a bellyful of winter warmers

The chill and the dark of the BRRRR months are fully upon us, and a small fuzzy part of my heart just wants to curl up and go to sleep. But as wonder | wander | women are people and not squirrels or lizards, we still need the energy to get up and go out into the cold.

My favourite solution is to use my magical tools to whip up loads of warm food. I'm on my feet all day and the shop is often cold because visitors are constantly blowing in and out of the doors - I need inner warmth to carry under my winter wear!

Ramen and rice are big staples, but they're only empty calories if we don't supplement them with lots of vegetables and protein. Fortunately we live in places where produce is abundant and delicious.

I also get lots of yummy food to pad myself with at work! This past Halloween our cafeteria outdid itself with spookily delicious baked goods: ghost brownies, zombie cookies and brain cupcakes.

Sometimes the portions are too big to finish in a single sitting, like these massive barbecue ribs with new potatoes. They were so big they made my large plate look small!

At home I dumped a load of rice and vegetables in with the cold leftovers and a dash of stock. The result was two days of gloriously filling food. The ribs practically melted off the bone and infused the rice and veg with a wonderful aroma.

Like many people in the Western hemisphere, we walk to and from work in increasingly cold and wet weather.

For now we have the beautiful remains of autumn foliage to cheer up our walks, but the leaves are falling fast.

We ward off the overwhelming cold and greyness with our favourite comfort food from home: stir-fried rice, roast vegetables, steamed dumplings with tart ponzu and soy sauce.

Fat chicken thighs roasted crisp in the oven help us forget how blustery and cold the outside world can be. The bright colours of our vegetables bring back the memories of summer sunshine.

Warm and satisfied, we can again enjoy the natural shift of the seasons toward the coldest months, and appreciate the beauty of the last leaves of the year.