It was a weekend filled with memories of the past that i seem to hold on to so tightly. I know that the best thing to do is to forgive and move on but right now, that seems like the hardest thing to do.

In other news, i made a risoni (i think it’s called orzo in America) salad yesterday that turned out beautifully. Kristy and i first made this salad a week ago when we were craving something light, tasty and healthy and i have modified it a little. It’s a perfect summer recipe!

Risoni summer salad with balsamic glaze (serves 4)

Ingredients:

250g risoni
1 punnet cherry tomatoes (halved)
1/3 c. parsley
1 small tub kalamata olives
100g feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 c. peas
1 cooked and shredded chicken breast
parmesan cheese
olive oil
1/2 lemon juiced

Balsamic glaze:

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
2 T. brown sugar
1 tsp honey

Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and place in a bowl. Add tomatoes, parsley, olives, feta, peas and chicken and toss. Make the balsamic glaze by mixing together the vinegar, sugar and honey. Add the glaze, a few drops of olive oil and the lemon juice to the pasta and mix well. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese and season with some freshly ground black pepper. Serve.

We ate bowlfuls whilst watching Never Been Kissed and washed it down with some lemon, honey and ginger tea. A nice end to the weekend.

Words are not flowing today and i’m feeling a little mellow but here are some things that are inspiring me and making me happy:

This video of Alanis Morisette’s Not as we. Just beautiful.

Eating well- homemade beetroot dip with carrot and celery sticks, chickpea and zuchinni fritters with a spinach and tomato salad, oatmeal and raisin cookies with a cup of coffee.

Pilates.

Date night at David Jones, where we are perched on stools, drinking our coffees and milkshakes and maybe having a slice of carrot cake.

Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth. She never disappoints.

This blog.

Peonies.

This local magazine.

My new white summery top.

Summer in 4 days.

Walnut and raisin sourdough from Sonoma, toasted with butter and honey. Is there anything more satisfying than good bread?

Dreaming of a sweet, charming and welcoming home for our future.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating. We don’t celebrate thanksgiving in Australia but i know we all have something we can be grateful for at this very moment.

The temperature reached 35 degrees celsius (95 degrees fahrenheit) today! It’s 9pm now and it’s still about 30 degrees. The study is boiling hot (and freezing cold in winter). It’s my least favourite room in the house.

To combat the heat this afternoon, i watched a movie (Smart People) whilst packing and then made myself a banana smoothie. I never use ice-cream in my smoothies, making it a very healthy yet tasty snack. I whizz one banana, half a glass of low fat or soy milk, 1 T. of yoghurt and 1/2-1 T. of honey together in a blender and that’s it! Fast and very satisfying. If i have frozen berries in the fridge, i chuck them in too.

I can smell Lisa’s apple streusel baking in the oven. With some caramel ice-cream, it’s the perfect dessert for tonight.

Jon has informed me that it is raining now! And yes, i can smell the rain and hear thunder! And is that a cool breeze i feel? A perfect end to a hot Friday.

The picture above is of my friends Lisa, Eric and Charlie at the beach on Sunday afternoon. Lisa is pregnant with her second child and is due in the next couple of days, which is very exciting.

So, World Youth Day has descended upon Sydney. On Tuesday, I joined my friends who have come down from Singapore for this occasion. It was wonderful to see worshippers from all over the world singing, cheering and having fun. I couldn’t help but get cheered up myself just from watching them.

It’s been a tough week for Jon and myself and i could not have gotten through it without the love and support of my lovely friend, Shannon. She came over on Monday with darling Levi and sat with me as i cried. The emotions i had stored up inside for months and months came tumbling out with every tear shed and i felt so much better afterwards.

Last night, we had a movie night at home. We borrowed Dan in real life from the video store and went to the supermarket to get some popping corn, chocolate and cream soda. Once home, we made some honey butter popcorn and sat down to watch the movie with our yummy snacks, all cuddled up for warmth. Oh, it was a beautiful night and just what we needed. We hardly eat junk food at home and it was a guilty pleasure to consume all that sugar in one sitting. I didn’t feel too good this morning but it was worth it!

I’ve decided to tutor at the university next semester and it feels good to have made a decision finally. So far, this year has gone nothing like i had thought it would. I’m trying to be ok with that because it’s been too difficult trying to fight it.

I read Lisa’s blogpost about her porch a few minutes ago and it reminded me of how much i love the idea of porch. I can’t wait to have a porch of my own, where i can sit and drink coffee and read a good novel or watch the sun as it sets. I will surely perish without hope and dreams- i know this about myself and it is probably true for everyone. So today, i am immensely thankful for the reminder of the dreams i had as a young girl, where even at the age of 15 i could see myself sitting on the porch and watching the world go by. I have always been a romantic, i guess and to me, the porch is such a wonderful representation of all things romantic.

As i type this, the afternoon sun is streaming in through the window of the study which is normally a cold and dark room i avoid unless on the computer. It is a beautiful sight. Outside, my white curtains are drying in the wind and it makes me smile when i think about how nice they’re going to look hanging from the windows in the living room. See, there are many things to be happy about, many things to live for.

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.