Just when winter is starting to kick me, the snowdrops have arrived!
What could be better on a dark winter’s night than planting seeds?
Tomatoes were started a bit late last year, so we’re planning on a rolling harvest. Our first batch of tomatoes and strawberries are sown, with more to come this weekend before the February sowings begin!
Fruit is my favourite food. Sure, pretzels, pizza and red beans and rice all tie for second, but fruit in any form is my absolute number one choice.
Living in Scotland, there are some fruits that I never buy any more, because the disappointment is just too much once I have tasted them. I love grapefruit (especially ruby red!) but I have never consumed a perfectly ripe one in the UK- only hard as a rock or mushy and always very bitter. Watermelons are microscopic and don’t have any flavour, and there’s only about a 10% chance you’ll hit on a ripe-enough avocado (I have to admit that I wrote this post on Friday and consumed a ripe avocado that very night). Fine, I have told myself, this makes me stick to buying fruit that is in season and has only travelled a reasonable distance. These two rules go hand-in-hand and largely guide my purchases.
1. Fruit that has only travelled a reasonable distance.
2. Fruit that is in season.
When foraging, I can pick cherries by the river for one magical fortnight each summer, or pick pretty decent blackberry and apple harvests locally as well. I make jam and/or freeze a lot of the fruit I forage, but blackberries run out by winter and the jam is sweetened so doesn’t really count as a full fruit. Other things that are local and in-season are pretty expensive. Strawberries were usually on the list of ‘not quite obtainable’, until we inherited a strawberry patch with the house. Let’s take blueberries as an example: I feel like an absolute fool each time I ponder paying £4 for a carton of blueberries that is only one berry deep. Growing up, I could walk out back and stuff my face and belly full in June/July. The same holds true for raspberries.
Widening beyond Britain (generally to Western Europe for food miles and some form of labour control), we’ll hit grape season. Again, one of my favourite childhood memories is hanging from the gazebo out back and talking to my little sister as we stuffed grapes (5 varieties!) into our faces for hours. I feel silly paying for them. So what other fruits can we get (besides the British standard of apples and pears) in season from Western Europe at affordable prices? Oranges. Obviously this is ‘in season’ for growing, but not so good for my body in the winter. Sure, vitamin C is great in the Winter, but thinning my blood with Summer fruit is not.
Bananas are an exception to the local and in season rules, as they don’t generally grow in Western Europe and achy muscles need them. I’m uncomfortable buying bananas that aren’t fair trade unless I’m grabbing them from the reduced section and saving them from the dumpster.
Add to this the desire to buy organic-which crests after I remind myself about the terrible toxins I absolutely do not want to consume yet slumps when I find less variety and volume for higher prices- and you may begin to understand my consumption trends.
So ultimately, the habit of fruit buying that I have gotten into in the past six years, is of only buying local/in season fruits or reduced fruits, often topping this up with tins of fruit in water. The result? Apples, pears, sometimes bananas or oranges and peaches/pears/pineapples from a can (whichever is cheapest when we buy them). Now, there’s a reason you’ve never heard of ‘iron cans’ in the supermarket- they don’t exist. This means that any metal (or lined with horrible plastic!) cans our food comes in has questionable effects on our bodies. How, though, to move away from relying on canned/tinned fruit when the options are so limited?
I fully recognise that this is a quandary for the landless middle classes. I know that many people can’t afford fruit at all, or are grateful when it does come in a can or from another hemisphere. There is definitely a part of me that feels guilty worrying about silly fruit rules when others are going hungry.
Still, I was taught to use my resources wisely and this doesn’t just include pocket money, but the planet’s resources and its people working to grow the food. Privilege is only a problem when we do not recognise it or recognise it and exploit it. The reason I am pondering fruit so much today, is that I have identified in my diet that because of my attempts at doing the ‘right’ thing, I do not eat enough of my favourite food. For the sake of vitamins, five apples a day are not good enough. Three types of fruit (apples, raisins and the one fruit juice permitted) are also not good enough. We are not eating enough of a food that is not a luxury for our bodies, but quite essential to staying healthy.
In all of this pondering, I am trying to figure out what rules need to bend in order to ensure that my wife and I are eating at least the 5 a day recommended as minimum. I have already bent or ignored the organic fruit rule much more than I want to, which makes me worry. Does the balance tip more towards less fruit that is all organic, or more fruit that is not organic? I wonder which factor-insufficient fresh vitamins or more chemicals-will do the most bodily damage. I think what else probably has to give in order to actually consume the minimum portions, is price and distance. This is unfortunate. Does this choice make anyone else feel like the Onceler simply protecting himself and not the planet?
What factors do you use to guide your purchases? How do you decide which rules are more flexible?
In the Fall, I got a little bored with the snacks I took to work. I always have containers with raisins and some sort of nuts or seeds (generally pumpkin, sunflower or peanut, but sometimes almonds or walnuts), but there are days when this is just not enough. I signed up for a free trial of grazebox and was inspired by the range of snacks on offer. From there, I purchased some new water-tight clip boxes and added olives, dates (found organic ones on sale and oh my, organic and sugar free makes them divine) and peanut butter no-bake balls (peanut butter, oats, and honey with added cocoa powder, seeds or chopped fruit, depending on the batch) to my snack rotation. The peanut butter balls are particularly useful right before and after yoga! As a treat, we sometimes check for sale fruit/nut mixes from the health food stores.
Still, I need to make sure that I have high protein snacks for the office that I will not find boring after over-use. After a search on Pinterest, I’ve found these enticing recipes!
1. Bits of Taste’s ‘healthy snack bar‘ looks deliciously textured.
2. Use Real Butter’s banana based ‘single ingredient ice cream‘ is vegan and would probably keep well as a chilled snack for work.
3. Chocolate-Covered Katie’s chickpea based ‘cookie dough‘ looks fabulous to adapt to other sweet flavours. Perhaps with cocoa added?
4. Better Homes and Gardens’ ‘white bean spread‘ which will add variety to the soon-to-be-boring easy sandwich fall back of hummus.
5. Enlightened Cooking and Snack Girl both have fruity and nutty cookies- vegan and sugar free, which are a good jumping point for other fruit and nut combos. I’m thinking of using them as breakfast cookies.
6. The Stripey Cat’s habas fritas, an always welcome salty snack!
7. No Meat Athlete’s ‘ultimate energy bar formula‘ looks infinitely useful.
To start off the new year, I’ll be catching up on some long-ignored blog posts. Over the Summer, I experimented with making microwave popcorn in a brown paper bag. Many of the ‘recipes’ going around online ask that you put oil in with the kernels or grease the bag. This blogger has successfully made the popcorn without any oil and the same technique worked for me.
Benefits:
1. Avoid scary chemicals in store-bought microwave popcorn
2. Ease of use- dump in about 3 table spoons, fold the bag down several times and pop in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes
3. Quick popcorn
Draw backs:
1. Only a small batch can be made at a time in order to fit into the microwave
2. Not as eco-friendly or economical as it appears. Paper bags can be recycled, but they’re pretty hard to come by (unless you buy fast food every day!) in the UK so the choices are basically paper bags from schuh or primark (gag).
3. The bags cannot be re-used indefinitely. I thought that I would simply keep reusing the paper bag from the shoe store but it started to burn in the microwave on its 3rd use. Sorry for the accidental advertising in the photo below.
4. The popcorn is bland, although it does taste exactly like air-popped.
While I haven’t yet tried the microwave technique with a pyrex dish, this experiment has shown me that the old way is the best for quick, healthy and delicious popcorn: kernels in a pot with olive oil, cooked on the stove. Topped with hot sauce, of course!
I love this picture. It is full of new and old and reminds me of a woodland scene. A mountain lake covered in snow with early spring flowers. Everything new is also old.
The amber necklace is a gift from Honey and I recently picked up the deer pin at a charity shop. I really like how it pairs with a crochet flower. Add woodsy smelling perfume from Lush to the outfit and I can be outdoors even when inside.
Do you have a lot of wine left over from the holidays? Too much to keep as cooking wine? Make your own wine vinegar! Hard core foodies will probably make their own vinegar from scratch (or when loosing a batch of home made wine), but here’s the quick version. I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought of putting old wine to good use this way before, especially with all the posts about it around the internet.
Pour the wine into a wide-mouthed carafe or jar, cover with cloth and a rubber band. Let it sit for a few weeks in the corner of the counter or in a cupboard and occasionally rotate it gently to aerate it. When it smells and tastes like vinegar (ours took about 5 weeks), seal it up and tuck it away for cooking. The higher the alcohol content, the longer it will take. Not pictured is a small batch of white wine vinegar.
In 2011, we celebrated:
1. Our first home together
2. Adoption of two kittens
3. My dad’s visit to Scotland
4. Our Civil Partnership
5. Two Graduations
6. Several awards ceremonies
7. The birth of three babies into three families that we love dearly and a new baby in our extended family
The year was a lot of fun and I would classify it as a year of celebration, reaping the joys of last year’s growth, but we also experienced deep stress and sorrow with concern for the health of loved ones in the Spring and Fall. In retrospect, 2011 was a year of peaks and dips of extreme emotions. In short, it was a year packed with living and strengthening relationships.
It’s difficult to find a photo that encompasses the year: the image I think of is hugs and togetherness of all sorts. This wall art has, however, really spoken to us since we received them in July. One thing I would add to the recipe? Health.
We hope that the coming year is a year of health for family and friends, and one that brings achievements. We have set some things in motion that mean we will be working hard to accomplish a variety of things in 2012, so may they be fruitful for us in the new year. May 2012 also bring health and achievement to you and your family.
Although we were really on the ball with writing and sending cards this year, our gift list was small. Most of the family received copies of our CP DVD (with some I.O.U.s) and other assorted items. I made a set of face cloths that we paired with Lush soap for her grandparents for a bit of luxury when they’re away in their caravan and this hat for my mom.
Honey is getting into the swing of things with her crocheting. She designed the gifts she was making and went for it. I taught her how to read a pattern and she made this headband (we didn’t get a decent photo) and a scarf to match for her sister. The scarf has a hand pocket on each end plus a small ‘lip balm’ pocket with button top. For her cousin, she made the beanie and the recipient was very pleased with it. I’m so proud of her progress and look forward to a crafting year when we really go wild!
In the beginning of December, Honey and I took a visit to England and then Wales. One day, while walking into town along the coast, we kicked rocks for a mile or so. As we focusing on kicking our own rocks, we let our minds and conversation meander and enjoyed sharing this old fashioned time together. It was not only the perfect way to slow down and live in the present, it was one my favourite parts of our trip. As we neared the end of the road, I quickly scooped up both rocks and said we could play on the walk back but I knew that I planned to make this monster!
One of my favourite knick-knacks-currently sitting in a California job case in my childhood home- is a small rabbit pet rock that my mom drew after I designed it on a camping trip. I still love the idea of rock momentos since they are free, have a low impact on the environment, and are often pretty! This kicking stone was not pretty, so I gussied him up! I had planned on painting two horns, but he told me he did not need any. The sparkly nail polish was a nice surprise, although I will write with marker over top a layer of sealant/nail polish from now on since the nail polish blurred the writing a tad. This goofy creature was part of Honey’s Christmas stocking.
