Month: March 2013

my latest byron finds

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I was recently up in Byron having a think week. There were storms, floods, cyclones and blackouts. And so I did a fair bit of thinking. And fretting. It was a challenging week. I’m a control freak. Storms and cyclones get in my way.

But while I fretted, I happened upon some new happenings in Byron and so I’ve been inspired to update my Byron Guide. Clip ‘n keep it for your next holiday, or pass it to a mate. Below are some of the highlights…

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Image via alexfrings.com

If you’re visiting as a group or family, you’ll love this place…

I used to ride and run past this place most days. Byron Bay Beach Houses is on the Lighthouse Road, just opposite the Captain Cook Lookout (where I would park to surf The Pass). I stayed in the Havana house, set back from the road and backing onto rainforest. It’s a languid, beachy, breezy family home with two big loungerooms, with generous couches and generous cushions and lots of light and air, four bedrooms (to sleep 10), a pool, barbeque areas and two decks. You getting the picture? Breezy, big and great for entertaining.

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I invited a bunch of friends over for an indoor picnic (yep, the storms, the floods), mostly because I wanted to put the kitchen to use. Which is big. Breezy. Fully stocked with good gear.

Is it a good location? Yep. Possibly the best. You’re across the road from the beach and a ten minute walk into town. The place is generously equipped with beach gear and towels. Arrive. Unpack. Set up the Connect Four and the

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laugh and kiss him back

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Sometimes you have to hand things over to the bigger picture. You have to do this when you just don’t know anymore.

photo by Toby Burrows
photo by Toby Burrows

I have an “issue” just now. I won’t detail, as it’s…too detailed. There are a clusterf*ck of ideas, options, angles, directions attached to solving this issue and I’m stuck in it all. This happens to me a lot. I scan all options weighing them all up, and the net result, in the wash, after everything has been considered is…nothing. Imagine you have 234729375 strings attached to your person, each being pulled outward at even tension. The result? You don’t move. Ergo, nothing.

When this happens, I stop thinking. I can’t logically process….anything.

I just don’t know anymore.

 

I descend into this numb-but-frantic space where – and this is the worst bit – I attract even worse clusterf*ckness and nothingness. Everything in my life ceases to work. How about a small insight into what I mean: to get ahead on 1/23948737th of my “issue”, I need the approval of a particular person. It’s taken weeks to work out that this person is the one who needs to sign off on this bit of my issue. I finally find them. Contact them. And, lo, they’ve just last week had a heart attack and, tragically, are currently in a coma in hospital. It’s no laughing matter, but it’s definitely absurd. This is one example of many instances where my stuckness has beget stuckness.

There are reasons for the stuckness. When we make too many decisions (and every angle, direction considered is a

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slowcooked beef and coconut curry (plus 4 more cheap meat recipes)

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You’ll begin to notice, I reckon, that my food posts are going to take a certain tilt going forward. They’ve pretty much been leaning precariously that way for a while, right? My food journey is very much now geared away from fancy and will be aimed squarely at economical, sustainable, smart, ethical and nourishing. I’m going to focus on different techniques and approaches that achieve these aims.

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Spicy Beef & Coconut Pumpkin Curry, recipe below

So far I’ve been all about not wasting food and using up scraps in inventive ways.

Today, we’re going to look at cheap meat eating.

As you know, I’m an ambassador for Love Food Hate Waste, and the beef and lamb industry’s Target 100 sustainability program (connecting farmers and consumers and getting us all on the same page). I’ll be writing more on this over the next few months.

For now, though, I’ve enlisted my mate Anthia from Ovvio Organics to share a few recipes from her ebook I Am Food, which is full of sustainable conscious food for good health. I’m jumping ahead to recipes (before exploring the theory) because I want you to get excited…and to experience her book. We met ages ago at our dear friend Marty’s Longrain restaurant in Sydney (if you know the restaurant and want to do your bit when eating out, know that they adhere to sustainable principles in the kitchen) and have reconnected via my meditation teacher and training guru. She’s on the same page as me when it comes to cooking philosophies. We chatted, thus:

* Use lesser-known or less fashionable cuts of meat or the whole animal. My favourites are beef cheeks and lamb shanks. Anthia loves lamb shanks. Many less expensive, bone-in cuts tend to boast extra nutrients, gelatinous compounds, quality fats and minerals. You’ve read my views on bone broth, right? I love what Anthia does with her duck (below). She cooks it up, then uses it three ways.

* Slow-cookers are wonderful. They effortlessly tenderise these lesser-known cuts of meat. They’re cheap to buy

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my simple home: 5 small hazards to avoid

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OK. Another installment in my new My Simple Home series. For those of you new to things, I’m doing a series of posts that follows my journey to create the cleanest, most eco, minimal home possible and sharing each step, figuring you might like to learn from the process, too. This time I’ve got building biologist Nicole Bijlsma to share a few of her favourite tips for cleaning up our home act. I asked her to share easy, everyday stuff – some simple, inexpensive swaps or choices to make.

As with every step of this process, I don’t advocate throwing stuff out. Me, I’ll be using up the things I already have (not tossing them), then switching to other options as they need replacing. I implore you to do the same. If you’ve lived with Ajax until now, it won’t kill you to finish up the bottle!

The salient points from the video are these:

1. Cleaning products. Use Microfibre cloths.  Avoid ammonia, bleach, and fragrances. PS if you’re after some totally clean, lean and green cleaning products, check out below.

2. Packaging. Plastic containers – they’re not meant to be heated in microwaves or put in the freezer. Check the identification codes on your plastic – 2, 4, 5 are ok. Avoid the rest. Glass, or ceramic containers are best. Me, I use old glass jars a lot.

3. Baking paper.  There are new concerns about baking paper, as the non-stick aspect is like non-stick teflon.. You’re better off using something like plain brown paper and a layer of coconut oil. This I didn’t know!

4. Digital alarm clocks. Don’t use a mobile phone as your alarm clock. Just don’t. Ever. Switch to a battery-operated digital clock.

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