Autumn Glory

I just love this time of year in the garden. Vegetables thrive on not much attention at all and the trees do their Autumn thing, showing off shamelessly.
are you enjoying Autumn in your garden?

Spoiler alert!

I've been holding off on a post until I had some earth shattering insight, some major event, some mojo to motivate a glittering post. Naught. I find myself consumed, consumed by an unrecognisable Other, something I cannot put a name to. Its not depression, its not lethargy, melancholy or yearning. Its not anything I recognise other than my mind and body being in an uncertain space. Boundless, ripe and full of life but unknowable and slower than usual and foreign. I cant place it. Life swirls with me in it, fully present, yet detatched. Somehow I dont relate right now... and I have a beetroot and chocolate muffin recipe to share! with pics! Something definitely is rotten...

My mind is taking time off from conscious interpretation and I havent been able to face looking deep into myself that I find the task of writing forces. Im not sure why... possibly Im moving into a new place within? Maybe. Time will tell.
Running has taken over. Pacing, testing, sprinting, bursts of speed and sweat with music blaring in my ears. Good food is still a focus, complex flavours, sound provenance, high quality, shared and rewarding. But a new phase is shadowing and Im uncertain whats around the corner. All i can say is bring on the conference in Barcelona! I need a very large distraction.

gratin fever

Wow. its been a while. So long in fact that I had to think twice about how to log in. Despite the election being over and the Bloke missing out on a MLC seat (not unexpected) and the launch of Food Connect going well, life hasn't returned to the simple that I thought it would. We've had birthdays, office moves, Easter, LOTS of data management now that Food Connect has totally taken off, garden prep and a huge amount tidying up the months of neglect around the place (the downside to 2 acres..)and the winter veges in..

But I have been cooking. Forced to in some cases. The great benefit of working with Food Connect Adelaide has been the left over produce that occasionally comes your way! What to do with kilos of 'too ripe to send out' organic bananas? Banana bread! loaves and loaves. Ive been tossing this stuff around a bit too lately and the banana bread copped its fair share. Heaven in a small pot this stuff is. vanilla bean paste. Highly concentrated heaven.
This monstrosity got made for b2's birthday party the scary thing is I had the same cake when I was her age! appeased my conscience with some natural food colouring in the icing!

I have been busy with loads of fantastic meals made with our vege box contents. It really is a pleasure to get each week, knowing that its 100% organic, 100% local, and its all been picked in the last day or two and ..and..you dont have to scout around for it all. Its all there in a box! The freshness and quality really is something else.

Its been great to have boundaries around food choices too. Box contents determines what we have each week. It really forces the local and seasonal. I must admit to having discovered a very deep relatinship with the gratin , gratin anything! Now, I grow chard in the garden and I get it in the box. Wasting garden chard was never an issue in the past, i picked it when i wanted to use some on pizza or to make a spanokopita and just let the plants grow and go to seed, but i have never used it as a vegetable on its own. I thought i really hated the stuff - too metalic in taste. So when we started getting big bunches in the box i was forced to use it. Remembering my fantastic experience with the zucchinis', I gratinised ?? the chard and now I am fully addicted and a bit miffed that the stuff growing in the garden isnt producing enough!
Seriously, if you've never eaten it, try it, its heavenly. But, like all good things to eat around here for dinner, they get eaten before I take a pic which is why you have a hot cross bun as a leader pic for a gratin appreciation post!