My Monthly Chronicles: September 2025

 

As Spring began to warm up, September was a busy month for us with visits to the farmers market, cafes, nights out, and exhibitions.  Above is a wonderfully green matcha chiffon cake and a rhubarb monte carlo biscuit at Tylers Milkbar, Preston.

To read more about the month, check out In My Kitchen: September 2025, especially what I bought at visits to the farmers market.
 

Gopals, Melbourne CBD

It is so long since I have been at Gopals (139 Swanston Street, Melbourne).  It was nice to see this cheap Hari Krishna cafeteria was still fairly similar to when I had written up a blog post on Gopals in 2008.  Even the menu was fairly similar.  I had a small plate of a spinach dairy and cheese pie with two salads - beetroot and chickpea - with tahini sauce ($9.50).  It was not quite as cheap as it had been but still cheap in this day and age.

Old Treasury Building, Melbourne CBD

It is also a while since I have been to the museum at the Old Treasury Building (20 Spring Street).  I was inspired recently by hearing a talk by the Margaret Anderson about the exhibitions here  .I enjoyed the exhibition on Belongings: Objects and Family Life just before it closed.  It was small but made me feel nostalgic for tv and toys from my childhood.  I also enjoyed some of the retro posters of Melbourne and the protest exhibitions.

Mr Miller, Preston - What the Falafel

We had lunch at Mr Miller (14 Miller Street).  I had the "What the Falafel" plate: tzatziki, hummus, roasted tomato tabbouleh, falafel, pickled red onion and sumac spiced crispy pita.  It was really nice.  The crispy pita were an interesting alternative but I still would have preferred bread to mop up the dip.

Mr Miller, Preston - Don't pancake around

Sylvia could not resist a sweet brunch dish called "Don't pancake around": fresh pancakes ice cream seasonal berries, berry sauce, chocolate sauce and fairy floss. I loved the tartan criss cross of the berry sauce and chocolate sauce.  It looked fun and tasted excellent with a mouthful of pancake.  We also had starters of cute little tomato and mushroom arancini.

Coburg Farmers Market 1

We had a fathers day visit with Sylvia's dad to the Coburg Farmers Market (92 Bell St - entry via Urqhuart Street).  I had an excellent cheese scone.  They just don't make cheese scones at enough places in Melbourne.  Sylvia is very pleased to has discovered the Titilas Matcha.  She had blueberry matcha and was very pleased with it.  I love my silver gum nut bouquet from the native flowers stall.

Fathers Day in Geelong

We had a fine Fathers day afternoon tea in Geelong.  As usual there was a great spread of food - spinach and cheese rolls, quiche, profitteroles, my coconut ice, scones with jam and cream, and a a magnificent jaffa cake that my mum made with gluten free flour and drizzled with chocolate.  It was great to catch up with my siblings who I haven't seen for a while.

Coburg Farmers Market 2

We have spent more time at the Farmers Market this month than we have for quite a while.  It has been ages since we had momos and made us reflect on how things have changed.  We used to have them regularly at the market years ago and it was great to have them again.  When Sylvia was younger she would eat the dumpling skins and I would eat the filling.  On this visit neither of us left any of our momos behind!  Sylvia also discovered a new matcha flavour at Titilas - earl grey - and loved it.  I had a fresh orange juice with some blood orange juice that they called a Sunrise OJ.

Pepes Italian and Liquor and The Lark play, Melbourne CBD 

I have written about our amazing meal at Pepe's Italian & Liquor (275-285 Exhibition Street) with the best ever focaccia, great salads, great pistachio bombolini and fun ski chalet vibes.  This photo is of the front of the menu which you can see has Pepes written in the tracks made by the skiers on the snowy mountain slope.  

After our dinner, we went to the Arts Centre to see the wonderful Noni Hazelhurst in the wistful one woman play called The Lark where she plays a pub landlady in Fitzroy reflecting on her life behind the bar.  

Biang Biang, Melbourne CBD - noodle theatre

We were in Melbourne for a workshop and stopped for a quick dinner at Biang Biang (255 Swanston Street).  We sat on the mezzanine with a great view down of people coming and going as well as the noodle making with the dough pulled thin across the staff members outstretched hands to make the long noodles.  It was good to see that they were freshly made. 

Biang Biang, Melbourne CBD - noodles

We were very pleased with our bowls of biang biang noodles.  Sylvia had hers with chilli and I had ine with eggplant and tomato. Biang biang noodles with eggplant and tomato.  Both had Asian greens on the side.  I am glad the meal was good because when arrived for our workshop, we found we had the wrong day.

Ice Ko-ii Gelato, Melbourne CBD

After finding out we had the wrong day I was not happy.  I had taken leave on the day we had planned and had another commitment on the correct date.  We headed back to the tram stop.  As we waited we were tempted by the Ice Ko-ii Gelato (20 Elizabeth Street).  I loved the dark chocolate ice cream.  Sylvia was a bit more adventurous with matcha mochi with sweet cream cheese dip which she enjoyed.  The place was serious about their matcha.  They had 4 different matcha ice creams!

65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Parkville

The Ian Potter Museum of Art, on the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus at the corner of Swanston Street and Masson Road, has been closed for some years for renovation and expansion.  It was a pleasure see it open again and walk through the exhibition of "65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art".  The exhibition has amazing Indigenous artwork arranged in a way that made me aware and proud of the breadth of First Nations culture and the huge impact of colonisation.  I only got through 2 floors and hope to get back to see the rest of it. 

Hofbrauhaus and Enchanted Miniature Bookshelf workshop, Melbourne CBD

After going to our Enchanted Miniature Bookshelf workshop on the wrong day, we returned to the city a couple of days later and had dinner again but this time at Hofbrauhaus (18-20 Market Lane) for some German food.  Sylvia was excited to have Käsespätzle: German egg noodles with Alpine cheese, tomatoes, spinach and caramelised onions.  I had the Blumenkohl: freshly crumbed cauliflower schnitzel, fries, slaw, vegan herb mayo.  And we shared the Gebackene pilze: crumbed mushrooms with Bavarian mayo.  Sylvia was a big fan but I was less so, though I really liked the Apfel Schorle (apple spritzer).

Then we headed off to the workshop which was amazing.  So much fun and so inspiring.  You can read more about it in my post on Making a magical miniature bookshelf. 

Coburg Farmers Market 3

On our third visit to the farmers market in the month - yes we were frequent visitors - we had a a cheese melt from the Pacelli Deli.  They describe the food truck as "the hanging cheese man".    The feature is two balls of cheese hanging above a grill so it melts straight onto the bread.  Our Wandi Walnuts melt with melted Caciocavallo cheese with honey and walnuts on Pane di Casa bread was excellent.  The honey tamed the intense cheese and the walnuts added texture.
 

In the News

Australia recognised Gaza at the UN.  Neo Nazi key speaker at anti-immigration march in Melbourne was widely condemned.  The Victorian Government introduced a bill in Parliament  treaty with Victorian First Nations people at last. Right wing activist Charlie Kirk was killed in Utah USA followed by Jimmy Kimmel being sacked for his reaction and then reinstated days later.  Trump and Netanyahu concocted a peace plan for Palestine without consulting any Palestinians.  Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonara convicted of a coup.  Australia's Anti-islamaphobia Envoy gives his report.

As fascism rears its ugly head, we are trapped between the craven and the unwilling, by Amy Remeikis, New Daily, 6 September 2025. 

Australia will soon have its own ‘centre for disease control’. Let’s not repeat the chaos of the US, by Allen Cheng, The Conversation, 8 September 2025.

Trump accuses ABC journalist of ‘hurting Australia’ and says he’ll report him to Albanese, by Michelle Grattan, The Conversation, 17 September 2025. 

Robert Redford, screen idol turned director and activist, dies at 89, Reuters, 18 September 2025.

Starmer’s collapse and the rebirth of a movement, by Stewart Sweeney, Pearls and Irritations, 18 September 2025.

Jon Stewart's Post-Kimmel Primer on Free Speech in the Glorious Trump Era on The Daily Show, Youtube, 20 September 2025.

'America is not happy': [Australia's] ABC under fire for [America's ABC] pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the ABC News [Australia], 20 September 2025.

‘A cottage of one’s own’: Newly unearthed Virginia Woolf stories to be published, in the Guardian, 24 September 2025.

Trumps peace plan shows Netanyahu has outmanoeuvered yet another American president, by John Lyons, ABC News, 30 September, 2025.

Watching on the small screen 

We watched a few films from the my younger days that were nostalgic for me and also enjoyed by Sylvia: Dead Poets Society, Welcome to the Dollhouse and Garden State.  We also had lots of fun watching Ted Danson as a spy undercover in a nursing home on Man on the Inside.  Then there were a few shows that gave me much to think about: Hostage (the UK political thriller series with Suranne Jones), Unknown Number: the High School Catfish documentary film, and the tv series,  Maid, which gives a great insight into how domestic violence can affect a woman's life.

In My Kitchen: September 2025

September has been a fun month in the kitchen with a new airfryer, spring farmers market produce, fathers day, crafts, and a pate platter for the AFL Grand Final.   We have been eating lots of soups and favourite winter recipes but as the weather warms up, we are heading back into salad and fritters territory.  Work has been quieter with my manager on leave and a couple of days of annual leave for me to support Sylvia with her online schooling.  

Above is a photo of produce from the Coburg Farmers Market.  Green veg, good bread and some treats are pretty reflective of a lot of food in our kitchen.  I love how the leek from the farmers market is all wild and curly unlike the straight sticks of leek from the supermarket.  

Here is more from the farmers market.  I was pleased to remember to take a bottle to reuse for buying Good Brew kombucha.  The onions are so tiny that they are almost as small as the brussels sprouts.  Sylvia was excited to find the pressed chevre in olive oil from the Dreaming goat dairy.  She had tasted it months ago at the market and it has taken quite some time to see it again.  It is not cheap but is excellent.  We loved it in a sandwich.  We also bought Take Me Home's fresh gnocchi, which we usually fry rather than boiling, as per instructions.  This packet went into a batch of our favourite Creamy vegan gnocchi soup with sausage and kale.  It was good though not quite as good as the shelf stable gnocchi.  Next time we are back to frying this gnocchi.

We have had a lot of food bakes from the farmers market.  This is what we bought last weekend for grand final snacking.  My photo does not do justice to the beauty of the vegan Better Now Bakes stall.  Sylvia loves the chilli and potato focaccia.  While we were watching the Grand Final we started with a mushroom pate platter and then moved onto a tahini date scroll for me and a slice of the banoffee tart with a coconut cream meringue for Sylvia.  Good stuff.  And I also bought a Flinders Sourdough black pearl bun with chunks of chocolate.  They are the best!

I went to Geelong for afternoon tea with my parents and siblings on Fathers Day.  I made a collage Fathers Day card for the occasion.  I started it a few days before and had lots of ideas but could not make them fit together.  The next day it all came together when I had another go.  The card had plenty of images relating to my dad's life: travel, religion, gardening, corn flakes, music, photos and books.  You might even spot a ball and a hammer to symbolise sport and his tools.

I took a tub of coconut ice to Geelong.  It is always popular.  I cut it into small squares because it is so sweet.  We all had plenty and there was still some leftover for my dad and some for Sylvia to give her dad.  I was pleased with my photos and that it was better with reducing the icing sugar from 340g to 270g,  I have updated these in my coconut ice post.

I went home from my parents with a few treats such as the amazing chocolate orange cake my mum made (with gluten free flour), a loaf of fantastic seeded sourdough from  my sister and also from Fran was some boxes of sweet and salty microwave popcorn.  It was cleverly designed so you pulled a tab to made a box from a thin package and just pop that in the microwave.  It said 2-3 minutes and I went more rather than less.  It was a mistake and we had too many burnt ones.  Next time it will be 2 min!  But the good popcoen was quite nice.

This photo shows why I should not go to the supermarket after work when I am hungry.  I had promised Sylvia I would buy her milk and cereal on the way home but then got tempted by less essential food.  That Zooper Dooper Fairy Floss Twisties had to be tasted.  Surprisingly they were not bad.  Despite lots of artificial flavours they worked.  Once was enough though.  I also tried the cracker versions of Smith Cheese chips which were just like cheese crackers.  No surprise there!  And I needed chocolate so I bought a favourite chokito bar.

A happier supermarket outcome was on a trip when I unexpectedly had a message that I had won win $15.  I still don't know how, even after asking a salesperson.  You don't question good luck.  Aroud the same time I found I had won it, I noticed a display of Lindt Dubai Chocolate for a ridiculous $20 a block.  Usually I would find that too expensive to justify, but when I deducted the $15 I had won, it was quite reasonable.  It was excellent with a pleasing thin creamy pistachio and crunchy kadayif pastry filling.

My e-bike battery keys come loose far too easily and I lost one recently.  I asked at our huge hardware store key cutting service and was told they didn't cut these keys.  So I went to a small local locksmith in a tiny store tucked off Harding St, Coburg.  It was so beautifully old school.  The display of locks on the wall was lovely to look at.  The locksmith had three goes before he found a key he could cut to fit my bike.  It is so sad that these niche skills are being replaced by the run of the mill key cutting services in malls and large franchises.  

I turned up late at Back Alley Bakes for bread while on a ride.  There were only two loaves left.  I purchased what I thought was an Il Campo.  As I paid and the loaf was stuffed into a paper bag and I saw that it was an IX Campo and as big as our cat for a a massive $18.  It was excellent bread with a hint of carraway and ended up in many sandwiches and snacks.

I am sharing a photo of my tofu press in action to tell you how much I love it.  The tofu is clamped between two slabs of plastic with the screws to drain out as much liquid as possible.  We use it a lot.  It really makes a difference to how well the tofu absorbs the flavours we add.

Sylvia had found a recipe for One Pan Chili-Lime Coconut Tofu on tik-tok.  It was a fairly simple sauce of chili-garlic paste, coconut milk and lime.  It was very nice but we didn't have enough sauce - I think I would add some water or stock to the pan next time.  We had some kale in with the tofu and served it with brussel sprouts.

 

It was so good to come home from work to this fantastic pumpkin miso pasta with crispy tofu bacon and steamed brussel sprouts.  This was inspired by a tik tok but Sylvia could not find the actual recipe so she improvised.  The pumpkin, garlic and spring onions were roasted and then blended with miso and pasta water were blended to make a tasty sauce for the pasta.

Last month we really enjoyed a Pesto Soup with Gnocchi, Beans and Greens.  We made it again!  It is really good.  This is a photo from the following day when it had thickened. I made a few changes - used parsley instead of basil, chickpeas instead of cannelini beans, and dinosaur kale instead of chard.  I love a recipe even more when it responds well to substitutions.  

There has been a lot of crafting in our kitchen recently.  The kitchen table has been stacked with second hand books Sylvia has been using for collages an we both did a course in Making an enchanted miniature bookshelf.  We spent some time finishing our bookshelves at home on the kitchen table.  You can read more about our bookshelves at my post on the miniature bookshelves.

In  my kitchen is a new airfryer.  This is a piece of kitchen wizardry that I have avoided for a long time.  It seemed too expensive, too unnecessary, too much bench space.  Recently I saw a nice small 4 litre Russell Hobbs Satisfry airfryer for a bargain $50 which was a third of the usual price.  It fits nicely between the microwave and the fridge.  So I took the chance to try it out.  

My mum tells me to treat it like an oven that perhaps bakes a bit hotter than my gas oven.  I find it pretty intuitive.  It stops halfway through the cooking to remind me to shake the tray.  I am trying to remember to wipe it down after cooking.  Reviewers say that the non stick can start to bubble and peel so I am wary of that.  When I checked for the air fryer online, this model is not on the Russell Hobbs site so I gather they are not making it any more.  It is not very big but I like that it takes less energy (apparently) and might be better than turning on a hot oven in summer.

We have had fun experimenting with the air fryer.  It has been a game-changer in reheating pizza.  (We usually do that in the microwave.)  Done in a few minutes and crispy.  It even revived 5 day old pizza from dry to delicious.  I roasted some 2cm slices of zucchini (sprayed with oil and turned over half way through (15 minutes at 190 C).  These were excellent in sandwiches with peanut butter or just eaten as snacks.  I made a lunch of melted brie on toast in the air fryer (4 minutes at 200 C) and then impressed Sylvia by crisping up a Fry's schnitzel from the freezer (10 minutes at 200 C).  I am still getting used to temperature and timing but it is getting easier.

We were happy to find packets of Pickers on special in the freezer section of the supermarket.  We bought a box each of Cheesy bites with camembert, Tomato mozzarella risotto melters (aka suppli), and Herb and parmesan cauliflower bites.  Even better was finding that they are great to heat in the air fryer.  It heats frozen food quicker than the gas oven and makes it so crisp.

Finally here is a lovely "bouquet" from Sandy Hill Banksia's Native Flowers at the Coburg Farmers Market. It is silver gum nuts.  I was told I could keep them in water a few weeks and then let them dry out.  Sylvia does not like it when I put them on the kitchen table (when it is not covered with dishes and crating) and they drop their seeds.  that doesn't matter to me.  They are just gorgeous.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post's url to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her gorgeous hand drawn header.  Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host this even that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens. 

Mushroom, Walnut and Brie Pâté for a Grand Final platter

I am not a football person but I like to watch the Grand Final each year.  Nor am I a mushroom fan and yet I sometimes find those little Fun Guys oddly irresistible.  So this year for our grand final platter, I decided to make a mushroom, walnut and brie pâté.  It was really the brie and the walnuts that made it worth playing with mushrooms and it was worth it.

We went out to the farmers market in the morning to buy some fine baking because if I was going to be eating mushroom pâté I wanted some good bread to eat with it.  But I did not buy the beautiful mushrooms at the market.   They are so gorgeous with their tiny enoki and fluffy lion's mane and blue oyster mushrooms.  A bit too fancy for my mushroom aversion.  I prefer the neat little Swiss brown mushrooms from the supermarket.

WanderCooks where I found the recipe called it an easy 20 minute recipe and they were right.  I took a bit of time to go and snip some fresh herbs from the garden.  Then I went searching for sherry and could only find a bottle of red wine.  But the roasting walnuts, frying mushrooms and melting brie were quick and before I knew it I had a creamy mixture to blend into a smooth pâté.

I had the pâté ready before the grand final pre-match entertainment but was still arranging the platter when Snoop Dog played.  I had a quick look every now and again but it looked so American that I wished they had chosen a local musician.  I know I am old school when it comes to aussie rules football.  For me, seeing Mike Brady sing Up there Gazaly was the highlight of the entertainment.  

Finally we had our platter and could sit down to the watch the match.  I was surprised how much I loved the mushroom pâté.  It was full of flavour and silky smooth.  I liked it far more than I liked the grand final.  While I am not a huge football fan, I loved Geelong as a kid and still get my hopes up when they play in the "granny".  

It was an intense game for the first two quarters with so much holding the ball and stopping the play and the two sides neck and neck.  But by half time I had seen enough football and the prevalence of Brisbane in the second half was enough to bore me.  Yet again my team let me down.  I was sad.  But it is ok.  After all I don't really follow them during the season.  I just like them to win a grand final.  And it was a good excuse for a platter.

I loved the grand final pâté platter.  We had a mix of healthy food and junk food: red capsicum, guacamole corn chips, brie, cashews, carrot, asparagus, Vegemite cheese crackers, sourdough bread, snow peas and Twisties.  The Flinders Sourdough hi top was excellent with the pâté.  I could not believe that something with mushroom could be so good.  Sylvia, who loves mushroom didn't like it much because there were too many walnuts.  You can't please them all.  For me it was a good mushroom day and a great pâté.

More mushroom recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

Creamy vegan mushroom and wild rice soup (v)
Festive Mushroom Pie 
Gyoza with mushrooms and lime leaves (v)
Haggis stuffed mushrooms  
Lentil and mushroom nut roast (v)
Mixed Asian mushrooms with dashi (gf, v)
Mushroom and chocolate risotto (gf, v) 
Mushroom, chestnut and couscous sausages
Mushroom whisky gravy (v)
Steamed mushroom buns (v)

Mushroom Walnut Brie Pâté

Adapted from WanderCooks

 

1/2 cup walnuts

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

5-6 medium cloves, roughly chopped

300 g mushrooms, thickly sliced, (I used Swiss brown)

1-2 tbsp leaves of fresh thyme

2 tbsp red wine (or water/ port/sherry)

1/2 cup fresh parsley  and chopped

100 g brie 1/2 wheel ), chopped 

Salt and pepper to taste

Fry walnuts over medium heat in a cast iron frypan while you prepare the vegies.  When they smell done, roughly chop and set aside.

Pour oil into the frypan and fry the onions and garlic for a few minutes until the onion is translucent.  Add mushrooms and thyme for about 5 minutes until soft and swimming in their juices.  Stir in red wine and parsley for a minute or so.  Then dot with chunks of brie and give them a few minutes to get all melty.  

Mix in the frypan with a spoon to make it a nice creamy mixture.  Spoon mixture into a tall jug and smoosh with a handheld blender to make a smooth pâté.

Serve warm or keep in the fridge until you are ready to eat it cool or at room temperature.   (They say to top pâté with butter in the fridge but I had it in a airtight container for a few days in the fridge and it was fine without butter or oil on top!)

On the Stereo:
Remember us to Life: Regina Spektor

Easy brownies - mix in tin

I am sharing this recipe for easy brownies for anyone who craves chocolate baking but has no energy for it.  It is a recipe I found on The Kitchn but has since disappeared.  These brownies are so effortlessly amazing that I could not let the recipe linger in my draft folders any longer.  It is made with no mixing bowl, no chocolate and no lining of the tin.  When you next want the easiest way to bake brownies, I am here for you!

The miracle of this recipe is that you swish some oil around in a square cake tin, mix all the ingredients in the tin, bake and the brownie comes out like a dream.  I don't understand how the magic happens.  It sounds impossible.  Sure there needed to be a little care in cooling them slightly and using a gentle knife to coax them out.  Yet it works!  

The first time I made it I couldn't believe my eyes.  I was raised to always line and/or grease a cake tin.  When I was a child, my mum usually lined cake tins with butter wrappers - the residual butter was easier than having to rub butter over the tin.  Then I discovered a canister of oil spray (once the threat of CFCs in aerosols had passed) and then I moved onto baking paper.  We went through a phase where both Sylvia and I made these brownies.  

The batter has the glossiness of a good brownie batter.  I find that a firm square edged silicone spatula is great for getting to the corners of the tin to make the ingredients are all mixed in. It is beautiful to see just how clean the bottom of the tin is as the spatula pulls the batter away.

The fact that the recipe I had found on The Kitchn just disappeared makes the recipe all the more mysterious.  I went to the link in the draft and the recipe it went to was not the one I had discovered last year.  I have searched The Kitchn.  I have searched all of the World Wide Web. Either it is no longer online or it is lost in all the brownie recipes online!  Thank goodness I wrote recipe notes. 

I made the recipe again this week to check I wasn't dreaming.  It still worked.  Nothing I could do could destroy the magic.  I used half a cup of wholemeal flour and 1/4 cup of white flour.  No problem.  I forgot to mix the dry ingredients before adding the egg and water.  All good.  I tipped all the choc chips into the batter but remembered in time to grab some back to dot the top.  These brownies are so good they do not need choc chips.  And they are so easy that the only equipment needed a cake tin, a tablespoon, a teaspoon, a spatula and a couple of cup measures.  

While the brownies bake, they smell amazing.  It has made me so happy to come home from work to the warm embrace of Sylvia baking these.  They have such an alluring aroma that that is so good it would make you want to buy a house.  When the brownies are warm out of the oven, they are quite squidgy but wonderfully intense.  As they cool, they get more dense and slightly chewy, especially around the edges.  They are so difficult to share but I am sure they would be welcome at any gathering.

More brownie recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:
Brownie in a mug (v) 
Chocolate brownies with chickpea flour (gf)
Donna Hay Brownies (gf)
Nigel's Brownies
Nutella brownies
Vegan brownies with optional dulce de leche swirl (v) 
Walnut brownies

Easy Brownies - mix in tin
Slightly adapted from The Kitchn
Makes 16 squares

1/2 cup neutral oil, such as canola or rice bran
1 1/4 cups castor sugar
3/4 cup plain flour

1/2 cup natural cocoa powder - try an extra 2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Pour oil into a 20 square cake tin and swirl to cover base and halfway up the sides.  

 

Place sugar, flour, coco and salt in the tin.  Use a firm spatula or wooden spoon to roughly mix and make a well for the eggs.  Add eggs and water. Stir until well combined - use the spatula to push mixture clean off the base so it does not stick.  Mix in most of choc chips, leaving a few to dot over the top.  Smooth down mixture and top with remaining choc chips.  

 

Bake for about 25-28 minutes or until mixture pulls away from the side and top is slightly dry.  Remove from oven and wait 15 minutes.  Slice into 16 pieces in the tin.  Best to wait until cooled before removing from the tin but if you are careful you can have warm brownies from the tin.  They are great warm, at room temperature or over the next few days.

 

Notes:

• Works with 1/2 wholemeal flour and 1/4 cup white flour
• You can use dark or milk choc chips
• A firm silicone spatula is good for mixing the mixture and making sure it comes clean off the bottom of the tin.
• Love and Lemons has a similar brownie ingredients that she finds similar to boxed brownie mixture she had as a child.
• They are best warm or room temperature but I don't recommendation when really hot out of the oven. 

On the Stereo:
Why Dr Ranjana Srivastava tells the whole truth about cancer in ABC RN Conversations podcast, 9 September 2025.

Making a magical miniature bookshelf

Last week we went to a Laneway Learning class called "Make your own enchanted bookshelf with Megan".  It was so much fun.  Two hours were not enough so we finished our bookshelves at home.  So today I share what we did, with many thanks to the delightful Megan for kick-starting our project.  This project gave us some new skills and ideas

This is the starter box on the left that we were given when we arrived at the class.  Beside it is an example of a bookshelf that Megan had made earlier.  We all knew that none of of would complete a bookshelf like this by the end of the class.

What we did achieve by the end of the class was a pile of books and box with shelves to take home.  Megan had made a lot of books for us to decorate but she also gave us some time to make more books.  

The books were made by painting cardboard, cutting it and folding it and then gluing it in place with a hot glue gun.  (I tried one with PVA glue and it was not pretty!)

We had some scraps of painted cardboard and gold paint to decorate the books.  The painted cardboard could be cut into thin strips and glued onto the books as binding.  While initially I did this binding across the full book, I got to realise we only had to do part of the book.  The gold paint was used to paint tiny details with a very fine paintbrush.  

As soon as we got home, Sylvia was keen to put together her bookshelf so a couple of days later we headed out to Spotlight for PVA glue and balsa wood.  Everything else we needed was around our house.  We took Megan's advice and bought WeldBond PVA which works really well.

She took very little time to glue the shelves in the box and then fill the shelves with her cardboard books, tiny paper scrolls, a few small jars and a tiny pot plant holder.  

The Balsa wood was for the frame.  We bought a balsa dowell rod and a wooden lino tool set to carve it.  This was totally new to us but we also had a retractable craft knife and a cutting mat that we had bought for collaging.  I was surprised how easy it was to cut balsa wood with the craft knife and to carve thin lines with the lino tools to make the dowel look like branches.  It was easier to carve lines along the grain than against it.

To paint the shelves and the frames, we dug into the old acrylic paints we had used when Sylvia was younger.  I was so glad we didn't throw them out as they did the job!

We mixed paints to find the colours that we needed.  You can see on the newspaper above how Sylvia mixed different colours and painted a splodge on the paper after each addition of colour to see if it was the brown that she wanted.

Sylvia filled her bookshelf and glued on the balsa wood frames before painting.  This meant that she left the insides of the shelves white and found it harder to get into all the crevices of the frames.  It looks amazing. 

We already had these miniature jars because Sylvia loves tiny things.  She filled these with dried herbs, crystal chips, and paper scrolls.  Sprinkles would work too.  She then got out her jewellery pliers to make coloured bottles out of random beads with a smaller bead attached to the top with wire.  She also wrote tiny labels on paper that could be glued onto the bottles.  She even had a tiny jar that she painted the lid gold.  And she painted some gold onto the top of tiny scrolls.

 

I was much slower in getting my bookself together and learnt from watching Sylvia do hers.  I was going to try and give my painting the lines of wood grain but it was not something I am familiar with and in the end would not have been seen very clearly.  I had to trim my shelves to fit the box. 

I halved my balsa wood dowel by using a ruler and pencil to make a line along the dowel to make cuts along with my craft knife and then turned it over and did the same thing on the other side.  I used the craft knife to cut some curves on the insides of the frame which looked rustic.  The photo above is when I placed my carved sticks to put together as a wooden frame.  I had to use a little bluetak to get it to sit together.  It was clear that I needed to cut it to fit but painted it before doing this.

With my bookshelf and frame painted, it was time to assemble the bookshelves with my trusty bottle of glue.  As Sylvia and Megan had done, I had a few piles of books and some that did not sit straight.  Scrolls were used in the spaces and I had bottles and a pot plant in a few gaps.  I also found a giraffe that I used ot have on a key chain that I added to the shelves.

I arranged everything in the shelves and then took it out in order, shelf by shelf so I was clear what I was gluing in place.  I was surprised when discussing this with Sylvia that she had not arranged her shelves before gluing.  In doing craft projects with her, I have noticed that I like to plan but she just wings it and manages to get it looking great much quicker than me.  It is interesting how we have our own styles.

 

Once the shelves were filled I was ready to frame them.  I had been concerned that the frames would be quite dark so I decided to use a fine paintbrush to brush lightly over the painted sticks to make the carving stand out more.  Arranging the frame sticks to be cut to fit was fiddly.  In the above picture you can see that I tried to fill some of the gaps in the corners with the PVA glue but it did not make a difference once it dried.  I had to hold down some sticks which were not even to sit on the edges of the box.  While it was drying it seemed fragile and liable to move and fall off.  Once dried it seemed fine even where there were gaps along the edges.  (I have included a ruler in the above photos so you can see how big it is - about 15cm or 6 inches high.)

Finally our shelves were finished.  Sylvia is keen to do more but I feel like once is enough for me.  I do not have the time and space in my life for more.  Mine is currently on a bookshelf in the lounge room but I plan for it to go into the dolls house at some point.  It feels like a great achievement to get this done and I am so glad we went to the class to start us on this path.

 

 

More craft projects on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• A backyard mural: forest, fairies and fireworks 
• Fairy nook for backyard garden: part 1: upcycling a toy oven and overview 
• Halloween toilet paper roll and hot glue gun candles
• How to make a minion pinata   
• How we made a paper fireplace out of a cardboard box
• Craft ideas for kids - a list of activities on my blog