Foodie Friday – Keeping it Local

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Posted on March 15, 2014

I am sure it is still Friday somewhere – my apologies for the lateness of this post – it is Saturday morning here.

How do we feed ourselves? Food prices keep increasing, labelling laws are ambiguous, processed foods contain unfamiliar additives and food allergies appear to be on the rise. Add to this, a desire to eat organically-grown food which I believe is better for my health and the health of the planet and it starts to feel a bit overwhelming. While we are at it, the wasteful packaging needs to be minimised as well as transport costs, both monetary and environmental. Don’t forget ‘food security’ – the latest catch-cry. This is the ability for us, as a nation, to feed ourselves in the event of natural disasters or major changes to the world order.

Have you thrown up your hands in despair? Fear not. You can begin to solve all of these issues with a single action – grow some of your own food.

The Duke and I have a somewhat neglected but productive garden which sometimes surprises us with its bounty. We both work full-time and have minimal time to spend on tending a garden. We try to grow some annual vegetables but the real secret is in growing trees and perennials. We have an avocado, peach, fig and several citrus trees. There are blueberry bushes as well as self sown cherry tomatoes and pumpkins. The clump of parsley has been in one spot for so long that it has a stalk that looks like the trunk of a tree.

It may seem obvious but it is also important to eat (or preserve) what you grow. Do not let the harvest go to waste.

Keep your eyes open for food producing plants in your neighbourhood that are not being harvested. Don’t be afraid to ask if you may have some. There are many reasons that people do not harvest – lack of time, knowledge or health are but a few.

The last few weeks we have had access to the following (either fresh or frozen) from our own property or nearby – corn, blueberries, avocadoes, mangoes, figs, lemons, beans, pumpkins, and pineapples. At times I have felt overwhelmed by the excess on the kitchen bench but I have endeavoured to make sure it was used or stored for later use.

Last weekend I kept track of what we ate.

SATURDAY

Breakfast – buckwheat blueberry pancakes

Lunch – platter of cheese, cherry tomatoes, avocado, dried figs and mango chutney

Dinner – Salmon with mango salsa and vegetables – everything came from the garden except the salmon and onion which I used in the salsa.

SUNDAY

Breakfast – mango and pineapple smoothie

Lunch – Pumpkin soup

Dinner – grilled chicken with cherry tomatoes and mango/avocado salad

We certainly will never be completely self-sufficient but being able to produce at least some of the food that we eat goes a long way to addressing the myriad of issues that I identified in the first paragraph. Eating local food also gives you an appreciation for what is in season in your area. I really look forward to the new crop of things such as figs which have a short season. We eat them constantly while in season then it is but a distant memory until next year.

You do not need a huge amount of space and even though you could not grow some of the thing that we do in your climate, the reverse is also true. What do you grow?

Living Life & Thank You

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Posted on March 14, 2014

I had dreamed of getting a blog post written last night but life got in the way. As you all know, I try to make sure that meal preparation is done ahead of time because of the late hour that we arrive home. I did quite a bit on the weekend so it has been a very simple matter of heating and eating the past couple of nights. Last night I cooked a pot of rice and made Mexican Bean Pie ready for our dinner tonight. I will just need to cook the vegetables when I get in this evening. The pie is my own invention and has 2 ingredients – refried beans and rice. Mix quantities of each together, spread into a pie plate or shallow casserole dish, top with breadcrumbs and grated cheese. I heat it in the microwave then finish the topping under the griller. I use a gluten-free version of topping using almond meal, flaxseed meal, and spices. The choice is yours.

Tonight will be a new ‘Foodie Friday’ post in which I will focus on growing at least some of your own food and the benefits it provides.

Finally, I would like to say thank you to those of you who commented on my previous post about reaching a milestone of 3 years of blogging. Your thoughtful and positive feedback is so valuable. Although I said that this blog is essentially my diary, it gives me great joy to realise that you are out there reading and see value in what I write. I hope that will continue and I will not let you down

Thanks, once again and I look forward to many more posts and comments.

The Final Step

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Posted on March 11, 2014

I read somewhere that doing the washing should not be about putting a load of washing in the machine. It should be about closing the loop, that is, washing should include the full process of getting worn and grubby clothes back to a state where they are ready to be worn again. Therefore, hanging them on the line to dry, bringing the dry washing in, sorting, folding, ironing and putting away the clean clothes should all be included in the process.

From my observations, ironing and cleaning the oven seem to be in a class of their own when it comes to the universal dislike of jobs. I actually do not mind ironing but sometimes find it difficult to find the time as I prefer to do the whole lot in one go. Due to our streamlined wardrobes I cannot leave it for too long as then we would have nothing to wear so on the weekend I did a spot of procrastinating which masqueraded as organising.

I have a hanging rack where I hang the clothes once they are ironed but I decided to hang them before ironing so that I could see exactly how much I had to do and could easily fetch the next item as I was ready. I also sorted the things that do not go on hangers into a pile of mine and a pile of clothes belonging to The Duke as well as linens and handkerchiefs in a separate pile.

I did the ironing early this morning and found that my procrastination strategy actually paid dividends. I find it easier and quicker to get into a rhythm of ironing the same type of item – I do all of the shirts or all t-shirts in one go. By having things sorted I saved time. I also decided that I would place all of the t-shirts together once they were ironed and then fold them up at the end of the session. This saves time by not disturbing the rhythm as well as saving money. I am not wasting time folding while the iron is sitting idle and using electricity to maintain the heat.

This method does not work for items such as The Duke’s shorts which are folded as part of the process of ironing them.

Sorting the ironing and hanging the items on hangers started as a bit of a joke but it is a process that I will continue in an effort to further streamline what I do.

I know that some people always hang shirts and dresses on hangers rather than pegging them on the line to dry. I do not generally do this, although I have 3 plastic clips that peg onto the line and you can feed the hanger through the hole. The hangers stay in place in even the windiest weather. I inherited these from my mother-in-law and have considered looking for more. I checked online but cannot see the same style, however, I found this website which has an equivalent product. It is UK-based so guess what I will be bringing home in my suitcase in September!

Project 333 – A Gent’s Perspective

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Posted on March 9, 2014

When I first met The Duke, he owned 6 shirts – one for each day of the week plus one for going out. His weekend tasks included washing and ironing the shirts ready for the coming week. Since then the shirt collection has grown substantially and I wash and iron the shirts. In fact, I managed to score the task of ironing from quite early in our relationship.

Last weekend the ironing did not get done so by the end of the second week his business shirt collection was pretty well exhausted. Seeing the shirts that The Duke chose not to wear, even when there was almost no choice, helped to confirm that they were shirts that he was not happy with. In the end these 3 have been earmarked for the op shop.

These 2 that were in the wash are also going because, to quote The Duke, “they have seen better days”.

We are now back to just 5 business shirts plus perhaps 2 others that could do double-duty as casual /business attire. I think 2 or 3 more business shirts might be in order, if for no other reason than to take the pressure off me having to get the ironing done every weekend.

That is one aspect of retirement that is quite appealing – not ironing business shirts.

A minimalist wardrobe certainly helps to see exactly what you wear and what stays on the hanger from season to season without being worn.

Foodie Friday – A Shopping List

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Posted on March 7, 2014

Shopping lists are an essential ingredient if you are to have an organised approach to planning and preparing nutritious meals for your family. They were around long before the days of personal organisers, smartphones and endless ‘to do’ lists. My mother has always written her list on the back of a used envelope and I tend to use some sort of scrap or excess paper.

I imagine that the process of writing a list goes back to when shopping day was a major expedition, perhaps by horse and buggy, and it was vital to buy everything that was required for a month or longer. No popping into the supermarket after work to pick up something for dinner and ending up with $50 worth of impulse buys.

Each week I buy fresh fruit and vegetables for the week plus a few basic items that I need from the supermarket. Although I write a list every week, it really comes into its own when I shop for pantry staples at Simply Good. I try to do this about every 3 – 5 months as it is a 90km round trip. I am not using a horse and buggy but I do have a regard for both the environmental impact of driving that distance as well as my time and energy.

Last Saturday was a big shopping day so we set out early. Our first stop was Simply Good, followed by Aldi, fruit and vegetable stall, the local butcher and finally the Co-op. I checked the pantry and refrigerator before writing a comprehensive list to ensure that nothing was forgotten. The list does vary from time to time but this will give you a broad idea of the sorts of ingredients I buy.

As you can see, most of what we eat is whole foods cooked from scratch so I am buying ingredients – not meals. We eat a gluten-free diet and some of the items reflect this choice.

Next week I will show you my pantry and discuss the storage and organisation which works for me.

Must Watch

Cable Chaos – An Update

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Posted on February 27, 2014

Thank you to everyone who commented on yesterday’s post with their many suggestions. As you can probably guess from the brevity of the post, I wrote it in a hurry and did not go into a great deal of detail.

I have already tried some of your suggestions and while they are reasonably successful, I am looking for a more permanent, long-term solution.

Elastic bands perish over time.
The twist ties are pretty good but things tend to get caught up when they are all in the one box.
Blending with the decor is not a huge issue as the box or other container is stored on top of the filing cabinet in the cupboard.
I made labels from sticky labels but the paper wore out and they fell off.

Shelstar sent me a link from Pinterest which showed this re-purposed bread box. It is clever but not quite what I am looking for.

However, in the same link there was one solution that did catch my eye.

It is only cardboard but I really like the principle of this and I immediately thought of some pieces of plywood that we have and how I could make a similar box.

I am now busily designing a cable storage box and hopefully I will be able to share the successful results in the not too distant future.

Cable Chaos

11 Comments

Posted on February 26, 2014

Just a quick post tonight as I have a bit of mid-week housework to catch up on.

Despite my best efforts, I cannot come up with a workable solution for storing the various cables for electronic devices – phone chargers, Kindle chargers, camera cable, camera battery charger etc.

Do you have a magical solution for this seemingly perennial problem?

Planning is the Key

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Posted on February 24, 2014

As I sat down at my desk on Saturday morning to write a menu plan for the week, I started to think about how much planning goes into keeping our lives running smoothly.

I have always menu-planned to some degree but I have now developed a routine which works for us. Every Saturday morning I write a plan for the next 7 – 10 days. I keep in mind what food I have in the refrigerator as well as what is available in the garden. From that I then write a shopping list. This generally a few basic groceries such as milk and cheese as well as fruit and vegetables. I buy meat every couple of months and pantry staples about every 3 months.

We have big plans, such as our overseas trip but also small, day-to-day plans that ensure things run smoothly and we work towards achieving our goals. If this sounds like our lives are totally structured and regimented, think again as nothing could be further from the truth.

Over breakfast on a Saturday morning, either The Duke or I are often heard to say, “So, what are your plans for today?” Then follows a discussion about what we have individually considered that we need to get done. It usually centres around shopping, washing, lawn mowing and the like. The next step is to plan.

On Saturday morning we had to take the dog to the vet at 8.30am so we decided to leave the shopping until Sunday morning and do some outdoor work. We needed to finish by 4.30pm so we could be cleaned up and head off to dinner and the movies by 6pm. We planned our outdoor work and achieved a real sense of satisfaction when the jobs were done. All of the piles of mulch were collected from various spots around the yard, we weeded and mulched the garden bed beside the front steps. The Duke lightly pruned the roses and we planted 5 more pineapple tops. The remainder of the mulch was spread under the native shrubs on the front verge.

Since it was drizzling with rain most of the day we then adjourned under the house to start on one of the other jobs on the master list – covering the area which is bare dirt under the verandah with pebbles. The original plan was to build 3 more low retaining walls to create stepped levels to hold the pebbles in place, however, we have decided to retain the sections using some timber sleepers. We will also place some along the outside edge to separate the pebbled area from the garden bed outside. We have calculated how many sleepers, how much weed mat and the volume of pebbles that we will need to complete the job. The ground has been dug out and is almost at the levels we need so I hope we can get this finished over the next few weeks.

Sunday was a different story. I did the ironing early, before we went to do the shopping in a couple of different locations and came home with the intention of more outdoor work. One simple message on the answering machine changed that. A friend had left a message to ask us to come for drinks at 4pm, so I amended the menu plan as I knew we would have plenty of late afternoon/evening nibbles. I then spent the rest of the day in the kitchen. I made pizza bases, wraps for our lunches and a chocolate cake (all gluten-free). I made 1 pizza and took that and the chocolate cake with us that afternoon. The remainder of the pizza bases are partly pre-cooked and in the freezer.

So, to round off a fairly long-winded story, I think it is important to have a plan, otherwise things can turn into a disorganised jumble and you end up wasting a lot of time. The organisation that results from these plans allows you the flexibility to change those plans to accommodate things that arise out of the blue. What do you think?

Bare Necessities

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Posted on February 19, 2014

I am constantly astounded by the size of the handbags which many women carry. On one hand, I read about travelling overseas with only carry-on luggage, yet in real life I see handbags that look as though they could be used to travel – at least for a weekend.

I often ponder about what they carry in those huge bags. Have we been conned by yet another bizarre fashion trend which dictates that we carry these bags? What is so important that it has to go everywhere with us?

My bag bucks the general trend entirely. I bought it recently in an attempt to consciously downsize what I carry. I even went so far as to buy a smaller purse/wallet that would take up less space in the bag.

The bag has a single strap which I have at its longest length so that I can wear it across my body. Everything that is in the bag has a purpose and is used regularly and mostly every day.

Contents:

Main compartment – wallet, eco shopping bag, sunglasses in case, pen, handkerchief

Secondary compartment – small notebook, extra loyalty cards

Inside pocket 1 – car keys
Inside pocket 2 – mobile phone, railpass and access pass (work)
Inside compartment (zippered) – internet stick, USB drive, other essential keys, lipstick, migraine medication

Outside compartment (zippered) – iPod and USB charger, USB phone charger

That is it. I have made a conscious decision to only carry exactly what I need. Each item has a specific place so I easily know that I have everything that I need.