What’s Italian for yummo?

My new obsession! I dined at a local trattoria the other night. The main meals were pretty ordinary fare: pizza, pasta and meat dishes. I decided to sample pollo alla Romana con peperoni or Roman chook with peppers. Frankly, I think I could have cooked this better and that’s saying something because I can’t cook. There was nothing actually wrong with the dish; it was just blah. Bland. And swimming in way too much olive oil for my liking. The baked peppers were tasty though.

But the dessert! I’m going back to this joint just for the dessert. I can’t recall the name of it in Italian – I’ll find out. (UPDATE: I can now tell you it’s called Sbriciolata di Millefoglie). Basically, it’s the Italian version of Mille-feuille. Too die for. Light, crispy, sweet but not too sweet. Dusted with icing sugar. What’s Italian for ooh-la-la? Or for YUMMO?!! Obsessed, obsessed, obsessed. One of my regular readers will totally understand this.

Roman chook swimming in oil, with baked peppers.

My new obsession! Yummo! Delish!!!

 

Of goats and cheese

Part of the reason we have Mabel and her babies is because we fully intend to make our own goat cheese. My secret ambition is to whip up goat milk soaps and body lotions. And I will call the range Mabel’s Own. How apt. I’ve read all sorts of books on how to make soap but cheesemaking was a bit of a mystery.

So hubs and I decided to attend a course on how to make goat feta and cream cheese. Along with five others, we spent a fun-filled day learning how to milk a goat and make cheese from curds and whey. It’s far easier than I thought. Even milking a goat isn’t that hard.

What I wasn’t looking forward to though was the taste of the cheese. I’ve only tasted goat cheese once before and frankly hated it. I’m not sure if it’s the breed of goat (Anglo-Nubian) but the cheeses we produced had a very subtle flavour. Not goaty-tasting at all. After we made our individual feta and cream cheeses, we sat down for lunch. The lady who ran the course served up an amazing feast – homemade bread; salad with veges from her garden, studded with cubes of goat feta; goat cream cheese with chilli and garlic; home-churned butter; and…..the most fantastic mini-lemon cheesecakes made with goat cream cheese and dusted with icing sugar. Scrumptious!

We are planning to buy two Anglo-Nubians from the lady who ran the course and breeds goats. Then it’s one short step to milking our own goats and whipping up our own cheese. In July or August, I’ll also be attending a goat milk soap-making course.

Yes, it's really me - milking a goat!

Our instructor shows us advanced milking techniques.

Our instructor showed us how to make a rolled-up cheese called Boursin. We filled this one with fresh herbs from the garden.

Chilli and garlic cream cheese sitting on the luncheon table, ready for us to scoff.

Simply scrumptious mini-lemon cheesecakes.

 

Road food

It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a road trip. I think the last one was through the Namib desert in scorching heat. That was many years ago. And there weren’t exactly roadside cafes to stop off and get a greasy hamburger in this desert. I always associate a good road trip with hamburgers, pies and a smooth coffee.

On the trip to Lake Oahu, I reckon I had the best road food I’ve ever had. This was basically my first time out of Oxford in the nearly two years we’ve been living here after moving from Oz. Sad I know. I’ve been to Wellington, Levin and Auckland in this time but nowhere within a few hours from Oxford. Lake Oahu is about a four hour run from Oxford.

Our first stop was the Staveley Village Store, which is on the Inland Scenic Route 72. It’s a quaint little family-run country store and the coffee was fantastic. I also sampled a homemade chocolate slice. Yummo. Fueled by this, we stopped next in Fairlie and I fell in love with this quirky rural New Zealand town with its soft, rolling hills and verdant landscape.

With a population of around 800 it boasts the Fairlie Bakehouse and the best pies I’ve ever had. I tried a beef and pumpkin pie – it had REAL beef and was steaming hot out of the oven. I also couldn’t resist the mini-raspberry cheesecake. This was soooooo good I had another one on the trip back.

It all brought back memories of my childhood when Dad was a sales rep. Every school holidays, I’d go on the road with him around country New South Wales. Dad always said that wherever the trucks stopped, that’s where you’d find great road food. I have to say though the food we had on the trip to Lake Oahu was amazing and just shows that you can still get home-baked food made with real ingredients in this overly-processed world of ours.

Approaching the Staveley Village Store.

Inside the Staveley Village Store - quaint!

Yummo! A great cappuccino and home-baked chocolate slice.

Dodgy iPhone shot as we were travelling in the car - but this is the most scrumptious mini-raspberry cheesecake. To die for.

Fresh out of the oven from the Fairlie Bakehouse. One of their home-baked pies.

 

What’s your blood group?

You need to know your blood group when you visit Bangkok’s blood type cuisine restaurant, The Third Floor. My Thai sis, Lalida, took us here when we were in Thailand late last year. The idea behind the restaurant is that eating certain foods that are compatible with your blood group is more natural and healthier.

I had to really think about my blood type (which I’m pretty sure is O) and consult the menu to see what foods were suggested. I seem to remember reading ages ago that the O blood type is considered the world’s oldest human blood group. So people with type O should be eating the diet of early humans, which I guess consisted of legumes, fruit, vegetables and whatever meat they could lay their hands on.

This is what The Third Floor recommends:

For the O blood type, a high protein diet consisting of red meat is suggested. Problem with that is I’m not such a fan of red meat. It also suggests a low-carb diet. Not a great fan of that either given the controversy over whether low-carb diets actually make us fatter.

The Third Floor serves up Thai and international cuisine and it’s organic and served with spelt flour noodles and brown rice. I simply can’t remember what I ordered but I do remember I enjoyed it and the atmosphere of the restaurant. I was remiss in not taking photos of the dishes we ordered, so guess you’ll have to schlepp to Bangkok to sample the food.

 

How to gain weight

Whilst in Rome for 2.5 months last year, I was constantly intrigued by how the Italians stay slim. I mean they are surrounded by the most amazing patisseries, gelateria, cafes and restaurants. Any street you walk down, there is some shop with stunning displays of fresh produce or cakes or gelato. Tempting you. Like sirens singing their haunting songs; luring sailors to their death. Or in my case, luring me to gorge on macaroons or slices of seductive tiramisu cake.

I had a hard time keeping my weight down during my time in Rome. I am not blessed with the sort of metabolism that can eat anything and everything. I only have to set my eyes on a chocolate eclair to gain one kilo, let alone eat it. So I made sure that every weekend, I walked and walked and walked. I also made sure I stuck as much as possible to salads and indulged in cakes or gelato once or twice a week. This worked and I managed to remain around the same weight.

How do the Italians manage it? I do think they walk far more than the average Australian or New Zealander. And I also noticed that serving sizes in cafes and restaurants weren’t the super-size me portions we get in Oz or NZ (less in NZ I must say).

Down the hill from where I was living in Circo Massimo was the Cristalli di Zucchero patisserie. Talk about a visual feast for the eyes and stomach. They have several other locations in Rome too but, wouldn’t you know it, just my luck to have one so near to me. At least I had to walk down the hill and back up it, ladened with my spoils. So I managed to do a spot of exercise before scoffing whatever goodies I bought.

I did become somewhat obsessed with their macaroons. Give me a macaroon any day. I usually bought one lemon-flavoured macaroon and one vanilla. I tried to limit myself to two only. Tough decision let me tell you. I also indulged in a few slices over the 2.5 months – their chocolate brownie with fruit pieces is to die for.

I am due back in Rome soon and will be staying for two months this time. Most likely I’ll be there during May/June and my major challenge will be to keep away from all the patisseries. I plan to live somewhere other than Circo Massimo with my main hope being for a nice little apartment in Testaccio. It’s a former working-class neighbourhood that has been spruced up and there are tons of cafes, restaurants and a lively market. It’s my favourite area in Rome. If I can’t rent something here, then my next choice is Garbatella.

I know – a potential dumb ass decision on my part since both areas will be stuffed full of patisseries and cafes.

 

Unusual but tasty

I’ve been talking about the Portuguese cafe, Cafe Bembom, in Johannesburg. It’s a thriving cafe and extremely popular. On one Sunday morning, we had to line up just to get in.

My sister-in-law always has a croissant with mozzarella cheese and the croissant has custard in it. At first, I thought this sounded really odd and didn’t try it. I stuck with my toasted ham and tomato sandwich, accompanied by a palmier. She would also have a galão, which is espresso with foamed milk. I had this every day in Portugal the few times hubs and I have been there. I didn’t think the galão was quite as good at Cafe Bembom but I didn’t try the galão Bembom. This might have been better as I think it’s based on condensed milk.

Anyway. I eventually succumbed to the custard croissant thing and anticipated it would be too sweet, despite the mozzarella. But no. It had a very thin layer of custard, which imparted a touch of sweetness. I’m not sure what sort of custard it was but it was subtle. One of these croissants for breakfast is enough to take you through to dinner, let me tell you. An unusual but tasty combination.

Inside Cafe Bembom.

Croissant with custard and mozzarella cheese. Yummo!

 

The pantry

I was talking in a recent post about my grandmother’s pantry. It was always stocked full and I remember it had three levels of shelves. I also remember it as being huge but it was probably the size of a small bathroom. Spatial dimensions are always different when you’re a kid.

In our Oz house, we had a small pantry that was part of the kitchen. Basically, a door into a small space with four shelves I think. So I asked hubs to create a real pantry for me. We are remodeling the house we bought here in NZ. It was in sorry need of repair and a mega face-lift. We’ve been at it for about nine months now. And boy it’s getting tiring. I don’t think it will be turned into my dream home but it will be far more comfortable to live in. Whether we’ll remain here or move elsewhere eventually – well, the jury is still out. I’d prefer to move to the Marlborough region or Wellington. Hubs thinks outside of Wellington could be interesting. So who knows.

Anyway. Just off the kitchen, there used to be a laundry. I say used to be because it’s now a walk-in pantry and the laundry has been shifted elsewhere (into what I call a utility room). So I have a pantry with six levels of shelving or seven if you count the floor area. In the pantry is the freezer and I store all of Zeph and Zsa Zsa’s food in here too.

It’s still a bit of a mess because we had a shower leakage right above the pantry. So we had to rip the ceiling and fix things. I will eventually categorize the food and basic items so I can actually find things – but for now, I finally have a walk-in pantry. Awesome.

The pantry shelving continues on behind the door.

 

For the soul

Hubs and I have had a massive attack of hayfever this season. Before moving to New Zealand, I never had any allergies or hayfever. Our first year here, 2010, I didn’t get hayfever but this year….well, two major attacks. Thanks so much New Zealand!

Hayfever tends to strike in Spring and Autumn (or Fall for my American readers). And it has nothing to do with hay and you don’t actually get a fever. Hayfever is allergic rhinitis and occurs when you breathe in an allergen, such as dust or pollen. I read that if you move locations, you can suddenly get hit with hayfever despite never having suffered from it before because there is different flora. The main enemies appear to be birch trees, ash, oak, horse chestnut, willow (all of which we have on our property) and ryegrass. This year is a bumper season for grass too. There’s so much grass around and grass pollen flitting through the air. I heard that bales of hay will be going for around NZ$4.50 because of the abundance of grass – last year they went for anywhere between $6.00-8.00 per bale.

The height of the grass pollen season in New Zealand occurs between October and Christmas and thanks to lush grass this year, everyone I meet says they have hayfever. The major amount of pollen in the air occurs between 6.00am and midday, so I’ve learnt to try and stay inside between these hours. But with horses and energetic dogs, that doesn’t always happen. I also try to wear sunglasses to stop the pollen from getting in the eyes and I slap Vaseline inside the nostrils to block the pollen from getting up the schnoz.

Everyone has been discussing why hayfever is rife this year. People are saying that there’s a lot of dust swirling around because of the reconstruction going on in Christchurch. I’ve also been told that liquefaction in Christchurch has contributed but not sure why liquefaction would be a culprit.

My first attack was in May this year and I seemed to meet with success by taking tissue salts. But it hasn’t worked this time. Since arriving back from Rome in October, I’ve been plagued with a runny nose and itchy eyes. So I tried another natural remedy – Allermed – which everyone in Oxford seems to know about. Nope, doesn’t work for me.

Unfortunately, our attacks have been so bad, hubs and I now have chest infections. I’m trying to avoid taking antibiotics. The doctor prescribed them for hubs but I’m relying on natural remedies. Here’s what I’m doing:

• I chew slowly on some fresh ginger. Ginger contains natural decongestants and is a powerful anti-inflammatory;
• Honey – a couple of teaspoons per day to soothe the throat and chest. I’m using clover honey straight from the bees down the road, courtesy of a local farmer. By eating honey produced by local bees, you can desensitize your immune system to local pollens;
• My father’s remedy for any infection – take two Panadol, wrap yourself up in warm clothes, go to bed and sweat it out (this never seems to fail me). The pores open up and whatever toxins are in the body are excreted;
• Organic apple cider vinegar – put some in water and swig on it. I take a glass of water (250ml) and about 2 tablespoons of ACV. Sip all at once or swig throughout the day. If you can’t stand the strength of the ACV, sip on some honey or add honey to the ACV and water mixture. ACV is a purifier and can break down the phlegm. It’s also acidic so rinse your mouth out with water or brush your teeth after taking this remedy.

I now know that I need to start the honey and ACV remedies well before the onset of the next hayfever season. I’ll be taking a tablespoon of honey per day and the ACV remedy once a day.

We both felt so lousy last weekend, I decided to brew up a pot of chicken soup for the soul. The steam from the soup can clear blocked nasal passages and the chook broth can reduce inflammation and ease sore throats. We hadn’t been able to get out for our weekly shopping, so I had to make do with what was in the pantry.

Here’s my recipe:

• 4 or 5 chicken thighs
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into thinnish slices
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 7-8 cups chicken broth – I had no chicken wings or carcass to make a broth out of – so made it from chicken stock cubes
• 2 cups egg noodles

This was all I had on hand but you could also throw in 2 celery stalks, trimmed and cut; leeks and 200grams of barley (instead of the egg noodles).

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil and cook the sliced onion until transparent. Add 7 cups of chicken broth, along with the carrots (and whatever other veges you use) and egg noodles. Chuck the chicken into the water and make sure it’s fully covered. If not, use the remaining 1 cup of broth.

Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Take the chicken thighs out and allow the soup to simmer for another 5 minutes. Meanwhile, shred the chicken and after the 5 minutes is up, return to the soup. You can then add some tarragon or dill if you like. Stir, season to taste and serve up. The day before, I baked some Italian-style bread so we enjoyed the chook soup with a slice of bread.

This homeopathic remedy didn't work for me but some people swear by it.

Chicken soup for the soul.

Homemade Italian-style bread.

 

Say it ain’t so?

Listen up New Zealanders. Just imagine this news story appearing in the New Zealand Herald:

A pensioner from Oxford has been arrested by Food Safety officers for growing carrots in his backyard and sharing his produce with neighbours in exchange for silverbeet and cabbage. Officers raided the pensioner’s premises without a warrant and were armed. Agribusiness company employees, backed by the armed Food Safety officers, were also in attendance and will be prosecuting the pensioner.

Do you think I’m writing an Orwellian-style novel? Nope. I’m simply projecting forward based on a nasty proposed Act out there – the New Zealand Food Bill 160-2 (2010) – and should it pass its second reading in early 2012, it could make the basic human right to grow food, save seeds, and share the produce with friends and family, a quaint relic of the past.

Under the rhetoric of “food safety”, the NZ Government is about to hand over control of food production to mega-corporations like Monsanto, who want full control of the global food supply chain from field to table. Everything from farmer’s markets to heritage seed banks, community and individual vegetable gardens could be affected. Frankly, it’s Monsanto trying to get their genetically-modified seeds into every country on the planet and stitching up a monopoly on world food.

Honestly, I can’t believe this. People around the world will either be laughing at New Zealand or….they will be shuddering to think that we are about to lead the way into a future where global companies and Government can control what we eat.

Go ahead and read the Bill. I’ll wait. As currently drafted, you could interpret that saving seeds will be an illegal activity; or sharing excess backyard produce with your neighbours will be an illegal activity; or selling your produce at your local farmer’s market will be an illegal activity. If you want a detailed overview of the Bill, go here.

I’ve read a lot on this, including the tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists who say this is all part of the one world government future we’ll be facing. I don’t believe it will affect my right to grow a bunch of carrots in my backyard but it certainly could affect seed saving and heirloom, endangered plants and plants with medicinal properties. And that for me is the scary bit.

Because it means that – if seed saving or heritage seed banks become illegal -  all we’ll be able to get hold of is genetically-modified seeds (like Monsanto’s Round Up Ready soy beans) or seeds from a Big Food company like Monsanto. And if you want to learn about what Monsanto could do to you or me should we save a seed from a Monsanto crop or unwittingly grow a Monsanto-patented crop because some honey bee pollinated our land, just read this. Or this. Or this. It will scare the bejesus out of you.

If, like me, you have a small herb garden and use say mint leaves in your salad or brew a hot cup of mint leaf tea – well, your human right to do this could well be under threat. Why? Because the Big Food companies currently don’t have patents over mint or ginger or lemon or sage. So they can’t make mega-profits. The Bill is part of NZ’s obligations to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Codex Alimentarius scheme for global food control.

Go off and search Codex Alimentarius – this is even more scary if you ask me. The Codex Alimentarius (or Food Code) basically limits health freedom. Because the more natural health products we use, the less profits Big Pharma, Big Food companies get. And that applies to the mint growing in the backyard. The Vitamin and Mineral Guideline of the Codex can ban all clinically effective vitamins, minerals and herbs. This means stuff you buy from your local health food. Don’t believe me? Then read this. Or this. Or this.

The natural health industry could disappear and our level of nutrition will decline whilst Big Companies and Big Pharma push GM foods and synthetically-made drugs on us.

If you are concerned about the NZ Food Bill, you can sign an online petition. Do your own research on the Food Bill and Codex Alimentarius. There is some alarmist stuff out there – such as Big Companies and Big Pharma wanting to get rid of organic and homegrown food because we would then face ill-health and be forced to buy highly-priced prescription medicines. But when you read up about Codex Alimentarius, you have to wonder. So the NZ Food Bill could be one fatal step towards global corporations and Governments telling us what we can and can’t eat.

You can watch a video about the NZ Food Bill and how it might affect you on the Campbell Live website. Meanwhile, I’ll be defending my right to grow carrots in my own backyard.

 

Only in New Zealand

Only in New Zealand I reckon would you find Hokey Pokey-flavoured milk. For my American readers, hokey pokey is as important to New Zealanders as the All-Blacks or the Kiwi bird. Locals will tell you hokey pokey is as sweet as (which is a common colloquialism). It’s similar to peanut brittle but without the peanuts and is made from sugar, golden syrup and baking soda. Good dental insurance is advisable before you bite into a chunk of hokey pokey.

I have a weak spot for Memphis Meltdown Big Hokey ice-cream, which I indulge in once or twice a week. But the other night, hubs brought home hokey pokey flavoured milk. It’s limited edition and has a photo of Richie McCaw on the plastic bottle (NZ rugby legend). I wasn’t convinced it would taste any good. Probably be too sickly sweet. But it actually only had a hint of hokey pokey and was pretty scrumptious.

I’m hoping that they decide not to have this as a limited edition flavoured milk and make it available all the time. After all, with everything else in NZ being hokey pokey, why not milk?!

A Kiwi classic: Squiggles are chocolate-coated biscuits with hokey pokey nuggets. Yummo!