An interesting read

The sun came out a little this morning but still no bees buzzing in the garden.  I am really quite worried, especially after hearing about their decline too in other parts of the world.

We have plenty of flowers and bushes in bloom in the garden and there should be plenty of insect activity but...nada, nothing, zilch.  Mr Happy Larder and I are seriously considering hand-pollinating our apple tree this year which might be ok for us to do on one tree but think about orchards?  And it's not just apples - bees pollinate a large variety of crops including different types of berries, tomatoes etc.  I have found a great report by Friends of The Earth and the University of Reading here in the UK that you might find interesting, even if you don't live in the UK:  "Reviving British Bees - why we need a National Bee Action Plan".


On a more cheerful note, I have found a great recipe that I am going to try out for dinner tonight, so watch this space tomorrow for another (hopefully) tasty supper idea.

Fish Fight...

Did you know that half the fish caught in the North Sea is thrown back dead?  That's over 1.7 million tons of fish per year - discarded!  Strict fishing quotas, consumer choices,...the list of reasons is long. When you have a moment and want to find out a little more, please have a look at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fish Fight campaign - Hugh is of River Cottage fame and an avid campaigner on the subject.  What an eye-opener!

Fish gratin...

I love eating fish but now that I am more aware of what is going on, I am trying to make more ethical choices.  I guess the more consumers are happy to try other types of fish, the more these will become available.  And it's not about never eating cod, tuna or salmon again - that would just create another problem - for me, it's about variety and about us, the consumer, influencing legislation so that it makes sense, for us and the environment.

And because fish is a fabulous food I can't not give you this quick & simple recipe to try: fish gratin.  The recipe originally asked for smoked haddock but why not try another type of white fish such as coley?  Or use a mixture of fish, giving some new varieties a chance together with some old favourites?  Here, the fish is placed on a bed of spinach but as I didn't have enough, I also used some finely sliced gem lettuce...it worked a treat!  I have never cooked lettuce before but it certainly wasn't the last time.  I have also amended the amount of cream and cheese used as there was no way I would have been able to taste the fish - the star of the show - under all that fat.

I hope you'll enjoy this one!

Just Say Neigh...

It's actually not funny at all.  I am not sure how much of this has been covered in the global media but we have the latest food scandal on our hands here in the UK (and other European countries):  horse meat!  It turns out that with our constant appetite for increasingly cheaper food products, some producers have taken it upon themselves to replace beef with horse meat in a number of ready meals, burgers etc.  Needless to say, they failed to communicate this little fact to their customers and packaging still labels the meat as beef.  Not only that, the horse meat used is unlikely to have undergone the same stringent tests that would be normal for beef (especially after the mad cow disease crisis).  Can you imagine that some products such as "beef" lasagne actually contained 100% horse meat?  And this only appears to be the tip of the iceberg...who knows which other countries are affected by this?  In some countries eating horse meat is the norm and for me this is not about whether you like to eat horse or not.  It's about being lied to by producers and not being given the choice.

Budgets are tight and lives are busy but I think that the only way to ensure we know what goes into our food is to make our own as much as possible.  And maybe some of the recipes here, on other blogs, in books & programmes show that meals can be made from scratch without too much effort.  Yes, it might need more planning and a little more time but at least we know then what we feed our families and ourselves!

Climbing off my soap box now to prepare another post with an easy & quick recipe for you to try...

Until then, get mad, get even, get cooking!

Useful in the larder (Part II)

When I looked around the park on my dog walk this morning, I couldn't quite believe my eyes - daffodils in full bloom...in January???

Daffs in January...

Anyway, I digress...

When I open my larder door I see lots of stuff - bags of flour, different types of sugar and an array of bottles and jars.  What I don't automatically see is cleaning materials and yet - as in Part I of "Useful in the larder" about bicarb - it is surprising that some of the items can be very handy around the house.  Take vinegar as an example: lovely in salad dressings or sprinkled on hot chips and great when making chutney, the right type of vinegar doubles up as a great household cleaner.  Here are a few tips using white vinegar:

• Window cleaner - fill an empty spray bottle 2/3 with warm water, add 1/3 white vinegar for a cheap and eco-friendly way to clean those windows...optional: add a drop of essence of lemon oil for extra fragrance
• Refresh dishcloths - place in enough water to cover & add approx. 60ml white distilled vinegar. Soak overnight & rinse.
• Clean the fridge with a half-and-half solution of water and white distilled vinegar.
• Clean the bathtub by wiping it with white distilled vinegar and then scouring with bicarb.
• Get rid of mildew, dust, and stale odors by wiping down walls with undiluted white distilled vinegar on a cloth or a sponge mop.
• Remove stains from coffee or teacups by scrubbing them gently with equal parts bicarb and white distilled vinegar. Rinse clean.
• Remove corrosion deposits from cast aluminum with vinegar solution and rinse off afterwards 

So, as you can see there are lots of ways vinegar comes in handy.  I love that it is much more environmentally friendly to use and also much cheaper than buying a selection of household cleaners.  Why not give it a go?

Useful in the larder (Part I)

Do you have a favourite item in your larder?  Something you simply can't do without...either for cooking, baking or general household use?  On top of my list is bicarbonate of soda.  It is so versatile - have a look at some of its uses in the list below...

• Sprinkled on carpets, it absorbs the dreaded wet-dog smell and can easily be vacuumed up, leaving the carpet smelling clean & fresh 
• Dust your pet's fur with it to get rid of unwanted odours & brush out after a few minutes - it's not harmful to them, even if they lick a bit off
• Put some at the bottom of your cat's toilet tray and top with cat litter
• Keep some in a bowl in the back of the fridge to make it smell lovely & clean
• Combined with lemon juice (or powdered citric acid) it makes a fabulous household cleaner...simply sprinkle into the sink, bath tub etc, add lemon juice & water for an eco-friendly way of cleaning your house
• Add a little to your toothpaste for extra white & shiny teeth...

Once you have started using it for more than just baking, you may want to buy in bulk - that way it works out cheaper than if you just buy the standard boxes from your supermarket.

Crumbs...what do I do with that leftover bread?

There it is - a chunk of leftover, slightly stale bread that we somehow never got round to eating whilst still fresh and lovely.  So, what to do with it other than stuffing for roast chicken? I began to look in cook books and on the internet and found exactly what I'd hoped - a cake!  Someone had posted a recipe for their German grandmother's cherry & vanilla breadcrumb cake - I am assuming that this recipe came into being during the years of rationing either during or after the war when food waste was not an issue (I will touch on this again in a little while).

Anyway, I took my sad looking chunk of bread, chucked it into the food processor to make rough crumbs and then put those into the oven to dry for a little before returning them to the food processor for another whiz.  The result was a fine, almost flour-like consistency...Now, you see where I am going with this, don't you?  The breadcrumbs are used to replace some of the flour in the recipe! 
 
I was still a bit skeptical but must admit that I am very pleased with the fluffy & moist result that you can see in the picture below.  The translated version of the recipe will soon appear under the recipes tab but for the German-speaking readers amongst you, please click here for a link to the original.

Inspiration

See what you can find when you look closely enough...

We were very lucky to attend a talk by wildlife cameraman Doug Allen yesterday evening!  He shared his experiences of filming in the coldest places on earth and showed the most breathtaking footage (some of which has been seen on "Planet Earth" and similar programmes).  What an inspiration!  I am not sure that diving and filming under 12 feet of ice would be my cup of tea :-) but thanks to films and photos captured by people like Doug, those amazing secret worlds are made accessible to the rest of us. We got hold of a copy of his book "Freeze Frame" which can also be ordered on his website - simply stunning!

We have been very priviledged to have some incredible wildlife experiences in South Africa and Tanzania with expert guidance by our friend Marius of Clearly Africa but we have also seen amazing things in our own garden, just by watching the birds, frogs etc. When you truly look at the natural world around us more intently and closely, you will find astonishing things! And when you think about how everything interacts and is connected, you realise that we ourselves are just a part of the big puzzle called nature and you also realise that we have no other option than to protect our planet!  

Waste not want not...or "Why I love leftovers"

For a lot of people living and working in cities like London the day starts with a takeaway "designer" coffee and lunch could be sushi in a pretty plastic box with all the trimmings. My day often looked like that and more often than not I felt guilty for creating so much rubbish and not using up the perfectly good food we had in our fridge at home. Commuting almost 3 hours per day was my excuse but maybe I was just lazy. Fact is that life was not only an environmental nightmare, it was also costing me a fortune. Fastforward a couple of months and I am sitting here in Wales. Things have changed! These days, tea and coffee is drunk out of proper mugs at home and lunch is more often than not made out of leftovers. It is absolutely amazing what you can create out of those things lurking in the fridge or cupboard. Take today, for example... on the lunch menu is a Kirsten version of frittata... a sort of omelette or tortilla. There were some eggs that needed using up, an open packet of ham, a few mushrooms, half an onion... ta-da! Lunch is sorted! Yes, I have more time now but I wish I had had the inspiration then to make the (little) effort it takes to make my own lunches etc. Better late than never, I suppose.

Behind all this is more than just my "old" wastefulness. A report published last year by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) called "Global Food Losses and Food Waste" makes shocking reading. It found that "roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted", fruit and vegetables being amongst those food items most wasted. Now, if like me, you are trying to grow your own veg and fruit (I have only just started doing this last year), you know how much love and effort goes into growing food. Can you imagine then just taking all of it and throwing it away? No, thought not! So why do we do it with supermarket food? I guess somewhere along the line the relationship with that food has broken down and those packets of tomatoes or tubs of yoghurt are no longer close to our hearts. A lot of the waste appears to happen at source or in the supermarkets themselves but surely, we as individuals can play our role in reducing the waste - for the good of the planet and our wallets. So, let's get creative and see what "meals for free" we can create from the foods that would have ended up in the bin!