in my inbox this morning

Good afternoon all. Please be aware that “Earth Hour” is happening again this Saturday night. In an effort to encourage involvement and assist with ensuring greatest affect it would be a good thing to turn off the lights before leaving on Friday night and also on Saturday if you happen to be in the building through the day. Please mention it to all in your respective areas, its’ a simple thing to do and it can have a huge collective impact for the better.

Mr X.
Facilities Manager
Contracted Company Y

*slaps forehead*

I hate Earth Hour.
My emailed response...Umm, why not do this EVERYDAY day?

Im alive

Im reading your posts, commenting in my head, laughing and nodding and rejoicing in the historic and civilised first step towards better health care in the US. Just in recovery mode. I HAVE made crackfudge...twice. I went to rescue a loaded electrical powerboard from a fountain of wee, and viola! burnt sugar!(or was that supposed to be i rescued a person and their fountain of wee from a loaded powerboard...?) but i was determined to make the bloody stuff after the cardaMOM adventure. Ive gardened, planted seeds, survived an election and business start-up etc and am now in recovery mode as I take stock of all that has been over the last month or so and prepare to head back to work after 2 and a half weeks 'holiday', a subjective term. See you soon.

PS. MAKE THE FUDGE. Use your fave fudge recipe (if you have one-i didnt, never made fudge before so ended up with a crystaline one due to low fat:high sugar ratio) if not use one with heaps of cream and fat as this one wasnt creamy enough by far. The combination of cardamon, salt and roast almond is well, moreish to say the least!

The Great Thing About the Health Care Law That Has Passed? It Will Save Republican Lives, Too (An Open Letter to Republicans from Michael Moore) | MichaelMoore.com

The Great Thing About the Health Care Law That Has Passed? It Will Save Republican Lives, Too (An Open Letter to Republicans from Michael Moore) | MichaelMoore.com

hops

Its scent is so subtle and delicately floral. Quite beautiful. Did you know it lookes like this. The hops vine grows on our garage trellis just behind the wood oven and recieved a small pruining when the Gnomes dropped by. We're not using the hops for brewing (maybe someday) but the Gnomes will give it a shot.


Such a pretty flower, like a fat grub, with the yellow pollen sitting at the base of the petals of the cone like structure.


Im hoping for a free sample of the brewed kind...

mad to the bone

So here's what i have been up to! Its what made me an absent blogger. I have my own facebook and blog and job and life and 3 kids and a garden and stuff to do. Chuck about 8 hours worth of meetings a week, data integrity and management for a 'start up', managing subscriptions, generating interest enough for near on 600 facebookers and a website with posts to write and pics to take, edit and down and upload, email outs for each weeks new subscribers to manage and send and merge and you can see possibly why I'm not blogging much. AND Im on holidays!(waves at Simon the enterprise co-ord from Food Connect who reads this blog- well used to read it when I actually wrote anything- who started FC here and doesnt hear me whinge - i kindly save that for you online folks).

Food Connect Adelaide launched this week and after nearly 6 months of involvement it all came to fruition this week. We started deliveries. 70 this week, 30 more next week and 50 the week after and from there, who-ever joins up. The success of Adelaides first real CSA style organic food network has been unpredictable- its so totally taken off, blown us all away and is 100% excitement. For this here ethicurean its been 100% rewarding being so involved in this fantastic organisation. Its all my principles and beliefs in action and its so truly connecting. im loving it and especially loving being admin for our facebook community; these guys really get involved! So this week, I did the full caboodle. I went down to the warehouse to help pack the fruit and veges, I then loaded up my car with 100% pure organic and local (any idea how bloody incredible and difficult that is) produce (except the organic QLD bananas)and drove home to unload ready for my 11 subscribers to turn up and collect their produce boxes. A thoroughly rewarding day and some amazing produce. Best bit, when a very active facebooker; a switched on ex orchardist grandma turned up with her excited grandkids to experience ' a new way of shopping' who all proceeded to unpack her box in my driveway into take home bags. Community in action. I really LOVE it. I just wish I was going to be here every wednesday for subscriber pick up!

Tomorrow, the state election! Will I have a Bloke or not?

ps. In the midst of all this, I managed to kill the mother.

balsamic gift

Gifts such as this one are priceless. 30 year old balsamic vinegar, aged in French Oak. 6 litres of the stuff. Did I want some??? YESSSS!!! ...(please, thank you that would be lovely) It's almost a wet your pants kinda score really. Well, thats probably a bit a sad, or just gross, but for a foodie who loves food with provenance (Ive now used that word twice this week!!) eek! well I just about died and went to heaven. That's me done for Friday.
No haiku waiting.
My brain has left my body.
Going on a date.
:-)

extra special sourdough pancakes

I love sourdough anything and these pancakes were no exception. Slightly tangy and ohh so light and full of nutty goodness and like all good pancakes, they have story. The sourdough starter I used has a lovely history.

Its come all the way from a bakery in Anchorage, Alaska, shipped over dried from a friend to a friend, who then travelled from Tassie to Melbourne with it in a little bottle to handover at our girly weekend. It's over 100 years old. Hows that for a pancake with provenance? The starter has been fed and divided and this mix uses the starter excess that would normally be tossed away.

As always, I didnt really measure anything, just dumped some local organic flour in with about a cup of starter, some milk, an egg and a sprinkle of sugar and mixed until it seemed like good pancake batter consistency. I ignored the weevil that fell on the counter top, telling myself a) it was the only one and b) if it wasnt..i eat worse things like a big chunk of dead cow and dead chicken and stuff like that.

I decided that a pancake with such lineage and extra protein needed a special light something to go with it so I cooked up some handy freezer stored organic, 'handplucked by moi' blackberries and redcurrants in a pan with a little sugar to make a 'Chez Pan coulis' (I just made that up for sure!)
Verdict: EXTRA good.

Haiku Friday

Murrundi ruwe.
Coroboree of spirits.
Sweet water dancing.

viola!

Oh, its dull around here in the brain at Chez Pan. Im busy n all but its all work and no play. Im having fun but its a bit like boot camp; painfully bearable. I need rewards to lure me through the hazy days and endless nights of internet and computer work that my life seems to have become (I spent hours yesterday wrestling with the finer machinations of higher end, snobby blogger css coding just trying to sort out something as simple as a failed favicon plugin ) I know, plenty better ways to spend a few precious hours but Im like a dog with a bone.

Speaking of dogs n bones n rewards, I think I managed to sniff out the only bottle of cardaMOM essence in modern existence! It's a little out of date; looking a little like circa 1962, but meh, as the old Indian dude who owned the store said , "is ok...out of date but still berry good, I still use it in the restaurant. shhh". Ive been meaning to make Belgian Waffles' crackfudge for weeks. Something about the combination of cardamon, sea salt and roast almonds...makes me get a bit wobbly. Need to cook but Im in a weird post modern funk (an alternative to busy). Im thinking seriously about whipping up a bunch of arse biscuits to take to work and and maybe some aubergine whatthefuck.

a tribute to an amazing woman

COLIN SMITH\The Nelson Mail IN MEMORY: Emily Sanson-Rejouis second from right, carrying her daughter Alyahna 2, follows one of the coffins out of Nelson's Christ Church Cathedral after today's service.


Hundred of mourners and wellwishers packed Nelson Cathedral this afternoon for the memorial service for Haiti earthquake victims Emmanuel Rejouis and his daughters Kofie-Jade 5, and three year-old Zenzie Sanson-Rejouis.

A procession of pallbearers, including close family members, carried in three white coffins for the start of the three-hour service marked by a litany of tributes from people from around the world who travelled to Nelson for the service.

Nelson-born Emily Sanson-Rejouis was unharmed in the quake which claimed her husband and two daughters, while youngest daughter, Alyahna, 2, was pulled from the hotel, where they had been living, with a broken leg.

Kofie-Jade's body arrived just an hour before today's service.

Mrs Sanson-Rejouis' sister Rachel Sanson said services were held simultaneously in cities around the world today, by friends and family members unable to be in Nelson.

She acknowledged the immense efforts of government agencies, and Emily's United Nations colleagues, who had ensured Kofie-Jade's body had arrived in time for today's service.

The five year-old's body was found in the rubble just days ago.

Dean of Nelson's Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Reverend Charles Tyrrell, said it was at first unimaginable that the shockwaves from the earthquake would be felt here in Nelson.

He said the Bishop of Haiti placed the scale of the tragedy in context when he said "not a soul had been untouched". Entire families had disappeared in the January 12 earthquake, and the wreckage was "beyond imagination".

Mr Rejouis' sister Guerdy Rejouis-Abraira read a tribute on behalf of their sibling Rose Rejouis, who was staging a simultaneous ceremony in New York. She described their grief as unbearable.

Another sibling Sheila Rejouis said in her tribute at the Cathedral today their parents were inconsolable, but no matter how difficult times were ahead, Emily and Alyahna would ensure the bond between the families would never be broken.

Mrs Sanson-Rejouis' father Roger Sanson described what happened as a "random act of nature", which could have happened anywhere. The loss of a beautiful family was a tragedy that can't be described, but has to be endured in great pain.

"It could have happened in Wellington or in Nelson, but it was Haiti and you were all there. How you managed to do what you did on that night and the next day, most will never know," Mr Sanson said in describing how his daughter had worked with her bare hands and had then persuaded a group of young men to help free her daughter and two other people.

"You saved three lives, and one of those lives was Alyahna.

"Emily, I know you will wrestle for a long time with these events, but you assured Alyahna survived healthy and whole.

"We each live on a precipice of uncertainty and the unexpected. I am amazed by your efforts to reach back to support friends and colleagues who have also suffered significant losses,'' Mr Sanson said.

The bodies of the three family members are to be buried at a private service tomorrow.