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Archive for the ‘Musings’ Category

Now

Posted in Musings, tagged , , , on November 19, 2010| 31 Comments »

© Brypix.com

We only have moments in which to live.

The future is a concept …very useful concept, I’m not putting it down.  The past…memory…is also a concept.

But the only time in which our lives are unfolding is now.  And “now” has some very, very interesting properties.  And if we learn to inhabit “now” more, with awareness, it’s almost as if the universe becomes our teacher.

Jon Kabut-Zinn
from his Mindfulness lecture at Google

. . . . .

When life is stressful and chaotic, I find meditation and mindfulness practice a useful tool for bringing order and calm back into my world.

There is so much wonder and joy to be had in the present, but sometimes stuff happens and it can be difficult to hold on to a positive outlook. Every day brings its own challenges, and past and future worries can rattle my sense of well-being and self.  At those times, I find Jon Kabut-Zinn’s breathing meditation exercises incredibly helpful.  They’re non-religious, non-psychedelic and a great life skill to practice and hone for when things get really hairy.  Big Boy told me recently that if it wasn’t for meditation he would never have made it through his final exams – he was so wound up studying that meditating before bed was the only way he could get to sleep.

If you’d like to know more, you might be interested in this mindfulness lecture posted on YouTube. Grab a cup of tea, it goes for over an hour!

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Fresh Eggs

Posted in Frugal Living, Musings on November 11, 2010| 39 Comments »

Every day, our six lovely ladies lay six fresh eggs.

One of these is often gigantic (last week, we had one that weighed in at 74g), while the other five are medium sized, usually around the 54 – 56g mark.  But as you can see from the photo above, all the eggs have huge yellow yolks!  The colour derives in part from their layer mash (it’s almost impossible to buy a decent mash without some colouring in it), but mostly from their large intake of garden greens.

Our chooks eat all the surplus garden foliage – armfuls of weeds, nasturtiums, cabbage leaves, spinach, whole broccoli plants and a variety of other miscellaneous vegetables.  They’ll eat any skinks that wander into their enclosure and all of Maude’s snails, as well as the bugs and worms they dig up.  Their diets include the odd treat of oven-roasted tuna and salmon, as well as cucumbers, zucchinis, corn and the occasional bowl of pasta soup or risotto.  They adore a little ricotta cheese or homemade Greek yoghurt, often swooping at Pete when he brings it to the coop.

In return for their dinner, they till our soil, fertilise our plants, meticulously pick out and eat all the oxalis and onion weed bulbs,  greet us cheerfully whenever we get out of the car, and lay perfect, large yolked eggs for our breakfasts and baked treats.

Life has been a bit crazy and stressful around here lately, but cracking open an egg, laid by one of our beloved and blissfully happy chooks, is guaranteed to make my heart sing.

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Kitchen Bravery

Posted in In My Kitchen, Musings on October 23, 2010| 43 Comments »

I used to be a truly rubbish cook.

I’m certainly no über-chef now (competent and adventurous, perhaps), but I’ve come a long way from where I started. Until my early 20s, I’d never so much as boiled an egg.  There have been some truly magnificent disasters along the way – usually brought about by convoluted decision making and occasional over-enthusiasm.  The apricot lamb incident, as Pete likes to refer to it, still comes up in dinner conversations some twenty years later.

It took me a few years to figure out that cooking is one of those activities where it’s easy to be brave. It’s not like jumping off a bridge with a bungee rope attached to your feet;  it’s not even as scary as walking into  a room full of people you don’t know. And since we’re rarely playing with expensive ingredients, most of the time experimenting in the kitchen is a fairly economical exercise.  A little care needs to be taken with things like sharp knives and hot caramel (I’m a klutz, so I feel it necessary to include this sentence), but with just a little caution, I usually come out physically unscathed.

I really enjoy getting comments from all of you – thank you – but the ones I love the most are when people write to say they’ve tried making something which they’d previously thought would be too difficult. I’m so thrilled whenever someone else discovers how easy it is to make their own butter, or to bake a loaf of bread for their family.

So I’d like to encourage you all to have kitchen bravery!  Don’t be discouraged when something doesn’t work; just bin it or compost it or feed it to the chooks.  After a little while, you’ll figure out which recipes have a better chance of success, and which don’t.  You’ll understand how to adjust temperature guides to suit your own oven, and you’ll instinctively know when your bread dough is proved enough to shape.

Some recipes take a long time to get right.  Don’t be put off if your early attempts are complete disasters – just see it as a challenge!  Our fudge recipe took eleven attempts to perfect; our ricotta cake took eight (although the neighbours were happy to eat those rejects).  We still can’t make torrone to our liking, but we’re taking a break after our fifth attempt – I’m sure we’ll revisit it one day.  Our first loaves of  bread were pretty ordinary, but lots of practice has made them easy and delicious.  Have a go, don’t give up, and I can almost guarantee you’ll surprise and delight yourself!

And truly, there is nothing in the world quite as satisfying as having friends and family say, “You made that?  Wow…”

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Sunday Muppets

Posted in Musings on October 17, 2010| 15 Comments »

Hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend!

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Teeny Tiny Happinesses

Posted in Food & Friends, Musings on October 11, 2010| 75 Comments »

Sometimes, the smallest things in life can bring a little cheer.  We refer to them as teeny tiny happinesses. Here are the moments which brought me joy today…

Teeny Tiny Happiness #1

I opened my inbox this morning and found my friend Mazza the Toymaker’s Halloween newsletter.  How cute are these little guys!

. . . . .

Teeny Tiny Happiness #2

I bought this pocket SAS survival guide at a discount book stall for $4.

When I brought it home, Small Man said, “I’ve been looking for that, mum, how did you know?”

How did I know my quirky son would like a compact book on building artic shelters and figuring out which monkeys were safe to eat?  Just a lucky guess…

. . . . .

Teeny Tiny Happiness #3

Our six lovely ladies laid six gorgeous eggs today!  I can’t decide if we should scramble them for breakfast, or turn them into a triple batch of marshmallows.

By the way, if you’d like to ooh and ahh over some perfectly formed eggs, have a look at Christine’s entries in her local show!

. . . . .

Teeny Tiny Happiness #4

I am stupidly happy that my handbag has a pocket on the outside which is exactly the right size for a car park ticket…

. . . . .

Teeny Tiny Happiness #5

Someone rang me today to thank me for my “unfailing optimism and quirkiness”.  I was very chuffed by the compliment!

. . . . .

Teeny Tiny Happiness #6

I can’t tell you how happy I was to discover that all the fish in our pond are still there – but the mosquito larvae are not.

. . . . .

Teeny Tiny Happiness #7

This morning, my friend Maude, who lives across the road, came over for a cup of tea.  M and I are both early risers, so we’ll often have a cup of tea at 6am, before the rest of our families are awake.  It’s such a lovely, gentle start to the day.

. . . . .

Teeny Tiny Happiness #8

My lovely friend Wendy owns The Fresh Green Bag, a company which specialises in reusable grocery bags.  I was soooo taken with her new range of mini bags that I bought some to share with you.  These are brilliant – I now have two in my handbag at all times.

They fold down to teeny tiny…

…and open up to carry a large load of shopping.  I recently brought home six kilos of groceries in one!

Would you like a couple of these incredibly cute minis?

I have ten to g1ve αway – five sets of two.   I’ll happily mail these to both Australian and international addresses.

Please εnter before 21st October by sharing with us one little thing that’s brightened your day.  And please make sure to tell us if you’re based in Oz or overseas.

Wishing you all a wonderful day filled with many teeny tiny happinesses!

. . . . .

Congratulations to Kitty, Intolerant Chef, Preppy Pink Crocodile,
Judy and Keri!  I’ll be emailing you all shortly!

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