My Terrible Addiction.

I am a bit of a contradiction really*, I embrace the simplified life but at the same time I have to admit that as I get older I am becoming a bit of a technology addict.  

Perhaps not in the way you would expect, yes I have a smart phone now (a hand me down from a nephew) and yes I am typing this on a new (to me) net book, I even got a new DVD player (yes they still have them, at Op Shops for $15!) but that’s not the technology I mean. I am talking kitchen appliances. The addiction sneaks up, you know, nobody sets out to become addicted (actually my husband tried to become a chain smoking alcoholic during the divorce from his first wife but failed miserably, he kept forgetting to drink or smoke but I am aware that he is the exception).

 It started off with the usual suspects, a microwave here, a juicer there, maybe a second hand popcorn maker and a mixer and before you know it you have cupboards overflowing with gadgets. I don’t regret it, not even for a second. This is not a post about the remorse I feel for so many appliances. There is joy in my admission!

A quick roundup in my cupboard reveals my current inventory:

• ·         A breadmaker
• ·         A pressure cooker (not appliance really more of a gadget right? Not an electric one maybe shouldn’t be on the list)
• ·         Thermomix (all hail the HypnoMix, I mean Thermomix, your new God, HAIL it!)
• ·         Tefal Actifry (a recent present from inlaws)
• ·         Sunbeam frying pan (ancient, reliable, $5 from a garage sale)
• ·         Dehydrator (cheap from an auction)
• ·         Automatic sprouter
• ·         Another breadmaker (yes a backup, or to make dough in or something- leave me alone!)
• ·         Two yoghurt makers,
• ·         A pasta machine (this came with the dehydrator at the Auction- I haven’t actually used this one at all yet but it is so wonderfully shiny!)
• ·         A potato ricer
• ·         A mandolin slicer
• ·         Pancake factory

 I do use many of my gadgets. My breadmaker does not languish, I rarely buy bread so it is used between two and five times a week… sure the backup one doesn’t get much use but I am loathe to get rid of it as it does me no harm .

The Thermomix is used every day and truth be told it didn’t replace all my other appliances- it did replace the food processor and the stand mixer but I still use the breadmaker and the yoghurt maker and the stovetop and the pressure cooker and the electric fry pan (an ancient sunbeam classic)  . Less used but still valued are the newest addition the Actifry, the dehydrator (come summer I predict more use!) the Automatic sprouter (yes I use it, yes it is pure indulgence) and the pancake maker ( this is a contentious appliance- the story is worthy of it’s our post I think..).

 I still covet MORE! I sort of fancy a slow cooker and I saw that the opshops are now brimming with novelty single use appliances(donut, pie, cupcake makers) for as little as three dollars.  I didn’t used to be this way, I used to live in a hut next to a shed in the hills there was no mains power, no running water, I cooked on a gas ring which also had to power a gas mantle lantern showers were from a bucket with a tiny pump powered by a battery.

Washing clothes was fun, I had an old pickle barrel which I filled with water soaped up the clothes and popped the lid on, then I would rock it from side to side as vigorously as I could muster, replace the solid lid with mesh and kick it down the hill (my version of a spin cycle) at the bottom of the hill I would hang the clothes on the five wire fence. Low tech and truth be told not particularly effective but not having the cleanest clothes doesn’t really affect your social standing when you are in your early twenties in Northern NSW.

But I am not in my early twenties now, it is ten years on, three children and let’s be frank I like a bit of comfort nowadays.  So, heap on the kitchen technology! It makes my life easier and is less harmful than a drug addiction, (as long as I stay away from the $7.50 appliances from K-Mart – they CANNOT be good for you- like cheap junk food!). I don’t want a juicer or soup maker or a grain grinder or ice crusher (the Thermomix really does replace them for me) but have you seen the HotMixPro? Oooh it’s a Thermal cooker similar to the Thermomix but can cook at higher temperatures.. but the price. Ah I can dream can’t I it’s good to have something to aspire to.

What’s that you say Internet? I really do need a slow cooker? Well all right then, who am I to argue?

*like most human beings.

Foraging Fun!

I have been hanging out for Autumn, Autumn is wonderful, the weather, the leaves and the foraging, Blackberries, apples and rose hips being the major players.

Autumn officially began at the start of March but we have been having a prolonged heatwave which has the result of Tasmanians being surly and sweaty  first we realise that our antiperspirant doesn't cut it and then we all wear too much and the place smells like a cheap body spray whenever you have had a visitor (not my friends  mostly customers by the way  I am sure all my friends smell very sophisticated). So it's been too hot but we insisted on some good old fashioned foraging anyway. 
Proper foraging. 
Not buying from farm gates or door knocking nearby houses (both of which were called foraging on Masterchef!)but picking from the brambles ourselves. 

We found a good spot near the river and whilst baby slept peacefully in the (well ventilated and shaded) car we picked over four kilos of blackberries. Well that's what we weighed up, I am fairly sure we picked more because delightfully quirky four year old never had any in his bucket, seemed to spend most of his time getting caught on brambles and still ended up covered in berry juice so he must have eaten more than we saw!

As soon as we got home I had to start work on using them as they were so sweet and ripe and warm they were already softening. Proper fruit doesn't keep well. It should be processed into delicious things as soon as possible or eaten whilst still warm from the sun and fragrant and juicy. in an ideal world.

I used the Thermomix to make jam (so easy it's like cheating!), froze some mixed with some rapadura, made a blackberry slice based on Bill Granger's recipe here. I used a sweet shortcrust base from a Leon recipe... because I knew I liked it and I could make double quantities, rest it in the fridge, nip out for a quick beer with fabulous people and then use the pastry to make both the slice and a a crumple topped blackberry and apple pie (for dinner). because I forgot to mention we found and old apple tree and I used the apples in the pie.There were some creatures but I cut the creaturey bits out and did only used the good bits!

It was wonderful. I wonder what we will forage next...?

What is the Dull Roar Philosophy?

What is the Dull Roar Philosophy?

I have three children, two boys currently four and six and a baby girl who is six months. Combine this with running (and expanding) a business with my beloved, an enthusiasm for cooking and a blindspot when it comes to housework and things get interesting.
That's why I examine things against my Dull Roar Philosophy. It's not about perfect organisation. It's about keeping the chaos down to a dull roar. I am not one for organisation. It's really boring for me, I didn't sign on for marriage and motherhood to devote myself to arranging children's belongings and unfortunately my younger son has inherited a more severe form of Pig Pen syndrome which I suffer from so having a spotless house and scrubbed clean children is never going to work.
Here's a few things I do to keep things down to a dull roar.

• Multi-tasking errands, a trip to the market forms part of the food shop and is exercise and entertainment for the family. 
• Feeding the children raw vegetables when they are watching television. Television is excellent for promoting mindless eating so if healthy food has been low and they are watching TV I give them carrots. tomatoes, beans etc.
• Teaching the children to do the housework. This is in the first stages but they are nearly as good as me. This doubles as entertainment for a few minutes. They like vacuumming and unpacking the dishwasher best at present!
• Older child reads his daily school reader to the family for the bedtime story.
• I make custard in the Thermomix often for breakfast, this sounds counter-intuitive but with an egg and rapadura instead of sugar and served with frozen berries in is a wholesome start to the day and the Thermomix does all the work!

So I try to get the most bang for the least buck (or effort). And try to keep the chaos down to a dull roar.
I think it's kind of sort of working!

Almost human...

Christmas and New Years is chaos for everyone I know but I feel we manage to make it that bit more chaotic than other people. Not with our outrageous purchases or cooking or familial discord but through having our own business to run full throttle when there are public holidays all over the place, everyone else is relaxing, we can't get any services done and the children have no daycare! Christmas is our busiest time of year and after a very quiet year it came as a shock! Our boys seem to have finally decided to work in with us a bit (and finding that the younger one has been suffering with lactose intolerance has helped his behaviour a bit- not quite as cranky!) on occasion and we do love spending time together but with such a flurry of activity  I forget how to do normal things like think of what to have for dinner, or put a loaf of bread in the bread maker, ditto the yoghurt...(we have been eating out a lot...Pizza anyone?) but I am every so smugly pleased to report that the boys have been asking for my homemade food because it apparently very yummy (or Master five is trying to get something from me...). 
The challenge of late for me has been the boys attending a new day care for the holidays, just for two weeks. The centre is nut free and egg free and combined with Little L's newly found lactose intolerance and Master J's self taught rampant vegetarianism I have been forced to get my thinking cap on for nut free, egg free, dairy free, meat free meals. Lots of internet trawling and I have found some new vegan recipes to try, I have nearly assembled enough ingredients to make this Vegan "cheese" -have a look at this blog, it is incredibly cute! I will report back once made...I have also been hitting the Thermomix hard, dairy free smoothies, banana icecream (just frozen bananas whizzed up to make a creamy substance), homemade soyamilk (very soybeany!) and a concoction I made with seeds, coconut butter, dates, cocoa, rapadura and  quinoa flakes made a rich fudgy stuff without wheat, eggs, dairy, nuts, refined sugar (makes one wonder if it had anything at all in it!).
Soon I will start feeling like a person again and will definitely report back when that happens!

In Praise of the thermomix.

Copyright Vorwerk.

Some would probably say that the Thermomix is too expensive. They might be right, I suppose it would depend on how much you use and what for. Some people don't use their bread makers either and if that is the case a $150 bread maker is too expensive as well, I personally have used my bread maker every week for two years now and the Thermomix is getting a workout too. So far this week: Peanut butter (wonderful and simple), beetroot dip, soup, biscuits (with freshly ground oat flour and almond meal), mayonnaise, coleslaw, vege burgers, muesli.

I am able to use whole foods as it cuts them so finely that skin etc isn't an issue and best of all my four year old eats anything made in the Thermomix, I mean anything including red cabbage coleslaw and beetroot dip (he doesn't care for coleslaw normally). I have not yet begun to find out all it can do yet!

Better get back to the kitchen!

A sudden change of gear.

I am typing this from my "new" office which is is reality a couple of years older than me and has all the wood paneling and green laminex to support it's claim on 70's chic. The weather is wild and wooly, rain battering the windows, the awnings (green) and moaning and flapping but we are all snug inside our new house/offices.

It feels like home already!

Just before the move which happened last Tuesday in earnest I received my THERMOMIX posted from Spain with an amazing looking collection of Spanish recipes which I am having to teach myself to read and even though I haven't really got any recipes for it yet I am having so much fun experimenting with food in the wonderful beasty. I have used it at least once a day for the last two weeks, often more, two or three times in the day.

There is an amazing amount of recipes, forums, blogs and videos for Thermomix use and I must say I can't wait to get into some of the more wholefood-ish recipes for the new addition to the family. Luckily our new kitchen is very long galley style (also there are so many powerpoints and cupboards in this house) so Thermomix can have a corner all to it's self. 

The garden is tiny at the new house but I am sort of looking forward to the challenge of some innovative container gardening, I have just found a stash of strange abandoned things like old sleepers and bits of galvanised iron sheds and cuts from water tanks round the side of the enormous shed which Darling Husband looked at with horror but I think could be a great place to find materials for raised beds, chicken coops and scrap metal for some pocket money!

Unfortunately the weather is too wild for any outside photos today.