago, I left. I had to swim through a pool of jellyfish to get away. As I tried to cross the pool, and avoid the jellyfish, they multiplied. Not necessarily more dangerous, just harder to avoid. I found that if I swam slowly and carefully, and ironically didn’t fear them, I could pass through safely.

This afternoon, I drew this.

Bad memories are a bit like Marianne Moore’s jellyfish, aren’t they? Visible yet invisible.

But if they’re memories now, then you have already survived. There is nothing to fear. And even if they do show up again, you can swim through.

zucchini pasta

This isn’t the prettiest dish you’ll ever cook, but it will certainly one of the tastiest. It’s a great recipe to have up your sleeve this time of year when zucchini (or courgettes, I use both names interchangeably in my house!) are in season and plentiful. If you grow your own, no doubt you have them coming out of your ears and are trying to think of ways to eat them. This mixture would also be a lovely dip, once cooled, or enjoyed with chunky pieces of grilled bread. Goodness, I feel hungry just writing these words!

You need to use quite a bit of oil in this recipe but that’s the secret to the creaminess of the sauce, and the reason the zucchini go so beautifully soft, as they are effectively braised with the onions and garlic. It’s not greasy at all, I promise!

Zucchini pasta

Serves 4

Good quality extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3-5 zucchini (depending how big they are), chopped into cubes
1 garlic clove, crushed
Chilli flakes, a pinch or two
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons vegan sour cream (or ricotta)
Fresh basil, finely chopped or torn, as much as you like
500g dried pasta (penne or rigatoni are my preferred shape for this dish)

In a saute pan, a wide and shallow one you’d use to cook risotto or this pasta, pour in enough olive oil to cover the base, enough for the vegetables to paddle in. Place over a low-medium heat. Add your onions and a pinch of salt, stir, then leave to stew slowly. I probably should have warned you, this is the kind of dish you make on a balmy summer evening when you’ve got music playing and some other nice thing to occupy you - a book, a lover, anything where you won’t feel too impatient waiting around for something to cook.

I find the onions take about 15 minutes, you don’t want them to brown, just stew and soften. Add the zucchini, salt, garlic, chilli, black pepper, give it a good stir, then replace your lid and leave to simmer slowly over a low-medium heat until the zucchini are juicy and, when you stir them, starting to fall apart. It takes anywhere for 20 minutes to a full half hour.

Now cook your pasta, which will give the zucchini even more time to braise and soften. Drain it once it’s cooked to your liking, reserving a cup of the cooking water in case you need it.

Add the vegan sour cream and basil to the zucchini mixture, stirring well, then the pasta, stirring well to coat it thoroughly in the sauce. Add some of the pasta water if it seems dry. I like to add a final grinding of black pepper. You could add some Parmesan too, if you like.

Serve and feel inordinately blessed in your garden’s summer zucchini glut this year.

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my favourite books of 2021

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As it’s March tomorrow and having a blog post with 2021 in the title signifies being somewhat behind the times, I thought it was time to finish this one which I’ve had sitting in my drafts since…December 2021!

I’m going to switch things up this year and disrupt the structure of previous favourite books of the year posts. I really like how Roxane Gay writes her year-in-reading retrospectives where she writes in depth about a book she really loved, her favourite of the year, and then comes up with pithy one-line summaries for the others she enjoyed.

So, let’s give that a try!

My Favourite Book of The Year

Recipe for a Kinder Life (2021) by Annie Smithers

In what was a less-than-kind year, this book was truly balm for the soul.

In Recipe for a Kinder Life, chef Annie Smithers takes us on a tour of her property in country Victoria where she and her wife Susan are attempting to live as sustainably as they possibly can. They grow food for their own consumption as well as for Annie’s restaurant, and keep a number of animals for their eggs and wool (not to eat). Living this way means having to think about so many things you never need to worry about if you’re a city-dweller who gets all their food from an online supermarket. Things like weather, water, soil health, pest control, to say nothing of the physical labour, planning and daily maintenance that goes into a successful large-scale garden. Annie reminded me of something I too have learned from growing my own food - you have so much respect for the journey a vegetable or fruit takes from seed to table when you’ve grown it yourself, and you’ll never waste anything again.

But this is not just a book about growing your own food, a journey to self sufficiency and how to live the good life. It’s about a kinder, sustainable life in every sense of the word, right down to the hours you work, how you manage your time, how you prioritise, and how you can craft your life around what you value without burning yourself out. Annie shares the lessons she’s learned in this arena, especially after a long career in hospitality and restaurants, which entailed often working unsociable hours. It all comes at a price and Annie encourages you to ask yourself if you’re prepared to pay it.

The book is not instructional or didactic in any way - Annie tells the story of Babbington Park, sharing what she and Susan have done and why, what has worked for them, what hasn’t and what they still have to learn. The reader is free to take from it what they will. But you can’t help but be inspired by Annie’s vision and hard work, and the desires and values she’s designed her life around: to tread gently on the earth, treat resources with reverence, and live in a sustainable and kind way that ripples out beyond your own household.

I have a feeling this book will be a great companion for the next chapter of my own journey to a more self-sufficient, sustainable and kinder life. If you read it, I hope you get as much out of it as I did!

The book everyone was talking about which is 100% worthy of the hype

Sorrow and Bliss (2021) by Meg Mason

A sumptuous, riveting, clever novel with a shock ending that I can’t stop thinking about

From Where I Fell (2021) by Susan Johnston

The book that made me ache with rage and recognition

Dissolve (2021) by Nikki Gemmell

A beautiful and harrowing book set in two places I’ve lived

The Cookbook of Common Prayer (2021) by Francesca Haig

An incredible novel every Australian should read

After Story (2021) by Larissa Behrendt

The book I bought the day it came out and in which I made the most notes and annotations

The Luminous Solution (2021) by Charlotte Wood

A marvellous and moving meditation on nature, politics, art, power and truth

Orwell’s Roses (2021) by Rebecca Solnit

A library book I loved so much I bought my own copy and bought more for friends

The Details (2020) by Tegan Bennett Daylight

The book that changed me

Bowerbird (2018) by Alanna Valentine

A powerful and confronting book I read in one sitting

Misfits: A Personal Manifesto (2021) by Michaela Coel

A gripping, well-crafted tale of domestic bliss gone wrong which I adored from start to finish

Magpie (2021) by Elizabeth Day

A marvellous novel with a bizarre ending set in Tasmania that is also about writing, life, ambition and legacy

Wood Green (2016) by Sean Rabin

A collection of beautifully composed short stories that was arresting and haunting, and surprisingly modern

Tell It To A Stranger (1947, 2000) by Elizabeth Berridge

A book that inspired me to watch a film that has a perfect and moving ending (Big Night)

Taste: My Life Through Food (2021) by Stanley Tucci

A witty and charming romance about identity, language, belonging, and a couple that doesn’t believe in love

A Lover’s Discourse (2020) by Xiaolu Guo

A book that comforted and uplifted as the year came to an end

These Precious Days (2021) by Ann Patchett