the scent of water

Re-focus

    

I say it every few months, and always mean it, but never quite manage it: it's time to simplify and re-focus. It would probably help if I knew what the (bad word) I was simplifying and focusing on in the first (rude word) place.

And yet the urge remains. I find other people's skills and talents and loves so interesting that I think I mistake their passion for my own (oooh, beautiful lampshade, I should learn to make those; oh, what a gorgeous dress, I should totally sew one; such a great way to make a living, I should do that too).  Etc.  All I end up with is a huge load of anxiety-inducing piles of half made objects, projects, and school catalogues everywhere. It hurts my brain.

How peaceful it would be to just enjoy other's talents for what they are, and be content with enjoying my own. Wouldn't it?

Three things I do know is that a) I love this blog and will be working hard on making it a more inspiring place than the current random mess it is in, and b) I also get rather a kick out of watering the in-born seeds of other people's strengths and abilities (yes, I'm talking about you, awesome person) and c) I really need a decent digital camera and photo processing software of my own.  Need.  It's only going to cost me a good few grand.  Bad and rude word.

Apparently, what I mostly do is ramble.

According to the newly added category cloud in the side bar.  I put it there because I like to trawl through the different categories on other people's sites, depending on my particular mood that day, and thought it was time enough to have one of my own.  I didn't really assign categories before the end of last year, so it's not comprehensive, but never mind because, really, I think  it's rather safe to say that it's all pretty much just one big ramble.

 

I can't remember any longer how I found my way to this mujadara recipe, and even less why I tried it (just lentils, rice, and onions?  how good could that be?) but I thank all things foodie that I did.  It's my new favourite lunch. Truly delicious (though you really do have to heed her instructions re. cooking the onions long and slow, it's absolutely crucial).  You can see what I thought of it by the empty plate above -  I had made two servings, one for that day, one for the next.  Hah, yeah, good joke. 

I also thought an email I received today was a bit of a good joke the first time I read it, which brings me nicely to explaining the other new (and rather premature, but I've told you before how hopeless I am at waiting) addition to the sidebar.  If you've lived on planet blogland for more than a few seconds, you'll no doubt know of the Julie/Julia project that Julie Powell started nearly 7 years ago.  Then came the book, and now the movie.  The movie website is featuring a 'blog of the day' each day until the movie's release on August 7th, and the scent of water will be there in all its foodie-wanna-be glory on July 8th (why me?  I have absolutely no idea.  I figure if we all keep quiet, no-one will realise I'm a total fraud.  So ssssshhhh.) 

I think it probably makes me and Ms. Streep practically best friends, wouldn't you say? I have mentioned before the way I feel about her.  Check out the movie trailer on the website, it looks like a great one.

As obsessed as I am with food (and I am, very), it doesn't show up on this site as much as it does in real life, but I did have one idea a few months ago that I have never gotten around to doing, and now seems like the perfect time to give it a go. 

According to a national paper, it should cost somewhere around NZ$350/week to feed a family my size on an average food budget.  If I shopped at an organic store instead of the supermarket, I wondered, and left out all of the processed gloop I lazily shove into my trolley far too often, could I still keep it to this average budget?  I'd like to try. 

On Monday I will take out $350 in cash and see what it will get me for the week.  I'll catalogue what I make and what it cost me, etc., and so forth. I have both Julie's and Julia's memoir on my bedside table to read as encouragement when I can't be bothered to pull together yet another meal, and a ridiculously large number of cookbooks to look through for inspiration.  Rock on.

(In other news, I bought an older style second hand Bernina today for almost half what it would have cost me to repair my newish flash computerised one.  It'll arrive in a couple of days, and I've already decided on my first project: produce bags like these.  Everything's coming full circle, baby.  And I'm still rambling.)

Autumn Is

 

Digging out the remnants of the summer berries from the bottom of my freezer to make jam.

 

Jam on toast with hot chocolate (green & blacks gently melted into organic milk) to warm cold hands and fill empty tummies after school.

Homemade berry icecream.  Just because.

My car smells pretty now.

It was beginning to smell of dirty socks.  I blame the nearly 12 year old boy (yes my dear child, you do need to wash them every day).  Fair or not, I thought lemon verbena and lavender would make for a preferable olfactory experience.

The sewing machine is still broken (or rather, broke again.  Warren spent a weekend fixing it, turned it on, and bang!  The ungrateful thing just blew up on the poor fellow) so I took up a needle and thread and made a pouch the old fashioned way.

I hung it over my rearview mirror and whenever I feel like a fresh burst of scent I just give it a squeeze and wait for the remnants of summer to waft over me.  Lovely.

Not my house.

Though it could have been.  It was for sale when we moved here, and it was exactly the sort of house that my heart was asking  me for.  But the practicalities (too small, too cold, too old) argued me out of it, and we went renting instead.  Sorry, heart.

Ms. Cleaver commented in the last post how smart it is to use one cut of meat for several meals.  I already do this for chicken (I can get beautiful organic chicken from a store nearby), a roast for the first meal, often a risotto for the second (a glass of wine for the pan, a glass of wine for me - so civilised) and I am just learning to make a decent stock from the carcass.  Not easy for a one-time vegetarian.  (Yes.  I totally was.)  Di also linked to this post on how to cook cheap cuts of meat. I'm sure my grandparents knew all this.  It would have been great if they'd left me with a recipe collection or two, though a good second choice would be moving to the french countryside...

This soup was made from a homemade stock - I saute an onion or two in olive oil, then add in whatever else I happen to have on hand.  I sometimes add in cannellini beans too and last night I thought that a sprinkling of parmesan would have lifted it from a nice meal into a gorgeous one, but alas I was out.  This is how I cook.  Add stuff until it tastes great.

I try to keep a small selection of growing things on my patio (we are garden-less) but I fail miserably at it.  Herbs I can do, except I often buy baby ones and use so much of them so quickly that they never quite recover.  Bad lady.  My kids get an over-the-top thrill out of seeing even a sprinkling of parsley we've grown ourselves over the top of a meal.  It seems to give them some kind of idea that we are eco-warrior culinary genius types, and I am more than happy to uphold the illusion.

New challenges, belated announcements, and a question you should never ask yourself before breakfast.

I bought my weekly fruit and veg a couple of weeks ago from a retired gardener who runs a little street stall with his neighbour.  Gorgeous stuff.  All the family got to choose whatever produce they wanted, which in the girls' case meant tons of fruit, Warren chose silverbeet, and I loaded up on heirloom tomatoes.  Nathan abstained.  He's not a fan of raw things.

Our income has dropped to levels where I need to be careful what I buy and where.  Food's expensive in N.Z., good food astronomical.  And I love good food.  So, my challenge to myself over the next couple of months is to explore more ways of feeding my family good food, real food, within a limited budget.  I am certain it can be done, and I'm looking forward to it.  Hints, tips, and recipes welcome.

I keep forgetting to say that Tara of the wonderful Eyeblog was the winner of the photo prints a few posts back.  It's such fun giving away stuff, that I checked through a few more garage boxes in case there was anything else hiding in there that you could have.  Unless you're a fan of worn shoes and broken toys, no luck.  Oh well.  Another time.

Did you know it was the equinox today?  Happy equinox.  Amy and I have decided to explore the differences in cultures/hemispheres/ways-of-being between us with a collaboration of writing and photography (one week my pictures, her words, next week her pictures, my words).  We thought the equinox would be an excellent time in the year to begin, and what do you know, an excellent name for a blog too.  First entry is up here, so go and check it out if you are so inclined.

I was in the kitchen early this morning, having muddled my way through nothing much in particular.  Megan, I said, are you really so very useless?  Yes, I replied, I do think that I might be.  Then I spent one whole entire day changing the look of this blog in a very slight and uneventful manner.  I added links in at last, though no doubt I've forgotten a quadrillion people I really shouldn't have.  If that's you, please let me know.  And sorry. 

I need distracting too often.

 

I have half-finished piles of so many things everywhere, including, and especially, on the inside of my head.  I have just the one method of dealing with this level of chaos: distract myself with something different entirely.  The more irrelevant the better. Like picking lavender.  Or hunting out knitted dishcloth patterns.  You know how it is.

Friday is making day.

At least it is supposed to be.  As is not uncommon, I distracted myself instead with a good few hours of non-productive wandering around in circles.  What can I say?  I like circles.

All is not lost, my wanderings did lead me to perfumer Christopher Brosius's website after listening to a radio interview with the man himself.  Anyone who invents a scent called "in the library" is absolutely someone I'm bound by honour to like.  After wasting even more time reading through the descriptions of his perfumes, I went down to my fridge, removed the bergamot essence that lives there and dabbed the minutest amount on my wrist and neck.  Because I hate perfume too.

Now I smell like an early morning cup of Earl Grey. 

Christmas Joy

With an ever decreasing budget, I'm doing what I can to simplify Christmas without compromising quality.  I've been very slack on Christmas cards for years, relying on the instant magic that is electronic mail, but decided I would make some of my own this time.  It took just a few minutes to stamp out a couple of dozen of these cards, and I like them very much.  I'll like them even better when I can get over the idea that easy and inexpensive must somehow also mean less-than.

And sage green is my new BFF.