taurus rising

Jupiter Creek Organic Farm

2011-10-27T23:09:00.019+10:30

Been a bit busy with a new venture...

Since I began this blog my life has changed considerably. As an interested loca vore and 'green' advocate, I started writing on all things sustainable as they applied to me; birth, mothering, consumering, living etc. Never did I imagine that I would end up a director of several eco- businesses, one going well, one in liquidation and a new one on the horizon. I have learnt so much over the last few years, a journey which many of you readers would have followed. With the demise of our previous local food business that i was involved in, due to many reasons which I cannot mention publicly, some of us from that business have scrambled around trying not to squander such emotional and intellectual investment, intellectual property and community goodwill and have managed to fall on our feet and start a true CSA here in the Adelaide Hills. We have found some wonderful land owners willing to share our journey and vision of an organic, demonstration, community focused accessible farm who just also happen to have an amazing amount of spare, irrigated, fertile land and infrastructure; cold storage, warehousing and a fleet of under-utilised refrigerated vehicles ( not to mention WWOOFers) just perfect for us to start an organic farm and true CSA organic box delivery scheme. We have been madly tilling, weeding, ploughing, weeding (did I mention weeding?) fundraising, planning and applying for organic certification over the last five months for most of the farm: the market crops, beef cattle, orchard, chickens , future pigs, ducks and wild foraging area for mushrooms. We put a down payment on the tractor in the picture, tomorrow. We have a herd of beef cattle, sheds for free ranging chooks, biodynamic compost piles, volunteers, 60 acres two of which are under our new market crops and loads of vision. The boy bean ( and occasionally a surprisingly enthusiastic very biggest bean) and I have been farming on the days when Im not at my regular job and yes, the PhD is finished. I will keep you posted as to when we launch. Exciting times ahead.
https://www.facebook.com/JupiterCreekFarm

Earth Station

2011-10-24T17:50:00.006+10:30

It was an awesome festival, except when I lost the kid (the ecstatic one in the pic). That was definitely not fun, just as dusk was upon us...by the creek...music blaring..crowds pumping..no chance. Some guy spotted him after some frantic ask arounds and handed him my way. Had a wine.
Rod Quantock was my non music highlight with his musings on our non sustainable lifestyles, missed HRH Cate B speaking, but the small's not really that interested in sitting for two hours listening to a panel discussion on sustainable living. Music-wise, the sounds coming from the The Congos Konono No.1 was very hip shakin and toe tappin and deeply grooving. We did a lot of that; grooving, some eating and the occasional bit of chillin' in this very awesome new WOMAD event which mixes music with action and education in the most amazing location. And we really realised that the kid likes to move.

Haiku Friday

2011-09-09T22:29:00.001+09:30

Digging and weeding
shared dreams with visionaries
sweet day on the farm

well, that was fun!

2011-09-06T23:05:00.001+09:30

I woke up last week to a hacked site. Bleugh. Trawling through trying to find the offending code somewhere within the html backend took days. Finally, Im back online- the offending 'warning' popup has gone and I'm back to a safe site. The really stupid thing was it wasn't my site that was actually hacked, just someone else's, somewhere that had a link to this site, who had malware detected on their site. Try finding that needle in the haystack...the problem with this Blogger blogspot gig is that Google 'controls' the site so you cant get 'clean' until they clear you, and you have to ask and prove yourself to get cleared, what a pain! But, I have learnt some stuff. Anyone else had a hacked blog recently?

Haiku Friday

2011-08-05T15:09:00.002+09:30

bulbs are seasonal
and they're political too.
Don't buy the zapped stuff

pear public service post

2011-08-03T12:20:00.001+09:30

This is a repost of a recipe winner from a few years back and is one of the top hitters on this blog. It really is a ripper of a cake - quick n easy and perfect for pear season.

last weekend it was pear paste, this weekend i decided to use Haalo's recipe from cook (almost) anything at least once for a pear and walnut cake. i love any cake or bread with fresh fruit; figs especially, but i only use figs in cakes if i have just so many figs that i know they will start fermenting before we can get around to demolishing them all, they really are so special that they should be eaten au naturale. But pears, apples, peach, i love using up excess fruit this way and we have so many walnuts still left from last years bumper crop that Im always looking for ways to use them. Although, i usually only cook cakes like this when i know we have extra people around to eat it all on the day, like we did yesterday. This is seriously a very delicious cake and it took about 5 minutes to make. Seriously.

The recipe i used is exactly as Haalo has written but i threw in the bag end of chocolate chips that were only going to get pilfered by the kids.

ouef en cocotte

2011-08-02T11:45:00.004+09:30

Our new fast food.
Quick, easy, tasty and nutritious.
Who can resist individual serves a la cocotte?
Two organic eggs in a pot, drizzle with organic cream, some truffle oil and bake in a water bath for 15 minutes in a medium oven, and not a moment longer, for delicious oozy egg yolks and creamy white.
Its a fantastic way to serve 'dippy eggs' for kids who struggle with the shell and parents who struggle with the mess of a kid with a dippy egg!

organic lemon icecream sandwiches

2011-07-31T22:57:00.009+09:30

Wicked things these are. I haven't actually eaten one as they are so packed with calories, but the kids most certainly have- at the soonest opportunity. Much to their chagrin however, they are on rations! As soon as I saw these online I knew I was going to have to make them. Not only do they use up 10 lemons of zest but also their 1/2 cup or so of juice. At this time in the citrus season, I'm always struggling to use the lemons from our very prolific Meyer lemon tree.

These 'sandwiches' fill a very big sweet memory hole for me. As a kid from a poor family I rarely ate processed food - a caramel koala was as good as it got but on the odd chance that I wouldn't have spent my 20c pocket money on saving for a book, I might buy myself a choc-chip ice-cream burger in its own plastic burger box (yikes) . Big, sweet and chewy - I loved those things!

So, this custardy adult version made with local organic butter, eggs and cream really took my fancy.

The ice-cream in this recipe is very sublime- I did road test that, its the best I have ever had; like a cold and creamy lemon curd. Soooo good. They were a tad time consuming, but fun, playful and really made the kids think I was the best Mum ever. I'm up for that every now and then in this rather puritan foodie household.

All wrapped up and looking ever so sweet in the freezer, these babies have been numbered!

Recipe made 16 2 1/2 inch sandwiches and substituted regular wheat flour for gluten free flours (rice and corn)

wow- its me!

2011-05-24T23:29:00.001+09:30

Life is good,
but no haiku has been written for a while.
The weather is cold and fires are on and the beautiful autumn view has been replaced with damp and bare and a little bleak.
Life is busy,
new challenges and responsibilities have emerged but I'm managing to keep them all airborne, nothing has been fully dropped as yet (besides this blog) and I am learning.
Life is love,
the children are settled, happy, getting less complex (well the girls anyway) the bean is growing and making new demands where they left off. The bloke is his same calm, slow and generous self.
Life is full, overflowing. I'm liking it. I'm pushing boundaries Ive never pushed before.
Lots of lists unfinished, holes in shoji screens (big airblowing ones), unwashed floors and dusty curtains. Weeds in the garden and appointments forgotten to be made, again. Every minute of the day is full. Its all good.

purple clay slow cooker

2011-04-13T22:26:00.004+09:30

I think thats what i have? Its what Google tells me it is anyway...

my Chinese purple clay electricity cooker has been devoted to invent electricity cookers with unique oriental culture, and perfectly combines Chinese dietary with a history of thousands of years with ceramics culture.

My clay electric cooker is leading the prosperous development of the whole purple clay cooker industry and is noble and elegant and keep my nutrition food lastingly!
I couldn't figure out how to use it so we just pushed buttons in multiple combinations until it felt noble and right. There were instructions enclosed in the cute midi pot inside for congee making and probably some great recipe suggestions too but alas, my Chinese isnt quite up to scratch.

We were given this a few years ago by a friend visiting from China and I had totally forgotten about it tucked up on a back shelf in the pantry. Having vegos in the house, I dont really ever feel a need to stew the life out of a vegetable. But I had a weekend, cold weather hankering for some chinese beef braised in star anise- you know that awesome flavour? - sweet, deep unami flavour of oh so Chinese yumminess and a thick gingery soy masterstock? And et viola, remembered the cooker!
I dragged it down, dusted it off, pushed some buttons and it performed a treat. I kinda like how quirky it looks. I think it may get a workout this winter.

are you prepared?

2011-03-14T21:25:00.001+10:30

this is a great resource. This years disasters have heightened my thinking on this. Its a great exercise to do with the kids- get their lateral thinking and rational processing skills up to speed in practical ways! No, Im not a sentimental, spare the kids kinda Mum! grin.

didn't we have a lovely time

2011-03-14T10:10:00.000+10:30

the day we went to WOMADelaide!!!!
I love WOMAD. a big hippy party with loads of great music, awesome food, glorious location and some good grooving to be had. Its not cheap, especially when you're paying for kids to get in (under 12 is free)- squeezed B2 in free but this will be the last year.
My highlight this year was Archie Roach singing Took the Children Away. I found myself sitting on a hill in a sea of people just sobbing, listening to this magical voice singing poetry, spirited away to a place of deep grief and sorrow while at the same time loving every moment of those tears rolling. His voice is pure joy.

Haiku Friday

2011-03-11T23:11:00.003+10:30

Love is a farm tour.
Sweet boys, new friends, orange hats.
Apple orchard fun.

foodland

2011-03-07T22:02:00.021+10:30

its both an awful name and a really good one. A Foodland store has just opened in our village and I'm a little shocked at just how bloody excited I am about it. We live in a small village about 20 km from the CBD. Its not quite suburbia, its a little more removed but not quite the country either. As committed loca vore's and small time consumers as we are , there are still things we use a supermarket for and we do travel every fortnight to town to make bulk dry foods and cheesy and some other luxurious purchases.
Now we have a fabulous new stupormarket about 200m from our home and I have to say , its bloody excellent! It opened today and it was packed. Foodland is a locally owned and operated company with a committment to buying local produce. The only other stupor in our town has been woolworths. So, yes, we are pleased. Feedback from the staff I asked in there today was that lots of Mums have been really happy to NOT have to shop at Woolies anymore! Its all about ethical purchasing and fair choices.
We did the full perusal of the store today and I left feeling very, very happy. So many products I buy at local makets when we can make it : crackers, cheese, dairy, meat, oils,eggs all local, all free range or organic. They stock the FULL range of Maggie Beer ice creams ( yes, that dedicated cabinet did knock my socks off) , local free range chicken and pork products from Saskia Beer, artisan cheeses, biodynamic yoghurts, creams, milks, butters, fish, ALL local, local, local. And the dry goods we travel to town for..they stock them too! And the French cheese i cheat with..those too. the cheese counter rivals the cheese stores in the Central markets and what they dont have , they will get for you. Couldn't have asked for more and got more. And not a Macro or Woolies or Homebrand name in sight. All Foodland branded products are guaranteed Australian made and they try to have at least 50% SA made. So, we still get our Food Connect Adelaide box of fruit and veg and will patronise the local small stores for what they offer, but when time and distance make markets problematic, we will make use of these amazing choices when we need to.
Dead impressed.
Happy. It just took a whole load of planning and organisation off my agenda. Local choices made easy. Hope the local Woolies really takes a hit. We need more stores with commitments like these.

Oh, it looks pretty bloody good as well! Signage is almost non existent and the interior lighting really shows some consideration to human nature. Rumor has it that the owners wife made some hard line calls for a very pleasant and minimal aesthetic.

Haiku Friday

2011-03-04T11:38:00.000+10:30

Haiku is easy!
Tomato's. Lots and lots of,
many more on shelves.

Haiku Friday

2011-02-25T09:42:00.004+10:30

fermenting away,
pots of lovely cucumbers
sliced and whole. Dill added.

Haiku Friday

2011-02-11T09:34:00.002+10:30

The lengths we go to!
I crossed Europe for Stohrer,
and Oz for Zumbo

bag giveaway

2011-02-10T21:44:00.001+10:30

only one more day to go!
Julie at Towards Sustainability has an ethicurean reusable produce bag and tote giveaway!
Go enter!

lecture * with pracie

2011-02-09T09:27:00.004+10:30

Gave an interesting one yesterday,
Don't think those there child-dentists liked it much.
Few too many home truths; I tried to be gentle.
But someone's gotta tell it like it is.
Dentistry in this country serves the dentists well... shame about the people.
They don't hear that much in dental school.

amendment: pracie of lecture.
Defined equity.
Defined values.
Defined subjectivity.
Defined distribution.
Defined values of developed nations
Defined health as a human right in this context.
Described distribution of poor oral health in Australia.
Described medical vs dental expenditure in Australia
Defined communism (they always confuse equity with communism)
Defined universal health care
Described dental system as NOT universal
Queried the equity.
Queried dental health profession interest in equity
Queried dental health profession commitment to population health
end of story

gift horses and all...

2011-02-05T09:54:00.006+10:30

No way! Not this time around. Do I want 40kgs of very ripe organic, local, heirloom tomatoes, delivered NOW?

Ummm... YES PLEASE!

Our tomatoes haven't even hit their straps! A few fruits here n there. Weird weather and off season again this year.

I spent hours last Thursday night making 25 kgs worth of passata and bottling blanched and peeled globes. Somehow in my mania I managed the beans bath time and dinner in between.

The Bloke returned home to a totally steamed kitchen (no Vacola ) with water dripping down the windows and me up to my armpits in tomato skins. The final 10 kgs got solar dried (we knew we had a few days of 40 ahead) .The Bloke fashioned up this tent, mainly to keep the tiny pine needles falling on them than to keep any animals out. A 'never got rid of' old trampoline mat served as the base and these op shop sheer curtains strung over the central rope worked a treat.

Haiku Friday

2011-02-04T15:37:00.002+10:30

A festival of cheeses;

friends, wine and provenance told.

Heavenly table.

Thanks for the pic Carole

223 years, if not now when?

2011-01-26T10:37:00.003+10:30

In 2006 an Aboriginal elder in residence at Griffith University in Brisbane suffered a stroke at a campus bus stop and lay there for five hours in her own vomit before a group of Japanese students came to her aid. A thousand others had walked right on by without giving it a second thought. These people weren’t members of the Ku Klux Klan, they were university staff, students and State Government bus drivers.You probably wouldn’t discriminate in a professional environment based on someone’s skin colour. Not only would that be illegal, it’s also morally wrong and as a society we’ve come a long way since some Australian swimming pools were segregated in the 1960s. But racism rears its ugly head in subtle ways.

This Australia Day, spare a thought for those affected by the devastating floods. Flip them a coin if you can – they need it. Polish off a few cans of our national beverage if you like too – hell, do it in a park. But if you do nothing else, get off your arse and do something about fixing the gaping, ugly disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It’s been 223 years already. If not now, when?

read the full article here

This is my Australia Day. I'm afraid i cant muster any real 'national' pride as a collective nation, as individual people I can celebrate our flashes of charachter but nationally...nup. Too many racists running around swathed in flags, old men driving Commodores with flags attached...it all just conjures paternalism and lies for me. A myopic sense of history and entitlement. Its an unusual nation when so many have an aversion to our flag. I know I'm not the only one. On Australia Day it makes me grimmace.

Sainte Maure Poitou Affiné

2011-01-20T12:30:00.009+10:30

its not local.
I digressed.
Im off carbs and wheat and a I needed a treat.
Nothing I DO, nothing I MAKE HAS NO CARBS. I'm a carbaholic, hence the break; need to reset the system. So, I'm looking for treats which can sustain me. I have not found a remotely close local alternative to these lovely wheels of French goat.

This absoloutely stunning log of Sainte Maure Poitou Affiné was our theme around which a simple dinner of green leaves and heirloom tomatoes was made. I sliced the log, crumbed it with fresh thyme and rosemary and gently sauteed top and bottom in a pan to warm their insides and until the milk sugars caramelised. It then was very reverentially placed atop the green nest and sprinkled with some local Joseph 'la casetta' aged vinegar, the likes of which deserve its own post.

Haiku Friday

2011-01-14T12:19:00.002+10:30

A special is on!
Confront your plastic habit,
one bag at a time.

Haiku Friday

2010-12-24T19:25:00.006+10:30

bent back and bent knees,
sand digging, looking for these.
clink, clink, clink, clink, clink

Salad of greens with mango chutney dressing

2010-12-19T10:11:00.005+10:30

This in one of my all time favourite salads! What greens you use are almost irrelevant. I have used coz, iceberg, rocket, english spinach, mache. Whatever you have to hand and is in season. If I'm using a head of lettuce like coz or iceberg, I prefer to quarter it and quarter again, like and orange, and lay the segments in a bowl to serve so that its easy to get both tender heart and outer leaves to a serve. I also vary the cheese used, but its always a soft, creamy style; goat curd, feta. Sometimes I layer the lettuce segments with avocado and top with a heap of fresh chopped herbs from the garden, whatever is available.
Ingredients:
garden greens
roasted slivered almonds or whole roasted, chopped.
cheese - feta, goat curd.
Dressing:
1 -2 tabs Mango Chutney (I always use Sharwoods Green label)
2-3 tabs good red wine or other dark grape vinegar
3 tabs olive oil

Mix dressing ingredients well in a shaker. Place greens in bowl, top with other ingredients. Pour over salad. Gently agitate dressing in.
Eat.
Enjoy.

Christmas menu planning

2010-12-18T09:08:00.010+10:30

One of my most favourite meal times is Christmas. I love everything about the preparation; the reading of blogs, magazines and recipe books to find something that suits my fancy for the day and the dedication of a day or two to preparation and shopping. I like cooking anyway but it always feels much more special, probably due to the more extraordinary ingredients or volume involved.

My family have never done the roast and veg at Christmas lunch. My mum was a vegetarian when I was growing up and so we had our own version of the roast; her marvelous Nut Loaf with Pimiento Sauce. Its stuffed with sage and onion and has a fantastic texture. To be found in the womens weekly vego cookbook. It's now an institution as we all love it. So Christmas is always a nut loaf or two (coz we all like leftovers) and a bonanza of seafood, fish and fresh salads.

But this year I'm thinking of contributing a gingerbread spice glazed local happy ham with fresh cherry relish (coz we had a stupendous one at our wedding and I haven't had any since!), a baked ricotta with a sticky tomato balsamic glaze, spinach, persian feta and roast almond salad with a mango chutney dressing and mince tart ice-cream with brandy snap and a load of fresh raspberries. And bubbles.
Christmas Eve, I plan on eating macarons.

What are you all planning for Christmas lunch?

before shots

2010-12-14T23:10:00.004+10:30

Just a few cachoux missing at this stage. A few empty welts in the icing testament to the prior presence of small, shiny edible balls; just a little surreptitious crunching through the day kinda gave him away.

At some stage today, the Bean began getting a bit more adventurous with his help yourself.
Tonight , this is how they're going...

Just a few points missing...

and a whole mouthful.

Who can blame him? Temptation in a decoration! Don't know what his older sister was thinking when she thought making these would be a good idea!

winding down

2010-12-12T12:29:00.009+10:30

I'm finally learning how to incorporate this new hectic life into my slow ideals. Embrace it!
I'm reminded that I can be busy as but mindful and present, letting go of the need to control most aspects of our life has really helped. Recognizing my need to control these things is a bit of a revelation. Its really OK if the kid doesn't get a bath or have a sleep some days, even two days in a row! Enjoying life is the important bit. Letting go of some rigidity in structure really helps this. I try not to freak out about the expenditure on my new business, the ethicurean, too much, and its plodding along nicely but i really must get into some marketing next year if I am to recoup any investment in the future! lol

The girls are happy happy happy and its so lovely to have them on holidays and home! The bean loves it too, more people to play with! and more often! B2 has finished up at her Montessori primary school and is heading off to high school next year and B1 starts her final year of school. Its a holiday to enjoy this one! The house is a noisy mess and I'm loving it. It helps that the girls have finally moved into that lovely 'adult' phase where they do dishes and washing and tidy up without being asked. this is most likely the primary reason for my loosening of the reigns!

The Bloke is now a Councillor and is out OFTEN. He's enjoying the challenges that have already arisen (Inverbrackie - the site for the new refugee centre is in our council ward) and is beating off the rednecks who have emerged from the woodwork in force. The new council is very Green and we have a very Green new mayor. I'm looking forward to lots of great new and exciting local initiatives in the next four years with the appointments of arts and sustainability officers for the Hills region.

Work is winding down (well except for the three new grant applications Im trying to get ready for early in the new year) and I love the languid sense that work gets in the last few weeks of the year with people starting to chill and the weather changing and Xmas functions aplenty. We are all looking forward to what may well be our last complete ( all 5 of us) family holiday in the New Year.

Christmas prep with the brother is working well, just received an email as he is trying to plan the lunch menu! How good is that! Bit different to last years family fiasco! I'm really looking forward to some glazed happy ham that i intend to take. Anyone got a perfect glazed ham recipe? I love food prep for Christmas! its so...festive!

I hope your end of year is slowing down and you are looking forward to a wee break!

My that pile of crusts in the pic waiting to become breadcrumbs really needs addressing...it looks a little precarious! lol

Haiku Friday

2010-12-11T18:34:00.001+10:30

...on a Saturday.

Freshly picked, trimmed and sauteed,

with garlic butter.

Biodynamic day

2010-12-07T22:07:00.010+10:30

This was the very Adelaide view that greeted us on our arrival for a communal compost making fest. Ngeringa winery is a small boutique Adelaide hills winery owned by Erinn and Janet Klein, both avid sustainability champions and community minded couple and is sited on the old Jurlique herb farm ( a biodynamic farm for 30 years owned by Erinns parents, the founders of Jurlique). Our quest for the afternoon was to get a good start on the new seasons biodynamic compost pile, one that would be shared between both the winery for their vines and the newly established Adelaide Hills Community Garden; a part of the Transition Towns initiative. The land you can see behind the cellar door is pegged for development, 30,000 new homes to be built on this prime Ag land. needless to say, Erinn and Janet are part of the Stop Urban Sprawl movement , trying to conslidate growth into infill in the well serviced city areas and not cover this prime farming land in concrete foundations and asphalt roads.

A key component of biodynamic farming are the manuring processes and above you can see the tank which is full of biodynamic cow shit and water which has been nicely fermenting and fresh from Paris Creek biodynamic dairy and on the tray of the ute is a box full of BD cow pats from the dairy as well.

First task for us all was to mark the area with a layer of hay that Erinn and Janet grow for the purpose which had been sitting and drying a while. The area marked was 20m x 2m. Very thin layers are then built up to make a biodynamic compost pile. old hat, cow pat slurry (which we mixed like bakers in the box), newly cut hay from the big wheel above in the pic, a spray of slurry from the tank, a layer of old compost and then start all over gian. it took 8 adults five solid hours to get the pile just one meter high. The cows in the background are grown for meat, horns and their poo and are Scottish Higlanders, the most gorgeous cows I've ever seen!

Old compost being dumped from last years pile to be incorporated into the new.

Erinn sprays the cow shit slurry from the tank over the very small pile.

Spreading the old compost over the growing pile.

You can see why biodynamic farming produces such awesome results with such intense nutrition being nurtured in the soil stock and why biodynamic produce costs more!

All five kids had an absolutely grand day. Our little bloke didn't skip a beat despite missing his normal two hour midday sleep, declaring upon leaving in a blurry, somewhat battered state at 10pm that 'Jasper had a great day Mumma'

I haven't earnt a meal like that in ages. The wood oven pizzas were fantastic, especially as I wasn't in charge of this one!, isn't it a beauty? and the wine, well , it was quite mindblowing, the voigner/chardonnay blend, well, Im in! And the view on sunset was quite spectacular. It was great to be a part of such a community minded afternoon and evening with new friends, a hard days work behind us and feeling like we are moving toward creating a healthier future and consolidated community.

Pics taken on my phone- so 'scuse the quality!

pizza

2010-12-01T18:47:00.001+10:30

oven on, dough rising, chilled white wine in hand. Perfect

renovations

2010-11-28T13:46:00.002+10:30

please excuse me as I test out some changes to the blog.

Haiku Friday

2010-11-19T09:25:00.005+10:30

Sourdough burgers.
Mmmm. Salad, cheese, patty, sauce
with home made pickles!

Haiku Friday

2010-11-12T15:46:00.002+10:30

the sweetness of sun.
a winters weight unbridled,
ready for the crowd.

all I want for Christmas is...

2010-11-11T09:34:00.005+10:30

one of these!

A life saver for the wood oven owner. No more problem pizza in that fiery inferno! No more undercooked disappointments and underwhelmed guests and no more wasting wood.
Point, shoot and get an infrared temperature reading from deep in the recess of the pit. Brilliant. Thank you Michael Pollan for this awesome suggestion.

kissing tonsils

2010-11-10T22:03:00.006+10:30

The kid's got 'kissing tonsils'. I'd never heard of 'kissing tonsils' until today. Poor mite. If you've never seen 'kissing tonsils', they take your breath away. Never, ever seen anything like'em. I had chronic tonsilitis as a kid, off and on every other week for four years but I never had my tonsils out. Progressive doctor who believed in the inherent value of them. I took penicillin tablets every day for years and have very vivid childhood memories of a constant very sore throat. Haven't had tonsillitis since. But, they NEVER looked like his.
He looked up and shouted at me in just the right light a month or so back and I nearly died. Bloody hell. What is that in there???
His tonsils. apparently.
This is exactly what they look like. Golf balls. Killer strawberries. No space. Not an epiglottis or uvula in sight. No wonder he's not eating and snores like an alpha male. Here's a pic of him feeling rather poorly and eating quince jam on toast.
Poor kid. But what to do? Three rounds of antibiotics to treat the ear infection thats gone with it and Zip! Naught. Nothin'. Still huge. Anyone had any experience with these monsters? I'm loathe to take a surgical option if I can help it.

Politzer Prize

2010-11-09T19:51:00.003+10:30

This competition is such a nice idea. An little bit of an equalizer. A chance to see another side of our politicians; to see a little into their hearts and minds. Some of these pics are astonishing. Vote now for your favourite pollie pic.
Don't forget to browse the 2010 winners while you're there. You may, as I did, get a little surprise to put the print to the name.

Haiku Friday

2010-11-05T12:01:00.001+10:30

Which way out, this way?

Should I go up or go down?

Need to think some more.

the ethicurean French gauze produce bag special

2010-10-31T09:01:00.005+10:30

If you're not a fan on facebook of the ethicurean, hop on over for a squiz on our early Christmas special! Buy any ethicurean set and get 2 French gauze bags free. Buy two sets and get 4 free...etc. Perfect pressies for the hard to buy for or the eco-conscious. Special ends midnight tonight. Plastic free, practical stocking stuffers anyone?

The Container challenge

2010-10-30T10:53:00.002+10:30

Remember this post from last year (or was it the year before?). And this? The challenge still stands.
I've been really fascinated going through my blog posts- a retrospective of my own- and in looking where I have been on our journey to minimise consumption, I am so encouraged by the number of people I see and hear about around the place who seem to be really interested in reducing packaging and consuming unnecessary plastics. This post last year was one of the most popular and I have really noticed an increase in the number of people using these toothbrushes which is just fantastic.

My latest 'Stretch It' success has been the introduction of paper wrapped local biodynamic bulk butter from the Central Market here in Adelaide into our weekly shop. Next on the list for Chez Pan is getting organised about bulk fresh rice noodle and tofu from the Asian shop in the market. These plastic packages keep appearing!

Haiku Friday

2010-10-29T16:25:00.002+10:30

is Google involved?
medieval meets modern
qrcode? dunno.

crazy busy

2010-10-25T22:54:00.005+10:30

life is that and I have been banging on about it for a while. It probably has been for the last 12 months ( or more) just ...crazy busy! No time to stop and smell the roses. Not cool for someone who believes in 'slow'. I even had to remove my blog tag line as a felt such a fraud. A Slow family? pffft! Since we fully embraced 'green', as a family approach, we have never been busier , as individuals and as a family. For The Bloke its been not only looking after an ecological house and two acres of woodland and forest and running for political positions at both State and local level and numerous community ventures plus being a stay home dad, and for me being a worker and involved in two 'green' start ups, work , a PhD to finish as well as volunteering and both of us running a home with three kids and doing everything that we can from scratch..well... slow it aint!

However, blogland takes care of itself and not having much energy to be creative on this front, it has interested me to see seasonal changes in visiting patterns to this here wee blog. It's been the second year I have noticed it and I love seeing what I write have some meaning for others.
My top hits on this blog right now are driven by Northern Hemisphere visitors who are having seasonal issues with certain produce; my crabapple verjus post, making tea from camellia japonica (top ever hit post) , spiced pear paste post, rhubarb champagne post, mushroom duxelle post (yummo) and Jaspers birth story ( not seasonal I know!) and tomato tee pees (local and seasonal and my only follow up advice is to make the teepee height higher than you think is necessary) and onion weed pasta sauce ( yeah, this was never going to be a high end food blog) .
Go figure.

bio-char

2010-10-24T22:28:00.004+10:30

I found this lovely vision at the bottom of our garden. It was the last day of the school holidays for B2; she's still in her PJ's. Relaxed. The Bloke is stoking up the bio-char pit. Our little green valley was full of smoke and the Bean was endearingly hugging his Big Sis. Both watching the bio-char process with interest. I love how they are leaning into each other. I stood a while, just watching. Our thoughts on an addition to the family bringing our two sides together in living proof in red gumboots..

A small selection of the sticks and twigs that The Bloke collects through the year and piles neatly were ready by the end of the day, burnt down into porous, chalky pieces. This days burn has been incorporated into the vege patches, ready to rejuvenate and open up the heavy clay. The difference is noticeable already.

Haiku Friday

2010-10-15T16:38:00.002+10:30

It draws like a gun.
Point.Shoot. The moment is caught,
for all to witness.

Haiku Friday

2010-10-08T14:33:00.002+10:30

sitting, my bum aches
working solid, my mind aches
time for a Haiku!

Cruel irony

2010-10-02T18:22:00.005+09:30

I was taking some pics for another 'favourite things' post today. I 'shot' this and on review couldn't believe I had missed the awful irony.

Haiku Friday

2010-10-01T07:41:00.000+09:30

breathe. take it all in
sometimes it's chaos
life is a highway

the ethicurean winners are...

2010-09-27T18:08:00.006+09:30

Gee, try stopping at just three...I ended up deciding to pick a winner from each State and Territory that entered. No one entered from my home state which really surprised me! ???
Well, first I should say that all names were randomly drawn by my daughter in a very sophisticated system of write 'em down, turn 'em over and and pick one from each group.
So who got lucky?

Well, Sarah from the ACT did- she was the only entrant and so the winner there- see you gotta be in it to win it- you just never know!
Bee from Victoria
Hannah from Brisbane
Darren from NSW
Catroina from Tassie
Ruth from WA

Email me your postal addies and I will send out tomorrow your requested set. I hope you all enjoy them.
Thanks to everyone for entering! It's been nice to 'meet' some new people and see some old faces.And thank you for letting me know why you were interested in a produce bag, it helps me understand what people are looking for, and why.
P.S. If you have changed your mind on a selected set- let me know in the email what you would like.

'the ethicurean' produce bag giveaway

2010-09-25T10:01:00.008+09:30

So, my business is finally up and running and I wanna give some bags away. They are so excellent. Really. Truly. What to do? I think a few winners would be good, from around Oz, don't you? Spread the word around about the dudliness of plastic. It's inability to break down in a zillion years. Its lack of sustainability. It's lack of tactility; the feel good factor that we all 'know' but find hard to articulate. Once you use these cotton bags you will fall in love! And realise how many of those 'rip n chuck' plastic fruit and veg bags you used to use or how juggling all those pieces without any bag really was a bit cumbersome.
So, rules are. You have to tell me what State of Oz you live in and why you want some bags. Simple really. Oh and tell me what you want. Some of these, or these ?? Or maybe you would like one of these or these? They also make excellent gifts for the person that has everything! So c'mon! Even if you have never visited or commented on 'taurus rising' before, its OK. Gotta be in it to win it.Winners announced Monday.
Friend the ethicurean on facebook.

new spring salad

2010-09-20T08:08:00.004+09:30

In contrast to yesterdays stodgy (but very delicious) food post, here's something a little fresher. An early spring, late winter salad. I couldn't resist taking a picture as it was just too beautiful. I didn't really design this salad, it was just what I had in the fridge and the garden, so it really constructed itself. Its a kale, swiss chard and baby beet leaf salad with pomegranate, orange segments and chive, served with a light balsamic, orange and garlic glaze and garnished with violets. A trick i learnt from Kale for Sale: hand rub the raw kale with salt to bruise the leaves, it tenderises the kale , making it sweeter and softer to consume it raw. It really works.

silky soft

2010-09-19T22:58:00.006+09:30

Not quite the title you'd expect for a cabbage and sausage stew post, right? I have a wee small addiction to this right now. Its the perfect seasonal meal. Cabbage, fennel and some kale if you like it, all cooked down to a silky smooth, sweet redux . Perfect, delicious comfort food. We're still needing it here in the cold 'NO, IT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE SPRING YET'! Adelaide Hills. So good that I ate the leftovers for breakfast and lunch. I'm not sure exactly what makes this dish so good. The thick sweet and salty stock? The smooth hit of cabbage and pancetta or the just perfect fennel and pork and chilli combo? Dunno- but it's certainly on my repertoire radar right now. Lucky we have a local that stocks chilli, fennel and pork biodynamic snags! My homemade chicken stock is working a treat here. I'm making at least one big batch a week to cope with all the excess bits.

Verzada ( Italian cabbage and sausage stew)
Serves 4
1/2 cabbage - roughly chopped
2 onions - sliced
1 fennel bulb - sliced
5 Italian pork, fennel and chilli sausages - sliced diagonally
pancetta - roughly chopped ( I used 5 slices)

1/2 cup white wine

2 cups chicken stock

salt n pepper
olive oil for frying
good quality red wine vinegar

greens if you like- roughly chopped
small pasta if desired ( I used acini di pepe 'peppercorns')

Add onion, sausage, pancetta and fennel to heated oil and cook until onions and fennel turn and meat is slightly caramelised. Add cabbage and stir until coated with oil. Add wine. Stir through to remove bits from bottom of pan. Add stock and some water if you like a more soupy style. Cook until cabbage is translucent and liquid has reduced a little, around 40 minutes. Add pasta and greens now if using. Season. Continue on low /med heat until pasta is cooked. Serve hot with a good splash of vinegar on top. Crusty bread to mop. A chilled white to cut ( i omitted this at breakfast , and lunch...)

Try and resist just one serving. If I ever need one, this may be my requested last meal.

Haiku Friday

2010-09-17T10:35:00.002+09:30

this is my bus stop
had to drive to work today
bleugh. no face [or] books!

I cant believe its not ... scrambled egg

2010-09-13T11:42:00.007+09:30

This is my favourite scramble, the boy beans' too. If you have a non egg-loving small person ( or big person) this really quick, vegan delight may be something for you.

Tofu scramble
1 block firm organic tofu, mashed with fork.
3 spring onions, sliced
ketchap manis (or soy sauce and some sugar if you have no ketchap manis) to taste
pinch of tumeric

Saute spring onion until lightly golden, add mashed tofu and sauce. Stir until warmed through. Serve with toast. Serves 2-3. 5 min preparation.
What more could you ask? well , some fresh local tofu perhaps? It's dead simple but a stunner.

mellow yellow

2010-09-12T18:52:00.006+09:30

its finally been bottled. Quite a bit of limoncello and a few bottles of creama di limoncello to extract all that vodka-ry goodness from those peels. Glad we used so many lemons when we had the chance as the heavy rain over the last two weeks has spoiled almost half the crop still left on the tree. Damn shame. But still, couple a good nights here...not very mumsy is it making the grappa? not quite the lovely cardi, the socks or the handy-bits. Just hard core deliciousness. Pass the beetroot chips would ya?

the boys

2010-09-08T22:10:00.006+09:30

had a lovely time at the Royal Ag Show. The small one tickled the piglets and swapped snots, half strangled small, new fluffy avarian creatures and watched enthralled as enormous cows tumbled out seemingly unending, huge grassy poos, like really, really very totally enthralled. He watched enraptured as huge sows puckered and did the same and cheered them on. We all watched him being supportive and enraptured. Figuring its his new capacity to go to the loo thats bringing out the interest. He did however also enjoy heaving his small gumbooted self into huge, murky puddles and tramping through acres of spent straw. He ohhed and ahhed as we left at nightfall and the rides lit up. We had a grand, if not rather poo focussed, day.

What a wonderful world

2010-09-07T20:49:00.004+09:30

Couldn't have stomached this rabid right wing conservative bloke as our PM. Go Julia, our first female PM. Will her boyfriend move into The Lodge? I hope so. That will give all the wowsers something to choke on.

mooching

2010-09-05T22:10:00.015+09:30

Blogging is a really great record of time. I have really missed it over the last 6 months or so but really have not had the energy or the mental space to give any more. I've posted 63 times this year, compared with nearly 400 the year before. This avid daily blogger got blogger burnout! Juggling the pressures of work, the death throes of a PhD and a very dead beat Prof, two Directorships to manage and new businesses to grow and a family to try and spend some time with and negotiate all that two teenagers and a two year old can throw my way...well, I've been reading blogs but not commenting or able to take any mind space and write on my own. Toss in a big home and garden and travel for work and my time has felt rather thin. I cant even take photos anymore! Thats what I realised tonight when I browsed through my blog and my Flickr account- that I'm so glad I took the time when I had it to journal in both words and pics, the daily passing of our lives. Its been lovely looking and reading over the minutiae of life over the last few years. How very glad I am that I started blogging. Maybe Im feeling the return of some emotional space and strength to start again, life has just been so so full. I'm ready to stop and smell some roses. I want creative time back in my life, hence an attempt to start with some freshness of Spring with a with a new look blog. Anyone remember these? Peanut choc and almond cupcakes with green tea icing. I found them in my archives. They were good. very very good. I've decided to remake them tomorrow (sans silver pans). The kids will love me for it. Here's the recipe if you're up for it.

Haiku Friday

2010-09-03T07:52:00.002+09:30

pop! pop! pop! pop! pop!
my heart balloon is bursting.
can't grasp this much love

crema di limoncello

2010-09-02T11:52:00.004+09:30

Ever wondered what to do with all the lemon zest from making limoncello? I sure as heck have. All that lovely lemony-ness imbued with vodka- what a waste to toss it! I have had all my leftover zest from making this stuff for the past years, having blitzed it into a crumb like consistency, stored in my freezer for this very day of enlightment. It has come. Crema di limoncello. Hallelujah.

Lemons 101

2010-08-31T08:22:00.003+09:30

Our tree is groaning. We're using them as fast as we can and as fast as is humanly possibly. We have sold them to Food Connect Adelaide (I can now add primary producer to the CV), made oh, 10 litres of limoncello, juiced them, made lemon curd, placed bowls full at work, sent friend home with them, zest them into meals, squeezed them on pasta and roasted greens. I've even taken to drinking the juice straight each day. It makes no dent in the volume. Im getting desperate. Yesterday I managed to use 10 in an Indian lemon pickle (I love Brinjal pickle with curries so I'm hoping this will work for my tastebuds too). Solar cooked for a month, this should end up a rich and thick pasty sweet sour lemon gloop.

10 lemons, finely chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp black mustard seeds
3 tsp tumeric

dry roast seeds and whiz/pestle to dry powder. Add tumeric and salt and sugar. Mix into lemons. Seal for 1 month. Store in sunny place.

WOW!

2010-08-25T20:30:00.005+09:30

after all this time, over a year actually, my website and business (well most of it) is ready to rock n roll! I cant believe I have stuck it out, this small business thing. Being an academic all my life I never thought about venturing 'outside', over to the 'other side'. But being an ethical business has good karma attached and besides, this produce bag thing just kinda sucked me in, took me by surprise. I'd never, ever thought about selling anything before in my life. To be honest, I have no idea where the drive for this came from. I really was just 'taken over'.

When people tell you that starting a business is like a good relationship, that you have to be prepared to stick with it, shoulder the ups n downs and hang in there, well, they're right. It's been a life changing process, full of risk and frustration, fear and delight. I have learnt a lot, more than I had ever imagined, been stressed, anxious, stayed up late for many weeks, but i never once wavered in my desire to see these bags being used by many more people. So on the eve of this launch of my online store I am both excited and worried, but mostly rather proud that I bloody well did it. Followed through on an idea. One I really believe in. Subsequently, I now have a whole new appreciation for small business (but not quite the reverence that the conservatives have about them, no panic required! lol).

Now begins the hard work of getting the bags in 'real' stores. I have a few shops lined up already but I am waiting on the delivery of supplies of my fair wage gauze and net bags to begin this in earnest.

Have a nosy, let me know what needs changing. Buy some bags!

waiting for Dad

2010-08-23T23:17:00.000+09:30

Its a sad state of play. The girls haven't heard from their Dad for over two months. They are not too devastated but its confirmatory for them. He really has no idea how to be a Dad. He no doubt, wants them to call, i have suggested they do it repeatedly. But they are adamant. From their point of view, they are the abandoned, the left behind, the discarded children. They want him to keep making an effort, to feel like despite the fact that he left them, he still loves them and wants to be in their lives. But their hope is fading. Its weird. i do not understand that distance from your own children. How can you sleep at night? Is it a male- female thing? Im not sure anymore.

election day

2010-08-21T09:50:00.001+09:30

Fuck. Not ready for another round of conservative, stupid, short sighted elitists leading again. Dismantling this nation piece by piece of its public infrastructure and handing more money to the corporates and ruling classes to determine the way of our future. Nothing clever about them.
Feel sick.

Green seas?

2010-08-11T22:05:00.013+09:30

well no, not very. We are very conscious of eating 'within means' here at Chez Pan. Boring for most people I know, but well, we just cant help it. Meatless most days, and as for fish and other seafood, well we dont see it much. Our last vestiges of 'poor choice meat' has been canned tuna. We make a pasta meal with it about once every few months, some delicious chilli, lemon, garlic, parsley concoction but despite its rarity, it still really freaks The Bloke out. I had spied some 'sustainable' canned tuna at our local organic store , but at over $10 a small can, well I wasn't about to quite cross over!.

So when Julie posted a link on facebook to the Greenpeace 'very accessible and interpretable and 'rememberable' canned tuna listing I read it with interest and promptly let my fingers do the walking and found the Australian stockists online store. At 1/3 the price of local stores, around $3.90 per can for pole caught Slipjack tuna - yes, amazing i know, it's the most sustainable canned tuna around. I bought in bulk and saved on postage...24 cans later with the addition of some amazing canned mackrel and anchovies (really, the mackrel was goood!) the pantry is looking very blue in a non-depressed kind of way. We now have a years supply of tuna for just under $100 bucks, very reasonable for what you get; no bycatch, dolphins, shark or turtle. Its not local but I'm resting much easier here at The Pan.

Haiku Friday

2010-08-06T15:06:00.001+09:30

Some bags have arrived!
but my website's not ready.
Ah ha! Soloution!

Indian Earth in London

2010-07-31T09:30:00.001+09:30

One of the things I really love about blogging is the capacity to make new friends, people who you would never had a chance to meet otherwise. One of my reasons for stopping over in London on my way back from a conference in Spain was not only to have some time to do some galleries that I have always wanted to explore but to catch up with Emma who some of you may remember from Indian Earth. Emma and her family were in London visiting family from her usual home in Goa, India where she and her partner decided to make their home and leave the madness of London behind.
We had a glorious, full day with her beautiful daughter and gorgeous new baby boy, enjoying the best of the English summer in Hyde Park. Then I spent the following days pounding the pavement around London, beating off the swarms but enjoying the sights and the fantastic offerings of galleries and museums! My feet were very happy to finally get home.

Mercat la Boqueria

2010-07-18T05:24:00.003+09:30

This place was my No.1 must do in Barcelona. The very old, very famoud Mercat la Bouqueria. A city market in operation since 1214! It certinly lived up to all expectations.
I entered from a side way not the main arch(coz i kept getting a bit lost in this tumbling town) a beautiful corrodor flanked by ancient pillars.

Now not alot here is local or organic but the quality and sheer variety, volume and quality is quite impressive.You can find anything in this market! Eggs? No problem. What sort would you like? Emu, goose, duck, quail, chicken. Every ova you can think of!

Pintxos- a Catalanian tapa, served on sticks ready to be cooked on the spot and eaten and so healthy. These aregreen pimiento and potato and straight pimiento.

These strange beasts that look like chicken feet are known as goose barnacles. Sadly I never tried any.

Im amazed at the lack of destruction of public property, there is very little graffiti and public goods and ancient public artifacts seem to remain intact.

This stall sells only offal and organs, the English translates into the 'inside bits' stall. Tongue, stomach, trachea, whatever you fancy you can find it here.

My favourite peaches - the donut peach- abound here at this time of year. The many varietals of produce here is quite incredible, not just one melon, or one or two peaches, ype of prawn or fig. There are many varieties of each kind of produce. The wealth is staggering.

These melons are similar to a honeydew but appear more favoursome, sweeter and are shaped like an Aussie rules ball. These melons are good.

Berries..plenty! hey look so stunning. I did wander around with my jaw hanging and just wished i had a few days to think, shop and cook here using some of this amazing produce. So many people I sure did piss alot of people off getting these snaps. Tourists getting in the way of people doing their daily shopping. I cant imagine having to fight the hordes whn Im shopping.

So many varieties of dried funghi- morels, browns, chanterelles , the list goes on. Additionally they are not sold in 50g stingy plastic envelopes.

Mushroom pintxos

I visited la Bouqueria at about 3pm with no breakfast or lunch under my belt. I couldnt resist some of the donut peaches followed by one of these pintxos- prawn and baby squid plunged into hot oil for 10 seconds and handed straight over.

Note the tomatoes in the picture below. They are HUGE! Never seen anything like them.
There were stalls devoted to only tomatoes of every variety. It was certainly summer heaven.

The seafood variety was dead impressive and I wanted to try the razorfish below but wil have to wait until I get home and go razorfish 'hunting' In Australia we waste these delicious molluscs as fish bait.

My favourite pic is below- it sums up the markets and eating style here. You can find anything and everything is eaten. Sheeps head anyone? No problem

aching feet

2010-07-15T06:54:00.002+09:30

My Spansih girlfriend and I walked the old quarter of Barcelona last night. We walked and walked and walked. We walked for so long and far and got lost and didnt care for so long that the bars shut around us, chairs were packed on cobbled lanes and all that was left were the late night revelers and the street dweller stucked up in stone corners below medieval turrets and gargoyles. Our aimless , spellbound, fantasising wandering through these ancient buckled streets lit with lamps, their high stone walls arching above and hiding centuries of stories hidden within came to an end when the grey-blue slivers of the night sky, ribboning above, faded and we failed to' find an open bar anywhere in this medieval gridsquare of Barcelona. This the Land of the 'up very late'! What the? We finally found a well earned Mojito in the old harbour, at the base of the glorious and ancient Santa Maria del Mar on a moored woodent boat, floating on the waters edgea and alight with candles.

Both Ana and I are huge fans of the magnificent book by the name of 'Cathedral by the Sea' of which medieval Barcelona is another larger than life character in the story. We spent a while sipping and reflecting from our harbour moorings and both acknowledged that we felt like a friend of ours had lived amongst this ancient place during hard times of the reformation and both felt quite personally connected to the history of the Cathedral. Gotta love a good book for that! The Barri Gothi and the seedy, dark Ravel where men passed comment and drugs were offerred and small kids were still up eating icecream at 1 am, and it stole my heart with its living sense of history, gritty and real and yet brimming with life contemporary. Its a masterpiece in modern managment of culture what they have managed here.

Mediterranean Glory

2010-07-13T19:21:00.001+09:30

arrived. ate. slept. swam
such a contrast to the winter left behind.
I have been staying south of Barcelona in a cape called Salou for these past few days before the conference begins with a girlfriend and her family. Glorious location. Imagine waking up to this everyday? The view from the bedroom Im in is just captivating. Not sure Im ready to hit the city.
We have been swimming, eating and taking siesta. Gazpacho, jamon ( oh my god the jamon!) glorious acorn grazing forest run wild pig ! superb. The fun of being here for the experience of Spain winning the World Cup was priceless and couldnt have been planned any better if Id tried! .The roar echoing around the cape was impressive when that goal was scored.

Off to Barcelon today and conferncing starts tomorrow. sigh. Totally enjoying Spain and my friends and hope to get to the famous food markets in Barcelona today and meeting up with my friens for tapas tonight somewhere in the city. Glory days.

to market, to market...

2010-06-30T22:54:00.001+09:30

so I leave next week for Barcelona. Looking forward to it, very muchly. The friends, the food, the culture, the work, the time to rekindle my self. But after Barcelona, I go to London for two days, purely just because I'm passing through. Why waste a chance to wander a foreign city by yourslf when you can? and all those miles and nothing gained? Solo travel I quite like, exploring at your own pace, but I do like to share. I am lookinging forward to those historical sites thats Ive never managed in previous visits to London, and I'm a total sucker for a pure set sparkly and all that time to myself, a whole 42 hours! But I am feeling a little aggrieved at the lost opportunity for market shopping and cooking for friends. I have no one in London to cook for! Any takers out there?

escama studio

2010-06-06T14:42:00.005+09:30

A friend gave this to me yesterday; a gift for my birthday. She knows me well! Its 100% fabbo! Pull tabs from soft drink (soda) cans have been crocheted together to make a shoulder bag with some great attention to style! It reminds me of fish scales, a modern eco-twist on the Glo-mesh. I love it.

green business

2010-06-03T22:38:00.003+09:30

So you all know me pretty well by now...I try and 'do the right thing'. I eat local, seasonal, I public transport it, I take my stuff with me, I recycle, I consume few stuff and when i do i know its provenance, we solar power, passive solar, time showers, make stuff, eat basics, yaddah yaddah yaddah, so when it came to my work trip this time i had to DO something different, ( i know the jet fuel carbon costs) I chose a 'green' hotel. Small rooms, local menus, green powered, recycling facilities in the room, no takeaway toiletries in shameful bottles, minimal. Happy to make just a small difference and support a business with a conscience.

bashing, birthday style

2010-05-31T21:28:00.006+09:30

My brother and I finally, are in sync! I had a great night. Many demons laid to rest and 40 people came to my 40th bash. Spooky. The Bloke pulled out all stops, hired a local eatery, had fizz and canapes served and all my friends invited (well those that live nearby, anyways) who all agreed to join us on the condition they payed for ther own meal and made the cakes! I really just relaxed and enjoyed everyones company, cried a bit (that was probably aided by the fizz but i do love an opportunity to tell everyone how much i really appreciate their love and friendship). Im liking being 40. You can publish pics of yourself looking like an idiot and not care. And to The Bloke "wow, thanks, I love you!"

Haiku Friday

2010-05-28T10:22:00.007+09:30

Sheltered in the barn,
we listen and wait as wind's
bite, our bellies full.

finally - produce bags!

2010-05-25T20:41:00.010+09:30

These lovelies have arrived, ready for my approval and signing of a contract. Soft, unbleached, reclaimed organic cotton worked into a useful produce bag for all those who dont have the where-with-all or nouse to make them themselves. I like these so much more than the plastic net bags. Something pure to house your market treasures.

I cant describe the pleasure at finally being at this stage of this wee little dream. But stay tuned, more types of bags to come!

40

2010-05-20T21:14:00.004+09:30

Ok, so i turned 40 last week. Thats not the reason I havent been blogging. Thinking back I cant remember how I had the head space to blog as I did. I often log in an want to write, connect with everyone, but i just cant seem to muster a useful sentence nor dig deep and draw on myself. I had a wonderful day. The girls rose early to cook me my favourite breakfast before they hopped on the bus to school; eggs benedict. They did me proud that b1 and b2, they split the tasks and cooked up sourdough with perfectly poached eggs and a HOME MADE HOLLANDAISE. No adult help. Seriously. Couldn't be prouder. Go girls. They also made the most perfect peace tree. If I ignore the squabbling which surrounded the night before the big four. oh. over who was doing what task, who forgot to go get a tree branch, who promised they'd have what part ready and fosicking around in the garden inthe pitch black at freezing temps screeching at each other I might have felt even more serene about the gift. But it was made with such a truckload of love that all I could do was laugh at their drama.

The Bloke in his indemible style gifted me a master fishing rod and full tackle along with a guide to the best fishing spots in South Oz, all ~~wrapped~~ tucked up under a dirty floor runner. Love that guy. He's bright green. He's lucky to have me.

He topped it of with a superb dinner (he actually introduced me to a dish I had never seen nor heard of, a vegetable tian, now thats a gift) and a beautiful baked lemon cheesecake with gingernut crust. 40 so far is feelin' pretty good. Big bash to come.

bits n pieces

2010-05-08T21:52:00.009+09:30

:: the kale is growing.

:: B1 made a cake and decorated it as a fractal. Speechless.

:: the boy bean turned two. he's dead cute and yakking away and calls me 'darling' like his lovely Dad does. Heart mush moments abound.

:: manufacturing of The Ethicurean bags has finally begun. Hats off to all small business owners, this journey has been a real eye opener for this lifelong academic.

:: after only eight weeks in operation, Food Connect Adelaide has hundreds of subscribers on the books. Awesomely impressive and a real measure of community interest in alternative and sustainable food systems. I love being a central part of this food based social enterprise.

:: biochar manufacturing has begun in earnest at Chez Pan.

:: having to think about high schools for B2 for 2011. I hate this part of parenting and schooling. High scool is such a pain in the ass to navigate, primary school is so easy! I love primary school.

:: facebook has quietly and earnestly taken over my life. I'm seriously considering a techie moratorium for 6 months. Told the kids about the mooted idea and the heart palpatations were physically discernable from across the dining table.

:: have finally admitted to myself that the loss of privacy felt from B1 and B2's Dads invasion of my blog, blog space and the kids space might have affected my enthusiasm for blog posting. Thinking I may be on the road to recovery.

:: looking forward to my 40th birthday party in a few weeks. Loads of friends and family celebrating at a local restaurant is just what Im up for right now.

:: have been wondering when I might feel like engaging in some more personal, reflective writing and when I might get round to some deeper thinking.

:: still in love.

:: paid way to much for some swanky (hehe, freudian slip and wrote wanky! lol) new shiny black gumboots. Flocked heaven in a rubber boot.

:: my abstract for a conference in Barcelona has been accepted. I cant believe my luck that two of my bookclub members will be there at the same time for conferences. Looking forward to the joy of friends in a foreign land (well foreign to me, one of them is a Catalanian native).

:: thinking how I have a certain level of 'love' for special bloggy comrades. Strange? or do you feel that way about certain bloggers too?

:: am awaiting the return of my PhD dissertation.

:: my fanatacism for all things 'gratin' has not yet diminished. I think this interest has now passed fad status and developed into a lifelong staple.

:: B2 has entered 'kids masterchef'. Im looking forward to a behind the scenes view of the ins and outs of a reality tv show and simultaneoulsy wondering how they will make prime time viewing out of 8-12 year ols in the kitchen. Not many years of expertise and a matured palette to draw on!

:: thinking that I should have got back to regular posting a while back when reviewing the mountain of stuff i have just written down!.

in my inbox this morning

2010-05-07T16:02:00.003+09:30

Dear Colleagues
I wish to take this opportunity to wish all mothers on staff a Very Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday, 9 May 2010. I hope that you will have an enjoyable and memorable time with your family as you get pampered with chocolates, flowers, breakfasts in bed and hugs. Shower your mother with love and hugs too. From my experience of what mothers do for their families, I think Mother’s Day should be every day.
Regards,
Johann

* at this moment i fell off my chair and then had to post. I like our new dean!

Haiku Friday

2010-05-07T16:00:00.002+09:30

yes! a noise from me.
How extraordinary, no?
Just to say he's two.

Autumn Glory

2010-04-26T09:08:00.003+09:30

I just love this time of year in the garden. Vegetables thrive on not much attention at all and the trees do their Autumn thing, showing off shamelessly.
are you enjoying Autumn in your garden?

Spoiler alert!

2010-04-23T21:31:00.005+09:30

I've been holding off on a post until I had some earth shattering insight, some major event, some mojo to motivate a glittering post. Naught. I find myself consumed, consumed by an unrecognisable Other, something I cannot put a name to. Its not depression, its not lethargy, melancholy or yearning. Its not anything I recognise other than my mind and body being in an uncertain space. Boundless, ripe and full of life but unknowable and slower than usual and foreign. I cant place it. Life swirls with me in it, fully present, yet detatched. Somehow I dont relate right now... and I have a beetroot and chocolate muffin recipe to share! with pics! Something definitely is rotten...

My mind is taking time off from conscious interpretation and I havent been able to face looking deep into myself that I find the task of writing forces. Im not sure why... possibly Im moving into a new place within? Maybe. Time will tell.
Running has taken over. Pacing, testing, sprinting, bursts of speed and sweat with music blaring in my ears. Good food is still a focus, complex flavours, sound provenance, high quality, shared and rewarding. But a new phase is shadowing and Im uncertain whats around the corner. All i can say is bring on the conference in Barcelona! I need a very large distraction.

gratin fever

2010-04-10T08:00:00.014+09:30

Wow. its been a while. So long in fact that I had to think twice about how to log in. Despite the election being over and the Bloke missing out on a MLC seat (not unexpected) and the launch of Food Connect going well, life hasn't returned to the simple that I thought it would. We've had birthdays, office moves, Easter, LOTS of data management now that Food Connect has totally taken off, garden prep and a huge amount tidying up the months of neglect around the place (the downside to 2 acres..)and the winter veges in..

But I have been cooking. Forced to in some cases. The great benefit of working with Food Connect Adelaide has been the left over produce that occasionally comes your way! What to do with kilos of 'too ripe to send out' organic bananas? Banana bread! loaves and loaves. Ive been tossing this stuff around a bit too lately and the banana bread copped its fair share. Heaven in a small pot this stuff is. vanilla bean paste. Highly concentrated heaven.
This monstrosity got made for b2's birthday party the scary thing is I had the same cake when I was her age! appeased my conscience with some natural food colouring in the icing!

I have been busy with loads of fantastic meals made with our vege box contents. It really is a pleasure to get each week, knowing that its 100% organic, 100% local, and its all been picked in the last day or two and ..and..you dont have to scout around for it all. Its all there in a box! The freshness and quality really is something else.

Its been great to have boundaries around food choices too. Box contents determines what we have each week. It really forces the local and seasonal. I must admit to having discovered a very deep relatinship with the gratin , gratin anything! Now, I grow chard in the garden and I get it in the box. Wasting garden chard was never an issue in the past, i picked it when i wanted to use some on pizza or to make a spanokopita and just let the plants grow and go to seed, but i have never used it as a vegetable on its own. I thought i really hated the stuff - too metalic in taste. So when we started getting big bunches in the box i was forced to use it. Remembering my fantastic experience with the zucchinis', I gratinised ?? the chard and now I am fully addicted and a bit miffed that the stuff growing in the garden isnt producing enough!
Seriously, if you've never eaten it, try it, its heavenly. But, like all good things to eat around here for dinner, they get eaten before I take a pic which is why you have a hot cross bun as a leader pic for a gratin appreciation post!

in my inbox this morning

2010-03-24T22:32:00.003+10:30

Good afternoon all. Please be aware that “Earth Hour” is happening again this Saturday night. In an effort to encourage involvement and assist with ensuring greatest affect it would be a good thing to turn off the lights before leaving on Friday night and also on Saturday if you happen to be in the building through the day. Please mention it to all in your respective areas, its’ a simple thing to do and it can have a huge collective impact for the better.

Mr X.
Facilities Manager
Contracted Company Y

*slaps forehead*

I hate Earth Hour.
My emailed response...Umm, why not do this EVERYDAY day?

Im alive

2010-03-23T21:39:00.011+10:30

Im reading your posts, commenting in my head, laughing and nodding and rejoicing in the historic and civilised first step towards better health care in the US. Just in recovery mode. I HAVE made crackfudge...twice. I went to rescue a loaded electrical powerboard from a fountain of wee, and viola! burnt sugar!(or was that supposed to be i rescued a person and their fountain of wee from a loaded powerboard...?) but i was determined to make the bloody stuff after the cardaMOM adventure. Ive gardened, planted seeds, survived an election and business start-up etc and am now in recovery mode as I take stock of all that has been over the last month or so and prepare to head back to work after 2 and a half weeks 'holiday', a subjective term. See you soon.

PS. MAKE THE FUDGE. Use your fave fudge recipe (if you have one-i didnt, never made fudge before so ended up with a crystaline one due to low fat:high sugar ratio) if not use one with heaps of cream and fat as this one wasnt creamy enough by far. The combination of cardamon, salt and roast almond is well, moreish to say the least!

The Great Thing About the Health Care Law That Has Passed? It Will Save Republican Lives, Too (An Open Letter to Republicans from Michael Moore) | MichaelMoore.com

2010-03-22T22:04:00.000+10:30

The Great Thing About the Health Care Law That Has Passed? It Will Save Republican Lives, Too (An Open Letter to Republicans from Michael Moore) | MichaelMoore.com

hops

2010-03-20T06:57:00.005+10:30

Its scent is so subtle and delicately floral. Quite beautiful. Did you know it lookes like this. The hops vine grows on our garage trellis just behind the wood oven and recieved a small pruining when the Gnomes dropped by. We're not using the hops for brewing (maybe someday) but the Gnomes will give it a shot.

Such a pretty flower, like a fat grub, with the yellow pollen sitting at the base of the petals of the cone like structure.

Im hoping for a free sample of the brewed kind...

mad to the bone

2010-03-19T20:45:00.015+10:30

So here's what i have been up to! Its what made me an absent blogger. I have my own facebook and blog and job and life and 3 kids and a garden and stuff to do. Chuck about 8 hours worth of meetings a week, data integrity and management for a 'start up', managing subscriptions, generating interest enough for near on 600 facebookers and a website with posts to write and pics to take, edit and down and upload, email outs for each weeks new subscribers to manage and send and merge and you can see possibly why I'm not blogging much. AND Im on holidays!(waves at Simon the enterprise co-ord from Food Connect who reads this blog- well used to read it when I actually wrote anything- who started FC here and doesnt hear me whinge - i kindly save that for you online folks).

Food Connect Adelaide launched this week and after nearly 6 months of involvement it all came to fruition this week. We started deliveries. 70 this week, 30 more next week and 50 the week after and from there, who-ever joins up. The success of Adelaides first real CSA style organic food network has been unpredictable- its so totally taken off, blown us all away and is 100% excitement. For this here ethicurean its been 100% rewarding being so involved in this fantastic organisation. Its all my principles and beliefs in action and its so truly connecting. im loving it and especially loving being admin for our facebook community; these guys really get involved! So this week, I did the full caboodle. I went down to the warehouse to help pack the fruit and veges, I then loaded up my car with 100% pure organic and local (any idea how bloody incredible and difficult that is) produce (except the organic QLD bananas)and drove home to unload ready for my 11 subscribers to turn up and collect their produce boxes. A thoroughly rewarding day and some amazing produce. Best bit, when a very active facebooker; a switched on ex orchardist grandma turned up with her excited grandkids to experience ' a new way of shopping' who all proceeded to unpack her box in my driveway into take home bags. Community in action. I really LOVE it. I just wish I was going to be here every wednesday for subscriber pick up!

Tomorrow, the state election! Will I have a Bloke or not?

ps. In the midst of all this, I managed to kill the mother.

balsamic gift

2010-03-12T16:57:00.004+10:30

Gifts such as this one are priceless. 30 year old balsamic vinegar, aged in French Oak. 6 litres of the stuff. Did I want some??? YESSSS!!! ...(please, thank you that would be lovely) It's almost a wet your pants kinda score really. Well, thats probably a bit a sad, or just gross, but for a foodie who loves food with provenance (Ive now used that word twice this week!!) eek! well I just about died and went to heaven. That's me done for Friday.
No haiku waiting.
My brain has left my body.
Going on a date.
:-)

extra special sourdough pancakes

2010-03-07T11:39:00.021+10:30

I love sourdough anything and these pancakes were no exception. Slightly tangy and ohh so light and full of nutty goodness and like all good pancakes, they have story. The sourdough starter I used has a lovely history.

Its come all the way from a bakery in Anchorage, Alaska, shipped over dried from a friend to a friend, who then travelled from Tassie to Melbourne with it in a little bottle to handover at our girly weekend. It's over 100 years old. Hows that for a pancake with provenance? The starter has been fed and divided and this mix uses the starter excess that would normally be tossed away.

As always, I didnt really measure anything, just dumped some local organic flour in with about a cup of starter, some milk, an egg and a sprinkle of sugar and mixed until it seemed like good pancake batter consistency. I ignored the weevil that fell on the counter top, telling myself a) it was the only one and b) if it wasnt..i eat worse things like a big chunk of dead cow and dead chicken and stuff like that.

I decided that a pancake with such lineage and extra protein needed a special light something to go with it so I cooked up some handy freezer stored organic, 'handplucked by moi' blackberries and redcurrants in a pan with a little sugar to make a 'Chez Pan coulis' (I just made that up for sure!)
Verdict: EXTRA good.

Haiku Friday

2010-03-05T16:34:00.004+10:30

Murrundi ruwe.
Coroboree of spirits.
Sweet water dancing.

viola!

2010-03-03T21:54:00.014+10:30

Oh, its dull around here in the brain at Chez Pan. Im busy n all but its all work and no play. Im having fun but its a bit like boot camp; painfully bearable. I need rewards to lure me through the hazy days and endless nights of internet and computer work that my life seems to have become (I spent hours yesterday wrestling with the finer machinations of higher end, snobby blogger css coding just trying to sort out something as simple as a failed favicon plugin ) I know, plenty better ways to spend a few precious hours but Im like a dog with a bone.

Speaking of dogs n bones n rewards, I think I managed to sniff out the only bottle of cardaMOM essence in modern existence! It's a little out of date; looking a little like circa 1962, but meh, as the old Indian dude who owned the store said , "is ok...out of date but still berry good, I still use it in the restaurant. shhh". Ive been meaning to make Belgian Waffles' crackfudge for weeks. Something about the combination of cardamon, sea salt and roast almonds...makes me get a bit wobbly. Need to cook but Im in a weird post modern funk (an alternative to busy). Im thinking seriously about whipping up a bunch of arse biscuits to take to work and and maybe some aubergine whatthefuck.

a tribute to an amazing woman

2010-03-01T22:32:00.002+10:30

COLIN SMITH\The Nelson Mail IN MEMORY: Emily Sanson-Rejouis second from right, carrying her daughter Alyahna 2, follows one of the coffins out of Nelson's Christ Church Cathedral after today's service.

Hundred of mourners and wellwishers packed Nelson Cathedral this afternoon for the memorial service for Haiti earthquake victims Emmanuel Rejouis and his daughters Kofie-Jade 5, and three year-old Zenzie Sanson-Rejouis.

A procession of pallbearers, including close family members, carried in three white coffins for the start of the three-hour service marked by a litany of tributes from people from around the world who travelled to Nelson for the service.

Nelson-born Emily Sanson-Rejouis was unharmed in the quake which claimed her husband and two daughters, while youngest daughter, Alyahna, 2, was pulled from the hotel, where they had been living, with a broken leg.

Kofie-Jade's body arrived just an hour before today's service.

Mrs Sanson-Rejouis' sister Rachel Sanson said services were held simultaneously in cities around the world today, by friends and family members unable to be in Nelson.

She acknowledged the immense efforts of government agencies, and Emily's United Nations colleagues, who had ensured Kofie-Jade's body had arrived in time for today's service.

The five year-old's body was found in the rubble just days ago.

Dean of Nelson's Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Reverend Charles Tyrrell, said it was at first unimaginable that the shockwaves from the earthquake would be felt here in Nelson.

He said the Bishop of Haiti placed the scale of the tragedy in context when he said "not a soul had been untouched". Entire families had disappeared in the January 12 earthquake, and the wreckage was "beyond imagination".

Mr Rejouis' sister Guerdy Rejouis-Abraira read a tribute on behalf of their sibling Rose Rejouis, who was staging a simultaneous ceremony in New York. She described their grief as unbearable.

Another sibling Sheila Rejouis said in her tribute at the Cathedral today their parents were inconsolable, but no matter how difficult times were ahead, Emily and Alyahna would ensure the bond between the families would never be broken.

Mrs Sanson-Rejouis' father Roger Sanson described what happened as a "random act of nature", which could have happened anywhere. The loss of a beautiful family was a tragedy that can't be described, but has to be endured in great pain.

"It could have happened in Wellington or in Nelson, but it was Haiti and you were all there. How you managed to do what you did on that night and the next day, most will never know," Mr Sanson said in describing how his daughter had worked with her bare hands and had then persuaded a group of young men to help free her daughter and two other people.

"You saved three lives, and one of those lives was Alyahna.

"Emily, I know you will wrestle for a long time with these events, but you assured Alyahna survived healthy and whole.

"We each live on a precipice of uncertainty and the unexpected. I am amazed by your efforts to reach back to support friends and colleagues who have also suffered significant losses,'' Mr Sanson said.

The bodies of the three family members are to be buried at a private service tomorrow.

catching up

2010-02-28T08:04:00.013+10:30

Maybe that post heading should be 'trying to keep up"? Very absent blogging here at Chez Pan, not even a Haiku to be had. Things are starting to resemble a post apoclyptic world. Good thing i have the girls well trained. Somehow I need to reconcile my astonishment at just what can happen to ones house and environs when neglected by two adults (and used by four and a toddler adept at untidying a room in one minute flat) for a few weeks with my shock at what actually needs doing once Ive stopped and smelt the laundry. I havent even unpacked from my trip away. My travel bag is open and still on the floor, its guts strewn about and im living out of it! At home! I figure once Ive worked my way through it, it will have been 'organically' unpacked. I think I left one Birkenstock behind but i feel weird ringing the Hilton and asking for an ancient and quite feral Birkie and 'would they please send it back'? Its on THE LIST. I packed on the bed coz it was table height(I kid you not!) and I think it got swallowed in the uber super topped downy cloud. Im now at the stage where I think the Bloke getting a seat in Parliment might be a great idea - Im fantasising about some home help!

Let me tell you how things are around here; for a foodie, a dinner paints a thousand stories. No pasta left, no vege left, no fruit left, no eggs left. Last nights dinner consisted of microwaved jasmine rice with a can of 'emergency' chilli tuna (in olive oil- some standards still apply) stirred through. To which I added the LAST vegetable- an old shrivelling corn cob with the mouldy end sliced off, a fridge stashed quarter red onion rescued from sure death, and a small hard knob of cheddar which I only found when i stood on tiptoes to re-check the cheese bit in the fridge and a handfull of cherry tomatoes (its a fruit). We would have had some fresh zucchini if we'd been watering the garden on a regular basis. In hindsight some basil and parsley from the garden would have been a good idea but between still suffering the gastro I'd bolted home from work with on Friday and the Bloke heading out 'in half an hour' to 'Recycleball', B2 to get to a party and B1 having just broken up with her 'boyfiend' , I just wasnt a thinking epicurean.

THE LIST - must be done today. Heading up in order of importance are:
1. water garden.
2. do laundry
3. GET SOME FOOD
4. 100 other jobs relating to the 'professional' website Im in charge of building and managing and the 400 subscribers Im communicating with so I can actually link the payment gateway that we need operational next week and have everyone onboard, ready for launch in a few weeks time. Food Connect Adelaide is really going off! Weve been averaging two 4-hour meetings per week to get it ready for launch.

Thens there's pics on the camera that need downloading, need to check if the cats actually gone missing, move the potted tomatoes to a possum challenging space, change the sheets (!), a thesis to think about, dusting (probably more akin to washing by now), garden pruning (the lovely Japanese style garden we had is now an experiment in Mediterranean style peremaculture principles), personal pruning (the downside to short hair is it ends up like a thatch if not tended regularly- looking a bit Sharon right about now- sorry if I have any readers called Sharon) and some nail tending might be professionally appropriate before meetings next week; half chewed and chipped and full of dirt can be offputting. Need to cut.

5. Maybe some kid time might be nice too. I say lets go out for brunch!
6. Birkenstock retrieval

(p.s) many apologies for not keeping on top of comments! My standards are really slipping. i love youse all)

Do you get the feeling things are slightly coming apart at the seams? *high pitched slightly hysterical laughter* accompanies

inglorious basteurds

2010-02-24T21:11:00.003+10:30

the possums that is. Little buggers...that's putting it nicely. I had been eagerly awaiting the full ripening of these monsters; the rouge de marmande, as the season has been late late late for us here in the Hills and we have been living off lots of small cherry varieties. These are suppose to be early goers! bah! I woke up this morning to this. They are hanging at just the right height for possums and are just beginning to soften, sweeten and hue. I'm right royally peeved.

green reconciliation

2010-02-21T20:33:00.014+10:30

My Greenliness has been challenged yet again. Maybe its dying some kind of death? Im challenged. I made a trip. No real need besides the one I chose to justify; just pure R&R. Girlfriends from various States meeting up for a weekend of togetherness; our annual girly Melbourne weekend. Kids and partners left behind. Massages and cocktals, highbrow dinner and bloated boardwalk walking. Pillows, pyjamas, movies and pizza and whisky and wine and yes... some shopping to be had.

652 kilometres- jet fuelled
New clothes from fancy shops, well fancier than usual...
No bottled water, all dishes got washed...
Our hotel loungeroom view - sinful on all levels! Lit up like a Christmas tree, burning tonnes of fossil fuel, but god it looked fantastic. We all spent time alone with it. Something about a city at night...
Jeez it was good!

a *#ducking revelation

2010-02-15T19:31:00.014+10:30

Thank you Nigella! Domestic Goddess of Easy Streets entertaining. Having removed the last spare duck from its frozen home on Thursday to defrost in the fridge (i needed the space) with a grand plan of cooking it for Saturday nights' post-conference dinner. Home at 3pm with the bean, 7 people due at half six, gear to unload and chaos to clear I was left with no choice but to commit to the damn thing.! fuck fuck fuck! With tales of hairdryers and half cooked ducks, hours of roasting, dried out flesh and burnt skin shadowing my memory bank, I wasnt feeling very confident. In a manner quite unlike me, I really hadnt prepared what we were going to eat, I just knew it was 'had to involve a duck. I had vegos and allergies to cater to and wasnt sure of the full extent of allergies until the day so I figured Id just have to wing it as best as I could without killing the guests. Besides, I had no other main!

So, at half four, duck in front of me and no time to re-commit or dither nor do anything fancy (ie: involving any preparation- i didnt even remove the neck! eek!) and with a kid meal and bath to fit in somewhere and allergies of the soy, lactose and wheat variety (no pasta, no asian, no cheese), i was definitely going to have to let the basics of the meal speak for themselves. I pulled her off the shelf. Nigella. Domestic Goddess of the need-to-channel-a-bit-of-that-right-now, kind. I resolved that unless it involved a mars bar, some marshmallows and a bottle of Coke, whatever I found in there, I was doing exactly what she told me. She told me to boil the duck in a big bath of water. So I did. She told me to remove it after a while and to feel free to leave it hanging around cold until forty minutes before dinner. So I did. She told me to roast the bird for half an hour in very high heat. So I did. It was freakin excellent! Crispy and moist and completely unadorned, besides salt n pepper, it was delicious. New motto - No duck too big or too small! Boil n bake.

True to style at some point of the routine however, the next day I did add some carrot, celery and onion to the duck bath, reintroduced the refridgerated carcass and uneaten bum n neck, bay and seasonings, boiled the bathwater down further, strained and fridge set. et viola. Rendered duck fat and 4 litres of stock.

teach every child about food

2010-02-14T18:54:00.005+10:30

I have been meaning to post this excellent lecture for a while. I love Jamies passion; pacing like a caged animal, full of feeling about the terrible state of disconnect humans have with their environment, ie: with the food that feeds us. A discord. A lie. A sleight of hand most humans have been dealt. Bad food. Poor quality food. Poor food education and instruction in home economics. After a full weekend at the Plains to Plate Food Convergence; the Future of Food in South Australia (what a great conference!) packed with discussion about food security issues, housing issues, system issues, foraging, gardening, community (most of you blog readers would have LOVED it!) and inspiring people, Ive come home very bouncy! So, to echo the passion, here's Jamie. Winner of the TED. If you've never seen a TED lecture, bookmark TED.com, brilliant contemporary stuff from some of the world best thinkers. Grab a cuppa and get inspired!

If thats the circus...

2010-02-11T12:23:00.001+10:30

...whats the State Ballet like?

10 things i really hate about being green- the food edition

2010-02-09T21:55:00.020+10:30

{insert sad face picture here}

I had salad for dinner and um, I cant even recall lunch, so I admit to feeling quite hungry. I was fantasising about some delectables to eat and started dreaming of food and realised that most of the things I was salivating about are óff the list'. Contraband, not even just plain banned. Sheesh. Sometimes it sucks, especially when you see everyone else just blithely consuming, discounting, figuring that they only eat a little bit so it really doesnt count (i do realise that I am assuming that people are not doing it as a one-off, an educated moment, an exceptional event and am myself blithely assuming that people are generally doing the norm'' when they're out there consuming) So here's my top 10 , fuck I miss them, ethicurean-ism sucks list to compliment my previous 10 things list.

1. Prawns. Garlic prawns, Thai curry prawns, BBQ prawns, marinated prawns, Indian curry prawns, King prawns...any prawns'! Major over farmed problems with prawns.

2. Lobster. Lobster thermidore, lobster with homemade lime mayonaise, American lobster ala Julia Child...any lobster!. Ditto the prawn problem.

3. French cheeses. Sloppy stinky brie, teensy weesy hand rolled ashed cheesies, Boursin. Major bourjeoise food mile issues when we have plentygood local cheese, just not quite...

4. Çanned tomatoes. Any idea how hard it is to find a can of tomatoes that is made from local ingredients. Have a LOOK next time.

5. San Pellegrino- expensive and rather bad for you carbonated sugared drink all the way from Italy- i love the blood orange fizzy stuff. Sigh

6. Salmon... Its densely farmed...full of shit...loads of antibiotics, really, you wouldn't/shouldn't want to touch it with a bargepole... but god its good.

7. Lindt chocolate balls. No fair trade.

8. Coopers Pale Ale. GM yeast! Did ya know that??

9. Tuna. Sashimi, sushi, pasta, with salad, so easy. You KNOW its over farmed right?

10. Tommy Ruffs- bottom of the fish food chain and acceptable re. sustainability but so BLOODY expensive!

There ya have it. The food whinge at Chez Pan. You?