Whoohoo, we have a new episode of ‘5 things to be cheerful about’ a podcast dedicated to the good things we read, cook, listen to, watch and do when we need cheering up. For this episode, we chat with the absolutely gorgeous Edwina Bartholomew. Well known for her role as a reporter on channel 7’s sunrise, Edwina is also Mum one year-old Molly and a fairly recent convert to country living (she and her husband Neil have a property a few hours west of Sydney).  Here are a few of the things we chatted about; The Secret River by Kate Grenville Searching for the Secret River by Kate Grenville G ..read more

Danielle Alvarez is the head chef at Sydney's Freds restaurant, author of the brand new (beautiful) book Always Add Lemon and an all-round lovely, incredibly talented woman.  We chat with her for this episode about what she's up to and what's making her cheerful at the moment. Cooking - light, fresh fish dinners like these crispy skinned lettuce cups Listening to (and laughing at) - the podcast Smartless Watching - The Undoing Reading - Counter Magazine Doing - Working more individually with my younger chefs ..read more

A chat with the queen of Christmas calm Naomi Bulger. ; how she's keeping it together this Christmas and the five things she's cheerful about this week! Naomi is an illustrator, writer and mother! She runs a number of online courses and works one on one with brands to find their ‘signature scent’.  She also recently released a beautiful e-book called ‘Christmas in the time of covid’ with loads of recipes, tips and ideas for making this a calm Christmas, despite all the ‘things’ swirling around in our world right now. We chat about how she’s putting this into practice at her home and also ..read more

What's making cook and author Julia Busuttil Nishimura cheerful this week? Here are five of them.... COOK During lockdown in general I’ve been making a lot of pasta - my ultimate comfort food. The last one I made was pici with a lemon mascarpone sauce. So easy, sunshine in a bowl. LISTEN Have been loving the new ABC podcast Days like These. Especially during lockdown, it's been really nice to tune out of the news cycle and into ‘real people’ stories.  WATCH I don’t usually watch comedies, but I absolutely loved Schitt’s Creek. The funniest, most heartwarming and heartbreaki ..read more

Skye’s 5 things COOKING The Pauper’s Cookbook by Jocasta Innes …”it’s bought me a lot of joy! She talks you through every step, it’s like a friend telling you how to cook.” Also, Niki Segnit’s Flavour Thesaurus. LISTENING ”I’ve also become completely obsessed with needlepoint during lockdown. It’s incredibly therapeutic and soothing. I spend so much time on my phone, a lot of it is work but lot of is thoughtless, mindless scrolling. But I find if I do my needlepoint, my mind switches off and my hands are busy so I’m not tempted to check my phone. And while I’m doing that, my dr ..read more