book talk: french kids eat everything by Karen Le Billon

When I bought Karen Le Billon's book recently, my first thought was "how could she fill 235 pages on curing picky eaters?!"

I enjoyed every page. So much I actually slowed my reading towards the end because I didn't want the book to finish.

Aside from the tips and rules for encouraging children to eat well, it was Karen's humorous anecdotes of what it was like to be a North American living in France with a young family that had me hanging on her every word.

Karen convinced her French husband, Philippe, that it would be a good idea to move their young family from their Canadian home to live for one year in the small village in northern France where Philippe grew up. Her idea was met with resistance from Philippe and her in-laws who impressed upon her that living in France was not like holidaying in France.

Undeterred, Karen was thrilled when the time came to pack up with Sophie age four and Claire a toddler and immerse themselves in the French way of life.

One of my favorite moments in the book is when they arrive in France and attend an information afternoon at the early learning centre that Claire would attend. Karen describes in detail the trays of amuse-bouches "(a term used for cocktail nibbles that literally means "entertain the mouth")", she dived in and as she was enjoying each bite looked around to see the French parents watching her quizzically. The impeccably prepared food, featuring a selection of vegetable purees atop delicate puff pastry, was in fact...for the children. This was to be the first of many cultural learning curves Karen was to slide down.

I admired Karen's resolve to take every opportunity to embrace the French way of life even when her daughters were upset and it would have been momentarily easier to give in and hand them a North American style snack.

The book contains 10 rules for raising happy, healthy eaters but Karen also takes us into her interior world when she has many times throughout the year that she wishes she was back in Canada. The focus of the book is on children and food but it is also Karen's story of being a mother and wife and trying to find her way in France with her in-laws and socially.

Aside from the 10 rules, there were two considerations that stood out to me in the book. In France, the approach to food centres around appetite and pleasure, they go together. Without appetite, there is no pleasure in eating and one of the biggest appetite suppressants is snacking. As Karen learned, French mothers do not carry around snack packs for their children because the French don't snack and their children are taught that from a young age "it is ok to be hungry between meals". The only exception to this is the gouter which roughly translates as "snack" and is served to children in the afternoon at around 4.30pm. This may sound like a rigid approach but in reality what happens is that because there is no snacking children have great appetite for their meals and eat well at meal times.

Pleasure is a major consideration in the French approach to eating. The pleasure of thinking up the menu, of shopping at the market, selecting the produce, preparing the food, the pleasure of sitting together to share food and conversation and finally the pleasure of actually eating. As Karen learned, this sits in stark contrast to the associations of guilt and stress that accompany food for many North Americans (and may I add many others eating outside European traditions). Karen shows us that because the French diet is varied and balanced and sweet indulgences are kept in perspective there is no need to feel guilty about enjoying chocolate mousse or lemon tart on occasion. And the stress that Karen had felt about meal preparation when she lived in Canada soon melted when she changed her attitude and decided to focus on enjoying each aspect of menu planning, cooking and eating with her family.

These are the 10 rules that Karen wrote out and stuck to their fridge in France:

1. Parents you are in charge of food education
2. Avoid emotional eating - no food rewards or bribes
3. Parents schedule meals and menus. Kids eat what adults eat. No short order cooking
4. Eat family meals together. No distractions (television, computers, mobile phones)
5. Eat your veggies. Key: think variety
6. You don't have to LIKE it but you do have to TASTE it. Say this at every meal
7. No snacking. It's ok to feel hungry between meals
8. Slow food is happy food, as in - eat slow
9. Eat mostly real food. treats and special occasions ok
10. Remember eating is joyful - relax

At the end of the book you will find a selection of family friendly French inspired recipes to start your family on the way to ending fussiness and embracing the pleasure of eating real food including vegetables!

When I have chatted to friends about this book a couple of them (who haven't read it) have had the same response, "Oh the French they think they are so superior and it is all well and fine to have French rules in France but I doubt they will work outside of France." That my friends, is where you are wrong. There is much to be learned from this book and Karen writes about how she adapts what she has learnt in France when they return home to Vancouver where short lunch breaks, snacking and fast food dominate.

To read more about Karen and her book go to her website.  Bon appetit!

booktalk: french women don't get fat by Mireille Guiliano

It's been a while since I've written here about cookbooks or food books I think are worth reading. Mireille Guiliano's book French Women Don't Get Fat is one of my favorites, I'm re-reading it for about the tenth time, I never tire of Mireille's story or the way she writes. When it was released back in 2005, I didn't bother picking it up thinking it was 'another diet book'. I'm not into the idea of 'going on a diet' because in fact all of us are already on a diet it is just that some people would benefit from changing theirs!

About a year after its' release a friend gave me a copy insisting I read it, and I had to admit I was wrong. This is not a diet book, it is not about counting calories or cutting out fat, sugar and salt. No. In fact it is quite the opposite, butter, champagne and dessert are all on the menu. The key is: go for quality and mind the quantity.

Mireille speaks my language, my wholefood language that is (I don't speak French) and I want to recommend her book here because if you are just starting out on your wholefood path reading this book is a fun and easy way to switch your thinking about food, health and pleasure and realise that changing your path is not about deprivation in fact it is about nourishing yourself on many levels. At the heart of it, Mireille is advocating a wholefoods way of living.

For those not familiar with the book, Mireille tells a good story based on her own life experience of moving to America as an exchange student, adopting the American diet of over-sized portions of processed foods and returning to France with extra kilos and feeling unhealthy and miserable. It is then that her mother teaches her the art of eating like a French woman. The story is laced with many useful tips for living (a ritual for a better nights sleep, sneaky ways to include exercise in your day even when you think you don't have time) and delicious seasonal wholefood recipes such as tagliatelle with lemon, snapper with almonds or cold beetroot and yoghurt summer soup. Mireille advocates only eating fruit and vegetables that are in season, shopping at farmer's markets, always having fresh herbs in your kitchen and a well-stocked spice cupboard. In the chapter titled 'Life Stages' Mireille writes about children and eating, from birth to seven she writes:

"Most kids' cereals have more sugar than a French pastry; avoid them like the plague. (I wonder how many children on behaviour-modifying pharmaceuticals are merely sugar junkies.)" 

Agreed!

There is no mention of the words paleo, raw food, gluten free or grain free so if that is your preferred way of eating it may not be the read for you but if you are interested in the French way of life or you were quick to judge this book as a diet book like I was seek a copy out, I think you'll be surprised to find am inspiring wholefood story.

Have you read it? What did you think?

the lunchbox revolution

Only a matter of days mamas before we wake up to...empty lunchboxes. Holidays over what to fill school or work lunchboxes with? Well, I was excited to find Mona Hecke's (pictured) fabulous book 'The Lunchbox Revolution' sitting on the counter at my local health food shop last week. I bought a copy, love it and am now very happy to share it with you because I think Mona's tips and recipes will make your life easier and keep your family happy and healthy.

Mona lives on the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland where she works as a naturopath and is a mother of three beautiful teenage children, so Mona is well qualified to fill a book with fantastic, nutritious recipes for school and work lunches.

In addition to great recipes, the book includes really useful info about allergies and food intolerances plus tables detailing mineral rich foods and Mona's top 10 best and worst foods for health.

I talked to Mona about sharing a recipe here and she told me that her recipes for chocolate balls and protein balls are really popular. I made the chocolate balls for dessert last week when we had friends over for dinner and they were a hit, super chocolatey and sugar free!

Thanks Mona for sharing your recipe here and for writing your book. Here's to the Lunchbox Revolution and providing nutritious wholefood and great health for us and our families.

The Lunchbox Revolution by Mona Hecke $10.95 available at health food shops or online

If facebook is your thing you can find The Lunchbox Revolution page here, like it and receive more great tips and recipe ideas

Chocolate balls

This chocolate delight is sugar free, deliciously rich, packed with super antioxidants and will satisfy that chocolate craving. Fresh Medjool Dates provide a high source of energy, fibre, vitamins and minerals and are perfect for people on the go.

250g (or 12) Medjool Dates (pitted)

2 tablespoons Raw Cacao

1 cup Almond Meal

2 tablespoons Agave Syrup

Shredded or Dessicated Coconut for rolling

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor until well combined and moist.

Roll into approximately 22 heavenly chocolate balls, tossing in coconut or raw Cacao before refrigerating.

Note: Use the raw Cacao Powder available from Health Food Stores.

book talk: parenting with soul

Sally Colling's book Parenting with Soul - Practical ways to find calm amidst the chaos brims with heart, humour and spirit.

If you're feeling like your soul, your spirit, whatever you like to call it, is lost beneath dirty dishes and crumpled washing then this is the read to fill you up.

Sally and her family don't live in an ashram or have extra hours in their day to dedicate to prayer or meditation. They live in Brisbane where Sally and her husband run their own publishing business working from home and they share the parenting of their two daughters. Sally writes from her own experience of finding ways to connect with deeper thoughts and feelings even when life feels like it is racing along.

In nine neat chapters Sally shares situations and anecdotes that every parent today can relate to, and then follows them up with reminders and ideas to foster and weave spirituality into your family's everyday life. Chapter titles give you a feel for the direction of the book - 'This messy life', 'Gold in the laundry basket', 'Six soul aches and how to cure them', 'Decorate your inner room' and 'Top ten soul practices' were among my favorites.

Each chapter contains a number of mini 'essays' one to two pages in length, making it easy to dip in and out of. Within each chapter there are also a number of highlighted boxes containing practical ways to put soul into your day. Such as, "How to let go today. Meditate on change today: when your thoughts turn to The Thing that would make you happier (...a better relationship with your sister), see yourself in ten years time and imagine your current frustrations and yearnings being a distant memory, as the issues that concern you now are resolved or have become less painful."

Quotes from authors, philosophers and monks such as Thomas Moore, and Thich Nhat Hahn  pepper the text and provoke new ways of viewing your old thoughts, feelings and attitudes.

I'll leave you with this quote from the chapter 'Decorate your inner room'. It is something we all know at our deepest level but it is so good to read it so clearly and be reminded of what really matters.

"It is worth considering, too, that our good fortune doesn't lie in what we have. The real blessing lies in how we respond to those circumstances that are given to us. Our good fortune is not about clothes or houses of cars. It is the daily renewal of our capacity to connect, love, share, bless."

Parenting with Soul - Practical ways to find calm amidst the chaos by Sally Collings. Published by Harper Collins 2011. RRP $27.99

book talk: growing great families

Before getting into the highlights of Ian and Mary Grant's fantastic book 'How to bring out the best in your family - Growing Great Families', I spotted this quote today on a retro postcard:

"My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance". Good huh?

I'm slightly obsessed with wanting to create a family life rich in experiences and opportunities for River and Sol that encourage them to grow with open hearts and minds and that they see themselves as a part of this vast world not the centre of it.

My latest resource on this quest is Growing Great Families. I like the writing style of this New Zealand husband and wife team, it is conversational rather than patronising as some parenting books can be, and their strategies straight forward and achievable. The book covers the years from babies right through to parenting teenagers. There are 13 chapters, beginning with a focus on the importance of community and building foundations, moving through to 'giving your child a moral foundation', 'moving from dependence to interdependence', a chapter about '...different family shapes' such as solo parenting and step-families, and one on parenting 'tricky' kids, who the Grant's describe as "tricky kids are 'more' - more intense, more stubborn, more argumentative"

At the end of each chapter there is a chapter summary in point form. Even if you only read these summary pages you would get a lot out of this book.

One of my favourite messages within these pages was that:

'Children need three R's - Rules, Routines and Ridiculousness'. It is good to be reminded that rules and routines don't have to equal serious all the time.

Others points listed on the summary pages that stood out were:

"Your children will remember the feeling in your home.

Parents, nurture your own resources.

Capitalise on the ages five to 10.

Young children are good observers but poor interpreters of events.

Don't forget to be playful. If you are stuck in power struggles unlatch with a different approach.

Take one-on-one time with each child. Recognise their need for significance."

What are you reading at the moment? What are you loving or loathing about being a parent?

How to bring out the best in your family - Growing Great Families by Ian and Mary Grant, published by Random House Australia, RRP $29.95

brother eagle, sister sky

Sol and I wandered into Antipodes our local bookshop for a quick browse that resulted in an impulse purchase of American author and illustrator Susan Jeffers' book Brother Eagle, Sister Sky. I was captivated by Jeffers paintings and the 'story' that accompanied them. The words in the book are based on the message of Native American Chief Seattle (Seathl).

this image via Jeffers' website

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky has been met with both praise and criticism and I was in two minds whether to write about it here at all out of respect for those who are offended by the book. The main and very important criticisms are that Jeffers has adapted Chief Seattle's words to suit her creation of the book and that her paintings depict Native American people in a stereotypical way.

I decided to write about Brother Eagle, Sister Sky here initially because in our family Jeffers book opened up further talking about Indigenous people as traditional caretakers of the land and about the precious nature of the environment. And that's a positive thing in my view. And then as I read further into the controversial nature of the book that became a reason to write about it too. To start a conversation about culture and accuracy in children's literature.

These words are from the book:

"This we know: All things are connected like the blood that unites us.

We did not weave the web of life,

We are merely a strand in it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves"

What are you teaching your children about Indigenous culture? Are you reading any great children's books about culture?

fact or fiction

Cookbooks, newspapers, magazines, biographies, parenting books; non-fiction tends to fill my reading 'diet'. Last week though I had in my hands a book of fiction that had me reading it at the kitchen bench, in the car parked outside River's school gate and by torch light at night while Sol slept in bed next to me.

Melbourne author Peggy Frew's book House of Sticks is her first novel released late last year. I read a review of it when it was released and made a mental note to seek a copy out. It has taken me until now to secure a copy from the local library where it has been on a reserve waiting list for many months. And now I know why.

Caring for small children full time can be curiously isolating work (I say curiously because despite being surrounded by other mothers and their children it is isolating from one's self that isn't defined by being a mother) and for the past week, Bonnie the central character in House of Sticks became my companion on the motherhood line of duty. Frew succeeds in creating a captivating tale out of the ordinary happenings of family life and for me the key to that success was in the engaging characters particularly Bonnie, a stay at home mum who has put on hold being a musician to raise her young family, twin five year olds Louie and Edie and baby girl Jess.

The love between Bonnie and her partner Pete is tested by the demands of raising young children without support from extended family and by the presence of Pete's old mate Doug whose life is defined by hard times and Pete feels obliged to extend the hand of friendship and take him on to work in his business making furniture. Bonnie's frustration simmers away as Doug takes advantage of Pete's generosity sauntering in and out of their home and Pete's backyard workshop eating their food and some days not turning up to work. Doug has an unnerving edge to him that leaves you guessing which way his actions will turn the story.

Frew writes of a fraught relationship between Bonnie and her mother Suzanne. A reluctant grandmother, Suzanne squeezes in an hour each week between her work commitments and playing bridge to spend with her daughter and grandchildren at the local pool. When Bonnie is pushed to dig deep and call on her mother for  extra help with the children she does so with trepidation. Will Suzanne come to the party?

The other relationship Frew captures eloquently is the bond between mothers shown through Bonnie and her friend Mel. They share their woes grabbing snatches of conversation when dropping their children at kinder, or over coffee and babycinos at the local cafe and via text message. Mel is the friend that every mother feels blessed to have on her side.

Frew's observations and descriptions of the subtle details of the tensions and joys of family life connected me instantly to these characters and their story. I cared about what happened to them and read each page holding hope that all would work out well for each of them. Even Doug.

I am yet to meet a mother of small children who has not felt the relentlessness of parenting and domestic tasks weigh heavily on their spirit at times, it seems to be part of the job description and I'm still working out if or how that can be different. Until I come up with that answer I find solace in reading the stories of other women's lives be they fact or fiction.

Read a review here of House of Sticks and an interview with Peggy Frew here.

Happy wednesday to you all.

the divided heart - art and motherhood

Four years ago when River was two, with the sun was shining on us in Byron Bay our home away from home where we spend our winters, I was at my limit of being a patient mummy. Yearning for a moment of contemplation that was nowhere in sight I put River in the car and drove to Mullumbimby. River fell asleep on the way. I parked the car under a tall, sprawling limbed tree and stretched myself out across the front bench seat of our station wagon and took a nap too.

On waking we left the car in the shade and wandered into town for no particular reason. The bookshop seemed a good place to start our meandering. As River made his way to the display of children's books I scanned the covers of the latest non-fiction titles and staring back at me from the top shelf was my balm for that difficult day: Rachel Power's book The Divided Heart - Art and Motherhood. Bound between two beautifully designed covers Rachel shares the honest words of 26 Australian women who are  mothers and artists, whose stories I and many others could easily relate to. The interviews capture so well the feeling of mothers loving their children so deeply and simultaneously yearning for space of heart, head and hands to delve into their art form.

Finding this book made everything ok again that day. Not because a vast stretch of time became mine to ponder and write, no. Because reading the book transported me into the hearts and homes of artists whose work I had long admired and introduced me to ones I hadn't heard of, and because whether your art form is photography, painting, composing music or being at home creating a garden or a meal, all mothers have yearnings beyond caring for their children and it is heartening to read others experiences.

Many of you may already know and love this book, but I wasn't blogging in 2008 when it was first published and it is too good so I had to share it now.

Rachel also blogs about 'art, motherhood and everything in between' at The Rachel Papers. You can buy The Divided Heart on her blog. Seek it out.

ruth reichl

Ruth Reichl

I thank my friend Muriel for introducing me to the seductive food writing of Ruth Reichl a few years ago. (Where had I been?! Foodie readers in America may be well versed in Reichl's work as Editor in Chief of Gourmet magazine and before that restaurant critic for The New York Times and Los Angeles Times).

For me, reading Reichl's memoir Tender at the Bone - Growing up at the Table it was love at first read. Reichl's love of cooking and bringing people together to share food was born almost out of both necessity and opposition to her mother Miriam's mental illness and inability to cook. It was in fact more than an inability to cook, in Reichl's words Miriam's cooking was akin to 'poison' hence the title given to her mother - 'The Queen of Mold'. Tender at the Bone has been described as a coming of age story and I agree; there are many layers to this engaging story that contains recipes interspersed throughout the chapters. Food is the thread that stitches together the stories of Reichl's childhood growing up in Greenwich Village New York, to living in a commune, to starting a collectively owned restaurant in Berkeley California.

So yesterday when I stumbled across Reichl's blog I was thrilled because I thought I'd read every book she'd written (Tender at the Bone: Growing up at the Table, Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table and Garlic and Saphire's: The Secret Life of a Restaurant Critic in Disguise), now I have her fresh blog words to savour but I'm also excited to share her writing with you and to find she has written a fourth book in her memoir series, For you Mom, Finally.

For those familiar with Reichl's work, did you love every book? For those yet to discover her, I found her books at my local library so perhaps they'll be at yours too.

What charms me about Reichl's writing is her (seemingly) effortless way of noticing and describing the details, intricacies and nuances of food and family with great warmth, humour and most of all originality.

If the words restaurant critic put you off, don't be. Reichl defies any stereotype of elitist restaurant critic, at heart she is an original Wholefood Mama as the extract below from Comfort Me With Apples illustrates. In the extract Reichl has just landed her first restaurant critic position and she is working out how to tell the people in her life she loves and who know her as someone with grassroots values:
...


“I’ve just gotten the best job in the world!” As I heard myself say the words, I knew they wouldn’t do. They would be fine in San Francisco or New York, but this was the People’s Republic of Berkeley. This was the heart of the counterculture. Every single person I knew was going to disapprove.


I walked into the hallway of the peeling Victorian house I shared with my husband and five other people and waited for their reactions.


Nick, our household patriarch, was sitting in the shabby, crowded living room. He stroked the bushy beard that gave him the air of a prophet and said, “Let me get this straight.” He plunked himself into one of the tattered armchairs we had found at the flea market and began pushing the stuffing back into the arm. “You’re going to spend your life telling spoiled, rich people where to eat too much obscene food?”


“Something like that,” I murmured, too embarrassed to defend myself.


He shook his head in disappointment. A devotee of millet and Dr. Bronner’s balanced mineral bouillon, Nick had done his Berkeley best to turn our household into a model of politically correct consumption. We had, at various times, been ovolactovegetarians and vegans, and we were, at all times, vigilant about the excesses of agribusiness. For a long while we grew our own food, and we even, for a short while, depended upon dumpsters for our raw ingredients. Nick had valiantly tried to overlook my forays into the world of fancy food, but this was going too far. For the first time in the many years I had known him, he became speechless.
...

Hungry for more? Seek out Reichl's books and blog.

Book review: The Healthy Skin Diet

If you are breaking out in eczema or acne at the mere thought of the chocolate filled days ahead this Easter I have the book for you. Easter aside, glowing healthy skin is a definitive sign of great internal health. I bought this book on a whim and it has become a favorite.

Written by nutritionist Karen Fischer, in some 370 pages Karen provides everyday guidelines for healthy skin plus specialised programs for acne, cellulite, dandruff, cradle cap, eczema, dermatitis, children's clear skin program, psoriasis and rosacea.

The only thing I don't like about the book is the use of the 'd' word - diet - in the title. It is not a diet book in the cliche 'go on a diet' sense. There is included an 8 week program to follow but is it not a calorie restriction program, Karen's recommendation is for 3 nutrient dense meals and 1 snack daily. The focus is on the nutritional quality of foods and identifies those foods that are soothing to certain skin conditions and those that exacerbate them.

The back section of the book is dedicated to recipes ranging from smoothies, breakfast recipes such as french toast with berries and almonds, mango and buckwheat crepes, vitamin E muesli; for lunch and dinner there's a delicious 'anti-ageing broth', vitamin A and C apricot chicken, herb and garlic chicken casserole, creamy chickpea curry, beef and barley soup to name a few. The recipes are simple enough in technique, it is the fabulous combinations of herbs and spices that mean they are so full of flavour. Wholesome desserts include stewed pears with vanilla soy custard and rhubarb crumble made with far less sugar than traditional recipes and the addition of flaxseeds. 

Whether you have healthy skin or a skin condition this book is an excellent resource. It offers inspiration to look after yourself and great information, with simple tips to increase the nutrient dense ingredients in your cooking. 

Karen is also a mother and the author of two books aimed at making vegetables more appealing to children and families - Don't Tell Them It's Healthy and Healthy Families, Happy Families. See her website The Vegie Whisperer.

The Healthy Skin Diet by Karen Fischer, Exisle Publishing, $29.99.

Book review: Eating for the Seasons - cooking for health and happiness by Janella Purcell

If you are looking for inspiration either for your cooking repertoire or for improving your health,
'Eating for the Seasons' is a great place to start.

You may recognise Janella as the 'Good Chef' from the TV program 'Good Chef Bad Chef'. With her impressive list of credentials: naturopath, nutritionist, herbalist, iridologist - Janella's food as medicine approach is my style of cooking.

This is her third book, (she has a fourth in the pipeline 'Janella's Wholefood Kitchen' due for release October this year) and as the title suggests it follows the seasons with a chapter dedicated to each. There is a really easy to understand introduction to each season that outlines some Chinese medicine principles, then a list of what's in season.

Recipes are divided into breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides & dressings, sweet things and drinks. I like the added value a list of variations beneath each recipe adds to the book. The recipes and techniques are not complex, the list of variations offers flavour twists and combinations you may not have considered or options if you don't have exact ingredients on hand.

The recipes range from a simple summer breakfast of baked sweet ricotta with mango cheeks, to a  cleansing spring lunch of clams with quinoa, heartier winter dishes include brown rice spinach pie with feta and black olives and an excellent version of vegetable lasagne that is not overloaded with oil and cheese.

Some autumnal options on my list to try are fennel and pomegranate salad - any excuse to use pomegranate molasses -, broccoli egg-lemon soup sounds just right to me, and a dish I have made before and look forward to making again is Loobia, a traditional Lebanese dish made with green beans and a spice blend of cumin, coriander, black peppercorns, sweet paprika and ground ginger.

My standout favorite sweetie in this book a vegan chocolate cheesecake made with silken tofu and dark chocolate - it is heaven! Really. A recipe I didn't have as much success with (or win as many fans at home) is a chocolate almond 'mousse' made with agar agar. Admittedly I was missing an ingredient - carob molasses - and I tried substituting it with straight molasses which was totally overpowering. So there's a tip, that is one ingredient for which there is no substitute! I'll give it another go.

Have a wonderful weekend.

book talk: Playground compiled by Nadia Wheatley

I'm doing my small part for Culture today sharing this fantastic book compiled by Nadia Wheatley.

Playground is so beautifully put together, the artwork by leading Indigenous artists, photographs, and stories sit alongside each other in such a way that readers from age 2 to 102 will be touched by the truth and wisdom of Aboriginal culture.

In contrast to my post yesterday about modern living and the allure of television, the opening paragraph of Playground sums up how times have changed.

"In traditional time, kids didn't have to set off from home in the morning in order to go to school. The whole country was a vast outdoor classroom, which contained everything that the First Children needed to know. The land was also their playground." p.6

There are 18 chapters covering almost every aspect of traditional life. 'Playing in the water', 'Cubbies and toys', and 'Going fishing' are among my boys favorites. 

In the chapter ‘Playing in the water’ there’s a photograph of 7 young boys at a waterhole near Ramingining, Northern Territory, climbing out to the end of a tree branch to take it in turns to jump into the water. My boys love to look at this photo and hear the stories about how big kids looked after the little kids near the water and how the children were told scary stories of mythical creatures such as the  bunyip waiting in the water as way of keeping them close, preventing them from wandering too far and getting into danger.

The appeal of sharing Playground with young children is that you can dip in and out of the chapters. The personal accounts in each chapter are short and evocative. It is a book rich with insights for children and adults.

'Playground - listening to stories from country and from inside the heart' compiled by Nadia Wheatley, published by Allen & Unwin. RRP $39.99

Book Review: Leon by Allegra McEvedy. Published by Conran Octopus 2008

Being a lover of cookbooks I was thrilled to receive this as a wedding gift, not only because it is a fab book but it is one I hadn’t seen before. Leon is now a favorite in my collection for its real food philosophy, recipes and for its beautiful, engaging design.

Since receiving the book I've learnt that before Leon the cookbook came Leon the ‘fast food’ chain with a difference. This is not fast food of the fat and sugar-laden variety, no this is "naturally fast food", the principle behind the business is “food that tastes and does you good”. Based in London, the vision of the owners of Leon is – “to change the face of fast food”. There are currently 12 Leon restaurants serving "naturally fast food" to over 100,000 people a week. 

The first half of Leon the book is ‘The Ingredients Book’ where fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, fish and dairy are given a good going over. This is a British book so the growing regions discussed are relevant to Europe, but don’t let that deter you because you’ll miss out on all the other interesting and useful information. Once you read your way through the origins and uses of ingredients ranging from artichokes to black-eyed beans to sumac, and on to which cut of beef, chicken and lamb cooks best which way, work your way through the cheese European cheese selection and brush up on which vinegar and oil to use for what and then you will be bursting to get cooking with the second half of Leon: ‘The Recipe Book’.

Each recipe has an introduction paragraph for your reading pleasure and the recipes are very doable, with the vast majority calling for ingredients you’ll have on hand – if you have a well-stocked real food pantry J

The 'starters, sharers and sides' chapter is one I delve into regularly for tasty bites such as sweet potato falafel, Sicilian grilled vegetables and the roasted garlic and pumpkin hummus.

On my Leon main course wish list still to try are ‘Tom (Really) Yum’ soup, Moroccan Meatballs and the ‘(Not very) Kashmiri Rogan Josh’.

McEvedy's recipes are flavoured generously with a vast array of herbs and spices, no fancy tricks or ingredients just good honest fare that you can enjoy just as easily for a midweek family meal and equally on the weekend when you have friends over. For instance, lemon, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, onion and white wine create the flavour base for chicken, asparagus and lemon cassoulet.

If you have a birthday party or celebration to make a cake for, turn to page 274. There you will find ‘Alex’s Henry the Hedgehog’. It is essentially a hedgehog style recipe that involves getting messy and shaping the mix by hand into a hedgehog complete with slivered almond spikes.

There’s a welcome touch of humour and cheekiness to be found in these pages, eating real food needn’t be all so serious as some books look and read more like a text book.

I stumbled across this article about Leon co-owner and cookbook author, Allegra McEvedy who is also a columnist for the Guardian newspaper. A number of recipes from the book follow the article including the outrageous decadent ‘Leon Better Brownie’ recipe. I love the quote from McEvedy's biography that spells out her personal philosophy to live and work by "that there are more ways for a chef to make a difference than by winning Michelin stars, and good food should be available to everybody".

Today with the rain here and an incredible harvest of tomatoes from our garden, Leon’s roast tomato, chilli and cumin soup is next on my list to try.

What are you cooking?