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my favourite books of 2022

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Hello friends, happy new year! How have you been?

First cab off the rank is my usual reading highlights post. It amused me how many “best books I read in 2022” articles and posts I started seeing appear in the lead up to Christmas because I nearly always end up reading one of my favourite books of the year between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

2022 was no exception! It turned out my favourite book of the year was waiting wrapped under the Christmas tree, which I read in a handful of sittings on Boxing Day afternoon. It was one of the most transcendent and important reading experiences of my year.

My favourite book of the year

Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here (2022) by Heather Rose

Long time readers of my ramblings will know that I would buy a book about paint drying if Heather Rose wrote it - I have never been disappointed by her writing and this long-awaited memoir was no exception. I had no idea how autobiographical her first novel, White Heart, actually was.

Reading Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here was a joy - I had forgotten that delicious, expansive feeling of finishing an entire book in a mere handful of sittings over a day or, in my case, one afternoon! It was glorious. Moving, insightful, tender, inspiring. In many ways, it was the perfect book to end 2022 - a very strange and at times incredibly painful year. Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here is about all the interwoven threads of our lives, how an idyllic childhood can be shattered in moments, and where the search for meaning, love, connection and wholeness can take you. How even suffering, unimaginable grief, might have a deeper meaning and push us in the direction our lives were always intended for:

Every human life is perfect in its own way. We cannot understand that, because it seems like there is so much suffering. But maybe every life is perfect for we need to know and learn and see and understand. Even when we don't understand, even when the suffering seems unfathomable, does some part of us understand? Could that really be true, I wondered?

Nothing bad ever happens here...

My body was shaking violently now. I held onto the rock beneath me as if I was clinging to life itself. Maybe I was. I clung to this life, my life, with all its imperfections and mistakes, with all its joy. I didn't want to go anywhere.

The key message for me was that choosing joy is an act of courage, especially in the face of trauma, grief and endless knocks to one’s spirit. Joy and pain can co-exist, as can light and dark, as can mystery and knowledge. This book has encouraged me, going into 2023, to seek joy as much as possible, to deliberately cultivate it. It was also a timely reminder, as I’m staring down the last 18 months of my PhD, that the work I am doing, that I’ve been called to do, will take everything I have.

I loved it.

And now, for the honourable mentions:

A fabulous collection of inter-connected short stories that read more like a novel, and set in Tassie

Smokehouse (2021) by Melissa Manning

Two excellent books on the craft of writing, especially within the Australian context

The Writer Laid Bare (2022) by Lee Kofman

Reading Like an Australian Writer (2021) edited by Belinda Castles

Two books that cemented my decision to continue my social media hiatus for the foreseeable future

Break the Internet: In Pursuit of Influence (2022) by Olivia Yallop

Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention (2022) by Johann Hari

A moving and evocative poetry collection that I adored and savoured

Ledger (2021) by Jane Hirshfield

A stunning, no-detail-spared biography that expanded my world considerably

My Tongue is My Own: A Life of Gwen Harwood (2022) by Ann-Marie Priest - see my review for TEXT here

A book that reignited my passion for and interest in a writer who has influenced and intrigued me for decades

Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton (2022) by Gail Crowther

A book I read out of sheer curiosity that was astonishing, daring and brilliant

Nightbitch (2021) by Rachel Yoder

A book of essays that was so clever, inventive and insightful it made me want to rewrite everything I’ve ever published

Blueberries (2020) by Ellena Savage

Cookbooks I did not just devour the words of but actually cooked a lot from

One Pot: Three Ways (2021) by Rachel Ama

Unbelievably Vegan (2022) by Charity Morgan

Tenderheart (2022) by Hetty Lui McKinnon

A cookbook I have not yet cooked from but that was so beautifully written I read it twice

The Year of Miracles (2022) by Ella Risbridger

So there you have it, another year’s reading done and dusted. I’ve been writing about my favourite books for ten years now! Here are my favourites from 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

What were your favourites from last year? Do tell me!

Please note: this blog post has affiliate links with retailers such as Booktopia which means I may receive a commission for a sale that I refer, at no extra cost to you.

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this week

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Is it really summer? Tasmania hasn’t got the memo. I’ve put the winter sheets back on the bed, we’ve had snow on the mountain and yet I harvested this giant bowl of strawberries! It’s so odd.

A lot of people I know have finished work for the year and I hope this week might hold some slowing down for me and Tom too. I don’t wear this as a badge of honour, I will just share in the spirit of how I’ve always tried to be online, which is as honest, authentic and unguarded as one dares to be on the internet - it’s hard for me to rest. It’s something I feel I have to earn, and I am never entirely sure if I have. There is a dark side to being driven, ambitious and disciplined - you are afraid to ever stop in case the momentum disappears. This is something I really want to work on over the next year. And there I go again, using the word work and making it a project!

Favourite experience/s of the week

Babysitting our nephew, who is nearly three months old and the sweetest little boy. I had Bach’s Brandenberg concertos playing when he was dropped off, which I switched to Baby Shark, thinking that’s what he’d prefer…. but his dear little face screwed up and he seemed a bit restless! I put Bach back on and he was much happier, and barely made a squeak after that. He’s such a placid, happy little guy! His big sister came by after she was finished at the dentist and, a bit like me when I was her age, went looking through the pantry for things to eat. I keep forgetting to get kid friendly stuff in - all I could offer was dried apricots and vegan banana bread, which was low-sugar and had too much cinnamon in for her palate! One of my aunties had a similar pantry when I was a child - only healthy snacks, no junk food. I adore that aunty and must have subconsciously modelled myself on her for, 35 years later, I am now the aunt with healthy food in her pantry…and who plays Bach when the kids come round! I find it highly amusing. Spending time with the two youngest of our nieces and nephews is always the highlight of any week, they are the sweetest children.

Speaking of children, another high point of the week was hearing that a dear friend of mine had a baby girl on Monday. She sent me a video of baby sleeping and I could not cope with the cute!

Reading

My weekly trip to the library - always a joy to spot your own book on the shelves! It never gets old :) And what an honour to be next to Captain Sir Tom.

I received an ARC of a new memoir, All My Wild Mothers: Motherhood, loss and an apothecary garden by Victoria Bennett and I am quite spellbound by it. Poetic, compelling, heartbreaking yet hopeful, it’s beautifully written and I am quite in awe of Bennett’s strength and resilience, creating something beautiful out of life’s inevitable grief and harshness. I’m planning to read the rest during the day rather than at bedtime, as I read until nearly 1am the first night I picked it up!

Ann Patchett’s These Precious Days was one of my favourite books of 2021 and this week I read This is The Story of a Happy Marriage, an earlier collection of essays, just as interesting, funny, moving and incisive about life and the human condition. She is fast becoming one of my favourite writers.

Continuing to dip in and out of Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath which I mentioned last week and am enjoying so much. Also nearly finished with Stolen Focus which is terrifying and reassuring at the same time!

All other reading was PhD related! Particularly enjoyed getting my teeth into this.

Listening to

This week I participated in an Inner Peace challenge on Insight Timer which I wasn’t expecting to get as much out of as I actually did. There were so many enlightening moments of comfort and wisdom, including this week’s Quote!

TIDAL put together a “new for you” playlist, showcasing brand new tracks from all my favourite artists and there are some bangers on there! Especially loved this one from Ben Böhmer and this one from Matthew Halsall. Tom and I are still deciding on our Albums of the Year - sometimes we pick the same one, but most years it’s different. A lot of albums I’ve discovered this year were in fact released last year!

Best Friend Therapy: Dreams - why do we dream? How can they help us? And what on earth did Elizabeth’s dream mean? This was a fascinating episode which involved some “live” therapy as Emma worked with Elizabeth to interpret the hidden meaning in a vivid dream she had had. I found it really useful to view everything and everyone that appears in your dreams as various aspects of your subconcious, not the literal people (very reassuring!).

The First Time: Masters Series: George Saunders - such a lovely man whose wise, reassuring insights into the craft of writing are revered not just by me but by so many. I really enjoyed this and it encouraged me to pick A Swim in A Pond in The Rain again, which I’ve dipped in and out of infrequently over the past year.

Otherwise, just a shit ton of Christmas music! My Christmas playlist heavily favours the Bing Crosby/Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong/Brat Pack versions of the modern carols, but there’s also some jazz instrumentals, Taylor Swift, Julia Stone and a gorgeous rendition of my favourite Coventry Carol by Kate Miller-Heidke, Jess Hitchcock, Alice Keath, Marlon Williams and Paul Kelly. I also love the King’s College Cambridge choir and Kate Rusby’s The Frost is All Over.

Eating

I made a gorgeous vegan Victoria sponge for a dear friend’s birthday on Tuesday - I used this recipe from Tesco as a base and it was brilliant. I’ll test it a few more times before I write it up but I thought it was a real winner! With fresh strawberries from my garden, it was such a delicious treat. Most of it went home with the birthday lady but I think there’s a piece left in the fridge…

Otherwise, because it’s been so damn freezing our dinners have been mostly of the warming and comforting variety, not quite what I expected for this time of year! The poor lettuce in the fridge may end up getting turned into soup at this rate! I made my favourite soup this week, as well as the following:

Tinned tomato risotto - a household favourite we hadn’t had for some time. As delicious, comforting and easy to make as always!

A pasta I made up - roasted tomatoes, walnuts and basil blended and tossed through wholewheat spaghetti.

Breadmaker bread made with Australian bush herbs, sun-dried tomatoes and green Sicilian olives.

Rachel Ama’s roast cauliflower curry from her book One Pot: Three Ways - we also had the Quinoa Pad Thai from the same book this week.

I made one of the most ambrosial meals I’ve had all year this week, one evening when Tom was out. I had read about a delicious-sounding tomato gochujang pasta in Sonya’s newsletter which I didn’t think would be quite to my beloved’s taste but that was right up my alley. I had a perfectly sized portion of pasta for one in a packet waiting to be used up and, in anticipation, I bought some Lauds cultured oat butter from Hill Street Grocer which, sidenote, is also incredible.

The recipe is from Joy Cho and I followed it to the letter but I veganised it - using the above mentioned butter, nutritional yeast, vegan “chicken style” stock and oat cream. To be honest, the only thing I missed was the Parmesan. Otherwise, it was stunning. I didn’t even take a picture of it, that’s how keen I was to tuck in. With this plate of pasta and an episode of Belgravia on ABC iview to watch, I was in heaven. There was enough sauce for another serve, but instead of cooking more pasta I just thinned it out with more stock the next day and had it as a creamy spicy tomato soup. Incredible. I will be making it again and in all honesty I think even Tommy would like it - his tolerance for chilli is a lot greater than it used to be!

Christmas cooking is in full swing! I’ve made a pear, apple and harissa chutney and Nigella’s vegan gingerbread so far. I’ve just got the vegan brownies and a few other things to do. I hope I don’t run out of time!

Drinking

We enjoyed a gorgeous Gibson ‘The Dirtman’ shiraz from the Barossa with our Friday night pasta - we were lucky enough to visit that winery back in January 2020 (where the picture is from!). Always a winner! It was the most I’ve enjoyed a bottle of wine for a while.

Something I’ve really enjoyed about blogging again is writing about my life rather than just captions for photos, which is what I did prior to stepping away from social media this year. I would have loved to have written about our trip to Western and South Australia in the way I do now. Is there an argument for doing a retrospective post? Or shall we just use it as an excuse to recreate the trip…?


PICKING

Gorgeous homegrown strawberries! I managed to get 350g into this bowl, which I used in the aforementioned birthday cake, in smoothies and then froze the rest once they started getting soft in the fridge. It’s interesting how homegrown fruit deteriorates faster than what you buy at the supermarket (is it the lack of chemicals, I wonder?). There’s more fruit to pick now, and birds to shoo away from them! But the pinwheels seem to be doing the trick for now.

In the side garden, lots of silverbeet and spinach shoots are coming up, the potato tower has another load of compost added, and tiny peas are starting to appear on the vines. I’ve planted more peas and beans, and I’ve noticed rogue tomatoes, potatoes and what looks like pumpkin starting to peek through. I just need the weather to warm up and maybe things will really spring into action.

Watching

SO many Christmas movies!

Last Christmas - We all know the Wham! Christmas anthem “Last Christmas”….but what if someone really did give you their heart?! I won’t say too much more as I’ll spoil it but if you love Christmas movies, especially Christmas movies set in London, you will adore this. Tom and I discovered it last year and it was wonderful to watch it again this Christmas - we laughed and cried throughout this watch of it. It’s a beautiful film that perfectly captures the London we lived in. Full of beauty….but also piles of garbage that one inadvertently falls into. The cast are wonderful and Emma Thompson is, as usual, magnificent. A must watch for the festive season!

Die Hard - which I found surprisingly enjoyable! Tom enjoys movies that aren’t Christmas movies strictly speaking but that are set at Christmas, which this movie is…and it’s really good fun, which I wasn’t expecting.

The Holiday - my pick, as it’s one of my favourite Christmas films, and which we both really enjoyed! This Christmas Eve we too will be having fettuccine, popping some bubbly and celebrating being young and being alive!

Happiest Season - another Netflix discovery of last Christmas, which we were saving for a rewatch. Hilarious and heartbreaking all at once, you’ll need tissues for this one too. Dan Levy steals every scene he’s in!

About A Boy - one of our favourite films (and soundtracks) and another one that has a few Christmas scenes but not technically a Christmas film but it always feels like one!

With a week until Christmas, there’s still time for more Christmas favourites….stay tuned!

Quote of the week

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” - Joseph Campbell (mentioned in one of the Inner Peace meditations this week)

If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post, or anything else, with me, please do! I hope you’re finding things to enjoy at what I know can be a tricky time of year for many (it has been for us too) and staying warm or cool, wherever you are! xx

Please note: this blog post has affiliate links with retailers such as Booktopia which means I may receive a commission for a sale that I refer, at no extra cost to you.

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this week

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No mud, no lotus.

Another week closer to Christmas, friends! Work shows no signs of slowing down for Tom and I, but we like being kept busy. Lots of cool projects on the go, which is great!

Favourite experience of the week

I really enjoyed the “work in progress” day run by the multidisciplinary research group I’m part of at uni. I didn’t have to present for a change so I just got to sit back, enjoy a vegan brownie and a soy chai latte and hear about what other people are researching, what bliss! The highlight of the day was an afternoon podcasting masterclass from Dr Siobhan McHugh, who has produced some of the country’s most interesting and awarded narrative podcasts in recent years. Podcasting has changed so much from when I was doing mine 10 years ago. I hope I might start that up again one day, it was one of the highlights of my career so far.

Reading

Books I picked up from the library today….to add to the every growing pile!

I finally finished Olivia Yallop’s Break the Internet, which really cemented the decision to step away from social media for me. The more I read, the more I realised that social media and the wider internet, once fascinating portals for connection and unique experiences, have become increasingly problematic, bloated by clickbait, “patrolled by brands and policed by algorithms” (p.247). I found this quote particularly resonant: “2020 just proved that social media platforms aren’t engineered for action, but for advertising, promoting call-out culture over community and individualism over solidarity.”

Yallop herself reaches a breaking point similar to my own in January, finding the world of social media, junklords and influencers too triggering, too vacuous, too caustic and fraught. If you are thinking about stepping away yourself, this book will probably make the decision for you. I also found the glossary, as an elder millennial not entirely au fait with all the latest internet lingo, very helpful!

Sydney Review of Books: Only Feelings - Catriona Menzies-Pike on Gina Rushton - really enjoyed this, especially this quote: “What’s unusual about this book is that it is nothing like a manifesto. It makes no firm case for any woman to decide to want to have a child or not — not even Rushton. There’s plenty of anger — about climate change, access to health care, and the shadow of patriarchy — but if there is a call to action, it’s a very quiet and highly caveated appeal to reflect and listen, to make space for the varieties and complexities of human lives.” [emphasis added by me]

To All the Recipes I’ve Loved Before - I discovered this wonderful foodie newsletter and indulged in reading the archives and fantasising about recreating some of the dishes Sonya writes so evocatively about. I was even more delighted to find she lives in Tassie too.  

I also started diving back in to this wonderful biography of my beloved Sylvia Plath who I’ve got back into in a big way this year. This doorstop of a book spares no detail and while I’m deeply familiar with Plath’s life story, I’m so enjoying the deep dive particularly of episodes I haven’t read much about before.

Listening to

I overheard Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” playing in the Reject Shop (UK readers, it’s Hobart’s equivalent of Poundland, perhaps?) when I was there earlier (more about that in the Picking section!) which was quite the earworm so I have had some 2010s electro pop playing on repeat while cooking. So many of them used to be on my running playlist! I have started listening to podcasts when I run now, which is interesting. I don’t run as fast as I do when I run to music, but the run itself goes faster, if that makes sense?! I don’t know which I prefer!

I was inspired by Tuesday’s podcasting masterclass to get into some new narrative podcasts so I checked out Stuff the British Stole, which Siobhan played us an excerpt of - loved it!

The Imperfects: Josh, Hugh and Ryan are awesome and I so enjoy listening to this podcast. This week I listened to their interview with Oliver Burkeman which was great entertainment for me while gardening and on my run I listened to Josh’s episode on how to defeat envy, which was so very interesting and relatable.

Eating

It’s been a funny week for cooking and eating - I had a list of new things to try but didn’t quite get round to them and instead relied on leftovers and the freezer as it turned into a rather busy week. We had pasta with lentil ragu which I cooked up and froze a few weeks ago, dhal from the freezer with basmati rice and flatbreads, a noodle stir fry (not unlike this one) with vegetables I was given from the work in progress day, and the mushroom and pumpkin crispy gnocchi from The Green Roasting Tin. The Full Vegan made an appearance on the weekend (we ate outside, in 30 degree heat! That feels like a dream as it’s freezing again now!) and the Tom of Hummus (see last week’s post) has also been made again!

All the Oreo brownies have been eaten so naturally another baked good was needed - the usual vegan banana bread was made yesterday with the blackened fruit in the bowl I had left there especially for the purpose. As bananas are so cheap at the moment, and frozen fruit is not, I’ve taken to buying a generous bunch or two of bananas and freezing them for smoothies (I also do this with other seasonal fruit in the summer like apricots and berries). The peels get made into fertiliser for my garden and two or three get left in the fruit bowl deliberately for banana bread. It’s a most satisfying arrangement!

I’ve also stocked up on apples and pears for Christmas chutney, which I think will be made this weekend, if we’re in for more rain…sigh!

Drinking

I discovered this alcohol-free Prosecco while in Melbourne and was delighted to see it in our local Woolworths! A really lovely alternative to sparkling wine, perfect for the silly season.

Watching

Honestly? 30 Rock and a few how-to YouTube videos (mostly to do with CSS and cleaning fountain pens!). Nothing exciting.

Wearing

A mask, everywhere! Hobart’s COVID risk level has gone from low to moderate, and I’ve noticed a lot more people wearing them. I can’t remember the last time I went into the supermarket or the library without one.

Something else I’ve been wearing, despite the mask…makeup! I bought some while I was in Melbourne from, of all places, The Body Shop and it’s amazing! I used to wear Body Shop makeup a lot when I was younger (in fact, my first ever lipgloss and mascara were from there, circa 1994) but hadn’t used them for many years, as I worked my way through the loot I was given from the Cosmo beauty cupboard (which surprisingly lasted a very long time!). I was delighted to find the Body Shop still works on my slightly more mature skin! My standard routine is now their Fresh Nude foundation applied with a sponge, concealer and powder (still using my Hourglass and Laura Mercier ones respectively for now), this gorgeous Shimmer Waves blush palette (which, while I was travelling, doubled as eyeshadow), and their Super Volume Mascara. Everything is so easy to apply and stays in place pretty much all day. I love how The Body Shop is slowly working towards having a fully vegan range too. I highly recommend them!

PICKING

Strawberries! Well, just about. I’ll pick all the ripe ones this weekend, as I’ve been fending off the greedy birds all week. I had to go to the Reject Shop to get some pinwheels to keep them off. As shown here:

When the wind gets up (and boy does it down here!), those pinwheels spin like mad and scare the birds off a treat. They have been a very handy addition to the garden these past few years!

I also picked two giant bags of spinach and silverbeet when I gave the side garden a haircut. The zucchini are coming along beautifully now that the sun can get to them. I also noted with delight the green shoot of the potatoes poking through in the tyre tower. I don’t know what kind of summer we’ll have, but I am hopeful.

I also picked MY FIRST LEMON!

Tom got me a lemon tree for Christmas in 2020 and fruit only started appearing this year - I was worried I’d killed it for the longest time! Today I needed lemon for the Tom of hummus, so I picked my first one off my very own tree. It was a proud moment. I grated some zest in as well as juice. It’s a very lemony hummus as a result, but I like that.

Morning routine - coffee and Morning Pages…

Proud of

A very satisfying work project being almost at completion, and the client being delighted, with only some minor changes left to do. I’ve so loved working on this and am very excited to share it (so is the client)!

Sticking to my morning routine of meditation for 2,048 days straight (that’s 5.5 years) and doing Morning Pages for 1,085 days (nearly 3 years to the day). Not that I’m counting, the apps do that for me! I started a new journal this week, my sixth for the year. They fill up very quickly these days!

I’ve got a huge post in drafts about journaling, as it’s one of the things I’m asked about the most. Stay tuned for that very soon, hopefully I’ll have it ready for you to read over the holidays!

Quote of the week

“Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.” - Mary Oliver


If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post, or anything else, with me, please do! I hope you’re also finding things to savour at the moment, that make you think and that make you smile. Have a happy and safe weekend xx

Please note: this blog post has affiliate links with Booktopia which means I may receive a commission for a sale that I refer, at no extra cost to you.

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this week, and the ones before

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Hello friends! This will be quite the catch-up post, as last week’s was, so do get a cup of tea and make yourself comfortable.

I can’t believe it’s December and in a matter of weeks, another year will be over. I don’t think I’m alone in eagerly anticipating the fresh start that the first of January promises (but admittedly doesn’t always deliver) as this year has been harder than most. I am ending it a different person than I was at its beginning. I think I’m tougher, wiser, more resilient, and less afraid and naive. Those are very good things and I’m grateful for the hard-won lessons, but I’m still looking forward to seeing 2022 in the rearview mirror nonetheless!

This post is going to be a mash-up of the highlights of the past few weeks since we returned from Melbourne, and then on Friday we’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming….she says hopefully.

Favourite experience/s

Probably this amazing news, sharing it and celebrating it with some delicious Bream Creek vintage sparkling wine, as pictured above! This year I’ve really tried to push myself with my writing, put myself out there and really back myself. This has been incredibly hard to do at times, in the face of everything that Tom and I have had to deal with this year. But I also did not want another year lost to imposter syndrome, where I believed my critics (both inner and outer) over the quiet but fierce inner wisdom, encouragement and truth in my own heart. Perhaps I needed reminding that I’m on the right path. To have achieved this incredible feat, and several others, in spite of everything has been so wonderful, so needed and so encouraging.

I’ve also enjoyed hanging out with my nieces and nephews - one I took to a kids session at Frida’s Sip and Paint where we painted this Eastern Rosella together:

And I also enjoyed getting a much-needed haircut!

Reading

To be honest, I’ve been writing more than I’ve been reading - which is probably a good thing. I had a fantastic workshop with my fellow Creative Writing PhDs last Friday, so spent some time reading their work and prepping for that.

I’ve been rereading an old favourite, Tina Fey’s Bossypants, which is still great fun and I enjoyed noticing its subtle influence on The Latte Years, as I originally read it around the same time. It was such an inspiration for me in how to write about the harder, darker things with humour. I’m enjoying revisiting it, especially as we’re now rewatching 30 Rock, probably the greatest TV show ever made.

For our last Hidden Nerve session, Nigel read us a poem by Claire G. Coleman, “Forever, Flag”, which I saved to read again later - it’s quite astonishing and powerful.

Sophie Cunningham was another Hidden Nerve presenter and I borrowed her book Melbourne from the library as I’m very interested in the work she’s done in the psychogeographic space. Loving it so far!

I’m nearly finished with Olivia Yallop’s Break the Internet, which I’ve enjoyed more and more the deeper I’ve got into it, and am now into Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus, recommended to me by many readers and friends. I’m coming up to almost a year since I spontaneously decided to step away from social media. I’m now managing an Instagram account for a client, so I’m just using theirs, not my personal one which I haven’t even glanced at. But it was interesting to observe in myself the familiar itch that resurfaced almost immediately - the itch to check, scroll, see. It is very helpful to just be using it for work and have a hard boundary. Johann Hari’s book is making the excellent point that the problem with attention, focus and our ability to think deeply goes beyond social media and into the Internet itself and all its trappings - email, smartphones, screens.

I will write more in depth about this in due course but having been off social media (with my personal accounts at least) for nearly a year now, I can say with absolute certainty that it’s done something to my brain. I have my brain back, perhaps. I am a more productive (dare I say a better?) writer without it. I have achieved more and feel more balanced without it. I have observed that I still seek (and desire) external validation at times and feel a bit sad/deprived when I don’t get it, but it is so much easier to spot when I’m in that frame of mind now, rather than it simply being my default position because I felt constantly in a state of comparison with others. It’s been a very, very interesting experiment.

Listening to

I discovered the Stella Anning Trio while we were in Melbourne - I love gentle jazz and their album Stat is a wonderful moody soundtrack when sipping your herbal tea (or something stronger) in the hour or so before bed.

How to Fail: Rob Delaney on the death of his beloved son Henry - listen to this if you need a good cry but also to marvel at how bloody resilient people can be in the face of the unthinkable.

Best Friend Therapy: is back for another season, so every Monday when I walk to or from uni I have a new episode, hooray! This week’s episode on how to work with friends was very relevant and gave me a lot to think about.

The First Time: Masters Series with Heather Rose - her new book is on my Christmas Wishlist!

Writes 4 Women: Writing the Second Novel with Holly Ringland - yay Holly! Loved this candid and inspiring interview with a wonderful writer who happens to be a friend too.

Mummafication: Another interview with a good friend of mine, this time parent educator Katie Parker which had me grinning with pride as I listened. Relevant even if you’re not a parent, FYI.

Happy Place: Dawn O’Porter and Tim Minchin - enjoyed both but I especially liked Tim’s, as he really delved into the harder parts of the creative life, and convincing yourself that you are worthy even when you aren’t getting attention. He is so unapologetically himself but it has taken quite a while to get to such a comfortable place. Worth a listen!

You and Me Both with Hilary Clinton: Hilary interviews Hannah Gadsby - loved it. I especially enjoyed hearing them talk about Tasmania (Hilary has apparently never been) and nodding furiously along as Hannah described how Tassie used to be and how it’s changed for the better. I am proud that Tasmania now has some of the strongest human rights protection laws in the country, quite a contrast to how things used to be for the queer community. Hannah is always a delight to listen to and the banter with Hilary is just wonderful.

Eating


As usual, there’s quite a bit to catch you up on here - I’ve made and eaten some very delicious things!

When it was very warm a few weeks ago (the promise of summer that promptly vanished within 48 hours and was replaced with a fortnight of rain and 3 degree nights!), I made this incredible Bún Chả Giò Chay (Vietnamese rice noodle bowl with spring rolls) and I want you to try it so much I wrote out the recipe! It’s the perfect dinner on a hot day.

I highly recommend getting the Fix and Fogg Smoke and Fire Peanut Butter for the sauce if you can find it. Not only was it magnificent in the noodles, I have also had some with avocado on toast which was quite sensational. A must for the chilli lovers. If you’re not in Oz or NZ, looks like the folks at Fix and Fogg ship worldwide! (and their recipe section is pretty epic and everything sounds amazing!)

We had a friend round for dinner and I made a new recipe from a favourite cookbook The Green Roasting Tin - the crispy gnocchi with mushrooms, squash and sage (p.68). I didn’t make the basil dressing but instead thinned down a bought vegan pesto with lemon juice and olive oil, which worked just as well. It was so very delicious! I have bought more gnocchi this week with the intention of making it again.

My new favourite bought dip is the signature Tahini Neri - a friend served it to me in Melbourne and I was delighted to find it in my local Hill Street Grocer when I got home (we often don’t get everything the mainland gets!). It’s so unctuous and savoury. Almost better than hummus, but not quite.

Speaking of hummus, I finally made hummus with dried chickpeas rather than tinned. I know, how can I possibly call myself a foodie? Every cookery writer I love and revere has waxed lyrical over the years of the incredible difference it makes using dried chickpeas to make hummus but being lazy and short on time I had never bothered. That will never happen again. I am here to tell you that the rumours are true. DRIED CHICKPEAS FOR THE WIN.

It was the best hummus I have ever had. The Tom of hummus, you could say! 😉

I used the OTK cookbook recipe which had very detailed instructions which included adding ice cubes to the food processor. I used an organic Woolworth’s tahini. It was simply magnificent. I will always make it this way from now on and urge you, if you are hummus lover, to set aside some time and make it with dried chickpeas. It will change your life!

I soaked a whole packet of dried chickpeas because, in addition to hummus, I also made felafel from scratch for the first time that week. I made the spicy felafel recipe in Deliciously Ella’s Quick and Easy. While they were absolutely scrumptious, I am not a fan of frying things in oil - mostly because the house stinks afterwards. They were absolutely worth the effort, almost as good as Pilpel’s in London, but I might try them in the air fryer or oven next time.

By the way, chickpeas start to stink when they’re soaking! I didn’t know this and freaked out, worried that they’d gone off because it was quite hot that week. Don’t panic, apparently it’s normal. I had them at room temperature for the first two days but then put them in the fridge until I was ready to make the recipes. All was well, everything was delicious and both Tom and I are still alive, with perfectly working digestive systems!

We ate in restaurants every day while we were in Melbourne, which was wonderful but it’s definitely more a treat than a regular thing for us. I’m keen to see what delights Hobart has to offer us this summer, as we definitely curtailed our eating out once the borders opened this time last year. A firm favourite so far is The Salty Dog on Kingston Beach, where we had a delicious lunch a few weeks ago. We had tempura cauliflower, enoki mushroom and black rice bowls (and a side of chips), sitting in the sun with cold beers while the salty ocean air drifted towards us on the light breeze. Heavenly!

I don’t make sweet breakfasts very often but we had some leftover porridge from Friday’s breakfast, so that Sunday I made leftover porridge pancakes, which I served with coconut yoghurt, maple syrup and slices of fresh pear. Yum!

My oven runs very hot - I should have taken this out five minutes earlier….still delicious though!

I bought Celebrate: Plant-Based Recipes for Every Occasion while we were in Melbourne, and have already made the summer greens filo pie twice (the benefits of having spinach and silverbeet going wild in the garden). It’s absolutely delicious! The first time I made it as written, the second time I left the broccoli whole and upped the spices a little more. I think it will be a staple for us over the summer now we have so many greens that need using and eating!

Now that it’s warming up, our favourite meal of last summer, the Nacho Average Nachos from Charity Morgan’s amazing book Unbelievably Vegan, is back on the menu. Regular readers will be familiar with these by now! Always amazing.

I helped Dad prune his broad beans and he gave me some - mine are still a month or so away from being ready - which I cooked separately, skinned and then cooked with cavolo nero, lemon zest, garlic, chilli and herbs, which we enjoyed with spaghetti, topped with toasted breadcrumbs.

Finally, I started road-testing some recipes for my Christmas baking and came up with these incredible vegan Oreo brownies. I’ve already published the recipe, that’s how good they are! Seriously, if you love a good brownie, you need these in your life. With a batch or two of these and Nigella’s vegan gingerbread, that’s my festive season sorted!

Picking

The garden was overgrown with greens - rainbow chard, silverbeet, spinach, celery and garlic scapes - when we returned from Melbourne. I’ve now given it a major haircut so the sun might actually reach the poor zucchini seedlings.

I’ve also made a tower out of discarded motorcycle tyres (thanks to a local dealership who let me help myself) to grow potatoes in, and the first green shoots are starting to poke through. I read a book over the winter that suggested growing potatoes this way can yield a harvest of up to 50kg….we shall see!

I also picked the rhubarb (which I have growing in a tub) and I made a yummy crumble from that. The major crop of strawberries are starting to redden and we’ve had to put cages on top of the troughs again to keep the greedy birds away. They get their revenge by throwing dirt out of other pots, ignoring the strawberries I have deliberately left unprotected for them to help themselves to! 😜

I’m not sure how abundant this summer will be, as I didn’t have the most productive spring in the garden, due to illness and constant work! But I am hopeful. Time will tell.

Drinking

Tom, our brother-in-law and my dad have started their own brewing company and their first limited release dropped last week. It’s a really delicious, complex and refreshing pale ale, perfect for a blazing hot afternoon like the ones we’ve enjoyed this weekend! I’m very proud of the three of them for taking something that was just an idea thrown around at a family gathering a year or two ago and making it a reality! Our company designed the labels and logo too.

After we got home from Melbourne, I cleaned out the fridge and found some kombuchas I made in January…2021! I made them with a SCOBY kindly given to me by Sarah (sadly the SCOBY has long since been composted due to my neglect!). The incredible pop when I opened them was quite ferocious, as they’d been sealed and fermenting for the best part of two years. Thinking they would be undrinkable, I poured a little of each into a shot glass, sniffed and sipped - and they’re OK! Quite strong, as you’d expect, but I’ve been enjoying them in a large wine glass where I put a splash of kombucha in the bottom and then top it up with plain sparkling water. Not unlike how you’d prepare a cordial. The elderflower and ginger one has matured particularly well.

Watching

At Tom’s insistence, we watched Monty Python’s Holy Grail and Life of Brian on BluRay, which I hadn’t seen for many years, probably not since I was a teenager (and hadn’t liked them that much). This time I really got the humour - most likely a side effect from being with Tom for 15 years, haha!

We have just completed a watch of the entire series of the US version of The Office which we absolutely loved. I read an interview with Jenna Fischer who said that the fact that the “documentary” wrapped up when Pam was ready to leave Dunder Mifflin, as opposed to any other characters who came and went in the course of the series, was not lost on her. I agree, I think on this rewatch I realised that Pam is very much the central character of the show, rather than Michael Scott, as it very much follows her journey.

We’re now working our way through probably our favourite TV show of all, 30 Rock, which we’ve not watched properly for nearly two years. It’s smart, charming, well-constructed and absolutely hilarious.

Wearing

The weather has been pretty mercurial so I’ve been wearing my denim jacket (which I bought from Sainsbury’s in 2014!) almost every day. It goes well with dresses or my favourite skirts from Kemi Telford. I’ve also been loving my new strap detail cross body bag from Country Road - I was fed up to the back teeth with my giant tote where I can never find anything so treated myself while we were in Melbourne. This is a surprisingly roomy and very stylish little bag which is not a headache to lug around, in fact I barely notice it’s there. I wish I’d downsized ages ago!

Grateful for

My husband and family. Good friends. The weather finally warming up and the colds we’ve had finally being on the run.

Quote of the week

This poem by John O’Donohue was mentioned a few weeks ago in an email newsletter I subscribe to, which sounded familiar. Then I noticed in the “on this day” feature that OneDrive has that I had taken a screenshot of the poem on that same day two or three years ago. A coincidence? Maybe. But the message of the poem was obviously fitting for the time and it is certainly fitting now! If you need to hear it, may it comfort you as it has comforted me these past few weeks.

This is the time to be slow

This is the time to be slow
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes

Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.

- John O’Donohue, from From To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings. Penguin Random House, 2008.

I am hoping, so hoping, that the air of 2023 will be kind and blushed with beginning. For all of us.

If you’d like to share your thoughts on anything in this post, or anything else, with me, then please do! I really enjoy hearing from you. I hope you’re also finding things to enjoy, savour and ponder over your weekend xx

Please note: this blog post has affiliate links with retailers such as Booktopia which means I may receive a commission for a sale that I refer, at no extra cost to you.

Bún Chả Giò Chay (Vietnamese rice noodle bowl with spring rolls)

This is one of my favourite summer meals. You know when you’re in the middle of a heatwave and the idea of turning on the stove makes you feel exhausted and even hotter, but you’re also wanting a fast, nourishing warm (ish) dinner? This ticks all the boxes.

I can’t claim this is an authentic Bún Chả Giò Chay as it very much changes every time I make it, depending on what vegetables I have in the fridge that need using, but it’s certainly delicious. Full of vegetables, refreshing, tangy and spicy. Absolutely perfect for those CBF-ed evenings and it’s also faster to put together than waiting for roughly the same thing from UberEats!

Bún Chả Giò Chay (Vietnamese rice noodle bowl with spring rolls)

Serves 2-4 (well, the two of us with leftovers for one)

200g dried rice vermicelli noodles (usually they are dried in individual nests so use 4 of those if so)
1 large or 2 medium carrots, julienned
Any other raw vegetables you have - I usually use cucumber cut into thin strips, red capsicum (pepper) cut into thin strips, whole or halved raw sugar snap peas or snow peas, julienned zucchini (courgette), and/or green beans - a small amount of each or a large amount of one will do!
1 cup cooked frozen green peas, baby green beans or edamame beans (optional)
A handful of spinach leaves, shredded
Vietnamese mint, as much as you like, roughly chopped (ordinary mint is fine but Vietnamese is wonderful if you can get it - I often use both as I love mint in savoury dishes)
Chives or the green part of spring onions, as much as you like, finely chopped
Any other soft green herbs such as coriander, Thai basil, etc that you might have, finely chopped
1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced (take out the seeds if you don’t want it too spicy)
12 mini frozen vegan spring rolls (in the UK I remember you could sometimes buy spring rolls in the chilled section of Sainsbury’s, ready cooked, so that’s even more of a time saver!)
Seeds (linseed, hemp or pumpkin), to sprinkle over to serve (optional)

3 heaped dessertspoons (roughly 60g) peanut butter or tahini (or see tip below)
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari, plus extra to serve
1 tablespoon maple or brown rice syrup
1½ tablespoons rice wine vinegar or lime juice (sometimes I use both)
Water to loosen
Extra lime juice to squeeze over
(it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you doubled the sauce ingredients and saved any leftovers in a clean jar in the fridge for a stir fry or to dip dumplings into later in the week, just saying)

Boil the kettle and put your spring rolls in the oven or air fryer to cook.

Place your rice vermicelli noodles in a large bowl. Pour boiling water over and leave to soak and soften. Perhaps set a timer for 5 minutes so you don’t forget!

While the noodles soak and the spring rolls cook, prepare the vegetables if you haven’t already. Assemble the vegetables, chopped chilli and herbs in large serving bowl.

Drain the noodles and rinse briefly under the cold tap. Shake well and leave to cool and drain thoroughly while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, I find the easiest thing is to put everything in an empty clean jar and shake vigorously to combine. As making jams and chutneys is a hobby of mine, I always have a jar hanging around!

In your jar (or bowl), place the first four sauce ingredients, and then determine if more liquid is needed - I usually pour in a little water from the kettle which, at this point, will still be hot but not boiling, which is good for loosening the peanut butter.

Speaking of which, I discovered this AMAZING peanut butter at the supermarket the other week and it is fantastic for a dish like this. It’s made in New Zealand and has wonderful smoky, spicy notes of paprika and chilli. Good news, looks like you can buy it wherever you are in the world! Highly recommended.

Put the lid of the jar on securely and shake, shake, shake until well combined. You might need to add some more water (or lime juice) so it’s not too thick. You want it the same consistency as a salad dressing. Err on the side of thinner rather than thicker.

Right, now it’s time to bring everything together. Get your drained noodles and add them to the bowl of vegetables, chilli and herbs. Pour over the sauce and then toss together with tongs or salad servers until well combined.

Prior to tossing!

The noodle salad can be left for five minutes or so until the spring rolls are ready. If your spring rolls are longer than that away, I would add the dressing when they are almost done.

Allow your spring rolls to cool slightly once they’re out of the oven or fryer, then cut each one in half (I forgot to do this in the one pictured - it’s much nicer when they’re cut in half rather than left whole, I think!)

Place a serving of noodle salad in a bowl and top with pieces of spring roll. You can sprinkle with some seeds or nuts for crunch, some extra fresh chilli or a drizzle of sriracha if you like it hot, or a squeeze of lime juice. You can also add more soy sauce, depending how salty you like it.

Enjoy outside as the sun goes down or in front of the TV with a cold beer! And be prepared to fight over who gets the leftovers for lunch the next day.