Hello! Welcome back to My Open Kitchen.
Please pull up a chair, make a cup of tea and have a listen as we chat with Stephanie Alexander AO and Tamsin Carvan in celebration of summer plenty – the wonderful abundance of produce in our gardens, orchards and markets at this time of year. We share tips, hacks, inspiration and recipes to get you excited about joining our community of food, farming and social media lovers.
Before we say anything more – a BIG HUGE THANK YOU to our series sponsor Country Style magazine whose pages bring to life the joy and love we have for our country lives. Thank you so much Country Style for your support.
Interview one – Stephanie Alexander
We are so excited about this episode; it’s a celebration of summer plenty, the rich pickings of stone fruit, berries, pomme fruit, tomatoes and other vegetables that are growing like topsy all over the countryside right now. And who better to ‘talk to that’ as they say, than Australia’s home cooking queen Stephanie Alexander AO (I know – I was terrified interviewing her – she’s royalty!).
In our interview with Stephanie, we talk about her new book The Cook’s Table, she shares her ultimate meal, what she loves so about gardening and the most popular things to grow and eat across her kitchen garden program which now reaches 11% of schools across Australia and counting.
As always, we had a little morning tea moment in the middle of our show and this time shared a peach and almond loaf which was super delicious. But which, I’m embarrassed to say, I failed to photograph on the day. So I promise I’ll post a photo and the recipe very soon, but in the meantime here’s a nectarine and vanilla pie that I’ve also been making and loving recently!
Interview two – Tamsin Carvan
“The joy of gardening for me is wandering out into the garden in the morning with my daughter and a cup of coffee picking a little bucket of berries for our breakfast,” Tamsin Carvan.
Tamsin is one of the most delightful, talented and hard working women we’ve ever met and so we were thrilled to have her back on the podcast (did you catch our chat with her in Episode 1, Series 1?). She runs weekly lunches from her farm and kitchen in Gippsland’s Poowong East and they are a true treat in every sense. Tamsin also writes a regular column in Country Style magazine which both Skye and I have to admit is our favourite section every time! Here she shares some advise on gardening, preserving and living well wherever you are.
She also talks about how important it is to share these skills across the generations. Here below is a photo of my own beautiful Mum and daughter bottling cherries in December. This photo just makes me smile and reminds me very powerfully of how special these sorts of activities are. Anyway…I digress!
All three images above are from Tamsin’s gorgeous IG feed which is one of our favourite follows.
Skye’s Top 5
Gather and Feast Playlist.
What’s summer and eating with friends withoutgood tunes. I especially like Gather andFeast’s Playlists. The Easy Evening one, is a great accompaniment to a delicious meal with or without guests. Gather and Feast is a beautiful food and seasonal cooking blog, which as the name suggests celebrates a coming together of people around the table put together by Ashley Alexander.
Ted X resolutions post
I just loved this blog post fromTed X, listing 10 talks that inspired New Year’s Resolutions. It covers everything from creativity to vulnerability, random acts of kindness and body language.
#WoMentoring
As we enter the new year, and the world of resolutions, new beginnings and inspiration generally – I think the real go-getters amongst our listeners should give some thought to #WoMentoring. It’s a volunteer mentoring program run on goodwill, collaboration and generosity and teams aspiring writers with established writers, editors and literary agents. You have to apply and as it’s a volunteer project – there are no Aussie mentoree’s at this stage, but wouldn’t it would be great to see one there!!
Audiocraft
And if you’re yearning for some podcast discoveries over Summer, all I can say is get into AudioCraft. Late last year they released the Australian Audio Guide in collaboration with the Wheeler Center, which lists all the best Australian podcast’s – it’s a treasure trove! (And if you, are feelingpodcast inclined, like in producing one yourself, there are heaps of tips and conversations with people on where to get started and how to make your work shine).
Modern Love
For some perspective; the Modern Love podcast is very though provoking. I LOVE listening to podcasts, they inspire me to the point that they set my mind racing with all the possibilities of what my future could look like, and I want to put all those things into action NOW, immediately! This podcast is different – it’s very reflective and really makes me appreciate my place in the world.
Sophie’s top 5
Food in Jars
Food in Jars is a blog I’ve been following for years and it’s full of very detailed, beautiful recipes for preserving or ‘putting away’ as they say seasonal produce.
River Cottage preserving handbook
To me at least – this is my preserving bible. A serious authority on making everything from jams to bottling fruit, deyhydrating, fermenting etc.
Whole food Simply
Like everyone it seems, I am trying to cut back on the amount of sugar we eat as a family and have found this website an absolute treasure trove of beautiful, healthy recipes.
Out of the ord
Each week Out of the Ord celebrates a crop being grown in the Ord Irrigation Scheme of northern Australia. Started by Kaylyn Fletcher who was the runner up in last year’s rural woman of the year awards and a serious go-getter.
#cropswap
This is an Australia-wide concept that I came across via it’s local incarnation here in Orange – who host a monthly gathering at the Groundstone cafe. People bring along things they have a bounty of at home and swap with others. So it’s just perfect for this time of year when so many of us have a glut of one thing and none of another. Just love everything about this idea.
Thank you as always for our wonderful producer Pat from Rolling Wheel Studios. And if you enjoyed the song we ended on in this episode (wasn’t it beautiful!), please check out more from artist Lynda Manwaring.