Josh: Thank you, that is good to hear. There was actually a variety of factors that I had to consider when planning the menu. Firstly the location itself provided many challenges. A 3 hour drive and a remote location meant factoring in using the fresh ingredients early in the week, and using foods that needed less refrigeration towards the end of the week. Calories weren’t so much of a concern as everyone has such different and individual metabolic outputs. Instead I was aiming to provide everyone with a well-rounded diet with loads of nutrition. Rather than calories themselves I looked at where these calories are coming from and aimed to keep a simple formula for each meal. The formula was based on the following: one serve of whole grain, one serve of legumes, a good serving of nuts and seeds for fats and then loads of veggies (a mix of leafy greens, cruciferous, marrow and root veggies), to ensure that everyone was getting good all round nutrition. The next step was to keep the menu exciting for guests, everyone was already pushed past their comfort zone so my brief for the menu was the same. Serving up foods that people may not have tried before or certainly aren’t used to eating in a family setting. And the final factor I had to consider was myself, I tried to keep the menu to foods I enjoy cooking. I love to cook a variety of smaller dishes that all come together as one nutritious meal.

CW: Yourself + Elise have spent the last two years travelling in your converted van - this looks like ’the dream’ to so many - what are the steps you went through in converting your life down to a limited space?

Josh: For us it was pretty simple. But living in a van is definitely not for everyone. I originally bought the van without the intention of moving into it permanently. Growing up as a surfer in South Australia means long drives, weeks in the desert and very cold and windy winters in a tent. Eventually enough was enough, I got the van as a means of shelter during the harsh winters, my wetsuits could dry and I could cook out of the wind. Those week long camps really set the tone for a minimal outlook on life.  As our uni degrees came to an end we decided to convert the van into a motor home and hit the road for a year, we aimed to loop around Australia in a year, then come back to Adelaide and settle down. Now we are a couple of years in and nowhere near finished.  As the departure date got closer we knew everything had to fit, so there were definitely some harsh truths about what we did and didn’t need. Since being on the road we have really found an appreciation for the small things in life, just being grateful for the time we have together and really understanding the worth of our few possessions. The past two years everything we have needed has fit into a van so we have realised we don’t actually need a lot to be happy.

Josh: One day. It is something we have talked about and definitely plan on doing eventually. Our main issue is we have so many ideas it’s hard to know where to start or what road to go down. We both just go with the flow so channeling that energy in one direction can seem a little overwhelming at times.

This cake is a super simple two layered cake.  The recipe is for a 12cm cake tin which gives about 4 good serves.  If you have a bigger tin, feel free to DM Josh + Elise to get a scaled up recipe.