Zanni Louise

Children's author, freelance writer & blogger

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Best sourdough bread. Simple, healthy and delicious

Best sourdough bread. Simple, healthy and delicious

No mess. Easy. Low salt. Low sugar. Delicious goodness.

This recipe is care of my sister-in-law, Sascha. She imparted her bread-making secrets with me, and I am going to share them with you.

The first step is using dry sourdough starter. I got mine from Sascha but you will be able to get it from your wet sourdough starter after your next batch of bread. When you are done kneading, take flour and…

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My Little Sunset Post

My Little Sunset Post

My Little Sunshine House has been a bit vacant these last few months. I dropped in occasionally earlier in the year, to straighten things out and brush off the cobwebs. People around the world are still visiting, to learn how to knot a DIY macrame, or to read an interview with a children’s author, or something.

But lately, I’ve been spending my time over in the new, slightly more spangly house,…

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My Little Sunset Post

My Little Sunset Post

My Little Sunshine House has been a bit vacant these last few months. I dropped in occasionally earlier in the year, to straighten things out and brush off the cobwebs. People around the world are still visiting, to learn how to knot a DIY macrame, or to read an interview with a children’s author, or something.

But lately, I’ve been spending my time over in the new, slightly more spangly Zanni…

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A Love Letter To Lismore

A Love Letter To Lismore

image courtesy ABC News

Less than a week ago, we heard reports that Cyclone Debbie was brewing in far north QLD. Days later, the rain began sheeting down. By Thursday afternoon, the Lismore roads were drenched. I was getting SMSs from school and ballet to take care driving home, and that floods were predicted.

3am that night, the Lismore flood levy broke, and the water rose,

and rose,

and rose.

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Five nice things

Five nice things that happened this week:

One. Feeling alive and salty

We went into Byron one evening, after a sweltering day hanging at home in the Alstonville plateau. It was ten degrees cooler by the coast. We ate Japanese at our favourite Byron eat place, Japonaise Kitchen. The beach was choppy and blowy, and it was already 6pm. But my daughter and I ran and danced and sung into the ocean.…

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Welcome to Marry Land

Welcome to Marry Land

Most couples make it out on a date night once in a while. For many couples we know with kids, date night is an essential ingredient to remaining connected, and happily married.

For us, my husband and I, date night comes but once a year; our anniversary. It’s enough of an excuse to ring in a willing family member to take the kids. We savour our together time without kids, melting into each…

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Hello, 2017

Hello! It’s been a little while since I have written here. I can’t tell you why, exactly. Maybe it’s that life has been busy. Maybe I have been conserving writing energy for other projects. Maybe I want to conserve words until I have something burning to tell you. There is a flood of words out there, on our screens, surrounding us and closing in on us. We can turn away, and turn them off. But I…

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Homely

Books stacked on shelves.

Cartons  flattened.

Tea cups laid out and dusted.

The dust has settled, and we are too. Slowly. Surely.

The Sunshine House is as we left it, more or less. There’s a tree missing, blew down in a storm, and a few things amiss and a’broken. We’ve rearranged bedrooms, and emptied the house of everything everythingwe don’t need. After cozy Dutch houses, our own house, small…

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Travel Bug

Travel Bug, Venice

The Travel Bug had always dreamed of adventure. But he lived most of his life tucked under a bed in an AirBnB.

Until the day a little hand reached under, and extracted him from his safe burrow.

Unsure at first, the Travel Bug ventured out.

His first taste of fresh air blasted his lungs. But he soon got used to it. He found himself on bridges in Venice, in barred windows, in busy piazzas and…

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Sunshine Gypsies :: Istria, Croatia

Sunshine Gypsies :: Istria, Croatia

A little Venetian-style town, on the Mediterranean coast.

Friendly locals, who speak three, four, or five languages fluently.

Warm sea, perfect for swimming.

Bright skies.

Deep sunsets.

A swarm of sparrows every night, clustering in trees by the sea, not before swarming into the pink sky in formation.

A little mountain medieval village, with two city walls,…

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Children's Book Tuesday :: The Wonder Years

Children’s Book Tuesday :: The Wonder Years

It’s 9.30pm. I’m working. Husband is reading. Our youngest is fast asleep. From the next room, come the fast and furious mutters of a child not yet asleep. The intonation rises and falls. There are accents and a range of voices. There is possibly accompanying actions. Soon, the noises will cease.

Tomorrow, when I wake at 7.30am, I will hear them again. The mutters. The voices. The dramatic…

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Sunshine Gypsies :: A Day in Venice

Sunshine Gypsies :: A Day in Venice

What to do when you find yourself two hours drive from Venice? It’s half way to your next stop, in Croatia. Do you miss it? You’ll have to train in. Or catch a boat. It might be expensive. It’ll certainly be expensive. Forget it?

We haven’t splurged a lot on this trip. But Venice felt necessary.

We found a AirBnBon the mainland, close by, so had a taste of…

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Sunshine Gypsies :: Lake Iseo, Italy

Sunshine Gypsies :: Lake Iseo, Italy

It turns out, September is the perfect time to travel in Italy. The crowds have dwindled, and it’s still warm and delicious.

Ten days ago, we left our beloved Granny Annie in Semriach, and headed south to Italy. We spent a night in Udine, then dropped by Verona on our way to Lake Iseo.

Verona was spectacularly busy, and beautiful. It was our first proper taste of Italy,…

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Sunshine Gypsies :: Wolfgangsee

Sunshine Gypsies :: Wolfgangsee

I love the idea of camping. But until this week, had only ever camped two or three nights with my little sunshine family. Here, though, beside the Wolfgangsee in Austria, we set up our fancy glamping tent under an apple tree for ten whole magical days…

From under the shade of the apple tree, we’d emerge each morning in the quiet, lakeside farm campsite and walk directly into…

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Children Book Tuesday :: Writing by heart

Children Book Tuesday :: Writing by heart

As some of you know, I have spent much of the last week sitting beside a lake, writing. Words flow in a steady stream. I pause for a moment to look up at the magical horizon, then back at my computer, lost in the story as it unfolds.

This is what I imagined it would be like to write a novel.

Like many lovers of books, I’ve had a quiet fantasy to at some point write a novel. Every novel I have…

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Fairytale Village

Earlier this week, we visited a town on a lake in Austria called Hallstatt. It is said to be one of the ten most beautiful lakeside towns in Europe. And I’d believe it. Overrun with tourists, and rarely sunny, yet so like wandering through a fairytale. Little Elka wandered the town, lost in storytelling mode. It was magic. 

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Sunshine Gypsies :: Garmisch-Partenkirchen

  I won’t pretend we are not lucky. For the next six weeks, the Sunshine Gypsies are travelling around Europe. One tent and a carful of gear.

Stop one. Garmish-Partenkirchen, Germany.

We enter the green valley by train. The surrounding mountains are not imposing or intimidating. They seem kind, like a protective force around the valley.

Our sunshine tent has already been set up…

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