Happenings 22.12.19

DOING: sitting beside Walt while he naps. I seem to say the same thing every month, don’t I?

HEARING: Walt’s sleepy music. There we go again - the same answer every month. Actually, I do have a different answer for you. This past month I’ve listened to some excellent podcast episodes, mostly from Salt + Spine, which Sonya recently introduced me to. Salt + Spine features interviews with cookbook authors, and so far I’ve listened to Alison Roman‘s two interviews, as well as the ones with Samin and Julia (two of my biggest inspirations - what brilliant women), and their very first episode with Nigella. I also really enjoyed this episode of The Mindful Dietitian podcast with Fiona Willer.

DRINKING: right now I’m not drinking anything but usually you’ll find me drinking water or coffee.

EATING + COOKING: lately we’ve been eating a lot of soba noodle salads, as I’ve been testing a recipe for ABC Life that will be out early next year. It’s a good one. Get your tamari and rice wine vinegar ready!

Let’s see, what else have we been eating lately? Why don’t I run through a typical day (or a typical week, I suppose).

BREAKFAST: usually the kiddos and I eat toast for breakfast. I favour dense sourdoughs - either my Dad’s sourdough, a loaf from Flinders sourdough or Hope Farm’s 100% rye sourdough. The kids have been eating rye bread since they were babies. I top the toasted slices with ghee, nut butter and hemp seeds; avocado, extra virgin olive oil and hemp seeds; or ghee, cashew butter, raspberry jam and hemp seeds. Why ghee, I’m often asked? Well, I like it for cooking, as it has a high smoke point. And then one day I started using it on toast in place of butter, as it’s super spreadable (I don’t fancy spreadable butters that are made with vegetable oils), and I fell in love with the flavour. So, we’re now a ghee-loving household. I buy big jars of organic ghee from Terra Madre, where everything is super affordable.

LUNCH: lunch is perhaps a bowl of veggies and quinoa, using fresh and/or roasted veggies, plus either legumes, eggs or tinned fish. I rely on meal prep to have quinoa and veggies pre-prepared. Or it’ll be crackers with hummus or smashed avocado and veggie sticks. We love Mary’s or Dr Kargs crackers. I would like to make my own crackers but for now we just buy up when they’re on sale at our local shops. Walt doesn’t eat the hard crackers just yet, so in their place I give him some soft, canned cannelini beans or black beans. If Ben is working from home we may have salad sandwiches with all the trimmings - pickles, onions, cheese, pesto, etc. And occasionally I’ll cook some scrambled eggs. Mostly, though, it’s a case of opening the fridge, taking things out of containers and assembling them in a bowl/on a plate.

SNACKS: I often offer veggie sticks when the kids are hungry. They both LOVE steamed carrot sticks and broccoli florets that have been doused in ghee. Walt eats a lot of cucumber sticks, especially when he’s teething, as they’re nice and cool on his sore gums. Joan likes bananas, cheese and crackers (grainy, fibre-rich crackers, as mentioned above), nori sheets or dates with tahini/nut butter. Occasionally she’ll have yoghurt with fruit or granola, but not often as she tends to have yoghurt after dinner. We sometimes snack on something we’ve baked, but that hasn’t happened lately as I find this time of year Joan is gifted a lot of lollies, chocolates and biscuits, so I don’t intentionally work any more sweets into our days. Instead I prioritise veggies and other foods rich in fibre and protein to help counteract any blood sugar spikes from all the candy canes and santa-shaped chocolates she’s invariably eating.

DINNER: our evening meal varies the most out of all our meals, but is mostly based around vegetables. We have a veggie garden that, despite an outrageous amount of neglect, continues to offer us baby spinach, silverbeet and parsley - so, we eat a lot of those things. Well, the kids don’t eat a lot of them (Walt because he struggles with the texture and Joan because she doesn’t love the flavour), but I put them on their plates all the same. And then it’s whatever veg looks good and affordable from our local organic shop. Oh, and we eat a lot of frozen peas. I’m actually working on a post about what we eat/how we shop (which I hope to finish in the new year), so I won’t go into too much detail here. Basically, we prioritise vegetables, and then I make sure we’ve got one-two meals that incorporate fish in the form of canned salmon, sardines, anchovies or tuna (I also serve fish at lunch a couple of times during the week). Canned fish is cheaper than fillets and I struggle to find wild-caught oily fish fillets in our corner of the world. We eat around two-three dinners made with legumes, like chickpeas, black beans, cannelini beans, etc. And then perhaps one pasta meal (often pesto), one meal with red meat, and maybe one with eggs or chicken. I vary our intake in such a way that if we’ve had purely plant-based at lunch, we might have some animal protein at dinner (and vice versa). For example, if we’ve had fish for lunch, we might have legumes for dinner. Not always, but that’s mostly how it works. Ben has cut his red meat consumption considerably lately, but the kids and I eat it around once a week (maybe twice) - say, when he’s working late - for a good iron hit and also because we all love bolognese or slow-cooked beef casseroles. But we’re not big meat eaters. If I cooked a casserole with beef, Joan would eat the veggies and leave the meat. Only occasionally will she eat pieces of meat that aren’t mince; she prefers veggies, legumes, fish and eggs, which is good and makes sense, I suppose, because that’s mostly what I serve her. Walt, on the other hand, loves meat.

We usually eat dinner together between 5-5:30pm. If Ben is working late and I’m doing bedtime by myself, I may feed the kids first but we try to eat dinner together as often as possible. It’s our end-of-the day ritual and I can tell it grounds the kids, especially Joan. Because we eat so early, I usually have a snack once Walt is asleep. It’s often a mix of nuts like walnuts or roasted cashews, and preservative-free goji berries or sultanas (really good, big, soft, juicy ones) with some toasted coconut flakes and sometimes some cheddar. Occasionally I’ll have some yoghurt with sliced banana, honey, cinnamon and coconut flakes. I love chocolate (seriously, it makes me so happy) but I don’t eat it at this time, as I avoid caffeine in the evening. Instead I tend to grab pieces here and there throughout the afternoon. It helps pep me up as I face the final few hours of the day with my two kiddos who, at 4pm, are usually an equal mix of adorable and cranky.

There you go! Looking over what I have written, the overwhelming feeling I have it gratitude that I have access to all this food. I spend a lot of my time cooking (we don’t eat out often at all); that’s how I like it and I feel incredibly fortunate that I can.

WANTING: Walt to stop being so wakeful overnight. The past few days he’s been waking what feels like every hour. I am tired. I’d also like Joan and Walt to start sleeping in la little longer. I am an early bird, so I get it, but 5am feels a little too fresh. No matter what time they go to sleep, they wake between 5-6am (and lately it’s been closer to 5 than 6), and invariably within 15 minutes of each other.

LOOKING: forward to Christmas. Most specifically, Christmas morning, when Joan will no doubt run to the tree before running into my bedroom while yelling “Santa Christmas came!”.

DECIDING: what to make for breakfast on Christmas morning. We always have our festive fruit salad, with stone fruit and mint. Looking back on last year’s Christmas post, I’m reminded that we also made my favourite watermelon + raspberry juice. We might do that again. We wake so early, though, so I know we’ll need something more substantial to last us until lunch at mum and dad’s house. I’m considering trying these supposedly easy cinnamon buns, but I haven’t baked them before and I prefer to have made something at least once before special occasions (and Christmas morning feels like the most special occasion). We may just buy croissants or make the baked doughnuts I mentioned in last month’s happenings post.

ENJOYING: this long nap. After a quick feed, Walt has gone back for a second sleep cycle.

WATCHING: After listening to her podcast interview (as mentioned above), I’ve fallen back in love with watching Nigella’s cooking shows. I used to watch Nigella often before I had kids. And then I got pregnant and nausea kicked in, so anything food related became repulsive; and I never really got back into them - until now. I’ve been watching her show Simply Nigella, and have seen she has a recipe for quick pickled beetroot which is very similar to my quick pickled beetroot in my book. I find her endearing and I love how unabashedly simple her recipes are.

READING: I’m working my way through Three Women. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I guess I feel quite nosy reading about the sex lives of these three women, but here I am, still turning pages.

WEARING: I found a super cute blouse from the op shop, and have been wearing that with jeans. I’m also loving flowy skirts and summer dresses. Recently Joan and Walt were gifted some clothes from Nature Baby and shoes from Bobux, and they’ve been living in both. I was thrilled to receive such a gift, as we buy their clothes and shoes anyway - mostly when they’re on sale, as they’re not super cheap, but the quality is amazing, they truly last so much longer than cheaper brands, so they’re a worthy investment.

BUYING: we bought Joan this camera for Christmas, after seeing it on the Cup of Jo website. I cannot wait for her to open it! She’s quite the budding photographer. I also bought Walt a toy camera from Little Nook, which is also a Kaleidoscope. Hopefully he loves it and doesn’t try to take Joan’s real camera (we all know that’s not going to work, don’t we?). In other news, we need to buy a new car. Well, second hand, but new to us. Ours has finally carked it.

PLANNING: what car we are going to buy. Oomf, it’s such a big purchase.

CRAVING: water. I haven’t been drinking enough lately. It’s been so hot and Walt has been feeding more, so I need to up my intake.

LOVING: the fact that Ben is now home for two weeks. We so need this slow time together. He’s just exhausted. Work is always full on, but he’s also grieving his sister. It’s been such an intense six months, we just need to pause and be. Together.

PLAYING: we’ve been doing a lot of drawing together. Walt has started participating, too! Mostly he tries to eat the crayons, but every now and then he’ll put them to paper.

SAVOURING: this time with Joan before she goes to school. Next year is her last year at home before everything changes. That’s not really true, everything is always changing… but starting school feels really big. She’ll be away from home for such a significant part of the day. It’ll be wonderful, her world will expand, but it’ll also be really different. And I love what we have now. So I’m savouring it.

FEELING: grateful. Tired - from sleep disruption and tending to the needs of my little people, but also from the heaviness of all that has happened with Ben’s sister, and all that has happened with my brother. We lost him twelve years ago today. It’s a lot for your heart to handle. I’m also feeling excited for Christmas day - to see Joan and Walt opening presents and to soak up the buzz that comes when children believe something magical has happened.

Happenings posts inspired by Pip.

Heidi xo