long time

Haven't been posting for a long time, I know I like doing it, but also don't want it to become a chore or take me from the things that are important. I am going to try and go back to the one post a week min, so watch this space for posts.....

Kim Chee - a first experiment in fermenting.

Femented foods are very healthy for us, and were the original way of preserving food, as well as brine/salt preserving and drying.

Examples of some fermented foods are wine, vinegar, kombucha, tofu, miso, saurkraut, pickles.

Kim chee is the asian version of saurkraut and is really easy to make. I've had a recipe for ages and this week made my first batch. I got this recipe from Kendra Jane, who blogs at A sonoma Garden

She has the most beautiful photos and lots of posts with recipes and ideas.

1 head Napa cabbage, cored and shredded

1 bunch of green onions, chopped

1 cup carrots, grated

1/2 cup daidon radish, grated

1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 tablespoons whey* (or use additional 1 T salt instead)

Place vegetables, ginger, red chili flakes, salt and whey in a bowl and pound it with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer to release juices. (See picture of my kimchee mid mashing)

Place them in two quart sized glass jars and press down firmly until all the juices come up to the top and cover the vegetables. The top of the vegetables should be at least an inch from the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days at which time you can put it in the fridge or cold storage.

I only made a half quantity, and was very relaxed with the amounts of different vegetables. I don't think it will really matter. It's sitting on my kitchen bench fermenting away, and tomorrow it will be ready to taste and then refrigerate!

Kendra jane explains that you can get whey by draining a quart of yogurt (make sure it contains the good bacteria-we use Pavels) through a clean dishtowel for a few hours. If you do this overnight you’ll end up with more than 4 tablespoons, but it will keep in the fridge for up to 6 months. And you’ll also end up with yogurt cheese as a by product, which is delicious and makes a great alternative to cream cheese

I have also in the past gotten whey from making ricotta cheese which I have posted about here.

I also use the whey in my breadmaking, it adds extra protein which is good for the bread dough and for you!

I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow! Ps, the onions, garlic and daikon radish were all from my garden!

I 'm famous - sort of

Think you've seen this photo before?

Well, maybe you have, but most recently it's featured on Angela's blog My year without spending. Angela is from that great continent of North America and blogs about her life, and is part of the compact, a committment to live a non-consumer lifestyle. As part of that she has a regular segment called "thrifty threads" and the other week she featured me!!!

Here is an excerpt of what she wrote.

Today's model is Hannah, who blogs at Caminho da Vida.
She's a regular reader and commenter on this blog, and some of you might
recognize her as the commenter "han_ysic." Hannah is from Nowra, a small town
about 2 hours outside Sydney, and the tagline on her blog is "An Aussie girl on the journey of living generously, living simply and living out my faith." She
posts about the things she's grateful for, her outdoor
adventures, and some
really good photographs, among other things. It's
winter in Australia right now, and some of
the snow images
in this recent post about being grateful for snow are
gorgeous.

Thanks to Angela for featuring me and for sharing about your journey of living simply!

It was great getting to know you a bit more as you prepared this post.

Spring is in the air

Although the tulips are out and the apricots have blossomed and the mulberries are ripening on the tree,

There is another sign that spring is in the air....

The legs have been waxed!!!!

Photo taken halfway through, that hairy leg does not unfortunately belong to a gorgeous man sitting next to me.

Any thoughts on spring?

Grateful for stopping and going.

This is Kieran, my friend's baby on his one month birthday.

Isn't the smell of a newborn baby something special?

Grateful for moments to breathe...

listen...

just be...

These were taken at Gymea baths in Sth Sydney on my way north, just before having dinner with a family friend. I think one of the best pizzas of my life - Crust on Gymea Bay Rd. Thanks for the pizza Sam.

Dropping into a friends and walking around the garden,

Being given some Rhubarb,

Sharing a cup of tea,

Helping fix a saxaphone... who would have thought.

A last minute call to go with my brother and friends out to Wandandian,

Watching them hurl themselves down a hill on mountain bikes,

Big kisses from his dogs,

Lots of laughs,

Hanging out with Kate, his amazing girlfriend,

The beauty of the bush, the way light streams through the trees.

Grateful for travelling and for coming home

I was away for a couple of days with work recently, travelled to Newcastle for some training. We were blessed with an amazing view from the room where the training was held, right on the main Newcastle beach. I may have gotten distracted at times....

Grateful for the chance to catch up with Carli, a very old friend who is studying in Newcastle. She put me up at her place and we got to know each other all over again as we saw the sights, had great coffee by the beach, cooked dinner, went out on the town....

But always grateful to be home,

exploring new walks and undiscovered beaches,

spending time with friends...

Throwing birthday parties, BBQ's and enjoying eating outdoors as the weather begins to get milder.

And being inspired by the Watoto children's choir

These children are all orphans, some in the most horrific circumstances, but they have been found by Watoto, a group that house orphans with widows, who would otherwise have to turn to begging or worse and create families, villages and communities. I was overwhelmed by the joy of these children, the healing they show and their passion for life and for God. This picture shows just a tiny bit of their energy as they danced and sang (and tried to get us to join them)

grateful for the garden

Thankful for chickens digging me up some sweet potatoes! I didn't even guess they would be ready. They were orange, decent sized and delicious.

Thankful for getting an egg from every chicken today - four brown and one blue/green (from speckles the bantam)

Thankful for willing teenage hands who were happy to mow the lawn in return for a free feed.

Thankful for the opportunity to invite said hands to church, and even more so that they came!

Thankful for the rain that fell last night (of course watering the garden will always bring that one on :)

Thankful for the bees and wasps, working hard to pollinate my flowers. Looking forward to apricots!

I could go on for so long, the garden is growing, the birds are laying, the fruit is ripening. I just need more time to get it all done. Last sunday I doubled the size of the no dig garden to surround the small walnut tree, need to do another layer on top before it's ready and then looking at planting a lot of my spring veges like beans and corn there. Can't wait to watch it all grow and then to eat it all.

Don't you love this image - Listening to Nature. It's by Rob Ryan who does the most amazing work with papercuts. Drop by and have a look.