I Love Winter
In another life I was probably a polar bear.
The Melbourne summer just gone was like a 3-month steamy sauna. And it practically killed me.
I can't do humidity. It makes me incredibly itchy and uncomfortable and like I want to crawl out of my skin constantly. Basically, I'm miserable.
Give me a 45 degree, furnace-like day anytime. As long as it's dry.
Please, Mr El Niño or La Niña or whichever one is wetter… no more humidity in Melbourne! It's why I live here, and not Queensland. Or even Sydney. I can't even handle the humidity one state north of here.
So, for the entire summer I stayed indoors as much as possible, with the air-conditioning on full blast (sorry, planet), and counted down the days until the degrees started to drop.
It's been an unusually cold March, and I couldn't be happier.
***
Cooler weather makes me feel alive. I suddenly have heaps more energy, and activities I've been putting off as too much effort suddenly seem easily manageable.
Like this pile of winter woollens that I'm deeply ashamed to say have been sitting at the bottom of the laundry hamper for months, waiting for me to handwash them.
There are few chores I loathe more, or put off more, than handwashing. It was extra easy to put these off, because I didn't even want to touch wool in that weather.
But I bit the bullet and did all 8 items the other day because we needed some warmer clothes.
I know plenty of people just use the delicates cycle on their washing machine instead of handwashing, but I don't trust ours to not shrink or in some other way ruin our clothes.
Do you hate handwashing as much as me?
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This weekend I think I'm going to to do the spacebag switcheroo.
I keep all my out-of-season clothes in spacebags under the bed.
Such a brilliant invention. I love the way they shrink down to an amazing thinness in seconds. How you don't need mothballs or to worry about critters. How everything comes out smelling as fresh as the day they went into storage.
And they're perfect for our apartment which has very little storage space.
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You know what else happens as soon as the mercury drops? I get an urge to bake. I frequently moan about the postage stamp-sized bench space in our tiny galley kitchen, but for some reason the cooler temperatures deem this inconvenience irrelevant, and I develop a strong desire to whip up all kinds of concoctions and confections.
This is the chocolate cake I made for my poor aunty who broke her ankle and is laid up for some time to come.
It's the Classic Chocolate Cake I made for my niece's birthday recently.
It's a pretty big cake, though, so I decided to make it into two.
I shared the mix between 2 x 20cm tins. Then I doubled the ganache recipe, using half dark and half milk chocolate, because I think dark chocolate ganache is too rich.
Then I split the cakes in half and spread ganache in the middle and then all over.
Just in case you decide to use that recipe and wonder why my pictures look different 
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I've also re-taken up my winter hobby – quilting. It's too hot to sit with mounds of fabric in your lap in summer, so it's something I only do in the cooler months.
I will definitely finish my mother's quilt this winter, and hopefully start on another one too.
I just need to finish sewing the border on the front and then I'll start on the back. The back won't take as long because the pieces are much bigger, so less fiddly and time-consuming to sew together.
I can't wait to see it finished! I'm sure mum can't either.
***
I just realised why I suffer so much in the heat. Whenever I've had any type of Chinese medicine I've always been told I have a lot of heat in my body. Naturopaths have always told me to eat cooling foods.
In Ayurveda my Prakriti is Pitta (fire) dominant.
I guess this means that my constution is far better suited to cooler climates. I'd probably be perfectly happy in Tasmania
xx Kiki
Naaw, I love polar bears. I was going to call Spencer, Polar, but I didn’t want to confuse him he he hee
When this time of year comes around I’m chomping at the bit to pull my boots and scarves out. I would normally say I love Summer the most, I love the beach, but I’m beginning to be a lover of all 4 equally. There are certain smells in the air and they each have their own beauty.
What a beautiful quilt, you’re so talented. I would not have a clue where to start. I gather your don’t need a sewing machine if you’re sitting on the lounge ha ha! I’m not 100% useless though, I do love to knit… wobbly scarves (I purposely drop stitches for effect!
) What a beautiful gift for your Mum, she will cherish it forever I’m sure.
Reezy – I love your observation about each season’s different smell and the beauty of each. It’s so true about being able to appreciate all 4 – spring and autumn are more subtle seasons, and probably under-appreciated, I think
And I also think you’re talented to be able to knit! I can’t do it for the life of me (and I’ve tried lots). Would love to see you blog about your deliberately imperfect scarves.
lovely cake!
i love your pile of woollens. nothing is snugglier than a pile of wolleens.
cashmere is a new interest of mine. sadly one which i cannot indulge in very often.
i’m a former victorian and the humidity in sydney is ridonkurus! do no want!
today is lovely w/ sunshine + blue skies and a crispness to the air i haven’t experienced since my last autumn in melbourne.
holly – Oooh, cashmere… I hear you! I have one cashmere item – a wrap – that feels so amazingly luxurious, it’s like being royalty. Unfortunately I can’t indulge much either
And, yes, it’s the crispness of the air that I love about autumn – good word 
Omgosh – you and I must switch countries. I want to be back in Melbourne! Canada’s winter has lasted over 6 months now
Btw – the cake looks divineeeeeee. It’s only 930am here but I sure want some of that chocolatey goodness.
Sammy – Errr… hmmm. Yes, 6 months of winter would indeed be a test of my love of cooler weather! I have experienced a Chicago winter so have a bit of an inkling of the kind of temperatures you have to endure. Still, nothing as beautiful as a white Christmas, is there?
We are the opposites when it comes to weather. Very fitting that you live down south. However I can’t handle too much heat, I don’t think I can handle Qld all the time, it’s too tropical. Spring is my fave season, for me, it’s the perfect in between but not too cold.
How do you come about finding out how much heat your body holds? Chinese medicine you say?
Genevieve – I think it’s tropical heat that gets me, too. I’m fine in dry heat. I think Spring is the happiest season – filled with so much promise of warmth and Summer fun to come
Re the body heat, yep, I’ve been to Chinese doctors a few times over the years, and they’ve all told me the same thing about my constitution. I have great respect for the millenia of wisdom in Chinese medicine.
I hears ya baby.
“Tis your Viking heritage my dear.
When your hirsute ancestor lugged his longboat down the glaciers with his motley crew he was a picture of Norse elegance in his bearskin cloak, fur lined boots and woollen checked trousers, all topped with bronze helmet sans horns.
He revelled in snow, ice and frigid waters.Not for him the steamy tropics.Not for his gaggle of children the frolicking on baking sands,
No they gambolled in snow and hurled rock-filled snowballs at each other to harden them for battle………and that was just the girls!
The boys were into tobogganing using their mothers as toboggans.No my dear you are from hardy stock………..as long as our stocks and other parts are wrapped in layers of garments.”
Love
Ethelred the unready
Dunklebird – LOL… that’s hilarious! “…rock-filled snowballs”
I think you’re absolutely right about the Viking heritage and the icy legacy. But no horns on our helmets? The stereotype has misled us.
Oh Kiki, how happy I was to see that I am not the only one who puts off handwashing for MONTHS. My winter slipers have been siiting at the bottom of the laundry hamper since the beginning of the year. Yes, I do hate handwashing!
Am looking forward to seeing the end result of your quilt effort
l’envers – Oh, I’m glad that I’M not the only one too! Was beginning to think posting that was a mistake and I look like a grot… lol! Re slippers, I throw mine in the washing machine in one of those lingerie bags, and mine are sheepskin. Come out fine
I will definitely post the finished quilt once it’s done. Hopefully soon.
Your photograph barely does justice to the delicious chocolate cake which finally shifted me towards the light; the nicest thing to happen to me in a pretty unpleasant week full of broken bones and titanium pins. Thanks a million, hope I dont need to do anything too drastic to enjoy the next one!
Ninya – Chocolate heals all wounds
I’m more than happy to keep up the supplies to speed the healing.
I wish I could say I love winter, being a UK-ian, I always crave for the summer.
It’s prob a different feeling to actually having to deal with heat all the time as opposed to a holiday, I guess…
Lexy – Oh yes, I’m sure I would feel the same if I lived in the UK too. Maybe it’s only Australian winters that I love, because they tend not to be especially bitter or overly long.