by Krista | Jun 3, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
Winter arrived this weekend in a fury of fierce winds and pelting rain.
Before the rain arrived, I bundled up in layer upon layer to take the girl goats for a feed in the fields accompanied by Solar. He loved it, bounding through the tossing grasses before cozying down into a little nest out of the wind. I felt like a little kid again as I hunkered down there with him, sinking my fingers into his thick, white fur, laying back and watching the grass and tree branches being whipped above us.
After our rest we went exploring, finding all sorts of things hidden in the grass by the wood pile.
I love old, weathered wood, always have. My grandpa used to take us grandkids out for drives on the prairies of Alberta. We’d pile into the back of his station wagon and bounce along rutted tracks and even bumpier fields before clambering out to find abandoned homesteads and barns ready to be examined by a crew of curious blond-headed kids.
We never knew what we’d find: old iron bedsteads, weathered window frames with tattered curtains still flapping in the prairie wind, dusty bottles that whistled eerily when rogue breezes blew across their tops.
We always wished for treasure, of course, and I suppose we found it through the stories we imagined of the people who used to live in these empty buildings.
My thoughts would run wild wondering who had rocked on these rickety front porches, what did they eat, wear, dream of, and why had they dropped everything and just left?
I will never know, but I think that was part of the magic of those adventures, making up our own stories about who the residents were and what had happened.
I loved wandering about finding old wood piles that had been chopped by hand but would never be used, looking inside old tins and wondering if they had once been filled with cookies or flour or perhaps, carefully collected rocks, feathers, and bits of wire from an imaginative child.
I loved opening creaky cupboard, closet, and cellar doors, hoping against hope that I would find a hidden diary or photo album that would reveal everything I yearned to know.
I treasure those adventures and it makes me smile to be able to relive them a bit here on our Aussie farm, finding remnants of abandoned projects, an unexplained pile of rock that looks very, very much like a grave, and the detritus of generations living off the land.
After such meanderings it is lovely to come in out of the cold, casting off layers of wool and flannel, and sit down to a dish of roasted macadamia nuts tossed with salty crisp bits of rosemary and thyme.
These savory little morsels make stormy winter days an absolute pleasure.
What do you think of when you see old, weathered wood?
Roasted Macadamia Nuts with Thyme and Rosemary
Ingredients:
2 cups raw macadamia nuts
olive oil
fine sea salt
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C).
- Place all ingredients in medium bowl. Toss well until nuts are evenly coated.
- Cover baking sheet with baking paper and spread nuts in single layer.
- Roast for 30 minutes until nuts are golden brown.
- Cool 10-15 minutes and eat warm. Store leftovers in sealed container.
by Krista | May 31, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
Rain is falling softly as I alternate sips of red wine and Earl Grey tea and rest on this stormy afternoon.
I’m in the “worse before better” stage of my treatment and it’s been a rough week. A really rough week. Yet somehow, even during these awful days, little things happen that make this worse-ness so much better.
One such thing happened for me.
I was in my little country home town waiting for my doctor’s appointment. I had packed a picnic lunch for myself – tomato salad with fresh buffalo mozzarella, a homemade brownie for dessert – and I carried my bags to a nearby picnic table so I could sit in the winter sunshine and soak up delicious warmth.
I pulled out my journal because, well, it was just one of those days. A day when you feel so utterly miserable that normally manageable things become quite intolerable and it takes a fair bit of effort not to mire down in loneliness and sadness and a rather murky puddle of woe-is-me-ness.
So there I sat hiding my tear-filled eyes behind large sunglasses, writing down soul-invigorating truths in fierce strokes:
You are loved.
You are OK.
You’re going to be OK.
And suddenly a black and white kitten hopped up beside me, sat down on his haunches, and stared at me long and earnestly.
He was so serious that I felt like was being analyzed and it made me laugh. Nothing like a strange cat staring into your soul to jolt you out of sadness.
Finally, appearing to have assured himself that this strange human wasn’t going to lose it after all, he curled up beside me and stayed there until my doctor’s appointment.
It was the loveliest thing.
And I didn’t realize how lovely until a man appeared and asked, “Is he bothering you?” I assured him the cat was most welcome, but the man remained there for a moment or two longer, a puzzled look on his face.
He then explained that the cat was his and that he normally spends all day every day snoozing by the sun-drenched fence at their house.
Neither of us knew why he chose this day to break his routine and spend an hour with a weepy, sick girl on a park bench, but I’m so glad he did.
He made a bad day so much better.
Now I get to look forward to a beautiful weekend with my Bear. We’ve got movies and brownies and stove top popcorn and coffee all the way from dear friends in Germany.
What are you looking forward to?
by Krista | May 26, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
There are only a few days left until Winter officially arrives in Australia. We can feel it in the cold mist and icy winds that sneak around the corner and chill you to the bone.
I finally get to pull out all my Canadian-esque sweaters, wool socks, and scarves, snuggling into their warmth as I down copious amounts of piping hot tea.
As the days get shorter, I savor my afternoon strolls around the farm, capturing the last beauties of Autumn.
Living in a new country makes each season an adventure. I’m used to seeing the ground carpeted with pine needles, maple leaves, and piles of pine cones, but the ground looks completely different here in Queensland, Australia.
Here the wood floor is covered with scrolls of crimson bark and long narrow leaves in violet and sage that have fallen from the gum trees.
There are wonderfully strange seed pods and odd-shaped greenery, but the lichen-covered rocks are very similar to ones I grew up with in the Northern Hemisphere, and they make me smile and feel at home.
I’ve been experimenting with nuts this Autumn, coating them with all sorts of seasonings before roasting them to burnished deliciousness. I’ve done hazelnuts with maple and spice and others with lemon zest and black pepper. Delectable!
Each time I think I’ve found my new favorite, but this week, I think I really have.
This week I tossed gorgeous raw Brazil nuts with olive oil, fresh rosemary, and sea salt and roasted them until the pale, creamy nuts were deep brown, the rosemary crispy and salty.
Oh my word. Bear and I could not stop eating them as we raced each other to find the darkest, most flavorsome ones. We finished the entire batch in less than a day. Swoon.
This week I’m tackling macadamia nuts. I can’t imagine how any nut could top the Roasted Rosemary Brazil Nuts, but I shall keep you posted.
What’s the weather like where you are? What is your favorite healthy snack at this time of year?
Roasted Rosemary Brazil Nuts
Ingredients:
2 cups raw Brazil nuts
1-2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
olive oil
sea salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 F (200 C)
- Place Brazil nuts in bowl and add rosemary.
- Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, tossing to coat evenly and completely.
- Cover baking sheet with baking paper. Pour nuts onto baking paper and spread evenly in a single layer.
- Place in oven and roast for 15-17 minutes until well-browned and starting to split. (We like ours very dark.)
- Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature before eating.
by Krista | May 24, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
I woke to a farm shrouded in heavy mist. Our neighbors disappeared in the fog making it seem like we were living on an island.
I love these kinds of mornings, especially when I’m not feeling so good. Yesterday was spent at the hospital undergoing tests, examinations, injections, etc. Down the road all these things will help get me better, but today they’ve left me in great pain, feeling weepy and exhausted.
It will get better, I know it, but on this eerily beautiful day, I need to rest and watch movies and take naps and drink homemade cocoa and stir Mexican black beans on the stove and simmer savory shredded chicken in the crock pot and take quiet walks through the dripping trees.
Mist is like sneaky rain. You can’t see it until it clings to feathery weeds, delicate branches, or your eyelashes.
But then it’s magical, like someone decided it would be a splendid idea to deck humble weeds with glittering diamonds.
Weather like this makes me want to read Russian novels or British murder mysteries and drink copious amounts of tea laced with maple syrup and coffee spiked with rum.
This may be my home, but today it feels like a fairyland I’m visiting, a place of safety and comfort and peace.
Even the animals are quiet today, goats hunkered down in their shed to keep warm, chooks ruffling their feathers until they look like little old ladies in enormous fur coats.
I feel hugged by the weather today, thankful for the mist obliterating even a glimpse of the outside world, helping me focus on all that is good and wonderful.
Like the crippled little runt duckling that survived against all odds and is now toddling about with his big brothers and sisters.
Pressies from dear friends overseas that remind me I am loved and cared for.
And just enough popcorn kernels left to make myself a bowl of salty, buttery goodness.
My other happy thing today is more Mexican food, specifically, carnitas.
How I love carnitas! That exquisite dish of slow-roasted pork so moist and tender it falls apart yet with crispy, caramelized edges that make you swoon.
There are numerous ways to make this delicious meat dish, but it boils down to this: seared pork simmered for hours in a savory broth then crisped in the oven until the broth evaporates and all you’re left with is flavorful shredded pork begging to be folded in tortillas and topped with pico de gallo, frijoles negros, and queso fresco.
I like to simmer mine with water, citrus of some kind (orange or lime are my favorites), and some whole milk (it helps to caramelize the carnitas).
What are some good things in your life today?
Homemade Carnitas
Ingredients:
1 large pork roast (shoulder)
1 orange or mandarin or clementine or lemon or lime
1.5 cups full cream milk
salt and pepper
water
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 F (180 C)
- Cut roast into large chunks, season with salt and pepper and brown well on all sides in a lightly oiled saucepan.
- Remove pork to oven-proof pot, preferably cast iron, and pour over any drippings remaining in pan. (If they’re stuck to pan, add a bit of water, heat, and scrape until all the tasty bits are free).
- Halve and squeeze citrus fruit over meat, tuck in between meat chunks.
- Pour milk over meat.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add enough water to almost cover meat.
- Cover pot tightly with aluminum foil.
- Slow-roast for 2.5-3 hours until meat is fork tender.
- Remove from oven (but leave oven on!) and remove citrus rinds. Using two forks, shred pork meat.
- Return to oven uncovered and roast 30-40 minutes until edges are crispy and caramelized and cooking liquid has evaporated.
- Serve with Mexican black beans or tuck into tortillas and top with fresh pico de gallo.
by Krista | May 19, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
A few weeks ago I went hunting for beauty and found it among rusted and neglected items.
I loved it so much that I went out again this week, passing time on a cloudy afternoon peering into junk piles and old cars and abandoned bits of machinery in search of vignettes like this.
“Even in the familiar there can be surprise and wonder.”
Tierney Gearon
It’s becoming a highly anticipated ritual each week. Some days I wander around our farm, others through town, sometimes I just look around a familiar cafe or park and find the loveliest things I’ve never spotted before.
I’m discovering it’s a form of therapy too. A practice that takes my mind away from painful things that grow bigger than they are when I focus on them too much. Somehow taking time to look, really look and enjoy, calms my thoughts and puts things in a much healthier and manageable perspective.
“Our brightest blazes of gladness
are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”
Samuel Johnson
As you know, I’ve been very sick for a long time. I’ve been going through heaps of tests, experimenting with different medications and therapies, trying to figure out something, anything that will help.
Finally, this week, we got some conclusive results and now we know exactly what to do to help me. HOORAY!
Finding out what is wrong is my “brightest blaze of gladness” this week. I still need to visit a surgeon to rule out some other things, but I’m so thankful for this huge dollop of hope.
Recovery is going to take several months or more, but they will be months of hope and understanding, not fear and uncertainty. I’m so grateful for that.
Before we got this great news, I decided to use the waiting time to plan a Mexican feast of beloved dishes.
Bear had never tasted Mexican food before, a tragedy that had to be rectified. So I filled my grocery cart with peppers and black beans and a gorgeous hunk of pork and couldn’t wait to get home to start cooking.
The first dish I made was pico de gallo – that luscious fresh salsa made glorious with lashings of lime juice and hearty sprinklings of sea salt.
Bear is of the opinion that cilantro (coriander to my Aussie folks) is of the devil, so I made his pico de gallo cilantro-free and happily loaded mine with the greeniliciousness.
Then I made queso fresco – a creamy yet crumbly fresh Mexican cheese that only takes 15 minutes to make.
I could not stop eating it and the first batch was nearly half gone by the time dinner arrived. I’m definitely going to stock up on milk this week to make heaps of this wonderful cheese.
Next up were frijoles negros – savory black beans (turtle beans in Oz) simmered for several hours with white onion, garlic, and a large jalapeno. Sea salt brings out the exquisite flavors and makes this one of my very favorite side dishes.
The first night we had all these good things piled in tortillas with carnitas – I’ll share that recipe with you next time – but the next day I turned it into picnic food.
I topped the frijoles negros with pico de gallo and sprinkled the lot with queso fresco and a few chunks of carnitas and had a wonderful picnic while I waited for my doctor visit. Fears about unknown test results are beautifully assuaged with Mexican food.
Do you have favorite comfort foods that ease difficult times in your life?
Pico de Gallo
Ingredients:
6-8 ripe Roma tomatoes, diced fine
1 white onion, diced fine
1 jalapeno, diced fine
juice from 1-2 limes
sea salt to taste
Directions:
- Combine all ingredients and stir well.
- Let flavors meld for 30-60 minutes before serving.
- Will keep well sealed in fridge for several days.
Queso de Fresco
Ingredients:
8 cups whole milk
1 tsp salt
3-4 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
Directions:
- Pour milk and salt into heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to boil, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in lemon juice or vinegar. Milk should immediately start to separate.
- Stir for one more minute then lower heat, stirring constantly until milk has completely separated into curds.
- Pour into cheesecloth-lined colander and drain well. Twist cheesecloth to drain completely.
- Use as is or keep cheese in cloth and press under a weight until cheese is firm to the touch.
- Use immediately or store in fridge, sealed, for several days.
Frijoles Negros
2 cups black beans
1 jalapeno, split and seeded
2 medium white onions, peeled
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp sea salt
Directions:
- Place all ingredients except salt into heavy bottomed saucepan and fill with water until beans are covered by two inches.
- Bring to boil and cook over medium-high heat for one hour. Check liquid levels regularly and make sure beans are always covered.
- Add salt and continue to cook for 1-2 hours more, making sure beans are covered with liquid.
- When ready to serve, remove onions, garlic, and jalapeno, taste for seasoning, and serve.
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