I have received some very lovely emails asking me to post pictures of the patterned pasta I made last year. Here in this post I am re-publishing pictures of the Mezza Luna ravioli Ahlia and I made over a year ago using calendula, and nasturtium flower petals, parsley...
Last summer I made rose petal tagliatelle. Rouge coloured dough sweetened by the natural sugars in the petals. For the Swiss Italian Festival I had decided to make rose petal tagliatelle for a singing and dancing event I had organised. Last spring was hot and fierce...
I am planting trees and buying trees. Early on Tuesday mornings, once a month Ralf and I leave at 6am for the plant trade fair to purchase wholesale plants for our garden. I have planted rosemary, sage, lemongrass, pig face and Acacia floribunda. I have purchased...
Yogurt Cheese White, Cream, Butter. Milk is ready for the starter. Yogurt is simple to make. I can make it at a cost so low that there is now both a cultural and economic incentive to do so. I looked for a recipe for Yogurt. I remember Lucy making yogurt in our...
Our move to Daylesford was made in September last year. We nestled into our guest house accommodation and decorated its floors with boxes upon boxes full of our belongings. The shed too was filled with fridge and couch and bedding frames. Since then we have been at...
You don't need to be old to share your skills and knowledge, nor old to be 'elder' like. In some cultures it takes a lifetimes work to become an elder in others maybe a little less: a body of knowledge to share. There are Primary Schools, High Schools, Universities...
Once a fortnight the butcher shop at Jonai farm is buzzing with youth. I ask the women I meet there if they ever imagined working in a butcher shop, they all say no. So why now I ask? But I already know the answer, I just want to check that I'm right. The answer is...
I moved to Melbourne at 18. It was the very best thing to do. The diversity of people there meant that there was someone for everyone. The subcultures to be found in each suburb ensured that eventually I would find my tribe. At the time I was singing in a band playing...
The best gift... rarely comes wrapped and under a tree, but takes the form of wild flowers discovered. On my way to Isabel's house for tea. ...
Before departing from my city life I made one last loaf of sourdough bread and it was one of the finest I have made. Now three months have passed and I miss my bread. I am trying to stay out of the kitchen as I want to focus on planting trees and establishing a...
So what is that feeling? That excitement and anticipation. How is it that such simplicity can bring about in me...such feelings of grandeur and lilt? A quickness in my step and pending exaltation. I mean who could have imagined that after a year of mixing grain and...
Before Ahlia was born I imagined what kind of a girl I would like to have. I had hoped for a courageous soul full of vitality and energy, enthusiastic and eager to learn. I had come to realise that learning was among one of my greatest passions and hence dreamed of...
Ken is a friend from the CERES days. He has spent decades working with bread and calls himself a bread builder. He tells me that bread like buildings needs structural integrity: gluten strands need to link and align. McGee's book on food and cooking by Harold McGee...
700g bread loaves are all the rage at my house at the moment, it's the perfect size for a family of five and keeps for over a week. After a year of bread making I feel free to make up the recipes as I go which is my favourite way to cook. I simply ask my stomach what...
It's not a trend, not a phase, a thing in vogue to be forgotten, but a wonderful ritual with many rewards. In the offices where I worked, at every meeting, all year round, up to seven fruits would be displayed upon the tray for us to eat. It meant for me a...
During December, and over the heat, my bread making energy had died in a heap. But after a few months of eating just air: bread at the supermarket just made me stare. I regained my focus, I reset my compass, I jiggled the kitchen and fired the sour, and in a tiny...
On a recent bike ride I was overjoyed to see the efforts people were making in an attempt to protect their fruit harvest. With possums, white cockatoos and Rosella's all competing for food in the neighbourhood people of all ages were going to extreme lengths to...
At the Lost Trades fair in Kyneton, Victoria, artisans and craftswomen and men are once again celebrated. And you could see from the hundreds and hundreds of people there how much communities crave the slow, the heartfelt, personal, intimate and highly skilled world...
Over the past two months the kitchen garden has kept us in an engaging momentum. With various ingredients maturing, frequent harvesting inspires frequent cooking. With friends and recipe books there is never a shortage of ideas. Carolina's kale and breadcrumbs,...
In the heat of summer simple meals are favoured, especially meals that use garden ingredients.