Risi e Suca (Pumpkin & Rice Soup) from Veneto.

A good few weeks ago while everything seemed a little mad I was sent this beautiful book Veneto by Valeria Necchio of the blog Life Love Food. It a beautiful Italian cookbook filled with stories and traditions from the Veneto region in north-eastern Italy. After just flicking through the book I was already making mental notes of everything I wanted to cook and after what feels like a lifetime, I finally got around to sitting down, having a read and making a couple of recipes.

The book is split up into two sections. Part I: 'then' and Part II: 'now'. The 'then' explores family recipes cooked in Valeria's childhood home, the Venetian Countryside by Valeria's grandmothers and mother, some recipes are three generations passed down. The 'now' is all about the foods she makes in her modern Italian kitchen. You'll find recipes where she has drawn from tradition but also modern influences from her travels and current home, London. You don't see the obvious dishes of Italy in this cookbook, instead it explores a region I think that is less well known.

Our Honeymoon.

We didn't jet off straight away after our wedding or should I say drive off. We spent the next day, the Saturday recovering and then Sunday seeing family and friends who had come interstate for our special day. I don't know how they did it but some of them hit the red wine again - crazy!

On the Monday we packed the car and started our drive to Victoria for a night then jumped on the Spirit of Tasmania to explore the island state of Australia.

Tasmania is beautiful.

It actually gets a winter unlike here in Sydney. It was freezing! We packed prepared but I don't think I was ready for how cold it actually would be, I don't remember having a proper winter in a few years. Our first stop after we docked was Cradle Mountain, I loved the wildlife and the snow. It could have snowed a little more and rained a little less but it was still so lovely to get away to somewhere so different than what home is. We then worked our way west to Strahan and camped at Macquarie Heads. We bought a slab of raw Huon Pine that I want to turn into a chopping board as a keep sake - the smell is so powerful in the woodwork shops. Next was Lake St Claire where we were also meant to camp but ended up chickening out (there was torrential rain & we weren't allowed a fire in the camp site) so we bailed and called the local pub who thankfully had a room for us. We woke up to a snow topped car and white flecked gumtrees. It was magical.

A reflection on our special day.

Ok so I've started this post about four times now and scraped it each time.

I feel like a lot has happened since my last post but then also, not so much. Firstly, I got married. Secondly, we went on a super lovely cold honeymoon to Tasmania. Yes, cold but cold is good snuggle weather remember.

It's an odd feeling once it's all over. A whole years worth of planning and savings all done, dusted, drunk and eaten in a matter of hours. Once the day was done I had a sort of internal lull... I couldn't help thinking of all the small things that didn't go to plan or what I forgot on the day... did I thank everyone, oh dear who did I miss, did I talk to everyone, I should have planned that better... blah blah blah and also worrying if everyone else had a good time rather than if we enjoyed ourselves.

The food on the day was seriously good and I think everyone also enjoyed the booze. The venue told us we were up there in some of there top weddings for the most drinks consumed... oh dear. I think Tris's red wine stained shirt and my splashed dress are evidence of that. Oh and the cake! It was the best wedding cake I've ever eaten and this is not even being bias considering the cake-baker is a good friend of mine (putacakeinit - check her insta!). We had a two tier, white chocolate mud cake, filled with layers of chocolate ganache, iced in vanilla buttercream topped with fresh flowers. It was both beautiful and delicious.

LOVE.

This space is mostly about food and I guess, a little about me. Today, it's all about me. Because... I'M GETTING MARRIED TOMORROW! And I'm filled with butterflies of excitement mixed with a couple of nerves but mostly just crazy excitement! I'm going to have a husband (still sounds weird) and I'm going to be a wife (even weirder). I can't wait to marry him. It was 10 years ago, this February that he asked me to be his girlfriend back when he was 17. Mad how time fly's when your with the one you love!!

I remember when my sister, who is nine and a half years older than me got married (11 years ago) I felt like she was so grown up and adult-y. I do not feel grown up or adult-y. But then I never asked if she actually felt grown up or adult-y when she got married or if it was just me being a little sister looking up (as always) to my big sister. Do you ever actually feel adult-y? 

Balsamic Onion Soda Bread aka your next cheese platter staple.

I've been really enjoying making bread lately and I've been trying my hand at sourdough which you might have seen over on instagram. My sourdough baking is VERY hit and miss but I might be my harshest critic as Tris is very complimentary of my bread and often tells me to shut-up when I start criticising my latest loaf. Which I'm sorry to say, this post is not about sourdough as I am in no way ready to share a sourdough recipe (yet) as I don't think I've found one that gives me consistent results or (which is most likely the answer) I'm not ready to even start to tell you what to do. I am newbie at it so feels a little cocky to start preaching to you what to do. But what I have made lately is a different kind of bread which I am comfortable to tell you about. Soda Bread. Balsamic Onion Soda Bread to be precise.

Chocolate Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

An unnamed somebody told me the other day I don't use my kitchen-aid much... well humpf... I made these cookies and you (the accuser) ate them. Ha. Chew on them Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal Cookies why don't you!? - I say this in jest and lots of love :)

To be honest with you readers, I've missed baking. To say it hasn't been on the top of my list this year is an understatement and among other things I've been 'attempting' to plan a wedding (Oh gawd! less than 2 months!!). Planning is very hard when you're a non-planner. I am a non-planner.

But cookies.. I can make cookies.

Fress - to eat copious and without restraint.

Fress - to eat copious and without restraint.

What a great word! and a pretty cool name for a cookbook if you ask me.

Fress by Emma Spitzer, the cookbook with the very cool name arrived in my letter box a good few weeks ago and I've been meaning to write this up for a little while now. It's is a cookbook that's full of traditions and family recipes. I have always felt a pull to find out my family tree and where everyone came from but to be honest, I just want to know what they ate. I want to know what traditions were kept, if something was made on a weekly basis? or for Easter or every birthday? I want to know what they kept on cooking and eating even when life got...well life. I'm nosey. And well because, everyone has to eat no matter whats going on in their life or how shitty their day was. We still have to eat.

autumn doings.

I can't believe we're over half way through Autumn already.

Here's what I've been up to...

reading

Adventures of a Terribly Greedy Girl by Kay Plunkett-Hogge | What a different life. No wonder she ended up working in food after growing up in Bangkok and being open to such a variety of flavours growing up. I'd love to step in her shoes for a day and see what it was like at the wonderful parties she attended or lunches she caters. What an adventure!

Acquacotto by Emiko Davies | I have made the strazzopretti with 'fake' sauce which is a wonderful bowl of thick hand rolled noodles with a simple tomato sauce. I definitely didn't make the hand rolled pasta right but it still tasted amazing with freshly grated parmesan and cracked black pepper on top. I'm going to master the pasta and get back to you on this one.

Zuppa Di Funghi - Wild Mushroom Soup from Emiko Davies' Acquacotta

Sometimes it's the small things that make you feel better, more yourself again. Sometimes it's as simple as a bowl of soup on a chilly night, curled up on the couch.

A furry friend keeping your toes warm doesn't hurt either.

The past few weeks have been so up and down I don't really know where I am half the time but more on that another day. I've been cooking here and there but mostly not for myself, I've been in a different kitchen that has a dishwasher and oh how much more enjoyable cooking is when you can load the dishwasher and not have a giant sink full of dishes to tackle at the end. I've also learnt a snippet of my family's history that has me so curious about what my grosi and great grosi (swiss grandma) might have cooked for the ones they loved. I suppose I could ask my Uncle or cousins but I have so many questions I think I'll overwhelm them or they'll think I'm crazy! It's easy for my mind to go off on little tangents now and then. Thinking a lot family lately and what it'd be like to have everyone in the one room for a day. The thought makes me smile, we'd talk and talk and talk until the lot of us had no voices left. It would be wonderful.

Home again last week and in my own (dishwasher-less) kitchen, I craved comfort and feeling unsettled with my un-stocked pantry and fridge I assumed dinner was going to arrive in plastic boxes with wooden chopsticks. Not so comforting about that. This was until I picked up a copy of Emiko Davies new cookbook, Acquacotta that had been sent to me (thankyou thankyou thankyou). My menulog order was out on hold as I came across a recipe for a tomato based wild mushroom soup, Zuppa Di Funghi. Hmmm mushrooms - a little bit sad but yes, onion - yes, garlic - yes, canned tomatoes - yes, dried porcini - YES. DONE. The soup was so robust, comforting and full of flavour ti's going to be a regular dinner on those nights that you need something to warm you through to your toes. Emiko tells us the dried porcini mushrooms are optional but I highly recommend adding them even if it means a little online shop to get them (I get mine from here). It gives it a beautiful flavour that you can't get from other mushrooms. I used fresh button mushrooms and swiss brown mushrooms along side the dried porcini but if I had them I'd have also added other mixed mushrooms like fresh porcini and chanterelles.

sumac roast chicken with carrots and chickpeas from Gatherings by Flora Sheddan

When I first started this blog I went through a faze of making lots of chicken tray bakes and I think two of them were great, some were ok and a few were inedible and never got a mention. They were quick to throw together when I got in late from work and it meant I could jump in the shower, potter around and dinner was done. Very time efficient midweek cooking. But I haven't made a try bake in months (maybe even a year) and to be honest, I have no idea why not. I get home earlier from work but for some reason I post less than I used to and I have more time now than I did before.