It's not a trend, not a phase, a thing in vogue to be forgotten, but a wonderful ritual with many rewards. In the offices where I worked, at every meeting, all year round, up to seven fruits would be displayed upon the tray for us to eat. It meant for me a...
During December, and over the heat, my bread making energy had died in a heap. But after a few months of eating just air: bread at the supermarket just made me stare. I regained my focus, I reset my compass, I jiggled the kitchen and fired the sour, and in a tiny...
On a recent bike ride I was overjoyed to see the efforts people were making in an attempt to protect their fruit harvest. With possums, white cockatoos and Rosella's all competing for food in the neighbourhood people of all ages were going to extreme lengths to...
At the Lost Trades fair in Kyneton, Victoria, artisans and craftswomen and men are once again celebrated. And you could see from the hundreds and hundreds of people there how much communities crave the slow, the heartfelt, personal, intimate and highly skilled world...
Over the past two months the kitchen garden has kept us in an engaging momentum. With various ingredients maturing, frequent harvesting inspires frequent cooking. With friends and recipe books there is never a shortage of ideas. Carolina's kale and breadcrumbs,...
In the heat of summer simple meals are favoured, especially meals that use garden ingredients.
Fusilletti pesto (below) and the other picture showing, fiochetti with rainbow chard, cucumber, tuna, lemon and red onion. During the summer months I have the opportunity to reduce my trips to the green grocer. With basil, cucumbers, zucchini, dwarf beans, rainbow...
I feel so rich when I have a bounty of greens in the garden. I feel so loving, lofty and vivacious when basil bursts forth from the edge of the garden bed. And a soundtrack, with a melodious, monumental symphony, floats around me as I harvest summer greens and make...
Now on the way to school or on the way home, Ahlia picks berries for her treat. Boysenberry flowers..Fruit beginnings. Harvest time.
Now I am creating my own bread recipes. I added two tablespoons of cocoa to the sourdough basic recipe, a large handful of sultanas, and a large handful of hazelnuts. A tbs of honey too. A bitter flavoured breakfast bread with a tinge of sweet.
I am using my lettuce for all sorts of meals. This rice, cicory and bechamel sauce dish with the addition of whipped eggs is baked and served. Add grated zest of lemon and nutmeg to the bechamel sauce for a delicious flavour.
In the past few weeks the humble broad bean has decorated our meals. I made broad bean mustered rice balls, fried and golden. Broad bean and cicory salad with fried egg for breakfast. Broad bean dip with anchovy's on sourdough toast. And for the chickens a broad bean...
It is time to feature broad beans in my kitchen. With a rich harvest I am committed to cooking broad beans with every meal. And while for some this might sound like a dire situation, for me the challenge of celebrating one ingredient in the kitchen for the length of...
Bread fever has not died. I am as keen to make bread as ever before and I am getting faster too. On the weekend it was fresh bread heaven. We sat 6 at our table. The loaves of warm bread sitting on the cooling rack ready for slicing. The table was laid out with...
In the garden blossoms are blooming and their colour saturated. Ralf is checking the bee hives for pests, and honey. With the warm weather the bees and the blossom will come together, each nurturing the other.
Like a pet it is, the bread I make. A constant fixture that I bake. I never tire of making it, watching the rising and kneading the mix. At night I start, by day break its full, bloated and ready to be halved in two. The tins make toasting easier and sandwiches ripe,...
In summer, winter, in autumn or spring, polenta delicious, delicious I eat.
I really enjoy learning from friends. From friends most of all because an intimate relationship has been established that makes the learning process very gratifying. There is also an opportunity for me to learn not only about their craft but to learn more about them...
I am slowly working towards perfecting my bread making and baking...I have gleaned from here I have gleaned from there... Ken tells me stories, Lise and others too... there are different approaches to making bread and you choose the approach you want according to the...
There is never a time when I look inside the fridge and think "there is nothing to eat". As long as there is one vegetable in the fridge then I know that a visit to the garden will make that two (vegetables) and with that a meal can be started. In between the growing...