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Chicken, Quinoa, Eggplant, Kale, Basil and Fennel Picnic Salad

03:18 PM, September 30, 2013 |

I’ve changed.

I have a confession to make. I used to hate picnics. Despise them. Not see the point. Why, in heaven’s name would you choose to go and eat somewhere without proper cutlery, when you end up with ants on your arms and sticks in sad crevices? When rubbish and mess seems to multiply at a rate of knots- and all of that has to be carted home with you?

In the venn diagram of life, picnics overlap too much with camping. And we all know how I feel about camping.

And then, three things happened about the same time, forming a slippery slope of persuasion.

1) I returned to a city where …

Banana, Oat, Choc-Nut Cookies

08:16 PM, September 25, 2013 |

almonds, baking

Oats. Oats and beer. And brewer’s yeast. And grilled chicken. And boiled eggs. And green leafy vegetables. And pulses. And almonds. Plus some naturopathic drops which taste suspiciously like Fernet Branca. Then there’s fenugreek tea, which leaves you smelling like you stumbled out of a Brick Lane curry house late on a Saturday night. And some small white pills. Lots of small white pills.

The lengths we will go to to be able to nourish another small person off our own flesh.

It took ten sad and scratchy days in which I doubted my body’s ability to do anything properly before my capacity to feed the smallest hungry one dribbled back. I …

A Unicorn Cake for Pia (and Perfect Cream Cheese Buttercream)

10:46 AM, September 19, 2013 |

baking

This is not a unicorn.

This is Pancake. He’s the smallest of the horses who totter around the paddock at the rear of my mother’s house. He’s the property of my nieces and nephew. He may be tiny, but his dreams are big. He insists on being the first at the feed and will back up his squat rear legs to his two companions (both of whom tower over him) if they dare get in front. He demands to be part of everything. He will not be overlooked. Twice a week while my mother rides around in circles, teaching her horse how to hold his neck with grace Pancake insists on …