My friend Dorothy died at 8pm last Wednesday. She was old and falling apart and ready for it and I was ready to let her go but now I’m thinking of the things that will never happen again. No more going to Dorothy’s place to eat lunch and play word games while telling outrageous jokes. […]
Author: admin
Janet
I found out about the death of my friend Janet through Facebook. We used to meet regularly, first with a mutual friend, Dorothy. Dorothy gradually went downhill till she died at 94. Janet and I, joined by another friend, Rebecca would sometimes meet at Galaxy and have lunch together somewhere in the city. When COVID […]
Making Vegetables
I have a bit more time now, so I’ve started making things. I made cheese from milk: Camembert, cheddar and goat’s cheese. I turned cattle bones into broth, soaking them in water and apple cider vinegar, then baking them and soaking them again, with a carrot, an onion, some celery and peppercorns, for 36 hours […]
Making Cheese
I like the goat’s cheese at Rozelle markets but no one sells it up here and I don’t want to go to Rozelle every weekend just for goat’s cheese. So, when I saw a cheese-making book in a catalogue, I decided to make my own. I found some goat’s milk at a local health food […]
The Right Way to Eat
My doctor favours Paleo so I’ve been reading that a lot lately. Lots of protein, except dairy. Eggs and meat, except smoked meats. Vegetables, except starchy ones, no potato, corn, kumera. Beets? Best not. Avoid coconut water but cook with coconut oil. Lots of salad, except GMO vegetables. Fish, except farmed fish and those at […]
Bunya Nuts
A friend introduced me to bunya nuts. They were a traditional food of Aborigines living in South East Queensland, especially in the Bunya Mountains National Park. The nuts mature in summer and hostilities between tribes were suspended, as aborigines travelled long distances to feast on the nuts. When the white man came, many of the […]
Lettuce, Lettuce Everywhere
When I was a kid, salad consisted of lettuce, tomatoes, capsicum and cucumber. There was only one type of lettuce, iceberg lettuce. Salad dressing was made from salt, olive oil and vinegar. I added paprika once because it looked good on the cucumber but had to take it off again when my sister complained. For […]
More than Just Hommos
I always thought the name chickpeas would have some strange village story behind it, perhaps they were fed to chickens in the Middle Ages to fatten them or were brown rather than green and therefore only fit for chickens. Turns out the name comes from the French ‘chiche’, which comes from the Latin ‘cicer’ which […]
The Secret Life of Mushrooms
The mushroom is the fruiting body of a subterranean network of long root-like cells (hyphae) which thread themselves through the soil like neurons in a human brain. Called the mycelium, this network of cells can grow for long periods without fruiting and cover large areas. A single mycelium found in Michigan is said to cover […]
The Sprout from Brussels
Like many, I grew up groaning whenever brussels sprouts were served. They were invariably boiled to destruction and tasted like dirty water. Whenever I hear someone say they enjoy brussels sprouts, I wonder (very politely) where this person was when they were handing out taste buds. Still, there’s a fair whack of the population who […]