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We love salads in this house. I’m not just talking a few leaves on a plate, I like a salad that makes a whole meal. Something with substance, texture and flavour. To start with, I always had to separate out the different components for the children. But gradually over time I have been able to mix parts together so that now we can just put one big dish in the middle of the table. In saying that, if I know there are a few items that are not favourites (a polite way of saying supposedly inedible for a four year old), I still serve a ‘deconstructed salad’ and find the meal much more successful.

Here’s a wild rice and mushroom salad that tasted even better when topped with halloumi. It’s lovely for this time of year when mushrooms, radicchio and walnuts are in season. I haven’t given measurements on any kind of precise instructions as it’s more of an idea for you to try next time you feel like a fresh yet hearty meal.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Salad
Wild rice
Rocket
Radicchio
Radishes
Black Olives
Mushrooms
A mixture of nuts and seeds
Lemon juice and olive oil

Simply cook the wild rice according to the packet instructions, fry the mushrooms in plenty of olive oil and salt, and once they have cooled slightly (the radicchio can discolour if it comes into contact with something too hot) mix together with the rocket, radicchio, radishes and olives. To add a nice crunch, I fried some pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds to toss on top- texture is everything. Dress with some olive oil and lemon juice and add some fried halloumi if you would like to turn it into a main meal. I served this salad with some freshly baked sourdough (thanks Ollie) and hummus. Delicious.

May 23, 2023

Around our table

When I found out I was pregnant with my fourth baby, the first thing I thought was HOW MUCH FOOD WILL I NEED TO MAKE WHEN THERE ARE FOUR TEENAGERS IN THE HOUSE!? Perhaps moments like this don’t bring out the most rational thoughts, my husband’s main concern was whether we were going to have to sell our car and buy a mini van, but this is a thought I come back to a lot. Already I feel like all I do is buy food, cook food, clean up after eating food. Luckily there is that golden moment in amongst this that is the eating food.

I love that meal times act as an anchor in our days. Now that we have two at school as well as a preschooler and a baby in the house, life can feel a little manic. There is always a sock that needs finding, a question being asked, a baby with a marble in her mouth, a boy who needs you to find the specific small dolphin toy immediately.

Breakfast, lunch (during the weekend when there’s no work and school) and dinner we sit up together at the table as a family. We try to never snack between meals, but come to the table hungry and ready to eat. We try to set the table nicely every evening with napkins and candles and water in a jug. We try to have a dessert every night, even if it is generally some greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey and some stewed fruit. We try not to go completely crazy dealing with our four year old. We try not to drink the whole bottle of wine on a Tuesday. This moment, when we come together as a family and talk about our days and gossip and share food together is everything to me.

I hope that one day they all look back and remember at least one of the hundreds of banana breads I made for afternoon teas that we ate on autumn afternoons after school, the bowls of spaghetti alla puttanesca we ate on Friday evenings as we made plans for the weekend, the scrape of the knife across a piece of toasted sourdough as the butter was spread on thick and the smell of coffee in the air, the pop of a pea jumping from its pod as the first sun of spring warms our skin.

Although I feel like the time that isn’t spent in the car driving everyone to different activities is spent in the kitchen, these are the small moments that make up a life and there is nothing better than sitting round the table with family or friends that I love. And it is because of this that I thought I would get back on the blog and start sharing some of these recipes that I come back to time and time again a little further beyond our table.

So, what shall I start with?

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May 18, 2023

Ready to write again.

It’s been almost nine years since I sat at a borrowed apartment table in a San Francisco airbnb and wrote the first post for Flowers in my Hair,. Today I find myself sitting with my computer open at a slightly bigger table in our home in New Zealand. Four children, a move across the world, and many, many meals later.

I didn’t think this would be a place I would come back to. But I received the email saying my domain had expired and it stirred something in me. A desire to write, to documet the chaos of our kitchen with so many little mouths to feed, the desire to take a snapshot of this stage in life that is flying past so fast that I am sure to blink and miss it. I am finding that the fast paced scrolling through recipes and snapshots into people’s lives on instagram isn’t doing it for me anymore. I am getting recipe books out of the library and finding a moment here and there to actually sit and read and immerse myself in thoughtful stories and photos of food. Perhaps this blog could be an extension of that? Perhaps only my husband will read it and that’s ok too.

I’m here.

I’m ready to write again.

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June 15, 2016

The cool grey summer of San Francisco

As summer begins in earnest elsewhere in the country, the fog and wind arrives in San Francisco. Leaving the playground in the evening, Lilias and I battle our way through the blustery streets home to our warm apartment. The market is now filled with glowing red tomatoes and blushing stone fruit, warming the grey Sunday mornings. June and July in this city means eating summer while it feels like winter outside.

Here is a salad perfect with a glass of white wine that will make you feel like it is summer, even if the weather tells you otherwise.

The Taste of Summer in a Salad

Three sweet, ripe peaches
1 ball of buffalo mozzarella
Six slices of prosciutto
Rocket
A handful of basil
Juice of a lemon
Olive oil
Salt

This really is as simple as slicing the peaches, tearing the mozzarella and lying them with the prosciutto over the leaves. Finish with a simple lemon, olive oil and salt dressing and you have yourself a meal! This would be lovely with fish or chicken, but we just had some fresh bread and butter and a glass of wine.

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April 11, 2016

Crunchy Market Salad

The weather has been crazy and spring like here in San Francisco. Just a few days ago it was stifling hot, still 28 degrees outside at ten o’clock in the evening. It felt wrong to waste it, so after a few glasses of wine with dinner, Ollie and I thought it would be a great idea to wake Lilias and go for a walk in the park. She thought it was the best game ever, crawling through the grass in the dark with the lights of the city surrounding us. A few days later though and the clouds and rain had rolled in putting us right back in winter. Thank goodness for the market full of green things to keep us feeling fresh.

Here is the crunchy salad we ate after the market on Sunday. Making the most of all the good green things, especially for my sister in law who has come to stay and managed to land herself with the flu.

Crunchy Market Salad
Feeds four

1 cup of cooked quinoa
1 fennel bulb
1 green apple
1 avocado
A handful of sugar snap peas
A handful of snow peas
A handful of lettuce leaves
A couple of basil leaves
A handful of pinenuts
Goats cheese or feta to top
Juice of a lemon
Olive oil
1 tsp whole grain mustard
Sea salt

While you cook your quinoa, slice the fennel, apple, avocado, sugar snap peas and snow peas. Place these in a bowl with a dressing made of lemon, olive oil, salt and mustard – the lemon will stop the vegetables discolouring. Once the quinoa is cooked, leave it to cool and then mix it in with the vegetables, adding the torn lettuce and basil. Top with a sprinkling of pinenuts and some goats cheese. Enjoy!

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April 7, 2016

Saturday Morning in the Dogpatch

On Saturday morning we got in the car and headed across town to the Dogpatch, an area we haven’t explored yet. We had read about the opening of The Minnesota Street Project a couple of weeks ago, and were keen to have a look. A old warehouse is now a gallery and studio space offering ‘affordable and economically sustainable spaces for art galleries, artists and related nonprofits.’ Check out their website to read more, or if you are in San Francisco, head on over. It is a beautiful space.

I would also recommend going for lunch at Piccino afterwards, it was absolutely delicious and they have highchairs that screw onto the bar. Three happy Hewitts indeed.

Now a recipe, or more just an idea. We eat this meal a bit, especially in the warmer months. It is so easy and quick to put together, but packed with flavour and fun to eat.

Spiced Lamb Meatballs with Hummus and Salad
Serves two

Mix together some ground/minced (depending on what country you live in) lamb with salt, pepper and about a tablespoon of garam masala. Roll into balls, about half the size of a golf ball. Fry in some oil on a hot heat, moving around every couple of minutes.

Chop one tomato, three radishes, half a peeled cucumber, 1/4 small red onion and some fresh parsley and mix in a bowl with some olive oil, salt and red wine vinegar.

Once the meatballs are cooked through- this shouldn’t take very long- place on a dish that has a thin covering of hummus and sprinkle some roasted pine nuts over the top.

I like to serve this with some greek yoghurt made better with lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt and fresh mint, plus some grilled pita bread, hot sauce and a cold beer.

Perfect for the balmy weather San Francisco has been having lately. Long may it continue!

April 4, 2016

A kind cake to have with tea

As I have mentioned before, I am not a baker. That skill was handed out to my sister who can make the most delicate tarts and cakes. She also manages to turn gluten free baking into some kind of delicious realm of possibilities, something I never thought was possible. However, lately I have been finding myself wanting to have fresh baking in the house. I have been making banana bread, gluten, sugar and dairy free muffins (actually really good, will post the recipe soon), lemon and ricotta ring cakes, and yesterday I made a rhubarb and strawberry cake.

Both Ollie and I go crazy for rhubarb. Stewed with muesli in the morning, with ice cream, in a crumble or pie. Any way possible in fact. So this cake is perfect. It is easy, both sweet and tart, and goes perfectly with a cup of tea. It is the kind of cake you can imagine eating with thick clotted cream and your grandmother.

An Old Fashioned Cake
(Based on a pear cake in Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries)

130g butter
130g caster sugar
2 eggs
130g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Half a punnet of strawberries
About 5 stalks of rhubarb
A sprinkling of brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Cream the butter and sugar. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork, and gradually mix them in with the butter and sugar. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold in carefully. Spoon into a greased cake tin and don’t worry that it looks like there isn’t enough mixture.

Finely slice the rhubarb and cut the strawberries into quarters. Place them evenly over the cake mixture, and then sprinkle some brown sugar on top. This recipe can be used for any fruit, I have made it with apple and pear in the past, in which case you don’t need extra sugar. Rhubarb often needs a bit more love than other fruit to make it sing.

Bake for 1 hour, until a skewer comes out clean, leave in the tin for 10 minutes, and then cool on a rack. Or if you are impatient like me, cut a slice and eat it with some natural yoghurt and a cup of coffee.

The book you can see in the photo arrived in the mail just a few days ago. It is part of a #savetheculture book exchange I am part of. Despite Ollie referring to it as my Ponzi scheme and another friend calling it a glorified chain letter, I think it is a pretty cool idea. I saw a friend had shared a post about it on facebook which I bit the bullet and liked. She sent me a stranger’s address for me to post a book to, plus her address to share with people who liked my post. Theoretically, I should get a whole lot of books in the mail. Who am I to say no to that?

I had been eyeing up Ali Smith’s newest book at The Booksmith just the other day, so I was thrilled to receive it with a little postcard from an old school friend I haven’t talked to in years. I will let you know if I get any other goodies in the letter box.

Happy baking and happy reading from sunny San Francisco x

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April 3, 2016

A fresh look for spring

With spring in the air and finally at the market, plus our move into the new apartment and Lilias turning one in a couple of weeks (!!!) it feels like a everything is refreshing and new things are happening. So I cut my hair short again, and then followed up by redesigning the blog.

It is coming up two years since we moved to San Francisco and I started this blog. I felt like things needed an update so I called on a certain someone with some rather fabulous design skills, Catherine. An old English student of mine and a good friend’s little sister, Catherine quickly became a good friend to me as well. After talking to her about the blog, she very kindly did the calligraphy for the header. Isn’t it gorgeous? Thank you Catherine x

I am starting off with a fresh, spring salad as per Catherine’s request. It is crunchy and zingy as well as being strangely comforting. We ate it warm, but I think leftovers the next day would be pretty good too. Pity there weren’t any…

Spring Noodle Salad
Serves four

Soba noodles (according to appetite)
1 cup frozen, shelled edamame beans
Small bundle of asparagus cut into quarters
Four spring onions finely sliced
A handful of snap peas cut into thirds
A large handful of fresh coriander
1 lime
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt
A small handful of peanuts
3 tbsp of sesame seeds

Cook the soba noodles according to the instructions and put aside in a large bowl.

Gently fry the finely sliced spring onions in a little sunflower oil until softened, then add the parboiled asparagus and edamame beans to fry for a few more minutes. When these are cooked but still have some bite, add them to the noodles with the roughly chopped coriander, the juice of the lime, sesame and sunflower oil, rice wine vinegar, salt, peanuts and sesame seeds. Toss it all together and eat while it is still warm. I would recommend an accompanying cold beer for balance.

We added hot sauce to ours afterwards because we were eating with Lilias, but you could definitely add the chilli at the beginning when you are frying the spring onion.

My next post is an easy rhubarb and strawberry cake because you have to enjoy both the sweet and the savoury sides of spring. Also because anything with rhubarb makes me happy, especially if you can eat it with a cup of tea.

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March 21, 2016

Market Day

For the last few Sundays, I have been waiting for Spring to be at the market to meet me. I am waiting for there to be baskets of fresh peas in their pods and fava beans to be shelled, asparagus and green beans, sweet and delicate new season fennel and spiky artichokes. Instead, there are still piles of citrus fruits and bundles of winter greens.

So here is a last of the winter’s market put together for a lunch. Finger’s crossed for Spring to be there next weekend.

Green Winter’s Lunch
Serves two and a half

A big bunch of sprouting broccoli
A ball of fresh mozzerella
A handful of fresh basil, torn
The juice of a lemon
A handful of pine nuts
One ripe avocado
Good olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh bread and butter to serve

Simply steam the sprouting broccoli- the young and tender kind, not the old woody kind- until it has lost its crunch but has maintained its dignity. Lay on a plate and cover with half an avocado, half a ball of mozzarella, the torn basil leaves, the juice of half a lemon, a generous glug of olive oil, salt and pepper and a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts. Repeat on the other plate and add some fresh bread to mop it up. Then remember the baby and distribute some of the food onto her plate.

Enjoy at the table while you watch people out the window and debate whether all three of you should have an afternoon nap on this overcast and stormy Sunday.

March 21, 2016

Corners of our new home

We are so happy in our amazing new space, it is so light and airy. I have already done so much cooking and baking in our big kitchen. But most importantly, did I mention I have a pantry???

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