General News
20 May, 2026
A Mum's World: Hitting the books
With only Kym and I at home now, I hardly need to cook anymore. While I spend most of my time thinking this is a terrific turn of events, I also forget how much I enjoy a big session in the kitchen.
An unscheduled couple of days at home by Bun-Bun-the-middle-one last weekend saw me mentally wrestling with the ordeal of catering, verses my need to provide healthy delicious meals for everyone to make this house a happy home.
A rainy day and early morning optimism decided it for me.
After burning off some energy completing numerous gardening tasks, I hit the recipes books.
Following a consultation with my faves, a quick inventory of my pantry and curation of a shopping list, a trip to the shops saw me spend a small fortune on ingredients that I had to lug home.
With rain on the roof and a wheelbarrow of dry wood waiting, I felt a Classic Beef Stew was just the thing to sustain us as we caught the drips from the leaking roof in a big steel bowl.
Making a double recipe out of habit, it took a long time to cut and season the meat to brown it in my biggest cast iron pan.
I didn’t onboard anyone else for this project, so Bun-Bun was in her room reading a book long before I began prepping the vegetables.
I’d forgotten that the beef in tasty stock had to be in the oven for an hour and a half before I added the colourful stuff, so I picked up a novel the girls had brought down from upstairs and started reading, best to stay close to the oven, right?
Yes, I could have cleaned a cupboard, sorted through those old music books or put flannelette sheets on the king-sized bed, but I refuse to feel guilty – much.
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’, was lovely, and its beach setting seemed perfect as I wriggled my toes in my Ugg boots and checked the oven timer.
Kym was still busy working on his ute in the shed when the veggies were added to the dish.
I added an hour to the timer.
Best stay close and keep reading.
My sister called and we debriefed life until Kym popped his head in to see if I needed anything at the shops – fresh sourdough please.
Talking with Tam inspired me to make one of Mum’s desserts that was on high rotation – Chocolate Self-saucing Pudding.
The stew still needed to thicken up, never mind, double oven, I’ll keep reading while the pudding bakes.
When we sat down to dinner, we ate until we could hardly breathe.
Then I encouraged some father-daughter time at the cinema while I stretched out in front of the fire to finish my novel – a happy ending, thank you very much.
I don’t always feel guilty curling up with a book, but I always appreciate the luxury.
Can’t wait to stock up at the Chaplaincy Book Fair this Friday.