Interviews / 21 August, 2023 / Leo Bamford
I’ve always been a super fan of Courtney Adamo and I loved seeing her newsletter when I was on holiday last week. It was titled ‘My Friend Lisa Gardner Shares 5 Things She’s Loving Right Now’ and it was a really epic read. It was such a fun idea consisting of a collection of a book, a series on Netflix, places to visit, things to buy and music to listen to. I immediately emailed Courtney, who I know from her life in London. She now lives with her husband and five kids in Byron Bay, Australia and is a businesswoman, blogger and author to name just a few of her attributes. She also creates amazing online courses and e-books for parents.
I was thrilled when she agreed not only to share five things that she is loving right now but also didn’t mind me copying her brilliant idea! First on her list was the woman’s World Cup which I was glued to on Sunday. We are now fully hooked on woman’s football. Courtney also shares what she’s listening to at the moment, buying, reading and making. Her chocolate chip cookies are top of my list for when the kids go back to school.
I hope everyone enjoys Courtney Adamo’s awesome list as much as I did.
1. The Women’s World Cup here in Australia!
We aren’t big TV people, but it’s been so fun to watch the football games every evening after dinner. And Australia’s Matildas have captured everyone’s hearts — we’re all rooting for them! We went to the quarter-final game in Brisbane last weekend, and the energy in the stadium was incredible! Fingers crossed they make it to the final!
We’ve been longtime fans of Andrew Bird’s music, but recently Michael and I went to see him play live in a small music venue and he was even more impressive in real life! He plays the violin, sings and whistles (sometimes all at once!). His album, Inside Problems, is playing as I type!
I’m not a very big shopper and I don’t really stay on top of trends, but I have followed the British brand, Sideline, on Instagram since we lived in London, and the newest collection is so beautiful! That blue colour!!
I just recently re-read my favourite book of all time — The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I read it for the first time 20 years ago, so reading it again as a mother gave me a whole new level of appreciation for the story told by a mother and her four daughters.
I grew up in America, so I’ve spent my life baking chocolate chip cookies. However, recently my teenagers, who are really into baking, have fine-tuned our chocolate chip cookie recipe, making the cookies extra delicious – chewy and salty and so yum! Here’s their recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed (255g)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (240g), melted
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla paste (or extract)
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (310g)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 100g bars of dark chocolate, chopped into chunks (or two of these larger 250g bars)
- flakey sea salt for topping
Method
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, salt, and butter until well combined. Whisk in the egg and vanilla, beating until light ribbons fall off the whisk and remain for a short while before falling back into the mixture.
- Sift in the flour and baking soda, then fold the mixture with a spatula (be careful not to over-mix, which would cause the gluten in the flour to toughen resulting in cakier cookies).
- Fold in the chocolate chunks, then chill the dough for at least one hour. (For a more intense toffee-like flavour, chill the dough overnight.) The longer the dough rests, the more complex its flavor will be.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop the dough with an ice-cream scoop (or large spoon) onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, leaving at least 10 cm of space between cookies and 5 cm of space from the edges of the pan so that the cookies can spread evenly. Stick one chunk of dark chocolate in the top of each cookie dough ball. Sprinkle with flakey sea salt.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges have started to barely brown. Cool on a wire rack. And… enjoy!
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