The other weekend I was sitting on the train with my family (something we rarely get to do) after a trip into the city to buy a tea pot (I am sure another blog will surface about tea when I get around to it). Anyway…it was a pleasant morning, and I was thinking about the ‘cook up’ I had planned for the rest of the day so that I can survive the working week.

It was then that I noticed something move against the scalp of my 5 year old’s head, and it was then that the focus of the rest of my afternoon was redesigned for me.

Head lice….eeeerrrrrgggghhhhh. Just thinking about them makes the hairs on the back of my neck creep and gives me the urge to scratch an itch that suddenly appears on my scalp. Even if someone else tells you that their child has nits, suddenly you start to feel your own scalp feeling itchy. Heck…mine is feeling itchy right now as I write.

This was my first ever experience with head lice. I guess I have gotten off pretty lightly prior to this. I have wondered in the past what they actually look like, as I have never actually seen them, but after much discussion with a girlfriend who’s children have had head lice, I was pretty certain most of my previous run ins were just my brain being CONVINCED I had them and all of the associated itching that you feel propelled to do. No lice/nits comb came up with any evidence though.

But this time, as I gazed down, I could see two small dark insects crawling about Jasmine’s scalp. Without wanting to alarm Jasmine (who was having a wonderful time on the train), or repulse the rest of the passengers into a subconscious scalp itching frenzy, I mentioned to Tom that “we need to get the SPECIAL comb onto someone’s hair when we get home”.

Sadly, I must say, Tom isn’t great when you try to spell something out to him. His brain just doesn’t work that way. It’s not that he can’t spell, but if I say I have I C E C R E A M in the fridge (because I don’t want the kids to know), he gets all flustered with me. Maybe it’s because his first language isn’t English, or maybe he can’t see the word you are spelling and needs me to say it. Anyway….after three attempts at trying to convey the message that could eloquently be phrased as “Jasmine has f&@king head lice in her hair” I gave up and sat in silence, prayed that the train trip would end soon, and tried not to itch.

One thing that concerns me about conventional head lice treatments sold in the pharmacy or supermarket is that the ingredients sound like you are attempting chemical warfare on a your youngster’s scalp. I just don’t feel like I want to go there.

First things first I smothered the hair in conditioner and used the lice comb. This stuns the head lice (of which I found two), and removes some of the eggs.

So I turned to my aromatherapy books and oils. I have a myriad of aromatherapy books, and I recall seeing a head lice treatment in there somewhere, and sure enough, there are a myriad of recipes you can choose. The treatment I chose came from Aromatherapy Blends for Life by Judith White (which is no longer in print).

Ingredients

• Eucalyptus – 2 drops
• Thyme – 2 drops
• Tea tree – 1 drop
• Lime – 2 drops
• Lemon – 1 drop

• 40mls of Jojoba massage base oil – this oil is wonderful as it doesn’t go rancid, and is beautiful for warming and using for facials or hair treatments

What you will need

• Vapouriser – us this to heat your massage base oil, and add your essential oils to it. Yes, you can do this with massage base oils, it heats them just slightly

• Basting brush – from the kitchen – I prefer the natural bristle instead of silicone

What to do

1. Heat the oil in the vapouriser
2. Add the essential oils
3. Baste onto the hair, making sure you get the roots and all sections of the hair
4. Leave in your hair for 20 mins or more – I got Jasmine to do some colouring – if you wish wrap a towel around the hair to stop oil from being spread around your walls/furniture
5. Wash out the oil and shampoo – you might need to shampoo a few times, as the hair will be oily

Jasmine was terrified of what I was about to do to her, with a vapouriser and candle blazing, and a basting brush poised to attack her head (or maybe it was the ‘die nits die’ look I had in my eyes) but when I started to apply the oil to her hair, she relaxed back and really enjoyed it. We had a nice mother/daughter time together, giving her a deluxe hair treatment, and it smelt divine. So, all in all, it was rather pleasant and the end of the day, and no nasty chemicals – just natural ones.

The following week, I repeated the treatment. This time we both looked forward to it. There weren’t any lice in Jasmine’s hair, but a few random nits attached to the hair shaft that I perhaps missed in my first treatment (they hadn’t grown in size, so I suspect round 1 killed them). Today I checked again, and her hair is clear. It’s been three weeks since the second treatment, so I am pretty happy with the results.

Sure, I have eaten lentils before, and sure, if you know how to accompany them with the right spices, they can taste amazing. However, I don’t.

So…I thought I would experiment with the humble lentil this year, and expand our food repertoire a little from the rice/pasta/mash bases to include this pulse.

My memories of earlier experimentation with lentils occurred when I was at university. Of course, being a poor student, and living away from home, this was my first experience of actually having to fend for myself – on many fronts. I loved it.

I am the second eldest child of four, and mum was a stay at home mum for most of my school years, so the kitchen was usually running hot, and there wasn’t really much room for experimentation. I came of this and went to college in country Victoria, and although I had a good understanding of how to cook (probably better than some people who for instance, could make pancakes or bolognese), I had no idea about quantities. I could easily whip up a meal for 6 people, but had no idea what to put together for one. And if I did whip up a meal for 6, then unfortunately I had to eat it too…..

I moved into accommodation with another student Sue, who decided she was going to be vegetarian, and we shared cooking. There was lots of experimentation, let’s just say, some massive disasters (like the time Sue decided to cook chicken for guests, but let’s just say only cooked each side for 2 minutes because that’s what you do for tofu, to then watch the guests all shudder at the sight of bloody raw meat, and leave it uneaten – all when you are dying for a piece of protein – unforgettable!). We were your typical students, making do with the cheapest foods you could buy, and I would say we ate vegetarian for most of the year. By the end of it though, I was fanging for something with flavour.

If only I had discovered some decent spices – I might have explored the Lentil further.

I made a lentil salad recently – massive hit with Tom…so much so that when he came home recently from traveling, I made it for him as a surprise (sad really). He thinks it tastes as good as meat. The kids don’t love it, but they do eat it, so it’s one of those things – not as bad as my early childhood broad bean experiences, and not as great as lasagna.

We went to dinner at my friend Lara’s house the other day. She’s on a “no red meat, no dairy and no wheat diet”. I am SERIOUSLY considering not having her as a friend anymore. I mean honestly, what is there left to eat? I took this lentil salad, and both Tom, Lara and I ate it. Lets just say, not everyone else was raving about it.

Anyway, after a slight mishap in the bath tub that night (involving one of my children, two of Lara’s and a ‘floater’) I dare say I won’t have to worry about my next invitation.

Anyway…horror stories aside, I think the lentil has big potential, and I am keen to expand my recipes to include more. If you have any favourite recipes that you are happy to recommend…then I would love to know about them. Here’s my Lentil salad recipe!

This recipe comes from the recipe book Cool food.
There a whole series of these books which I have (including Bowl food, Hot food, Sweet food) that are really very good. With the exception of only one of two recipes that haven’t turned out so well, I think most I have made or tasted from these books have been pretty impressive.

During my maternity leave, which was over the summer, I experimented with different salads using this Cool food recipe book. I figured a different dish a week is a great way to experiment without burning yourself out and salads are a great meal – and you always feel so much lighter after eating them.

This one is a definite addition to the repertoire. Also, it uses home grown mint (which is always growing in abundance in my garden, and rarely used).

Ingredients

• 1/2 brown onion
• 2 cloves
• 1 2/3 cups of small green lentils (called Bondi lentils in my local deli), or puy lentils
• 1 large strip of lemon zest
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 60ml olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3-4 chopped spring onions

What you will need

• Medium sauce pan

What to do

1. Remove the skin from the onion, and stud the onion with the cloves. Add to the sauce pan
2. Add the lemon zest, 1 teaspoon of cumin, bay leaf, garlic, lentils and water
3. Bring to the boil, and boil on moderate heat for 25-30 minutes or until the water is absorbed
4. Discard the onion, zest and bay leaves. Set aside the garlic and chop it up
5. Whisk together the oil, 1 teaspoon of cumin, vinegar and juice and allow to soak in
6. Add chopped spring onions and mint
7. Season and serve

I am a big fan of ReuseMoose, mostly because I was there for his birth (after totally loving the whole Freecycle concept, but complaining to my geek husband and his geek friend Vincent that it wasn’t the nicest interface and there were about 500 million rules).

Today they noticed the traffic going mad on it, and traced it back to an article in my favourite news paper The Age: Furnish your house for free.

I am glad to see more people becoming aware of the benefits of getting someone, anyone to re use their unwanted belongings – even if they can no longer get money for them.

It’s actually harder than you think to just give something away. I gave away a perfectly good breadmaker on Freecycle, as I hate hoarding. Nothing wrong with it, but it was used. Since we have started to make our own Sourdough bread we just never used the thing anymore, and are likely not to.

I listed it on Freecycle, and then observed an interesting phenomena. I started to feel anxious about who to give it too….what they will do with it, will they profit from it.

Finally, I realised I had to change my mindset. If you don’t want it anymore, can’t get money for it (ebay), can’t give it to the local op shop (be careful here as many can’t take white goods – dropping them off causes even more landfill for these poor charities), then just give it to someone, anyone who needs it. Just try to avoid having it end up in the tip.

Then, if it does end up in the tip after all, you know it really is trash. No one want’s it. You can’t be much more responsible than that unless you open up a recycling factory!

Also, the act of cleaning out unwanted clutter is a very healthy thing to do. It helps you clear your mind, not just your house, and can even help you loose unwanted weight (read more on this on Cyndi O’Meara’s Changing Habit‘s website).

If that’s not enough, then watch the video’s on Annie Leonard’s website: The Story of Stuff – I found this website very informative, and it has helped immensely understand the pressure to accumulate stuff in the first place. If you have accumulated lots of stuff, you might find it helps you break that pattern.

So stop whatever you are doing right now (obviously finish reading this blog) and start hunting for those unwanted items.

So if you are mentally, emotionally and ecumenically ready to give your unwanted things away, have a go on www.reusemoose.com.