Do you make your own bread?

I was interested to read this article about the environmental benefits of making your own bread, with a breadmaker. These include the use of bulk materials and less travel and packaging. Further, it is alleged that a bread machine can do doughs, artisan breads, gluten-free loafs, and even jams and chutneys.

In our house we're not big bread eaters. We struggle to finish a loaf in a week. So for us it would most likely not be cost effective. Further I'm not meant to eat wheat so we invariably buy some kind of organic, whole loaf anyway. But for a big family it may be the way to go, what do you think?

Are there other things you make from scratch rather than buy? A dear friend makes the most amazing jams and chutneys and I've featured the benefits of making your own shortbread and I also like to make scones. We'll also soon be subject to an influx of zucchinis which will nessitate some busy baking. I'd also like to try making tomato sauces for presents.

The Slow Guide to Melbourne (& our 100th post!!)

The Slow Guides – Melbourne
Affirm Press
$29.95
www.slowguides.com.au

‘Slow’ is an increasingly popular worldwide movement encouraging us to all, well, slow down. To take time out from our increasingly (and frequently self inflicted) hectic lives to appreciate what is around us, to take time to notice little things that were previously unnoticed, investigate places un-investigated, try new experiences and treat the world in a different, more relaxed and inquisitive manner.
Affirm Press’s ‘Slow Guides’ to Melbourne and Sydney are the first (of hopefully many) in a series of handbooks to an alternative way of enjoying your favourite city. This review will focus on the Melbourne edition as it’s where I live and the city I know best.
The guide is beautifully produced with a uniform mellowing combination of black, white and green throughout the book accompanying some finely crafted text, beautiful photos and illustrations. I’ve not lived in Melbourne for that long, so a lot of the places and experiences mentioned were new and surprising to me, but my wife has been here over ten years and most still surprised her, so there’s your proof that we all spend far too much time rushing around like headless chickens, so that we need a book to tell us how to really discover our home city.

Some of my favourite snippets and factoid from the book include :

• Final confirmation that the Keith Haring-esque painting nears the Tote in Collingwood is actually an original Keith Haring.
• The old Melways tour of Melbourne to discover which buildings have come and gone since the edition was published.
• A very long list of unique (and generally free) views of Melbourne.
• The best places to indulge some of your more under-appreciated senses, such as smell.
• Why the visually appealing tiles outside of so many Melbourne pubs are at they height they are. (You wont touch them ever again…)

This is an easy and inspiring read, perfect to pop in your bag or even squeeze into a large pocket as you wander the streets with nothing in particular to do, but be warned, the book could cause some contradictory behaviour as you rush to leave work or study as rapidly as possible to get out into the big wide world and soak up some of the wonderful experiences mentioned.

Our first zucchini!

We were very excited to find our first zucchini grown in the veggie patch! The zucchinis are a light pale green with a soft prickly fur on the outside, ensuring no bugs get near!

As we were going for Dalyesford for the weekend, I proceeded to make a zucchini cake! I varied the recipe somewhat and used dates instead of raisins and sultanas and almonds instead of walnuts and added some grated carrot. Very yummy!

Green hangover cures

Treehugger has provided a list of their fave hangover cures, which include yoga, coconut water, wheat grass and playing in the snow. Seriously, the former would cause my hungover head to explode and the latter has never been attempted in adult life....

Cate's tips to avoid hangover hell...

1.Lots of water.

Lots. Inbetween drinks, before you go to sleep, when you wake up, during the day.

2. Sleep.
Lots. If you live in Australia like us, no doubt you'll wake up to a roasting hot house. Not very conducive to good sleeping. You could try sleeping in the bath (recycle the water on your plants), a dull cinema movie or of course, a local library.

3. Toast with vegemite.

Add some avocado and if you're not vegetarian, maybe some free range bacon. Hot chips never hurt either. Yes, I know Vegemite is owned by evil Kraft, but I don'y like promite, marmite or any of the imitators. Sorry.

4. Pain killers.

`Yes, I know you don't take pain killers, but you could wash them down with some organic juice.

Prevention:

1. Organic wine
Many people swear organic wines mean less headaches and kinder, gentler hangovers. And if you are sensitive to sulphur, you can get organic sulphur free wine to boot. You can also get organic beer of course, and homebrew has it's place, though it may be stronger in alcoholic content than store bought beverages.

2. Food:

Serve food at your parties. Make sure you eat. Not just chips, they'll make you thirsty and you'll drink more. Things on sticks, turkish bread, dips, cheeses all have a part to play.

3. Non-alcoholic beverages:

Mocktails are great and you can find some particularly yummy ones here. Be wary of milky, creamy drinks if you're also having a bit of alcohol.

You can also plan something special for the day after to give you an incentive not to drink, count your drinks etc etc. It's all about choices really, isn't it?