I quite like deadlines – they give me a target. Without them I find that, in my busy busy life, things that are important get put aside in favour of the things that are most noisily urgent. And seasons don’t scream urgent, but they don’t wait. They are a wonderful reminder that we humans can argue all we like but nature holds trump cards. We live on a little spinning…
Rocket is rich in a whole range of phytochemicals, including some that are protective against prostate, breast and ovarian cancers. It’s also rich in folic acid, vitamins A, B, C and K, and a range of minerals including calcium. But all that is largely irrelevant in the amounts you’d normally eat. I mean, who puts more than one or two leaves in a sandwich? Except if you make pesto.
You can eat a few young mustard leaves in salads and stir fries, but most of the harvest is in the seeds, and one mustard plant, one of those tiny little seeds, will grow over a metre tall, dominate most of a square metre of space, and yield enough mustard seed to keep us going all year.
We’re eating broccoli and snow peas at just about every meal now, and just about to start harvesting cauliflowers. We have silver beet and kale coming out our ears and as much cabbage of various kinds as we can eat. This is the time of year to appreciate all the brassica family. Not too much longer now and keeping the cabbage moths off them will be too much of an effort.…
I found this gem iron in an op shop. It took me several months and quite a few goes to learn how to use it, but now it is one of my favourite kitchen tools.
I’ve never got into the habit of cooking ahead. But this one, when I make it I make a decent sized batch and we eat it for a couple of lunches and dinners. It’s just as good cold as hot and good enough to still look forward to the third time.
In the southern hemisphere, we are about to turn the corner into Spring. We are about to pass the point on the bell curve when the rate of change in day length begins increasing exponentially. The season of short days is about to end!
Avos have lots of calories but they’re such good calories – full of vitamins A, B, C, E and K, omega-3, monounsaturated fats, potassium, magnesium, antioxidant phytonutrients, and importantly, an amino acid called glutathione that slows down aging. I make a face mask out of them this time of year, but really, they’re much more effective from the inside!
I’m loving my everyday sourdough these days. I make a small loaf every second day (since there’s only two of us to eat it on everyday days). It’s getting heavier and heavier as I get the knack!
On Mondays I travel an hour and a half to work, and I car pool which means I can’t be late. So Monday mornings are somewhat rushed (to put it mildly!) To make matters worse, it’s a full on day when I really don’t want to be fuzzy brained, and I often end up with a rushed and less than perfect lunch. I also work in a room full of…