Series 3, Episode 1!!

Hello lovely listeners! We’ve made it to Series 3 of our My Open Kitchen podcast and we couldn’t be more proud. Wowee – since we last spoke we found out there’s been more than 100,ooo downloads of this podcast! Thank you all for being such generous supporters of our work.

Thank you also to Country Style Magazine for allowing this venture to flourish a little more, we wouldn’t still be here without your support. The exciting news is that @countrystylemag continue to be our sponsors for Series 3 so you can all look forward to more My Open Kitchen podcast goodness.

We thought it rather fitting that this episode is recorded at breakfast time in the beautiful surrounds of Josie Chapmans’ Old Convent at Borenore as we’re about to jump into a day of My Open Kitchen workshopping with Country Style editor Victoria Carey and Annabelle Hickson of The Dailys.

Being the opportunists that we are we extracted Annabelle from her pre-workshop prep to feature as our guest Top 5-er for this episode. We discuss SO many new podcasts, the search for more substance on Instagram and Sophie lets slip her love for Jilly Cooper novels… We loved putting together this one! Enjoy S and S xx

Annabelle’s Top 5

1. A swag of podcasts …….My Dad Wrote a Porno – Knee slapping funny but probably not one to listen to with the kids!  Chat 10 Looks 3 by Annabelle Crabb and Leigh Sales – Annabelle feels like she is best friends with these women and says she thinks they are almost her cultural Margaret and David (At The Movies).Trace by ABC’s Rachel Brown – A really gripping insight into of the cold case of the brutal stabbing murder of mother of two, Maria James 37 years ago in suburban Melbourne.Oprah’s Super Sole Sunday’s and WBEZ’s Making Oprah  and then there is Russell Brand’s Under the Skin podcast especially this episode with author Isobel Losana (#027)
2. Annabelle’s official obsession right now is with writer Karl Ove Knausgard and his latest book, Autumn, with its beautiful illustrations by Vanessa Baird. He is the author of the most amazing books I she’s ever read, the 6 part series My Struggle. Listen to this interview with Karl by Annabelle’s friend Angie Ledgerwood in her podcast Lit Up.
3. Annabelle loved this interview on Richard Fidlers Conversations with historian and author Rutger Bregman. 
4. Fashion Designer Lee Matthews. This clothing is beautiful!
5. #thedailys A hashtag started by Annabelle as she was feeling a bit lost in Instagram world, and without wanting to complain, she’s feeling a bit angry that people she has chosen to follow don’t pop up in her feed anymore. She has started this hashtag so that she could see anyone who chose to post on it, in the hope that she could keep her community together. Check it out, the feed is beautiful!

Skye’s Top 5

1. The Design Files, new segment on ethical and sustainable farmers and food producers and it’s so cool. It’s put together by Honey Atkinson, who I was lucky enough to meet through a #localislovelyworkshop, and Karen Locke under the Will Work for Food banner, which I have mentioned here on our Top 5 before – anyway this new column is awesome, and beautiful and its great to see these kind of of stories getting more attention in the mainstream!
2. Gourmet Traveller Magazine has a new podcast called Set Menu – this excites me for a few reasons, it’s one of my fave magazines and I think its exciting to see publications venturing into the world of podcasting! Add it to the playlist.
3. Regional Voices  a podcast I have just discovered that unearths smart, innovative and everyday farmers doing great things is regional Australia. It’s so good to see/hear! Also, totally biased but they spoke with my sister, Ella, in this episode about her start-up business AgDraft.
4.  In the Company; a podcast by Kylie Lewis of OfKin, which ponders the humanisation of work – which sounds like a bit much but it’s all about deep conversation and anyone who know’s me knows that I love a good D&M! Kylie wonders why people feel they have to be a different kind of person when they are at work and she delves deep into conversations about how the workplace can be better at looking after people’s interests and passions. The podcast, and Kylie herself is very self aware, and  this kind of conversation is right up my alley.
5. The hashtag #knowyourfarmer – perfect for those listeners who’re really keen to get more of a behind the scenes of life on Australian (and international) Farms. Thanks to Fiona @outbacklamb for the heads up on Instagram. One for you to add to your suite of hashtags.

Sophie’s Top 5 

1. Michelle Bowden presenting course – wish I’d taken this years ago. Michelle is amazing and in two days gives you a framework to handle your nerves and structure any kind of presentation – whether it’s in front of a huge group of people, a bunch of customers at the farmers market, even when it comes to writing newsletters and emails. She’s going to be coming on the podcast soon to share some tips.
2. The high low – A fun podcast from the UK, two rather posh-sounding journos in their thirties chatting about things high and low brow. A great wish mash of popular culture with a feminist twang. Between this one, and Call your Girlfriend from the US and Chat 10 Looks 3 from here in Aus I feel like I’m pretty much across what the cool ladies are thinking, saying, reading, cooking and doing across the world.
3. State of the Blog Union Essay on Design Sponge – we’ve been chatting about this lots in the e-course Facebook group – partly depressing, partly nothing we didn’t know already but all fascinating, Grace Bonney’s latest state of the blog union essay is an essential read for anyone with or thinking about starting a blog. The landscape is changing and we need to keep up but there will always be a welcome place online for good content.
4. Twigg studios is a new (to me) favourite on Instagram – moody light, beautiful images and food styling. Also loving Adelasterfoodtextures – again for her use of beautiful soft light and I find her food styling quite innovative and inspiring.
5. The discovery of this article last month couldn’t be better timing. Nigella writes about food in a clear, honest and very very engaging way. And this article about home cooking, recipe writing and the power of food to connect us is such a pleasure to read. Hope it inspires you too!!!

Here below are some more photos from our workshop.