Mt Torrens Olive Oil

I get our olive oil supply from our local monthly markets. The stall is womanned by Mrs Mt Torrens, she's on the stall every month and her local small owner business olive oil is GOOD. Really fruity and a bit grassy. Its nice. I tried the other guys at the other olive oil stall and it was dissapointing, cheaper by about three bucks for a 2 litre bottle, but no where near as good. So i get oil from her every month. A few months ago we got chatting and i asked her if she wanted me to return the glass flagons she sells the oil in, or to just put them in the recycling. She said returning them was great for her as she was really peeved with the glass recyclers here in South Australia for clear glass. She said THEY NOW SEND CLEAR GLASS TO HONOLULU for recycling! Now this sounded very odd to me, 'Its a new development' she said, but 'People want to see the oil, hence the clear glass' she said and you cant use plastic as oil pulls the plasticides out of the plastic. But HONOLULU sounds atrocious. Apparently flint glass like this, clear and pure is very difficult to generate from recycled glass as its very sensitive to any glass contaminant. In Australia, a lot of our recycling goes into one curbside bin; a commingling recycling strategy resulting in much broken glass, hence making the glass good for 'commingled' glass product: coloured glass. Apparently we no longer recycle clear glass here, as we just dont have the population or means to support such recycling of pure clear glass. So we get it made, import it and then we send it back! Madness. Now I have to rethink my olive oil strategy. i think i may have to ask her if she can bring a barrel of the stuff and i can refill on site.

Cheesed off

Since the weather turned and outside is no longer enticing, the bloke and I pack up the bean and go to market every Tuesday to do the weekly shop and have lunch together. For the last few weeks i have been taking along containers to bring home the cheese. Plastic itself doesnt bother me unless its leaching BPA into my system or its single use packaging. Im often compromised with plastic vs glass bottles as I have read that, as usual, 'it depends' on what you're purchasing as sometimes the glass bottle is shipped in from whoop whoop and the energy consumed making it nd getting it to you in glass is way greater than the energy used to get the plastic made, transport the plastic to you and then recycle the plastic. 'It depends'. Sigh

So today I front up to a new cheese shop, ask the woman behind the counter for some feta cheese and ask her please can I use my own container. Sure, its no problem she says and then proceeds to reach over and rip off a plastic bag from the roll beside the counter. I stand there quite dumbfounded, watching while she uses the bag as a glove to pluck some feta from its brine bath and to cup it on the scales. The feta is being tipped from the plastic bag into my cheese box when i finally speak up.

Dont people get it! I tell her that i may as well take the cheese in the bag NOW because my guess is the bags going to be tossed, right? Right. If i take it at least i can reuse it.

No tongs for cheese removal at that cheese stall! Apparently it may crumble the edge of the feta... gasp! hence the use of bags for picking up the cheeses and then for holding the cheeses. If i return to that stall Im gonna have to give a key note address before i hand over the box!

Veggie Trader Down Under

I want this. Now.
Isnt this a really cool idea? I can get quite romantic about the idea of trading fruit and vegetables. Something about it just really appeals to me. The earthy connection, the sense of community and belonging on the planet. The reference point to our fundamental need for fuel and appreciation for what this amazing world offers up to us. Do you ever look at something like a rasberry, maple syrup or a banana and imagine discovering it for the first time, this mind blowing blast of sweet offered up by plants? What a score. How incredible nature is! Ive always done this and had this kind of sensibility. Match that with an opportunity to bypass the indifferent, industrial system of food production and distribution and Im one happy camper.

If only our local communities were a little bigger then maybe this trader idea would be a more viable option. Im really loving the opportunity blogging has given me to meet people and trade food on a small scale this way. Id love to start something like this. Maybe after the PhD....

Seasonal cooking

We're all pretty aware that we 'should' be eating seasonally but if youre anything like me you're not getting seasonal chow at a loca vore restaurant every day. You're doing it at home, pretty much everyday, working out how to make another piece of pumpkin or those greens interesting. Seasonal consumption assumes purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables and nuts and therefore implicates doing something with the stuff. It also assumes you know what is seasonal; an art of discernment which i think is probably lost on everyone who doesnt grow their own food; most are pretty out of touch with what produce in the shops is actually in season. I think the farmers market phenomenon helps incredibly with seasonal eating- if its not in the market it aint being grown! but if you're stuck in the supermarkets...

Good food, interesting food and healthy food as well as using seasonal stuff is my general kitchen aim but when faced with a glut of a few staple foods it gets pretty tricky to do new and interesting things that are also easy. Not another baked veg!!So my challenge to myself this next week or two is to do a few new meals using seasonal vegetables -ones that home growers and farmers market goers will probably have too much of (or can easily get) and are in serious need of some new ideas on how to use them, and post them.

They will be vegetarian which means healthier due to lower fat content, higher in fibre and much much lower in energy expenditure as they will be based around a local seasonal veg. as the main ingredient. Aim: to use up your glut!

I have however been fantasising about a warming beef ragu served on homemade fettucine *sigh*, roast chicken stuffed with lemon and herbs (sheesh-possibly i will do something with a free range organic bird).

Stay tuned.

retrospective weekend

Its been manic, starting on Friday night. Got home avec mallard; breasts only, 'wild' (whatever that really means) from Wild and hit the ground running in the kitchen. I'd done two presentations at work that day which really drained me. Cooking really is my relaxation. My escape, my gourmand meditation. I'd found kale at the market that morning (my nero di toscana kale is ahead of the other, but its still only looking like that trick bunch of flowers the clown pulls from his bag) and knowing there was still a tonne of quince on the kitchen bench, not to mention the trees...it was duck breast with quince something-or-other, kale and potatoes to be roasted using the fat id rendered off and saved for this very notion from the last mallard breast Id rendered down. One of the things i really love about food blogging is how incredibly easy it is to cook seasonally. So many clever people with wonderful sites and recipes that make it so easy to use whats available. Just Google duck + quince.
Viola!
By half eight the kids were off doing their thing (having been already palmed off with home made ricotta ravioli) and we sat down to dinner under low light for a Friday feast of pan roasted duck with caramelised quince ( i really really recommend this way of handling the quince; sweet sour and slightly chewy with a piquancy all its own) sauted kale with garlic and oven roasted duck fat potatoes (there has to be a fancy name for this that disgusies the awful truth, surely?) We topped it off with a bottle of home made quince champagne which was a little cloudy due to the probably highly illegal alcohol content and hence an inability to freeze the yeast out during the second fermentation and corking(another post maybe?).

It was a beautiful night, very connecting, ending with satisfied bellies and very sore butts around midnight. We can get quite stuck at the dining table once we start, especially when we're planning our big adventure. But Id satisfied my craving for some happy meat, duck in particular and to use up some quinces. So that was Friday...

A huge success

Yesterday was the second Hills Garden and Environmental Expo, B2s schools annual major fundraiser. It was a great day but really tiring; it was the earliest bedtime i've had for a while. We finished icing and wrapping the organic chocolate cupcakes to sell at B2s class' sustainability stall where they showcased their schools new recycling programme and sold local organic produce provided by parents; home grown eggs, vegetables, cakes and the like. I was pretty pleased with these as they were pretty eco; brown paper pans, fully organic/biodynamic with organic green tea icing, cellulose wrapped on recycled cardboard boxes for trays. B2s Montessori sustainability group then joined other school sustainibility groups to each do a powerpoint presentation in competition for the Mike and Claire Bossley Prize for achievement in the 2008 Hills Sustainability School Project.

It was fantastic to see the all the schools projects, developed solely by the kids and implemented by the schools under guidance from the class groups and evaluated by the kids themselves. It was inspiring to see them all working as teams, having brainstormed ideas, consolidated and followed through on a practical sustainability project.The future is in good hands.


The speakers invited in for the day were crowd pleasing. Sophie Thomson from Gardening Australia spoke on sustainable gardening, Ian Dolman spoke about 'life beyond the door snake' and retrofitting your home for energy and water efficiency and Liddy Dolman spoke on 'a beginners guide to eco living' and how to start and my fave was Tim marshalls talk on 'Organic gardening, Organic Food Production, Food Supply and Food Security'. It was a whizz bang talk, full of politicing and was very well attended. The atmosphere was very carnival like ( minus the noisy side show alley and fairy floss), very chilled, jazz and strikers playing all day and lots of interesting stalls showcasing all things sustainable and environmental; water wise products and information, native plants and vegetables for sale, regeneration and renovation ideas for your home and garden, home food production displays, wind turbines, solar displays and wandering fauna rescue teams. there was heaps of positive living going on! Thousands of people came through the gates so it was a rewarding end to a years planning and hard work by the Montessori Expo Committee. You shoulda' been there!

The Hills Garden and Environmental Expo

Here's a shameless plug for all Adelaide dwellers. The Hills Garden and Environmental Expo is on again.

The Hills Garden and Environmental Expo aims to become the premier annual event for those interested in environmental, gardening and “green” activities, products and services in the wider Adelaide Hills district. The event will be held at the Uraidla Showgrounds, and will consist of stalls and exhibits from organisations and businesses involved in environmentally friendly activities, sustainability, natural resources, gardening, renewable energy and associated areas. It is a condition of the expo that stallholders and exhibitors meet these criteria.

In addition, the showcase stage will feature a program of highlights from local and national high profile identities talking, displaying or demonstrating techniques and topics relevant to the theme of the event. (see the Timetable of Events).

The Hills Montessori School is creating and managing the event. The school operates from a site in Aldgate (formerly owned by the Field Naturalist Society) and has a significant area of the property still as natural bush, which is actively managed to maintain its integrity.

The School has a commitment to educating students and the wider school community in the preservation of the environment and working as a community to encourage practices that will enhance and sustain our environment for the future.

The cultural curriculum across the School is heavily focussed on environmental issues and sustainable practices. The School’s commitment to this approach has been the driving principle behind the creation of this event. It also reflects the School’s willingness to “put something back” and engage more deeply with the community.

Hopefully some of you locals can come along. B2, the boybean and I will be in her class' 'Sustainability Stall' selling 'worm wee' made by her class from school yard food waste and some lurid but 'green' cupcakes, home grown produce and other treats. Last years Expo was a huge success and this years is shaping up to be bigger and better.

bulk buying

Tuesday is Central Market Day and since B1 has been schooling at home, she has been coming along too. Once a fortnight or so we make the 'trip into town' down the freeway and we get a bit excited; abundance is on its way. Being on leave has made it easier to be able to shop for items in bulk more regularly. Goodies and Grains is my favourite shop and its certainly an advertisement for buying like this. Looking at all the stuff they have in there is certainly inspiring; although lots most of it i would never use, like the fruit and veg washing gel!? sheesh. Im of the one surface cleaning product can do it all ilk. Been there with the baking soda but if i want to get simon or the girls in on the cleaning action, then its citrus spray all the way.

(Im being very brave in posting this pic of me. B1 took it. she's getting braver in her old age, wandering around taking random pics in public. She wouldnt have been caught dead doing anything 'attention drawing' 6 months ago, hmm, me neither).

So far, we buy in bulk the following, organic and australian produced where i can, yahdah yahdah...

:: flour - pasta
:: flour - bread
:: flour - bakers
:: flour - chick pea
:: sugar
:: pasta
:: lentils
:: beans
:: weet bix
:: oats
:: semolina
:: rice - jasmine
:: rice - brown
:: muesli
:: on-the-spot peanut butter
:: dates
:: eco dishwasher powder
:: eco hand dishwashing liquid
:: eco clothes washing powder
:: eco bodywash liquid
:: yeast/spices/tea/chocolate/oil/tamari/miso/tahini

The olive oil selection is very impressive, lots of locally grown and pressing varietals to choose from and some really high quality.


Discounts are given for bringing your own containers and bags and extra discount for spending over $50.00. Its great incentive. I take along plastic or thin cloth bags , empty bottles and empty tubs/jars and empty them when i get home. the kids actually love doing this, tipping the loaded bags in to the bins; its the whole abundance thing im sure. we wash/dust out the bags and store them in the granny trolley,ready for next time.

slowly i have increased what we purchase in bulk and having food grade bins and a good selection of really large jars in the pantry is certainly a great help, well having a pantry full stop really helps and its a luxury. The pantry is built utilising passive solar or biological design. Its walling is in the earth as the lower level of the house is built into the side of the valley. The window is actually just at foot height if youre out the front of the house. So, its really cold in there and makes for a great cellar for storing fruit and vegetables.

When we first introduced the bins the kids loved it, they felt like they had a shop at home and were quite competitive about who's turn it was to get the flour/pasta! it was the catalyst to get us making our own bread. I included that on B1's must do each week; to keep us in bread now that she is learning at home. She actually loves making it, she feel very competent and like she is contributing meaningfully. There's something very symbolic about bread making and i think she just feels it.

Its quite tragic being so locally minded. the most painful to resist are definitely le fromage. the french cheeses are displayed perfectly, itty bitty little things rolled in ash or herb, shaped like cones, small cylinders or just a fantastic big hunk in black cloth. If we lived in France then we could indulge...whenever...we fantasised how we could make this happen as we walked around.

I have discovered a fantastic stall 'Wild Oz' which sells 'green' meats (ewww) - crocodile, wild boar, wild goat, roo and duck.
The wild boar and goat taste fantastic and are growing a local economy by removing an incredibly destructive feral pest from the outback. I cant quite come at crocodile myself, its the whole aversion i have to scaly lizard type creatures...

weekend loca

we had a busy weekend. A trip to a local school Strawberry Fair , the local monthly market , lots of friends visiting, swimming at my mums and gardening gardening gardening. I love visiting local fairs and markets. Besides the wonderful sense of community they provide, its a great chance to buy local produce and financially support the local economy. The Strawberry Fair, surprisingly named as i didnt actually see many strawberry goods, provided some bargain shopping
and i scored a great stash of second hand tops for the boy for ten dollars and sampled my lovely Spanish friend Anas' mega paella.

The monthly stirling market always makes for a nice hour or two,

as we can wander there on foot, and it provided some pantry fodder; local olive oil, brined kalamata olives, dried local organic fruits, some (more) pottery bowls (im so addicted to these that the potter and i are now on a first name basis ), and a tres sweet woollen fairy to take as a Christmas gift for my tres sweet SIL in California. It also provided the opportunity for some random fellow blogger run-ins. It was wonderful to see a new kitchen garden stall selling punnets of a wide variety of heirloom vegetables as it called to my past dreams.
a friend and i had a late teenage entrpreneurial flop with a gardening business, with the outrageously pompous name of Hortensis . We planted up and maintained kitchen gardens with heirloom crops for paying customers. I just like to think we were ahead of our time.

Im still processing the visits from friends. One couple are a mixed culture marriage; she's newly arrived from China and he is Greek Australian. They have problems and she wasnt afraid to show it. It was very confronting and it threw me to witness such hostility, disrespect and raw anger. I know she will want to talk to me about what is going on in her relationship and i will have to think carefully about the best way to respond. Its such a full on situation involving internet dreams on both sides. Old friends of Simons brought wine and cheese on Satuday night. I love them dearly; they are inspiring, loving , funny, clever and a dedicated 'still in love after 25 years' couple. I found however i am still dealing with my 'married to your deceased friends husband' and 'living in her house' issues. I have moments of self consciousness and flashes of 'is this weird for you' and im thrown back into insecurities. I thought i had dealt with most of these feelings but obviously i still need to do some more reflection and acceptance. Its a strange gig being married to a widow sometimes. Its gotten much easier but we had some very interesting moments earlier on; Its been quite a journey for us both. My favourite was when simon kindly offered to show me the funeral video to help me with my issues. Big night that one! He still cant quite believe he offerred.