New Hair, Comfort Food + Mango Lassi Recipe

Hello honeybunches, I hope you're heart is happy when you're reading this. I've been going ok, taking it day-by-day, still nursing a heavy mind which will probably be with me for sometime. I've made my peace with that & feel like I have established good support systems and practices this year, to buoy me along.

I feel like in the last two weeks I've become 'more myself' in some ways. I cut my hair into a wee lil, baby mullet and realised I feel more like myself (stYliStiCaLLy & gender-wise) than I ever have. I joked to a friend I might look like a boy by the end of this year (in the best way), meaning I'll definitely get a curly pixie cut & Connor Franta like chop - while I'm boogying this length.

It's ironic that when I was 6 years old and had a curly mop which I so desperately wanted to grow out, I was called a boy by other kids. I grew it long as soon as my hairdresser grandmother allowed, and brushed it into a tight bun, or plaited it into braids for most of my schooling. Re-realising it was curly post-high school & going from wearing it up to out all the time, allowed me to make peace with my face. Now having it short just feels infinitely me. It's also very youthful & sooo easy to maintain, which I love.

I'm realising I've been looking to the wrong gender for hair-inspo these past years hehe. So yes, the short hair's here to stay.

WORK.

I've been gently building my working week back up which has been a little scary but also immensely satisfying. Pitching to people, them responding (eee!), planning the next three months of microbakery-ness, testing recipes, planning out the next couple of months, realising no matter how dream-like last year became, it did happen and I can continue to build upon it.

OUT & ABOUT.

I got to see my childhood bestie (who's more like a sister) star in the stage adaption of the classic Australian childhood book Are we there yet? at the Arts Centre last week! I was smiling the entire time with proud, teary, heart eyes. I'm sure you can relate to watching a loved one do what they love & are so so talented at - and just be filled with head to toe awe & proud-feels. We met up afterwards and all the little kids who couldn't stop goggling at my friend or even (so sweetly) stopped to articulate in 8-year old wonderfulness how much they loved her performance, somehow made my heart explode even more.

KITCHEN.

Apart from the above Coconut & Vanilla Cake I made for an order, I'm been primarily putting my cooking energy into taking care of myself through gentle, homey nourishing meals. Pesto pumpkin pizzas, spaghetti bolognese, twice roasted potatoes with guacamole and a million noodle/rice tofu & veggie bowls etc. etc.

This is a very regular-degular recommendation - but for easy meals I've been really enjoying the new gluten-free Kikkoman tonkatsu & teriyaki sauces (they're in Woolworths). I've been having some sensory barriers to enjoying food freely lately, and so consequently I'm appreciating meals that are on the bland-side. A little squirt of a delicious something with protein & veg is really working for me right now. They're all vegan too (obvs).

READS.

Room, By Emma Donoghue | I don't know what took me so long to read this one. I saw the movie & sobbed along when it came out. The book is phenomenal. If you didn't know - it's told from 5 year old Jack's perspective of growing up in 'room' - a sound proof shed his mum has been kept in for seven years. It's his whole world, until they successfully escape. The book is different from the film, especially once they're in 'outside'. It's so affecting & not as heavy as you might expect. 9/10.

Act Your Age, Eve Brown, By Talia Hibbert | This is the second book in Hibbert's trilogy about the Brown sisters that I've read. I read Get a Life, Chloe Brown last year and loved it. They're easy to digest, diverse rom-coms (although it's annoying that's a "notable" quality) and in this one - Eve is a ditsy neurodivergent 20-something who's never held down a job or lived up to her parents expectations of adulthood and success. After her parents cut off her allowance (yes, there's a self-aware poshness to these books) she lands a job at a B&B in the lake district (they're set in the UK), and an enemy to lovers trope unfolds with Jacob, the detail-orientated, autistic owner and manager of the place. It's steamy, sex positive & lots of fun, if pretty predictable. Would recommend, 7/10.

RECIPE.

I'm sharing my Mango Lassi recipe this week! To be blunt, summer hasn't been very convincing here in Melbourne. With only a few weeks left & the number of warmish days dwindling (*tear*) - I think we need all sensory help we can get to enjoy the darn thing! Lassi's are summer in a straw. This one is silky smooth, fragrant and because of it's simple ingredient list - perfect every time.

The recipe is from my second cookbook, The Hella Heavenly Home Cookery Cookbook - of which there are only a three hardcopies left (they're $15, because I want to have a clear out).

Thank you for being here,

Phoebe & Merlin

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