the ethicurean winners are...

Gee, try stopping at just three...I ended up deciding to pick a winner from each State and Territory that entered.  No one entered from my home state which really surprised me! ???
Well, first I should say that all names were randomly drawn by my daughter in a very sophisticated system of write 'em down, turn 'em over and and pick one from each group.
So who got lucky?

Well, Sarah from the ACT did- she was the only entrant and so the winner there- see you gotta be in it to win it- you just never know!
Bee from Victoria
Hannah from Brisbane
Darren from NSW
Catroina from Tassie
Ruth from WA

Email me your postal addies and I will send out tomorrow your requested set. I hope you all enjoy them.
Thanks to everyone for entering! It's been nice to 'meet' some new people and see some old faces.And thank you for letting me know why you were interested in a produce bag, it helps me understand what people are looking for, and why.
P.S. If you have changed your mind on a selected set- let me know in the email what you would like.

'the ethicurean' produce bag giveaway

So, my business is finally up and running and I wanna give some bags away. They are so excellent. Really. Truly. What to do? I think a few winners would be good, from around Oz, don't you? Spread the word around about the dudliness of plastic. It's inability to break down in a zillion years. Its lack of sustainability. It's lack of  tactility; the feel good factor that we all 'know' but find hard to articulate. Once you use these cotton bags you will fall in love! And realise how many of those 'rip n chuck' plastic fruit and veg bags you used to use or how juggling all those pieces without any bag really was a bit cumbersome.
So, rules are. You have to tell me what State of Oz you live in and why you want some bags. Simple really. Oh and tell me what you want. Some of  these, or these ?? Or maybe you would like one of these or these? They also make excellent gifts for the person that has everything!  So c'mon!  Even if you have never visited or commented on 'taurus rising' before, its OK. Gotta be in it to win it.Winners announced Monday.
Friend the ethicurean on facebook.

new spring salad

In contrast to yesterdays stodgy (but very delicious)  food post, here's something a little fresher. An early spring, late winter salad. I couldn't resist taking a picture as it was just too beautiful. I didn't really design this salad, it was just what I had in the fridge and the garden, so it really constructed itself. Its a kale, swiss chard and baby beet leaf salad with pomegranate, orange segments and chive, served with a light balsamic, orange and garlic glaze and garnished with violets. A trick i learnt from Kale for Sale: hand rub the raw kale with salt to bruise the leaves, it tenderises the kale , making it sweeter and softer to consume it raw. It really works.

silky soft

Not quite the title you'd expect for a cabbage and sausage stew post, right? I have a wee small addiction to this right now. Its the perfect seasonal meal. Cabbage, fennel and some kale if you like it, all cooked down to a silky smooth, sweet redux . Perfect, delicious comfort food. We're still needing it here in the cold 'NO, IT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE SPRING YET'! Adelaide Hills. So good that I ate the leftovers for breakfast and lunch. I'm not sure exactly what makes this dish so good. The thick sweet and salty stock? The smooth hit of cabbage and pancetta or the just perfect fennel and pork and chilli combo? Dunno- but it's certainly on my repertoire radar right now. Lucky we have a local that stocks chilli, fennel and pork biodynamic snags! My homemade chicken stock is working a treat here. I'm  making at least one big batch a week to cope with all the excess bits.

Verzada ( Italian cabbage and sausage stew)
Serves 4
1/2 cabbage - roughly chopped
2 onions - sliced
1 fennel bulb - sliced
5 Italian pork, fennel and chilli sausages - sliced diagonally
pancetta - roughly chopped ( I used 5 slices)

1/2 cup white wine

2 cups chicken stock

salt n pepper
olive oil for frying
good quality red wine vinegar

greens if you like- roughly chopped
small pasta if desired ( I used  acini di pepe 'peppercorns')

Add onion, sausage, pancetta and fennel to heated oil and cook until onions and fennel turn and meat is slightly caramelised. Add cabbage and stir until coated with oil. Add wine. Stir through to remove bits from bottom of pan. Add stock and some water if you like a more soupy style. Cook until cabbage is translucent and liquid has reduced a little, around 40 minutes. Add pasta and greens now if using. Season. Continue on low /med heat until pasta is cooked. Serve hot with a good splash of vinegar on top. Crusty bread to mop. A chilled white to cut ( i omitted this at breakfast , and lunch...)

Try and resist just one serving. If I ever need one, this may be my requested last meal.

Haiku Friday

this is my bus stop
had to drive to work today
bleugh. no face [or] books!

I cant believe its not ... scrambled egg

This is my favourite scramble, the boy beans' too. If you have a non egg-loving small person ( or big person) this really quick, vegan delight may be something for you.

Tofu scramble
1 block firm organic tofu, mashed with fork.
3 spring onions, sliced
ketchap manis (or soy sauce and some sugar if you have no ketchap manis) to taste
pinch of tumeric

Saute spring onion until lightly golden, add mashed tofu and sauce. Stir until warmed through. Serve with toast. Serves 2-3. 5 min preparation.
What more could you ask? well , some fresh local tofu perhaps?  It's dead simple but a stunner.

mellow yellow

its finally been bottled. Quite a bit of limoncello and a few bottles of creama di limoncello to extract all that vodka-ry goodness from those peels.  Glad we used so many lemons when we had the chance as the heavy rain over the last two weeks has spoiled almost half the crop still left on the tree. Damn shame. But still, couple a good nights here...not very mumsy is it making the grappa? not quite the lovely cardi, the socks or the handy-bits. Just hard core deliciousness. Pass the  beetroot chips would ya?

the boys

had a lovely time at the Royal Ag Show. The small one tickled the piglets and swapped snots, half strangled small, new fluffy avarian creatures  and watched enthralled as enormous cows tumbled out seemingly unending, huge grassy poos, like really, really very totally enthralled. He watched enraptured as huge sows puckered and did the same and cheered them on. We all watched him being supportive and enraptured. Figuring its his new capacity to go to the loo thats bringing out the interest.  He did however also enjoy heaving his small gumbooted self into huge, murky puddles and tramping through acres of spent straw. He ohhed and ahhed as we left at nightfall and the rides lit up. We had a grand, if not rather poo focussed, day.

What a wonderful world

Couldn't have stomached this rabid right wing conservative bloke as our PM. Go Julia, our first female PM. Will her boyfriend move into The Lodge? I hope so. That will give all the wowsers something to choke on.

mooching

Blogging is a really great record of time. I have really missed it over the last 6 months or so but really have not had the energy or the mental space to give any more. I've posted 63 times this year, compared with nearly 400 the year before. This avid daily blogger got blogger burnout! Juggling the pressures of work, the death throes of a PhD and a very dead beat Prof, two Directorships to manage and new businesses to grow and a family to try and spend some time with and negotiate all that two teenagers and a two year old can throw my way...well,  I've been reading blogs but not commenting or able to take any mind space and write on my own. Toss in a big home and garden and travel for work and my time has felt rather thin. I cant even take photos anymore! Thats what I realised tonight when I browsed through my blog and my Flickr account- that I'm so glad I took the time when I had it to journal in both words and pics, the daily passing of our lives. Its been lovely looking and reading over the minutiae of life over the last few years. How very glad I am that I started blogging. Maybe Im feeling the return of some emotional space and strength to start again, life has just been so so full. I'm ready to stop and smell some roses. I want creative time back in my life, hence an attempt to start with some freshness of Spring with a with a new look blog. Anyone remember these? Peanut choc and almond cupcakes with green tea icing. I found them in my archives. They were good. very very good. I've decided to remake them tomorrow (sans silver pans). The kids will love me for it. Here's the recipe if you're up for it.

Haiku Friday

pop! pop! pop! pop! pop!
my heart balloon is bursting.
can't grasp this much love

crema di limoncello

Ever wondered what to do with all the lemon zest from making limoncello? I sure as heck have. All that lovely lemony-ness imbued with vodka- what a waste to toss it! I have had all my leftover zest from making this stuff  for the past years, having blitzed it into a crumb like consistency, stored in my freezer for this very day of enlightment. It has come. Crema di limoncello. Hallelujah.