A Lot on My Plate with Laura Stortenbeker.
As part of my monthly newsletter, I will be sharing short interviews with friends and creatives who have a lot on their plate. Everyone has been through a lot in recent times, and I wanted to check in and see how they're going, if these trying times have changed them or their relationship with their work, what good things they're enjoying and doing and most importantly, what they're eating.
Interview #11 is with the incredibly talented, incredibly stylish Laura Stortenbeker. Laura is a writer and has such a knack for telling stories, both written and visual. Laura has exceptional style, is an avid (and very skilled and generous) baker and all-round great gal. During lockdown, Laura runs a small cake giveaway via her instagram page called "You Take The Cake". How sweet is that? Read on to see what she's been up to and how she's feeling about it all.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into Writing?
Good morning! I've been trying hard to think of how I got into writing, maybe just a continuation of wanting to document everything? I made my own picture books when I was a kid, made zines in high school + did well at things that you had to write for, so it was always around. I started studying journalism but I didn’t like the course so enrolled in a different writing and editing degree when I moved to Melbourne, which helped me understand that I could have a creative practice as well as a professional one. Now I write fiction and the occasional essay, but I also work full time in a government writing role, so I have a few different things on the go.
How have events over the past 18 months or so impacted your outlook/practice/focus?
What I’ve struggled with the most is being relentlessly bored. Being bored would usually make me do something productive, but as it's gone on and on like it has the past year + I have a little slug brain, and I find it hard to think of new ideas and make things. I also started a new job in January, so I’ve been trying to be less hard on myself in terms of not doing as much creative work while I’ve been learning a lot of new stuff. That said, I’m in the middle of trying to write a book set in Texas, and not being able to travel for research meant I was able to have these beautiful email conversations with people working in the industry I needed to research for my project, which wouldn’t have happened otherwise, so some things are lucky.
The old adage goes, some eat to live, others live to eat. Where would you place yourself?
Gotta live to eat! I was a super fussy eater as a kid and I’m very lucky I outgrew it. Vegetables are so beautiful and going to choose fresh ones, then getting to eat them is one of the best things.
How do your cooking habits change when you are busy/stressed/tired?
They either ramp up or slow right down. I will eat a lot of toast and cereal for lunch or dinner when I’m very busy or very stressed, which I think is okay! Sometimes peanut butter on a piece of bread is enough, you know? If I have a really big week at work I’ll make something more complicated on the weekend to keep me away from my computer. Baking something and sharing it almost always makes me feel better, too.
Have you learned to cook anything new during lockdown?
I’ve made English muffins, Cruller doughnuts, fresh mint ice cream, a disastrous attempt at a spanakopita, this really good Mexican soup with masa dumplings – sopa de chochoyotas, and I made a crepe cake in between lockdowns because my oven broke and it was one of my favourite things I’ve ever made. And I have certainly eaten a lot of toast.
What are you most looking forward to when we come out of lockdown?
Sitting across from someone I love at a restaurant and hearing about their day while we stuff something cooked with a shit load of butter into our mouths. Having my friends over for dinner in my apartment in summer with the windows open, ice cream machine churning, a peach drink, a fancy silk shirt and grocery store candles, probably a little cigarette out the window.
What is the first cafe/restaurant/bar you’ll go to when it’s safe to do so again?
I miss Bar Idda and Laksa House the most, so either of those two!
Could you share with us some of the music that’s been getting you through the past few months?
At the moment (and always) I’m listening to a lot of Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Gillian Welch and Townes Van Zandt, or this playlist where I invested none of my skills as a writer and just called it dinner time time.