5 things to be cheerful about on Monday, 13 August😘

View this email in your browser

5 things to be cheerful about this week...

It snowed then rained a little yesterday, so we celebrated by staying home and doing sweet NADA. It was a much-needed day of rest for all of us. But now it's back to work and school and all the things, but first - here are a few things to be cheerful about this week. Sophie x

Ps - There are three spots left for the Newsletter writing workshop I'm running here in Orange on August 31. If keen to grab one, please click through for all the details and/or to book.

All the noodles and curries
Am very cheerful about the prospect of this saucy coconut curry with rice noodles, these Hunanese soup noodles and also this rainbow veggie coconut dahl.

New favourite Instagramer
Frida Edlund's photography is just heaven. Her subject matter is the stuff of my dreams - midsummer picnics by a Swedish lake, long lunches in overgrown gardens full of wildflowers and cocktails in greenhouses. Also check out her website portfolio. So beautiful.

This photo essay and 'virtual travel'
My fascination with Eastern Europe and current inability to get there are satisfied by this quietly beautiful photo essay from Romania. Also enjoying some virtual travel via this Instagram feed; two chefs travelling through France to find the best producers and stories they can. Oh what a dream. Speaking of dreams - Mimi Thorisson's life certainly looks like one, currently living in one of my favourite cities of all Turin, check out her IG feed for lots of glamorous photos of beautiful food, people and places.

The funniest movie I've seen in a long time
If you haven't seen Death at a Funeral (the English one) - please do. The very next chance you get. We watched it last night and this black comedy delivered the best belly laugh I've had in ages. You can watch it via SBS on Demand. And while we are talking about charming English comedies...I rather enjoyed this trip through movie memory lane; Hugh Grant reviewing his most iconic roles.

Cooking with honey
Just loved this blog post from Megan of Odgers and McLelland in Nundle. In which she writes of harvesting and baking with honey and how we could think about honey as a spice, an ingredient to be used with care and thought for it's different flavour profiles. Thanks Megan for the honey spice loaf and honey Anzac biscuit recipes.

LIQUORICE LOAF

I first saw such a thing as liquorice bread in an old issue of Gourmet Traveller magazine and was intrigued by the idea. Particularly as my mum Annie is such a liquorice fan and I like baking for her, so despite my lack of enthusiasm for anything anise/liquorice, I tried this concept a few times with fairly underwhelming success, until deciding to apply the liquorice principle to my good old pound cake recipe and the results were just what I’d hoped for; a buttery, sturdy cake studded and aromatic with pureed liquorice.

200g liquorice pieces
250 grams unsalted butter (softened)
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
4 eggs
grated zest and juice of one orange
1 1/2 cups (225g) self raising flour
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour

Place the liquorice pieces in a small saucepan with 1/2 cup water and put on medium/low heat. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the liquorice has softened quite a lot (you may need to add a little more water as you go). Transfer to a food processor or blender and blitz until you have a smooth puree.

For the cake; start by greasing and lining a large loaf tin and preheating the oven to 180C. Then cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Fold in the zest, juice and flours and finally the liquorice puree.

Spoon batter into your prepared cake tin then bake for 35/45 minutes or until the cake is firm to touch and just pulling away from the sides of the tin. Let cool for a few minutes in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.