• About
  • Archives
  • Bread/Baked Goods
    • Almond Cake (made with xylitol)
    • Almond Cake (Tarta de Santiago)
    • Ardys’s Sourdough Spelt Bread (overnight method)
    • B & B Mug Muffin
    • Bread and Butter Pudding
    • Buckwheat Pikelets (pancakes)
    • Donna’s White Fruitcake
    • Flourless Chocolate Cake
    • Gluten Free Currant Scones
    • Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • Grain-Free Granola (my version)
    • Grain-free, French-style Apple Cake
    • Grain-free, Italian Pear Cake (Torta di Pere)
    • Hot Cross Scones (grain free)
    • Mug Muffin (grain free)
    • My Revised Sourdough (Winter)
    • Nut and Cinnamon Baked Muesli (granola)
    • Pumpkin bars
    • Super Single Muffin
    • Toasted Almond Muesli
  • Favourite Quotations
  • Food
    • Almond Milk
    • Babaghanouj (grilled eggplant, Turkish style)
    • Beef Cheeks Ragu
    • Beef Jerky
    • BLT Salad (with green dressing)
    • Brussels Sprouts with almonds and currants
    • Carrot Cake Style Bites
    • Cashew Milk
    • Cauliflower Cheese and Ham
    • Chicken Breasts with Rosemary
    • Chicken Liver Paté (*adapted from taste.com.au)
    • Chicken Salad
    • Chocolate Pud
    • Cold Brew Coffee
    • Cucumber, Corn, Coconut + Peanut Salad
    • Dukkha
    • Gado Gado (adapted from Charmaine Solomon)
    • Grain-free grilled cheese
    • Green Dressing
    • Grilled Eggplant Strips
    • Grilled Salmon
    • Homemade Ketchup/BBQ sauce
    • Kale with Chilli and Garlic
    • Layered Vegetables with cream
    • My Best Pulled Pork
    • My Pulled Pork (using Romertopf clay baking dish)*
    • Not-Nonna’s Meatballs
    • Pappa al Pomodoro
    • Pasta e Fagioli with Escarole
    • Pickled Eggs and Beets
    • Pumpkin Pie Frappé
    • Ricotta – homemade
    • SANE-eats
    • Slow Cooked Beef Ribs
    • Stuffed Mushrooms
    • Summer Minestrone
    • Taco Salad
    • Turkey/Chicken and Cheese Salad
    • Vietnamese style salad and Dressing
  • Instagram photos
  • Travel Photos

ardysez

~ surrender to yourself

ardysez

Category Archives: Food

Photos, places and recipes about great food

the comfort of food…

25 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by Ardys in Cook's Edit, Food, Health

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

comfortfood, health, healthy eating

IMG_5799Some of us eat to live. Others live to eat. I probably fall somewhere in the middle of that continuum. Influencing personal preferences are things like cultural and family rituals, environment and health. For most adults, it is one of the few things we can do in life that is totally up to us as to when, how and what we consume. But I have found, that my body and mind often disagree about what I should be eating, and that can be a problem.

In July of 2017 I quit eating grains. All of them. Not a fad or weight-loss diet, it was an informed choice—or as informed as is possible with food intolerances, which are quite mysterious. Having a psoriatic rash extending from my upper back to my legs, and periodic eczema, I was desperate to fix the problem, if possible. It had worsened over the year I was eating gluten free so that didn’t seem to be the answer…what to do? Quit grains…and then what?

After only 3 days the itching stopped. After 3 weeks the rash started to fade a bit and I was losing weight that had slowly crept on over a period of five years. It wasn’t a lot of weight, but it was stubborn and seemingly immoveable. And then it left. Not sorry to see you go! Now, some 8 months later, I am still noticing changes for the better. Not wanting to get into the very contested issues around medical versus alternative treatments of things, I will say that tests show that my blood sugar level has decreased from high to normal, cholesterol has adjusted to normal and there is a marked difference in inflammatory symptoms, such as arthritis. And more…

I still have a list of food intolerances, but have noticed that a few things seem to be digesting much better and eczema is no longer a problem. It reminds me of that movie about Benjamin Button, the one where he ages in reverse. It kind of feels like my body is returning to normal, whatever that was. It has been a long time.

I’m not on a bandwagon to tell you to eat any certain way, we are all different. I do what seems right for myself and leave others to make their own choices. My choices are informed. I read and update my knowledge continually. Be your own advocate, I say.

Perhaps the most valuable food and life lesson was told to me over 25 years ago when I began to try and heal myself. A naturopath told me ‘Make a list of all the things you CAN eat and post it on the fridge. That way, when you are hungry you will see all the available options, rather than all the things you need to avoid’. It was a lesson in perspective–food for thought, in every sense.

In recent years I’ve become very dedicated to my morning cup of coffee. Some days it seemed it was the only bright spot in the day, not that my life is horrible, it isn’t. But food and drink consumption has been a lifelong challenge and the bright spots are not always easy to come by. The siren call of morning coffee, however, seemed to take on an elevated need to satisfy. Why? I only have the one cup, and it is half-caf, that is half decaf beans and half normal beans, ground and steeped together for my morning joie-de-vivre. I even enjoy the ritual of making my pour-over coffee. In cold weather I sometimes have a second cup but it is all decaf. Yes, caffein has become something I am also sensitive to. More’s the pity. For me, coffee is a comfort. I have been drinking it since childhood, when Grandma would ask me if I wanted her to make me some of her ‘rat poison’ (instant coffee) and we would both giggle with devilish delight. She would make me a milky cup, sweet with sugar. My parents always had coffee in the mornings and so have I. Morning just doesn’t feel right without it.*

I try to understand these things but sometimes the full picture eludes me, until one day while I’m reading or listening or watching, another piece of the puzzle snaps into place. One such day happened this month, listening to the BBC Food Program about ‘comfort food’. Most people understand what that term means, but few of us would identify the same food(s) to describe it. Usually, comfort food is something that reminds you of childhood, of home, or of a special meal, person or place. Often, all of the above! For me, comfort food was Mom’s homemade stewed chicken and dumplings, pecan pie, pancakes, mashed potatoes with gravy and fried chicken…and also, milky coffee.

As I began listening to the podcast I wondered, ‘…am I going to be able to get through this?’…such was the intensity with which people recalled their comfort foods and why. Eating can be a personal pleasure for one, or hold even deeper meaning, going to the heart of family culture and tradition. Nearly all of the foods described are things I can no longer eat. But I persevered. Not one to accept a joyless diet gracefully, I am used to researching cooking methods, foods and recipes that can restore my joie while also feeding my family and friends. Recent efforts have, of course, been focused on foods without grains.

Continuing to listen, I realised my search was not only for nutritional reasons, I had also been searching for a new set of comfort foods. 

fullsizeoutput_3ee7

Slow cooked chicken and vegetable soup

Many of the old comfort foods were just not possible to recreate satisfactorily with alternative ingredients that did not include grains, or flour, as we know it. Fried chicken made with almond meal just didn’t make the grade. However, stewed chicken like Mom used to make for eating with dumplings or noodles, made into ‘Zoodle Soup’ is pretty good. It is a slow cooked chicken and vegetable soup made with zucchini ‘noodles’ (‘zoodles’) or in my case, stick shapes cut on the mandolin slicer, because I didn’t want to have another gadget in my kitchen. The zoodles remind me of the way Mom would sometimes break spaghetti into shorter pieces for soups. The soup is savoury and wholesome and what you would want if you had a cold or flu. That’s the comfort test, isn’t it? When you are sad, or sick, what do you want to eat that makes you feel better?

Russian ‘Syrniki’ or ricotta pancakes were soon to be added to my repertoire.

IMG_0871

Russian-style Syrniki, ricotta pancakes with yogurt and berries

And an ersatz English-style Muffin fills the void, when I want a crispy vehicle for butter and jam.

IMG_0916

grain free English-style Muffin with cashew butter and plum jam

My greatest triumph so far has been French-style Apple Cake. It looks and tastes like my distant memory of the real deal, and everyone who has eaten it thinks it is delicious and special, as is its namesake.

fullsizeoutput_3e7a

French-style Apple Cake

I realise I will never replicate the exact feeling of those old comfort foods because they are flavours that were established in the beginning of my life. But there is great pleasure, and comfort, in creating new dishes for this phase of my life.

So what do you want to eat that gives you comfort? Go on, I’m tough, hit me with it….

 

*(I have eliminated coffee several times over the years, once for three years, replacing with green, herbal or black tea and not found any health benefits.)

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

what Christmas looks like at my house

18 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by Ardys in Food, Life

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

baking, Christmas, stress, tradition

I have been particularly grumpy about Christmas this year. There is much hype and expectation, particularly heaped on women at this time of year, and it is hard to avoid. It has been said Christmas (as we currently celebrate it) would not happen were it not for women. Does that also mean we have the power to change it, if we want to? I think maybe it does.

One of the most annoying parts for me is, most of the tradition centres around Northern Hemisphere, and cold climate practices. In case you aren’t aware of it, it is 100F/38C here in my part of Australia at the moment. Aussies have done their best to move away from the hot cooked foods of our ancestors, but with other things we are not so evolved.

I understand why the tradition of Santa (Kris Kringle) has been perpetuated, but really, that hot, fur trimmed suit and the whole snow thing could take a rest, don’t you think?

Our family livelihood was growing Christmas trees. It was hard work for all of us. Sometimes we actually worked in the fields, trimming and harvesting them. Sometimes we were the support crew for those who did. I can tell you, the spindly, half dead tree I saw in the grocery store this week, presumably the last of a very small selection, bore no resemblance to a tree grown in Southern Ohio, where my brother still grows and sells trees.

In an effort to try and decipher the basis of my grumbles this year, I decided to see if doing things a bit differently might help. Traditions carried over from another life and another land, may just not be the most useful in current times.

img_3492

party lights amongst my natural treasures

Our daughter and her fiancé will be here for a few days and in an effort to keep my head from spinning right off my body, I asked her if she would mind if I didn’t put up a tree and decorations. She readily said it wasn’t necessary. Bless her. The next thing I did was put hubby on notice, that his useful presence would be required to help with various small chores, among them cooking on the grill.

What to do about the baking? Baking is a hot activity, even in an air conditioned house. I got a window of opportunity two weeks ago when we had a cool, rainy spell, so I quickly decided I would have enough time and energy for one thing and what would that be?? Our daughter always asks for the White Fruitcake and Pecan Sandies. Choose one. I can’t make the Sandies gluten free, but I can make the fruitcake gluten free, so that was the one I chose. Selfish of me, perhaps, but who needs the stress of cooking and being around food you can’t eat yourself?

img_3552

White Fruit Cake (Gluten free version)

As it happened, another gluten free recipe from my friend Francesca’s blog Almost Italian, came across my inbox in a very timely manner. It looked simple and like it would be the perfect replacement for Sandies. And it is.so.delicious. Baking only takes 15 minutes in a slow oven so even I could accommodate that on a 100F/38C day like yesterday.

img_3550

Almond, Cherry and Chocolate Biscotti

The whole sending cards thing was a no brainer, and a no-doer. That ship has sailed.

Gifts are minimal and either consumable, as in edible or use-up-able, or in the case of our daughter and her fiancé things that will help them in their life. Hubby and I have each other’s Presence and that is all we need.

So in a nutshell, here are my five changes toward a lower stress Christmas:

  • No Christmas decorations, only a small nod to festivity via some party lights and found objects from my morning walks
  • Ask for help and keep the cooking simple and on the grill, if possible
  • Bake less, enjoy it more
  • Don’t send Christmas cards unless you love doing it
  • Give gifts that will enhance the other person’s life, not to give you a thrill when they open it

Keeping things simpler has given me a lighter heart. There are no prizes for baking the most, shopping the most, sending the most cards, or having the biggest display of decorations. Presence is the best gift to give everyone, including yourself. Wishing you and yours the best of whatever you want for yourselves.

img_3590PS. Here is the proof I do own an apron, and a sense of humour as well! x

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

living dangerously…

14 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by Ardys in Cook's Edit, Food

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

baking, biscuits, cookies, dairy free, gluten free, maplesyrup, oranges, refined sugar free

If ever you are feeling particularly murderous and audacious, but wanting to bake all at the same time, here is what you do.

  1. Take a perfectly nice recipe that calls for a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice.
  2. Substitute blood oranges (because that is what you have on hand) for the regular kind.
  3. Hand squeeze them with a citrus juicer. (Warning: murderous tendency may either be heightened or diminished by the visceral act of hand-squeezing blood oranges.)

    fullsizeoutput_38c0

    the blood and the orange

     

4. When you are nearly finished look down at what you are wearing.

If it is a pure white linen shirt …you are really living on the edge, so go for it. If the shirt looks like something from CSI, take it out and shred it and get some stress release. Better still, burn it. As we know, that leaves fewer clues. If you escaped without a drop on your shirt, as soon as you finish baking, go buy a lottery ticket.

fullsizeoutput_38be

the syrup over warm biscuits, don’t they look deceptively good? HA!

I was all set, in fact had already written this post to include the recipe, when horror of horrors, the resulting biscuits/cookies were no good! The taste was okay, but nothing to rave about, but the problem was they upset both my husband and my digestion! Now, I’m normally sensitive, so not so surprising for me. But my husband has an iron gut and can eat just about anything. The biscuits were gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free, a good start, one would think. But it just goes to show, anything can be problematic.

To be honest, I often have problems with refined sugar alternatives. Honey and maple syrup both have free fructose in them in sufficient quantities to upset me if I consume too much. And while I can usually get away with small amounts of citrus fruit, the juice is much more concentrated with fructans as well. I’m just guessing here, but I’ve necessarily become a pretty good detective. In the end, I had all my luck up front with this recipe, as you can see from my pristine white linen shirt. How did that happen???? No need for the lottery tickets, it was obvious my luck had run out when I ate one of the biscuits. They were a bit fussy to make, too, and while I was curious enough to try them, I have simpler recipes that I will share with you some time when I’ve recovered my composure.

Enjoy your day.

img_3480

white linen shirt, that escaped bloody oranges

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

the euphoria of bread and butter pudding…

07 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by Ardys in Food, In My Kitchen

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

Food

I don’t make many cakes or desserts or slices because we would just eat them. But once or twice in the winter I make bread and butter pudding. In recent years I made it just for Him because I didn’t like the gluten free version and I couldn’t eat the wheat version. But now that I am able to eat my own sourdough spelt bread, I thought it was high time to revisit this favourite of ours.

It is a comfort food that goes waaaay back to the days when people could ill afford the many sweet treats we now lavish upon ourselves, often to detriment. Historians have traced it back to the 11th and 12th centuries in England, then called ‘poor man’s pudding’. My husband would disagree with the idea that good bread and butter pudding is anything but the highest culinary accomplishment, be it for rich or poor man. He goes to his ‘happy place’ when I make this bread and butter pudding. Such is his euphoria, he seems to struggle to find enough ways to express his joy, each complement greater than the last. This time he declared “You could feed this to anyone and they would love it”. Well, of course that’s not true, there are plenty of people who won’t or can’t eat something like this. But if you can, and will, I recommend it.

fresh from the oven in the early evening light

fresh from the oven in the early evening light

Ardys’s Bread and Butter Pudding

8 thick, or 10 thin slices good, but stale, bread (I use my homemade spelt sourdough here)

Approx. 1/2 C unsalted butter, softened to room temp., or spreadable consistency

weight or push the slices down into the liquid

weight or push the slices down into the liquid

Approx. 1/3 C sultanas (raisins)

Approx. 1/2 C apricot jam

2 C whole milk

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla essence (extract)

1/2 C sugar

Butter all slices of bread on both sides. Then spread the apricot jam on one side only of each slice. Butter sides and bottom of a deep casserole (about 2 quart).  Place one layer of bread into bottom, sprinkle with 1/2 the sultanas.  Place another layer of buttered bread on top and repeat the layering.  Add a third layer of buttered/jam bread for the final layer. 

Mix together the milk, eggs, vanilla and sugar, stirring well to combine, then pour over the bread layers.  Let this sit for 45 minutes or longer, during which time you can weight the bread down into the liquid, or press it down with the back of a spoon a few times. Make sure all edges are soaked so they don’t burn when baking.  Meanwhile preheat the oven to 185 C, (375 F).  Bake for about 50 minutes, or until golden on top and knife comes out clean when inserted into centre of pudding.  Serve warm topped with more milk, cream or ice cream, or enjoy on its own.

Serves: 6-8

(The recipe can also be found under the heading of Breads/Baked Goods)

the proof of the pudding...

the proof of the pudding…

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

revised overnight sourdough, and the trouble with no bubbles

09 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Ardys in Food

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

bread, Food, homemade bread, sourdough bread, spelt bread

close up of the gorgeousness

close up of the gorgeousness

If you don’t eat bread or are not a fan of cooking posts, you will want to find something else to read. Several of my readers are interested in this process, which is why I’m writing it; I’m not planning to become a food blog. Normal service will resume soon:)

Okay, so I know our winters are mild compared to the North American winters where I grew up. However, we do get very cold nights in the minus range (-6, 21F) and certainly in the low single digits regularly. Having no central heat, this means our house gets cold overnight. And the follow on from this means that my overnight proving of bread method (adapted from Celia’s original method here) needed to be altered.

Here is Celia’s latest adaptation of her overnight method, which incorporates some helpful videos and also adapts the recipe to a higher hydration and uses some spelt flour, but is mostly wheat. She does also have a 100% spelt recipe here, however it uses her normal wheat starter, I believe and mine uses a spelt starter.

Here is my latest adaptation of Celia’s latest overnight method which incorporates more hydration, more whole meal spelt, but is 100% spelt including the starter. I have also changed the timings to allow for the cooler winter temperatures.

Latest loaf from Revised Winter Sourdough recipe

Latest loaf from Revised Winter Sourdough recipe

and the crumb…

crumb from Revised Winter Sourdough recipe

crumb from Revised Winter Sourdough recipe

Confused? Just use my latest method above for a higher hydration loaf that also incorporates more whole meal spelt, creating a more wholesome and flavourful loaf. If you get confused about technique, consult Celia’s blog, she is the expert and has great tutorials. I’m just learning, but my recipe does work, as you can see in the photos.

my secret weapon

my secret weapon

I also want to share with those who bake bread, my secret weapon for those cold nights, which produce quite varied results in the proving stage of the overnight dough. Yes, I have a secret weapon that does not destroy life, but helps it along, especially if you are a little ‘yeastie’ living in sourdough, or if you have cold feet, but that’s another post… I present to you the rice filled heat bag. Not novel, probably been used to help bread raise before too, but it was new to me for this purpose so I thought I would share it.
In the morning if I find the overnight low in the house has prevented the dough from proving to the expansion it does in warmer weather I put the heat bag in the microwave for a minute on high. I then place it under the covered bowl to gently boost the proving activity. Also, I have found that doing the same thing by sandwiching the heat bag between two baking trays with the shaped loaf on the top tray, gently speeds up the raising process that might otherwise be painfully slow if you are waiting to bake due to other pressing things. Just make sure you only heat the bag to the normal temperature you would place it on your skin so the heat is a gentle one. You don’t want the dough to over-prove.

My starter has never had bubbles until today. It was an odd thing and why I didn’t give up on it I don’t know. From my first loaf of bread, I moved through the various steps of bred making based on times because here was no evidence of activity, until after the overnight prove and then it looks like this…

Dough after overnight prove

Dough after overnight prove

I did some reading this week and an experienced baker in Leura NSW says the starter needs to be kept in a plastic container with the lid ajar so that it gets air. This was the first I had heard this, so two days ago I tried it. Today when I needed to feed the starter before going away for a week, there were bubbles!! If you have thoughts on this, please leave them below. As I said, I’m still learning!

Also, please have a read of my friend Francesca’s bread baking adventures here, and my friend Sandra’s extra handy post with a calculation table for various amounts of starter so you will waste less. This incredible community continues to grow and develop much like the starter Celia began it all with. We are all part of a valuable movement that cares about the quality of our food, and those with whom we share it.

Happy baking. xx

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

…connections, the gifts we give to ourselves

22 Sunday May 2016

Posted by Ardys in Food, Health, Life

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Food, health, homemade bread, life, spelt bread

I have been thinking about connections.  Specifically, connections with people, as well as whatever else sustains us in our lives. These are the true gifts we give to ourselves.

What started my thought processes ticking over was a passage from a book I’m still reading called ‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life’ by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a rather lengthy quote, but has so much to offer.

“…cooking is good citizenship. It’s the only way to get serious about putting locally raised foods into your diet, which keeps farmlands healthy and grocery money in the neighborhood. Cooking and eating with children teaches them civility and practical skills they can use later on to save money and stay healthy, whatever may happen in their lifetimes to the gas-fueled food industry. Family time is at a premium for most of us, and legitimate competing interests can easily crowd out cooking. But if grabbing fast food is the only way to get the kids to their healthy fresh-air soccer practice on time, that’s an interesting call. Arterial-plaque specials that save minutes now can cost years, later on. Households that have lost the soul of cooking from their routines may not know what they’re missing: the song of a stir-fry sizzle, the small talk of clinking measuring spoons, the yeasty scent of rising dough, the painting of flavors onto a pizza before it slides into the oven. The choreography of many people working in one kitchen is, by itself, a certain definition of family, after people have made their separate ways home to be together. The nurturing arts are more than just icing on the cake, insofar as they influence survival. We have dealt to today’s kids the statistical hand of a shorter life expectancy than their parents, which would be us, the ones taking care of them. Our thrown-away food culture is the sole reason.”

Recently, against much hesitation, I took a leap of faith that I was hoping would yield the product of a bread I could eat again. My hesitation was about spending time trying to do something that seemed beyond my technical ability, and for perhaps not particularly brilliant results. After years of retraining myself not to eat bread and pasta, I wasn’t even certain my ‘care factor’ was strong enough to inspire the new efforts. I used to bake wheat bread many years ago, with only moderate success, and so I was not at all certain this was an endeavour to satisfy the rather high standards for my food. But back then I didn’t have the connection with blog friends and the internet to support me!

loaf three

loaf three

loaf one.

loaf one.

After years of not being able to digest wheat options in any form, except the tiniest amounts, bread I can eat is like a little miracle in my life. As the Universe often does, it conspired to support me. The author of a blog I follow has similar problems with similar foods to myself (FODMAPS, google it, it is not as uncommon as you would think). Through her diligence she developed a spelt sourdough starter, tested it, dried it and sent some to me, along with copious notes and instructions. After text messages and a phone call I got through making my first loaf.

It was very dense, not ideal, but it was edible.

The second loaf was more edible, as was the third. More research was required. More practice as well. The fourth loaf was a breakthrough, and the fifth loaf confirmed my skills. But after five weeks of trying, loaf six…was…brilliant (she said modestly).

gorgeous oven spring of loaf SIX!

gorgeous oven spring of loaf SIX!

I think I may be hooked. There is something so satisfying about taking flour, water and salt and making something to nourish one’s body, not to mention is a beautiful thing! It is the connection with our food that our culture has nearly lost. A few brave and dedicated souls, like Barbara Kingsolver and her family, Michael Pollan, the Slow Food Movement, and the entire population of France, are helping us see our way back again.

So, this gift of bread making is more than just a connection to my food. It is the practice of a lifelong source of joy—making something with my hands. And it is the return of another joy, eating, and sharing good bread. This, my friends is how we should give to ourselves. And this, my friends is my gift to you…the recipe 🙂

Perfect texture for sandwiches or toast
Perfect texture for sandwiches or toast
mixture of higher hydration dough--very soft and sticky
mixture of higher hydration dough–very soft and sticky
after proving overnight
after proving overnight
the joy of toast and butter
the joy of toast and butter

More resources if you wish to make your own connection with sourdough bread making: figjamandlimecordial; pleasepasstherecipe; zebbakes

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

the coming and going…

13 Friday May 2016

Posted by Ardys in Alice Springs, Food, gardening, Life

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Alice Springs, Australia, life, nature, photography

early morning sky after rains

early morning sky after rains

We are blessed with amazing natural beauty here. It is almost criminal to take it for granted. But we do. Sometimes. Take the clear blue skies we often have… I long for some cloud now and then, not to mention a little rain. Clear blue skies have an implied imperative that one must get out and make the most of it. But all I want some days is to curl up with a book and listen to some music mingled with the sound of drizzle on the metal roof. I got my chance last weekend, which included Mother’s Day. Since I couldn’t be with either our daughter or my Mother, listening to rain, reading and floating between cups of coffee, ginger tea and preparing one of our favourite meals (here) was a fine situation to have.

after the weekend of rain
after the weekend of rain
rain on the ponytail palm
rain on the ponytail palm
vestiges of a cicada summer
vestiges of a cicada summer

Rain brought the early signs of winter with it. The vestiges of summer are pretty depressing after the grasshoppers decimated our citrus trees. The lime is an early producer so we had ample limes, but the lemons, which I use much more often, don’t look like they will be able to mature with the lack of leaves for some photosynthesis. (don’t be confused by the photos, the lemon is the green fruit-left and the limes are the yellow ones–I know!) My herb garden is looking very sad, I won’t bore you with a photo, but suffice it to say, most of it will be dug out soon and the soil and irrigation replaced, along with a renewal of plants. I did have one victory, however. The bay tree I worked to save from scale infestation last summer has yielded a nearly perfect harvest this year and will certainly last me another year.

unripe lemon on denuded tree five months ago
unripe lemon on denuded tree five months ago
Waterlogue edit of home grown limes and bay leaves
Waterlogue edit of home grown limes and bay leaves

Baking weather has returned and my fourth ever loaf of homemade sourdough spelt bread has emerged miraculously from the oven this morning. Maybe I’m just easy to please after not being able to eat bread for years, but it is pretty much my dream loaf.

Loaf four.
Loaf four.
Sourdough spelt bread 'chips'-great for dipping or snacking
Sourdough spelt bread ‘chips’-great for dipping or snacking

Last night the heat bag reappeared and was warmed and woven around my feet. The little mug I save for warm milk and honey was again filled and slowly sipped, until I was warmed inside and out. Such is the change of seasons and our delight in their coming and going.

my comforts

my comforts

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

a few quiet days…the magic fix

04 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by Ardys in Food, Health

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Food, health, Marie Kondo, quiet activities, tidying

As some of you know I have been labouring under the effects of a nasty virus for weeks. In retrospect we think it was the flu, not just a cold. Late in the third week I took a turn for the worse–again, and pushing up against the long weekend I decided to do something desperately different to see if I could recover. I stopped. Well, my version of stopping.

I had just done a major grocery shopping trip and so I had food for the duration of the long weekend. Fortunately it was food that didn’t take loads of prep time and energy. My husband cooked salmon on the barbeque (grill) and we had simple vegetables with it. I made the leftover salmon into a delicious Nicoise style salad the next day. I made chicken breasts in the slow cooker according to my cousin’s recipe and again, it was simple but delicious. An eggplant recipe from my friend Sandra’s blog was deceptively easy and tasty. I slow cooked a pork scotch fillet roast and more simple vegetables. And for a couple of days we had the leftover meats recycled into salads and with more simple vegetables.

carrots and zucchini sauteed with thyme and butter
carrots and zucchini sauteed with thyme and butter
Salmon Nicoise style salad
Salmon Nicoise style salad
Sandra's eggplant
Sandra’s eggplant

And I rested in between.

I’m not good at doing nothing. Everyone who knows me understands that about me. So let me explain what I did not do, so you will appreciate that what I did do was quiet time. I didn’t sweep or mop the floors. I didn’t sweep the outside areas, or work in the garden as I had planned. I didn’t go for my daily walks or do anything but a few stretches on a couple of mornings, when I felt like it. The other mornings I did nothing.

And rested in between.

Quiet activities included, reading, minimal cooking, a bit of washing and ironing in a very leisurely manner, and folding. I discovered a new book by Marie Kondo called Sparking Joy: An Illustrated Masterclass on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up . She teaches you how to fold things for more efficient use of space and care of garments. So at several intervals, with rests in between, I dragged things from shelves and folded. I had already done the onerous task of discarding, so the folding and stacking was a finishing stage. Minimal effort for maximum satisfaction.

Stripes anyone?

And rest.

For ten minutes one morning I trimmed the bay tree of this year’s supply of beautiful leaves, so that I could dry them for the coming year of cooking.IMG_8100

And then rested.

Not surprisingly, I improved each day. The head finally cleared, the chest congestion began to go, and the ache in my back began to subside. I am nearly well again. The final bit of therapy was the making of Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Buckwheat cookies. If only I’d known that was the magic fix I would have tried that first 🙂

Chewy, gooey goodness, with Grandma's ice cream scoop in background

Chewy, gooey goodness, with Grandma’s ice cream scoop in background

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

a soup story

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by Ardys in Food, Travel

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Food, life, soup, Travel

Lately I have been thinking about soup. Incessantly.

Due to an inability to digest onion and a few other frequent additions to soups I’m only able to eat my own homemade soup, or, oddly, a few flavours of tinned soups that are made with no onion. A few years ago, when I must have been short of time or energy, and thinking back fondly on childhood memories, I succumbed to the ease of opening a tin of soup. It was so heavily salted and sweetened I could hardly believe it. Next time I am short of time or energy I will stir a spoonful of Miso paste into a cup of hot water and float a few pieces of ginger in it for a more healthful repast.

On our recent travels, the weather was quite cool, icy and nearly snowing one morning, and every temperature and season between, over the four weeks. After a long, hot summer here in Alice, I had been yearning for soup weather again. Now that I had it, I couldn’t take advantage of it.

Red bud trees in bloom looking over the Ohio River
Red bud trees in bloom looking over the Ohio River
Unopened Red Bud blossoms with daffodils below
Unopened Red Bud blossoms with daffodils below
Cold weather moving into Cincinnati.
Cold weather moving into Cincinnati.
After a spring rain
After a spring rain

Mom talked about soup nearly every day we saw her, that being a staple part of supper provided where she lives. My desire grew, but not for the institutional variety which she ate.

A couple of weeks ago we arrived home from our international travels on Tuesday and the next day we flew to Adelaide so my husband could attend a conference and I could visit with our daughter. Completely uninvited, a nasty upper respiratory virus found me and stowed away in my bag!

My kingdom for a bowl of comforting, phlegm destroying Jewish penicillin—chicken soup!

Autumn leaves in Adelaide

Autumn leaves in Adelaide

Three days after arriving back from Adelaide my husband was off to Melbourne. (I know, he doesn’t understand about this retirement concept!) I camped on the sofa with tissues, paracetamol and vegetable soup I had made from stock, frozen a couple of months before. In a viral haze that was nearly delirium, my mind drifted to the recent weeks’ events, trying to process it all and make sense of it.

Perhaps there is no sense to it. Except soup.

The fluid situations in which we found ourselves varied widely from something reminding me of the watery substance consumed in death camps in Nazi Germany to that comforting, warm and life-affirming variety made by my grandmother. She used to send someone to The Handy Store for 10 cents worth of beef shin bone, and we knew soup, studded with ceci and garden vegetables was not far off!

You can tell any soup that is made with love.

There is the bright, nourishing one brimming with friendship, seasoned with affection and support. There is the wholesome, mellow version, redolent of warmth and love, steeped from lifelong relationships.

And, there are the other soups.

Some are nearly toxic. Some are weak and unsatisfying, or reheated from a tin, containing ingredients that look like they could support life, but have little capacity for sustenance, in actual fact. We would do well to avoid them when we can. But sometimes we can’t. Why do those awful recipes get handed down in families, along with the delicious ones?

It is grim to see a situation for what it truly is sometimes. Once seen, a body needs to rid itself of toxic energies and heal. We are nearly there again, back to the good soup; the one that comes from the sun on the hills and simmers quietly in the cool autumn air, consumed amongst the tinkle of laughter and satisfaction of a life well lived.IMG_7851

Here is my favourite all-season soup recipe in its original form below, with my alterations in brackets. Most of the time I make my own version of this, always with no onion or garlic but varying spices, herbs or vegetables for flavour or with whatever I have on hand.

Summer Minestrone

Prep: 20mins  Cooking: ~45mins

1 T extra virgin olive oil

4 C water, Vegetable stock OR my preference [2 C chicken stock with 2 C water for a very light soup, or pure chicken stock for a heartier version]

1/2 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

[instead of above onion and garlic, I use 1/2tsp chilli flakes and 1tsp fennel seed]

1 x 400g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

250g waxy potatoes, cut into small 1cm (1/2inch) cubes

2 small carrots, cut into 1cm pieces

[I often add a fennel bulb that has been cut into 1cm (1/2inch) dice and/or celery for extra flavour]

3 large Roma tomatoes, cut into 1cm pieces (the original recipe says to peel and seed them, but I cannot be bothered)

[in winter I use good quality organic tinned tomatoes with juice instead of the tasteless winter tomatoes, this makes a heartier soup for colder weather]

1/2C fresh corn kernels

1 shelled or frozen peas

250g stringless green beans, topped and cut into 3cm pieces

2 heaped T shredded basil

sea salt

Crusty  bread to serve

1. Combine oil and onion in a large pan and cook over moderate heat until soft, for about 5mins, stirring frequently. Stir in garlic and cook for a further 1min.

2. Add potatoes, carrots and fennel, if using, also salt and chilli flakes and fennel seed and cook covered for about 20-30 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.

3. Add tomatoes, cannellini beans, corn, peas and green beans and cook a further 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Immediately before serving scatter with basil and drizzle with olive oil.

Buon appetito.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

breakfast and more…

07 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by Ardys in Food, Travel

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

Breakfast, Food, Ohio, Travel

I’m sitting in Adelaide, Australia having the best coffee I’ve had since last time I was here. After the coffee purgatory of the United States, I’m deeply appreciative. It’s not just me either. We walked into the Qantas Club at the Sydney airport after our last trip and I overheard the couple next to us:

She: Oooo, smell that coffee.
He: REAL coffee instead of stewed swill.

Harsh.

We are used to European style coffee here and the American coffee is very different. So different, in fact, I have given up and order hot tea in most places. In fact, in Southern Ohio and most of the Midwest, I’m afraid it’s not just the coffee that is lacking in flavour and quality. I hasten to add, I’ve had fabulous food in New York and California and occasionally at certain restaurants in between. But it’s a big country and easy to be led astray, and hard to know the local secrets, so we’ve had more bad to average meals than good ones.

Our recent trip had the priority of looking after my Mother who is frail and mostly unable to get out for meals. So we set a plan to have two meals a day, breakfast and dinner, so that we could spend the middle of the day with Mum. When you are only eating two meals a day, you want them to be good, but we had the added problem of being bone tired at the end of every day and didn’t really feel like much foraging.

Breakfast was the meal we really focused on because Americans have been eating breakfast ‘out’ for many decades and generally they do it well. Images of the classic American diner may spring to mind! ‘Two eggs lookin’ atcha, hon?’ However, I’ve realised my requirements for a good breakfast have changed. I want vegetables. In Australia, a normal cooked breakfast includes at least tomatoes and mushrooms, generally spinach and often avocado. In the Midwest, it more likely includes biscuits (scones) with sausage gravy, eggs, bacon/sausage or hash brown potatoes–delicious at its best, stodgy at its worst, and definitely light on the veggie content.

Typical American country breakfast
Typical American country breakfast
Buffet at Frisch's
Buffet at Frisch’s
image
Fried pickles and mushrooms, oh my
Fried pickles and mushrooms, oh my

After less successful attempts, we found a couple of places that were acceptable, one that was superb. The acceptable place is a modern day diner type franchise called Frisch’s Big Boy. When I was a girl we went there for burgers and cole slaw, strawberry pie and even good fish sandwiches, and French fries. Frisch’s has updated their offering with a fruit/veg/breakfast bar. We even noted a staff member using a digital thermometer recording the temps of everything on a clipboard, which reassured us that care was being taken to keep the buffet from salmonella surprise! This isn’t always the case, as you might know, with buffets being blamed for all kinds of things. So the food was not organic or local, and much of it was overly sweetened, fried, and oh, that liquid plastic cheese in the pump compartment! But I managed to put together a salad of raw broccoli, green peppers, pineapple and some cottage cheese and a bit of blue cheese dressing each time we visited. A few times I also had sausage and scrambled egg to see me through until dinner, some eight hours hence.

image

My salad bar breakfast

The real favourite breakfast was found at The Original Pancake House. They create a six egg veggie omelette, bacon and gluten free pancakes that made me so happy. Of course I could not even eat half an omelette that size, so my husband shared it with me. For all the hype that eating gluten free gets in California, Southern Ohio has not embraced the trend. After reading a few menus and online descriptions we gather that the requirements for serving gluten free might be a bit stringent there making those serving gf products prepare them in areas exclusively set aside. This might be helpful for Coeliacs but for people like me who are just gluten intolerant it meant very few options, as most restaurants can’t spare that kind of dedicated space. So the gf pancakes at the Original Pancake house were a treat several times during our three week visit.

Veggie omelette and bacon at Original Pancake House
Veggie omelette and bacon at Original Pancake House
Huge aquarium in background at The Original Pancake House
Huge aquarium in background at The Original Pancake House
For those who want to plan lunch while eating breakfast
For those who want to plan lunch while eating breakfast

Breakfast was a bit of an adventure many days. Our second morning at Frisch’s a lady being seated next to us loudly shared with the waitress that she had brought her own coffee because their coffee was so ‘awful’ (her word, but I silently agreed with her). On another occasion the fellow being seated behind us ordered a ‘cherry coke’ for breakfast. As if coke isn’t sweet enough, cherry syrup is added to it for a cough syrup type flavour. I’m not judging (OK, perhaps a little) that’s just what the taste is like. Vanilla Coke is also popular in that category. I used to have a friend who drank Pepsi instead of coffee each morning, pointing out to me that it was caffeinated and sweet like coffee, to which I could but agree.

Our first morning eating the hotel breakfast a man and his son came in and the hostess asked if he was with the group eating in the conference area, to which he answered ‘Yes, but that food looks gross, can we eat here in the restaurant?’ Of course he was accommodated but we couldn’t help but think what a rude example the man was setting for his young son. To each his own, I guess.

The most memorable breakfast, however, had nothing to do with the food. One morning we were too tired to hunt-and-gather for breakfast, so we ate at the hotel. Early in the process while my husband was at the breakfast bar, I saw out of the corner of my eye, a man from a nearby table come rushing to the booth in front of me, toward another man standing, but bent over–choking! The younger man started performing the Heimlich manoeuvre on the older man who was the one choking. It was not a quick fix, carrying on for at least a minute or two. A woman who we later thought must have had some medical experience came over and was encouraging and coaching the younger man to keep at it. Most of the rest of us would have not been big enough or strong enough to have done the job. Eventually the older man expelled the offending food, and was able to catch his breath. Meanwhile, the waitress had phoned paramedics who showed up only about six or seven minutes after the event. They spoke with the older man and apparently the older man had had some previous issues with choking. The paramedic suggested perhaps he might need to slow down and chew longer, to which the older man responded: ‘I was trying to eat my breakfast before it got cold!’ It very nearly was not all that was cold! Several people went over to the young man to shake his hand and praise him for his fast work. It was a good reminder that for all our divergent tastes, good people are still around us.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 631 other followers

Recent Posts

  • on poetry and ordinary things…
  • a voice from the ages…
  • this morning, this moon, these atoms…
  • find your powerful…
  • the long hot summer…
  • the comfort of food…
  • remotely challenged…
  • sixties and you’re done…
  • of lizards and life…
  • a summary of summer things…

Archives

Categories

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.com

Instagram

There was an error retrieving images from Instagram. An attempt will be remade in a few minutes.

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
%d bloggers like this: