Month: April 2009

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Winter growing

With renovating our house the outside of our property is still pretty close to a construction site so there is little chance of growing anything at the moment. I decided to get motivated yesterday though and create a herb garden inside the house in our dining area which is an absolute sun trap. I refrained from going out and buying pretty new containers – scrounged around for old plastic pots in the shed and ice cream containers. Hopefully my first indoor growing endeavour will be successfulJ

 

Last Saturday’s Dominion Post had an interesting article regarding making seed pots out of newspaper rolled around a glass and then folded in at the bottom. Once the seedlings have grown ready to be put out in the garden the whole newspaper seed pot can just be put straight into the ground minimising the risk of transplanting shock. I guess toilet roll holders could be used as well for growing seeds. Of course you need a warm area to grow seeds in. A gardener on a TV segment the other day shared that she grows her seeds in the back of her hatchback in winter! My laundry is the warmest place in the house at the moment so I might see about setting up a little sort of greenhouse there. Perhaps I could create some plant gifts over the next few months.

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Power pricing

Got a letter from my power company yesterday pointing out that I might be better on another plan as I was a low user of electricity (not low enough for my liking!). I checked out the pricing and they’re right – I could save about $60 a year by changing price plan. While I was pricing I decided to check on http://www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch/ to see if there was a cheaper company. Powerswitch is an independent pricing review service carried out by the Consumers Institute. You just enter your last bill details into their calculator and they search the power companies for you. I also tried Powershop given all their advertising on TV but it’s cheaper for me to stay with my company and change plans than go with Powershop.

 

So I’ve changed my pricing plan. Now I need to keep working on reducing my electricity consumption. We turn all our appliances off, we only have lights on when necessary (Earth hour wasn’t a big deal for us), we wash in cold water, our fridge/freezer is always full for power efficiency…… I think it might be time for a timer in the shower J  

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The non-consumer train: Be a voice!

I’ve been going through some of the boxes we had in storage after our renovation. Books take up a lot of that box space. One of the books I came across has been my reading the past week – Earth Time by David Zuzuki. It must have been just published when I bought it back in 1998. It’s moved with me at least five times in that period and has been read more than once but it still provides lots of inspirational motivation. Last night I came across a section which discusses that we can’t save the environment until we confront the heart of the problem – our demand for more. We can recycle and conserve all we like but ultimately we continue to go on consuming. The challenge is this: “If you’re like me and would like to avoid looking like a monster to your grandchildren, then I suggest you stop being silent about our plan to go on consuming the world until there simply isn’t any more there to consume (Quinn. D, cited in Suzuki, 1998, p.101). The silence might not be a conspiracy, but it may be just as effective” (Suzuki, 1998, p.101).

 

I like that challenge – not only reduce my consumerism but also don’t stay silent about society’s over-consumption. Question what I see and hear and believe and try each day to get others also thinking about the way they live.

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Music Holiday

I’m on holidays at the moment and money is pretty short so there are no trips away. I decided to create a theme holiday to make it a memorable break for when I’m back at work so this one is music based. Each day as I carry out the many projects that I’ve put aside until ‘holiday time’ I am also playing through my CD collection and reminiscing over the songs and the memories they bring back from through the years. My husband came home from work this evening and sat on the couch with me while I was watching a music DVD – we had a sing along of some old favourites! One of my holiday jobs was to sort out all my old music books and sheets of music and set up a corner in the spare room to get me into playing the guitar again. I got creative this morning and created a music box for all my music books – covered a box and lid with music sheets from my old piano book. It looks great. I’m up to day three of my holiday and haven’t spent a cent yet and have hardly put a dent in my CD collection yet. Looking forward to tomorrow!

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Easter Sunday Blueberries

We decided to forgo easter eggs this year and instead took a trip to the Akatarawa Blueberry farm to pick our own organic blueberries. It’s getting towards the end of the season but they are still good quality for cooking and freezing. The farm closes at the end of April I think. We delivered some around to mum as her easter egg for something a little different. My freezer is now groaning with stewed apple, stewed blueberries and frozen blueberries. Can’t wait to make blueberry and apple turnovers for dessert. Also thought I might try the berry and apple strudel recipe in this month’s Healthy Food magazine which was the winning baking recipe.

Berry & Apple Strudel  

3 Braeburn or Granny Smith Apples

¼ cup dried apricots, chopped

1 tablespoon custard powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

½ cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

6 sheets filo pastry

1 tablespoon trim milk

Icing sugar

 

Preheat oven to 180oC

Grate apples

Add chopped apricots, custard powder, cinnamon, mixed spice. Stir. Add blueberries, Stir again.

Lay filo in a baking dish. Spread filling down one side. Carefully roll the strudel.

Lightly brush the top of pastry with milk.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. If pastry browns too quickly, lower the heat a little. Remove from oven and dust with icing sugar.

 

   

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Easter Saturday shopping

I worked it out today – I’m not the only one using a shopping list, I’ve just been hanging around with the wrong crowd! When we went grocery shopping this morning we were surrounded by un-familiar looking shoppers who I presume were the Friday lot who couldn’t shop yesterday (or maybe the Sunday lot shopping a day early?). Lots of them have shopping lists!!!! I counted at least 10 lists in my short 3 min survey. Unfortunately every group of shoppers acts in a different way and the Friday/Sunday shoppers were too annoying for me despite their lists. They wandered along slowly, left their carts in the middle of the aisles…………. We have shopping down to a fine art now so I’m glad Easter only comes once a year and next Saturday all will be returned to normal. 

 

Braeburn apples were on special today at $1.57 per kg so our shopping changed from a couple of apples to a couple of kgs of apples. My Sunday baking hour tomorrow will include stewing all that apple for freezing. I’ve set one hour maximum a week for baking as I don’t want to turn the clock back and end up being a wife stuck in the kitchen baking. One hour also allows me to make all the mess at once so it’s only one lot of cleaning, saving on products. I’ll have to look up a few new apple recipes – our favourite at the moment is apple crumble and apple turnovers. If you haven’t tried the Trade Me community recipe site give it a go TradeMe – New Zealand Online Auctions and Classifieds. Just found an interesting carrot cake I may try.

 

“Here it is again.I really recommend this.So easy.Ends up like a GATEAU. In WIZZ,chop 3 medium peeled carrots until finely chopped. ADD:2 cups sugar,1 cup oil,2 teaspoons cinnamon,4 eggs.Wizz again till blended.Then add:2 cups plain flour,2 teaspoons baking powder,1 teaspoon baking soda,1 teaspoon salt.(can add any xtra spices to taste eg nutmeg or mixed spice)Wizz all together till blended.Pour into 26cm large cake tin (lined)& bake @ 150 degrees c for approx 1 hour.When cold ,Ice with Cream Cheese Icing-100grms Cream Cheese,50 grms butter,1 teaspoon Vanilla,2 cups Icing Sugar,Lemon or orange juice & rind. Soften butter & cr cheese.then add other ings -mix till smooth and ice cake.IMPRESS YOUR GUESTS.”

 

 

 

 

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Food planning and recipe ideas

Walking around the grocery store this morning it still puzzles me how amongst all those people I’m one of the very few wandering around with a list, crossing off items as we buy them. This week was a small shop so with a list we scooted around the shop smartly and got out of there. Shopping lists have definitely changed the way we buy groceries – it’s much more efficient and relaxed and way quicker!! 

 

Our food planner is just drawn up on a piece of reused paper stuck with a magnet to the freezer door but if you want something a bit flasher you can download planning posters from http://www.healthyfood.co.nz. They also have a recipe search engine. Enter up to three ingredients and match up to a recipe. I haven’t used it yet but it looks like it might be a useful link when you want to try something a bit different to your normal recipes.