Blog

The change in season from summer to autumn inspires me to retreat indoors. I love easy dinner nights with friends and family, playing card games and sharing plates laden with crisp grapes, local cheeses and fresh baked sourdough. It's food that can prepared within minutes and left on the table for grazing all through the evening.

What better way to say I love you than with a home-baked dessert. This cake ticks all the boxes for me, it's delicious, pretty as a picture and easy! I bake a lot and it's the first time I've used cardamom and rose water in a cake, coupled with the lemony flavour of the icing it's such a treat. I'm sharing the recipe here for you to make for someone special, and yes, that special person can totally be yourself!

This week I'm chatting to Australian stylist Jason Grant, "Home is my creative space, my sanctuary and a place to hide away. The way we live and decorate our home has never been more important. I like my home to be comfortable and creative with a focus on natural style."

I chat to Sarah and Emma from Read & Hall about their daily rituals and the small things that bring them joy. "Slow living to us is prioritising your own needs and is about making the everyday things you do as nice as possible. Feeling good in what you wear, making lovely food for yourself and drinking from a nice cup. All enhances your experience of each day."

There are writers who say that one of the greatest unexpected consequences of writing is that you become a better reader. Just as, I would say, playing and working with flowers can help you become a better observer of the natural world. Anything that helps you focus on what is beautiful and interesting in your daily life, when so much can feel repetitive and mundane and ordinary, is worthy of celebration. Reverence, even.

Christie lives in the south-west coastal town of Denmark with her husband Dave, two boys and the family kelpie. Knowing that friends and family would be flocking to visit for a seaside getaway, they started renovating their shed to accommodate visitors. Three years on, they've created the Slow Drift for us all to experience the slower pace of country life – that beautiful balance of salt and earth that is Denmark. 

When you’re stumbling along and not sure what path to take. And you're looking for that little nudge from the universe, that tells you you’re on the right track. When it feels like the whole world's against you and you’re drowning in buckets of soggy clay. Ok, that probably hasn’t happened to you exactly. But that was my situation a couple of years ago when I was questioning everything. Then the universe gave me a sign, in the most unexpected place.

Eva Cassis is a fashion designer who is passionate about the idea of buying less but buying well. She exquisitely handcrafts sustainable keepsake pieces for everyday wear in her Sydney studio. Seasonal collections are released in small batches to stay true to Eva's philosophy around maintaining slow manufacturing and a low environmental impact.