It’s the beginning of February and the end of summer. And it’s time for us to make one thing clear: If you are a gardener living in Perth, you are a bloody trooper. And, look, I may be biased, but I think you deserve respect, a pat on the back, a week of autumn thunderstorms and probably a trailer load of free manure. The fact is, gardening in Perth over summer is hard. Our soil is sandy, the sun is harsh and there’s no rain or moisture to speak of. I say this not to discourage you (and actually, none of these environmental factors needs to stop you from growing an amazing garden) but rather ..read more

The garden path leading to our back verandah Good afternoon, and welcome to the trembling, shimmering heat haze of midsummer. The sky is clear - and blue - and the sunshine is so strong it feels almost acidic. The soil has made its yearly pilgrimage back to sand. The earthworms are in hiding, the spinach has wilted and the mustard greens, covered in crisp brown pods, rattle like maracas in the afternoon’s hot breath. Summer in an Australian garden can be beautiful, or it can be deadly. Usually it’s a bit of both. Let’s try to address the deadly part. How hot is too hot for a garden? At 30˚C ..read more

My rule for when you're allowed to get excited about Christmas is this: As soon as the months start ending in 'ember' your'e allowed to get excited about Christmas (I'm very much aware that October is there sitting arrogantly between September and November making my rule a little less than perfect...but I deem it close enough!) Anyway, it's DECEMBER now, so baking nicely spiced biscuits with cranberries and lemon peel is very much an appropriate and timely activity.  These Anzacs are totally delicious, easy to make and they have no animal products whatsoever, so they’ll be just as a ..read more

The slightly wild summer garden Christmas is around the corner, the mercury is rising and if your garden is starting to look a little crisp, overgrown, wild and unkept - I hear ya! Trust me: you are not the only one. The truth is, gardening in Australia in the summer time is HARD. It’s hard to keep plants reigned in when they’re giddy from sunlight and want to stretch their limbs far and wide. It’s hard to keep coastal soil from turning to desert sand in the heat, and if you have clay-based soil it’s a mission to stop it becoming rock hard. Meanwhile, plants are simultaneously wilting and fru ..read more

Easy Christmas salads and recipes to bring to your next festive feast We’re all friends here, so I’ll keep things brief: it’s summer, it’s hot and Christmas is banging on the door. It is during this one blazing, dry month that our planet seems to suddenly shift gears. Life’s treadmill kicks up a notch (or ten) and your options are clear, simple and honestly, a little intimidating: keep up or fall on your face. Attend all the dinner parties, get your presents wrapped on time, bring a dish to every event, and dear god keep your house clean, smelling of cinnamon and decorated to a specific colou ..read more

Adding the walnut topping to the Sumac & Berry Upside Down Cake This upside-down cake is the perfect recipe to make the most out of fresh or homegrown berries. With ginger, cinnamon and sumac, its spicy and complex flavours make it warm, indulgent and instantly delicious. While the recipe calls for fresh berries you can absolutely use frozen berries and the cake will still work fine. You can also experiment with different fruit combinations - instead of strawberries and blueberries you could try peaches and raspberries, plums and mulberries or nectarines and mango. Sumac & Berry Upsid ..read more

Flaky puff pastry, jammy figs, caramelised onions and FIVE CHEESES - this is a summer dish you really must try. It also happens to be easy to make and if you caramelise the onion ahead of time (it will keep for a day or two in the fridge) this dish becomes a entirely effortless - just a process of assembling everything and sticking it in the oven. Serve it with a zingy side salad (ideally one with a sharp vinaigrette to cut through all that delightful cheese). Five Cheese Fig Galette Serves 6 Ingredients One portion of frozen puff pastry (about 370g), thawed and cut into two rectangles, meas ..read more

Picnic season is upon us and if you’re looking for something to take along with you, look no further than the confit garlic and fried potato frittata! This is one of those dishes that somehow intensifies in flavour an hour or so after you’ve taken it out of the oven. It can be served warm or room temperature and, I suspect, would taste really excellent on top of a plastic plate, beside a spicy rocket salad, alongside a very cold, very dry white wine in a plastic wine glass. In other words: the perfect picnic fodder. Confit Garlic & Fried Potato Frittata Serves 6 Ingredients 3 heads of ga ..read more

Crunchy roasted oats & nuts, honeyed apricots and whipped cream This dish is a bit like a deconstructed trifle - down through layers of whipped lemony cream and deliciously sweet honey-glazed apricots (still warm from the pan), then into the crunchy roasted nuts below. If you like, you can make the oat crunch and whipped cream a day ahead. Store the oat crunch in an airtight container and keep the whipped cream chilled in the fridge before serving. Then throw together the honey-glazed apricots and voila - very easy and very, very delicious! Honey Glazed Apricots w/ Tahini Oat Crunch Serv ..read more

I have to admit I think this might be the third ‘roast potato salad’ I’ve invented. Once I discovered that you could roast potatoes and call them a ‘salad’, well, the culinary floodgates were open! But I especially like this particular roast potato salad because of the cheesy, creamy, punchy dressing that you pour on top right before serving. It makes the whole thing taste like a strangely wholesome and really quite healthy version of sour cream and chives potato chips! Guilt free potato chips AND you grew them yourself?! What more could you want!! One thing to remember with this dish is that ..read more