A Taco Shop, Mask Tips and Big! Life! Changes!

Season 4 is back baby!

We’re back, we’re rejuvenated, and we’re strapping in for our fourth (!!) season of Highly Enthused. To kick us off we’ve got recommendations on what to cook when you want MAXIMUM flavour for minimum effort, and for the silky pop jams you should be listening to while you cook it. We’ve got spicy chai tea and a spice blend for spinach triangles, we’ve been movie watching and knitting, gestating and reading and exploring the world of carbonated wine-adjacent beverages in cans. We've got it all, and it’s all for you!

EAT

SR

• Onion Soup without Tears by the king of chic and simple dining, Nigel Slater. The easiest French(ish) onion soup you’ve ever made. All the taste with about 1/8th of the work.

SM

• One Skillet Smoky, Turmeric Chicken with Crispy Chickpeas, Food52. It’s got crunch! It’s got spice! It’s got garlicky yoghurt and chickpeas! Serve it with a salad and enjoy the satisfied moans of your dining companions.

READ

SR

• Kokomo by Victoria Hannan, Booktopia. Sex, love, longing and Melbourne in summer. This book has it all.

WATCH

SM

• Babyteeth, dir. by Shannon Murphy. Rent from Amazon or see in cinemas. Come for the party scene that’ll make you nostalgic for pre-covid life, stay for the ragamuffin, the banging soundtrack and the great acting.

DO

SR

• Knitting! Pick up some wool, watch a few how to videos, and then you too can be whipping up hats like this one for all the upcoming babies in your life.

SM

• Friday night is movie night, and we have a few rules: if you’re not cooking you’re bringing a movie rec; the movie should be from the 80s or 90s; if it doesn’t feature Julia Roberts, Dianne Keaton, Meryl Streep or Nicole Kidman then we’re not interested.

• For your consideration:

• Mystic Pizza (Stan)

• Three Men and a Baby (Disney Plus)

• Heartburn (Amazon)

• Forget Paris (Amazon)
  

The Fast Five!

SR

• Piquette! Made from the leftover skins, seeds and stems from making wine, it’s fizzy, its low alcohol and it often comes served in a can. SoRo loved the one by Fin wines which is sadly sold out, but these two by BK Wines look delish. (SoRo also loves their Skin n Bones Savagnin).

• Welcome to the 90s: The New pop 1989-1992 on Spotify. A very specific playlist from a golden era of slinky tunes.

• Sprinkle a little essential oil in your reusable masks to make the experience more palatable. Apparently this blend was used by thieves during the plague to protect themselves during their robberies.

• 2 Lizards on IGTV by Meriem Bennani for a surreal time capsule of these weird-as-shit times.

• Reply All, The Case of the Missing Hit. Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Just a really great episode of one of SoRo’s favourite podcasts.

SM

• Homemade chai recipe - Dry roast a couple of cloves, some slices of fresh ginger, a star anise, 2 cinnamon cloves, a few black peppercorns and two bashed cardamom pods in a dry pot for a couple of minutes. Add 2-3 cups of water and let that boil gently for 45 mins to 1 hour. Then add two teabags of black tea, a generous splash of milk and a massive spoon of honey, let it come to the boil again, strain and serrrrrve. Also good chilled!

• Rosa Cienfuegos in Dulwich Hill is a little mexican taco shop and grocer. Stop in to pick up groceries and then stay for a snack.

• Marle Felix Knit Dress, in a cotton, silk and cashmere fabric for cozy good times.

• Baharat spice mix. Use it to make a huge batch of a1 Bakery’s spinach triangles and stash them in your freezer.

• The Vacationers by Emma Straub, escape into someone’s insane family drama, set in Majorca. Amazing food, lots of tension, lots of fun. Excellent. 

And that’s it! We’ll see ya in two weeks.

S&S