Long time gardening

I have recently been reading books on longevity and incidentally discovered that organic gardening plays a large part in their secrets.

The Blue Zones book covered centenarians from Nicoya, Sardinia and Okinawa. These people ate what they produced in their home garden, supplemented by staples. They avoided processed food, and ate a predominately lean semi-vegetarian plant-based diet.

The Okinawans’ from Japan eat lots of turmeric, garlic and mugwort and fresh, organic vegetables. Food that is packed full of nutrients and antioxidants. Every day they spend some time outdoors and therefore receive a good level of Vitamin D. They were found to be active walkers and gardeners.

Costa Ricans over 100 follow a low calorie, low fat, plant-based diet, with huge quantities of fresh tropical fruit.

Healthy at 100 book follows in a similar vein. The Abkhasians eat a large quantity of fresh fruit and vegetables form their home garden. While in Vilcabamba, they eat a mostly vegetarian diet based on whole grains, seeds, beans and nuts along with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Gardening can help to relieve stress and involves frequent low-intensity movement with a full-range of motions. To top it off you get fresh organic fruit and vegetables which may lead to a longer life.

	The Blue Zones By Dan Buettener – Good introduction and easy reading, although recommendations are on the conservative side. Blue Zones website.
	Healthy at 100by John Robbins – A well researched look at four cultures with the healthiest and longest living people. (He is the son of one of the Baskin-Robbins founders). Typically promotes a plant-based vegan diet. Healthy at 100 website.
	The Okinawa Program and The Okinawa Diet Plan by Bradley Wilcox and co - The original book on centenarians, diet and lifestyle, based on the Okinawa Centenarian Study.

Challenge books

There’s been a plethora of people undertaking challenges and documenting the results in blogs in the last couple of years. Here’s a round up of some of the better food and garden related ones:

	Julie and Julia - The original cooking challenge. Soon to be a movie.
	Plenty aka One Mile Diet – Covers the issues well.  I felt they sometimes went a little too far (using flour with rat poo). Inspired a number of other eat local challenges. http://100milediet.org/
	Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver -  A popular book by on eating local produce for a year and farming practices in the USA. Although not a challenge, I’d also like to recommend the British ‘Not on the Label‘ which covers many of the same topics and is thoroughly researched.
	Living the Good Life by Linda Cockburn – An Australian family who aims to spend no money in 6 months. Covers a good range of environmental issues. I still want to know, what did they use for loo paper? Currently building a straw bale house in Tasmania.
	No Impact Man - Still actively posting on the No impact man website. A book and documentary on the way.

Any other recommendations? Are you on a current challenge?

Cookbook utopia

If I ever won the lottery, I’d love to buy every single book on my Amazon wishlist. Now that delicious thought would be pure cookbook utopia. Although I’d probably need to buy a couple of extra bookcases as well to store them all in!

While I’m day dreaming, I’d also like a gorgeous walk-in pantry like Nigellas’. Now she has cookbook collection to die for.

In the meantime I’ll settle for one or two classic cookbooks from each of my favourite countries:

	The Cook’s Companion by Stephanie Alexander Australia
	Maggie’s Harvest by Maggie Beer  Australia
	Jamie’s Ministry of Food by Jamie Oliver British A suprising good range of recipes we have cooked several times.
	Better Homes and Garden Cookbook by Better Homes and Gardens USA
	Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Fannie Farmer USA
	The Silver Spoon Italy A fan’s challenge – http://exploringsilverspoon.blogspot.com/
	Je Sais Cuisiner by Ginette Mathiot France
	Recettes Faciles by Françoise Bernard France
	1080 Recipes Spain
	Harumi’s Japanese Cooking by Harumi Kurihara Japan
	Healthy dishes for the Imperial Court by Jiao Min Yao China
	Essential Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy Mexico
	Cook and Enjoy It by Mrs S de Villiers South Africa
	Library of Canadian Cooking by Jehane Benoit Canada
	Vefa’s Kitchen by Vefa Alexiadou Greece
	Dr. Oetker Germany

Have I missed any country classic cookbooks?  Would you buy Poh or Julie’s masterchef cookbook?

Homemade: The Handmade Help recipe book

A recipe from the archives of Gustoso is featured in the Homemade: the Handmade Help recipe book.

Early this year was marked by the Black Saturday bushfires. Uncharacteristic hot days and strong winds whipped flames through Victoria  and resulted in Australia’s worst loss of life from a bushfire. Over 2000 houses were destroyed!

The online art and craft  community joined together to assist in the Handmade Help Bushfire Appeal.

Hardcover and PDF versions of the recipe book are now available for pre-order.

All money raised from sales of the book will be donated to The Salvation Army.

Inside your cupboards

It was time for a winter clean of our kitchen, which included emptying out our cupboard and fridge. It wasn’t too bad since our recent weevil infestation and we had already thrown out many unwanted boxes and bottles. Although, we did find a roll of marzipan that expired 2 years ago (from my cupcake decorating faze).

Enjoy seeing what other people eat (and try to spot the snake):

• Hungry Planet: What the World Eats provides an illustrated look at how different families around the world eat. I’m going to admit that I didn’t read much of the text in the book, because comparing the photos from each country was more fascinating. Peter Menzel, the photographer, has provided an illustrated preview [PDF 9.6MB].
• Mark Menjivar has taken some very telling photos of fridges in the US.  (Select ‘portfolio’ > ‘you are what you eat’ >’ images’)
• Video of Meghan Telpner (nutritionist)
• Video of Renegade Health snooping on David Wolfe (raw foodie)
• What’s that in your fridge? (Flickr group)

What kind of skeletons do you have in your cupboards?

Books by bloggers

I can’t remember when I first started following blogs, but some of my favourites I’ve been reading religiouslyfor several years now. I’ve heard about their ups and downs, births and deaths.  I’ve even seen photos inside their houses and what’s on their creative desks. I’ve shared their favourite books, movies and music – many times before they’ve hit the mainstream. Oh the privilege of lurking and seeing glimpses of other people’s lives from all around the world. Thank you for putting yourselves on the line, online.

Here’s a round up of some of my favourite bloggers who have been published:

Cooking and food

	A Homemade Life – by Molly Wizenberg of Orangette website, Camilla Engman (website).
	Chocolate and Zucchini- by Clotilde Dusoulier of Chocolate and Zucchini website. Also wrote Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris
	Gluten-Free Girl- by Shauna Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl website.
	Super Natural Cooking- by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks website.
	Vegan Lunch Box- by Jennifer McCann of Vegan Lunch Box website.

Craft

	Bend the Rules Sewing- by Amy Karol of Angry Chicken website. Coming soon is Bend the Rules with Fabric
	The Creative Family- by Amanda Blake Soule of SouleMama website. Later in the year is Homemade Home
	The Gentle Art of Domesticity – by Jane Brocket of Yarnstorm website. Recently followed up with Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer: A Golden Treasury of Classic Treats
	Seams to Me – by Anna Maria Horner (website).
	Stitched in Time – by Alicia Paulson of  Posie Gets Cosy website.

Gardening

	The Urban Homestead – by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen of Homegrown Evolution website.
	You Grow Girl – by Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl website.

Have I missed anyone?

Book review: Don’t throw it, grow it!

Don’t Throw It, Grow It!: 68 windowsill plants from kitchen scraps by Peterson and Selsam would make an ideal gift for a young budding scientist or gardener. I think it’s worth having on your shelf, as it contains the most comprehensive and easy-to-understand explanation of propagation I’ve come across. The book describes how to create plants from pits, roots, shoots, tubers and seeds. The only drawback is that the authors lived in Manhattan apartments so it is mainly aimed at growing them indoors.

The book includes a good range of plants that you may not be able to purchase as a seedling or plant, such as carob, cherimoya, daikon, feijoa, jujube, malanga,  peanut, pineapple,  sugar cane, taro and water chestnut.

There are plenty of interesting facts throughout and it cleared up coriander for me. The seeds are the spice called coriander and the leaves are called cilantro. I love the cute descriptions, where most of the herbs “resemble Queen Anne’s lace” and kiwi fruit is “reminiscent of strawberries and watermelon”.

Book review: Real Dirt

Real Dirt is an easy entertaining autobiographical journey written by James Woodford. He starts off his career pretending to be an environmentalist to impress his girlfriend at the time. Over the years, he matures and transforms into the real deal by moving to a sustainable, self-sufficient and solar-powered lifestyle. I confess I enjoyed the second half of the book more and would love to see a sequel.

There’s an enlightening section on toilet training babies (apparently it’s possible), and another on how they decided to creatively reuse their neighbours’ tree root balls to stop the gully erosion on their property.

James presented the information on solar powering his house with inspiration. He describes how Stuart Whitelaw (environmental architect) visited their block on the winter solstice “to see whether the shadow case by the forest – the longest shadow of the year when the sun at its lowest point in the sky – would fall over the [house] slab. If it did then it would make solar power unviable… “. I also likes the way Stu explained the benefits of solar power:

“If, for a small premium, you could buy a car that you never had to re-fuel, what would you do?”

Book review: Brisbane’s Budget Bites

I stumbled across the book signing of “Brisbane’s Budget Bites” in my lunch break today. I’ve been wanting a book like this ever since I saw the “Cheap Eats” series of our southern cities. This nifty little book contains over 120 reviews of where to go for an affordable meal (under $20). It includes restaurants, cafes, and providores in Brisvegas. There is also a section for coffee and yum cha! My top secret favourite coffee place makes it to the list – the owner has won a number of barrista awards, but that’s all I’m giving away.

I am, however, happy to offer my services to test out contenders for the next edition.

Order online at: http://www.brisbanebudgetbites.com.au/

Book review: Conscious Cook

The Conscious Cook written by Giselle Wilkinson is a beautifully illustrated book, with the first half devoted to 50 ’sustainable’ recipes. The second half is more about the theory and discusses trendy green topics like Genetitic Modification, teflon, peak oil, organic, fair trade, water use, food miles, local and seasonal produce, and the 100 mile diet.

I like the way Giselle has chosen recipes based on their “sustainability” and provides a nice framework for green eating:

• amount of water required (including cooking and cleaning of pots)
• energy required (eg number of gas burners)
• choice of ingrediants:
• how far the food travels
• producers are paid a fair wage
• animals are treated humanly
• minimal packaging
• locally grown

There are some really interesting tidbits scattered throughout the book, that would be worth debating. Here’s one that suprised me:

“About 70% of crops grown in the US are fed to animals – not humans.”

Overall this book is more of an overview but a good way to get up to speed on the topics if you aren’t already.