Giant Kelp Forest Australian Secret Wonder

Wild Australia: Giant Kelp forests In the Tasman Peninsula, amazing Giant Kelp beds are disappearing.

Did You Know? Kelp forests occur in cold, nutrient-rich water and are among the most beautiful and biologically productive habitats in the marine environment. They are found throughout the world in shallow open coastal waters, and the larger forests are restricted to temperatures less than 20ºC, extending to both the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. A dependence upon light for photosynthesis restricts them to clear shallow water and they are rarely much deeper than 15-40m. The kelps have in common a capacity for some of the most remarkable growth rates in the plant kingdom. In southern California, the Macrocystis can grow 30 cm per day. More on the demise of the kelp forests

Closing The Book of Longing

"So I closed the Book of Longing ..."

It's a great line.

The Book of Longing of course is the title of a poetry book by Leonard Cohen. So too goes a line in the  song "That Don't Make It Junk".  Beyond that the phrase reminds us of something that we may all be familiar with.  That longing that will and can never be satisfied.

We can drive ourselves crazy wanting for things that can't be ours, are not possible or are just forever beyond our reach.

Our attachment to the longing we feel can  eat at us. It can blind us to the beauty that is around us right now, and make tasteless the best that our life has to offer us.

What we long for can become like an addiction.  Not having what we long for can become a nagging kind of suffering that we bring into our own life and we can fall into the trap of thinking that the intensity of the longing can make it more likely to come to us.

That of course is not so.

The intensity of the longing only gives us intensity of longing.

And intensity of pain at not having that object of our longing.

Closing our own book of longing could be just the thing to let us see those other things in life that are so good that we have been overlooking.

Keep Your Visitors Safe With These Tips For Better Food Handling

Can't stress enough the importance of understanding how to handle food safely. This article from the ABC gives some good background.

In summary:

Break up big batches

Feeding hungry hordes over the holidays often means making large batches of food in advance.If you are preparing large batches of food in advance, store them in smaller amounts in a number of separate shallow containers with lids.

Two, four, out...

When it comes to leftovers, it's important to remember that the temperature danger zone in which food poisoning micro-organisms thrive is 5°C to 60°C. A good rule of thumb is "two-four-out".

Don't wash the bird

Washing your chicken before you cook it is one family Christmas tradition you need to break.

Raw-egg roulette

If mayonnaise, tiramisu, mousse, eggnog and other dishes are holiday favourites for you and yours, then you should know foods made with raw or minimally cooked eggs are now the most common cause of food-borne salmonella outbreaks in Australia.

Watch out for the rice salad

Rice can be contaminated with the Bacillus cereus bacteria, which are found in the soil and plants grown close to the ground – including legumes, grains and spices, says Cathy Moir, CSIRO food microbiologist. When these plant foods are dried and stored, the Bacillus bacteria remain present as spores, which stay dormant until you add water – then presto, they germinate and grow. Unfortunately the cooking process doesn't kill the heat-resistant spores and once the cooked rice starts to cool, the bacteria thrive, and produce toxins that can make you very sick in a very short period of time.

  Wash your salad vegetables

Soaking your fruit or vegetables for hours before you eat them is probably overkill, but a thorough rinse in fresh water is a good idea.

Moir says rinsing does two things: it reduces your exposure to microorganisms that can make you sick, and may wash away chemical and pesticide residues.

Which mouldy cheese should you ditch?

If it's a hard cheese, then it will have a low moisture content and its dense structure means mould will usually survive only on the surface, rather than spreading invisibly into the cheese. So it should be safe to cut around the affected area and eat the rest of block.

Spread love, not germs

You already know this, but most of us don't do it frequently enough or properly – wash your hands.As well as your hands, you should also keep your kitchen surfaces and equipment clean – especially after using them for raw foods. Be sure to use a clean cloth and hot soapy water to wipe down surfaces.

See the full article for the rest of the information that you want to commit to memory for your #betterlife and good food handling skills. 

Transformed - Meat Recipes To Vegetarian

What happens when a family member decides to quit eating meat? The challenge goes out to create vegetarian versions of old family favourites. But they have to taste almost the same and definitely need to have the same kind of texture and qualities that made the original worthwhile. The idea floated was this - How to make an Aussie meat pie - that contains no meat. Now there is a challenge that is worth having a go at to complete.

In the past year I have discovered french style lentils.  Visiting France and skirting the area of Le Puy for which this style of lentil is famed makes me like them even more. Unlike most lentils which cook down to mush, these are small and round and hold their shape like tiny caviar balls. Indeed there is a 'caviar'salad you can make with them that is rather nice.

With half a bag of lentils, this is what I made.

So here's my stab at transforming some family recipes to vegetarian versions - and it turns out all of these dishes can stem from the same basic mixture. A meatless meat pie filling! Get this basic mixture down pat and there is no telling how far you can make it work for you with other dishes too. I've used ingredients that I had in the pantry and bought nothing special for these recipes. They contain no soy bean products or fake 'meat'.

Please note, measurements are approximate since I rarely measure anything but those shown in the recipes are a good guesstimate.

Basic lentil mixture - BLM

Basic Lentil Mixture Recipe

1 cup dried French lentils
3 tablespoons barley
2 onions diced finely
1 tablespoon brown or demerara sugar
1 stick of celery diced finely
1 carrot diced finely
1 potato
1 tablespoon American mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (or tamarind)
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup or sauce
1 tablespoon barbeque sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
Water as needed
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 tablespoon ghee or butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to season

Wash lentils and barley, drain and set aside.  In a heavy-based saucepan cook onions gently in 1 tablespoon olive oil on low heat till transparent, then add sugar and stir till they begin to caramalise.

Add diced celery and carrot and continue to stir over low heat for several minutes.

Add the lentils and barley and stir for several minutes, then add half a cup of water cover and allow to cook gently for 10 minutes on low heat with the lid on.  Add more water if required to stop it from burning.

Remove the lid, stir gently and allow to cook for a few more minutes to allow the liquid to evaporate.

Once the water has evaporated, add the ghee or butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil, when butter has melted, add the plain flour and stir.   When the flour and fats have been incorporated, and there is some colour to the base of the pan, add 1 cup of water and stir till thickened and gravy is smooth.  Move the saucepan off the heat to a cold hotplate and leave for several minutes to allow the base to cool and incorporate any browning inside the bottom of the pot to mix with the lentils, so that when you stir it the base will be clean and not sticking.

BLM - closeup - note the thick gravy

NOTE: If you prefer, this stage can be done in a separate saucepan - make a blonde roux if this is easier for you to manage. In this case, when done, just add the roux to the lentil mixture.

Add a small amount of water to the vegetable and lentil mix that has thickened, and grate a potato into the mix, then simmer gently till lentils are slightly soft but not mushy.  Season with salt and pepper and adjust any of the seasonings to taste. The potato and seasonings seem to add something of that umami richness that is often missing from food when the meat is taken out.

This base mixture would work well as a filling for an Aussie meat pie - without the meat and can also be used as a base from which you can make Shepherds Growers pie.

Shepherds Growers Pie

Basic Lentil Mixture
Mashed potato (with hot milk and butter, salt and pepper)
Grated cheese

Just prepare the mashed potato in the quantity you need depending on the size of the pic you want to make.

Grease the pie dish, add the Basic Lentil Mixture. Top with hot mashed potato, and add the grated cheese.  Heat in a moderate oven until cheese is browned.

Optional: Panko Japanese breadcrumbs mixed with the cheese.

Growers Pie

No lambs here, just lentils!

From this base I made these recipes and you may have some family favourites that this will work for you too...

Spaghetti Lentilaise Sauce

Spaghetti Bolognaise Lentilaise 

1 large onion finally diced

2 cloves of garlic - pressed

½  a stick of celery

¼  red pepper diced finely

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 can of diced Italian tomatoes

Lentil Base Mixture

3 sprig of fresh oregano

¼ cup red wine

In the olive oil, fry the onion, garlic, celery and red pepper gently till onion is translucent.  Add paprika and stir through, then add the can of tomatoes and a quarter of a can of water (swirl around to clean up any tomato left in the can) and cook for 5 minutes on gentle heat with a cover on the pan. 

Remove cover and stir again, then add 1 large cup of the lentil base mix, stir and cook gently for another 15 minutes. Check that the consistency is right – if too runny, cook with the lid off to reduce the liquid, or add a little more water as this step progresses.

Add wine and oregano and stir cooking for another 5 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.

Served with spaghetti

Served with spaghetti 

Serve over your favourite freshly cooked pasta - al dente please, don't overcook the pasta. 

This can be cooked ahead and reheated when the pasta is ready. 

Note: Of course you can also use this sauce to make lasagna.

Top with grated Parmesan or Pecorino

Chilli Sin Carne (Chilli without meat)

1 large onion finally diced

2 cloves of garlic – pressed

1 whole fresh chilli chopped finely

½  a stick of celery

½  red pepper diced finely

1 teaspoon chilli powder or to taste

1 dessertspoon cumin powder

1 dessertspoon coriander powder

1 tablespoon paprika

1 cup Lentil Base Mixture

1 can kidney beans or black (turtle) beans (or same amount in home cooked dried beans)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 can of diced Italian tomatoes

Splash of Tabasco

In the olive oil, fry the onion, garlic, chili, celery and red pepper gently till onion is translucent.  Add spices and stir through, then add the can of tomatoes and a quarter of a can of water (swirl around to clean up any tomato left in the can) and cook for 5 minutes on gentle heat with a cover on the pan. 

Remove cover and stir again, then add 1 large cup of the lentil base mix, and drained, rinsed beans, stir and cook gently for another 15 minutes. Check that the consistency is right – if too runny, cook with the lid off to reduce the liquid, or add a little more water as this step progresses. Taste for seasonings and add a big splash of Tabasco or pepper sauce if more 'heat' is required.

Chile Sin Carne - Chile Without Meat

Finish with a dollop of sour light cream or yoghurt

Served here with jasmine rice and side salad, but you could use this for tacos, with tortillas, enchiladas, burritos or even with eggs for Huevos rancheros

Curried Salmon Lentils

My family has a particular fondness for curries. Indian curries, Malay curries ... but we grew up with my mother's curried chicken (never to be confused with a chicken curry!) and curried salmon - always red salmon and surprisingly tasty.

What a surprise to find the essential flavour is largely retained even without the salmon.  

1 or 2 onions halved and finely sliced

2 Tablespoons butter 

Olive oil

1/4 to 1/2 cup hot water

1 Tablespoon curry powder (Clive of India is okay. I would typically use a mix of Clive of India and a small Keens curry powder.  You want a good yellow colour not a dark orange colour, so extra tumeric if necessary can be added) 

1 tablespoon plain flour

zest of one lemon 

juice of one lemon

1 cup of wam milk

chopped chives or spring onions 

1 cup of Basic Lentil Mix

Diced tomato

Curried Salmon Lentils 

Optional 

1. 1 cup of frozen peas, toss in at the end and leave uncovered till peas are warmed through, but retain their dark green appearance.
2. tiny capers can be added 

Now bear in mind there are thousands of Indian lentil recipes - this isn't one of them. So no coconut milk or anything that might steer us from the original brief, but of course you can use that if you wish.

Add the sliced onions to a warm pan with a splash of olive oil and sweat till they are translucent and beginning to turn pale golden.  Do not leave them at this stage - keep watching and stirring lest they burn.

Add 2 tablespoons of butter and when melted, add the curry powder and cook for one minute, then add flour and mix well to incorporate into the butter, then add the hot water. This will give you a thick paste consistency, to which you can now add the milk. This should result in a smooth consistency without lumps! If the colour is not yellow enough mix a little tumeric with water and add to get the colour you prefer. You are looking for a warm golden colour for the finished dish.

Add Basic Lentil Mixture, zest of lemon, and juice of half a lemon, allow to simmer for a few minutes on low heat.  Add diced fresh tomato just before serving. (Add capers if you are using these) and finely chopped chives or spring onions. 

Serve with steamed jasmine rice and a squeeze of lemon.

Flavour verdict

I was frankly surprised at how like the original recipe these turned out to be. They were all quite different one from the other and didn't just taste like the same thing in each recipe. They compared well in flavour and importantly, in texture and I would make them again. Since I don't like minced meat I would probably prefer this version to one using real mince. 

This would be a simple thing to make a pot of this at the start of the week if you are time poor and can only think it would be quite an economical way to go too. 

Fab Food For The Festive Season

Christmas season is hot weather in Australia.  If you're looking for some side dishes that are lighter and full of flavour you might like these to try with your more traditional meats and poultry.  Remember, many people are choosing vegetarian food or just cutting down and watching their weight. 

No matter what the food, look for interesting and unexpected ways to present your food to give it maximum eye appeal as well as taste. 

Clean Mango & Black Bean Salad

Vegan • Gluten-free

Click for recipe

Cucumber and Napa cabbage (wongbok) coleslaw with peanuts, cilantro (coriander leaf) and lime

Recipe

Almond Artichoke Summer Salad

Recipe

Bloody Mary Salad - Looks like Christmas on a plate!

Recipe

Summer Vegetable Slaw

Recipe

Penne, baby mozzarella and fresh tomato salad

Recipe

What's The Matter With Kids Today?

Comic Book Readers, by Ruth Orkin, New York City c.1947

“Generation Y stands at the forefront of the next chapter 

in mankind’s evolution: experiencing everything while going nowhere” 

- Bob Lutz

"What's wrong with the young people today? Always staring at their iphones..."

So goes the chatter most days no matter where we are. 

Those kids are just -

Too much something

Not enough something

Too often or 

Not often enough.

"If only they could be like us."

It seems we have short memories of what it was like to be of 'the younger generation'.  It turns out that just like sex, we didn't invent problems between young people and the older generations. That Generation Gap is much older than the 1970s.

And yet I've seen it stated that this is the first time we have had four generations conceivably in the same workforce.  Perhaps things are not so dire as we like to think. 

In this article in The Economist we get some insight into how these generations are perceived in the workplace. 

"One reason for optimism is that some of the things that supposedly make Generation Y different have been exaggerated, says Rich Floersch, head of HR at McDonald’s. In fact, they are “irked by the myths of having a sense of entitlement, having poor communication skills and being job-hoppers.” If they find a company that offers challenging work, a sense of purpose and development they will stay, he adds."

That's good news. 

"Google is often portrayed as the embodiment of millennial-friendly work practices. But Laszlo Bock, a human-resources chief at the internet firm, points out that it has workers as old as 83. And he argues that the only thing different about Generation Y is that it is actually asking for the things that everybody else wants."

Maybe we are not so different after all. 

Older days...

"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."

~ Allegedly, by Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274


"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless
beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and
impatient of restraint."

~ Hesiod, Eighth Century B.C

And this... also in dispute as to origin...

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."

~ Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L.
Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment, p. 277
(1953)."

"I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is
always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is
wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the
old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks
it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid."

~ G. K. Chesterton

Then those rebels in the 1950s

Things You Can Do With Bread Clips

The discussion went like this "I know someone who has a whole bowl full of those plastic bread tags..." I had to confess, I have a very small ziplock bag with them in too. Just in case.  In my case the tiny bag is enough to let me know I don't need to keep any more than will fit in this tiny space. 

Background

"The bag clip was created by a California inventor named Floyd Paxton, who whittled the first prototype from a piece of plastic while flying home from a business trip in 1952. Paxton soon founded Kwik Lok, based in Yakima, Wash., and still the dominant clip manufacturer today, with plants on four continents. The clips were originally applied by hand to bags of apples, but Kwik Lok began making automated machinery to apply the clips to bakery products in the early 1960s."

Now in the US bread clips are in a fight for dominance with twist ties! You can read about that here 

So what DO you do with these everyday items that seem to breed in the kitchen drawer?

 Here are some things that people are using them for in the pursuit of making their lives better...

For the arty types

self-referential bread clips

Beth Taylor used three quarters of the bread tags in her 16,000-strong collection
to create a series of sculptures of the solar system. 

"I had a lovely experience last year, a woman from Washington State contacted me and commissioned me to create an artwork for Jerre Paxton," she says.

"Jerre's father invented bread tags and he now runs the company."

Plastic tags are still made by his company Kwik Lok at factories around the world, including Melbourne.  Read more: about bread clips

Bread clip mosaic

Bread clip art even has a Facebook Page 

For the practical and thrifty types

To improve a charging station

Keep track of which cord is which

Always find the end of the tape!

store thread

Serious knitters may like using a bread clip as a stitch placeholder

Keep rubber bands or hair bands tidy

label keys

Keep small cords tidy

Keeping it classy here

More art - Get arty and make you own monsters! 

not just bread clips - you can save twist ties too! 

Then there is this... (Not recommended!)

Physicians create a taxonomy of bread-bag fasteners that have been lodged in people's colons

"It appears that there have been a surprising amount of cases in which these clips end up lodged where the sun doesn't shine (and medical pen lights do). These little clips do a lot of damage and can cause "small bowel perforation, obstruction, dysphagia, gastrointestinal bleeding and colonic impaction." Furthermore, they're hard to diagnose as they're translucent to X-rays and other noninvasive methods of search. Doctors only discover these little clips when they open a person up."  Read more ... here

Now if that's not enough tips for you head on over to my Pinterest board for more Household Tips