Oh My Goodness!!!

We had the most amazing weekend!

Please allow a moment of self-indulgence.

After doing the Growers' Market at ut si in Perth Tas on Saturday morning (lemon cordial a huge seller!), we packed a quick bag and headed for Hobart.

Saturday night we had a very low key dinner at Tandoor Curry House before experiencing the opulence of Gold Class

We sipped 42 degrees Champagne and watched the action packed "Argo" while reclining in the most comfortable chairs ever. We had won a $30 voucher at a recent trivia night so it was only an additional $44 plus drinks. This style of cinema viewing is a MUST if you are planning to see something like a long movie with plenty of big screen action like "Lord of the Rings" or a special session of a Harry Potter movie.

The next day we had breakfast at a popular cafe in North Hobart called "Raincheck Lounge". The service was superb but a pity the eggs are not free range. You can taste the difference. Owners of backyard chooks will always taste the difference.

image from here

Then it was on to the fabulous Glenorchy Tip Shop.

Yep! It's the shop run alongside the dump.

We found some cute little Tupperware stacking mugs for the cubby house plus another "butterfly wing" AKA triangular saucepan lid 

see here

We found heaps of #27 Fowlers jars but at $4 we thought that was a bit steep as you can buy brand new ones for that! We also found a couple of Tupperware containers at $1 each and a light fitting as a spare for the lounge room for just $4.50. 

But NEXT....

the piece de resistance....

a visit to MONA.

image from the Mercury newspaper

The Museum of Old and New Art.

It was our second visit and just as exciting as the first,

maybe even more so....

While enjoying a Pimms and lemonade and prosciutto pizza after a good three hours of art viewing in Basement 3 alone, none other than David Walsh, the owner of MONA, pulled up a lounge chair next to us!!! Feeling much revived we headed to Basement 2 & 3 for more art appreciation. I discovered

 "The Economical On The Skin of Caracans, Caracas, Venezuela, 2006"

by Santiago Sierra

"The skin on the back of 10 persons who declared to have zero dollars was photographed. A medium tone in greyscale was assigned to that value. The skin on the back of 10 persons who declared to have a thousand dollars was photographed. A different medium tone in greyscale was assigned to that value. Finally, the skin on the back of 10 persons who declared to have a million dollars was photographed. A medium tone in greyscale, different to the other two, was assigned to that value. Once a tone of grey in the scale had been assigned to zero, ten and a million dollars, the value of black and white was calculated in dollars. The value of black turned out to be minus 2.106 dollars; and the value of white 11.548.415 dollars."

A very powerful piece and my stand out experience of the visit. I was so excited about it that when Craig caught up to me I started to explain to him enthusiastically

"What the artist has done here....."

At exactly the same moment,

David Walsh had come up to stand right next to me with a couple of his friends and he was saying at the exact same time....

"What the artist has done here....."

It was a bizarre moment of sychronisity that could only happen at MONA.

My other exciting moment (could it get any better???) was coming across Picasso's "Weeping Woman"....literally, just coming upon it among other works hung nonchalantly on the wall. 

I could have wept!

Even disregarding the thousands of pieces of artwork from Egyptian sarcophagus to Roman coins to the most modern and confronting, the sheer magnificence of the building built into a sandstone cliff face is breathtaking.

Lonely Planet has now documented Hobart as the 7th most visited city in the world and that is purely down to MONA. I do so hope you get to visit this amazing privately owned art gallery.

It was certainly a weekend to remember.

Visual Metaphor For Life

As some of you know Craig is a shearer.

He sent me this photo the other morning.

It is the view from the toilet door where he was working....

Crisp clear day.....

Clear blue skies....

Contented cows grazing very nearby.....

then he sent me another photo.....

the inside of the shed....

Literally.

This is the bin where all the dags are placed.

A dag is the pooey wool from sheep's behinds!

A lot of people understand that shearing is extremely hard physical work but I bet you haven't stopped to think about how much shit they deal with!

Anyway, I thought it was a good visual metaphor for life. We wish all our skies were blue and our days full of contentment but well, we also have shit to deal with, and that's life.

The good with the bad.

My Prayer for you....

May your horizon be serene and calm and your dag bin small.

Thank you all for your well wishes too and the very kind comments last post.

xxx

Thermomix Update

So you may have noticed I have been quiet of late.

I have been very, very, ill with a virus that turned into pneumonia. I am very much recovered now and in awe of modern medicine. Sadly while I was ill a friend's husband passed away and a little girl lost her Daddy. Puts it in perspective hey!

Though still in the honeymoon period of Thermomix ownership I did want to tell you how this machine really came into it's own while I was sick. The smile says it all but I will elaborate. Craig has been working some really big hard days shearing rams and big fat whethers, coming home absolutely exhausted and needing serious sustenance. I was unable to walk from the kitchen to the lounge room without becoming very breathless and weak. Many meals I have made over the past fortnight that I was able to do minimal prep work and walk away and let it do it's thing, providing Craig with a good hearty meal. 

Of note especially was the Aussie Meat Pie recipe. It is THE best and most successful pie I have made. The filling was the exact consistency and the flavour was great. I also made risotto and other curries and casseroles. The really helpful feature is that I don't need to stand over a stove stirring. It removes a lot of the hands on cooking. While I was so ill it was a God-send. 

So far, absolutely no regrets and very much in love with my Thermomix.

I have a friend who is a chef and uses the Thermomix in his kitchen. He says it replaces an apprentice for him.

So a very much recovered me wants to remind you that it is seed freedom fortnight and I hope you have found a friend to swap some seeds with and made some envelopes up for next year. If you are buying your seeds for this spring/summer, please consider heirloom seed companies and save the viable seed.  

Microplane- A 2nd Drawer Must Have

When the Better Living Group came over last month to cook Christmas Cakes and Puddings I was surprised to discover that none of them had ever seen or heard of a Microplane before.

I'm not one for useless gadgets but this is one tool that really makes life easier in the kitchen for a couple of little jobs. I love it so much that it is also a common gift I buy especially for a man who likes to cook (because they can be hard to buy for).

Basically this is a fine grater on a handle but it's in the design.

It may not surprise you to know that it was invented by a man and closely along the lines of a wood working tool, hence it is so keen and ergonomic. If it's not easy to use then it is a waste of money.

It's primary role in my kitchen is citrus zesting, nutmeg grating and parmesan shavings but it does do more.

I have included this clip from You Tube that shows how easy it is to use and wash up and store away. Much better than I could explain. Once you have one of these you will not go back to ground nutmeg again. There is nothing like grating your own fresh from the nut.

This is not a paid review, simply information as I was surprised so many hadn't heard of these before. There are a couple of similar products but I find the Microplane is the best and retails for about $30. This may be something you are looking for on your Christmas list.

It was a hoot watching everyone discover zesting with the Microplane and though it is extremely sharp, no-one cut themselves because it is so easy to use unlike some other graters. You should be able to find them in any good homewares stores but probably not in budget chain stores.

Day Rituals

I find it helpful to keep a some days especially for ritual jobs.

Monday is popular being the start of the week and still fresh in my mind!

A weekly ritual from now until Christmas is to "feed the cake" so on a Monday I unwrap it and trickle some scotch over the top and wrap it back up.

The other standard Monday ritual is my once a week high dose Vitamin D capsule.

Daily medication is much easier to remember but I'm glad I can just take one high dose capsule once a week. So Mondays it is!

Do you have Day Rituals?

Like a once a week clean of your wooden boards with salt and lemon juice...

Another day I set aside is Sunday for dog brushing otherwise the motivation to do this job is low. It is one job that I can't be slack about. 

In the old days, there used to be a day set aside for washing and a day for ironing.

There was a day for bathing and a day for praying.

A day for beating rugs and a day for shopping.

Do you still hold some days special?

What Value Do We Really Place On Food?

Map: World Food Statistics

This site has some wonderful global maps. To get a picture of economies, food production and income spent on food, go to the site and have a play. There is a drop down box at the upper left of the map where you can change the information required and as you roll over the countries, all the stats will appear.

You will get an idea of who grows food and how much of their income is spent on their food. Some of the information is staggering.

As we are in Seed Freedom Fortnight, I would like you to see a bigger picture of food. I would love to know if the stats were pretty much what you thought or if they were a total revelation. What is one thing that blew you away? What conclusions do you draw from some of the stats? 

I find it interesting how little America pays for food, naturally the average income is relatively high compared to most countries and there is a lot of food produced in the area. Given that, does it explain how cheaply food integrity is regarded by countries like America and Australia. I'm talking bigger picture here, not your pockets of natural wholesome food devotees. I'm thinking about the rise and rise of food chains and the fall of farmers profits. I'm thinking of the growing fast food industries and the fact that we think it is normal to abandon our homes and eat the most basic of meals, namely breakfast, outside of the home and prepared by someone else on a regular basis. There are many people eating their breakfast out more than 5 times a week.

Do you think we hold food too cheaply in our esteem?

Here is another good post on food price and quality over at "the Frugal girl" in her post 

"Why is it so hard to spend money on high quality groceries…"

"Why do we buy junky cereal to save a dollar or two, but then order $20 takeout on a busy night?"

I hope you head over and have a play with the map and read Frugal Girls post, I'd be interested to know what you think.

Seed Freedom Fortnight

Seed Freedom Fortnight

2-16 Oct 2012

Some of you may not know this but there has been an insidious move by a few companies over the last few decades to make whole country's agricultural business their business!

They have produced chemicals and fertilisers that only lead to more chemical and fertiliser dependency and to wrap the whole up in a nice oligopoly package they have also patented seed.

They OWN the seed.

The farmer must buy the seed, he can not save the seed and he risks financial ruin should his seed become accidentally cross pollinated with their seed thus making it the company's seed.

You may have heard of Monsanto in America. What you may not realise is that some of the dirtiest work by these oligopolies is occurring in struggling third world countries. 

We are losing seed varieties every year but it is most important that you start saving seed now. Seed adapts and evolves for the area it grows in. If we lose that, we lose the ability to feed ourselves. We become instead reliant on a system that holds all the cards and reduces diversity.

We lose our freedom from hunger and independence.

Please, each one of you, in your area, save your seed and buy only local heirloom/open pollinating/GMO free seed.

In this fortnight get together and swap seed.

That's what we did to wrap up our Living Better group last month.

After we finished the cakes we had a sit down and shared seed.

I gained beetroot, lupins and peas and NZ yams.

I swapped multi-headed sunflowers.

This Saturday I will also take to market some Turks Turban pumpkin seed.

Hope you watch the video; Dr Vandana Shiva has been fighting for seed freedom for decades and Costa is own special Australian gardening legend.