Eating from the garden in late winter

Colour in the winter garden - beetroot, calendula and brocoletti flowers

Two years ago, if someone had told me that I would be able to eat veggies from my garden all through winter, I wouldn't have believed them. In the past, the only thing harvested in my winter garden was the silverbeet that had grown into a massive plant. I still have a long way to go in my winter gardening (no lovely heads of purple broccoli or cauliflower for us still), but now I can see the possibilities!

Snow peas in hanging baskets - snail and duck proof!

This winter promised lots of lovely silverbeet and peas, but my ducks put a stop to that. Instead, we've eaten great heaps of wombok cabbages, enough lettuce and rocket for salads and burgers, good supply of carrots, baby beets, some lovely stalks of brocoletti, the odd bak choi and masses of crisp and delicious celery. It's all been topped with the herbs that have kept going, and served with some of my summer preserved and frozen veg. It's not enough veg for us - I've still had to buy the odd pumpkin, frozen peas and bags of potatoes - but every day we eat something from our garden, and that feels very good indeed. 

Broad beans in flower promising more fresh veg soon.

Last night was a good gardeners meal. I made rosti with potatoes and a selection of fresh turnips, carrot, celery and herbs from the garden. They were served with new season eggs from our chooks (thanks girls!), sourdough toast, tomato chutney and the first few snow peas from my hanging baskets (ie. duck proof pea gardens!). It's a simple meal, but it tastes so good to eat all of those home grown and homemade items, knowing exactly what went into everything on the plate. 

Delicious!

With a bit of luck (and my planning paying off) and we'll continue to eat from the garden all through spring to make it a whole 12 months of garden consumption - yay!

Pretty purple and white turnip tops.

 

When you need a hand

I had to have a small operation on my left hand last week. I had the same surgery on my right hand 7 years ago, so I knew what I was in for - a pretty sore hand in a hefty bandage with no strength in the fingers and a lot of tenderness in the palm and wrist for several weeks. The pain is manageable and I know that in the long run I'll be better off, but for the meantime, I'm a hand short.

Finding yourself without the use of one of your hands is an interesting thing. Everyone would find it challenging - buttering bread, doing up jeans (getting dressed at all!), putting your hair in a ponytail, washing one hand, hanging clothes on the line, writing - give some of these activities a go without one of your hands and you are suddenly very grateful for the regular use of two hands!

For me, a person who fills her days cooking, crafting, gardening, caring for animals, driving to do the shopping, teaching dance classes and doing housework, I'm finding the time without a hand not only very frustrating, but boring too - I sat and watched tv all day for two days!  People who know me would understand how weird that is and how uncomfortable if felt for me. 

Thankfully, my surgery was planned and elective, so we were prepared. The week before, I put in hours of work filling our freezers with meals, bread and snacks. I wrote a menu plan filled with meals that used those foods and/or could be prepared by Stu and the boys. I arranged people to care for us when we needed it and drivers to get me where I needed to be. I taught my family how to do some of the jobs I have to do each day for when I couldn't do them and I completed the making of gifts and urgent gardening tasks before my surgery. We were prepared, so we've been able to keep going living our chosen way even while I'm partially out of action. 

There will need to be some sacrifices soon though. Our freezers could only fit so much bread, and with the incision being on my palm, kneading dough is out of the question, so the lovely sourdough I've been making won't feature again until I'm fully healed. But I've temporarily gone back to using my bread maker to do the hard work and am still able to make our bread.

The biggest thing for me has been asking for help - I'm usually so independent that to ask people to do lots of little things for me feels wrong, and I've avoided it too many times and ended up paying for it with a very sore hand afterwards..... a lesson in asking for help and remembering that I'm not invincible.

Do you have trouble asking for help too?

The evolution of our bread

I'm very pleased to say that I've been baking nearly all of the bread we eat for about 18 months now. And I've come a long way from those first (barely edible) loaves.

I initially started baking our own bread, not for the health of taste benefits, but for the waste reduction. It was back in the beginning of our 12 months of greening, and I was determined to reduce the amount of rubbish in our bin each week. Plastic bread bags and tags became a pet hate and so I set about replacing them with recyclable, paper flour sacks. 

Over the first few months, I perfected my baking, and eventually had a recipe of my own that consistently churned out delicious bread and rolls for my family. Everyone was happy.... And then I realised how often I was buying yeast and began to read about how much healthier sourdough is..... 

I figured it was worth a try. For me, the idea of growing my own yeast at home just made sense, and the idea of a bread(which we eat a lot of!) that was better for us seemed a worthy goal. So a couple of months ago, I made myself a sourdough starter. 

Ten days after mixing that first batch if flour and water, I baked our first loaf. I wish I could say that it was fabulous, but it was reminiscent of those first loaves of bread (ie. barely edible). So I tried again. The boys offered support - they too remember that I had a bad start with regular bread- but I knew they were longing for a loaf of my old bread. 

After the third loaf, things were improving, but I wanted a change, so I tried these sourdough tortillas.  They were easily the best tortillas we have ever eaten - hooray!  The sourdough culture was now smiled upon by all. 

Our latest triple batch of sourdough tortillas.

I kept trying with the bread, different recipes, techniques and tweaks, and eventually, I found my own recipe, an adaptation of this one. It's not quite as easy as the bread recipe I was using before, but it uses ingredients I'm comfortable with, fits my routine and makes delicious bread for the whole family. Like my old recipe, one batch makes a loaf and a dozen rolls for lunches of a couple of large loaves, so it saves on time, power and effort. 

It's not too sour (even though I don't use the baking soda as the recipe suggests), which is a good thing for a family loaf, and so long as I get a good rise in the first proving, it is lovely and soft.  The kids are happy to have the bread bin full of deliciousness again, and I love that I no longer have to buy yeast and that the bread is just a little better for us again (a far cry from nutritionless stuff I used to buy from the supermarket!). 

A soft and delicious sourdough sandwich loaf.

And to make a good thing better, we've discovered some of the other wonderful things I can make with sourdough starter!  English muffins, crackers, donuts and a choc orange cake have been tried and the tortillas are a weekly event. For Stu's  birthday, I experimented and created a sourdough hummingbird cake which was amazing!  I'll share the recipe soon. I'm looking forward to trying pancakes and croissants one day discovering more sourdoughy goodness. 

I'd love to lay out a timeline of our breads evolution - from supermarket bread to now. And I'm looking forward to the next chapter that I hope to attempt in the next year - home ground flour for my bread....

My friend Herman

Last week, one of my lovely neighbours knocked on the door and presented me with a new friend - Herman, the German friendship cake. Not actually a cake, but a portion of sourdough cake starter.

I was so excited!  I'd heard murmurs of Herman's travels in the blogosphere, and I was thrilled that he was travelling through our little town and stopped at our place. 

For ten days, Herman sat on my kitchen bench beside my (still nameless) sourdough culture and my jar of fermenting carrots. I fed him a couple of times and watched him grow. He was a lovely visitor. 

Today was Herman's last day with us. He was divided into four portions and taken in the car to three of my friends' homes. He has lots more travelling to do still. He was welcomed with more excitement into their homes and has found comfortable lodging on their kitchen benches. (And I have three friends who were very pleased that I thought of them!). 

The fourth portion stayed with me to reach its destiny as cake. I opted to make my Herman spicy, adding to the basic recipe a good few spoonfuls of ginger, a spoonful each of cinnamon, cloves and mixed spice, a couple of tablespoons of golden syrup and a cup of sultanas.  (I failed to add bicarb soda though, so my cake turned out short, but still rose due to the natural yeasts, enough to make it light)

Herman was baked and is now being eaten. Such a delicious friend to have!

I opted to not keep a portion of Herman for future cakes - he's a travelling kind of guy and I didn't think it would work to have him boarding here full time. Instead we enjoyed him thoroughly for the time we had him and wish him well on his travels. If he stops past your place, please say hi from us!

For more info on Herman, visit his website www.hermanthegermanfriendshipcake.com. The site has recipes and info and even tells you how to make a starter from scratch, but I reckon it's more fun to wait for him to come knocking on your door. 

When springtime came calling

The days are getting slowly longer here. No longer do we get up in the dark, and it is still light when Stu comes home from work. Jonquils are popping their heads up everywhere and my baby almond tree is the first to blossom in our garden this year. My chooks finally noticed the days lengthening and started laying again. Yes, it's still winter, but we hear springtime just around the corner.

This weekend, spring paid an early visit, the sun shone, the skies were blue and we wanted to be outside. 

Outside was a good place to be here as we welcomed new animal friends this weekend. 

On Friday, my mum's lamb came here. He came to be a friend for our goat. He stayed two nights and had to go home. Our goat didn't really like him and he was fretting for the calf he had been reared with. 

On Saturday, our goat, Jorgie, came home. Having bashed up the lamb, told the dog whose boss and decided that we're all her family now, she settled in. 

She is extremely affectionate and prefers us to be nearby. This was easy on the weekend when the kids wanted to play outside, Stu wanted to catch some of the suns warmth and I made the most of the springtime visit to pot up some seedlings and scratch around in the garden. Today it's harder. 

Today winter has come back with a vengeance. Swirly, gusty, cold winds. Rain and hail. It's not nice here today. And I can here Jorgie calling to me. Or maybe she's calling spring back. 

It won't be long now Jorgie girl. Springtime will be here very soon and with it, hopefully, will come a kid or two for you.

 

Bali 2013 - Adventure and other activities

I'm going to go with less talk and more pictures in this post, in which I'll cover the other activities that we did while in Bali.  Lets just say that we had a busy 10 days in Bali and made the most of our holiday.  I couldn't tell you which of the following was my favourite, nor the favourite of Stu or the kids - they were all terrific!

Our first activity was white water rafting on the Ayung river with our awesome guide, Made.

 

A few days later, we visited the Treetop Adventure park in Bedugal.

 

 

And later that day, the Elephant Safari Park in Taro.

 

 

Another day, we spent some quite time eating lunch and feeding huge Koi from a little hut built over the water at a café up the road from our hotel. 

 

 

 

 

While in Kuta, we visited Waterbom park for a WHOLE day!

 

 

And the kids discovered the fun of an arcade.

 

 

We also all had lovely massages and/or pedicures.

 

 

There was also time for walks through the country......

 

 

The town......

 

And along the beach.

 

Before watching our final peaceful sunset at Kuta Beach.

 

 

Actually, it wasn't that peaceful!

 

 

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Did you also read about the cultural activities we did? 

And where we stayed?

More on Bali to come still!

Bali 2013 - cultural activities

I love to learn. When I finished my fourth year at university, I was devastated that I didn't get to keep going and learning at an educational institution every day. That's part of the reason why went back to uni and became a  teacher, and also a big part of the reason why I like to try new things, find better ways to do things and read (books, blogs, magazines...). I'm an insatiable student. It stands to reason then that I see an overseas holiday as an opportunity to study the culture and learn as much as I can about it. My kids inherited this trait and so, when we holiday as a family, the world becomes our classroom.

Beautiful carvings are everywhere

I studied bahasa Indonesia, the official language of the Indonesian archipelago, at high school and university.  I've sadly forgotten lots, but before we went away, I found my books and taught Stu and the boys some basic phrases. We all used the basics while away, and for the most part, it was really well received. I even managed a couple of proper conversations!  

We visited several temples too - of course!

Most people speak English though, so we were able to ask questions and learn from the hotel staff at Klub Kokos and a driver that we met, Rahde. We also purchased a great little book 'My life in Bali'. The book is aimed at children, but great for all ages as it explains very simply the Balinese culture, philosophy, religion, ritual, home life and much more. We took it everwhere and read snippets often. 

Wayang Kulit - shadow puppets.

Other than just observing the life and culture all around us (which, in itself, may have been my favourite part of the holiday!), we went to see two cultural shows - a wayang kulit (shadow puppet) performance and a kecak fire dance. Both were put on for tourists and very cleverly shortened and altered to allow us to get a glimpse of these traditional entertainments, while not drowning us in hours of entertainment in a different language!  The kids loved both shows, but as both were on at night, they coped better at the kecak performance as we'd had a little snooze earlier that afternoon. 

One hundred men make the music and many of the props for the kecak performance

Our performance told some of the famous story of Rama and Sita

The manager at Klub Kokos was also able to arrange some hands on activities/lessons with a local artist and his family. Each hour long session cost us $12. The first was a lesson in traditional painting with Gusti. We had to outline with a bamboo pen dipped in Chinese ink and then add shadow and watercolours to a pencil sketch he'd prepared for us. It was a challenging, but fun lesson that made us appreciate the art all around us even more!  And better still, we were able to keep our paintings as a souvenir. 



Painting lessons

For our second lesson, we went to Gusti's home where he and his wife taught us to make the traditional offerings that are put out each morning and afternoon at the entrances and temples of each home compound and business. We sat outside one of their living pavilions while their kids ran around and extended family were getting on with their day. Gusti and his non-English speaking wife (also Gusti), showed us how to turn coconut leaves into baskets and miniature masks for decorating.  We then filled our little baskets with flowers. If the offerings are to be put out as gifts to the gods and demons, a small snack (rice, biscuits, lollies!), a stick of incense and holy water would also be added. We left some of our offering baskets for them to use, and took two away. Of course, we couldn't keep them, so we put them out at the hotel as a parting gift. 



Making offerings with Gusti and his wife

For Stu and I, the best cultural experience was the day we hired a driver to take us out. The activities we did that day weren't cultural, but Rahde, with his fabulous English, spent the wholedrive explaining   the culture and philosophy of bali. I wouldn't dare say I now understand, but his descriptions were wonderful and together with our little book and the things we've seen while exploring the island, we're much closer to getting it!

Offerings placed on a bridge in Ubud.

While travelling around, I also took note if some practices I wanted to bring home, especially the use of a small scythe to cut long grass to feed to their animals. Like us, many people in the village we stayed in had numerous animals on small plots of land. The farmer from next door would take his two cows from their stable each morning and walk them to a small area for grazing, and in the afternoon, he would trim the grass around his rice paddies to feed to them at night. Our situation is very different, but I really want to buy a scythe now to 'mow' our lawns with so that the grass can be fed to our animals!

A farmer out moving his cows at breakfast time

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Did you read about where we stayed in Bali?

More in our Bali adventure soon!

Bali 2013 - Where we stayed

We have just returned from an amazing ten day holiday in Bali with our children. I want to share the journey with you, so over the next week, I'm going to write several posts on different topics:

• Where we stayed (accom and location)
• Cultural activities
• Adventure activities
• Food, Sight seeing and shopping
• And perhaps a travelling with kids wrap up

Enjoy!

~~~

Where we stayed

When we were planning our Bali holiday, our first priority was to avoid the over commercialised tourist areas as much as possible and get out there to see some real Bali. However, we also wanted to be comfortable and safe, budget conscious, and allow the kids to see and do some of the more touristy stuff and also enjoy relaxing in/by a pool. Tough order!  

Enjoying the view from the Klub Kokos activity room.

Our first hotel met our needs perfectly, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wanted a Bali holiday that was just a little bit off the beaten track. 

Klub Kokos is a small hotel situated in the village of Bangkiang Sidem in the Ubud region of Bali. We chose it based on the website and booked for seven nights including a pickup from our flight which arrived late at night. Before our trip, I had several email contacts with Cathy (the Australian expat owner) who was very helpful, offering advice on money changing, tours and more. 

On arrival in Bali, we were met by our driver, Ketut. The drive to the hotel took about an hour, and while it was dark, so we couldn't see much, we did feel the difference as we left the hubbub of Denpasar with its very busy, wide roads and moved through more suburban areas with their narrower, still busy roads, surrounded by warungs (small restaurants) and stores, and finally into the dark and quiet of the countryside, onto a rough, single lane dirt road and into the driveway of Klub Kokos. 

Master bedroom at Klub Kokos.
Note the open part at the top of the wall which was well covered with insect mesh.

We were greeted by the manager, Kadek, who helpe
d us to our bungalow and showed us around. His English was great and he was kind and helpful. 

Towels in the bathroom were folded cleverly and decorated with flowers each day.

Our two bedroom bungalow was big, clean and well appointed. It had the beauty of Bali all over it from its carved teak doors, to the always open ventilated ceiling area and a balcony surrounded by flowers.  The "bedrooms" of the bungalow had no doors on them, but as they were separated enough, Stu and I could read in bed without disturbing the boys, and the massive balcony gave us another "room" to use when we needed to give sleeping people peace and quiet.

The rooms were well appointed inside and had a very generous balcony with tables and chairs.

Nights were noisy due to the constant sounds of frogs, toads, geckos, cicak (small geckos), birds and insects in the rice paddies that surrounded the hotel, and in the morning we were woken by the roosters from the village farms and the sounds of people going off to work in the bigger towns. All good noises for rural people like us. 

Early morning views of Mt Agung and farms from our room.

Stu and I woke early on our first morning and watched the sunrise over Mt Agung, one of Bali's sacred mountains, from our room - pretty special!

Lachie enjoying the extensive Klub Kokos library.

Before we had breakfast in the restaurant (we could've had it in our room, but elected for the restaurant each morning so we could watch life pass by), we checked out the ping pong table and extensive library. Our bookworm children would've spent the entire week in there!  We didn't use the toy room, but it would've been brilliant for younger children. 

Jamie enjoying a mixed fruit breakfast juice.

Breakfast each morning was either Balinese nasi goreng with a fried egg (my favourite!) or eggs and toast. Both breakfasts were served with a delicious, freshly made mixed fruit juice and tea/coffee. Stu bravely opted for the Bali Kopi on the first morning, despite hearing rumours of its very thick, strong style. He loved it!  And went back for more each morning of the trip. 

View from our bedroom window.... bliss.

The hotel staff were all extremely friendly and helpful and the whole place was kept clean and beautifully decorated with flowers. The kids loved being able to swim in the pool each day and lounging on the sun loungers. And we enjoyed the complimentary tea/coffee each afternoon which was served with a different Balinese cake or snack each day. 

Relaxing poolside at Klub Kokos after a long morning of activities.

The manager was able to help us book some of our activities and tours and arranged cultural activities with a local family (I'll talk about them later). 

The hotel was located on the Campuan ridge, between the Campuan and Ayung rivers. The village it was in was small, consisting mainly of small farms and artists' gallleries, though there was also a cafe which catered to the needs of tourists trekking from Ubud village up the ridge and around through Campuan village. We didn't do the whole trek, but did walk the 2km walk into Ubud village each day (and home one night). 

Walking to Ubud along the Campuan ridge.

The walk to Ubud was mostly along footpath, so no traffic. During the day it was dotted with tourists and in the afternoon it seemed to become a favourite hang out for local teenagers. It felt safe and friendly to walk to town and greet the locals as we passed. Each step opened up new amazingly beautiful vistas, it was a real pleasure to walk each day. 

We only walked the return trip once though. It was spooky at night (for no reason other than it was really dark) and it was hard going with tired kids, especially since Lachie tripped and grazed his shin part way home!  Mostly we took a taxi from Ubud village to the hotel. It was a reasonably long drive as they had to go around the long way, and the taxi drives cost between about $7 and $10 each time. 

The gardens at Klub Kokos were beautiful.

We ate at the hotel restaurant a couple of times and the food was good and reasonably priced. 

If (when!) we go back to Bali, we intend to stay in the Ubud region again, and while I wouldn't hesitate to stay at, or recommend Klub Kokos, we met and became friends with a local man who has promised to help us find a villa to rent. We could've done that this time, but having the hotel staff to help us was brilliant!  Next time we will know people who can help us and can enjoy a different experience. 

We were all sad to say goodbye to Klub Kokos and Ubud when we left, especially Lachie and I who shed a few tears. It was such a beautiful part of our holiday. But all good things must come to an end, and so, after 7 nights, we took a transfer to our hotel in Tuban (South Kuta), Green Garden Hotel. 

Sadly, by the time we arrived in Kuta, we wanted to leave. The hour long drive into the busy areas, past copious quantities of rubbish, polluted waterways and messy building sites wasn't pretty. But neither were the huge monuments to tourism in the form of global fast food chains, massive hotels and copious quantities of tacky souvenirs. 

We were early to arrive at the hotel and were not able to access our room. The staff were offhand and told us that they had had to change our reservation to a different room. Feeling tired and dissapointed, we stored our bags there and went in search of a comforting lunch. 

Comfort in Kuta cams in the form of air conditioned shopping centres and western food, a far cry from the small Balinese restsurant we took comfort in on our first day exploring Ubud. 

The hotel was only a few hundred metres from the large Discovery/Centro shopping centre, which was right opposite Waterbom Park. But that short walk was choc full of touts using bad Aussie accents and trying to sell us massages, watches, toys, Bintang (beer) tshirts, tours, taxis etc. Unlike in Ubud, they would touch us, grab at the kids and call us 'mate', 'boss', 'boy' and 'darling'. It no longer felt nice and they often didn't take no for an answer. I felt sad that tourism has changed the culture so much in these areas. 

The only photo we were inspired to take at Green Garden!
Towel origami each day - this day was an elephant.

When we finally were able to check into our room, we found a decent sized room that was clean and quite well appointed. But the tiny balcony was uninhabitable as it looked over the street and was therefore choked in fumes from the traffic and inside, we had to use air conditioning as there was no fan and we couldn't open windows due to the noise and pollution. 

The swimming pool looked nice, but since it was located in the centre of the very cramped hotel grounds and shaded on all sides by three stories of rooms, the water was cold and we never swam in it. 

Unable to find any good restaurants that served Balinese food and didn't have the AFL football playing on big screen tvs, we ate at the hotel that night. The menu was designed for tourists that don't want to experience a lot of Balinese food, and so we all ate burgers, which were nothing special, for tea. 

We then endured two nights with very little sleep. The room we had been given not only received all the noise from the street, but was set above the restaurant where they played music extremely loudly till about 10.30 the first night, and then had a two piece band who were even louder the second. We hired a DVD player and stayed up with the kids to watch a DVD, but had to turn it up way too loud just to hear it. We all used ear plugs, but still found the noise too much for sleep. After the second night, when we were all very tired and irritable, we asked to change rooms. They were able to move us, and the new room was better and quieter, but we still missed to peace of Klub Kokos.

Green Garden Hotel was supposed to be a good option for families with kids, and the room itself was certainly good - a big queen size bed and a set of bunks that could be separated with a curtain when the kids went to sleep.  But nothing else about the hotel really suited our family.  It was located in a very busy part of Kuta, the clientele were not all.... ummmm.... our kind of people, shall we say?  The staff, while friendly, were better suited to the partying adults than to kids, and the restaurant was also not fabulous for kids and extremely noisy.  All up, we would never stay there again and wouldn't recommend it to families.

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Stay tuned - tomorrow I'll tell you about the cool Cultural Activities we enjoyed during our holiday......