Boat People - An Australian Experiment

My all time, biggest, most read post is,

Boat People

In recent weeks, SBS television has aired their series called,

"Go Back To Where You Came From"

and you can read more or watch the episodes here

The show takes six ordinary Australians and documents their journey as they trek in reverse the journey of a refugee coming to Australia.

They have no phones, passports or money and they start in an Australian refugee camp.

They see life as it is for a refugee waiting for status.

They are later placed on a leaking, rudimentary small boat to make a crossing over the seas.

They are placed in refugee camps in Kenya and Jordan.

Here they are obvious aliens and have to line up for a daily food ration like the other refugees and are subjected to stares of suspicion and confrontation.

The journey is challenging and frightening and an eye opener even for those of us safely watching from home.

The participants make a very moving visit to the family members of refugees already in Australia and exchange messages of hope and love. 

We forget....these people do not have mobiles, they can't simply ring sisters or brothers and communicate. Their days are spent wondering and not knowing. Not knowing if someone is safe, alive or dead. They simply must wait and hope.

This is a very definite turning point for the participants. Hearing the stories of torture and rape they are brought face to face with the reality of why refugees flee their country.

From our safety in Australia, it is hard to comprehend that a people, let alone their government would do harm to their own.

They are starting to understand the desperation that drives someone to send their children on alone in a leaky boat in the hope that they may reach safety.

The participants travel further still going to Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo from where people flee. They see first hand the physical disfigurements of war and the child victims.

This program is heart wrenching and emotional. It is must see viewing and it is a turning point.

I'm not saying that acceptance and understanding is going to be the automatic solution, but what this series does do is level the perspectives, bare some truths and enable people to finally have a meaningful discussion about the wider problem that is;

"people fleeing from their own countries"

If you watched this program, I would really like to know if it changed your perspectives. Did you learn something? Has it dispelled some of the popular myths that the media like to portray?

For me it re-humanised the debate.

4 Corners also had an excellent story this week. They re-visited the survivors from Pol Pot's regime and who have since settled in Australia. I remember that time but a lot of the horror had faded from memory. It was good to see these people again 20years on and they really taught me some valuable lessons.

Almond and Lemon/Lime Ricotta Cake

I found this recipe at Taste and as I only had one lemon I used two Tahitian Limes that a patient gave me on Friday.

So...thus Lemon/Lime.

Can I please indulge in a Nigella moment of flirty food bliss...

I keep a vanilla pod in my caster sugar jar and every time I decant a cup into a mixture I am in vanilla scented heaven, but more....

even more sublime was the fragrance from zesting the Tahitian Limes into the mixture,

so exotic and heady,

very un-wintery.

At this point after mixing the ricotta, egg, sugar,melted butter and juice and zest in the food processor, I have a velvety pale lemon, creamy mass of citrus flummery.

Enough!

Flour and almond meal is folded in and it is cooked in a springform pan in just 30 short minutes.

I don't know for sure but I bet you could freeze this.

On the scales of good and evil, this is relatively low in fat (90g of melted butter and whatever is in the ricotta) as far as cakes go and moderate in sugar content.

\

Only three more kilos of ricotta to go!

The Fluoride Debate

Image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Last week via Facebook a friend of mine has been campaigning to stop fluoride being added to the water supply. This is a practice that has been employed for more than 40 years by government bodies in most water supplies in Australia. The purpose is to provide a digestible supplement that reduces the risk of tooth decay for the population as a whole.

My friend and I have had a short debate. I support fluoridation from the view point of one who remembers a nation of poor teeth even in those very young. It was extremely common to see people from their 30s and 40s with dentures. Of course dental techniques have come a long way and we are able to save many more teeth than were able once before.

My friend is a young mother and her children are quite young and growing and developing and naturally she is concerned about what they may be ingesting. She has read evidence that suggests fluoride is responsible for all sorts of disease in society like; asthma, cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

There are many articles and scientific studies that prove the evidence for BOTH sides of the argument.

Governments spend considerable money fluoridating water. 

We look to them and trust them to be doing the right thing for the community.

It begs the question; "would our government knowingly poison it's people?"

Make no mistake, we should not blindly accept what governments do, they are our elected facilitators and we should always be questioning.

BUT

How do we decipher the conflicting information?

Which scientific study do we believe?

I DO believe chemicals can be harmful and in our home, our environment and our food chain, Craig and I have absolutely limited them. I wholeheartedly support a persons right to live without them.

Having said that, obesity still remains the number 1 cause of disease in this country whether directly or indirectly. As a nation our sugar/fructose intake is tenfold what it was 100 years ago. There is not much point fighting to exclude a marginal chemical but continuing to feed processed foods to our children. From their cereal in the morning to the tomato sauce on their packet pasta they are being bombarded with chemical and sugar. We now have a generation who cannot even drink alcohol unless it has a tonne of sugar added like a soft drink.

So how do we way up the chemical damage?

Is it like sins? Big sins and little sins?

Legal drugs and Illegal drugs? Both surely do damage.

Should we as a society err on the side of caution, eliminate fluoride? It's like immunisation, do we have the right to say it is compulsory? Because that is in effect what we do by fluoridation of water.

What are your thoughts? 

How do we get the information for informed decisions in the face of such conflicting information? 

What about those of you in other countries, is your water fluoridated? 

How do you feel about it?

Ricotta Week!

Gnocchi alla ricotta e pomodoro

I have acquired 4 kg of ricotta and it must be used!

Here is a recipe you simply must try.

It is simple and tasty and I would happily serve this for entree to my guests or as a homely winter meal.

Tomato Ricotta Gnocchi

2 eggs 

375g fresh ricotta

1 cup of tomato paste

2 cups of plain flour

butter and olive oil

oregano or basil

garlic

Parmesan

In a bowl combine the eggs, ricotta and tomato paste.

On your work surface heap the flour and make a little well.

Add to this the ricotta mixture and work together like you are making a dough but don't over work it.

Sprinkle the work surface with a little flour and divide your mixture by four and roll them into a sausage about 2cm thick.

Slice the sausage shape on the diagonal about 1cm thick and drop into a pot of boiling water in small batches.

Cook until they rise to the top and are tender.

Remove them to drain on a plate with a clean tea towel (cause we don't use paper towel do we *wink*)

In a frying pan, heat the butter/oil and saute the garlic and add the gnocchi. I crumbles in some of our dried oregano from summer, fresh basil would be nice.

The idea is to toss to coat like a dressing but I like to fry them a bit to get a crisp texture on the outside to contrast with the soft doughiness on the inside.

Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan.

Chilies, Health and Pregnancy Cravings

Craig harvested all his chilies yesterday and spent the day with my mother making chili paste and "juice".

The jar next to them is from a from a friend's batch of Crab Apple Jelly with chili, very enticing and moreish. 

I recently read a post over at A Joyful Chaos titled "Cravings" where the writer is experiencing pregnancy cravings.

The comments were very enlightening and there were definitely some common cravings.

Many could be grouped into dairy; milk, cottage cheese, yogurt etc.

Tinned tuna I was surprised to find was common too.

Right up there though in first position was the chili group; tobasco, salsa, chili sauce, Mexican chili dishes and so on.

It's pretty easy to understand the dairy and various protein cravings but what about the chili?

Commonly known is the "high" and rush of endorphin from eating chili and that they are very high in Vitamin C. There is also lots of research being done suggesting that chilies are beneficial for boosting circulation, preventing blood clotting and reducing heart disease.

It has shown to reduce the amount of insulin required by diabetics and reduce carbohydrate cravings they experience and assist with weight loss due to lower insulin levels.

It raises the bodies metabolic rate and also provides pain relieving properties for many conditions.

There is even a study that suggests chilies reduce cholesterol levels.

So they seem to be rather more than just a bit of a flavour hit and in fact a really healthy vital part of our diets. For many reasons it's no surprise that chili tops the pregnancy cravings list.

I remember eating tins and tins of tomatoes smothered in tobasco or cayenne pepper while I was pregnant. Tomatoes and chilies are high in the natural mineral lithium so I must have been a very chilled out expectant mother with great circulation and well controlled blood sugars!

Was chili one of your cravings?

A Week Of Resurekt

I have been looking after the shop for my friends at Resurekt this week and it has meant plenty of time to sew in the workroom adjoining the shop.

I started Matthew off on the pear doorstops when the shop first opened and he has made (and sold) quite a few now. He uses scraps from upholstering with reclaimed and re-purposed fabrics and even vinyl scraps for the leaves and "stems".

Claire from Sweet Birdy Love kindly gave me the nod to make some egg cosies from her pattern.

Claire has encouraged me to give free machine sewing a try and I can see how it could become addictive. It's like sketching with thread. 

These lead to a pair of .....

pot mitts,

which match the .....

kitchen hand towel,

that goes with the ......

apron (on the right).

I also made the apron on the left there and ....

this one.....

I'm soooo in live with this fabric. It reminds me of the cowboy wallpaper on my cousins bedroom when we were kids and of my brothers' pajamas.

If it doesn't sell in the next week I'm going to bring it home I think.

I know the photography is not fabulous but I left the camera in the car and retrieved it as I was closing up last night so I could take a few shots.

These beautiful windows look across the road to a tranquil and very seasonal park and to the street beyond of federation houses. The area is really quaint and it is a serene backdrop for the shop.

Here are a couple taken with my phone....

Easily the most popular piece in the shop at the moment. Even my 80 year old mother-in-law loves this one.

It's re-purposed fake fur, woolen blankets and fabric with self covered buttons. On these wintry wet days people just want to jump in and curl up away from the world.

Or how about an irreverent touch-up on a 70's print. It's very hard to tell because Mathew has cleverly added the pink parasol reflection to the bottle and it looks original.

This is one of my favourites. This was original one of those cream stoneware/plaster mass produced wall vases but Mathew has applied his trompe l'oeil expertise (I know! He's not just a pretty face) and turned it into a theatre piece. Very glamorous.

You can also find Resurekt on Facebook

It's been quite a busy but very fulfilling week.

Faces to Names

This week I have been working between my real job and looking after the shop Resurekt for my friends and there has not been a spare moment.

My blogging friend Claire (Sweet Birdy Love) was over from the Big Island and I was NOT going to miss a meet up.

So we had coffee and slice at the shop.

Lee from Killiecrankie Farm came by and also Chris from Chrisartist

Three hours passed like thirty minutes!

We talked about where we work, why we blog and the amazing 6 degrees of separation in life.

We had a very interesting discussion about "ageism" especially in the workforce and the evolving role of women and their return to traditional roles.

We spoke of art and music and children.

Presents were exchanged along with many hugs.

It was like we had known each other for ages...

but of course we have, just not face to face.

We have an elaborate pen pal type relationship after all.

We read each others blogs because we are interested in similar things, so in a way we are already "vetted"

I have included two links at the bottom especially for Lee. The cake we had Lee was based from this recipe

Most asked for recipe

but I substituted dates and sultanas for the apricots and four weet-bix for the bran. I love this recipe, you adjust it to what is in the pantry at the time.

This post

Raspberry Slice

features raspberries but is actually the date slice we had this week.

This recipe is very dear to me; it was given to me by a school friend in about Grade 10 or 11 and it has been passed to many others since. 

Ladies thank you for your generosity, wisdom, boldness and spirit.

It's been a very special week.