Dear Florence,
I was thinking today about how cooking has the potential to be such a generator of joy. In particular, I was thinking about how it can feel when you are cooking one of your favourite things to cook, as I was doing earlier. There is something about going through a process step by step, which you know will have an outcome that makes you happy. There is comfort in the familiarity, and a quiet excitement in the doing of a task that is a pleasure in and of itself, but is equally worth doing for the final outcome.

I was making a salad from the book Community. Sometimes when I flip through the book while thinking about what to cook, I get so overwhelmed with excitement that I stop actually taking in what the recipes are. There is something about the recipes (they are all salads, and all vegetarian) that taps into my ideas about being generous and lavish and nourishing yet relaxed when entertaining.

If you are anything like me I assume you will want to know what salad got me so excited about the transcendental properties of cooking and food. It is a pasta salad. I think that perhaps my mum wasn't cool enough to make pasta salad in the 80s when all my friend's mums were doing it, so there is a tinge of wistfulness for me when it comes to something that most people would regard as the height of dagsville. It's the same with pasta bake. As it happens, I have my eye on a Karen Martini pasta bake recipe to tackle soon... but I digress. This one has a lovely fresh yoghurt sauce, broccoli and peas. It is supposed to have basil too, but I like to make it with mint, which adds to the zingy freshness of the whole thing. I adore it. As soon as Tallboy gets homeI am firing up the stove, cooking some steak, and then we are EATING.

GB

Dear Florence,

It suddenly struck me that I am having the most amazingly perfect day, so I thought I ought to write it down for posterity. We managed to leave home early(ish) and headed to Rozelle for a browse in Vinnies, a coffee, and some spice shopping at Herbie's. All very satisfying and delightful. I now have a few goodies for the spice cupboard that I have been meaning to track down, as well my impulse purchase. I may never get around to making my own kimchi, but if I do, I now have Korean chilli flakes for the task.

I should perhaps mention at this point that despite the fact that the Winter solstice has only just passed, today is the most glorious weather you could possibly imagine, which makes it hard to have a bad day (unless you are stuck inside and cooped up all day). It's sunny and warm, and the sky is a perfect Sydney sparkling blue.

Baby Girlbooker is now asleep, and I have been browsing through a few cookbooks trying to decide what to cook for dinner tonight. That's when it really hit me that I am having an awesome day. It is the middle of the week but I can indulge in the luxury of thinking about what to cook. I only have a few more weeks of maternity leave left, and I am trying to squeeze every moment of joy out of the days while I still can. I am all too aware that soon life will be back to that crazed whirlwind of trying to cram too much into the day, and dinners will return once more to that boring rotation of the 5 things I can cook quickly(Pasta sauce #1, pasta sauce #2, stir fry, steak and veg, frozen dumplings).

For tonight's dinner, I will be breaking in my new Lebanese cookbook with Okra and Lamb, and making a nice, fresh salad that I have adapted from Moro East, a book I've had for a good half decade. I will also be using the Baharat spice mix I bought this morning. Once Baby G wakes up we will head off to Ashfield to buy what we need, but I am going to spend the next little while happily pottering about.

GB

Dear Florence,

I’m still having a stupidly idyllic time being a mum, and I wish these days would go on for much longer than they are going to. I’m already grieving their end, which is two and a half months away. 

Astro Girl has officially grown out of the smallest size baby wear. She can probably technically squeeze into some of it for a few more days, especially if we are talking about a particularly cute outfit. But we made the official pronouncement last night after Tallboy struggled to get her into a footed jumpsuit. He did manage it, but in a rather stretched looking way, so we took some photos and then changed her into a similar outfit one size bigger.

The first big blow to my equanimity came a few days ago, when I learnt that I cannot have any dairy or soy products for the next few months. It really shook me, and took me about a day to fully digest the news. I’m still quite grumpy about it, but I am now keen to see what ingenuities I can cleave out in the kitchen. Rather than think about all the food I can’t have, I’ve decided to see myself as a (reluctant) meat-eating vegan. Then I realise I can eat eggs and honey, which vegans can’t, and it feels like the possibilities begin to open up a little.

It’s hard to decide whether it’s the food restrictions or the ban on milk in my tea and coffee which makes me sadder. It feels particularly cruel because I gave up so much delicious food during pregnancy, and was counting down the days until I could eat it all again. My breakfast this morning is bearable, rather than the triumph of tastiness I’d like it to be. Almond flavoured tea with almond milk is drinkable, although the idiocy of almond milk as a concept is a bit tough for me to swallow. My very carefully chosen bread (most brands contain soy flour) has been spread with Nuttalex instead of butter. There’s no getting around the fact that this is A Distinct Disappointment. I love butter. I’d marry butter if I could. However, I’m pleased that I decided to get bread studded with black olives, as they do a pretty good job of masking the kind of plasticky Nuttalex flavour.

At the end of the day, the purpose of all this is for Astro Girl, and she is so bloody cuddly and adorable that there’s no question I will stick to the diet as long as necessary. 

GB