C is for Choices
Font pairing can be tricky. There are so many fonts to choose from and they each have a different feel. I must confess it used to scare me a bit, but I’ve loved getting to know the nuances of all those typefaces – from the modern to the traditional to the elegant – and which ones fit together to give just the right message and tone for a brand.
Sometimes there’s a perfect match, but sometimes the task calls for a custom typeface. And that spells FUN for me.
Here’s a sneak preview of one I’ve been developing for a client. There’s a whole alphabet where that came from – coming soon!
One of my favourite trees is the Paperbark tree. I love its soft, pale, paper-like bark which peels easily off the trunk. I also love that it’s waterproof – apparently the local Noongar people once used it to make raincoats.
My friend Mon was over for cake one afternoon and she couldn’t stop looking at my hanging baskets, which I’ve lined with paperbark. I thought this was fairly common but she thought it was genius. So this month I’m sharing how I do it, in pictures. You’ll need some bark from a paperbark (I forage mine locally while walking the dogs), a wire hanging basket, and some garden snips.
Did I mention I just love Asian greens? There are SO many gorgeous varieties out there to try and best of all SO many ways to eat them (raw, steamed, stir-fried, roasted). This winter I have purple Choy Sum growing in my garden, and I’m thanking myself for planting them in early autumn. It’s given me huge joy to watch them slowly sprout from seed into little seedlings and then flourish into beautiful, stalky, luscious, leafy greens (purples?).
They are incredibly easy to grow. Ask my neighbour Pete. We did a seedling swap in February and when I ran into him at the café the other day he gave me a BIG smile and a double thumbs up. His choy sum is winning, too.
A big bonus of choy sum is its glorious fluoro yellow flowers that bring in the wonderful bees. These flowers are edible and will elevate your stir fry from basic to beautiful. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of Togarashi spice for a bit of extra something.
P.S. My go-togarashi recipe can be found in Pantry Love. The last few copies are available here.