I love autumn mornings. We are still on daylight saving time and it only gets bright at about 7am, as the days grow shorter. Our room faces north-east and i love to get woken up by the sunshine pouring into the room, through the light curtains.

I went to the beach for a swim after work to regain my sense of equilibrium in the world. When i opened the door to my house at about 5.30 in the evening, i was greeted by the early evening sun, casting shadows in my hallway. It was a beautiful sight and the light was just delicious. I had a nice, warm shower and then started preparing dinner. As the sweet potatoes and red capsicums were roasting and the red onions were caramelising on the stove, i made a cup of tea and sat down at the kitchen table with an orange and two squares of dark chocolate. It was a lovely way to start the evening.

Dinner turned out to be amazing and i thought i’d share the recipe with you.

Pasta with roast sweet potato (or kumara), feta and basil (adapted from this recipe):

500g sweet potatoes (cut into 1cm slices)

2 red capsicums (bell peppers)

3 red onions

300g fettucine

125g feta cheese (crumbled)

1 cup basil leaves

Dressing:

1 t. lemon zest

2 T. lemon juice

2 T. olive oil

Roast sweet potatoes for 25 minutes and capsicums for 40 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees celsius (about 400 F) with olive oil drizzled on top. Heat a frying pan with 3 T. olive oil and cook the onions until caramelised with some burnt bits for good measure. This took me about an hour. Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Put all the dressing ingredients together and whisk. Combine pasta, roasted capsicums, caramelised onions, feta and basil together. Add the dressing and season with salt and pepper. Stir through sweet potatoes and serve. We had this with a warmed fresh baguette from the bakery and real unsalted butter (none of that low-fat nonsense we usually have). SO YUM! I think it would be a nice spring-time meal as well. My neighbour commented as he passed by our house that something smelled amazing. And the house did indeed smell wonderful when all this was cooking.

I was in a baking mood and whipped up some brownies for dessert whilst Jon was at church for band practice. He just got back so we’re going to enjoy the brownies with some hot chocolate. Oh, how i love good food.

I was feeling quite disheartened yesterday with everything that was going on around me and the cold, wet weather wasn’t helping either.

So, I decided to indulge in a little tea-for-one. I baked these banana, weetbix and chocolate chip muffins and made some adjustments- i used wholemeal self-raising flour, 3 T. olive oil and 1 T. applesauce in place of the butter, increased the milk to 1 (and a tiny bit extra) cup and used dark chocolate chips. The muffins were delicious- moist, not too sweet and perfect with a pot of chai and a white nectarine.

It was another reminder to take pleasure in the simple things.

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.