It is still raining. All i can think to do is sit in bed and read with a cup of tea on the table beside me. Currently, i’m reading Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies and Anne Bartlett’s Knitting. They keep me well occupied.

Yesterday, after baking some bread, i decided to try making halva, a dessert often made in India and which my grandmother and auntie faithfully made every year to usher in the Indian new year.

(Lightly toast 2 cups of semolina and set aside. Brown 1 cup of cashews in olive oil and set aside. Bring 4 cups of water to the boil and then add 7-9 tablespoons of caster sugar and some saffron powder to the water. Remove from stove. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt about 50g of butter or ghee. When melted, add in 1-2 teaspoons of ground cardamon. At this point, you should get a wonderful aroma. If not, add in more cardamon. Stir in the toasted semolina and mix well. Then slowly add the sugar water, making sure to stir well simultaneously to avoid lumps forming. Add the cashews and stir. Once thickened, remove from heat and place in a 8 x 8 dish. Flatten with the back of a spoon and let cool. Eat with some sweet tea.)

It made me feel very close to my grandmother and my auntie as i cooked this, knowing that they had cooked it many times before. As the smell of the cardamon hit me, i was taken back to my auntie’s kitchen where all sorts of sweet things were made with love. As i had my first bite of the halva, i could almost see myself in her kitchen, sitting at the table as she cut me piece after piece to eat.

It’s a beautiful autumn day outside. I put on my new backpack and walked to the library with a list of books to get.

I love that i have to walk 20 minutes to get there, each step made sweeter by the thought of finding books that will transport me to another world for a few hours.

I ended up with eight books and began my walk back home. I took a detour into Birrel St so i could have my treat for the week- a mini cupcake and soy cappucino from ‘We take the cake’. The girl at the counter suggested a black and white cupcake and ordering that and my coffee, i went to sit outside on the wooden bench seats, with olive green and chocolate brown cushions on them.

Unzipping my backpack, I spent a few moments trying to decide which book to start with. Judith Hendricks’ The baker’s apprentice won me over with its pretty cover. What a lovely, lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon- reading a novel about bread and relationships, savouring the taste of a sweet cupcake and using a spoon to eat the chocolate powder and foam on my cappucino before the first sip.

Walking home, my thoughts settled on making a pretty floral tablecloth for my dining table.

It was a sweet little adventure for a quiet Friday afternoon.

We woke up early to catch the sunrise on Saturday. What a beauty! This was the first time i had actually seen the sunrise in its entirety and it was a glorious experience. I felt on top of the world as i watched the sun slowly start to illuminate the water.