Another musing

Mmm earl grey tea ice cream, with some sort of crispy apple thing, or perhaps the ice cream is with a caramellised hazelnut and pastry tart.  Add a spoonful of apple compote on the side.


Seared tuna on a deep fried sticky rice ball.  With either a tomato consume or a pea sauce.


Fried circle of polenta with juicy roast chicken and onion gravy piled on top.


Teriyaki tofu with a crispy coating, on fluffy rice and asian greens.


Thats all for now.

Friendly coffee

Waste, I hate it.  Whether it be food, rubbish not recycled properly, stupid packaging or blatant wastage of disposable items.


When I worked in the film industry plastic and paper cups were de-rigor.  Because we would often be shooting on location, so no kitchen facilities were available, plus when you're on set it's a hazard to have drinks around.  Which basically means dishes and personal cups are hard to work with so disposable it is.  It was the bins chocka full of disposable cups which made me sad, those cups were made of materials purged from our earth, punched into shape by some factory in a far off land with Co2 belching from its chimneys.  Then placed in a boat chugging across the ocean.  For a meager minute life span, filled and drained then tossed away.


So how does this relate to our everyday lives, those of us that don't work on a film set, and who diligently reuse our cup at work and home?  Well how about take-away coffee? we all love it, and many of us will have a good couple a week.  The chunky cups which sit cosily in your hand have become a trend in themselves, check the gossip pages filled with pictures of undersized trend setters toting over sized coffees.  All of which get biffed in the bin after a single use.


So any way we can re-use is a friend of mine.  Specially when we can do it in a stylish way as well.  My work mate brought in one of these this week.  A cute, chubby re-usable coffee holder.  Still got the trend factor as well as being kind to the environment.  Plus you can use it for whatever you like!  To friends and family you're a long black swilling beat nick - but little do they know your cup actually holds a rare chinese tea blend.  Too cool.

Green soup

It's dark as outside.  The rain has started - it's really bucketing down.  And it's only 630.

Perfect soup weather.

Weekend just been, popped into my head was a picture of a soup - a bright green puddle in a bowl.  

To avoid the browny coloured soup that you'll get with kumera, meats, or too many coloured ingredients - everything in this soup is bright green.  You could probably try anything green in this. But keep the celery and the peas.  With a toasted bagel and cheese this soup is filling, the flavours taste fresh, sweet and almost spring like while you will feel good, clean and revitalised inside (probably due to eating straight veges, you'll be getting a good cup or two of them per serving).

Green Soup

2 onions

5 cloves garlic (I like garlic - use however much you like)

1/2 celery

1 kg pack of frozen peas

1 brocolli head

Big handful of spinach

1 l beef stock (this is what I had, another stock would be fine)

Herbs (I used bay leaves, a bit of rosemary, and a bit of italian mix I had in the fridge)

In a large pot with oil add onions, garlic and celery.  Can be chopped fairly roughly as it's going to get blended at the end.

Cook through till translucent.  Add broccoli, including the stalk, finely chopped.  Add stock and bring to a simmer.  Quickly add the peas and spinach.  Once it gets back to the boil remove from heat straight away (we don't want mush) and cool for a bit.

Blend in a processor till really smooth.

Return to pot and bring back to a simmer before enjoying a bowl with crispy toast as pictured or cheese on bagel.  Delightful.