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So I've decided to shuffle this blog on over to Wordpress. You'll be able to find it here.
It's gonna take me quite a while to move all my posts over, but when I do start putting new posts up they'll be over there.
I guess the reason I'm moving is that I think I change will give me a bit more energy. Plus I've been dazzled by those fancy wordpress blogs for yonks.
So I'll see ya round like a rissole!
An observant reader may have noticed that this is my first post in quite a while. You may be intrigued to know that during my last few months of radio silence a whole lot of stuff has affected, left or entered my life in one way or another. In case youre interested, Ive put together a list of some important developments, and the foods that punctuate them for me.
Pear and Vanilla Muffins and Engagement
If youve spent much time travelling in Western Europe you may be familiar with Pauls. Strategically placed in major train stations and airports, Pauls serves expensive but decent sandwiches and bakery treats to weary, hungry travellers.
Ah, trains. The one thing everyone sees in Europe.
And so it was, on a bench outside Pauls in Montparnasse train station, that I said a tearful yes (under the watchful eyes of an elderly French couple who looked like theyd been together for millennia), grabbed a pear and vanilla muffin and settled into my seat on a TGV train speeding away from Paris. My brand new fiancé was within snuggling distance for the first time in months.
The flavour combination in that muffin holds an amazing number of good memories for me now. I even played around with it a little, making a Poached Pear and Vanilla Bean Butter Cake (recipe coming soon) that I am ludicrously proud of.
Mulled Wine and My First Romantic Christmas
This one is cheating a little bit. I mean, if cinnamon, cloves, star anise, vanilla and nutmeg dont already remind you of the holidays, I have to wonder where you go in December every year.
These spices have been enjoyed for so long, you can find them in all sorts of cultures and cuisines. That special festive touch is not exclusive to the west!
But anyway, to go along with a magnificent Christmas feast for J and I, I made a pot of mulled wine (I used Jaime Olivers recipe from here). It was the first Christmas we had ever spent together, just the two of us. It was also my first ever cold weather Christmas. And this mulled wine was just one more special , decadent, holiday card style touch.
Mulled wine is a nice for a traditional (or not so traditional) Christmas dinner
Purple Noses and Existential Angst
In Belgium, as well as their delicious delicious chocolates, they also make other tasty confectionary like purple noses (also called cuberdon, apparently).
This image is from http://www.belgium-gourmet.com/ where you can apparently buy them. I had difficulty working out how, but I also got up at 6 this morning.
Theyre a raspberry type flavour (though I believe you can get other flavours), kind of solid but flexible on the outside and liquidy on the inside, and utterly delicious. Unexpectedly so.
J and I had just begun our month and a bit of travel around Europe and I was encountering what became a theme of my musings throughout our travels - who am I anyway? What defines me as a person, and at this moment, where I could really become anything, what person do I want to be?
The kind of person who faces into the wind?
On the last day of the Brussels Christmas markets we picked up a 600 gram bag of super high quality Belgian chocolates on special for ten euro. And mixed in there were a nice helping of purple noses. And so I spent a night or two lying awake with some embarrassingly intense existential angst going on, sucking the liquidy goodness out of some purple noses.
Chiko Rolls and Home
If there was one food I craved being away from the country of my birth, more than real milk, more than a nice kangaroo steak, it was a chiko roll. That luxurious tube of deep fried, gooey-centred goodness.
This image is from http://www.chiko.com.au
I have eaten approximately fifteen thousand chiko rolls since my return to the country, and theres still not much else that makes me feel so comfy and at home inside. Being away from everything I knew and the culture thats always surrounded me really made it clear to me how much I love living in Australia, despite all of its flaws. This is my home, and probably always will be.
Ive been getting inspired lately. Ive spent a lot of time reading food blogs, eating food, and thinking about things. And so I thought Id share a few of the changes and ideas that have struck me lately. Things Id like to incorporate into my life and my food.
Eating locally
This ones come from a variety of places. Part of it is seeing mangos for sale here in France while its snowing outside. On one hand its a miracle of globalisation and amazing. But on the other hand, the hand thats holding a lot of weight in my mind at the moment, is the thought of all the energy it took to get that mango here, plus considering just how good quality a mango like that could be, especially compared to the lovely fresh ones Im used to in mango season at home in Australia. If I had to attribute this idea to someone, it would be the Tigress. I dont think I will ever eat entirely locally, I just love cinnamon and vanilla too much, but I hope to get my percentage local to start heading on its way up.
Eating (and living) cruelty-free
I'd like to think the hens that lay the eggs I eat are as happy as old George here.
This one is something Ive been trying to edge towards for a while now, but havent made any real commitment to. And this isnt a promise either. I know that for now my lifestyle isnt anywhere near cruelty-free, but I also know the best way to sabotage any lifestyle change is to make it extreme and sudden. And this is not something I want to be just a fad. So Im taking it slow. But eventually it will hopefully mean knowing where all of my food comes from, and being happy with what goes on there. I attribute the inspiration for this one to my family. Its my upbringing, thinking about the consequences of my actions, and compassionate thinking, which make me want my impact on the world to be a cruelty-free one.
Eating with more balance
This one comes directly from a lady named Gena. While I dont think her lifestyle (vegan, high-raw) is ideal for me, and I dont agree that cruelty-free = animal product-free, this is a lady that puts a whole lot of thought, and love, into her food choices. And the overwhelming message I take away is balance. Its about feeling good, ethically and physically. And I know that when I spend a day and put a little bit of thought into balancing out nutrients and getting all the components my body needs, I feel a whole lot better than a day where I eat only chocolate-based items.
Feeding people more often
I feed people fairly often when Im home. Ill have a little party for this or that. But Id love to ramp that up a bit. I want to have people over for afternoon tea on the weekends. I want to take someone a cake as a surprise, just because I like them. Its not easy when you dont have that much money coming in, but sharing food and making people happy with food is a feeling I love, and reading about it in so so many blogs out there, I want that feeling more.
So those are some of my thoughts at the moment. I think its nice to have goals for yourself. Because you can never be perfect, and thats a gift, because it means you always have something you can improve, and get that little boost of satisfaction that youve made yourself a better person. And I think being more ethical is one of those goals that just keep on giving. So what do you think, feeling inspired?
What is an auberge espagnole? is a question you may ask. What do Spanish hostels have to do with food? is a question you may ask if youre handy with Google translate. Well never fear, Im here to answer at least one of those questions for you!
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I like cooking with kids. Love it in fact. Not only do I get the chance to hang out with some kids, but they are a great excuse to really have fun with it. Cooking that is.
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I love to have a good project underway. But almost as much as having one going, I really like to have a project floating around in the future, like a dream. A nice dream. The kind of dream where everything is tinged the subtlest shade of mauve. The kind of dream you have when you fall asleep listening to Prince. And right now, amongst many, many other things, I dream of jam making.
I've made lemon butter before, but I've never gone so far as to make jam.
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For the last while I felt down, not up, un-perky, demotivated, grumpy, tired, sore, and just overall icky. I thought grumpy thoughts, spouted tired greetings and did unmotivated work. I stopped posting on this blog. I sat around eating couscous with jam and chocolates and pasta and I wondered why I was feeling so lacklustre.
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Change is a funny thing. You can see it in every part of your life, right down to the foods you eat. Long gone are the days when the list of foods I dont like included cream, butter, zucchinis and anything less than well-done meat. And many of my staple meals now can be traced back to a particular time where something changed. And I think Ive come across a new little change for my diet in the form of mâche.
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Travelling around here in Europe, where every country has hundreds and even thousands of years of firm history and identity under their belts, I find it very odd when someone asks me what food is Australian food. I never can put my finger on one particular dish that is just Australian.
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Do you ever sit up past your bedtime? Every feel like, for one reason or another, it's now hours past when you would normally go to sleep and you're not really used to this time of night/day? Ever have that happen when you weren't really expecting it? Ever start to get hungry?
Each day we space our meals roughly the same distance apart, or at least I do. and each day we go to bed not more than a couple of hours after dinner, or at least that's what happens for me. And when that odd night comes along and I have my dinner and settle down, but don't actually manage to make it to the land of nod, I find that, after the amount of time I usually allot between meals, I get hungry again
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Comment by angelbird72
on Male model on FHM's list of the world's sexiest women
Cooking with Feeling
There's been a lot of gender-related controversy lately, so here's hoping this story ends up having a net effect of showing people that slurs and hurtful words like that writer's are just unacceptable. And commentary like yours helps achieve that!