DemeterG.com

Silky

Frizzle

I attended a fundraising breakfast a while ago where Kylie Kwong was the guest speaker and she was promoting her book “It tastes better”. Which I bought and had signed – of course! I am still kicking myself that I was too shy to ask for a photo as well.

While I have tried a few recipes from the book including her fried rice (which got two thumbs up from B1 & B2) and the twice cooked duck, which you start cooking the day before and although it is a bit of work, it is sooo worth the effort.

What I was mostly interested in was her philosophy of ethical and sustainable eating. Her book is all about her suppliers from across Australia that uses ethical and sustainable practices to deliver fantastic produce. One of the producers has egg chickens, that live is an old caravan and are most definitely free range. This got me to wanting some “girls” of my own.

One of the constant discussions that we have in the supermarket is around the purchase of free range eggs versus the much cheaper cage eggs. I will begrudgingly pay for the more expensive free range eggs, knowing that I am supporting the producers that are doing the right thing. DB refuses to pay for them until they are more attractive in price when compared to their caged cousins. Fair enough and each to their own. But, this can easily be null and void by using an allotted portion of the bush block to have some layers of our own, that can be fed the vege scraps from the kitchen, run around to their hearts content and happily supply our kitchen with their eggs.  Now of course B1 & B2 are all for having chooks, they are rather excited about getting some frizzle and silkie chickens. I don’t really care what they look like, as long as they lay eggs…… and keep out of my herbs. I am under strict instruction that we are not allowed to eat the “pet” chooks and suggesting to name them Christmas Dinner, KFC, Cacciatore and Burger was met with much dismay.

So, after the current project of the deck extension is finished, I am living in hope that we can start the chook pen project. I do have a voucher from my last birthday that entitles me to “one chook pen” which I will cut out of my birthday card try to redeem in the very near future…… stay tuned for photos of the chook pen project once it gets underway.

Three days down…… two to go….. I think I am getting the hang of this blogging thing……

I live with the DB on his property. I love living in the middle of a bush block that is still close enough to shops and the city but feels like we live in “the bush”. There are loads of possums and we have spotted some cute little bandicoot’s recently. We have also seen the evidence of their pointy noses digging holes in the small amount of lawn we have.

We have made several attempts to grow a vege and herb garden, with limited success. The Damn possums are very clever and have managed to infiltrate all our attempts to keep them out of the garden and pots. They have annihilated several plants including parsley, coriander, chillies, capsicum and basil. They seem to not like woody herbs and onion so much, so I still have garlic, spring onions, rosemary, thyme and chives. I thought we were finally doing ok with pots on the deck but this last week has resulted in a very lovely parsley stem plant.

We were at a garden shop a week or so ago and the DB pointed out a bottle of “poss off”. I am at a stage that I am ready to try some of that, as the little buggers are starting to “poss” me right off!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I really begrudge paying $5 for a bunch of fresh parsley when I only want a few sprigs to put on a dish and the rest usually wilts to the point of unusable, the exact day before I want to use it again.

On the plus side – First day of Spring today! My favorite season!

I know that 5 straight days of blogging does not sound like much of a penance, but for a blog noob like me, it is.
I work full time, we have B1 & B2 with us this week and to make it even more interesting, B1 has their birthday party on Saturday night with an unknown number of teenagers turning up for food, music and a bonfire.

Blogging every day this week will be a challenge, but I am determined to make it happen. I will say some of my motivation came from watching Julie & Julia for the first time this week. I could relate to Julie (all except the part where she is a sobbing heap on the kitchen floor) and Julia as well. This blog is something I have been wanting to do for awhile and the movie gave me the push I needed to keep going with it.

So, having said all that, I am looking forward to trying something new this weekend. I want to have a go at making cake pops for the birthday party. For those of you who don’t know what cake pops are, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXCm7XTKXRc&feature=related

They look like fun to make and surely they will be a hit with the kids. So stay tuned for pics to come on the cake pop experiment!

1 day down, 4 to go……

Forgive me Bleeps for I have lapsed, it has been 25 days since my last blog session.  I accuse myself of the following sins;

I have cooked the following and shared neither photo nor recipe;

Scallops in a creamy sauce on Angel Hair Pasta
Custard tart with walnuts, and dates poached in an orange sauce
Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks
Spinach, Mushroom, Bacon & Brie Pie
Feta, Bacon and Pea Frittata
Black and White Brownies
Blue Eye with Olive and Breadcrumb crust
Smoked Chicken, Sundried Tomato and Baby Spinach Risotto

I will absolve myself of these sins by blogging for the next 5 days straight, this I vow in the name of Margaret Fulton, Donna Hay, and Maggie Beer.