Working at a farmer's market!

I've been looking for a part-time job for the longest time, and I've mainly applied as a waiting staff at all the famous restaurants, so that I can learn more about good food, and of course, there's always staff perks ;) I haven't been very successful though, it just isn't that easy to find a job in London. Then recently I got a reply from London Farmers' Market, about a job as market manager! Oh it's the best job ever, I never even thought I would get this job out of all the jobs I applied for.

I firmly believe the secret behind great food lies in the care and ingredients that go into the food. I love spending that extra time and effort on real food, I love picking out fresh, local produce and daydreaming about the food I'll make with them. Now I get to take it one step further and get to know the farmers and producers even better. I had a lovely chat with the milk lady who told me how cute buffalos actually are, and the apple guy about how lousy my shoes are, and the pork man about cheap trotters. Makes waking up at 5am on a cold blustery rainy Saturday worth it (:

Also makes me more determined to get my shopping done at the Farmers' Market instead. It's so much better knowing where your food comes from. Would you rather go for conventional, local, seasonal produce from a producer you know, or organic, imported producer you hear about on the label? I used to fall in the latter group. I think I'm a convert. No more oven-dried cherry tomatoes in winter.. but it doesn't mean I can't enjoy them still, it's just that I'm going to put more emphasis on what nature has offered us this season.

Anyway, it's not only about eating real foods, but food that's right for you as an individual, and that changes according to the season too. (I've been reading up a bit about Traditional Chinese Medicine, it's worth looking into for anyone interested in how our food relates to our body, because TCM believes in nutrition as the first line of rescue/defence, not medicine. How true is that!) So, while we're still in the midst of winter, I'm going to prepare more warming stews and leave the cold salads for summer!

Now That The Preliminaries Are Over

... we can get on to the real big fiscal catastrophes.

Iceland, Greece and Ireland were all pretty bad, but they were small enough to rescue, at least temporarily. Bigger, more problematic ones - Portugal and Spain - are still out there, waiting to fall, but even these aren't the main event. The main event is Japan.

Megan McArdle:

Japan's budget is in a truly terrifying state. Reading about the government's behavior reminds me of the worst accounts of compulsive spenders on the verge of personal bankruptcy--a sort of "What the hell, we're screwed anyway, so let's not think about it and maybe go to Cabo for the weekend." The budget's structural position is what is known technically to economists as "completely hosed"; borrowing now exceeds tax revenue, and debt service costs now eat up almost half of the tax revenue the government collects. "Unsustainable" is too weak to describe the situation; I don't know how they're doing it now.

Reuters:

With new debt issuance seen topping tax revenues for the second straight year in the initial budget, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda reiterated the need to overhaul the country's tax systems -- code for a sales tax hike -- to meet rising welfare costs for the fast-aging population.

The Wall Street Journal:

Rather than fundamental reform to Tokyo's notorious inability to spend wisely, the hallmarks of this budget are the administration's scramble to secure revenue and fulfill unrealistic campaign pledges. Tokyo will raid non-budget accounts and foreign-exchange reserves for $86 billion to fill its revenue shortfall. This kind of budgeting just isn't sustainable.

With local elections scheduled across Japan in the spring, spending is jumping without strategic rationale. Agricultural income subsidies are set to skyrocket more than 40% to $9.5 billion. Rather than creating incentives to make farms bigger and more efficient, Tokyo is just putting this cash into farmers pockets. Child-care subsidies will expand, without consideration of the recipient's income level.

Way back when, across all of the developed world, fiscal conservatives fought against mammoth increases in government social programs claiming they would lead to bankruptcy. They were labeled as heartless and greedy.

What would you call them now?

2010 --- my family. my treasure.

hye assalamualaikum! :)

pelik tak kenape tak tidur lg? sebab hari ni pergi main badminton lagi, tadi malam, so macam kononnye segar lah kan. jap lagi mesti tidur mati. pftt. sambil sy tulis ni, eh type ni, sugar ade seblah laptop duk tepuk2 broadband! weyhhh. kang disconnect ni yang oi. tp skrng die da tdow. alololo.

btw, last few days ade seorg gadis tibe2 msg dkt FB. hehe. terkejut jgk, tp cam die ckp die silent reader blog. and the best part is, she told me --- "but i ska ur prjalanan idup..xsuma org bertuah dpat fmily cam u.." *thank you najihah* :)

btw, 2010 is seriously, was quite a good year. too bad lah kan kte ni x blh expect life indah2 je. nanti tak belajar ape-ape plak kan. okaylah, nak cerita ape yg jadi dkt fmly dlm 2010 nih!

omaigoddd. yes, peper & sugar muncul dlm hidup. *sambil type nih tgk sugar tdow kejap* ;')

comelnyeeeeeeee la. time mrka ni tdow pun, rase nak kacaw2 je! serius ble pergi holiday ke,

balik kampung lame sgt ta leh bwk ke, rase RINDUUUU GILEEEE!

it was our simplest eid, seriously it was, since ramai cousin dah kawin, so on. raya tmpt lain.

so tinggal lah kami berape kerat je, then cam spend bnyk mase dkt tganu.

tapi, raya kali ni pun x semeriah dlu lah, cuma mcm just nice, :)

mama maintain CGPA die gempak, anak die kalah jauh. master in account 3.9 above ye kwn2.

*jap apsal sugar duk goyang2 ni? ngigau ke? habis telinga, ekor, kaki*

insya Allah june 2011 ni tamatlah pembelajaran mama.

pindah rumah baru pada 1.1.2010 tepat. small condo nak compare dgn rumah2 before.

tapi oklah, 6 rooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 hall. tp alhamdulilah sgt, sbb rasenye x pindah da.

sampai abah pencen. tp bil elektrik cni cekik darah T___T

dpt anak sedare baru! ramai! dlm 3 org. yg ni amira. comel gileeeeeeee.

lg 2 org lelaki, anak kak long & anak kak aizam. :)

mak sue la, adek bongsu abah pun kawin. *wink*

dan seorang lg sepupu, kak lin pun menamatkan zaman bujang. :)

well banyak lagi actually suka duka family dlm tahun ni. biaselah, nama pun family kan.

1. abah dpt transfer 2 KL finally, around august. setahun abah ddk sarawak sorang.
2. alhamdulilah, kami sekeluarga, dgn fmly mama ngah, pergi umrah :)
3. sepupu, badlishah dah officially jd Dr. Badlishah!
4. ayie & aisyah denggi sampai msk hospital, pun alhamdulilah, dah sehat.
5. faris pun, habis je degree, tak sampai seminggu terus kerja dkt SONY as engineer.
6. kereta mama kene pecah & samun dkt traffic light tmn connaught, mama fobia lame.

dan banyak lg actually, tapi dah keliru tu 2009 ke 2010. haha. *weyh nape sugar ni duk gegar2, ngigau ke sakit? tskkk T___T* harapannye, moga 2011 ni ade banyak lg berita baik dlm family. aminnn!

Julia Child's Ratatouille Revised to Low Fat and Easier

I had a yen for Ratatouille and the best recipe to me has been by Julia Child and Simon Beck. Julia's recipe was for a half pound of eggplant and a half pound of zucchini. I doubled the recipe and offer some suggestions as to what would make it low fat/salt and still good.

the recipe is shown on the following site.

http://www.healthygreenkitchen.com/julia-childs-ratatouille.html

I have changed it by substituting good chopped canned Italian plum tomatoes..imported please from Italy..read the label carefully...Also
I have lowered the 6 or 7 tablespoons of olive oil to fit into the very low fat diet I am following by making the following recipe changes..

When salting the zucchini and eggplants I use a half teaspoon of sea salt instead of a whole teaspoon, scattered over and mixed in by hand. Instead of sauteeing the zucchini or eggplant I drizzle over a whole tablespoon of olive oil then mix to cover each piece well with my hands..then I put them into a flat pan big enough to only have one layer of veggies so they don't lie upon eachother and roast them in the oven at 450 degrees. I turn and carefully watch so they don't burn or brown too much..follow the level of color from the original recipe. Next I do the same with the onions and the peppers..again using only 1 Tablespoon of oil..I do not add the tomato ealy as in the recipe, rather I add it when you layer the casserole at the end as the tomatoes are already soft out of the can.

The results are quite similar in taste to the original however the veggies are not swimming in oil and therefor can be made for a very low fat diet. If you have no issues with using all the oil it is luxurious but I find it isnt necessary particularly if you have become habituated to using less oil in your cooking.

I serve it with brown rice or quinoa and a salad

Julia Child's Ratatouille Revised to Low Fat and Easier

I had a yen for Ratatouille and the best recipe to me has been by Julia Child and Simon Beck. Julia's recipe was for a half pound of eggplant and a half pound of zucchini. I doubled the recipe and offer some suggestions as to what would make it low fat/salt and still good.

the recipe is shown on the following site.

http://www.healthygreenkitchen.com/julia-childs-ratatouille.html

I have changed it by substituting good chopped canned Italian plum tomatoes..imported please from Italy..read the label carefully...Also
I have lowered the 6 or 7 tablespoons of olive oil to fit into the very low fat diet I am following by making the following recipe changes..

When salting the zucchini and eggplants I use a half teaspoon of sea salt instead of a whole teaspoon, scattered over and mixed in by hand. Instead of sauteeing the zucchini or eggplant I drizzle over a whole tablespoon of olive oil then mix to cover each piece well with my hands..then I put them into a flat pan big enough to only have one layer of veggies so they don't lie upon eachother and roast them in the oven at 450 degrees. I turn and carefully watch so they don't burn or brown too much..follow the level of color from the original recipe. Next I do the same with the onions and the peppers..again using only 1 Tablespoon of oil..I do not add the tomato ealy as in the recipe, rather I add it when you layer the casserole at the end as the tomatoes are already soft out of the can.

The results are quite similar in taste to the original however the veggies are not swimming in oil and therefor can be made for a very low fat diet. If you have no issues with using all the oil it is luxurious but I find it isnt necessary particularly if you have become habituated to using less oil in your cooking.

I serve it with brown rice or quinoa and a salad

Home Made Fat Free Ricotta Cheese

I have not found a smooth tasty fat free Ricotta Cheese. As I like to use it in my snacks and cooking I looked up a recipe by the famed Vegetarian Food expert, Deborah Madison. I have been following her recipes since the 80's. She wrote a book with Edward Espe Brown when she was working with him..called the Tassajara Recipe Book in 1985. It is a wonderful little book of recipes from the Zen Monastery at Tassajara who among other wonderful things ran the Green Gulch Gardens where Alice Waters originally sourced her vegetables for Chez Panise.

Her Ricotta recipe is ridiculously easy to do and a lot of fun to make. I took the recipe and used skim milk and found you could get an altogether acceptable product..far better than the commercially available fat free ricotta I rejected as grainy and unpleasant..name withheld!

I used the commercially produced skim milk but think the better quality the ingredients the better the outcome. Also I used a big porcelain lined cast iron stew pot which when I let the curds form I left in my microwave. Since the microwave is insulated and small it kept the curds warm perfectly. I used white vinegar and would imagine that using the other options would change the quality of the resulting product. finally I whipped a small amount in my mini prep to see what would happen. It resulted in a ricotta cream which I am sure to use instead of custard sauce once flavored. maybe I will play with a recipe she has for floating island dessert..more to come..

Deborah Madison's recipe can be found on the link to www.about.com shown below

http://homecooking.about.com/od/beefrecipes/r/bldairy48.htm

Home Made Fat Free Ricotta Cheese

I have not found a smooth tasty fat free Ricotta Cheese. As I like to use it in my snacks and cooking I looked up a recipe by the famed Vegetarian Food expert, Deborah Madison. I have been following her recipes since the 80's. She wrote a book with Edward Espe Brown when she was working with him..called the Tassajara Recipe Book in 1985. It is a wonderful little book of recipes from the Zen Monastery at Tassajara who among other wonderful things ran the Green Gulch Gardens where Alice Waters originally sourced her vegetables for Chez Panise.

Her Ricotta recipe is ridiculously easy to do and a lot of fun to make. I took the recipe and used skim milk and found you could get an altogether acceptable product..far better than the commercially available fat free ricotta I rejected as grainy and unpleasant..name withheld!

I used the commercially produced skim milk but think the better quality the ingredients the better the outcome. Also I used a big porcelain lined cast iron stew pot which when I let the curds form I left in my microwave. Since the microwave is insulated and small it kept the curds warm perfectly. I used white vinegar and would imagine that using the other options would change the quality of the resulting product. finally I whipped a small amount in my mini prep to see what would happen. It resulted in a ricotta cream which I am sure to use instead of custard sauce once flavored. maybe I will play with a recipe she has for floating island dessert..more to come..

Deborah Madison's recipe can be found on the link to www.about.com shown below

http://homecooking.about.com/od/beefrecipes/r/bldairy48.htm

Happy New Year! Two Steps Forward One Step Back

The new diet I have been on has helped me to lose 13 pounds since the end of August. Unfortunately my recent test results show me as having higher than acceptable Cholesterol numbers. Since the diet I have been eating is a low fat diet it is not the diet doing this. For the last number of years I have been battling a genetic pre-dispositon to high cholesterol. Being a small size..6 or a big size 4 hasn't saved me from high cholesterol. My body is just manufacturing it..just like my 98 pound mom did!
So dear reader, in addition to my normally low fat offerings I will also be adding what I call Cholesterol lowering ideas and recipes. I've been reading new books by Dean Ornish and Harvard University as well as searching the internet. When I find information that I see more than once and from credible sources I am using them to re-invent what I eat. For instance I now take fish oil and ground flax seed..more on the plan later.

While I personally will be largely vegetarian to see whether I can naturally control my body's production of cholesterol or not, without drugs..you dear reader, will see a variety of options from vegetarian to not.

I still desire to eat what tastes great and while the veggie thing is going to be a real challenge for things being as easily and quickly prepared, I am doing my best to keep it easy and fun and delicious.
For those who are interested I will be posting various links to new information regarding cholesterol and what figures into the lowering of it.

Happy New Year! Two Steps Forward One Step Back

The new diet I have been on has helped me to lose 13 pounds since the end of August. Unfortunately my recent test results show me as having higher than acceptable Cholesterol numbers. Since the diet I have been eating is a low fat diet it is not the diet doing this. For the last number of years I have been battling a genetic pre-dispositon to high cholesterol. Being a small size..6 or a big size 4 hasn't saved me from high cholesterol. My body is just manufacturing it..just like my 98 pound mom did!
So dear reader, in addition to my normally low fat offerings I will also be adding what I call Cholesterol lowering ideas and recipes. I've been reading new books by Dean Ornish and Harvard University as well as searching the internet. When I find information that I see more than once and from credible sources I am using them to re-invent what I eat. For instance I now take fish oil and ground flax seed..more on the plan later.

While I personally will be largely vegetarian to see whether I can naturally control my body's production of cholesterol or not, without drugs..you dear reader, will see a variety of options from vegetarian to not.

I still desire to eat what tastes great and while the veggie thing is going to be a real challenge for things being as easily and quickly prepared, I am doing my best to keep it easy and fun and delicious.
For those who are interested I will be posting various links to new information regarding cholesterol and what figures into the lowering of it.

Point Loma Sunset Evolution

Here's a better version of yesterday's sunset video. This one retains the wave motion at their original speed, but still gives you a feeling for the change in the sky over time. Leaving the segments at their original speed also allows you to leave the sounds of the waves in the video. The video is available on YouTube in 720p, so if you can handle the download, a fullscreen version might be worth it.

Enjoy!