In the introduction of our latest book, we have written a sentence about our family feeling most at home when we are not. And as I sit here in our tiny airbnb apartment a bit away from Bondi beach, with Elsa sleeping on the couch next to me and Luise and Isac in a bed that is too small for the three of us, I feel this stronger than ever.
With a few belongings packed in a bag, our apartment in Stockholm rented out and all of us tucked into in a room in a country far far away, we always have our closest and happiest family moments. It’s almost ironic how you become so much more present when you remove all the clutter that you worked half your life to get. We have had just as joyful cooking experiences in this 1 square meter kitchen as we have had in our newly renovated kitchen in Stockholm.
I am trying to grip all these moments that we have together. The hugs, the walks, the talks (Elsa’s one million questions about everything she sees), the simple home cooked meals. I want to physically hold on and not letting the moments slip away. But it doesn’t work. 5 weeks have already passed here in Sydney and today we are off to New Zealand for new adventures. We are packing ourselves into a camper van, which means that our space is going to be even tighter. We are also having two cooking events at Little Bird Organics in Auckland. Unfortunately all the tickets sold out on the first day, so we didn’t have time to put it up here (we are planning to do a similar event in Melbourne in February, keep your eye out here for more info).
I haven’t used my DSLR camera much on this trip, so here are instead a few snaps from our instagram feeds.
We followed all the Sydney cafe and restaurant recommendations that we got from you guys earlier and wanted to return the favour by listing some of our favourites. We have been living in different places around Bondi, so most our tips are from there. For those of you living in Sydney, these places are probably old news. But they might hopefully come handy for anyone planning a visit. We are coming back to Sydney for a week in March before we fly back to Sweden, so let us know if we have missed any of your favourites and we’ll try to plan in a visit.
Kitchen By Mike. 1/85 Dunning Avenue, Roseberry. We have had a bunch of people recommending us to visit this place and we can easily understand why. It was such a cool place and the food was rustic and very tasty. The salad recipe we serve below was vaguely inspired by our lunch there.
Sadhana Kitchen. 147 Enmore Road. A small raw food restaurant that serves a whole lot of different raw food dishes with a new twist, not just salads but also lasagna, tacos and vegan BLT.
Earth to Table. 85 Bronte Rd, Bondi Junction. Another creative raw food restaurant. The cakes here are spectacular.
Eveleigh Farmers Market. 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh. A nice farmer’s market situated inside a huge open warehouse building.
Porch and Parlour. 17/110 Ramsgate Avenue, Bondi Beach. One of the hippest places in Bondi. Combines cosmic salads topped with fermented vegetables with good coffee and amazing smoothies and transforms into a wine parlour during the night.
Bread & Circus. 21 Fountain Street, Alexandria. Colourful cafe and a great brunch place with salads, small sides and DIY bread boxes filled with all kind of good stuff.
Orchard Street Cafe. 2 Brighton Boulevard, North Bondi. What we love most about raw food cafe is the nice vibe from the huge open windows and kelim covered outdoor bench. They also have very delicious and investing earthy juices and smoothies based on healing herbs that are worth checking out.
Bondi Harvest. Level 4, Westfield, Bondi Junction. We are fans of the Bondi Harvest youtube channel and was excited to hear about their newly opened restaurant. You wish this surfer inspired place would be located right on the beach, but instead they have opened inside the not-so-charming Westfield mall. The food was however really good. Epic salads and tasty sandwiches. Seasonal and good quality produce.
Pressed Juices. 85 Gould Street, Bondi Beach. There are plenty of cold-pressed juice stores in Sydney but we got most our juices and almond mylks from here. So many great combination of flavours. Elsa’s favourite was the Strawberry Mylk.
About Life. 1 Kiaora Ln, Double Bay (and 4 other locations). An all organic supermarket with everything you might be looking for. They also have a huge take-away lunch buffet with everything from hot dishes to raw food.
Earth Food Store. 81a Gould Street, Bondi Beach. The most spectacular thing about this food store is how beautiful the vegetables are displayed and the cozy atmosphere. They also have a cafe with smoothies, salads, frittata and sweet potato patties.
Health Emporium. 263 – 265 Bondi Road, Bondi. This cute health food store sells smoothies, homemade almond butter and organic vegetables. They also had both our books on display, which adds a lot of bonus points!
Gertrude & Alice. 46 Hall st, Bondi Beach. There is always a special vibe at book cafes. We spent a few hours here, reading to Elsa and flipping through Australian cookbooks while having tea and snacks.
M Deli. 32 Fletcher Street, Bondi. This was our local cafe while living in Bondi. We lived very close and went here for coffee and muffins from the always smiling staff in the mornings. They also serve an array of great tasting salad bowls and tarts for lunch.
Roasted Pumpkin, Fennel & Peach Salad
We made this salad for a picnic that we had with readers in Sydney. The picnic was so wonderful and the salad was simple but great! You want to roast the pumpkins until they are almost a bit burnt on the edges. Keep the pumpkin seeds hanging for the genuine rustic look (like the ones we got at Kitchen By Mike). We bought an organic Kent pumpkin at Eveleigh Farmer’s market, but hokkaido or butternut will work too.
1 Kent/Japanese pumpkin (keep skin and seeds)
2 + 4 tbsp cold-pressed olive oil
4 tbsp honey
2 limes, juice
sea salt and black pepper
Salad ingrediens
2 handfuls almonds
4 peaches, stone removed and cut into wedges
2 fennels, finely sliced, fronds reserved
1 large head of lettuce, leaves separated and torn into bite-size pieces
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Cut the pumpkin into large squares, leaving the skin on and seeds intact. Place skin side down, on a baking tray. Drizzle with 2 tbsp oil, cover evenly and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast the pumpkin in the oven for 30-45 minutes, until the pieces are very soft and the tips are slightly burned. Combine 4 tbsp oil, honey, lime juice, then season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Taste the dressing and adjust the flavours to your preference. Transfer the roasted pumpkin pieces to a bowl and pour over half of the dressing (save the other half for the salad) and toss gently. While the oven is still warm, toast the almonds on a baking tray until golden, about 10 minutes.
Prepare the salad ingredients. In a large bowl, gently toss peaches, fennels and lettuce. Add the remaining half of the dressing and combine. Arrange everything on a platter. Then tuck in the roasted pumpkin pieces, scatter with almonds and sprinkle with fennel fronds. Serve.
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