the odd week that was

Posted on April 10, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

What an odd week it’s been.

Full of twists and turns.

A week now ending with a shudder and a shake.

Like a clapped out old kombie, driving into park for the last time.

This week, Little Monkey has his legs back. The cast came off early. Which was a bit of a lovely surprise. Xrays showed he was healing well, and after 4 weeks in a double hip spica and nearly a week in traction, he was free. Free. He’s going to have jelly legs for a while and will probably take as long as he was off those legs to get back on them, but… he has legs again.

Goodbye Captain Redlegs, hello Captain….Skinny Whitelegs?

Then he got sick the day after the cast came off.

Happiness and love was sent to me in an envelope.

I lost my house keys.

Someone found my house keys in a shop and I got them back.

Went to a friends wonderful art exhibition opening.

Lost my wallet on the street.

Got my wallet back due to two kind strangers finding and returning it home.

Good news from a friend.

Bad news from another friend.

I made a fish bread.*

…and it was delicious.

What’s been happening in your week?

* Using the ever versatile olive oil yeasted dough. To get the scaly look, just use scissors. Now how easy is that.

Pasta Frittata- Frugal Friday

Posted on April 8, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Pasta frittata. So darn tooting easy, it’s not funny.

About 5 minutes before you want to eat dinner. Get that left over cooked pasta out of the fridge. Depending on how much pasta is there, add a few eggs. Use a fork to mix it through, you want the pasta well coated. In a thick bottomed frying pan add a good couple of slurps of olive oil, then pop in your egg pasta. Spread it round until it’s even, whack the lid on, medium heat and it’s ready when there is no runny bits of egg.

Too easy.

Want a bit more taste to it? Add any cooked vegetables that are also lingering in the fridge, (garlic roasted vegetables, steamed broccoli, garlicky zucchini etc). What ever you’ve got, stick it in with the pasta and egg mixture, and pop that lid on.

Or keep it plain, and serve with a seasonal salad.

As this is a very budget friendly, minimal effort, easy peasy, healthy kinda dinner. It will leave ample room to savour the Chocolate Brandy Layer Cake for later.

Buon Appetito.

pregnant bellies

Posted on April 6, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

There are four pregnant bellies in my life at the moment. All with beautiful rounded baby bellies and all due within 10 weeks of each other.

Seeing one of my friends recently, and it’s hard to keep my hands to myself. That swollen belly seems to radiate all that is good in the world.

My hands draw nearer, it’s like there is a magnetic force pulling them. There is an energy that seems to surround her swollen tummy. An unseen aura whispering “I’m here, I’m here..’ I try to hold back but my hands draw closer, willing and wanting to connect with the still growing life force within my beautiful friend’s belly.

She indulges me. One gentle double hand placed on her growing belly.

Pregnancy does funny things to taste buds. Odd things you may never have eaten before become an item of ‘must have now’, only to be replaced by something completely different just a few hours later.

Mr Chocolate learnt very quickly to act on these impulses if it was something he liked as well. Mountainous burger with chips and caramelised onions on the side?

Quick for the love of god, quick!

If he was at work, and the taste for a burger was indicated through a text message from me. He would most assuredly be greeted by me on the couch with a bowl of cereal, by the time he had hurriedly made it home through peak city traffic.

Sorry babe, window period closed.

A soft sigh would be heard, shoulders would slump and perhaps a few mutterings of maybe next time, could be heard.

Lobster pasta with Lemon Meringue Pie could be turned in to a white bread and cheese sandwich, (followed by a bowl of cereal) in the matter of minutes.

You had to be quick, as the taste buds set the pace. Dictating what to eat and what not to eat at a frantic pace.

For any men who are reading this and are yet to experience this hormonal taste bud dictatorship, just go with the flow. Your blossoming partner will be back with regular taste buds in no time.

So my advice. Go get that peanut butter covered wagyu burger while you can.

piggy options for a city gal

Posted on April 4, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

To market, to market,

to buy a fat pig

home again, home again,

jiggety jig…

Today it’s all about the pig.

It’s been a lengthy porcine process, searching and asking around, and it’s still far from over. What I wanted, was to find some piggy products coming from a pig that has had a chance to frollick in the paddocks, rolled in the mud and has nuzzled the earth. A pig that has been farmed in an ethical fashion. Has a taste a good pig should and can be bought without handing over a small mountain of money. A pig, that I could find out a bit more from the people who had reared it, and of the whole process of birth to abbatoir for the ham intended pig.

Could I do it? What piggy options does a city girl have?

Living in the city surrounded by more city, shopping in city food areas… is it possible to get that kind of information and pay those kind of dollars without it becoming a pain in the pig trotters?

Let’s see.

probably the best tasting ham I've had

First up. Pig products are available everywhere. A lot of people like their porcine products. Bacon and ham get regular look ins for many family meals. Butchers and super markets sell a whole range of products for reasonable prices. The ham, salami, pork products that are readily available however, usually come from conventionally farmed beasts. Animals that are farmed intensively, with breeds selected for their rapid growth and maximum dollar.

A taste comparison between the two is easily distinguished. From what we had bought in the past, a comparison between a wet salty pale ham compared to a much more flavourful darker sweet meat, was really hard to compare. They weren’t even in the same field…*ahem*

I was looking for free-range, heritage breed pork products that I could access relatively easily. I didn’t want it to be eaten every day of the week but as a special occasion in small amounts every few weeks or so. A bacon, lettuce and tomato roll once a month, yep that would do nicely.

Supermarket, nothing to be found there, standard pork products. Butchers in my local area… The conventional ones either raised an eyebrow and scowled at me, within an indignate no, they didn’t know where exactly the pig was from, and yes of course it was free-range if it says it is. Now I don’t want to be a poop, but if it’s free-range, I’d love to know where it’s from and what sort of breeds they are using. If they don’t know, could they find out. Difficult. One organic butcher in my area came up with the goods though. Pasture Perfect ham and bacon, yes ma’am, up north somewhere they come from. With a little googling around, yes indeed. Pasture Perfect is based in Ashford, NSW. (Have a peek at that their website if you would like to see some truly cute pictures of their black Berkshire pigs.)

I liked what I saw but what other options are there within my area, so I delved a little deeper.

Feather and Bone– Suppliers of sustainably raised meat. Has a large range of regular products along with some seasonal meats. Sign up for a really informative weekly email and they’ll also let you know what’s on offer for the week, and importantly where the meat has come from.

Melanda Park– located in Ebenezer, NSW. “A marriage of heritage and modern breeds…” Distributed by Feather and Bone.

Ormiston Free Range Pork– located in Mudgee. Offers farm visits and runs pig handling courses. Products can be delivered to certain neighbouring areas and are sold through one Sydney retail outlet along with Pyrmont Growers Markets.

Tewinga– located in northern NSW. Distruted by Feather and Bone.

Pasture Perfect– Certified organic pasture raised Berkshire pork. Stockists to buy from.

At the farmers markets I’ve been going to lately, pork products is not something I’m regularly coming across, it seems to be a bit hit and miss. Some times the products are there and sometimes not. I did see a stall a few days ago that had a range of products from South Australia. When I was in Hobart Rare Foods also had a great looking range, but not a lot since. Maybe with customer demand the market will increase and I will see more of these products (and local ones) regularly at my usual haunts. Or maybe I just haven’t searched hard enough. Unfortunately I don’t feel I can just accept “free-range” without questioning exactly how they’ve been kept and how free range that actually means.

Our food environment seems to be rapidly changing and it’s really hard to keep up with what’s happening. For the moment it seems generally most people are happy to eat conventionally farmed pig, in time to come I’m wondering whether this will change. For me, I would much rather pay more for my meat, eat it sparingly and know where it has come from. Knowing how and where the animal was raised, and what sort of breed it was. Compared to not knowing and paying less. Yes, it takes more of an effort, and may not be as convenient as buying at the nearest supermarket or corner butcher…but maybe things weren’t meant to be so convenient?

Piggy Interests-

Black Berkshire– Kuro (black) Buta (pig)- A heritage breed of pig originating from Britain. Prized meat in the pig world.

Rare Breeds Trust of Australia

* From one corner of the world, to another. I know I’m lucky enough to have readers from all over and this company information won’t be relevant to a lot of people. So please feel free to mention a local company that is truly free-range, organic or you know more about the particular breeds used and how they are reared. It may help others in your own local area find these great products, that are quite often harder to find.

custard biscuits

Posted on April 2, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

As a kid I was rather attracted to anything with custard in it. My mum’s egg custard using our backyard chook eggs was a firm favourite, along with a coconut custard pie that she would sometimes make. Always offering to ‘wash’ the pot for her, I would scrape out every last tiny spec left on the bottom of the pot. This was the beginnings of building my strong custard foundations.

My sister and I next discovered that custard powder was an easy way to make your own after dinner treat. Just add milk, cook and your away. A lovely bowl of sloppy sweet goodness. (My sister using so much custard powder in there that the spoon would stand straight up in it.)

My grandmother always used to keep ready-made custard in a carton in the fridge, for when ever hungry grand kids came to stay. I’d eat my weight in it for dessert, followed quickly by breakfast over the top of my weetbix, (these sorts of things you can get away with when you bat your eyelashes, and try to look like a hungry waif. Grandma was always keen to feed me up.)

Outside the home, if we ever went to a bakery it would always be a custard tart, or a custard slice (vanilla slice) that I would choose. There was no need to consider anything else as clearly custard reigned supreme in the bakery choices.

These days my custard consuming as been curtailed a little. The palate is a little more picky and the metabolism a little more sluggish than my frantic teenage appetite for all things custard. Although I did recently introduce Little Monkey to a beautifully delicate French patisserie custard slice. He was keen. As he elbowed his way through to the last portion that I had stupidly been slower to eat. Looks like the little fella might be following in similar custardy footprints.

Custard Biscuits

Cream together

200gms softened butter

100gms (1/2 cup) caster sugar

then add

70gms (1/2 cup) custard powder

225gms (1 1/2 cups) plain flour

1 tps vanilla essence

mix together, and shape

I used a piping bag to shape these, or you could easily roll them into balls and squish them down as well. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes, or until a light golden colour.

happy moments

Posted on March 31, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Lots of lovely happy moments this week.

Getting caught in a quick Autumn storm.

Unwrapping boxes sent to me from kind friends and kind chefs.

Wearing earrings bought from Lilac and Snow for the QLD Relief Auction, that every time I put them on, it jump starts the happy again. I love these little earrings to bits.

No one is sick. Little Monkey is healing and his pain is a lot better.

Reinterpreting old classics. Did you know one of the three bears nearly fell into his bowl of porridge?

Restoring dinner with girlfriends.

Super star kind friends who cook extra and drop off multiple meals.

Arm and toe dancing with Little Monkey to chunky guitar music cranked up way too loud.

What happy moments have you had this week?

Basmati Yogurt Breadrolls

Posted on March 29, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I was given Dan Lepard’s, The Handmade Loaf recently by a good friend and inside is a lovely collection of launching pads of recipes. Now as it’s begun to be known around these parts, I can’t follow a recipe to save myself. So with this in mind I saw Dan’s recipe for Rice Bread and thought I could fiddle with that.

Let’s see…

With some basmati languishing in the fridge and yogurt that needed to be seen to as well, these little fellas did me proud. Healthy, with a sourdough-yogurt-basmati mix, they would have to be quite low GI, and they give a bit more oomph to your standard bread roll. Once cooked, I added some chunky cheese and some old lady pickle*, and I was a happy woman.

* Don’t worry, it’s not really made out of old ladies. Just what I call mustard pickles…. usually made by little old ladies.

Basmati Yogurt Breadrolls

(adapted from Dan Lepard’s Rice Bread)

150gms cooked left over basmati rice

110gms yogurt

250gms strong bakers flour

200gms sourdough starter

3/4 tps salt

40mls water

The usual mix, prove, fold, prove, shape, prove. Then baked at 240C for 10 minutes with steam and then another 10 minutes at 220C.

A chewy toothsome breadroll, that also freezes well, and I’m really looking forward to making these again.

This post submitted to the wonderful yeastspotting.

incy wincy freakin’ spider

Posted on March 27, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

It’s true what they say about Australian spiders. They are bigger and badder than any you may have seen else where in the world. I know, because I live here, and there is one currently residing in my worm farm. Sure it might not be the biggest I’ve seen, nor the deadliest, (apparently harmless they say….pfft.)

The problem is not so much the spider, it’s the fact that I have gotten a little…city-fied.

I am no longer the person that would happily exclaim, crikey, look at that little beauty and gaze lovingly at my new co-tennanting eight legged friend. That person is no longer, (and some would doubt that person was ever really there.) I am what I am, a city hippy farm girl, and in this instance the city well and truly comes first.

So what to do when I casually slip off the worm farm lid to feed my squidgey friends, and am met with a skittish hairy eight legged freak?

Do I…

A/ Gaze lovingly on to its ample body, marvelling at its intricate markings and upright leg hair engulfing all of its rather quick legs?

Or do I…

B/ Scream like a crazy person, grabbing the nearest hard implement to me, (probably a wooden spoon) wave it ruthlessly in front of its four eyes before pounding it to spider crumbs while yelling, Diiiiiiie eight legged freak!!!!

Or I could,

C/ Assess the situation. Survey the nearby land. Establish that the kids are inside and don’t need to know. Mr Chocolate won’t be home for another 12 hours, and do I really need to ‘man-up’ and do anything at all?

Answer= C

Let’s quietly put the lid back on and pretend I was never here shall we? The worms weren’t really hungry anyway.

Next day and I had conveniently forgotten about the pit of terror outside my kitchen door. Off to check on my worms and lo and behold… There it is again. I’m sure the little bugger winked at me, while waving four of it’s legs at me in a decidedly jazz hands fashion. Quick inward suck of air and clumsy step back from me and we eye each other off. Ahh, what to do.

I did what any self respecting blogger would do and went and got my camera. Followed by Monkey Boy, who I excitedly showed him the ‘lovely’ spider residing in our worm farm. He was enthralled, gave it some eyeball love “WOW Mama, and then left me with the eight legged freak. You see I’m not silly, I wasn’t passing on any preconceived ideas on how to act around spiders. I waited until he left before I made a small gag noise and all the hairs on my arms stood on end.

So why don’t I like them?

Because they run. They run really quickly… and they jump. They are like the crowned Kings of Parcour , and I don’t like it one bit. I can deal with them when I need to, but as Mr Chocolate was home, I didn’t need to. I encouraged him to join me next to the worm farm of terrors and then politely told him he wasn’t coming back inside until he had ‘dealt’ with it.

Do you want me to kill it?

What ever needs to be done babe…

As I quietly bolted the kitchen door behind me, leaving Mr Chocolate waving a flaccid looking roll of newspaper at a bemused looking spider.

* …and he missed it. The eight legged freak casually parcour-ed off and still remains at large.

sweet potato leaves, it’s Frugal Friday

Posted on March 25, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Sweet potato leaves have come up a few times in my Foodconnect box. At first (along with my red amaranth) I didn’t know what to do with it. A little playing though and another healthy leafy green vegetable to add to my growing list of all things good.

Now what to do with it?

It cooks up similarly to regular spinach, quickly and in a wilty kind of fashion. I used it here with potatoes, as I seem to have discovered there are good potatoes to be had in this world. Who knew!

In my trusty flat bottomed wok, (or use any old pot).

I added 2 good slurps of olive oil

an onion and diced garlic

pop in some already cooked chopped potatoes

give it a one two

add some sliced capsicum (peppers)

and the plucked whole sweet potato leaves

wilt it all on down for a minute or two

serve and drizzle with a little extra olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

feeding the troops with Anzac biscuits

Posted on March 22, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Monkey Boy has a multicultural day at school this week, which asked everyone to bring in a plate of food from their respective cultures. I needed something quick, easy, nut free and not requiring a whole lot of thought process. Also something I could do the weekend before, so it had to store well.

Anzac Biscuits you didn’t fail me.

Out of my trusty CWA cookbook, the ever present Anzac Biscuit recipe lay proudly on its page. An eggless biscuit (cookie) initially created to send to troops in far off lands during war time. Wives, mothers and daughters made these biscuits for their loved soldiers, using ingredients that they could easily get hold of and could still be eaten after a long transportation time.

Maybe this time I would even follow the whole recipe to the letter. No short cuts and no changes… Imagine that.

On closer inspection of my pantry I discovered I didn’t have some of the ingredients, so would have to adapt. (I clearly wasn’t meant to follow recipes to the letter.)

I think my biscuits were a bit softer and paler due to less bicarb soda and using the self raising flour instead, (if you want them crunchier, just cook them for a touch longer). Still good to eat though, and I didn’t need to put in that much sugar as was originally called for. As the only troops that were going to be eating my ANZAC biscuits were a class full of excitable five year olds.

ANZAC Biscuits

125g melted butter in a bowl

now add

3 tablespoons golden syrup (*1 tablespoon)

in a little cup

2 tablespoons boiling water

and

1/2 tsp bicarb soda (*1 tsp)

add the bicarb mixture to the golden syrup mixture, then add

100g (1 cup) rolled oats

90g (1 cup) desiccated coconut

110g (1/2 cup) raw sugar (*220g sugar)

150g (1 cup) plain flour

(*original recipe amounts)

Roll in to balls and squish down. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until golden.

chai and raindrops

Posted on March 20, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Looking out at the fat rain drops quickly soaking my washing on the line. I was thinking two things. One, well that was a really bad call. Apparently it wasn’t going to fine up and the washing would not be ok to put out as I had confidently told Mr Chocolate. Two, how can a man with just a slight raise of the eyebrow say so many things, namely… I told you so, so easily?

Actually make it three… how do those raindrops get so big?

It’s been a bit of a tiring week.

There has been a lot of comfort taken in that green tea cup filled with chai this week. The dangling tea infuser is one of those little things that I enjoy filling and then quietly plopping it into hot water. Watching the water slowly change colour. A tiny thing where it’s as much about the process as it is the taste.

It’s a warm hug in a tea cup.

A double hip spica cast on a 2 year old is not fun. A double hip spica cast on a 2 year old, that is still getting pain and muscle spasming constantly is not fun. It’s also not fun when he gets a rip roaring virus on top of that, which sends him back to Emergency and with high temperatures for days on end.

Counting down the days until I see the skin of my boy’s little legs again.

I’m looking forward to easter, as that’s when those little legs should be showing again. Looking forward to seeing his little legs run around looking for tiny chocolate eggs in a garden. Temperatures will be gone, cast will be gone, and Mama should have some terribly well toned biceps from carrying the not so Little Monkey around.

Sustainable Seafood

Posted on March 18, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Some useful links…

Slow Fish– Slow Food International’s Slow Fish campaign.

Fish Fight– Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s campaign.

Greenpeace International Seafood Red List.

Sustainable Seafood Guide– Australia.

Tuna– Industrial tuna fishing brings in big money as people love the stuff. It’s a cheap, tasty form of protein that appeals to many, either in the form of the handy little cans or eaten fresh and whole.

Greenpeace’s Canned Tuna Guide. Which brands to aim for and which ones to dodge.

http://www.fish-4-ever.com/ A UK based company, that uses skipjack tuna caught in the Maldives. Line and pole method.

A short snippet of what line and pole method actually means. (I found this fascinating!)

What you can do