to market, to market...

It was time for attempt number two at the Lytellton farmers market. Thankfully this time the sun was shining, and we remembered our re-usable shopping bags. The last attempt was not so successful.
The market was awesome, the first thing that struck me was that everyone had a big grin plastered on their face. Everyone seemed so happy to be alive, even the dogs tied to the fence in the "dog parking area".
We got a good spread of stuff - organic eggs, apples, pesto, sourdough bread and a few other bits and pieces, and made a stop at Piko Wholefoods on the way back to stock up on dried beans/quinoa/chickpeas.


Here is a snap of some of the irresistible food on offer at the market. Actually I did manage to resist these, in favour of a moroccan vege pastry from the same stall. YUM!




View from the wee street above the market:

Money and Meatballs

Today my guilt at not working full time has driven me to start listing things on Trademe. I used to do this quite often but haven't for a while (must've sold all my stuff!) but today I finished work early because there wasn't much for me to do, and here I am sitting at home feeling guilty about not earning money. I'm usually quite successful with my trademe listings, so hopefully this won't be a fruitless exercise.

The flatmate made meatballs for tea last night, and I actually ate and enjoyed them. I say this with surprise because I've been trialling an "almost vegetarian" life for the past 6 months or so, and am pretty much (well I thought so anyway) at the stage where I really don't want to eat meat, as in it makes me feel a bit sick to think of it. The meatballs smelled so good, and I figured I could use the iron so down they went. Its amazing how filling red meat is - I'd forgotten. Sure I've been get enough protein from legumes/pulses/nuts/eggs/dairy but I think there must be something extra filling about meat protein! Having said that I still lean towards the mostly vege side of the fence.

Yes I do realise

..that my posts have been a bit few-and-far-between lately. I've been a bit busier than usual, and haven't been doing much worth blogging about, also I'm still figuring out the genre/focus of this blog, so not really sure how much to write about certain subjects, and how personal to get.

I caught up with an old school friend for brunch today. It was fantastic seeing her, and the baked beans and eggs on toast were also fantastic. This old friend of mine is a particular favorite of mine. A farm girl, she is totally a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kinda gal, no false pretenses or bitchiness. Can be hard to come across gem's like this so I'm glad we're still in contact.

The press ups are going quite well, definitely stronger than when I began although its slow going. Phil is getting better faster than me.

I've recently decided to start gathering up/finding/buying all the old books I loved as a kid, so I can pass them on to my children when I have them. Y'know, Trixie Belden, Jill's Pony Club, Anne of Green Gables, Famous Five, pretty much anything by Enid Blyton, What Katy Did....and the list goes on. Some of them, particularly old Enid Blyton books are reasonably expensive these days so I'm glad I'm getting in early.

Tofu Success!

Previous attempts with tofu have been pretty bad, but this time I got it right! I think the key is to marinade the tofu first. Phil even said he thought it was chicken!

I mixed up some dark soy sauce, grated ginger, crushed garlic, honey, sesame seeds and a bit of hot water, and marinated the tofu (cut in chunks) for about an hour.

I heated up some sesame oil, stir fried a whole lot of veges and added the tofu/marinade about half way through cooking. When it was nearly done I added some pak choi and some more grated ginger.

Served on quinoa for extra nutritional benefits!

Stewed Tamarillo's

...and my 100th post!
I LOVE tamarillos, but they've been expensive this year, so when I saw a cheap bagful of seconds at the market I snapped it up.

First I cut the tops off, then poured boiling water over them and left for a few minutes. This made the skins easier to peel off. Once peeled, I put them in a pot with a little water and about 1/2 cup of sugar (for about 1.5kgs of fruit) and boiled with a lid on for about 20 minutes.

We had them with a little sweetened ricotta for dessert last night (see picture).

Romeo and Juliet

To indulge our cultural side, the hubby and I agreed a few years ago to see a ballet once a year. Last night we went to see 'Romeo and Juliet' performed by the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. It was a somewhat modern take on the classic tale, but the story is so timeless it fits well with any setting. The dancing was amazing as usual, they had bought over two former dancers from the RNZB who now live in London to play the leads. It always amazes me how dancers can tell a story without words, and make it so easily understood. It also reminded me of how much I loved Baz Lurhman's movie of the story. I plan to hire it on DVD very shortly!

"Nourishing Traditions" Muffins

Remember the soaked pancakes I made a while back? These muffins use a really similar batter. They turned out pretty good for a first attempt I thought, a light fluffy texture. They aren't very sweet, but I guess what would you expect from a recipe with no sugar in it.

Heres how I made them (from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook):

- Soaked 3 cups wholewheat flour in 2 cups of kefir for 24 hours

Then added : - 2 organic eggs
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- about 1/4 cup melted butter
- about 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- a few shakes of cinnamon and a handful of sultanas

Mixed it all up, put in muffin pans and cooked at about 160 for 30minutes.

Blatent advertising...

This ones for the girls! If you like weddings and design/decor, check out my friend Julia's new blog. Its real cute, and keep an eye out for a post she may be doing on my wedding sometime in the future - exciting!!
Paper Ballerina's is where you can find it.

Challenge Me!

fWe have taken up the challenge from The Jones' to complete one hundred push ups after a 6 week training programme. For the initial test I managed 16 "good form" push ups, and apparently if I follow the programme I'll be able to do 100 at the end of 6 weeks. Hard to believe but I'll give it a go. Anyone else keen?

Little Lemon Yo-yo's

I made these for Andrea's) fashion swap party tomorrow. I was racking my brain for something lemon-y to make the most of the fruits of our prolific lemon tree, and the course I was on today had giant y0-yo cookies for afternoon tea. Inspired by these I made a much smaller version.

Its a basic biscuit (thats cookie for you Americans reading!) recipe with lemon zest added, and the filling is almost like a butter cream icing but I ran out of icing sugar so added some custard powder, along with some lemon juice. Phil has pronounced them most delicious however I'm not too sure about the filling. Its a bit custard-y tasting.


Here they are in their tupperware container all ready to take along tomorrow.

Let it snow...

Our backyard this morning: Phil and GG (gorgeous god-daughter) made this while I was at course. Brilliant construction I thought.

Brain dead

All I want to do is watch mindless TV all evening. I've been on a course for work all day and my brain is weary from the exertion. The worst part of it is that the course is all day tomorrow as well - Saturday! I feel robbed of half my weekend.

This photo I took this time last week when Phil and I went out for dinner. We went to The Sign of the Takahe, which is like an old stone castle. Very picturesque to eat dinner in, with a roaring open fire and lots of candles, but the food was pretty average for the price we paid. I would've liked to take a lot more pictures of the room but my camera ran out of batteries just after I took this one.

Thats condensation/rain running down the inside of the window by the way. How very authentic!

Samosa styles..

I made these for dinner last night, and I made far too many so we're having them again tonight!

The recipe is loosely based on one of Mollie Katzen's, from the Moosewood cookbook.

The pastry is really easy, just 1 cup of kefir (the recipe says buttermilk, but kefir worked fine. Runny plain yoghurt would probably work fine too)mixed up with 2.5-3ish cups of flour, and some salt. I used mostly wholewheat flour with a little white. You just mix it all up and knead for a few minutes then roll out into circles ready to put the filling in.

For the filling I sauteed some finely chopped onion, garlic, broccoli and cauliflower in olive oil with some spices, then added mashed potato. Easy!

Once I'd assembled them, I brushed on some olive oil, and cooked at about 210c for 15minutes, then turned the heat down to 180 and cooked a further 10-15min.

The dipping sauce was made by putting 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 3Tbsp raw sugar and some garlic into a saucepan and boiling for about 15min.

I got tagged.

Jess from modelbehav.com has tagged me with the blog version of a chain letter..seeing as its my first one, I'll complete it but the chain will probably be broken here, as I don't have too many people I can link too!

Here goes:

Alright here are the rules:

1. Link back to the person that tagged you.
   
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
   
5. leave a comment for each tagged blogger, to let them know they have been tagged.

The Six Unspectacular Quirks of Jenn.

1) The volume on the TV has to be exactly right for me. How loud can depend on what I'm watching or what time of day it is, but I tend to spend a while playing with the up and down buttons until it sounds exactly right.

2) I used to play underwater hockey. Thats a quirk because pretty much no-one knows what it is.

3) I enjoy going to movies by myself (thats really embarrassing to admit!)

4) The front of my face is held in place with metal plates and screws. Look in my archives under Feb 2008 if you don't believe me.

5) I have read the Jamie and Claire books by Diana Gabaldon about 4 times. They're loooong, and there's 6 in the series.

6) Despite what you may think from reading most of the above I'm actually an extrovert. most of the time.

And I tag you guys!

Christina http://distantduck.blogspot.com
Toby http://kefisjuggernaut.blogspot.com
Sophie http://sophiesurseine.blogspot.com
Eve http://gardenofeatingblog.blogspot.com/

The Winning Roast Pumpkin Soup

My friend Toby and I are having a fierce pumpkin soup making competition. Of course I will be the winner!

Here is my creation:

- Drizzle olive oil, salt and ground pepper over pumpkin and other accompanying veges of choice (I also had some kumera, onion and a couple of potatoes) and roast in a low-moderate oven for several hours until all soft and goo-ey.

- Cut the skins off the pumpkin and throw it all into a big pot with enough stock (I used chicken stock) to cover it all and simmer for an hour or so. I also added some sage and rosemary at this point.

- Let it cool and blend until smooth, return to pot and re-heat.

- Before serving stir in a dash of cream and re-season if neccessary. Garnish with green stuff and pinenuts!

Enjoy!

anyone got an ark??

This is the river about half a kilometre from our house, and its still raining! Scary huh? We live too far away to be in any danger though thank goodness. Going out to a fancy pants restaurant for dinner tonight - a spur of the moment decision. Can't wait!

Outfit post (specially inspired by Andrea), just as I am running out the door. Another dress which I don't wear as often as I'd like to!

A little distraction..

No real post today sorry folks, I haven't done anything worth blogging about. So I will leave you with this gorgeous picture I poached from asocialiteslife. Despite beck's celeb status I think elmo is definitely the star of this picture!

Nourishing Traditions

This is a book I'm currently reading and trying recipes from (see the pancakes a few posts back). Its pretty radical and different from what is usually taught about nutrition and I'm still forming my opinions about it.
It promotes the use of saturated and animal fats and using full fat dairy products and not the skim versions. It seems to have lots of research evidence to back this up. This is something which is pretty hard to get my head around as generally we are taught to use unsaturated and low cholesterol fats. I'm not entirely sure if I agree with Sally Fallon on this one, although I need to read the book in a little more detail.

She's also pretty big on the concept of soaking your grains before using them. I already do this with my oats (ie soak overnight before cooking) but don't do this for baking etc. The theory behind this seems to be that it makes the grains more readily digestible and therefore we are able to derive more nutrition from them

The concepts in the book I definitely do agree with are the use of whole grains and natural sweeteners instead of refined grains and sugars, trying to avoid excess chemicals and preservatives by cooking from scratch, and the importance of lots of fruits and veges.

Has anyone else read/heard of this book? what did you think?

Cake fail

So its kind of ironic don't you think that immediately after writing a post about nutrition I go and write a post about a big fat cake! To be fair it is a pretty healthy cake, and the flour,eggs and carrots I used were all organic :)
I was supposed to be going out tonight with Phil tonight but I felt the need to indulge my inner introvert, so ended up staying home and baking.

Usually my silicon cake tin works fine without being greased, and although I sometimes do, tonight I didn't cos I figured the cake had oil in it and was fairly moist so shouldn't stick. How wrong was I! (half the cake stuck to the pan). You can see it steaming in the photo, so on second thoughts I probably tried to take it out of the tin too soon.




On the upside, Phil enjoyed eating all the bits that were stuck to the bottom, and the cake tasted good with some yoghurt drizzled over:

Feeding the animals

As most of you will know, or will of figured out from the content of this blog, I am interested in food and nutrition. This year I have been doing some pretty detailed thinking about nutrition, where our food comes from and what we should be eating for optimum health. Kind of like - if we were animals in a zoo, what would the zoo keeper be feeding us to keep us all from dying. Because actually a lot of thought and research goes into what to feed animals in the zoo, yet a lot of us don't really think much about what goes into our bodies except for if it tastes good or not.

My thoughts, and bits and pieces of research are leading me down the path of exploring more wholefoods, cooking from scratch and trying to organic and locally sourced foods where possible. I'm not very good at it, and I'm taking small steps, but I certainly think a lot more when doing the grocery shopping, and our diet at home is definitely taking a more wholesome turn. My kitchen cupboards have a lot less processed junk, and a lot more raw ingredients these days. I plan on blogging a bit about these kinds of topics in the future.

I think a lot of people in New Zealand are beginning to think more this way also. With the cost of groceries rising fast it tends to force you to think carefully on what you're spending your money on. Often the most nutritious staples are the cheapest, like dried beans and pulses.

Thought/opinions? do you want to read my ramblings along these lines? My google analytics thingee tells me that people are actually reading this blog, so what do you guys wanna read about??