Blogging, or the writing of a web log, is not something I ever considered before December last year, or even understood, until trying it. The concept of writing an online diary to an unknown audience for no gain other than to share is a tad strange, but then so is twittering (which I still don’t really understand).

I have enjoyed blogging far more than I ever thought. It is so enjoyable that I often use any spare moments (such as walking down the street) constructing my next blog in my head. Sometimes I even wake in the middle of the night with an idea for my next blog.

I have also found blogging helps me determine my opinion on things (having to articulate something takes things far beyond being thought fragments swimming around your head) as well as capture my favourite recipes safely (rather than pieces of paper floating around the kitchen). I have found this process strangely rewarding and when I get comments or feedback, better still.

So, I have decided to use today’s blog to share something that I find deeply concerning, in that hope that I might come to terms with it, move on so to speak.

This blog concerns my parents. I know it’s not uncommon for adults to have ‘parent issues’, it really just comes down to what the issue is. I am unsure here on this one.

I am not sure if I should be proud of my parents commitment to reducing carbon emissions, recycling and saving the planet, or embarrassed by it.

Last year on New Years Day Mum and Dad got back from a holiday in Sydney. I had been dog-sitting their 15 year old dachshund Tilly (aka Silly Tilly because she really is the silliest dog I have ever seen) and they came to pick her up.

Normally, when people come to collect an animal, they use appropriate transportation. But not my parents. They came on a scooter.

To make things worse, they don’t spend money on proper motorbike clothing. Instead they come dressed in second-hand helmets, and what they think is just as good as proper motorbike clothing – leather pants and leather jackets that have walked straight out of some trash and treasure market screaming ‘I’m from the 80′s and I am loaded with shoulder pads, pleats and gathered waists’! Fashion boots do not double as motorbike boots (or not in an accident anyway).

What would some poor motorist do if they hit them? Call an ambulance or try and hide the remainder of bad 80′s fashion?

I admire their efforts to reduce carbon emissions, but my mind did wonder to where the dog would travel. Not to mention that they then trundled down to the Salvation Army store in search of a few bargains, and as usual, found some. It’s just these bargains happened to be a rather large plant pot. On top of this, they picked up a weeks produce at the market (big bag of oranges, other fruit and vege).

Can you see where I am going here?

So, I had two options. Go outside and help them get everything on the bike, or hide behind the security door and pretend I didn’t know them. What was I to do? I decided to take photos, because no one at work would believe me. I certainly can’t tell my parents what to do. I wouldn’t even try. As much as I think the clothes are unsafe, or the mode of pet transportation unethical. There’s absolutely no point. I will get to make decisions and call a few shots in 20 years time when I pick their nursing home (I often threaten Dad with that one).

So here is the evidence.

Either my parents are trend setters, way ahead of their time and we will all being doing this in a few years time when petrol wells dry up (and they are just not understood like Vincent van Gogh)…or I need therapy. Which is it?

I certainly can’t get these images out of my head (nor too any passing motorists on that day).

Ok, I have been blogging for a few months now, so I think I can open up to you. It’s time we got down and dirty and I confess something…something some of you may already know, but some of you may not.

Maybe I should feel embarrassed by this, but I am not. I can honestly look you straight in the eye and proudly say ‘I have worms!’ I have had worms for a few years now actually. Some times they have got a bit too hot and died off, but then they eventually grow back. Right now, I have got them bad.

I got the worms from my husband. He is so thoughtful like that. I got them with a worm farm for Xmas 2 years ago (’07) and I couldn’t have been more excited with my gift (I am obviously not offended by the practical gift, won’t see me banging you on the head if you give me a Scanpan!). It isn’t everyday you get 10 000 new friends.

We killed two birds with one stone, as my kids had been asking for a pet for ages, so we just told them the worms were pets. This worked for at least 11 months with Jasmine. She would get a worm and hug it, talk to it and walk it around for ages, until I would feel sorry for the poor thing and rescue it from pending dehydration. It all fell apart for her one day (literally) when a worm she was loving intensely broke in half. I quickly threw it in the compost telling Jasmine not to pull her worms at both ends as they might break. Next minute, from the inside of the house I heard an almighty sobbing. I ran out thinking she might have severed a limb or something. She was just devastated that she had hurt a worm. Bless her!

I know many of you understand the wonders of worms, but I decided to blog about this because a surprising number of people don’t. A workmate Joelyn visited my house the other day and was amazed at how lush my garden looked. She asked me if I do anything ‘special’ to it, and I don’t, other than recycled food scraps from my worms and guinea pigs, and occasionally talking to my plants (out of earshot of the neighbours of course).

Why are worms so great?

Worms recycle your kitchen scraps, and for this they give you castings and worm wee, which are both incredibly concentrated fertilisers for your garden.

Add 1 cup of worm wee to 9 litres of water and you have a strong liquid fertiliser.

Imagine if everyone recycled their food scraps instead of placing them in the rubbish. Gardens around would reap the benefit, soil would be replenished, and you would be feeding your garden instead of having to spend precious dollars on fertilisers.

What makes a worm happy?

Worms love to eat mostly your left over kitchen scraps. They are vegen, so no meat or cheese (although some people put everything in there)! Also, they don’t like citrus, or to get onion breath. Other than that, you can give most kitchen scraps to your worms.

There are some weirder things they do love, including:

• tea bags
• egg cartons, pizza boxes
• egg shells.

Does (garden) size matter?

Worms aren’t finicky about how big their house is. You can buy worm farms on the market which are like delux 3 storey condos, but equally, your worms can be just as happy in a wheelbarrow with a hessian sack over it. As long as they don’t get water logged or to hot, and can hide from the birds.

Also, it doesn’t matter how big a garden you might have. Even if you just had a patio of plants, worms would recycle your food scraps into free fertiliser. Your plants will love you for it. And if you don’t have plants, then maybe you neighbour does. It’s the perfect gift for a patch of local soil, somewhere anywhere but the tip.

Does it smell?

Of course it smells…it’s your food decomposed down into readily recyclable means. Anything rotting or decaying smells – but it is the smell free fertiliser! It smells no different to other naturally decomposing things such as seaweed.

I used to live in Rotorua (New Zealand) for sux years, and that smelled of sulphur. Some people find this aroma unbearable, but I think you may have encountered a rotten egg in your day that had far more of a nauseating reaction. Worms give off a natural smell, and they are nowhere near as bad as the decomposing Orca I once saw 1km away on Johanna Beach (I couldn’t get any closer, it was literally the worst thing I have ever smelt), or as bad as foodscraps rotting in a garbage bin (eerrrggghhh).

If you have an enclosed worm farm, you will hardly smell a thing unless you lift the lid.

Are they dirty?

Totally! Worms replenish something that all living things ultimately rely on (yes, even you), and that is soil (aka dirt!). Without healthy, nutrient filled soil, our planet won’t function very well.

What has that got to do with you – especially if you live in a city? Even if you have one square metre of soil, it needs your help. If you eat fruit and vegetables, you will have peels and offcuts, and these belong back in the soil, not in the bin.

Plus, as kids love getting dirty, they are instantly interested in worms. If you get a surprise visit of children who are deemed likely to trash your house (as you don’t have kiddy toys), simply take them out to your worms and let them go digging for them. The kids are happy, the parents are horrified (and bring appropriate toys next time) and your worms have inbuilt survival strategies and will be fine.

Do they like it hot?

Worms operate better when it’s warmer weather, but they don’t like excessive heat – so keep them in the shade. On last years 47 degrees C day mine all died, but fear not, they have eggs, and eventually these hatch and your numbers build up again.

How long does it take worms to recycle your food?

This depends on how much you feed your worms and how many worms you have. If your worms don’t seem to be keeping up with the food you are giving them, back off a bit and put some into a spare bucket. When you see them starting to create castings and build in numbers you can add more food in.

How do I remove the worm castings without loosing all my worms?

Take off the lid for a day, and your shy little friends will move to a lower layer, then simply remove the castings. You will loose one or two worms, but don’t worry, they will reproduce and plenty more will replace them. Yes, that’s right, the worms are having ‘sexy time’ in the worm farm (fascinating if you get to witness it).

What if I go on Holiday? Do I need to get a worm-sitter?

Being a responsible pet owner, when you go away on holidays means you don’t need to find a pet sitter for your worms. Throw an extra bit of food in there and take off. Unless you are leaving for 3 months or more, I wouldn’t worry about it.

How do I get started?

Lots of places sell worm farms these days, or you can make one. You can purchase worms with worm farms, or borrow some worms from a friend. You can even order them over the internet.

Then you have to make the other giant leap and start putting your scraps in a container instead of conveniently into the bin. It’s a small change, but it does take determination and committment to do. It’s so much easier to indiscriminately bin everything without a second thought, but then your garden, and the soil around you will suffer!

My cousin Andrea is over from Belgium at the moment on holiday in Australia. She made a salad similar to this one, and it is simple, delicious, and isn’t smothered in mayonaise (which is weird for a Dutch person).

Ingredients

• 1 cup cracked wheat
• boiled water
• 1/2 pomegranate
• 2 handfuls unsalted pistachio nuts
• Bunch of chopped coriander
• Juice of 1 lime
• Splash of olive oil

What you will need

• Salad bowl
• Fine colander or sieve

What to do

1. Cover the cracked wheat with water and soak for 20-30 mins
2. Using a fine sieve, drain any excess water
3. Add pistachio nuts, pomegranate and coriander
4. Squeeze juice of 1 lime, and drizzle with olive oil
5. Season if you like (tasted nice without it)

The weekend was lovely. We escaped from the burbs and took too to the hills – Lavers Hill to be exact.

Lavers Hill is located on the Great Ocean Rd, and lies inland on the ridge, in between Apollo Bay and the 12 Apostles. It probably isn’t very memorable to most tourists as they fly through on their way to see the 12 Apostles, but I love it as I have been going to Lavers Hill since I can remember (or before I can remember).

Dad taught at the Lavers Hill P-12 College 40 years ago in his first teaching job, and has since bought a holiday escape there.

Lavers is home to Melba Gully, a very beautiful example of the temperate rainforest species during the day (show casing some of the largest Mountain Ash, Blackwoods, ferns and Beech trees) was well as glow worms during the night, every night! Often when asking guests what their favourite part of their trip to Australia was, they say it was the glow worms at Melba Gully…so if you haven’t seen them, I highly recommend it.

Lavers Hill is also very close to Weeaproinah which is well known for having the highest rainfall in Victoria.  In these water challenged times, Lavers is still green when the rest of Victoria is crispy. With such green lush country comes leeches, sea fog, rain and it’s cold 99.999% of the time – except for this weekend.

On Saturday we meandered past Port Campbell for breakfast, and the most outstanding part of this was an accompanying Rhubarb relish. If you know what Dutch Curry sauce is like (probably more popular in Holland, and definitely yummier than Tomato sauce) then you will love this relish.

I discovered this relish was made in a near-by town Nirranda by a lady called Lana, and before you knew it, we were traipsing about the countryside looking for relish.

I was fortunate enough to discover where Lana is, and she sold me some relish over the fence. Lana resorted to Rhubarb after discovering that tomato-based products caused her son eczema. She makes other rhubarb products, and uses all natural ingredients without any artificial additives. I might be able to try some of these one day if I can move on past the relish. You can find more on her website www.lanasgarden.com.

Whenever we go back to Holland, Tom spends at least one week getting over his ‘Patat Speciaal’ fetish, which consists of crunchy yellow potato chips with mayonaise, curry sauce and white onion. Now with the discovery of this relish, he never need to go to Holland again (except to visit the family of course!).

Not the prettiest picture of Tom (& Oma Annie), but he is indulging in his favourite junk food, so he can be forgiven

The quest for the perfect brownie is well understood by chocolate brownie connoisseurs. The relentless quality control that goes on until one day, there it is….crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, deep rich chocolate flavour.

I only make one type of brownie, and it’s this one. Comes from the Edmonds cookbook again, and it never fails. I spent my last maternity leave living off brownies and florentine biscuits – so I have done very well to only succumb to making them now (Amber is 4 months old, so I should celebrate).

I usually make double this recipe and cook it in a lamington tin – is REALLY yum. Plus, this recipe is easy to make because you only need a large saucepan to put it together….so it’s quick!

The Edmonds Classics cookbook is great and I definitely recommend it. If you are interested, you can buy it here.

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• ¼ cup cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• ½ cup coconut
• ½ cup plain baking flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder

What you will need

• Large saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Whisk
• Square lined baking tin

What to do

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan
3. Add cocoa. Stir over low heat for 1-2 minutes
4. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar
5. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking in well after each addition
6. Mix in the vanilla and coconut
7. Sift flour and baking powder, and using the wooden spoon, fold it into the mixture
8. Pour the mix into a greased and lined shallow 20cm cake tin
9. Bake at 180 degrees C for 30-35 minutes
10. Leave in tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack
11. Cut into bars when cold
12. You can dust tops with icing sugar

Makes 16.

If I could pass one of the most precious recipes I know onto you, it would be this one – Broad bean and dill rice (aka Green rice).

This dish is Persian and is called Baghali Polow. It is extremely common in Persian cooking. I have had the pleasure of eating this rice since I can remember (of what you can vaguely remember as a small child).

My family were eating this food 20 years before I even ventured into a restaurant that wasn’t a Westernised version of Italian or Chinese. And of all of the food I have tried, I can say that I have tasted nothing like Persian food, with it’s subtle herbs and flavours. Even to this day in Melbourne, being the foodie capital of Australia, there still isn’t a decent Persian restaurant in the mix. In my childhood this food (and how it is eaten) stretched the cultural bounds of a middle-class Aussie child.

Our family have been friends with this one Persian family since I was about 4 years old. I remember Diana cooking this dish and me flatly refusing it (because it was green of course) for many years. One day I got the gumption to try it, and have never looked back. It was only in my teens that I discovered broad beans were in it (I had a traumatic experience with broad beans as a child – if interested read more here). You would never know. Diana and her family would sit on Persian carpets on the floor to eat, and there was always an array of different rice dishes (white rice, saffron rice, green rice) and casseroles (subtle sour flavours with eggplant, chick peas and minimal meat). Everything was eaten with salad and mint and cucumber yoghurt on the side.

Iraj (Diana’s husband) once asked me if I like Persian food, and apparently I replied “I hate bl*%dy f*$$ing Persian food!” (that was in the days when if someone exclaimed bl*^dy people could gasp in horror). So needless to say, my parents were mortified.

a. I constructed a sentence with the rudest words on the market at the time

b. I was only 4, and shouldn’t have known these words

c. I completely slammed an entire nations favourite dish.

Not a bad effort for a 4 year old. However, I think I have spent the remainder of my life being reminded of this blunder (especially by Iraj).

I have to say that even when I make this dish, it is not as good as Diana’s. She would probably tiss at my method, and I have been refining this dish for the last 4 years. However, it is as good as close as I can get to her mastery.

I have taken this  recipe out of The Legendary Cuisine of Persia by Margaret Shaida.

Today I cooked this dish (it took half a day)…and I delighted in every mouthful I ate, and in sharing it with my family and a close friend. It’s not every day you see your children eating 3 serves of rice loaded with broad beans and dill like it was ice cream. This dish is that good (and my son isn’t a fan of vegetables, so that is a great recommendation).

Warning: Kid eating vegetables!

I hope you have the gumption to try it. It will fill your home with the pleasant aroma of dill and broad beans, it will feed you for days and nourish your soul. I kid you not.

This dish takes half a day to prepare, and may involve the whole family shelling broad beans. But hey, it’s worth it!

Ingredients

• 500g long grain rice (I use basmati)
• 4 tablespoons of salt
• 100ml vegetable oil (I use sunflower)
• 20-30 saffron pistils
• 6 grains sugar
• 60g clarified unsalted butter
• 2kg in pod or 1kg frozen broad beans
• 2 bundles dill (about 350g)
• 2 cloves garlic or 1 medium onion
• 2-3 potatoes

What you will need

• Heavy based large saucepan with lid
• Colander
• Wooden spoon
• Mortar and pestle
• Mixing bowls
• 1 chop stick
• 1 clean tea towel

What to do

Step 1: Wash and soak rice

1. Was the rice with 5 or 6 changes of water (I do this and feed my pot plants the cast off water)
2. Cover the rice with at least 2.5cms of water
3. Add 2 tablespoons of salt
4. Leave to soak for at least 3 hours
5. Pour of excess water from the rice

Step 2: Prepare the polow ingredients

1. Shell the broad beans
2. Blanch and skin them
3. Finely chop the onion or garlic
4. Wash the dill, remove any coarse stems and chop finely
5. Peel, wash and cut the potatoes into 1cm thick rounds

Step 3: Prepare liquid saffron

1. Place saffron pistils into mortar and place in warm oven for a few mins to ensure they are completely dry
2. Add 6 grains sugar
3. Crush saffron into a fine powder
4. Mix with 5 teaspoons tepid water and let infuse
5. Melt 60g of unclarified butter, and mix with the saffron liquid

Step 4: Boil rice and beans

1. Put 2 litres of water to the into a large saucepan, with 2 tablespoons of salt
2. Bring to a rapid boil
3. Mix only the beans and the rice to the rapidly boiling water for 2 mins
4. Test the grains to see if they are ready – they should be firm on the inside but soft on the outside
5. Cook for 1 min more
6. Strain the water rice and rince with warm water
7. Toss in a colander to remove most of the water

Step 5: Bake rice/potato mix

1. Add oil to heavy based saucepan and allow to heat
   
2. Line the saucepan base and sides with potato rounds
3. Put one layer of broad bean rice into the saucepan
4. Add a layer of dill and garlic/onion mix
5. Place another layer of broad bean rice on top and so on until both the broad bean rice and dill are used
6. Using the chop stick (or wooden spoon handle) gouge 3 vents into the rice mix, to enable air to escape from the base of the pan
7. Cook with the lid off for 10 mins on medium heat
8. Place a tea towel around the lid of the saucepan
9. Cover the pot, and reduce the heat to the lowest setting
10. Cook for 20 mins

Step 6: Serve

1. Before serving, dish the rice out into a bowl
2. Place the potoato and crisp rice onto the top of the rice mound
3. Pour the saffron butter mixture over the top

Best served with yoghurt with chopped mint and cucumber!

Serves lots of people for plenty of days. This dish tastes even better the next day. Don’t expect the potato pieces to last longer than 5 mins. I have to fight my family off so that I can at least set the table and admire them.

I wrote a blog about the price of being picky a few weeks ago, regarding bananas. In today’s Age there is another article along the same vane:  A blight on us for a perfectly fruity fetish. It is a good read.

Seems we are caught in a futile and downward spiral here. Consumers are to blame for picking he best produce, and then the supermarkets are only catering to our needs. Farmers are left trying to compete with such standards, and unable to sell some of what they produce, if at all. (more…)

When making bacon, I buy a Otway Ranges free-range pork belly. I comes with the ribs attached. If you were making bacon and air-drying it, the ribs protect the underlying meat.

But we have the modern-day convenience of putting our bacon in the fridge or freezer, hence the ribs are spare – so to speak. (more…)

The Dutchies LOVE their desserts. When in Holland, they serve dessert immediately after dinner, and it is commonly either custard, yoghurt or Griesmeel pap. They call this pudding Griesmeel (sounds like Grease-may-el) and it is basically a semolina and almond pudding.

Whenever I have been to Holland I seek it out over all other desserts. Of course, the Dutch buy this ready made from the supermarket (with 50 additives in it) or Dr Oetker’s packet mix, but to me this is about as insane as buying pancake mix and adding egg and milk (what else is in pancakes other than egg, milk and flour?) – madness!

I left Holland highly addicted to this stuff, and decided I had to learn how to make it (without the packet and the additives). So, after years of secret laboratory work, here is the recipe. It’s pretty simple.

Griesmeel doesn’t look very appetising, but is totally delicious, and the perfect dessert if you have just had dinner and haven’t quite filled the gap. Also, it is perfect hot or cold, so you can make it and eat it later, or straight away (if you can’t wait for it to cool).

Ingredients

Note: I never really measure this recipe (or anything to be honest), and it always works out, so make it without fear! I love measuring with my hands (makes cooking even more fun). It makes enough for 4 people, but never really enough (if you know what I mean).

• approx 1/2 litre Milk
• 1 heaped handful of sugar
• 1 heaped handful of semolina
• 1 heaped handful of ground almonds (I grind my own with the skin attached, but you can use almond meal)
• a capful of almond essence

What you will need

• Medium sized saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Patience

What to do

1. Add all of the ingredients to the saucepan, and over a fairly low heat and stir
2. Continue to stir until the ingredients start to thicken – this takes about 10 mins, and I liken it to thickening custard
3. Remove from the heat and serve
4. You can add a knob of butter into this just before you serve it
5. You can also add this to a pudding mould and chill

Is often served with a berry coulis, but I think it steals from the subtle almond flavour, so I don’t! Sometimes I pre-make griesmeel and store it in small plastic jelly containers for the kids for a treat.