Stephanie’s journal. Stephanie Alexander. 1999.

When Stephanie Alexander began her journal for 1997 she was set to embark on an exhilarating ne adventure - the planning and opening of the Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder. What she did not foresee however, was that before the year was out, in another country, far from familiar associations, she would suddenly make one of the most liberating, if painful, decisions of her life - to close the door on her renowned restaurant of twenty-one years, Stephanie’s.

Stephanie’s Journal records the hectic professional life of one of Australia’s foremost writer-cooks and also, with great candour and generosity, offers readers the small, intimate details of her daily life: her responses to people, the sensuous pleasure she draws from a leaf or. Fruit or a flower, her precious times with family and friends, her memories, her doubts, her dark moments and her hopes for the future. And always the food - ‘Good food and fellowship sustain me when I feel low, and delight me when I want to celebrate.’