Philippa Moore's Blog, page 7

life lessons

Today I found a poem (well, I called it a poem - collection of thoughts might be more accurate!) I wrote when I was 27. I’m now 40, and I think the advice it contains has stood the test of time.

Me in Hyde Park, age 27. Photo taken by Tom, my then boyfriend, now husband of 11 years.

If it sounds too good to be true
it probably is.
Pick your friends wisely.
Never take happiness for granted.
Try to finish what you start.
Don't sneeze too loudly
in public.
Wear lipstick on Sundays.
Remember you don't have to fake it
when you're with the right person.
There is nothing that can stop you,
short of death.
Recycle.
Smell strawberries,
roses and clean hair
with equal delight.
Drink water.
Have more books than clothes.
Always offer.
Buy a good coat.
Say please.
Don't rent a flat when you can see
rat bait in the kitchen.
A good bolognaise needs red wine.
As does cheese.
Take a day off. Don't be afraid to ask
for what you want.
But don't do it just because you can.
Write only, and flamboyantly,
with a fountain pen.
Wear sunscreen.
Say thank you.
Smile at people on public transport.
You'll either brighten their day,
or confuse them.
Find some stars for your sky.

40 things i've learned about life, now i'm 40

If you don’t own it - your life, your past, your story - it will own you.

The messiest times in life are often, looking back, the most interesting and nearly always a source of growth. Hold your nerve, stay the course. Trust it will all work out.

A life filled with magic, adventure and fun does not just happen. You have to make the choice to cultivate those things in your life, every single day.

Playing small doesn’t serve you, only the people around you who want you to stay that way.

“See what happens” is not a cop-out, it’s a way of taking the pressure off. Letting things evolve naturally is a lesson in grace and patience.

You can't change anyone. People only change because they want to and there’s got to be something in it for them to do it.

We all have a choice in how we want to live - the trick is to make conscious choices rather than unconscious ones.

Tables always turn.

It is possible to be strong and fragile at the same time. Both are courageous.

Change is what it is. It’s all about how you negotiate it.

Anyone who believes gossip and lies about you before hearing your side of the story was already looking for a reason to be against you. Let them go.

Protect your mental health and inner peace by any means necessary. You never have to apologise for protecting yourself.

Old ways will rarely open new doors.

Perspective is everything (thank you Sandi Sieger).

Your passions are not accidents. They are the clues to where you will find meaning in life. Embrace them. Follow them.

Three things always come out - the sun, the moon, and the truth.

You have to go out on a limb in life, because that’s where the fruit is. Corny but true!

There are many universal needs that human beings have - one of them is to feel appreciated. Showing gratitude, for others and for life, as often as you can is an instant mood lifter.

Love will never feel like love unless you also love yourself.

Comparison is the quickest route to despair.

No is a complete sentence. And you can say it - just do it politely and fast.

Most people deserve a second chance. But no one deserves a third (see point 12).

Likes and follows are empty calories that never satisfy. Find what really feeds you instead.

There is no shinier, more successful, more likeable, more accomplished, more together you waiting in the future. You are only you, now. You are only ever here. Accepting that will make life so much easier, and sweeter.

Confidence doesn’t come from achievements, it comes when you decide to have it. Confidence is a choice.

So is self-pity.

You are the only one who can give yourself what you’re seeking from others.

When change comes, it’s likely that opportunity will also knock at the door. Keep an ear out.

Nothing is forever - pain or joy.

Boundaries will protect you, and allow you to love and give more freely. Without them, you will be constantly resentful and disappointed.

It’s amazing what can happen when you drop all your expectations and attachment to an outcome.

Continuing to choose joy in the face of adversity is an act of courage and resistance (thank you Holly Ringland).

Meanings of words change all the time. “Success” is probably the most mercurial. You do not have to hold yourself hostage to past definitions if they no longer serve you.

You can endure a lot more than you think you can.

If it makes you happy, it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else.

Slow progress is still progress.

It is possible to one day laugh in places where you used to cry. Know that you can always change the story.

Failure and defeat are better judges of character than success.

Fighting ageing is a battle no one has ever won, and getting older is a privilege denied to so many. Look forwards, not backwards.

When in doubt, be bold, generous, loving and unafraid.

creamy curried parsnip soup with black rice

This soup has a lot of happy memories.

I used to make it a lot when Tom and I were newlyweds, in our tiny basement flat in Pimlico, when the air was freezing, autumn leaves were raked up in proud piles in the streets, it got dark at 3:30pm and parsnips were plentiful.  A £1 bag of them would make a vat of this soup and on dark late autumn and winter nights, we would cosy up on our dilapidated old couch and watch movies, pressing pause so we could return to the kitchen for another ladle. I discovered this soup thanks to Shaheen’s Allotment2Kitchen blog all those years ago but I, in true Phil style, made it my own by adding coconut cream and garam masala. Since moving back to Australia, I’ve adapted it further.

We used to make the soup with wild rice, which I never had a problem finding in supermarkets in the UK, but it doesn’t seem to be a thing here. However, black rice is available and it makes a lovely contrast with the fluoro yellow of the soup. You can just use brown rice if that’s all you can find, but black rice does seem to be widely available in Oz and I think it adds interest, contrast and extra health benefits, as well as being super filling!

Parsnips are a sweet root vegetable so the earthy notes of curry powder and turmeric are a perfect partner. You’ll note I’ve refrained from adding heat here – most unusual – but the natural sweetness of the parsnips combined with the spices and rice are so well balanced I feel that adding another flavour component would throw the whole thing off. But I am, as always, willing to be proven wrong.

Until the other night, I hadn’t made this soup for a very, very long time. I don’t see parsnips available in the shops here very often – another reason I’d like to grow them myself when we eventually have a home with space for a bigger vegetable patch – so it hadn’t been on my radar for a while. But then I saw some proud specimens in the grocers after work one night, and not at an exorbitant price (I do miss being able to buy a kilo of them for £1!), so I grabbed them, with the sudden thought that it might be nice to wander down memory lane and try this soup again.

Such a lot has happened these past ten-and-a-half years, but one spoonful of this warming, comforting soup last night and we were right back there in that little flat, with everything that hadn’t happened yet still to come.

creamy curried parsnip soup with black rice

1 ½ cups black rice (or wild rice, if you can find it. Brown will also do)

Olive oil
2 medium or 1 large brown onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, crushed or finely chopped
4 large parsnips (approximately 1 kilogram), peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons curry powder (I use medium)
1 x 400ml can coconut cream
3 teaspoons vegetable or “chicken style” stock powder (I use Massel chicken style)
Enough boiling water to cover

 Place the black rice in a saucepan, add 2 cups water, cover and place on a high heat until it comes to the boil. Reduce to a simmer for approximately 30 minutes until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender. Turn off heat, place a tea towel over the top and replace the lid (I always do this with rice, it absorbs any extra moisture and makes it fluffy) to keep warm. Set aside.

 While the rice is cooking, make the soup.

 Put the kettle on to boil. Get a large stockpot out and drizzle a little olive oil on the base, then place on a low heat to heat up. Add the onion and garlic and fry for a few minutes until starting to soften. Add the parsnips, turmeric, garam masala and curry powder and cook for a couple of minutes, until fragrant but not turning brown. You can add water if it’s starting to stick.

Add the tin of coconut cream and stir to combine. I usually swirl out the can with boiling water and add that too, but be careful – boiling water makes cans very hot to touch! You can make up your stock separately in a jug with boiling water from the kettle but I usually don’t bother (don’t want the extra washing up!)  – I add the stock powder to the mixture in the pot and then top up with the boiling water so everything is covered and the stock powder has dissolved.

Either way, everything should now be in the stockpot (except for the rice) so stir well and bring the whole lot to the boil. Turn the heat down once it reaches boiling point, and simmer on a low heat for around 35 minutes, or until the parsnips are tender. My test is to see if they fall apart when pressed with the wooden spoon.

Puree the soup, either with a handheld blender (easiest, as you don’t really have to wait for it to cool down nor reheat it once pureed) or in a food processor, in which case you’ll need to wait for the mixture to cool before blending, and then heat up again before serving.

Taste for seasoning – I find the stock powder (albeit a reduced salt one) is salty enough, but a few turns of the pepper grinder finish it off nicely. To serve, place a large spoonful of black rice in the soup bowl, then ladle the hot silky-smooth parsnip soup on top. Place a sprinkling of black rice on the top to serve.

Ideally, eat in front of the TV on a freezing cold night – it’s guaranteed to make you feel all warm and cosy inside.

my favourite reads of 2020

To be honest, I still feel like it’s 2020 in many ways! So much of what happened last year is still continuing, in many parts of the world. I feel very lucky to be where I am, and to have made the choices I did when I did.

To my surprise, I did not read as many books in 2020 as I thought I had. Perhaps I wasn’t as diligent about recording them in Goodreads as I had been in other years. I started many books but then abandoned them, or in some cases they were automatically returned to the library before I finished them.

Having trouble focusing was a very 2020 thing, I’ve discovered.

After 2019, I boldly stated that I wanted to read more widely in 2020 and not just for comfort and escapism. That ambition was quickly shelved (no pun intended) as I took comfort and escapism wherever I could find them, like most people.

According to Goodreads, I read 99 books in 2020 - as in 2019, I didn’t really log anything I read for my studies - and of those 99:

6 were re-reads (same number as last year)

56 were non-fiction

7 were poetry collections

36 were fiction

13 were by authors who identify as male

83 were by authors who identify as female

2 were by non-binary people

7 were by people of colour.

I’m only compiling these stats because 1) I’m a stats person and 2) I’m genuinely curious about whether I read as widely and diversely as I think I do. You can’t change what you don’t know and I’m as guilty as the next white person of automatically reaching for books that reflect my worldview. That’s something I’d like to change.

But without further ado, in no particular order, these were my favourite books that I read in 2020, the strangest of years.

Wintering by Katherine May

Wintering is a delightful book that draws parallels with the way the natural world adapts to survive (and even thrive in) winter and the invariable "winters" that human beings go through in life "where you fall through the cracks for a while, and spend a season out in the cold".

In a mix of self-help, memoir and nature writing, Katherine May writes perceptively and quite beautifully about the cyclic nature of life, both in the physical world through the seasons and in our emotional landscape. Far from being bleak and depressing, winter can be a time of renewal and growth. May shares insights from her own "wintering" as well as interviews with other people who have endured extreme cold as well as extreme personal hardships.

It's a book about slowing down, surrendering, learning to be kind to yourself and embrace change, and accepting that life goes through seasons. As May writes, "once we stop wishing it were summer, winter can be a glorious season". And most importantly, like all winters, whether it be the actual season or the hard time you're experiencing, it won't last forever. The season will turn, and you will get through it. It will not always be winter. Spring will come again.

It's the perfect read for any time of year but particularly pertinent in autumn when the nights are getting darker and colder!

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

I absolutely adored this book. It drew me in from the first page and had me fascinated until the very end. In fact, I think I gasped aloud when I made the connection between the opening newspaper report and the sad ending I was powerless to stop!

I was a fan of Clare Chambers' earlier books and was delighted to see she had a new one out. If you're after a comforting yet gripping read where you disappear into a different time, into a world so finely drawn and filled with characters you come to care deeply about, then Small Pleasures is the book for you. Highly recommended.

The Woman who fooled the world by Nick Toscano and Beau Donnelly

This non-fiction book read like a thriller. It was so engrossing, I could barely drag myself away from it. The authors are the two journalists who uncovered the truth about Belle Gibson, the Australian woman who founded a multi-million dollar business and an incredible online following by claiming she had cured herself of brain cancer by following a wholefoods diet. If you are interested in the health and wellness space, chances are you’ll have heard of this scandal!

It turns out Belle Gibson never had cancer at all. It was an almost unbelievable deception, and yet somehow she pulled it off. How? And, perhaps more importantly, why? This book delves deep into those two questions and it makes for a real page-turner. It’s an examination of why Belle Gibson was able to successfully fool so many people, providing false hope to genuine cancer sufferers who were desperate to live and be cured, as she supposedly had.

The authors posit that Gibson’s lies and deceit are emblematic of wider failures of our consumerist society - the willingness of big companies such as Apple and Penguin Books to be seduced by an “influencer” with hundreds of thousands of followers, without once fact-checking her claims; a growing distrust of science; and how easy it is to spread misinformation through social media, to name just a few. And were Gibson’s actions the result of psychological issues (nature), of learned behaviours/how she had been raised (nurture), or was she just a psychopath?

It’s a complex, compelling story, tinged with the sad knowledge that there will be many people out there who paid the ultimate price for believing her lies.

Olive by Emma Gannon

Olive is a witty and very relatable novel that centres around a topic I have rarely seen discussed in contemporary women's fiction - not wanting to have children.

Olive is 33, climbing the ladder at the magazine she works for in London (as a former Londoner I enjoyed the setting very much!) and has just broken up with her boyfriend of nearly a decade, because he's ready for kids and she isn't. In fact, she's pretty certain she never wants to have children. This is something she struggles to find understanding about in her immediate circle of friends, and in society as a whole. Everyone has an opinion and most people in Olive's life are confident that she'll change her mind.

If you're a woman in your thirties of the same disposition as Olive, you will find a lot to relate to here. The novel is also an exploration of female friendship and how the lives of Olive and her friends go in different directions, all based on their decisions/desires to become mothers, or not. Emma Gannon captures very well the lonely feeling of being the only one in your group of friends who doesn't have children, even though it's by choice, as well as the more frustrating aspects of your friends' choices being celebrated and prioritised more when yours are questioned, judged or simply dismissed.

I have not ripped through a novel so quickly, nor related so much to a protagonist, for a long time! Any woman in the same boat as Olive will feel recognition, relief and, most importantly, less alone after reading this very enjoyable book. Not enough contemporary literature deals with this choice that more and more women are making, and the feelings of isolation that come with it, so I hope more authors are inspired to follow Emma Gannon's fine example!

Charlotte by helen Moffett

As a die-hard fan of Pride and Prejudice (and Jane Austen in general), having adored the story and characters since I was a child, I have long resisted any sequel or fan-fic by modern writers that involves reimagining this beloved story in any way. It felt like dangerous territory to me, best left alone.

However, after reading Charlotte, I'm beginning to think I've missed a trick. This book very convincingly reimagines that beloved world and characters, through the perspective of a minor character.

Charlotte gives us, as the title suggests, the untold story of Charlotte Lucas and her marriage to Mr Collins. I have long been fascinated by the character of Charlotte, whom many feminist scholars have held up over the years as a character that represents the reality that faced the majority of women, including Jane Austen herself, during that period. As appalled as Charlotte's best friend Elizabeth Bennet is at her decision to marry Mr Collins, a man Lizzy herself has rejected as repulsive, Charlotte's choice is entirely understandable. Whether she loved Mr Collins or even liked him was rather immaterial - for a 'plain' woman, marriage was her ticket out of spinsterhood, being a burden to her family (particularly her brothers who would be honour-bound to support her after the death of their father) and having an insecure future. Love was for those who could afford it.

Charlotte ends up having a very fulfilling life as mistress of her own domain, Hunsford Parsonage, and she and Mr Collins, while still over-effusive and odd, do become a good team, in marriage, life and parenthood. The details of her housekeeping and the fruits (and other products) of the estate are so interesting and enjoyable to read. And there are flashbacks to the scenes we all remember from the original told from Charlotte's perspective (and I appreciated the author's note as to why she reimagined some scenes in a certain way), so this tale is very much anchored in that universe and convincingly so. I particularly enjoyed the reappearance of Lady Catherine de Bourgh and the evolution of Anne de Bourgh's story, another minor character from the original who is brought to life and given a lot more to do in this story. It was also highly amusing to hear the fate of Lydia Bennet/Wickham!

About two-thirds of the way through, the story takes a bizarre turn which I didn’t think worked (and many other reviewers agree, I’ve noted). If you can get past that, it is still a wonderful, enthralling read that I would highly recommend to anyone who loves Pride and Prejudice but, like me, feared that reading a reimagined version of it might ruin the original. Far from it.

Life in Pieces by Dawn O’Porter

I love Dawn and her hilarious writing. And even though our lives are very different - I'm not a celebrity living in LA, married to an actor, wrangling two kids and a menagerie of crazy animals - the stories she shares are incredibly relatable.

Life in Pieces is Dawn's diary of lockdown in 2020 - she is coping with all the pandemic madness in the US, coupled with homeschooling her two children, missing the UK and her friends and family there, and trying to keep up with her own writing and workload.

Alongside the world's very public grief and unravelling, Dawn is dealing with her own very private grief and dismantling of a world she knew. Just before the pandemic hit, she lost a close friend to suicide and she finds the forced isolation of lockdown conjures up many past griefs too, particularly the loss of her mother to breast cancer when she was very young.

That said, it's also pant-wettingly funny in places, in trademark Dawn style! She is refreshingly honest about her dependence on alcohol (I found myself craving a margarita once or twice while reading this!) and recreational drugs to get her through the days, and about the antics of her two young sons and pets, and about the pressures of living life in the public eye.

It's an intense read and I probably shouldn't have read it before bed (!) - it's very visceral in places and at times I felt like I'd had a few weed gummies myself!

But ultimately, this book is a tribute to human resilience and how we can carry on in the face of confusion, fear and heartbreak. When life as we know it ends, we can persevere, we can find things to bring joy to every day, and we can still be kind and curious.

How to be Australian by Ashley Kalagian Blunt

I read this book in a day and a night, not wanting it to end. As you all probably know, a bit over two years ago I returned to live in Australia after over a decade in the UK, and while I haven't regretted that decision for a second, it has been quite the transition.

I find this wonderful country very strange at times - and struggle to explain these strange things to my equally befuddled British husband - so to read a memoir about life in Australia from a new Australian's point of view (Ashley is Canadian) was a very affirming experience.

Ashley captures perfectly the adrift feeling of life in a place that you want to belong to but can't quite find your place in. And so many of her adventures are absolutely hilarious! Highly recommended.

UNICORN BY AMROU AL-KHADI

This is a magnificent memoir that deserves a very wide audience indeed.

Amrou Al-Kadhi tells the story of how they grew up in a strict Iraqi Muslim family, in both the Middle East and in the UK, and struggled to fit into any box, norm or expectation, either from society or their family, from a very early age. Highly intelligent, talented and sensitive, Amrou fights racism and prejudice on a daily basis at their public school (showing that Eton is full of the bellends I always suspected it to be!) and hides their true self from their family, having already experienced some profoundly heartbreaking parental judgement and rejection.

At university, Amrou discovers drag. All of sudden, their true self has an outlet and life takes on new meaning and colour...and new complications as well.

I was so moved by this memoir. I can't relate to most of Amrou's experiences, nor to the common experiences of a queer person negotiating uncertainty, fear and trauma, but I certainly can relate to feeling misunderstood and rejected, especially by those we love, and the struggles to find and let our true selves shine through, and to feel safe doing so. Amrou writes with humour, wisdom and insight on what was a very painful journey but now they have found a level of self-acceptance, self-love and peace. This is a book that manages to be brutal and beautiful at the same time. Highly, highly recommended.

THROAT BY ELLEN VAN NEERVEN

One of the upsides to the 2020 lockdown was bookshops holding their launches and events online, which meant I could attend a book launch in Brisbane from my study in Hobart! One of them was the launch of this amazing collection.

Ellen Van Neerven is a skilled and lyrical poet who manages to untangle and distil the messy politics of this fractured, unreconciled land we call Australia, and the experience of being a Bla(c)k queer person within it. Van Neerven has mastered blending the personal with the political - the poems are imaginative (I particularly loved the treaty with the reader) and capture not just big issues of climate change, racism and colonialism, but also love, connection and the more quotidian aspects of life. There was so much to absorb in this collection and Ellen Van Neerven is fast becoming one of my favourite poets.

As always, I’d love to hear your favourite reads of 2020 too!

classic victoria sponge

I got a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas from my lovely parents - which was a wonderful surprise - so I’ve been getting to know it by attempting to master my favourite cake. Tom and I are both quite partial to a Victoria sponge. In London, I had neither the equipment nor the time to make them regularly but, fortunately, there was a very reliable one we could buy at our local Sainsbury’s. But nothing beats homemade!

Last week my PhD supervisor and I took a little road trip - in the name of research but also for the Westerway Raspberry Farm, which is a quite delightful place. We picked a bucket each of raspberries and I’ve turned mine into gin (currently marinating in the pantry), breakfast yoghurt and granola parfaits, jam and as a filling for this delicious cake. One of my favourite tearooms in London, Drink Shop Do, did a lovely sponge cake with fresh raspberries in the filling. I took full advantage of the bucket of raspberries in my fridge to recreate it!

The wondrous thing about this cake is you can make the filling any flavour you please. Tom’s favourite so far is strawberry jam with buttercream icing (instead of cream), mine is blackcurrant jam with mascarpone (flavoured with a little Westerway blackcurrant syrup, our version of Ribena). I plan to try lemon curd next. The possibilities are endless.

And of course there will be those out there who will say a sponge cake is more the domain of experienced bakers - I gleefully ignore such snobbery and encourage beginners to give this a go! Whether it’s cake-making, piano or yoga, a regular practice is the best path to confidence.

Classic Victoria sponge

230g margarine (you can use unsalted butter if you prefer, but I was advised that margarine makes for a lighter sponge, and that has proved to be the case)
230g caster sugar
230g sifted self-raising flour (occasionally my hand has slipped and it’s ended up being 240g, but that’s fine)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence or extract
4 eggs

For the filling: your choice of jam and/or fresh fruit and cream/mascarpone or buttercream icing

Sifted icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 190 C. Grease two 20cm round springform cake tins (sometimes they’re called “sandwich tins”) and line the bases with baking paper.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of your KitchenAid mixer, place all the ingredients and beat together for a few minutes until you have a smooth batter.

Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins (I use a digital scale - I usually get around 470g in each one). Smooth the tops with a spatula.

Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes until the cakes are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly in the tin before turning out on to a rack to cool completely.

To assemble, spread the mascarpone, cream or buttercream icing over the bottom of one of the sponges. Top with jam and sandwich the second sponge, bottom side down, on top.

Dust the top with icing sugar before serving.

Store in an airtight container and eat within 2 days. Which will not be a problem - send word out to your family that a sponge cake has been made, and it will be gone in no time!

If you make any of my recipes, do tag me on Instagram at @travelling_philbury - I’d love to see!

my favourite cookbooks: a gift guide

This is just one section dedicated to cookbooks in my home….

I thought this would be a useful post to do this time of year, as a good cookbook always makes a wonderful gift for the foodie in your life.

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that cookbooks are something I adore and devour as enthusiastically as I do food itself. I have found myself revisiting a lot of my favourite food writers throughout 2020. Dystopian fiction was quickly put away in favour of the poetic prose of Nigella Lawson or Nigel Slater, their words conjuring the homely festive spices of gingerbread and fruit cake, the yeasty smell of bread rising, or the sight of a gloriously golden cheesy crust on a pie. It was the perfect escapism for much of this crazy year.

Every now and then I will tire of my usual dinner repertoire (if you’ve been following my 2020 Dinners stories on Instagram, you’ll know what I mean!) and want to try a few new things. I scan my shelves quickly and pull down whichever volumes look most appealing, and sit myself down with a cup of coffee, a pile of cookbooks and a notepad and pen to hand to meal plan and pick new recipes to try. It’s my idea of bliss.

While I love reading about food, I find myself in the bizarre situation of rarely making the actual recipes of some of my favourite food writers (the two aforementioned Ns being an example). So when cookbooks come along that I both enjoy reading AND end up cooking from, that makes for a very impressed Phil indeed.

So, these are the cookbooks I have loved reading and have cooked from the most in 2020, and some of the recipes have become absolute staples in our house that I now cannot imagine life without. Some of them were released this year or last year, others are a couple of years old. But they’re all fabulous!

Family by Hetty McKinnon

I think this is probably my most-used cookbook of the year. Without fail, every recipe I’ve tried has been astonishingly good. I keep a vegetarian home and so it was to my great delight that I discovered all of Hetty’s recipes are meat-free. After trying a few of the recipes in the pasta section, I decided I would make it my mission to try every pasta recipe in the book. Achievement unlocked! And they are all magnificent. If you’re a confident home cook who enjoys hearty and healthy vegetable-based meals, you will fall in love with this cookbook and its great ideas without a doubt!

Hetty has a new book out this year - To Asia With Love - which may be, I have on good authority, waiting under the Christmas tree for me…

My favourite recipe: I have loved them all but it is a tie between the One-Pan Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese on page 149 (great weeknight meal) and the Pasta with Miso Brown Butter Sauce (special occasion meal) on page 129. Just get this book, you won’t regret it!

Green by Elly Pear

I own all of Elly Pear’s books but I think this one is her best yet, by far. She writes imaginative, healthy vegetarian and vegan recipes which are bursting with flavour and surprises, but that are achievable in your likely limited kitchen around a busy life. She has ideas for weeknights and meals you can freeze, as well as weekend recipes where you might have a little more time to potter around the kitchen and make something delicious. She sounds like a cook after my own heart - she abhors waste and shows you how to use everything up and repurpose leftovers. But her food is also a celebration of seasonality, flavour and very creative too.

My favourite recipe: The Pumpkin Gnocchi with Brown Herb Butter and Kale Almond Pesto (p.30-35). I was surprised by how easy it was! I hate faff as you all know, but this was so quick and easy, and quite meditative to put together. I felt like a real pro seeing the trays of gnocchi laid out and ready for the pan. And it looked and tasted like something I’d order in a restaurant!

A Basket By The Door by Sophie Hansen

I don’t remember how I came across this book. I think a few people I follow on Instagram mentioned making Sophie’s passata during the first week of autumn - a golden time really, before everything changed. I found this book such a comforting read during the rest of autumn when Hobart was in its version of lockdown and we went days without leaving the house at times. I had an abundant garden with produce to use, and it was a great way to show family and friends I cared during that time - we couldn’t visit but I could leave a jar of apple butter on the doorstep with a note. I ended up getting another copy for Mum for Mother’s Day, I loved it that much and found myself taking it to bed with me most nights. The idea of making preserves, pies, cordials, biscuits and comforting food was deeply reassuring and prevented too many sleepless nights.

This is not a vegetarian cookbook but there are plenty of meat-free recipes and many of the meaty recipes are easily adaptable.

My favourite recipe: the Olive and Walnut Pesto (p.159) is magic - it tastes so rich and delicious and I’ve found many uses for it. The Apple Butter (p.198) was also made many times with windfall apples left on my doorstep by my parents. It’s heavenly stirred into thick Greek yoghurt for breakfast and I am already looking forward to autumn and making it again!

Deliciously Ella Quick and Easy, Deliciously Ella: The Plant-Based Cookbook and Deliciously Ella with Friends all by Ella Mills

I am hard-pressed to say which of these books is my favourite because I cook from them all quite regularly - or have certainly got some new ideas from them which I’ve then adapted to my own tastes - so I heartily recommend all three to you!

I am not new to plant-based eating as you know and it is rare to find vegan cookbooks that have new and interesting ideas and recipes rather than the same old things that get trotted out time and time again. All of these books have excellent recipes and ideas for delicious vegan (and in many cases gluten-free) cooking. The latest one, Quick and Easy, also features wisdom from the DE podcast, which I also highly recommend and enjoy on the regular.

My favourite recipe: from DE with Friends it would have to be the Garlicky Black Beans (p.190), I make that ALL the time and it’s fabulous either as a wrap filling, a baked potato topping or just with steamed rice. From The Plant-Based Cookbook, the Apple and Banana Spelt Muffins (p.47) get made pretty regularly around here. And from Quick and Easy, the Spanish-Style Rice (p.241) and the Spinach and Chickpea Curry (p.154) have had rave reviews and gone down a treat.

Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

This is Yotam Ottolenghi’s second cookbook and it came out in 2010 - so not a new cookbook, but personally I think it’s his best and it’s my favourite of all his books. Anyone who loves food and cooking will be familiar with his work, and his innovative, original flavours and ways of making vegetables absolutely shine. If you love vegetables, cheese, spices, fresh herbs and a bit of a kick - be it from lemon, chilli or both - this is the book for you!

My favourite recipe: Where do I start? It would be a tie between the Spicy Moroccan Carrot Salad (p.14) which I have made countless times and am still not sick of; and the Caramelised Garlic Tart (p.38) which I made for Christmas lunch a few years ago and will be making again this year!

Special Guest by Annabel Crabb and Wendy Sharpe

What a treat this book is! When we first moved back to Australia, I borrowed it from the library and once I started leafing my way through it, I knew I was going to have to buy my own copy, or risk getting splatters all over the library copy (poor library etiquette of the highest order right there).

As the name suggests, these recipes (all pescetarian or vegetarian - and also very mindful of other dietary requirements like kosher or halal) are ideal for entertaining and parties, and for occasions when you’re going to a party and need to bring something that will be a crowd-pleaser. I’ve loved everything I’ve tried and while there’s not been much entertaining at our home this year (obviously) I am hopeful of a summer where we can have special guests around once more.

My favourite recipe: While my family have loved (and have requested again this Christmas) the Salted Caramel Crack (p.198), my favourite recipe from this book is the Fennel, Walnut and Sundried Tomato Pappardelle (p.49). Absolutely exquisite! I feel like making it RIGHT NOW. Probably wasn’t a good idea to start writing this blog post at dinner time….

What are your favourite, most-used cookbooks? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

vegan mushroom stroganoff

It’s not the prettiest meal in the world, but it tastes absolutely divine! You can use any variety of mushrooms you have - and I think it would be equally nice with other spongy vegetables like eggplants or zucchini.

If it’s just me eating, I chop the mushrooms fairly roughly. If Tom is eating it, I chop them up quite finely (it’s a texture thing with him!). It will cook faster if the mushrooms are more finely chopped. Either way it will be delicious.

You can whip this up in about 20 minutes but with its velvety sauce and umami flavours, you’d think you’d slaved over a hot stove for hours. Enjoy!

Vegan mushroom stroganoff

Serves 2-3

Olive or coconut oil
3 large portobello mushrooms, chopped (see note above)
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4-5 stalks of silverbeet or chard, finely chopped (stalks and leaves)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (you will need LOTS of pepper!)
1 x 400ml can coconut milk
2 tablespoons brown rice miso paste
1 tablespoon tahini
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Vegetable stock powder
Fresh parsley and tarragon leaves, chopped, to serve
Basmati rice, to serve

Put the kettle on to boil.

Get a large saute or frying pan ( one with a lid) and add a splash of olive oil and place over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, onion, garlic and chopped silverbeet stalks and cook until they start to soften and brown slightly. Add a little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

Continue cooking for a minute or two, then add the coconut milk, miso, tahini, paprika and cayenne pepper, and turn the heat up slightly, stirring everything to combine. Make some stock from vegetable stock powder and the boiling water from the kettle - I usually do this in the coconut milk can to get every drop of it out, and it’s a handy measurement too, you want about 400ml or just under. Add the stock to the pan, stir well and allow the pot to come to the boil, then reduce right down to a simmer.

Add more freshly ground black pepper if you like. Stir one more time to ensure nothing is caught at the bottom and then put the lid on and set your timer for 15 minutes.

Make your rice while it’s cooking.

After 15 minutes, add the chopped silverbeet/chard leaves, and stir well to wilt the leaves. Allow to simmer another minute or two, taste for seasoning (I usually add more black pepper here), and scatter with chopped parsley and tarragon. Keep warm if you’re waiting for your rice to be ready, otherwise get your serving spoon out!

Serve in bowls with steamed rice and a satisfied smile - for even the mushroom haters tend to love this one.

letters of our lives: to my turning point

This is my third letter in the Letters of our Lives project . Isabel’s is here .

Two and a half years ago, something momentous happened to me.

I still feel overwhelmed when I remember it.

I wrote about it in June 2018 and shared it with my newsletter subscribers (for various reasons, that newsletter only ever had one issue!) but I felt moved to share it today as part of this Letters of Our Lives instalment.

I hope it’s a reminder to anyone who is feeling stuck and lost that you can always find a way forward - you just might have to be prepared to face some uncomfortable truths. And sometimes some Big Magic gets involved too!

Enjoy.

****

To my turning point:

It was May 2018. I had been feeling very lost, and not particularly strong and solid. Life for the last few years had felt like driving on a highway leading somewhere I wasn’t sure I wanted to go, and yet I constantly found excuses not to pull off at the next exit and change direction. Because pulling over to the side and checking the map, maybe even getting some rest and thinking do I want to turn back? Do I want to take the next exit and get off? Do I even know where I’m going? all felt a bit too hard.

And I knew what that sounded like - defeatist and negative, and even a bit self-indulgent. That had been my default way of thinking a long time ago, in my teens and early twenties, but clearly it was creeping back. Like many people, I had thought a better version of myself was waiting in the future once I achieved X, Y and Z. But there was not. I still didn’t feel like I was good enough and my achievements of the past decade suddenly meant very little.

Two years earlier I had written a book about how the “after photo” is just an illusion, and that achieving something and expecting your life to be different on the other side of it is just setting yourself up for a fall. So to be struggling with that very issue was a bit embarrassing, to say the least!

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but all the important lessons in my life have been learned the hard way. This one particularly. There’s a line from the film Cool Runnings which puts it perfectly:

“A gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you're not enough without one, you'll never be enough with one."

As a result, my writing had stalled at this point in time, even though I had thrown myself into writing my second book in a desperate bid to break the spell. But pressure and inspiration don’t mix – it’s like adding soy sauce to a Victoria sponge. It will not end well.

Despite knowing that things needed to change, and ultimately that responsibility lay with me (another message from my book I was conveniently ignoring), and no matter how many supportive conversations I had with my husband and friends, I felt so stuck.

Enter, you, my turning point, on Saturday 19 May 2018.

Somehow, I found myself at a workshop in the centre of London. The Big Magic workshop, run by one of my heroes, the author Elizabeth Gilbert. I had been told, randomly, about it by one of my Instagram followers who wanted to know if I was going too. Miraculously, there were still tickets available, so I nabbed one as an early birthday present to myself.

A few days out from the event, I received an email from the organisers, asking attendees to submit questions for the Q&A, as there was only a limited time to ask them on the day and this was the most efficient process, given they were expecting a lot of people. I wrote a question, at 7am while sipping coffee, completely uncensored. In a sleepy daze, I just hit send.

I immediately regretted it and got hit with what Brene Brown calls “the vulnerability hangover”.  I read the email back and felt a pang of shame – I’d said too much. But it was too late now.

I reassured myself that there would be hundreds of people going and what were the chances my question would be picked and answered by Liz Gilbert herself?

So I arrived at the workshop, alone, as my friend couldn’t make it after all, and was quite taken by the atmosphere inside this giant hall, slowly filling up with excited-looking people who all seemed very friendly. There was such a lovely vibe in the room.

When Liz walked in, the room went wild! I could hardly believe it was her, in the flesh. And so began our wonderful workshop, where we did writing exercises and then Liz walked around in the audience and encouraged people to share what they’d written. Bizarrely, in a room of nearly 1,000 people, it felt so intimate and safe to share. Whenever someone was hesitant to speak, the support in the room was palpable, you could feel it in the air. With encouragement from Liz and the people around us, we discovered our courage and persistence that had long been lying dormant and dared to listen to what our fear and our enchantment had to tell us.

I loved how Liz carried herself too. At that time she was grieving deeply, having only lost her partner Rayya to cancer a few months earlier, and yet she was so open and generous, making space for sadness and joy, and with very clear boundaries. People did, naturally, try and get a book signed or get her attention in various ways throughout the day, and each time she acknowledged them with kindness and explained why she couldn’t give them what they wanted. It was inspiring to see.

By the end of the workshop, I felt I had really turned a corner. The exercises we had done had helped excavate a lot of rubble lying in my heart. I felt like a veil had been lifted and I could see things more clearly than I had before. I felt inspired, reawakened, alive and ready to do whatever it took to start driving down the highway of life with purpose again. And, more importantly, have the guts to take the exit off the smooth road and start exploring the windier ones.

But then came the Q&A. I felt nervous, for reasons I couldn’t quite understand.

The moderator explained that there had been over 100 questions and they only had time for five. We got through the first three, and then the moderator said to the room, with nearly 1,000 people eagerly listening and one of the people I most admire in the world sitting on the stage with a microphone, “is Philippa from London here?”

It was one of the most petrifying moments of my life! But a moment that also managed to be humbling, uplifting and mind-blowing at the same time.

I raised my hand to identify myself, the moderator read out my question and Liz looked right at me. She truly has the presence of a spiritual teacher, where it feels like she is seeing right into your soul, willing you to find the answers that lie in there, that she can see clearly and that you probably know deep down are there but listening to them would mean having to do something. It would mean running out of excuses, which are the easiest things in the world to make.

To begin with, she smiled and said a few kind things to me and then said, “But I’m going to have to be a hard-ass on you. So, you didn’t get what you wanted. Welcome to the world.”

The room was silent. Her eyes didn’t leave mine. “So, what now?”  she asked.

She told me (well, the whole room, but it felt like it was just me!) about her journey, that her first book sold 6,000 copies and then Eat Pray Love sold 12 million. But the effort to keep going, after both perceived failure and success, is the same.

“What’s the alternative? Not trying? Giving up? You wouldn’t be here if that was what you wanted.”

She told me, and the room, that our only job is to serve our creativity. And for me, my only task is to let my next book be whatever it needs to be. Finding out what it wants to become – and what the next book wants to become, and the next, and the next - is the whole point of the journey.

She spoke a little about the creative journey, and how dangerous it is to get caught up in “the industry” and “making it”. She then read us the Celtic Prayer of Approach, which I now have pinned up by my desk.

I honor your Gods.
I drink at your well,
I bring an undefended heart to our meeting place,
I have no cherished outcomes,
I will not negotiate by withholding, and
I am not subject to disappointment.

“Write your next book,” Liz said, her gaze not leaving my face. “And write the next one, and the next one. Go forth and serve your creativity. You deserve it.”

After the thanks (from me) and applause, we moved on to the last question, but I must admit I was in a bit of a world of my own by then. I wiped the tears that had found their way out of my eyes away and sat there, so overwhelmed and profoundly moved. One of my heroes took the time to address me, stared me and my fear and entitlement down and said “get on with it.” They were words I really needed to hear and she said them with so much respect, love and conviction.

There, in a room full of strangers, confronted by my limiting beliefs and excuses, and Liz Gilbert fixing me in a loving but “come on, you’re better than this” gaze, I knew this was my turning point. I knew the inertia and fear of the last few years was over. I finally felt something shift. I felt light, for the first time in a long time. A line was drawn. I knew I wouldn’t keep giving in to fear.

I felt so vulnerable but I also felt so seen. And feeling seen was worth the pain of feeling vulnerable.

And even though it was a room full of people I didn't know, it felt so safe. So many people shared. People who have seen and known far harder things than I have. I was so moved and so very, very grateful.

The whole experience was such a gift. Not just the gift of having the next best thing to a direct line to Liz Gilbert, but the gift of being in a room of like-minded, friendly and open people who restored my faith that, in a world that seems constantly full of bad news, most of us just want to connect with others, and feel seen and heard. And if Liz Gilbert tells you to write your next book, you’re officially out of excuses!

Afterwards, I walked out into the balmy Saturday sunshine. As the Royal Wedding was on, most of central London was quiet. I walked to my favourite bookshop to keep my promise to Enchantment and bought two poetry books. I don’t write a lot of poetry myself any more [note from 2020: that’s changed!] but reading it feeds my soul like nothing else. Enchantment reminded me of that.

Two and a half years later, my next book isn’t finished yet but it’s being written. I actually don’t know what my next book will be - there are several possibilities - but I’m working, regularly and with a willing spirit, on them. I have no cherished outcomes.

I also now live a life where my creativity and writing are at the centre of it, the focus of every day. I feel fulfilled and happy. In 2018 Tom and I made a lot of changes and while not everything has gone to plan, we haven’t looked back. I know, without a doubt, that everything is unfolding exactly as it should.

In many ways, that was the best outcome from that day that I could have hoped for.

Thank you Liz Gilbert, and the Universe, for that turning point.

Love, Phil xxx

deep breaths

I’m not usually awake before the alarm (or Tom) but I was today. I left my phone where it was, charging in my study.

I went straight outside to my garden and meditated, without the app, without the timer. Deep breaths.

I did my morning pages. Had a coffee and watered the garden. Marvelled at the new leaves and pods that two days of heat has produced in my garden. No podcast, no music, no distractions. Just the relative peace of my street waking up for the day. Birds cackling to themselves in the trees. Deep breaths.

I just wanted to savour whatever window of time I could snatch where I didn’t know what had happened and anything could still be possible.

I think I’d like to start every day like this. Only without the gut-churning anxiety!

Sending a huge hug to everyone who needs one today.

letters of our lives: to the book that changed me

This is my second letter in the Letters of our Lives project. Isabel’s is here.

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." - Renaissance author Sir Francis Bacon

In a situation where you have a million and one choices, the standard advice is to go with the first one that comes to mind.

I am a writer, PhD student, historian, lover of words and speed reader so it follows that books are a necessary and joyful part of my life. Enter my home and you will see piles of them, everywhere. In every city I have lived, I have been a dedicated library user and patron of bookstores.

I can be fairly minimalist in other areas of life - happy to pare back to necessities in the kitchen, in my wardrobe - but with books? Never.

I honestly cannot remember a time when I could not read, and my activity of choice was not sitting somewhere with a book, or going to the library for more books, or writing my own books. Some books are like old friends, like houses I've lived in, like conversations I've had. There are memories and happiness associated with them. They are a wonderful way of showing you how you've changed, or how you haven't.

But to the book that changed me? That was a question. The answer came to me immediately, but I dismissed it at first. Surely there was another choice? Less….earnest? Something that hadn’t sold millions and millions of copies?

Every book I’ve read has changed me, made me a better writer, a more informed and curious human being. But when I really thought about it, I know that had I not read this book at the time that I did, I don’t know if I would have had the courage to keep going, to listen to my heart and to have learned that you have to make sacrifices to make your dreams come true.

Who knows where I might be right now, had anything been different.

So, this is the book that changed me.

See if you can spot the tile we had to Photoshop in because there are only two of them in a Scrabble set!

To The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho,

You came into my life, as I imagine you do with many others, in the midst of pain and bewilderment. It was a dark, cold winter, the darkest I had ever known.

I don’t recall how I came across you - perhaps a blog reader recommended you? Or perhaps I came across you in the bargain bin at Borders Melbourne Central, where I would go most days after work, prolonging my return home for as long as possible. My first marriage was over but it was early days and we were still living together, which was excruciating. Everything was so raw. I felt like I didn’t have any skin.

Or perhaps I saw you mentioned on a message board that I’d started trawling late at night, where other confused and heartbroken people holding pieces of their marriages in their hands gathered to vent and console. I never posted anything, I just read.

Wherever I found you, you ended up with me.

By the time I started reading you, however, things had changed a little. I had finally moved out and was getting used to a new home and identity. Everything was still in boxes. I had a different train, to the other side of Melbourne, to catch every evening after work. One particular evening, a freezing wet July night, I collapsed into a seat on the train and pulled you out of my bag.

It had been a long, low day. The feelings of grief and brokenness over my marriage ending had not dissipated, much to my confusion and disappointment. And they wouldn’t for some time. I was beginning to wonder whether ending things had been the right thing to do, given how much pain I was in. Should I have tried harder to work things out? Was he right, had it all been my fault? Had I been incredibly selfish, wanting to follow my heart and my dreams after so many years of putting them aside…for him?

As the train left the underground and out into the dark night, these lines pounced up from the page:

“Love never keeps you from pursuing your destiny. If it does, it isn’t true love.”

It was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. My mouth fell open, my eyes filled with tears, and everything around me froze in time, I didn’t notice anyone else on the train, I just stared into space in relief, tears rolling down my face. At that moment I realised that I had done the right thing. I was free. The life I had always wanted could finally begin. I had abandoned my dreams during my marriage and now it was over there were no more excuses.

Of course, things weren’t that simple - as you warned me they wouldn’t be.

“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight.”

Other relationships I fell into were over as soon as I mentioned I had plans to travel and live overseas. I couldn’t seem to find anyone to just have a bit of fun with! I fought my habitual urges to suppress my own longings and needs to make other people happy - a pattern that had flourished in my marriage until its last few months (which was of course why it ended). Soon it became clear that I was never going to find what I was looking for where I was. I needed to pack my bags and go.

Life in Melbourne grew strange and lonely as I packed up my life and prepared to leave for my big adventure. Previously supportive friends turned nasty and distant. It was a strange cocktail of excitement, guilt and fear - that I was giving up everything in pursuit of the life I felt I was destined for, and it would all turn out to be a terrible mistake.

“The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself… no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.”

You were right about that.

I was put to the test so much during that time - my safety net was gone, any predictability and security my life had previously had were over, and I headed out into the unknown.

“It is the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”

It’s been 13 years and I think about my solo travels across the USA, Canada, Europe and Asia nearly every day. Everything pursuing my destiny had cost me was worth every exhilarating second of that trip. I stayed with friends and blog readers everywhere I went, who welcomed me with open arms and became my family for however long I was in their city, be it two days or two weeks. I saw amazing things and did things I could never have even dreamed of. Every day was a new adventure. It was the happiest time of my life (up to that point at least!).

I must admit, I haven’t read you from start to finish for a while but maybe now, after finding a love that hasn’t made me compromise my dreams and returning home to Australia, is the perfect time for a reread.

I’m on a different kind of quest now but the lessons and wisdom I gleaned from you all those years ago remain the same.

That I must remain courageous, persistent and assertive in pursuit of my dreams, especially when I am tested. Being tested is part of the journey.

If I back down out of fear, I’ll be back where I started.

That my heart is alive and I must always listen to what it has to say.

But most importantly:

“Never stop dreaming.”

Thank you for the consolation and the wisdom, old friend. I don’t know where I might be now without you.

Love, Phil xx

What is the book that changed you?