Earth Hour

Just a quick reminder that this evening it’s time to turn off your lights at 8:30pm for an hour. Earth Hour is an opportunity to show your support for action on climate change.

Last year we ended up going to bed early because we couldn’t think of any thing else to do. This year, we might even be able to see the stars.

Best of 2008

There were a couple of stand out dishes of 2008 and they were cooked as part of The Euro Cup and Plate Challenge:

littlem: the Spanish Chicken in Garlic Sauce and the Chocolate and Chestnut Cake

BigM: Dutch Beef stew with beer and dumplings and the Austrian Apple Strudel

The other dish I’ll add to our top 5 is M.Y.O Pizza because we have it nearly once a week.

On the gardening front, we planted over 100 natives in our little backyard, the majority are less then knee high. Our kangaroo paws are doing the best and were originally planted to cover up a huge tree stump. This year we ate some gorgeous home grown tomatoes, tiny sorbet-flavoured strawberries and a fragrant French melon. We gave away lots of passionfruit and pawpaws to willing co-workers.

As part of our challenge to become self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables in a year, we have reached a total of 444g! During that time we have harvested squash and tomatoes. Let me see that’s only another 483.6kg to go… and not looking too promising!

Jackie French wisely recommends to those:

“who want to be totally self-sufficient: don’t do it. ‘Almost self-suffiency’, though, can make your life as rich and prolific as your garden.”

Quote from Backyard Self-sufficiency, by Jackie French.
Written for Best of Year 2008 Challenge.

Damper

Australia isn’t known for it’s breads, but we do have damper. To make the traditional campfire bread more festive I’ve added some herbs from the garden, some left over semi-dried tomatoes and a heirloom tomato. The green and red flecks of colour make it ideal to serve at this time of the year. We prefer semi-dried tomatoes to the full sun-dried ones. I’m predicting that heirloom tomatoes will be trendy soon, just like sun-dried tomatoes were a few years ago.

A heirloom tomato was the second vegetable to be harvested. As our compost doesn’t get hot enough to kill the seeds, there are tomato plants dotted all around our garden.

2 cups of self-raising flour
30g butter
2 tbps chopped chives and basil
1 tomato
6 semi-dried tomatoes
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk

1. Sift flour into a bowl and rub in butter with your fingertips.
2. Add the herbs and chopped tomatoes and mix.
3. Make a well in the centre of the mixture, add the combined water and milk in batches.
4. Mix quickly to form a soft dough. Add more flour or water/milk, if required, to get the right consistency.
5. Place on a tray lined with baking paper. Brush with milk.
6. Bake at 220°C for 15-20 minutes.

Baked for Bread Baking Day #15: Festive Breads.

Last bed planted

We planted seeds in the last and fourth bed today. This bed took longer then the rest because we had to remove a papaw tree that was in the space. Papaws have shallow roots so it would have stolen water and nutrients from the vegetable bed. We also don’t care for the fruit, and as a result it was an easy decision to remove it. Big M’s dad volunteered to chain saw it down – a relatively easy job. Digging up the roots, however, was hot and painfully hard work. Each root burrowed a long way along from the base, making excavation a tedious process. We prepared the bed the same way we did the others – using the no-dig method and left it for a month to decompose.

Anyhow, back to the seeds. Today we planted:

Bed four:

• Capsicum: Zorzi Quadrato d’asti x3; Digger’s mini sweet x 3
• Tomato: Lost Seed Broad ripple yellow currant x2; Brandywine x 2; Green zebra x2
• Pumpkin: Digger’s mini sweet delicata x1; Franchi Marina di chioggia x1
• Cucumber: Eden’s Green gem x 1; Lost Seed’s Armenian x1
• Zucchini: Lost Seed Black beauty x1; Sementi Genovese x1

The rest of the vegetables beds are doing well….

Bed one:

• The pink eye and kipler potatoes are all up. About a third of the nicolas are also up. The king edwards are struggling with only about an eighth up.
• There are 4 watermelons and 4 rockmelons up. I replanted the mixed rockmelon – I suspect one of the seed got washed over next to another plant, so I removed it because it was too close.
• No strawberries yet.

Bed two:

• We have not had much luck with lettuce in the past, so it came as no surprise to see only two little plants under a centimetre.
• The golden bantam corn is going great guns (10 up), but on the flip side the bali corn is showing a dismal display with only one plant growing. I replanted the missing ones.
• The beans are doing really well with 25 plants growing. Although three are looking a little worse for the wear – probably storm damage. They haven’t been stalked yet.
• I snuck in two seeds for black russian tomatoes at the end of the bed.

Bed three:

• The squash are our healthiest looking plants at the moment.
• The beans here are also doing well with the majority of them up. A few stragglers.
• The eggplants are disappointing with no shows of one type and the others have a few under a centimetre.
• No sign of the rosellas yet.

Big M’s mum commented that is was probably the wrong time of year to be growing potatoes. Sweet potato might have been a better choice, although Big M’s not so keen on it. Big M thinks the rosellas aren’t growing because it might be the wrong type of soil for them.

Overall, we’re pretty happy with how things are progressing.

Storms and seedlings

Brisbane had a very wild night on Sunday. The thunder was intense and deafening. My heart was shaking so much and adrenaline surged through my body. Big M yelled at me to get away from the windows because he thought the pressure of the wind might blow them in. Then I saw a flash of lightening a mere metre away from the window and we both huddled into the centre of the house. I tried to reassure myself that as our house was over fifty years old – and if it had lasted this long, it would survive this storm.

An hour later the storm had passed and we went outside to assess the damage. It was the heaviest rain I’ve seen in a long time, and the wind was very destructive in our neighbourhood. Out the front a very large and once proud gum tree had its main limbs blown off. Luckily the branches fell across the road and missed all three houses on the other compass points. Our next door neighbour with the pesky ginger cats had a large tree completely up rooted. Down the road, fences were blown over and there was more tree carnage.

Fortunately, the vegetable beds look fine and the fruit trees all survived. The lattice holding up the sweet peas blew off and the native raspberry flapped its arms around aimlessly. The rain was very welcome and thoroughly soaked the soil in our beds. Our water tank was overflowing.

Surprisingly, we have spotted the first of our seeds sprouting up in the vegetable patches. Of course, it’s the beans and the squash.

Planting by the moon

Our seed potatoes went in on the weekend. I bought them months ago from The Lost Seed and they arrived in four neat brown paper bags. I was worried they’d gone bad or green in the back of the cupboard, and we really have missed the prime months for planting spuds. Big M declared himself in charge of the potatoes and he selected four of our local market favourites – Pink Eyes, King Edwards, Nicola and Kipler. We shouldn’t have worried, the tubers were bursting with sprouting buds and more then ready to go in. Our only worry now is that perhaps we might have too many!

Today was the day before a full moon, and according to my “Astrological Calendar and Moon Planting Guide” by Thomas Zimmer, it’s a perfect time to sow “fruiting annuals – those vegetables which you want to produce abundant seed, or the seed bearing organ of the plant.”

We both got home early from work, and set about planting out our first three beds. The planting were based on digger’s article “The Mini-Plot” and what in suitable for Brisbane’s climate in November.

Bed one:

• Potato: Lost Seed Pink Eye, King Edward, Nicola, Kipler
• Watermelon – Yates Country Sweet x2
• Strawberry – Franchi 2 rows of the whole packet
• Rockmelon x 5 (Digger’s Prescot Fond x2; Minnesota Midget x2; Mix x 1)

Bed two:

• Lettuce: Digger’s Yellow Leaf x4; Eden Great Lakes x2; Digger’s Oakleaf x2; D.T. Brown Green Cos x2; D.T. Brown Green Mignonette x2;
• Corn: Digger’s Sweet Corn Golden Bantam x9; and Eden’s Sweet Corn Balinese x 12
• Beans: Digger’s Lazy Housewife x 12; and Lost Seed Purple King Climbing Bean x16

Bed three:

• Squash: D.T. Brown White Scallop
• Beans: Lost Seed Runner Scarlet Emporer x 12; Aqua Dulce Broad Bean x 12
• Eggplant: Digger’s Listada Di Gandia x4
• Rosella: Eden x 3
• Eggplant: P.D.F Melanzan Cima Viola x 4

We ended up swapping the carrots for squash. Beetroot for eggplant and rosella. In the perennial bed, we swapped the artichoke and asparagus (we don’t like either) for watermelon and rockmelon. The pototoes took up half the bed, but that’s ok because we’ve got two lots of rhubarb in pots.

In retrospect, we were thinking it might have been better to space out the timing of the plantings so that everything doesn’t come up at once. Oh the enthusiasm of naivety .

The Challenge

About a year and a half ago we bought a house and our interest in gardening blossomed. It was a natural progression that our love of food would lead to wanting to try to grow our own organic produce. Ultimately, we were interested in finding out how hard it would be to become self-sufficient without giving up our day jobs, moving to the country or growing dread-locks.

We wanted to know whether two amateur gardeners could grow enough fruit and vegetables to feed themselves within a year.

We wanted to follow The Digger’s Club article on being self-sufficient in “Growing your Own Heirloom Vegetables”. It explains in perfect detail how to “Convert your lawn into a food garden” [PDF]. The author Clive Beazley claims you can grow 254kg of fruit and vegetables in just over 10 metres cubed. The average consumption of fruit and vegetables per person in Australia is 242kg (according to ABS).

We’re aiming for 236kg* of fruit and vegetables on one tank, for one couple in one year.

We’re going to loosely follow the Digger’s instructions, substituting fruit and vegetables for ones suitable to Brisbane ’s climate and our tastes. We hope to inspire others to dig for dinner.

Food Destinations #3: My Favorite Chocolate Shop

I am confident that one of my last meals will be chocolate – because I have it at least once a day and have been known to eat it for breakfast! I must admit though, I don’t have a favorite chocolate shop. What is wrong with me?? Am I a fraud who has argued in vain over about whether chocolate should be kept in the cupboard or the fridge? Perhaps I’m not such a chocoholic after all!

The Plan
There are two main chocolate shops in the Brisbane CBD. I decided I was going to work out which one would be my favorite shop by sampling the same type of chocolates from each store. I chose one each of the following: plain dark; orange; peppermint; hazelnut and cherry liqueur for good measure.

Unfortunately I then fell ill with the flu, so I didn’t eat the chocolate for four days! (Unheard of in these parts!) Oh, alright I was still on the Lindt …. I wasn’t that sick!

Anyhow, finally I started to smell things again and I decided it was time to taste the chocolates:

Chocolate Boulevard – (good for foreign lollies)
Dark buddha – 5
Hazelnut cluster – 4
Orange fish – the orange was a bit fake – 2
Peppermint – didn’t taste like mint. I couldn’t identify what it tasted of! – 1
Cherry liqueur – very runny, strong alcoholic – 2

Chocolate to Die For
(Just Chocolate) Dark – 5
Nut – oh no, white (fake) chocolate, gross! – 2
Orange – bit old fashioned, liked boiled lollies – 2.5
Peppermint – 5
Cherry liqueur – runny, alcohol still had a kick to it – 2.5

If Big M had come home from work at his usual time, he might have discovered me rolling around on the floor, clutching my tummy declaring, “I’ve eaten too much chocolate!” A sentence never uttered before in the house.

The lesson
If you ever visit a chocolate factory wear a jacket with large pockets. It’s really best not to mix flavoured chocolates. I still don’t have a favourite chocolate shop, but I will always love my chocolate dark and Swiss.
Written for Chocolate in Context’s premiere blogging event, Food Destinations #3: My Favorite Chocolate Shop.

Oh, Mr Darcy

Bridget Jones’s Diary inspired my entry in Dispensing Happiness‘ blog party #15. The challenge was to create an appetizer and cocktail from our favourite book. You may recall from Bridget’s diary entries she starts the year off with Bloody Mary’s. They didn’t appeal, but I had to attempt the retro pineapple and cheese entree……

Hedgehog

The hedgehog was apparently big in the 60’s – you can use an orange or grapefruit cut in half, with cheese and pineapple cubes on cocktail sticks stuck in it! To make it look posh you could even cover the orange with foil (if only it was that easy to impress your guest these days!) To make it a little more modern, I’ve used Charles Sturt’s Bidgee Cheese with Native Mint which is a lovely match to the (dare I admit) tinned pineapple rings.

Mr Darcy

Mr Darcy is a cocktail I think Bridget would enjoy drinking! It is based on Pimms a popular summer drink in England, particularly around Wimbledon time. The most popular way to drink it is to mix a nip with lemonade.  Mr Darcy is made with two nips of Pimms and topped in a tall glass with ginger ale (since Mr Darcy is tall, dark and handsome!) Garnish with a strawberry to give a hint of Englishness about it, and you have to eat it last, because you know the drink (story) will end on a sweet note! And lastly, don’t forget Mr Darcy is a proper gentlemen and would always have a big umbrella on hand for the notorious English rain.

Try to drink in moderation. Hiccup.

Frittering away Sunday morning

Heart shaped corn fritters, with oven roasted tomatoes and crispy bacon strips. This is an easy recipe to remember and is perfect for a lazy Sunday morning.

Corn Fritters
310g can of corn kernels, rinsed and drained
2 eggs, lightly whisked
2 tbs chopped fresh parsley
2 tbs plain flour
vegetable oil

1. Place the corn, egg, parsley and flour in a bowl and whisk until well combined. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat.
2. To create the heart shaped fritters I used a cookie cutter that had been coated in a little butter so the fritter would fall out easily. You can,  of course, spoon a tablespoon of batter straight into the pan.
3. Repeat to make 3 more fritters, leaving about 2cms apart, and cook for 2 minutes each side, or until golden and cooked through. Repeat until the batter is all gone.
4. Meanwhile, cut tomatoes in half, and grill the wrong side for 2 minutes. Turn over to the cut half, and sprinkle with finely chopped garlic and parsley or other herbs, and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over olive oil. Grill for a further 6 minutes.
5. Cook strips of bacon as usual, and serve together with fritters and tomatoes. Preferably to a loved one in bed!

Serves 2.

Written for the latest Donna Hay Challenge.