Dish

The Mother’s Little

Helpers chapter is full

of “extra things to make

other things really good”

• labne, caramelised
  onions, dukkah, pesto...

should I eat? I can’t be bothered cooking’”. And

so, the book was born to address this and the

many other ups and downs of a new life.

One of the chapters is expressly targeted to

those cooking for just themselves – the tongue-

in-cheek-ily named “sad-arse dinners for one”.

Here you’ll find Fix-me-up Soup for when

you feel like you should be doing something

healthy for yourself – green and full of flavour;

Evening-After-The-Night-Before Soup is for

when you need comfort without being too hard

on the system; salmon and edamame beans in

an Asian dressing with brown rice makes you

feel like “you are just a health goddess”, Sarah

says; and then there’s gruyere and bacon tarts,

handy in the freezer for when you need a bit of

decadence. “It’s totally mood-driven,” she says.

“This whole idea of feeling obliged to ‘take care

of myself ’? Well, sometimes I feel like that and

sometimes I don’t.”

The adjustment from cooking for her

family, including two sons, to cooking for

one, was huge, to say the least. Practically and

emotionally. The book addresses both. Sarah

says, “There is empowerment in dining alone –

being on your own, you don’t have to cook what

other people want to eat. You can eat exactly

what you feel like, and that’s what I mean

about moods – because that is huge. There

is real joy in that.”

Entertaining is also something Sarah derives

joy from. She held her first dinner party at 16

when she convinced her mother to let her invite

12 people over for a sit-down dinner. Naturally,

that inclination doesn't stop because you live

alone. So the Sharing the Love chapter is for

when you feel like company but don’t want to

leave your guests unattended while you slave in

the kitchen.

“The recipes in this section are easy. If you're

on your own having people over, you don't

want it to be stressful. You want it to be relaxed

and so most of the stuff is done in advance.

You don't have to do anything when people get

there, except have a drink.”

While the book was written because Sarah

became “unstuck” and is brutal in its honesty,

there are also big doses of humour throughout

and, ultimately, hope. As she writes: “Gradually

the good days became way more common... I

don’t lie down in the evening crying into the

carpet anymore. It gets better.”

“There is empowerment in dining alone – being on

your own, you don’t have to cook what other people

want to eat. You can eat exactly what you feel like...”

38 DISH