Good news for pork

Coles has announced that it will be phasing out pork that comes from sow stall-using producers.
Good news for animal rights, mindful carnivores and pigs everywhere.

Muesli 4 Me

Muesli4Me.

Create and mix your own custom muesli online; then they post it out to you. I just created an Eastern Blend for me, and some Toasted Cinnamon with dried strawberries and pistachios for a friend. Looks good.

Bangalow Christmas ham

This year we have decided to try to have locally-bred, organic and free range meats (turkey and ham) on our Christmas table. We went with Bangalow Sweet Pork for the ham, even though it's not officially organic or free range (just hormone- and antibiotic-free), but it's always been delicious and tender. Butcher's Block at the James St Markets is a stockist of Bangalow pork. Turns out that Bangalow supplies it to James St, who get the pork smoked/cured/hammified at the Gold Coast, who then get it back to James St for retailing. Probably a few more food miles in there than really necessary, but that's OK for this year.
Getting your mitts on a free range organic turkey though is DIFFICULT. All the good butchers in town, like Village Meats at Rosalie, or James' Connossieur Meats at Kenmore, have free range but not organic. I have contacted Sunforest Organic Turkeys to find out where their Brisbane retail outlets are. Will report back.
***
OK. Sunforest did not get back to me. Have ordered a free-range turkey from James St. On a separate but related note, Pennisi at Balaclava St have unsweetened chestnut puree (also whole chestnuts) for the buche de Noel, and baccalau (dried salt cod) for making the French winter favourite, brandade de morue.

Vertical gardens in the heart of London

These are apparently taking off. Walking down Piccadilly, I was surprised and uplifted to see a building with walls made of garden. It was like a huge curtain of moss and plants, so soothing and pleasant to see in a tough grey city. From this article by Joe Swift of The Times:

As well as being a fabulous aesthetic solution, green walls also tick many environmental boxes, too. Plants significantly improve the surrounding air quality, reduce sound pollution, increase biodiversity, insulate buildings and, most importantly, cool our increasingly sweltering cities in the summer. The “urban heat island” effect means that our predominantly concrete, glass and tarmac cities hold on to heat and can be up to 6C hotter than the surrounding countryside. Sure, we’ll need thousands of square metres of green walls to have any reductive effect, but at least we now have the tools.

The Independent's Emma Townshend also has information about the creator, designer and gardener Patrick Blanc.

I think it's a fantastic idea. With the right plant choices, this could go well in subtropical cities like Brisbane: imagine if we could reduce residual heat, glare and improve both air quality and quality of life, just by rethinking urban design? I want a green wall totally made up of Venus flytraps, near a public barbecue area. Down with summer flies!

Roasted garlic

Whole heads, sliced and baked in a low oven, with lemon juice, olive oil, rosemary and thyme for about an hour and a half. I'm using the cloves spread on bread as a butter substitute. Delicious and delicate.

I'm off the starch, sort of

Gee, being interested in food can really wreck your waistline. Lawdy.
Anyway, in the past I've tried going cold turkey on the carbs, and it really doesn't work for me. I get cranky and edgy and you can't eat out and you have to prepare and take all your daily food with you because you can't rely on being able to get a carb-free salad with reasonable protein in it and every few days I have a brain snap and end up eating crackers or bread and then there's the guilt and then you have to start again.
So the new plan is this. Toast and protein for breakfast (baked beans, egg, ham, mushroom, etc), salad, small amount of carbs and protein for lunch (eg. a salade nicoise with bread or crackers) and then for dinner, protein and vegetables only. No carbs after 4pm.
And so far it is working well. I miss nothing. I crave nothing. I cook exactly the same as I always did, just in a different order. I can still make pasta, except only for weekend lunches or to take to work for a weekday lunch. I still gorge on poachies on toast on Saturday mornings. Dinners are still something like chicken, vegies and potatoes, except now I cook the chicken, prepare the vegies and just cook one potato for Porkface instead of two for both of us.
And the other half of the plan is just to graaaaadually cut down on the portion sizes, and to walk more. For someone who cannot and will not "diet", this is a diet plan that works for me. I've been doing this for about six months, and I've lost about seven kilos. Admittedly, I'll need to rev it up to get results any quicker, but so far I'm pleased with how things are going. Now, where's that Camembert?

Herb garden

Got me a little herb garden in a pot. Thanks Mum. The plan is that they will grow and intertwine and tumble over one another to create a little cottage pot of kitcheny goodness.
What's in the pot? Oregano, basil, a chili bush, rosemary, a tomato plant, thyme, snow pea sprouts. In a different pot I've got French lavender growing, and in another there's silverbeet. Hoping that none of them die (it hasn't begun well: when I brought the pot home I dropped it on the lawn and had to repot half the seedlings. Perhaps an omen? I could name the garden Damien) and that bugs don't come over for a snack, either. Only I shall be snacking on those herbs, thanks very much.

I'm most excited about the tomatoes, and the basil. It will be just lovely to be able to make a tiny little salad from tiny little fresh tomatoes (2 minutes old) and fresh basil out of my very own Damien.

Jasmine green tea in a can

I love it. Barely sweet, tannic and so refreshing. From Asian supermarkets.

Homemade muesli

That Swiss health-farm version where you mix raw oats and grated apple with fruit juice is more like torture than breakfast. The only tasty muesli (around here, anyway) is CRUNCHY, GOLDEN and delicious. Unfortunately, crunchy and golden usually equates to loaded with saturated fat, as the commercial muesli producers coat the raw ingredients with fat to help them stay crispy throughout their long shelf life and once they are opened.

Observe:

• Vogel's Premium Oven-Crisp: 6.7g (fat per serving)


• Sanitarium Golden Toasted: 10g


• Morning Sun Peach and Pecan Natural: 4.9g


• Purina Toasted: 9.5g

Granted, there are several supermarket brands that come in below the 4g mark: you can suss them out here. But the other problem with bought muesli is the abundance of Things I Don't Like, like dried fruit. Or peanuts. As if I would spend ten minutes each morning picking unwanted items from my cereal bowl... No, bought muesli just isn't going to cut it.

So I made my own.

• Raw oats


• Plain unsalted, untoasted pecans, walnuts and hazelnuts


• Linseeds


• Sunflower seeds


• Desiccated coconut


• Wheatgerm


• Natural runny honey


• A quarter teaspoon of salt

Throw the nuts and seeds in the food processor and blitz till your desired level of crunchiness. Spread the oats on a big baking tray and bake in a moderate oven for ten to fifteen minutes. Turn them over, drizzle with honey and re-bake.

Do the same with the nuts and seeds, only adding honey if you feel you need to.

Toast the coconut on its own, taking special care not to let it burn. It will only take a few minutes. Let all these things cool, and then combine them in a big jar or container. Add the salt and wheatgerm and shake to mix thoroughly. (The salt helps to preserve your cereal and also deters any bugs that may be interested).
If the muesli loses its crunchability over time, you can just re-toast quickly in the oven for a few minutes.

Enjoy the sanctimonious health-freak feeling of superiority as you feast on your muesli creation for weeks to come.

Feta and macadamia honey on black rye toast

The health-giving and medicinal properties of honey have been well-documented. Macadamia honey is made from the nectar bees collect from macadamia blossoms. I like its gentle and soothing flavour, and its relative lack of acidity, compared to ironbark or eucalyptus. For me, the best honeys are clear, delicate and floral ones like acacia or clover honey.
The Greeks are big on honey: on pastries or used in desserts. I like it drizzled over some ricotta or plain yoghurt, or on a very dense seeded nutty bread, with or without unsalted butter.

Lately honey's been part of my new Euro-fusion favourite breakfast. I use Danish feta (from the supermarket deli counter, usually about $8 to $9 a kilo). It's really very salty and tangy, so it's good for this purpose. It's also incredibly smooth and crumblable, almost like a mature cheddar, or good-quality dark chocolate. Slice thinly and toast some dense black rye bread, the stronger the better. Spread the hot toast with the feta, and drizzle with honey. It's fantastic with a grind of fresh black pepper over it, and you should definitely have a hot cup of smoky Russian Caravan tea on the side.