Category Archives: Rambles, Waffles and Digressions

the week that was

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The week that was.

My brain is a little scrambled this week. Flitting from one side to the other, one idea bouncing to the next.

I’ve got creative energy to burn but not sure where to direct it.

Maybe it’s because of  Valentines Day looming, and a new transition period for us. I feel an overwhelming love for my boys and Mr Chocolate at the moment, that seems so big I just want to squeeze them until they beg to be unsquashed.

Monkey Boy started school. He was fine. Little Monkey and I ran around like crazy people doing 101 things in between drop off and pick up time. Seeing Monkey Boy grin from ear to ear as he waves goodbye to us, tramping his way up to the classroom. Seeing that same grinning smile as he rounds the corner to be picked up in the afternoons. The whole transition is certainly made easier by seeing him so happy.

Contentment in a cup of chai tea.

I over heard an older kid in the playground declare to his friend that he was a “common nerd” for not being able to climb a tree properly. He then proceeded to show his friend how it was supposed to be done. This still makes me chuckle two days later.

Mr Chocolate working too much. Showing him some love by making ham and egg pizza.

A wobbly tooth.

Rainy Saturdays with The Monkeys, spent making, glueing, cutting, taping, and creating. Not giving a hoot about the mess that lay trailed behind them.

Breathing in and breathing out. Ready to start again…

What’s been happening in your week?

he’s unfurling

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I think Monkey Boy is unfurling. Actually I know he is.

Not a day goes by, that he doesn’t say something that stops me in my tracks and making me turn my head to listen, really listen to him. I can’t keep up with the rate his brain is racing at. Some where along the lines he’s leaving the baby boy behind and turning into a real boy.

Questions that make me stop and consider my answers. Not answers easily rolling off my tongue, as say the wrong thing and I know it will be back to bite me.

He unfurls a little more.

Seemingly uninterested in a conversation he will come back hours after, having considered every part and now has come up with his own conclusion.

He told us recently in a matter-of-fact tone, he didn’t want to be bothered by dying. He really loved our family, and that every one should eat a good diet to be as healthy as possible, so we could live as long as possible.

Those bread rolls look really tasty in the cake shop but Mama your’s are a lot better for us, so we should eat them.

The other day he saw a man on a push scooter. We were both excited by it as it was different to the usual kinds. He thought about it and then said…” when the man’s finished with his scooter and doesn’t want it any more, maybe he will leave it on the street and then we can have it. Then we move, we can leave our other scooters that we don’t need anymore on the street for someone who needs them too. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

I think that’s a great idea.

He’s reading and doing simple maths. They both suddenly clicked and I am so glad I’m there to see it. Watching it all suddenly make sense. Seeing that twinkle in his eye and excitement wash over his face when he realises he can work things out for himself. Not because he’s been made to, but because he wants to.

Makes my heart swell with love, pride and so many other emotions that I dare to pack into it…

This week he starts school. Looking so proud in his new uniform, his excitement is contagious.

He’s getting ready to unfurl just a little more.

a little thank you

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I would like to say thank you.

It has been a whole year since I started this blog. Started perhaps a little ambitiously, (as I had only ever read two blogs before.)  A place where I have cooked, reminisced, gone exploring, mused, waffled, and baked. The thrill of getting my first comment, the frowning over should I really write that? The fun of taking photos and actually having somewhere to put them rather then hidden away in the computer, (they don’t even get printed these days.) The joy of baking my first sour dough loaf, and the constant amazement that there are so many wonderful people out there that have taken time out of their day to read my little blog.

The lovely people I have met, communicated and connected with.

A wonderful virtual community of people that have made me laugh, made me think, inspired me, bowled me over with their kindness, and on the odd time made me cry. People that have taken the time to write a comment.

I would like to say thank you.

Thank you for making my past year in blog land a truly inspiring, funny, thought provoking and amazing place to be.

Thank you all.

xx

* To all those who are interested the Master List of all the wonderful auctions going on for the QLD Flood Appeal is now up. For my auction, see here.

QLD Flood Appeal Auction

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I’ve been feeling a little helpless watching all of the flooding going on around the country, especially in the state of Queensland. A tiny thing that I can do to help, is to hold an auction. A brilliant idea by two sisters Toni and Carli. If you would like to find out more about it….click on the button to the side. If you would like to participate…click on the button to the side as well. If you would like to bid for either of my items, see instructions below.

Two items up for auction, one T’shirt (size 1- approx 12-18mths old) and one dress (size 4- approx 4 years old.)

How the auction will work-

1.  Bidding starts at $30 (Australian), for either item.

2.  You can place a bid by leaving a comment on this blog post with your bid amount and email address included.  Please make sure that your bid is higher than the  previous bidder. Also state whether you are bidding for the T’shirt or dress. eg. T’shirt- $35.

3.  Your bid must be in whole dollar increments.

4.  This auction is open to everyone. I will cover postage to where ever the winner is.

5.  The auction begins NOW and will END at 9pm on Monday 24th January 2011.

6.  At the close of the auction, I will contact the winner (please make sure your bid comment includes your email address).  The winner will pay the winning amount directly into the Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal and send me proof of payment via email.  Once proof of payment has been received, I will post your winning item to you.

7.  Thankyou for being generous and supporting this cause.

Happy bidding!

QLD Floods

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All photos taken from ABC News website.

ABC Emergency Coverage

QLD Premier’s Flood Appeal

The Salvation Army

Australian Red Cross

Lifeline’s Flood Appeal

It seemed a little odd for me to continue on with my normal posts without acknowledging the Queensland Floods. For anyone that would like to help out, or needs help, above are some of the appeals and helplines.

meat…could you? would you?

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I have meat on my mind. Not the usual thing on my mind and a little less exciting than the next sourdough to construct, but non the less it’s there.

A few things in blogland had prompted the thinking and also just a natural progression I guess of wanting to know where my meal comes from.

This household doesn’t eat a lot of meat. Monkey Boy and Mr Chocolate really enjoy it, but Little Monkey and I can take it or leave it. Free range chicken, organic minced beef, free range ham, and organic sausages seem to be the usual selection of what we choose from. Nothing too exciting there. Over the years, other meaty items just slowly got bumped off. Canned tuna, daily ham on sandwiches, fresh fish…all for various reasons, now don’t usually find themselves on our every day dinner table.

In my little world, the majority of our meat is bought from the supermarket, butcher, or if I’m lucky enough some farmers markets. Ideally what am I looking for? Meat that has been ethically raised, sustainably produced, not compromised on taste, and at a budget that doesn’t hurt the hip pocket. Is that just too hard though on a day to day level for most people?

Many people can’t argue with the convenience of a supermarket. However there is an increase in buying organic, local, free range pieces. If I can manage to get it, I love being able to buy meat either straight from the producer (easier at a farmers market) or at least knowing the area in which it is from and buying through a middle person.

Some of my recent meaty prompter’s…

Pick a pig– Friends put me on this link from the UK. A system that lets you buy your animal, it’s reared by the farmer, slaughtered and then gets delivered to you in the cuts you ask for. A large up front cost, but….you are getting a whole lot of pig there. Also you know where your pork cuts are coming from. I would love to know if there are any people doing something similar in Australia. On a large scale this is a really interesting way of cutting out the middle man. Another similar scheme again in the UK is Yorkshire Meats

Perennial Plate, an online short documentary style programme on sustainable foods- warning it is a little graphic.

Gourmet Farmer– you know I am a fan. What the man has documented on his show is his journey of going from city fella, to small town living. Rearing animals for his own consumption, learning how to kill chickens, and send his heritage breed pigs to the slaughterer.

Slow Living Essentials- cute fuzzy ducks, and I was thinking dinner.

So whats my beef? (every pun intended.)

Have we become completely desensitized to seeing animals being killed for our plate? I know I don’t feel completely comfortable with it. I would like to think I could do it. Raise an animal, bump it off and then eat it, but could I? I feel if I am willing to eat it, I should be willing to admit that cute little piglet is going to get its head taken off and make some truly delicious ham. It could be a real turning point to vegetarianism for me. However… I would like to think I could rear an animal and either assist in some way in the slaughtering process or do it myself…. Confronting as it most certainly would be.

When you see the meat being sold in the supermarket all wrapped in styrofoam and plastic, all cut up and ready to go. There is usually very little to show you that this pink piece of flesh was once a mooing four legged creature. Feathers still stuck to your chicken pieces? Most people get rather unhappy if this was the case. I remember unloading some groceries from the supermarket in Italy once and there tucked away under the cling wrap and styrofoam was Ms Guinea Fowls head still intact. In my world, I’m not used to that. If I see meat I don’t expect it still to look like the animal it once was. I don’t want any happy memories of a life it once had floating around the room still. But this also seems ridiculous…almost a little precious. It is meat, which means it used to be an animal. Is that as silly as denying a chip in front of me used to be a potato growing in the ground?

Is it merely enough to know what you are eating and where you bought it from? There being no need to kill it yourself, when some one else can do it for you? Will more people begin to choose their meat while thinking of it being sustainably sourced, organically produced, locally harvested and ethically raised. I would like to think so, but feel we have a loooong way to go first. It’s turning around a whole mind set. A whole meat eating culture that needs to be slowly changed.

Should we be taking a moment to acknowledge and honour the life that has been giving up for our plate?

I understand why someone would become a vegetarian for ethical reasons. I also understand why people truly enjoy eating meat. (we still talk about that pork dish at ARIA.) I do think however, that people should know where their dinner came from if at all possible. How many primary schools would teach young children about where their meat comes from? How many parents would talk about it to their young children? How many highschool students would get to study the make up of an animal, different breeds, how to raise them, slaughter, and then cook them? (Agriculture is a chosen subject, in very few highschools.) If this is a part of our every day lifestyle why wouldn’t we be able to learn about it from the beginning.

English, maths, science, food*.

Incorporate it in to learning how to grow, and harvest vegetables. Surely these are important principles that people seem to be so far removed from these days.

I’m still trying to work out where I stand with it all. It’s not easy. Do you eat meat because it’s there, it’s healthy, it’s what everyone else does? Do you eat all parts of the animal avoiding any wastage? I’m not a fan of any kind of offal, however it does seem rather silly to breed a huge beast for consumption and then only eat half of it.

I would like to think that any meat I ate was treated as humanely as possible in their life beforehand. A chance to live as a young calf, piglet, lamb should, before going ‘down town’. Being mindful of every mouthful of meat that I eat. Being thankful that a life has been given up to feed my families belly’s. Thinking about it where it came from and not taking it for granted that I am here and I need and deserve to eat that eat meat! Happy paddock loving animals look differently to large production ones. Australians are one of the top meat eating countries in the world. A weekend BBQ isn’t usually a success unless there is an array of meaty goodies on offer.

Now I could waffle on and on about this meaty topic and go round and round in circles. For the sake of not boring you all to numbing tears I wont. However I will pass this over for discussion. (Feel free to disagree.)

What do you believe in?

Is buying our meat at the supermarket simply progression? Modern times. We have moved on from backyard butchery. A time now of convenience of food…

Do you consider where you meat comes from when selecting it for the dinner table?…

Do you like having that distance between you and that furry beast/ succulent juicy steak on your plate?

Could you rear and slaughter your own animals for eating if you had access to it. (Either via someone elses farm and livestock, or your own.)

…and would you want to?

*******

* I know that in some wonderful schools the Edible School Yard programme or Kitchen Garden programme is up, running and doing really well. This is still a minority in most schools as far as I am aware though. It is also still dependent on the community to get it up, running and maintaining it.

Spiced Banana Syrup Pudding and a nice slap back into reality

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You know when something speaks to you? I mean really speaks to you?

Whether it be a person’s conversation, a song, a documentary, a book, a simple quote written on a wall. Something that really resonates in your mind. Something that that has the potential to question everything you held dear, change your perspective, lift your mood or simply make you smile and think.

I know I’m not the only one to have been moved by a simple song. (Thankfully times have moved on from when they first did. Although as a early teenager I really did believe that Roxette and Bryan Adams knew my pain and lofty love ideals. They ‘spoke’ to me. THEY understood.)

In more recent times it was a song from John Butler. I was having a woe is me, poor us living in a 2 bedroom flat in the city- whatever are we to do? No room, blah, blah, blah. ‘Better Than’ comes on and suddenly the lyrics make sense  to me…..”life’s not about whats better than..” A nice slap back into reality that was. That two bedroom flat was just fine.

Watching a documentary awhile back of a young couple. Her terribly effected from a stroke, him being forced from the job he loved, to try his hand at something completely foreign in order to care for his disabled wife and two young children. All I could think about was, jeez, we had it so easy. This couple came across as so happy and yet to me their life seemed so incredibly hard.

A couple of  weeks ago, watching the second part of a Kevin Mc Cloud documentary on living in a slum in India. Watching this has made me question, really question things that I hold dear once more. In comparision we are so well off. So well off it’s almost difficult to comprehend. Honestly, I felt guilt at ever complaining of lack of space. Here these people were living 20 family members to a tiny dwelling with no indoor plumping and yet they were clean, happy looking, beautifully dressed. What on earth did I have to complain about?…(and perhaps it was time to get out of the yoga pants, baggy t’shirt and ugg boots- it’s not a particularly attractive look for me.)

Gavin (from Greening of Gavin) had a documentary ‘speak’ to him. He had a green moment that changed his whole lifestyle. A suburban family man now living a wonderfully inspiring sustainable life.

Running through the park recently, feeling pleased with my running, I paused to catch my breath. Two people over took me. Casually chatting, decked out in their uber cool running gear, going at a cracking pace. Gazelles would have had trouble keeping up. This was also another nice slap back into reality for me.

Reality was, that if I wanted to keep making things like Spiced Banana Syrup Pudding, I really had to run a lot further.

Spiced Banana Syrup Pudding

125gms softened butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

3 ripe mashed bananas

125mls cream

1 tps vanilla

1tps cinnamon

1 tps cardmom

1/2 tps nutmeg

1 1/2 cups s/r flour

Add all ingredients in order, bake in a spring form pan at 180C until golden. While that is cooking add 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1 tps cinnamon, 1/2 tps cardamom, and bring to a slow boil. Turn down slightly and keep at simmer until the mixture thickens just slightly (you don’t want toffee!) When it has thickened slightly turn off and add 1 tbs of dark rum. Allow to cool a little. When banana pudding is cooked through, place on serving plate and carefully pour spiced syrup over the pudding. Best served warm with perhaps a dollop of your favourite vanilla icecream.

 

embracing that grey hair

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The ageing process kind of snuck up on me. There I was a footloose, fancy free kinda gal. Got married, had a baby, got my first grey hair. Hang on, grey hair? Hmm, I thought that only started to happen when you got older, much older. Well it did for everyone else in my family. So childbirth= grey hair? Oh ok. It’s just a couple, they are kind of cute. We’ll just ignore them. Second baby, and hang on a second what’s going on up top there? Those three or four strands have turned into a bushal. Baby turns into a toddler and what the hell…it’s a grey forest up there.

With a disgusted fascination I part my hair in the middle. WHAT’S going on up there? My family are slow greyers. My Nana still has a lot of natural colour and she is 80 this year, my mum seems to be paddling in the same gene pool, so naturally I supposed that I would follow that lineage right? No. It seems not. I’m rowing off to the land of grey. Uncharted waters with no one to guide me.

What to do? What to do?

It doesn’t seem particularly socially acceptable for a woman in her 30’s to be actively grey. (Now there’s a term…”actively grey”.) Do I embrace it and get a funky hair cut, showing that I can still be relatively young looking with grey hair?

Do I deny it ever existed and dye the hell out of it? Grey hair?… Not for me!…Oh you have some, you poor thing.

Do I swap all my silver jewellery for gold and try to coerce it to look blonde?

What to do, what to do?

Grey hair seems to be a lot more acceptable once you hit a certain age benchmark. The graceful age of 50? 60?…that means I have a little while to ponder about going grey disgracefully. Looking in the mirror again. It’s still there, silently doubling the troops. Each look in the bathroom mirror, show that those frizzy grey strands have fortified themselves and are working their way towards complete take over. How could this be?

Looking closely at other peoples heads, I try and glean which approach to go for.

George Clooney, the salt and peppered look is quite becoming. Women swoon over him. That guy from The Gruen Transfer, Todd Sampson does grey in a funky I’m still young and with it way…except I’m not a man, so darn it, that’s not going to work for me.

At an ayurvedic seminar recently the crowd was a sea of grey hair, dangly earrings and sweeping shawls. It was a looking that was working for many of them, but was it me? Could I work it?

I’m not being inundated with floods of younger women embracing their grey hair. Does that mean there are very few of us out there? Judie Dench is a gorgeous woman sporting a head of grey hair. However, she has quite a head start on years to me.

I’m not in the least bothered by grey hair on other people. Old, young or otherwise. So why is it bothering me?

Because there was no warning. No ease into transition period.

It was, ah, there are a few up there… to DEAR god whats going on!

Tricia from little eco footprints recently posted about using henna on her hair. I love the idea of using something natural instead of chemicals, but is that the colour for me? Gorgeous dark locks with hints of red….My skin colouring is hard to match at the best of times. How do I stop myself from looking like Richmond from the IT Crowd?

Richmond works it. Todd Sampson works it. Judie Dench works it. Now I just have to work it.

So until I work out HOW to work it, will you excuse me while I go and have another disgusted but totally fascinated look in the bathroom mirror?

Going, going…gone

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Auctions.

When most people hear the word auction. They think of a house auction. A home up for sale, or possibly a land auction. That’s not what I think of though.

As a kid the word filled me with fear. Auction combined with weekend, and it was a double whammy. I knew my precious not- schooled days would be taken up by spending at the dreaded auction. You see my mum had a thing for auctions. You know the kind? Antiques, wood furniture, cobwebs, retro finds, vintage fabrics, household items. As a pre-teen this meant hours and hours of reading in the car. The occasional sandwich would be thrown my way, and if I was lucky a can of lemonade. Other than that, the day was mine to read…and read…and read. Until the auction had finished and it was time to load up the car with our new found treasures.

As an adult, the word auction has a new meaning. At first there is that initial body rattle of fear (you can’t fight history right?), and then my ears prick up, my eyebrows raise, followed by a slight eye narrowing…what have they got? The possibility of so many wonderful finds is sometimes just too tempting to pass up. Household auctions are the best, when the whole house contents are up for sale. Quite often they are going for a song and you just have to be there, with a quick raise of the hand, showing your number, and it’s yours. This is how a lot of antique dealers get their stock. This is how second hand stores get their goodies. This is how bargains are to be had. If you want a bargain step away from the chain store and reach for your local paper instead. This is where you will find out when the next auction is on.

With my mum having a keen eye for a bargain at an auction, I have definitely benefited from it. Along with my siblings, retro, vintage, antique, you name it has passed through our hands. While this might not be that exciting for a lot of people it got me thinking recently. I was sifting through some of my mums things and just felt nothing but sadness. Before me was such a vast amount of things that were probably one offs now, perfect condition, not wanted by the original owners, not needed by my mum any more, and destined to go to an op-shop (thrift, charity store) IF they were lucky. There was only so much I could take on in a two bedroom flat. Vintage lace, balls of 1970’s icelandic wool, retro 70’s (new in packet) sheet sets, 1960’s table cloths and napkin sets…and bundles and bundles of finished and unfinished embroidery. Pieces that someone had put hours and hours in to…how could I not turn that in to something?

The top picture is off a truly gorgeous embroidery that someone has painstakingly done and not finished. Now made into a cushion, and sitting proudly on my arm chair with 3 other cushions made from retro auction material.

As our consumerist lifestyle seems to get faster and faster, are all these items things of the past? In time to come people won’t be looking back fondly at their Ikea bookshelves and think ..,wow, look at the workmanship on that. Now don’t get me wrong, I do think there is a time and a place for Ikea and other such stores, but as far as long term quality pieces…it’s just not there. So eventually will all quality furniture, clothing (anything at all really) be replaced with cheaply produced items. Things that have been made with minimum effort and maximum profit? So many things in todays society seem to have such a short shelf life, very little seems to be designed for the long term in mind. With media encouraging people to upgrade regularly, it’s a way of living that so many people seem to easily fit in.

The whole idea just makes me sigh…a big one.

So next time you think hmmm I think we could use a new sideboard, toy box, samurai sword or shell lamp (yes, I have one) check out your local paper first and see what’s happening in the auction section you might just come out with a one off bargain.