Food Photography and Styling Workshops at The School

Hello! 

It doesn't seem that long ago I sat out in the courtyard of Kitchen by Mikes with Elsa, admiring the stylish entrance to Megan Morton's The School, wondering what exciting things happened behind that grey painted roller door. If you had told me then that I'd be teaching a workshop there in the future I would never have believed you.  (I still don't quite believe it!) 

But it's true, here are the workshops that are a little piece of me. A Food Styling and Photography workshop based around photos and recipes from my book, A Table in the Orchard.  My head is filled with tips and tricks and ideas on food styling and what I do to get the best photos I can.  I'm bursting to share them with you.

We'll be preparing and shooting three recipes from the book, and along the way I'll share what I know about food styling, including how to source props when you live in the country, how to make the food look delicious, how I get the lighting I like, and how to organise yourself when you're doing the lot :: that is cooking, styling and shooting by yourself.

We'll be using the awesome Olympus OM-D E5 Mk 10. I've been using this camera for the past few weeks and I love it!  I mean REALLY love it! It's so easy and fun to use with brilliant results.  

There will be no technical speak, just easy, plain english instructions to help you on your cooking, styling and photographing food journey.  And of course, the very best part, sharing and eating at the end.   Class participants will have use of their own Olympus OM-D for the day, which is super easy and intuitive to use, along with a copy of my book to take home.  I'll sign it too if you like! 

I really am excited about these workshops, I hope you can come along they will be filled, with delicious fun!

The workshop and booking details are here:

Sydney Saturday 27 June : Book here 

Melbourne Saturday 4 July : Book here 

Hobart Saturday 19 September : Book here 

Piccalilli Circus

Hello Winter!  I say to myself as I look out over the snow covered hills that surround our place. The snow, a little early for the first of June, is a welcome sight nonetheless.

I stop for a moment and take in the surrounds, stand still, breath deep and feel the chill on my nose and the frost in my hands. These past six weeks have been such a crazy circus. From two intense weeks working behind the scenes on a television program, an incredible tour to promote my book and then recipe testing and styling a pickling cookbook for a friend.  (The reward is a pantry full of jars of pickles and preserves.)

Right now, it's good to be home with the fire on and a couple of weeks ahead of a more normal work schedule.

Still, I dream of a holiday, a weekend away or even a road trip.  You know, bundling the kids in the car with snacks and beanies and hitting the highway, looking for adventure. Or doing nothing. It seems so long since we've done that.  But as the children get older, their lives are busy too, sports, school, friends.  It's not so easy to be spontaneous anymore.

So instead of a holiday, I turn to my old friend, who is patiently waiting for me despite the neglect.  The garden. With gloves, snood and a warm coat, I head outdoors and get stuck in. The sun sits very low in in the sky, only just peeking over the top of the tall pines trees across the road, and its feeble rays feel so precious as they shine on my face. Warming my cold nose.





Things have changed in the damp frosty garden since I was last here. The cabbage moths of been killed off, (woohoo!) the withered vines of tomatoes droop over stakes and the tomatillos' papery husks litter the garden beds.   The grass is thick, ankle deep and really wet.  The dahlias and cosmos have died off, along with the nasturtiums, killed by the frosts.  The fruit trees, reveal their bare bones with spindly branches that reach out to me like long boney fingers.

I clean up two beds and take a big pile of young green weeds to the chickens, fat hen, chickweed, borage and a lacy one whose name I don't know.  Spent brassicas are pulled out and chucked in the mix too, the dark, damp earth clings to the roots and the chickens scratch through this prized morsel looking for bugs or worms.  The trees need pruning, the grape vine cutting back, along with the raspberry canes and tansy, and there's still a lot of weeding left to do. But my, it feels good to have made some progress.

Not only does the garden look better but I feel better. Energised and reconnected to home. It's like I've had a gardening holiday at home.  And as a reward for my efforts, I find things for lunch in the garden.  Forgotten potatoes that continually sprout, lush green autumn nettles and garlic heads that I missed harvesting last December.   With a cold nose and frozen fingers, I head inside to the wood stove, and make a simple soup of potato, garlic and green nettles. A gardener's reward soup.

It's good to get off the piccalilli circus, at least for a little while.

The Autumn Break

After a week of rain and more to come, the autumn break has officially arrived.  Weeks of handwringing end as empty dams start to fill, muddy puddles replace dusty roads and the river flats start to flood.   Our summers are pretty dry here, and it's not until the autumn break arrives, that is to say weeks of rainy weather in autumn, that we all breath a sigh of relief.

Outside the air is damp, tinged with the scent of woodsmoke. Mushrooms emerge under the birch trees where the odd stubborn golden leaf clings to the almost bare branches.  The mist seems to permanently settle in the nooks and crannies of the hills and forests.

Things may be slowing down outside, but inside the wood stove is on overdrive as we preserve what's left of the autumn harvest.  Every surface in the kitchen is cluttered with trays of quinces, bowls of hazelnuts, pumpkins and wild pears. Medlars ripen in boxes and green tomatoes reluctantly turn red on the windowsill.  Garlic bulbs, stored in a basket under the sink, optimistically start to sprout green shoots, reminding me to get those cloves planted in the garden now.   

There are pastes drying in the warming oven, pear or apple or damson.  While the cupboards groan with the weight of jars filled with pickles, jam and sloe gin.  It's a time of abundance coupled with cosiness, of hearty stews, damson puddings and roast lamb on Sundays.  The days are shorter, the nights are longer and winter's closing in. I start to worry if we have enough firewood.

But for now, favourite holey jumpers are on and so is the kettle.  And that's the autumn break. 

A housewife superstar style afternoon tea

Marjorie Bligh, Housewife Superstar is a bit of a hero of mine. The eccentric domestic goddess who wrote books covering such topics as cookery, household management, health, gardening and recycling is to me, a true Tasmanian legend.





Author of many top tips , my favourite tip of hers ever, (apart from always be kind), changed my baking life. I mean really.   Having a house with ambient temperature of around 13 degrees means that butter at my room temperature is not that great for baking cakes.  Enter Marjorie's tip - preheat the sugar.  Bakers rejoice!  While you're preheating your oven, weigh the sugar and place it in the oven, then assemble the rest of your ingredients together. Throw the hard butter into the mixer with the warm sugar and voila! Perfectly creamed butter and sugar.  Thank you Marjorie!

One of my favourite Marjorie stories is about one of her book launches that she organised to take place in her front garden.  Marjorie invited dozens of people for afternoon tea in her front garden.  She baked for days, organised the mayor to speak and decorated her garden so everything was perfect. Apart from one small detail - the book hadn't arrived from the printers. It wasn't ready in time. A book launch with no book. Unperturbed, Marjorie simply printed copies of the cover of her book to pass around and the launch went ahead without the book. Bold I say. And true Marjorie style. You can read more of her stories in this great biography.

Missing books aside, I always thought what a lovely way to launch a book, afternoon tea in your front garden. So I'm going to do that thanks to the generosity of another foodie superstar Jane Grover, author of Naked Food.

Next Saturday afternoon, at Jane's place in Sydney's northern beaches, in the spirit of Marjorie Bligh, we'll be eating treats from my book, chatting about all things delicious whilst admiring Jane's garden. I'm hoping we will have copies of the book, we are THAT organised!

Come along, it's from 2pm - 4pm Saturday 16 May. Just let us know if you'd like to attend via email jane@janegrover.net and venue details will be sent to you and we'll know how many cakes to bake.

I hope you can come,  I'd really love to see you!