I woke today with zero planned and high hopes for a relaxing day. An unexpected text suggesting brunch saw me wandering down to Britomart to meet the brilliant Joanna who said “Do you want to do something crazy?” Fortunately, crazy meant getting on the ferry to Devonport and I was all for it. Off we went in the unseasonal sunshine, on a quest for coffee and brunch.

Today’s learning was that I have become a horrible coffee snob. Some Devonport cafes didn’t seem to display their brand of coffee, so we investigated, then settled for Manuka (Allpress, yay) for Brioche french toast and an enormous big breakfast. By then it was afternoon, so we wandered across to a sunny pub beergarden to toast the arrival of the newest member of our social circle, Evangeline Rae.

It was on our wander back to the ferry that I discovered a treasure at Evergreen Books – the McClary Household Manual. This book was published by Canada’s General Steel Wares in 1928 and it’s going to teach me how to be house proud. While the first chapter is terrifyingly entitled ‘The Housewife’s Opportunity’, the helpful illustrations and ‘Tested Household Recipes’ totally won me over. I mean, I wouldn’t know how to present ‘Stuffed beet salads garnished with fans cut from gherkins’ without the helpful photo,would you? The diagrams explaining cuts of meat and how to choose them are…well…strangely amusing.

Holler if you need to know how to remove a stubborn stain or bake jumbles.