All Good Things Issue 20
Cockatoos & Boats + Spinach Garlic Butter Beans + Orange & Earl Grey Tonic
Good Morning Lovely People!
Thank you SO MUCH for your support of my newsletter!! Thank you to all my members who have bought monthly and annual memberships. It means a lot to me that you value my work and I am really looking forward to sharing my new cookbook (one recipe at a time every Friday!) and themed Supper Club menus (ideas, recipes and menus to host a special meal/get together for your family or friends) with you. SO VERY EXCITED!! EEEP!!
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There has been a distinct shift in the way the sun shines in our garden and the flora and fauna the season brings. It is brighter and warmer. Shadows are darker and bright red bottlebrushes have exploded on the trees. They have brought so many parrots but I decided to not bore you with yet more pictures of my colourful feathered friends. Instead, I present to you the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.
With the arrival of Spring, the cockatoo gets bolder I think. I see a lot of them hanging around, often waiting to be a nuisance (yes, they like to gnaw large chunks of the wood off our decking railing and they eat all the chicken food). But boy are they magnificent! Especially when they fly with that impressive wingspan and peacock their crest!
I found a Kangaroo Paw in the garden that looked like a dragon. And all my dozens of citrus trees are full of flowers and little buds. The blood orange tree pictured here is going to have a big crop judging by the little fruit that is starting to pop up from the flowers.
This month has flashed by in a blur. Even though I haven’t worked as much or as hard as I have in the past 6 months. This month, I have been religiously taking more time for myself during the weekend and most evenings. It is amazing how many times I have to remind myself to stop working (the bane of working from home, I suppose!). But the constant reminders are working.
Our lockdown is finally over! And we can venture out. But we are still exercising caution. The last three pictures of the beach, the boat and my boys and me standing on a pier are from exactly a year ago when we last had an outing here in Sydney. We went to Patonga Beach, walked on the sand, got our toes wet, lunched at the Boathouse, bought ice creams at the most darling blue & white striped ice cream van, we laughed a lot, our hair all windswept and our faces warm from the sun. It was a good day and it made me very nostalgic looking at the photos. I am really looking forward to starting to do things like that again! And with that wish, I say bye for now and bring you All Good Things for this week.
Sneh
This week’s Member Only Recipe from my new ongoing Online Cookbook was a beautifully rustic, sturdy loaf cake - Blueberry Cheesecake Loaf. // This loaf addresses the age-old issue of how to avoid fruit sinking to the bottom of the batter and creating a slice with even distribution of cream cheese and blueberries.
To get fresh recipes like this, straight to your inbox and access to the full archive, please consider taking out a monthly (US$5) or annual (US$50) subscription. All my recipes are extensively tested so they always work! Your subscription helps me cover my costs and keep this value-packed newsletter running. It means a lot to a small business like mine. Thank you for your support x
SPINACH GARLIC BUTTER BEANS
What I make the night before, so I have something amazing to top my Sourdough with the next morning! Takes 10 minutes. Win-Win!
Creamy butter beans cooked with caramelized onion and garlic and a hint of smokiness make the best topping for a good sourdough and freshly cut avocado. These Spinach Garlic Butter Beans are not only easy to make but are just like the ones you might find at a good city cafe.
When Onion Is Really The Main Ingredient
Although these Spinach Garlic Butter Beans give you no indication that there is onion in the recipe, it is in fact the star of the show. And needs to be prepared with love and care. If you get the onion cooking right, this recipe is just spectacular.
Perfectly cooked, golden caramelized and almost buttery onion forms the base of the recipe. Cooking onion correctly is not only about using the right amount of fat and heat but also the right pan. For this recipe, I use a heavy-bottomed stainless steel saute pan. These pans take a little longer to heat up completely but once they do ….
On My Cooking List This Week
I try and pick up two new cooking techniques every month whenever I can. This month I am learning to make Roti Canai and the prefect Sorbet.
Okay, how incredible does this Laksa Butter Egg Dish With Coconut Chilli Sambal sound?
A great picnic Potato Asiago & Caramelized Onion Galette
Molly Baz’s Burnt Basque Cheesecake
For the past few weeks, I might have been a tad addicted to refreshing the Cookbook Section on the Book Grocer website and placing multiple orders every few days to grow my 1200+ collection of cookbooks! Great bargains! The picture above is what I managed to get in the month of October alone and needless to say, I am in cookbook heaven.
If you are a cookbook fanatic (like me!), you will enjoy Kris’s Book Club Tuesday. Kris, who lives in Canada writes in-depth, enjoyable reviews of cookbooks after cooking and trying out a handful of recipes from each book. She can also be found on Instagram @shipshapeeatworthy
Based in Melbourne, Animal Kingdom (a crime novel by author Stephen Sewell) was made into a show a few years ago. Although the book doesn’t have very good reviews, the show Animal Kingdom is pretty spectacular and edgy. A departure from what I usually like to watch, I started playing the first episode on a whim on Netflix while I started a workout session on my rower. That was the first time I did 22 minutes of hardcore rowing. Maybe it was the pace of the show? Regardless. I was hooked. It is the story of a criminal matriarch and her newly orphaned grandson who comes to live with her and gets slowly sucked into the family’s wayward ways. The 2016 show has an amazing rating on IMDB and has really tight acting by all cast members (Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman, Shawn Hatosy, Finn Cole). It has heists, emotional issues/trauma and the intricacies of navigating an everchanging unusual family dynamic. A great show to watch if you are looking for something different, fans of Breaking Bad will definitely love it! (warning - It has a lot of nudity and drug use, so best not to put it on with kids around).
An amazing story of how Banksy (the mysterious renegade street artist) destroyed one of his artworks after it sold for $1.4mil at an auction only to have the shredded artwork sell for $25mil!!
We have NEVER built a Gingerbread House! The lollies, the icing .. always seemed a lot for us to handle and my boys weren’t interested. But this year for the first time, the older boy is very in Christmas traditions and indicated that he wanted to build a Gingerbread House. Elation! This beauty is my inspiration! (although realistically, ours will look more like a hut). Don’t forget to check out Aimee Twigger’s sensational Instagram gallery of out-of-worldly baking creations! And if you have ANY advice for gingerbread house noobs like us, please do tell!
Because news like this deserves to be shared! When a little toddler in NZ called the police to tell them he had cool toys …
I need this butter knife in my life. I think you do too!
I have limited copies of my cookbook Tasty Express - a labour of love filled with over 100 of our family's most tried and tested and exciting 30-minute recipes inspired by street foods of the world. Mostly Vegetarian recipes that go from breakfast to quick dinners in a heartbeat. They make great gifts for you or a friend!
It is amazing how we need to be reminded of small things to do for our physical and mental health. There aren't hard to do, but because we are bogged down by so much stuff (both tangible and conceptual) that we often forget to do them. When I find a piece of information that is profound and valuable, I file it in one place so I can access it whenever I need to. I also have a daily Manifesto, a mantra that I repeat to myself. It could be as simple as remembering to drink water throughout the day or to have a hot shower. But by telling myself that and being mindful of it, I remember to do it and it becomes a slow, steady, daily habit. This in turn has started making really positive changes in my physical and mental health.
Food For Thought »
" At the breakfast table today, the subject of rote learning and being asked to memorize became a hot topic of discussion. One side was pro memorizing things (Periodic Tables, Times Tables etc..) while the other was against. As children of the eighties and living in India, we were forced to memorize rather than learn intuitively. Our boys on the other hand are taught to be more independent and their learning is intuitive, curious and based on observations and experience. But memorizing has immense benefits and after listening to both sides argue their points, I explained to the boys why it was important to exercise memorizing things at different stages in your life …
Memorization improves overall memory itself. Memorization increases the size and improves the function of memory-related brain structures. Memorization enhances the neurological flexibility of the brain referred to as neural plasticity.
How » (The Mneumonic technique remains my favourite to this day! It never lets me down. But here is a fantastic list of techniques you can stash away to do by yourself or with your kids)
ORANGE & EARL GREY TONIC / Serves 1 (Non Alcoholic)
60ml (2oz) orange juice
90ml (2.5oz) strong brewed Earl Grey Tea (cooled)
10ml (0.3oz) lime juice
10ml (0.3oz) maple syrup
90-120ml tonic (for topping)
lavender petals, to garnish
ice, for shaking and serving
**
Add orange juice, Earl Grey tea, lime juice, maple syrup and half a cup of ice to a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for a few seconds.
Fill a 300ml short tumbler with half a cup of ice. Strain the cocktail over the ice in the tumbler.
Top with tonic. Garnish with lavender petals
Enjoy!
**
PS - This is one of the most delicious mocktails I have ever managed to mix. I hope you give it a go!
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I'm so sorry that it's been a tough fortnight Sneh. Please know that you and the content that you so generously share are appreciated more than you could possibly imagine. You spread so much sunshine, and I'm sure that there are many of us now making a silent pact to reflect some of it back at you :o) Sam xx
Hi Sneh, So sorry I never comment on anything, wow your blog is so wonderful,
and your recipes are so great and reliable, I was living and working in Dymocks in Hobart when
your cookbook came out, loved and recommended to so many, been back home on the central coast NSW for about 6 years now, work in a little indie bookshop part time, love to bushwalking and nature so love all your bird photography as well, I also have two sons, a lot older than yours.
I am cooking your five spice tofu and rice noddles this week, so great!
I am going to comment more often to the blogs I love, so sorry for just reading and not giving back.
Thanks Kay