I'm living a little better
I've been meaning to blog about a lot of things, but haven't made myself the time recently - weekends have been spent at the snow, and quite literally through winter days are shorter. Well, the sun's setting later now, and this weekend marks the first weekend toward summer where I'm not going to the snow.
This year has seen a fair chunk of positive change in my life, which I'm rather pleased with. I'm going to try and document it, so I can refer back to it if I start to slump.
I suppose I've been pondering for a while how to be less wasteful in general, and live my life a little more efficiently. To my uneducated mind, that simply meant locking myself indoors and never doing anything 'fun'. Not a very healthy lifestyle, no no.
So, back in May, after going to the markets and stocking right up on meat, Danielle and myself decided to go vegetarian. Not because 'meat is murder', but more because 'meat is inefficient' more than anything. Granted, Australia has a lot of land for grazing, it still takes a lot of effort to get from there to here. Hell, even cooking meat is more effort.
To be perfectly honest, though, even if I was still eating meat, going vegetarian has been an awesome joyride - trying new foods, having to come up with new ideas to keep it interesting, etc. You know, throwing yourself in the deep-end and trying to stay afloat. So far, so good. There's a lot of meat still in the freezer that the puppies are slowly working through, though. Soon!
Hrm, so after decided less meat = good came the transition to eating locally. Again, this wasn't really motivated by the "right" reason - 'local is efficient' - but rather, it was more that the Preston markets were over crowded with smelly people, smokers, and people always in a rush. So we rocked up bright and early to the farmer's markets at the Collingwood Children's Farm and blew a whole truckload of cash. I mean, it wasn't any cheaper, but the atmosphere was nicer with less smokers and more cute puppies. And, you know, better food. And lots of it. Apples, chocolate, eggs, strawberries, pumpkins. All in season, all fresh and all local. It was a delight to feast on!
What else? I don't think I've bought bread in two months now (the bread machine is getting a right workout!). In fact, the oven is getting a workout more now, too, as we make more things from scratch. I made the best cupcakes I've ever made last night, without a single packet! And we've made mousse, sticky date pudding, chocolate brioche, hot cross buns and more in just the last few weeks. All from scratch. (Mostly) all delicious.
OH! Making your own pasta from scratch - I highly recommend it! Since buying the pasta roller on eBay, it's ridiculously easy, too (rolling and cutting it was a pain in the bum!)
I'm drinking "organic" milk now, instead of the generic Pura stuff. Which is distinctly more expensive (I paid $5.25 for two litres at the supermarket, and the checkout chick gasped and exclaimed "wow, this is expensive!"), but it seems to be more 'authentic' in a sense. There's cream around the top, and we discovered yesterday after microwaving it, that there were little fatty bubbles on top from the melted butter. It was gross at first, but smiles crossed our faces when we thought about it a little more rationally.
In perspective, though, I think $5.25 for two litres of milk is rather cheap. I pay more than that for a daily ticket to sit on a train (which, incidentally, gets me to work slower than riding). I can think of many things worse than milk to spend my money on. Hell, $5.25 for a packet of cigarettes (cigarettes! Eugh!) is cheaper than that, and infinitely less useful.
We've just started buying bath milk, too. To drink. Despite the warning labels saying "NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION" and all that. Apparently though, some dairy farm was shut down or fined tens of thousands of dollars from a staff member jokingly suggesting something along the lines of "that looks good enough to drink!" (that's right, not even suggesting something *should* drink it), so they're never going to tell you to drink it. So what is it? It's just raw milk. Unpasteurised. Not heated first. Capiche?
So, the verdict on raw milk? Well, it's milk. Tastes pretty much like milk. I guess it's milkier milk than normal (just like the strawberries from the Farmer's markets are strawberrier than normal strawberries). It doesn't seem to leave you with a lingering aftertaste though, which is the worst part of milk. It's $6 for two litres though. More expensive, but not by much..
I'm seemingly more opposed to takeaway food of late. Occasionally we'll fetch some hot chips from the local takeaway, but that's generally the extent of it. Or if we're eating out, we've found some unreal vegetarian restaurants around the place that really appeal to what we're into. Unlicensed, no EFTPOS, but amazingly delicious food. It's great.
There's the (somewhat sad looking) vege patch in the backyard too. And the worms. They're nice. Yum!
I'm still a long way from I suppose a model whole-food eater or whatever, but I'm sincerely enjoying the flavours and the time spent preparing good quality food - even if it's a simple dish, it's so much more satisfying when the food has flavour that hasn't come from a bottle..
I suppose I'll write more in somewhat specific detail in future - it's just a bit of a braindump since it's been so long. Stay tuned. All two of you.
This year has seen a fair chunk of positive change in my life, which I'm rather pleased with. I'm going to try and document it, so I can refer back to it if I start to slump.
I suppose I've been pondering for a while how to be less wasteful in general, and live my life a little more efficiently. To my uneducated mind, that simply meant locking myself indoors and never doing anything 'fun'. Not a very healthy lifestyle, no no.
So, back in May, after going to the markets and stocking right up on meat, Danielle and myself decided to go vegetarian. Not because 'meat is murder', but more because 'meat is inefficient' more than anything. Granted, Australia has a lot of land for grazing, it still takes a lot of effort to get from there to here. Hell, even cooking meat is more effort.
To be perfectly honest, though, even if I was still eating meat, going vegetarian has been an awesome joyride - trying new foods, having to come up with new ideas to keep it interesting, etc. You know, throwing yourself in the deep-end and trying to stay afloat. So far, so good. There's a lot of meat still in the freezer that the puppies are slowly working through, though. Soon!
Hrm, so after decided less meat = good came the transition to eating locally. Again, this wasn't really motivated by the "right" reason - 'local is efficient' - but rather, it was more that the Preston markets were over crowded with smelly people, smokers, and people always in a rush. So we rocked up bright and early to the farmer's markets at the Collingwood Children's Farm and blew a whole truckload of cash. I mean, it wasn't any cheaper, but the atmosphere was nicer with less smokers and more cute puppies. And, you know, better food. And lots of it. Apples, chocolate, eggs, strawberries, pumpkins. All in season, all fresh and all local. It was a delight to feast on!
What else? I don't think I've bought bread in two months now (the bread machine is getting a right workout!). In fact, the oven is getting a workout more now, too, as we make more things from scratch. I made the best cupcakes I've ever made last night, without a single packet! And we've made mousse, sticky date pudding, chocolate brioche, hot cross buns and more in just the last few weeks. All from scratch. (Mostly) all delicious.
OH! Making your own pasta from scratch - I highly recommend it! Since buying the pasta roller on eBay, it's ridiculously easy, too (rolling and cutting it was a pain in the bum!)
I'm drinking "organic" milk now, instead of the generic Pura stuff. Which is distinctly more expensive (I paid $5.25 for two litres at the supermarket, and the checkout chick gasped and exclaimed "wow, this is expensive!"), but it seems to be more 'authentic' in a sense. There's cream around the top, and we discovered yesterday after microwaving it, that there were little fatty bubbles on top from the melted butter. It was gross at first, but smiles crossed our faces when we thought about it a little more rationally.
In perspective, though, I think $5.25 for two litres of milk is rather cheap. I pay more than that for a daily ticket to sit on a train (which, incidentally, gets me to work slower than riding). I can think of many things worse than milk to spend my money on. Hell, $5.25 for a packet of cigarettes (cigarettes! Eugh!) is cheaper than that, and infinitely less useful.
We've just started buying bath milk, too. To drink. Despite the warning labels saying "NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION" and all that. Apparently though, some dairy farm was shut down or fined tens of thousands of dollars from a staff member jokingly suggesting something along the lines of "that looks good enough to drink!" (that's right, not even suggesting something *should* drink it), so they're never going to tell you to drink it. So what is it? It's just raw milk. Unpasteurised. Not heated first. Capiche?
So, the verdict on raw milk? Well, it's milk. Tastes pretty much like milk. I guess it's milkier milk than normal (just like the strawberries from the Farmer's markets are strawberrier than normal strawberries). It doesn't seem to leave you with a lingering aftertaste though, which is the worst part of milk. It's $6 for two litres though. More expensive, but not by much..
I'm seemingly more opposed to takeaway food of late. Occasionally we'll fetch some hot chips from the local takeaway, but that's generally the extent of it. Or if we're eating out, we've found some unreal vegetarian restaurants around the place that really appeal to what we're into. Unlicensed, no EFTPOS, but amazingly delicious food. It's great.
There's the (somewhat sad looking) vege patch in the backyard too. And the worms. They're nice. Yum!
I'm still a long way from I suppose a model whole-food eater or whatever, but I'm sincerely enjoying the flavours and the time spent preparing good quality food - even if it's a simple dish, it's so much more satisfying when the food has flavour that hasn't come from a bottle..
I suppose I'll write more in somewhat specific detail in future - it's just a bit of a braindump since it's been so long. Stay tuned. All two of you.