Our website is sarahandlarsen.com

Yay!! This is such an exciting time for us and we’re taking such a big risk by starting our own business but if not know, then when? Also, we have a blog on the website so i’ll probably be blogging alot more over there now at sarahandlarsen.com/blog. Please update your RSS feeds and i hope you continue walking my life with me over there.

xx Gen

This week is my last week of teaching for the semester and planning my last tutorial for the semester feels like a gargantuan task. Next week, we move house and the mere thought of packing and leaving our current home seems unaccomplishable although our new home is beautiful and only a minute’s walk to the ocean. It has been raining for days on end, the sky a constant gray. Is it even possible that today is the first day of winter?

As i sit here typing, i am trying to think of things i can do to make myself feel better. Walking to the cafe for a coffee maybe? Making some granola? Watching a movie? None of these things excite me but maybe doing something, anything will get me out of this melancholy.

It’s been a long and very tiring week of teaching for me. Jon hasn’t fared much better- it’s 7:15 in the evening and he’s still at the office, working 11 hour days to meet deadlines. Still, there are many things to love this week:

The crisp autumn air. Cool mornings and nights and beautifully warm in between.
The sun on my back as i walked home this afternoon.
Listening to the fallen leaves crunch under people’s feet.
A long, hot shower.
A pot of chai, half a grapefruit and two lemon biscuits for tea.
Beautiful purple flowers we bought last night at the supermarket.
Being at the supermarket at 10pm, the aisles empty and a sense of adventure in the air.
Jon giving me a footrub last night after a whole day spent walking around in boots.
Reading a magazine (Last year’s autumn edition of Donna Hay magazine i borrowed from the local library).
Finding lots of new things to cook in the coming months, including plum cobblers, chorizo and rice soup and fig and walnut bread.
Listening to Sting’s Fields of Gold. Love, love, love.
Being alone at night- cooking, baking, reading, listening to music i love whilst anticipating Jon coming home later.
Wrapping myself in a warm blanket.
Witnessing my friends’ children getting baptised last night in the ocean bath i swim in.
Having coffee, crackers and chocolate with everyone after.

And so many, many more…
It is good to be alive.

So, it’s February, also known as the last month of summer. I don’t want to linger too much on that thought so i’ll move on.

It’s so hot. And this Sunday, it’s supposed to go up to 44 degrees (111 F)! I need to stock up on ice-cream so i can keep us cool with milkshakes. Maybe freeze some grapes as well because i love frozen grapes.

Yesterday, i made the most amazing chai, following this recipe. I made it with Indian tea leaves i got in Singapore, so it tasted out of this world. Go try it now!

I also made bircher muesli for brekafast yesterday- overnight, i soaked 3 cups of oats with 150g of chopped up dried figs, 1 cup of unsweetened apple juice and 1 cup of milk. In the morning, i added one grated apple, 1/2 t. vanilla extract, 1/2 t. ground cinnamon, a handful of toasted almonds, a few tablespoons of LSA, 1 T. honey and plain yoghurt. Yum! For dessert last night, i grilled some yellow peaches rubbed with brown sugar and cinnamon. So good.

The shows on television have shown a marked improvement since summer is almost over. Most importantly, Grey’s Anatomy is back on tonight. Thank goodness.

Last night, Jon and i stayed up just to chat. It was so intimate and we laughed so much. I love him so! I’m so blessed that he is my husband and my best friend!

Heard a song by the Robertson Brothers today titled Not Beautiful. It describes how women feel so much of the time and made me a little teary. Check it out here.

It has been a confusing, bittersweet trip. A feeling of being lost in the land of my birth yet feeling drawn to it because of family and good, cheap tea made with tea leaves and condensed milk. A heaviness plagued me a lot of the time as i yelled at ignorant strangers on the street.

Some days, walking hand in hand with my husband became the subject of many glances and whispered conversations. I hate that people care so much about our interracial relationship.

But the love of good people more than makes up for everything. Laughing uncontrollably, sharing a meal, feeling safe, being a child again- these are the things that give me hope and courage when i return to Sydney, which suddenly seems too far away.

And so i leave with a bittersweet symphony playing in my stomach- eager to return to my dear house and my afternoon swims yet saddened by the people i have to leave behind.

I had a great weekend! The rain stopped and it felt like summer again. Saturday was very hot and windy. We started the day with breakfast at Tiger Mottle in Paddington. It might be my new favourite cafe- amazing coffee and delicious food. Jonathan had the bacon and egg sandwich, which he said was the best he had ever eaten. I had the macadamia toasted muesli with rhubarb compote and yoghurt. Yum, yum, yum!

The guy who was sitting next to me (we were on a bench-like table since all the other tables were full) gets up to pay and Jonathan casually turns to me and asks “Is he on TV?” When i heard that, my coffee was quickly forgotten and i had to turn (very subtly, of course) to see if my breakfast partner was indeed someone on television.

Oh my goodness. He was. And not just anyone but TOM WILLIAMS from The great Outdoors!! Ok, i have to admit that i really like Tom. He is very, very attractive. Being married doesn’t make me blind! So, Tom (i heard) used to live pretty close-by to where i live and does the coastal walk that i do. I think i saw him once but he seemed to be running intently and i couldn’t be sure. Since then, i have been looking out for him during my walk but never saw him. And then, to see him at breakfast, sitting so close to me! I cannot believe that my husband, who is most definitely not into celebrities, was the one who pointed it out to me. He said he thought it was Tom pretty early on but didn’t want to make me nervous by telling me so as i would probably get star-struck. AS IF!

Of course, the rest of the day was spent telling my very accomodating husband, “I cannot belive i was sitting next to THE Tom Williams!” Ah, what a way to start the weekend.

Jon and i went to the bookstore after that, which made me even happier. In the evening, i made a sweet chilli tofu burger for dinner and we sat outside with a glass of sparkling wine and enjoyed the sunset. It was 8.30 when we went in, because that’s how long the days are now. I love, love, love summer.

On Sunday, we went to church, had lunch with some friends and then came home to watch a Christmas movie. We also walked hand-in-hand to the beach, looked out into the ocean and chatted about dreams. That was so very lovely. On our walk back, we thought we saw Roshani from Australian Idol!

Oh dearie me. I’m not sure if it was her but it was a very amusing way to end this particular weekend.

And now it’s Monday and 10 days to Christmas! I can smell the hazelnut coffee brewing, a sure sign that i must have breakfast.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

It was a beautiful evening and pre-dinner drinks were held outside on the balcony. Some red wine and crackers with camembert were perfect accompaniment to the sunset. I flipped through the pages of a magazine but never got very far, distracted instead by the serenity of the moment. A light, warm breeze was blowing. My husband joined me outside and we chatted about our day. When dinner- lentil cottage pie and a simple spinach, tomato and fetta cheese salad with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and freshly ground salt and pepper-was ready, we took it outside. We lit a candle and said grace, so very thankful for the moment that we were in.

Our trip to the Snowy Mountains was fantastic and i wish we could have stayed for longer than a weekend but the seven hour drive (with an awesome music playlist consisting of Dar Williams, Eva Cassidy and many, many more) was worth every minute. Jon and i threw snowballs at each other and went toboganning on the slopes. No one had warned me how heart-stopping toboganning can be and so i foolishly went down with Jon. I saw a two year old attempt it with his dad and bravely thought i was up to it.

Of course, we flipped and went backwards. I remember screaming “I CAN’T, I CAN’T!” the entire time because i was certain we were going to be seriously hurt. Yes, that was enough excitement to last me for a while! We did it a couple more time after that (because, you know, there’s nothing like thinking you were going to DIE two minutes ago to make you want to attempt it again.)

I enviously looked at the skiers and snowboarders who seemed so graceful and fashionable. Yeah, SO not for me although the ski lifts looked like lots of fun!

Me looking so happy to finally see snow!:

Jon with the infamous toboggan. He looked so yummy in his ski jacket and pants. Glad i married this boy!:

The very isolated stone cottage we stayed in (complete with fireplace), surrounded by eucalyptus trees that smelled so fresh and clean. Even now, if i close my eyes, i can remember that scent. There’s nothing like it.

Our delicious home-cooked Sunday breakfast. Jon made everything apart from the scrambled eggs, which was a nice treat for me.

And finally, the rainbow that appeared after the sunshower we had 5 minutes after arriving at the slopes. What a blessing!

We hope to return to the snow next year, with toboggan in tow.