It's been more than a decade since I received my first email from Sophie. The year was 2012 and we knew each other purely by our .blogspots. She gave me one of my first photo commisions as the editor of the freshly launched Broadsheet Sydney, asking me to photograph Wylies Baths. After a decent innings with the publication and various gigs in between as both a writer and editor Sophie has gone on to be the co-founder/director of Sydney's hottest creative content studio, Buffet. Sophie is the girl you go to when you need a recommendation. She's smart and cool, honest and hard working, currently in the beautiful trenches of motherhood - but certainly not losing herself in it. We spent the warmest end-of-Autumn day together whilst Bruno, her second son, took a long nap before joining us. Sophie has been a supporter of Fridah since day one and I couldn't be happier to have her here as a Friend of Fridah.
Soph, thank you for having me at your home. I know how precious the nap hours are with babies so I really appreciate it and loved getting to spend some time together.
S: Anyone who brings sandwiches and beautiful towels is allowed to interrupt naps any day of the week!
I’ll start with the first thing I was drawn to in your beautiful new home - and it might not be something that isn’t actually new…the dining table.
S: I love that the dining table caught your eye, because that thing has been with us for years! It used to be our family dining table growing up, and can extend in and out depending on the number of people sat at it. In a space that’s new, it’s nice to have things that still feel lived in, and that table certainly is. There are a lot of crumbs in its cracks.
I loved hearing you’re in a season of ‘porridge in bed’. Especially courtesy of Scottie. What time is this usually happening?
S: I don’t know what I did to deserve this (maybe carrying two babies around in my body for 9 months each, then birthing them, one with forceps? Oh and maybe those relentless night feeds?) but as it’s gotten cooler and I stay in bed feeding our four month old, Bruno, in the morning, Scott and Ned will bring me a little bowl of porridge to eat as I do it. Ned’s so proud of carrying it to me all by himself. I’m disgustingly lucky, even if it is sometimes disgustingly early.
What’s your favourite porridge combo/topping situation?
S: A splash of milk and brown sugar. Sometimes some stewed rhubarb, roasted plums or some sliced banana. I love it when the sugar turns to melty caramel.
Porridge in bed aside do you usually eat meals at the table?
S: Absolutely. We’ve made it a focus to always eat at the table and always aim to eat together whenever possible. When I realised upon starting solids with Ned that to eat as a family meant eating at 5.30pm, I couldn’t get my head around it, but now we love it, and it means we get to relax together after the boys are asleep rather than making yet another meal. I’m way too tired to make myself dinner after that, it’s sloth mode time.
How are you feeling about cooking at the moment, chore or outlet?
S: A little of both. It’s a bit balls-to-the-wall from 5-7pm at the moment trying to whip something up while the baby’s in the carrier, but if I can get my shit together and plan ahead to cook a little slower during nap time, it feels good.
What’s a go-to family meal?
S: Scott’s Italian restaurant background means we eat a lot of pasta. I like to squeeze the meat out of Italian sausages or chorizo and fry them with some extra fennel, a few tomatoes, anchovies and a lot of parsley and parmesan as a sauce for rigatoni. Scott loves making curry too, and we’ve been really into rice bowls lately with some seared tuna, peas, avocado and pickled carrot and onion. There was a time when I was seriously into Dan Dan noodles with sesame peanutty sauce. Delish.
You’ve recently moved into a new neighbourhood, have you got any tips for settling in?
S: I’ve found this area so friendly and welcoming, even though it took me about a year to really learn to love it. I’ve tried to introduce myself around - to the guy at the cheese shop, the pharmacist and the barista, which really helped. I think it also takes time to appreciate a new area, sometimes it takes patience to find the best, unexpected bits of a place.
Whilst on mat leave what’s your most typical version of a day?
We talked about the 4 month postpartum slump that can really knock you. What’s one thing that gets you through the painfully tired moments?
S: Yeah, I feel like you’re so high on adrenaline and hormones for the first three months. My babies have always slept pretty well during that time, and then 3-4 months rolls around, sleep becomes a bit more tricky, that adrenaline leaves your body and you really feel the fatigue in your bones. Aside from going to bed early and just taking it easy, something that has helped me recently is just acceptance. Acceptance that this is the season, that yep, I’m fucking tired and that’s just what this phase is about, but that it won’t be forever. If I lay in bed annoyed that I’ve been woken up really early or all through the night, it just makes me spiral about being tired. If I accept it, it feels more palatable. I also know, this time around, that I will sleep through the night again! This won’t be forever.
Home
I think I know the answer but…bath or shower gal?
S: If I could live in a bath, I would. That would be my home.
(In the bath) Are you watching, reading, scrolling or staring into nothingness?
S: Sometimes I prop the iPad up on the taps and watch something, sometimes I listen to an audiobook, and sometimes I scroll TikTok because I want to completely check out of my brain for the day. (Maggie, if you’re reading this, I know - no phones in the bath! I’m sorry!)
Favourite thing about your new bathroom?
S: The way I can fit both my knees and my boobs underwater in the bath, previously it’s been one or the other!
OBVIOUSLY love the green. Were you set on green from the start or did it evolve?
S: Our designer, Sarah Watt from Studio Vista, who also designs all Scott’s restaurants, calls it the “mermaid palace” because there is just so much green. It was definitely on the initial mood board and so it’s cool to see it all come together in real life. It’s a bathroom fit for any Ariel.
How did you find the process of renovating in 5 words or less?
S: Scary, expensive, exhilarating, anxious and privileged. It’s not lost on me how lucky we are to have our own home at all, let alone renovate it. We could not have done it without Sarah’s design skill and vision and a lot of help from family.
Any favourite nook(s) or features of the house?
S: Something Scott really wanted was a pot rail and no corner cupboards, and I gotta say, it’s so easy reaching for a pot that’s just hanging there!
Holidays/travel
Favourite city: Madrid, always, but I also love Seoul and am dying to get back there to those noodles and ferments.
Best holiday: We travelled, worked and lived in Spain for three months in 2015 and it was truly the best time of our lives, but our honeymoon in Coorabell in the Northern Rivers of NSW was also the most special.
Have you travelled overseas with kids yet if yes where and would you recommend?!
S: Ned was a COVID baby so it took us 18 months to travel with him, but we went all out on a family trip to France and Spain when it was possible which was so much fun, except for the plane part. Anywhere walkable is great with kids, cities are awesome because they have playgrounds everywhere, parks and fun, stimulating activities, but honestly anywhere the grandparents are is the best kind of holiday in my eyes!
Favourite easy escape (Australia)
S: My parents live in the Southern Highlands near Mittagong so we spend a lot of time there. It’s so close to Sydney so it’s easy to reach in 1.5 hours.
Airbnbs or hotels?
S: There’s always a time and place for both, but when it’s just Scott and I, I’d choose a fancy hotel where I have to do no cleaning or meal prep every single time and they do that turn down thing with the sheets, and there are treats in the fridge.
And lastly, what’s on your shopping list atm?
It’s so hard to find the perfect jeans postpartum, but I’m hopeful I’ll get there. It’s also time for a new winter coat, I’m always lusting after those by Isabel Marant. Oh and one of those vacuum mop robots please, Santa.
Photographed and interviewed by Rachel Kara Ashton, founder of Fridah
- Follow @moremccomas, Buffet
- Subscribe to Sophies substack for monthly musings and recs Highly Enthused
- Shop Sophies towels, The mixed 5 piece set or the Family Bundle in Cactus
