Simple Pleasures: Ruby Wax and Seneca

Being yourself - the art of being happy in your own skin.  A pelican amongst the gulls and terns at Belongil Estuary

I recently went to a show in Byron with Ruby Wax - the New York comedian who lives in London.  She was talking about her new book 'Sane New World' - an account of her experiences of being born into a dysfunctional family, being diagnosed with depression after the birth of her third child, having lived with it for most of her life, and how she learned to deal with it.  She dealt with it by allowing herself to be diagnosed and then trying to understand it - she has just completed a course at Oxford University where she studied neural plasticity - how the brain works and suggests we can rewire it to help us function in a better way - it's apparently not all in our DNA .

“A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is.” Seneca

She prefaced her talk, in the usual way, by having a dig at the Byron Bay audience - (apparently we are all perceived to be hippy-trippy, crystal gazing, new agers - amongst other things).  She then proceeded to talk about how she turned her life around by learning about mindfulness - being in the moment and about how we should: realize that the acquisition of wealth and 'stuff' won't give us peace and contentment,  stop and actually listen to our children,  not try to do twenty things at once and be aware of the here and now etc. etc.  It seemed to me that most of the audience were thinking the same as me "No wonder you're depressed if you've only just worked that out"   Why did she think we have chosen to be HERE rather than THERE?

“For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them.”*

Welcome Swallows on the beach at New Brighton trying to teach us about fun, family and being playful

We all have difficult times in our life and there is not always a hand reaching out to stop us stumbling or pick us up when we fall,  so we really have to learn ways of helping ourselves - for me that's engaging with nature, being active (having a swim!) and finding the pleasure in small things, because sometimes I could easily just pull the covers over and try to blot out the difficult bits.  It's at times like that I go back to Seneca - the Roman philosopher who lived over 2,000 years ago during the reign of Nero, who ended up forcing Seneca to take his own life when he fell out of favour (and we think our leaders can be self-serving, greedy nincompoops!).  I really got to know about Seneca from the marvelous series 'The Consolations of Philosophy', by modern-day philosopher Alain de Botton.  Seneca's main message is that we are in charge of our own happiness and if the way we are running our life is making us unhappy - then change it.  Be brave - it will make you more resilient.

“There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.” Seneca

JUST A LITTLE STORY:  When I was growing up my mother was constantly on the latest fad diet - grapefruit, Pritikin, Weight Watchers, liquid dinners in a can, pills etc. etc.  The garage was also full of discarded 'diet aids' - a belted fat wobbler that you strapped around you, turned on and then fell in a heap of laughter (that burnt up a few calories - the fat wobbler did nothing!), special mats and rolling 'things' for doing stomach crunches, a medicine ball that nearly knocked her teeth out and the piece de la resistance 'the scuba suit' - as my father dubbed it.  This was flesh-coloured, rubber corset with little holes all over it that my brother and I had to help her get zipped into - don't ask!.  This was supposed to make her sweat, while running around the house with the vacuum cleaner, and bingo the pounds would drop off.  Of course, she didn't loose an ounce.  The unzipping of this corset of torture was at least fun to watch - she looked like she was in the final stages of some fatal disease; bright pink, sweaty with little pimples all over her where her flesh had been forced through the corset holes!
Mum thought there there was a magic answer to all of this.  What she didn't want to do was CHANGE - eat less and exercise.

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live" Seneca

Mindfulness - a big lesson from a little tern

“He that does good to another does good also to himself.”Seneca

I hope you have somewhere to go when your mind is full - somewhere to empty it.  I go to the beach!

Rainbow bee eater

This flock of the most incredibly beautiful rainbow bee eaters had made their very tenuous homes at the high water mark at South Golden Beach, which will probably be eroded into the sea at the next storm or king tide (about ten metres of beach have been lost this year).  This nesting site was also only about 20 m away from the dog walking strip - I hope their owners are mindful.  It was going for this walk on the beach yesterday that made me want to share these beautiful creatures with you - simple pleasures - and Mr Seneca.

Rainbow Bee Eater at home, South Golden Beach, NSW

“Life’s like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.”Seneca

*Lucius Seneca, philosopher, statesman, educator and dramatist 4BC-65AD

PS My mother was never fat, she just thought she was.  My parents aged in the 80's.  Maybe swimming is in the DNA?

Broad Bean Salad

The mainstay of my garden during the late winter and early spring has been broad beans - I just love them.  I love the way they look in my garden and I love the way they taste.

The plants are about 2 metres high, full of delicately blushed flowers and abuzz with pollinators.  It's a strange thing, but they were flowering for a full month before the pollinators came and the pods started setting.  Maybe the pollen/ovum have to reach a certain maturity before the bees start humming and are attracted to them - a bit like puberty?

Broad beans (or fava beans) are one of the oldest cultivated plants dating back 5,000 BC in Greece and the Mediterranean and you find them popping up there as dips, salads and cooked with other vegetables - like artichokes which are flourishing in the garden at the same time as broad beans.  This is an extremely adaptable salad, but this is how  have been making it for the past few weeks - and it's delicious!

1 bunch watercress, washed (you can use rocket or small salad leaves instead)

1 cup shelled and steamed fresh broad beans.

1 avocado, cubed

1/2 cup shaved fennel (optional - put some chopped dill in as a substitute if you don't have fennel)

1/4 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1 tbs diced preserved lemon

2 tbs shaved pecorino (or parmesan) - put this on after the dressing

A light dressing made from e.v. olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice with salt and black peppper.

NOTE:  When the broad beans are young you can use them freshly steamed without peeling them again.  However, once they look grey and leathery when cooked you have to peel them again to reveal a luscious green bean underneath.  This salad contains a mixture of both peeled and unpeeled.

FOR TIPS on how to grow beans and for other yummy recipes from my Greek friend Despina - go to this link

Edible Hedges

Calamondin - a fantastic dense bush in the citrus family with fruit that makes the best marmalade and candied fruits.

Not all of us have acreage and maximizing your garden space can sometimes be a challenge - but also a lot of fun when you let your ideas evolve and then just take off - especially when you realize you can have a hedge and eat it too!  Hedges make a softer option to fencing and walls with an infinite number of plants and combinations to choose from that create a beautiful green and productive boundary to your garden.  Just think of your hedge as part of your food garden!

The Feijoa is a very underused hedging plant - it has attractive contrasting silver/grey foliage, beautiful flowers and sweet, tasty fruit.  It is also very easy to grow and tolerant of a wide range of conditions.

This topic started with a question from a lady browsing my plant stall yesterday "Did I have any hedging plants"?  When I discovered that she was living on a suburban block with limited space I suggested that she think about using edible plants for the hedge - well, her face was like a light bulb coming on.  After she had said "Well, my husband won't like it, but I think it's a wonderful idea" she asked me the loaded question "What do you suggest?".  I hate to think that I may responsible for some local marital rift, but here goes!

NOTE:  This list is suitable for anyone living in the tropics/sub-tropics.  I'm afraid you will have to do your own research for other areas.  I have deliberately excluded many plants that may be a wonderful food source but are invasive and can present 'weed' problems. A lot of plants do have the ability to seed/sucker/spread (like elderberry and curry leaf tree) but you just have be a responsible gardener and try and keep it contained within your patch.

The Lemon Myrtle (an Australian native) is gaining popularity as a versatile bush tucker plant - I just love to use it for making a very refreshing tea.  It's a compact small tree that is ideal for hedging with clouds of creamy-white flowers in early summer.

NOTE ABOUT ROSES:  I'm a sucker for roses!  There is nothing quite like the romance, fragrance and sight of roses blooming in the garden and the delight of a vase of freshly picked roses for the table.  Roses for the sub-tropics you might say, but there are plenty of wonderful varieties coming on the market all the time that have been bred for specific conditions.  Two David Austin roses meet that criteria Jude the Obscure - a beautiful apricot shrub rose, and Papa Meilland - a wonderful deep crimson tea rose rose, just perfect for making rose petal jam and ice cream.  And, don't forget about the old fashioned rugosa roses for including in your hedge - extremely hardy with wonderful bright red hips for making jams and syrups.

Jude the Obscure - a wonderfully fragrant shrub rose for the sub-tropics

A NATIVE HEDGE:  There is absolutely no reason why lots of varieties of flowering and fruiting natives cannot be incorporated into your hedge to provide habitat and food source for local fauna.  You will just have to consult your native nursery for a complete list of suitable local species.  I would not be without the grevilleas, melaleucas, leptospermums, lomandras and hakeas in my garden for attracting the wonderful array of birds that visit daily.

The Australian natives from the list below are the Midyim Berry, Finger Lime,  Lemon and Aniseed Myrtles.

Scarlet honeyeater having a feast from my grevillea hedge (this is 'Robyn Gordon')

THE DWARF OPTION:  Bear in mind that many of the fruit trees now available for the home garden have been grafted to create dwarf varieties - which means that you can have just about anything you your heart desires!

PRUNING AND SHAPING:  If you have limited space your hedge will need regular pruning to reduce its width and height - it's better to start this regime when the plant is young to encourage dense growth.  Espalier - or training plants so that they create a vertical flat shape - has long been a method used by gardeners to grow fruit trees and hedges in limited spaces.  Plants from the list below that would be suitable are; all the citrus, bay, curry leaf tree, elderberry, feijoa, roses, tea camellia and hibiscus.

Jaboticaba - an unusual small tree that does well in the sub-tropics with delicious, nutritious fruit - it flowers and fruits up the stem (this is cauliflorie!)

Common Name	Botanical Name	Height	Features
Acerola Cherry	Malpighia emarginata	2m	Fruit
Aloe Vera	Aloe vera	<.5m	Border/leaves/medicinal
Avacado (dwarf)	Persica americana	2m	Fruit
Babaco	Carica pentagona	3m	Fruit/preserves
Basil (perennial)	Ocimum sp.	.5m	Border/leaves
Bay Tree	Laurus nobilis	1m	Border/leaves
Calamondin	Citrofortunella microcarpa	>2m	Fruit/flowers
Cape Gooseberry	Physalis peruviana	1m	Border/fruit
Carambola	Averrhoa carambola	>3m	Fruit
Casana	Cyphomandra cajanumensis	2-3m	Yellow tamarillo
Cassava	Manihot esculenta	1.5m	Leaves/tuber
Chlli	Capsicum sp.	>1m	Border/fruit
Comfrey	Symphytum officinale	.5m	Border/leaves
Cumquat	Fortunella margarita 'Nagami'	2m	Fruit/fresh/preserves
Curry Leaf Tree	Murraya koenigii	>2m	Leaves/Asian cooking
Dragon Fruit	Hylocereus sp.	1m	Fruit
Elderberry	Sambucus nigra	2m	Berries/flowers
Feijoa	Feijoa sellowiana	1.5m	Fruit/preserves
Finger Lime	Citrus australasica	1-2m	Fruit/seimi-shade
Galangal	Alpinia galanga	1.5m	Rhizome/leaves/Asian
Jaboticaba	Myrciara cauliflora	3m	Fruit
Kaffir Lime	Citrus hystrix	>2m	Leaves/fruit
Kei Apple	Dovyalis caffra	3m	Fruit
Lemon (dwarf)	Citrus limon	2-3m	Fruit/flowers
Lemon Grass	Cymbopogon citrates	>1m	Border/tea/Asian food
Lemon Myrtle	Backhousia citriodora	3m	Bush tucker/tea
Lemon Verbena	Aloysia citriodora	1m	Border/leaves/medicinal
Lime	Citrus aurantifolia	2.5m	Fruit/flowers
Mandarin (dwarf)	Citrus reticulata	2-3m	Fruit/flowers
Mango (dwarf)	Mangifera indica	2m	Fruit/preserves
Midyim Berry	Austromyrtus dulcis	2m	Shrub/fruit
Natal Plum	Carissa grandiflora	3-4m	Fruit
Paw Paw/Papaya	Carica papaya	3m	Fruit/preserves
Pomegranate	Punica granatum var. 'Nana'	2m	Fruit/flowers
Red Hibiscus	Hibiscus rosa-sinensis	>2m	Flowers/tea
Rose	Rosa sp.	>1.5m	Flowers/preserves
Rosella	Hibiscus sabdariffa	1.5m	Shrub/desserts/jellies
Rosemary	Rosmarinus officianalis	>1m	Leaves/flowers/herb
Scented Geraniums	Pelargonium sp.	>1m	Leaves/Medicinal
Tamarillo	Solanum betaceum	2m	Fruit
Tea	Camellia sinensis	2m	Tea/deserts
Yacon	Polimnia soncifolia	1.5m	Tuber

TALL SKINNIES:  These are the plants that don't take up much room and fit in between other plants; yacon (this dies down in the winter), paw paw, tamarillo, casana and babaco.

ASIAN COOKING BORDER (for the semi-shade):  This is a useful list as just about everything else requires sun - although I have found that most of the citrus on this list will fruit quite happily with some shade; curry leaf tree, lime, paw paw, galangal, kaffir lime, chilli (taller bushes like long red and lantern chillies) with a front border of turmeric (also dies down in the winter.  The value of having your own galangal, turmeric and ginger, for that matter, is that you can pick - or should I say dig - as required.

Golly, gosh - I forgot the pineapple Ananas comosus - happily doing its own thing in my Asian food hedgery.  To cultivate, simply plant the green top from the fruit of a pineapple and watch it grow - takes 2-3 years to fruit but is worth it - no pineapple you have ever eaten will taste like a home grown one.

(I can feel that this is one of those topics where I am going to wake up in the middle of the night and remember plants I should have put on the list - the Cape Gooseberry did it to me last night!)

Pumpkin Fritters

Pumpkin Fritters

I think I am lucky - I know not everyone enjoys cooking, but I love it when 5 o'clock comes around, I put the music on, have a look around the garden to see what we have to eat and then get in the kitchen to remind myself what I have in the fridge - and then start cooking!  It certainly wasn't always so enjoyable when I was working full time and had the family's schedule taking precedent over my limited time - we ended up eating out and having take-away far too often, but I have always found cooking to be perhaps the only creative thing that I may have done that day and, best of all - you then get to eat it.

This recipe for Pumpkin Fritters is one of those really versatile dishes than you can eat as part of a mezze plate or add a hearty salad to make a really wholesome, cheap and easy meal.  This is really a Greek dish, which I first enjoyed on the island of Folegandros, but it is something I have had many times since traveling around Greece - just dressed up in a different ways.

Folegandros - one of the southern-most islands in the Cyclades and the perfect spot to sit in the evening and have a glass of something cold and share a plate of these pumpkin fritters.

Pumpkin Fritters
1kg pumpkin, grated (I use my food processor to do this - it has a grating plate and saves your knuckles!)
1/2 cup chopped spring onions or chives
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup chopped mint
1 egg
1 cup plain flour
Salt and pepper
Olive oil for frying

1.  Combine all ingredients together and season.
2.  Heat oil in large pan.  Mould pumpkin mix into patties (make them bite-size for a party platter and larger if you are having them for dinner) and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden on each side.  Serve immediately.  I'm not a 'deep fried' kind of a girl, but you can cook these in little oil and they are really quite delicious.

TOP TIP:  For chilli freaks, like me, serve with a sambal of chopped green chilli, fish sauce, soya sauce, lime juice and sugar.  For that traditional Greek flavour, serve with yoghurt and chopped mint - you can add some grated fresh ginger to it for a little zing!

Heaven!

Folegandros is a very dry, rocky thyme covered island with soaring cliffs and is often quite windswept but fortunately not when we were there - as you can see - not a ripple.  We were also fortunate to stumble upon this deserted and just lovely hotel.  We were desperate to bolt from the one we had booked on-line - which would have been OK if it had not been full with a Swedish wedding party determined to party hard about 20 hours a day!.  

The main town or Chora of Folegandros is a very sleepy and charming place - no cars with a town square circled by tiny houses built into the Venetian fortifications which dates from the 13th century.  We walked up the winding pathway you can see above the hotel, to the church at the top.  This is built on the site of an ancient Greek (dated BC) temple to the goddess ARTEMIS with pieces of marble columns and statues just lying around the churchyard or randomly incorporated into the walls of the church. It also contains a precious silver Icon saved by fishermen from marauding pirates. That's one of the other things I love about traveling around Greece - it is always full of unexpected and interesting surprises.

We had some marvelous food on Folegandros including a memorable kind of fish stew with fennel, a rabbit stew STIFADO with onions, cloves, bay leaves and juniper berries, STOFURNO - aubergine fried with potatoes and baked with tomatoes cummin, parsley and feta AND - I can still taste it now - homemade rose petal jam for breakfast with crusty bread and a fresh curd cheese. (This is making me hungry!!)

TOP TIP:  Instead of pumpkin you can use grated, uncooked sweet potato or zucchini (with excess liquid squeezed out).  If you are using zucchini - add some crumbled feta for extra taste.

For an ITALIAN twist you can use cooked kale CAVOLO NERO - again squeezing out any excess liquid.  Omit the mint and parsley and add 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese instead - this is a traditional recipe from my Italian friend Christina.

I never thought that my dusty collection of travel diaries would prove to be such a valuable

memory bank (mostly about food!) and contain such useful and fascinating information - like this for example:

Something that may help you on your travels in Greece from the Lonely Planet Greek phrase-book 2006 - on dating:

1.  O thee mu! - Oh my God!

2.  Si gha re ghoi! - Easy Tiger!

3.  Min ansihis tha to kano monos! - Don't worry, I'll do it myself!

(Fortunately I have to say that, so far, I haven't needed any of these!)

Prince Charles and the Importance of Meadows

Great Dixter meadow with wild orchids

What do you think Prince Charles gave his mother to celebrate the jubilee of her coronation?  No, not a set of gold plated steak knives, a couple of corgi pups or a foot massage, but a network of coronation meadows -  a scheme to return a meadow to each county in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and then encourage them to multiply.  When I read this, my heart just soared.

This ambitious project by HRH Prince of Wales aims to turn back the tide that has seen 7 million acres of flowery meadows lost in the UK in my lifetime.  Britain now has 2% of it's meadows remaining - the same scary figure of 2% that Australia has remaining of it's once mighty rainforests.

I started becoming interested in the whole thing about meadows when I went to Great Dixter, Sussex, last year - where the Lloyd family have been dedicated to creating wild meadows on their property for the past 100 years - bucking the trend at their wholesale destruction.  My interest was also fueled by my sister-in-law and her husband who tried to create a meadow in their garden and failed dismally - they had been TOO diligent in caring for their soil.  The secret to a successful meadow is that it has to GROW ON IMPOVERISHED SOIL- untreated and unfertilized as old soils would be.  Wildflowers and grasses are not adapted to 'rich' soils and will not flourish.

WHY ARE WILD MEADOWS IMPORTANT:

• Flowery and grassy secrets are not lost to us forever.
• Animals and insects attracted to these plants do not die out either.
• They are beautiful.
  
  
  

The old apple orchard and meadow at the entrance to Great Dixter

AND HERE'S SOMETHING UNEXPECTED TO GET YOU EVEN MORE EXCITED! What do you think folk in the country did with their livestock when they were sick, before the age of VETS? They put them in the hospital meadow - a patch of ground that was rarely grazed but left full of wild greens, grasses, herbs and other flowering plants - plants with medicinal and nutritional qualities that had the power to heal!

'I know a bank where the wild thyme blows

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows'

-so said Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

I am sure that wherever you live in the world there is a meadow, a lawn, an old sports field or a patch of waste ground, that is just waiting to be re-born!  Do you have an orchard that you are forever mowing - let it go wild - slash it a couple of times a year and see what pops up and what difference these wildflowers and grasses makes to the variety of birds, butterflies and insects they attract.  Just don't SPRAY with any pesticides, herbicides, feritilizers and agricultural chemicals - you could also help it along the way by broadcasting a special wildflower mix that you can get from a reputable seed supplier (Green Harvest/Eden Seeds/Diggers Seeds).

The really serious meadow maker has a task ahead of them - the top few centimetres of soil have to be scraped off (this also gets rid of the exotic weeds and grasses) and then oversown with more friendly species native to the area.  What a worthwhile project though - just think how beautiful it will be??!!  And, just think of the butterflies??!!

Anyone that knows me also knows that I am a bit of a fan of Prince Charles (and no, I don't like the way he treated his wife, the late Princess Diana). However, he doesn't have to stick his head up to talk about important but, let's face it, not very trendy issues like organic gardening, composting, sustainable housing, holistic health, multi-faith dialogues, architecture that feeds the soul etc. etc. - but he does.  He could, like his forefathers before him, just spend his time hunting, shooting, fishing and fornicating - but no!  For example, he has spent the past 30 years at his home Highgrove recreating a meadow, where once there were acres of mown lawn, and making the whole place sustainable and if you want to see how he did it go to this short clip on YouTube and be inspired.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

MESSAGE ON A T-SHIRT seen worn by a lady of my generation:

Let's Eat Grandma

Let's Eat, Grandma

Commas Save Lives!

Toffee Apple Upside-Down Cake

More comfort food!  Do you have a recipe folder with hand-written and cut-out scraps of recipes that you have kept for years and years?  I usually get nicely sidetracked when I start looking through mine - lost in memories of people and places that have signposted my life.

When I was browsing through mine recently I found this recipe, which must be over twenty years old - and I had subtitled it 'bad back cake'  That's how I can date it because I must have made this cake for therapy when I injured my back landscaping and was off work for three months in 1990.

It started out life as an upside-down pear cake but somehow, when I was cooking it the other day, it evolved into one with a sticky apple topping.  As some famous chef said, I think it was Rick Stein, "A recipe should be a tune you sing your own song to" - well I definitely like the way this sounded - I think I'll record it - oh, and did I say that it's very scrumptious too?

The beauty of this recipe is that everything is cooked in one pan - less steps and less washing up - more time for sitting down with a cup of tea and reading your recipe folder!

1 tbsp maple syrup

60 gm butter

3 apples peeled, cored and thickly sliced

couple of grinds of sea salt (big pinch)

150 gm butter

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

1 cup ground almond meal

1/4 cup milk

1 1/4 cups self raising wholemeal flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

1.  Heat oven to 170oC

2.  Grease a 25 cm spring-form pan

3.  Put the 60 gm butter, maple syrup and salt in cake tin and place in oven to melt.  Remove from oven.

4.  Give it a stir to combine and then place apples in pattern over the base of the cake tin.  Put back in oven to caramelize and cook a little for 7-10 mins.

5.  Meanwhile, in food processor, cream butter and sugar together.

6.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well - should be light and fluffy.

7.  Add all other ingredients and fold into creamed butter mixture.

8.  Spread over yummy smelling apples and place back in oven for 45 mins or until cooked.

I was thinking that these little handwritten notes might not be around in twenty years time.  In this keyboard age - how many of us send or receive handwritten notes any more?

Remember picture postcards from far away places - does anybody send those any more either?  I have a wonderful collection that my parents sent to me and my family when they literally trotted the globe, in a van, over a four year period in the late 1970's.  They drove from the UK to Australia - across  Europe;  then Turkey, Iran,Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (shipping it to Singapore) Malaysia, Thailand (then shipped to Western Australia), drove across Australia, finally arriving in Sydney. It didn't stop there - onward to Fiji, New Zealand and then USA and Mexico.  I store these treasured postcards in my book collection and every now and again one drops out and I find myself transported - somehow their handwriting always brings them closer to me even though we have lived a world apart for most of my adult life and my dad is now on his celestial journey.  With our present world of emails and virtual communication I wonder if our children will find anything more than cobwebs in our attics.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:  The Banner Headline in our local paper the Byron Shire Echo - 'Some People are so Poor All they Have is Money'

Chicken with Peppers: Pollo con Peperoni

Buying some peppers in our Farmer's Market last Friday has lead me on a long journey down memory lane - which has had many emotional twists and turns that, while tinged with sadness to remember the most amazing time in my life, has brought back such a wonderful memories - and, as an added bonus, the family got a good feed out of it and we all get to go to the Veneto region of Italy for a few moments!

In 1990 I went with a band of 300 choristers from Australia to sing Verdi's Requiem in Verona's 2,000 year old ampitheatre. (You can watch a snippet from the concert on YouTube)

How did the concert come about? It was a tumultuous, but hopeful, time in Europe - the Berlin Wall had come down the previous November - Germany was unified - and the 40 year cold war with Russia was over AND Nelson Mandela had finally been freed from his incarceration in South Africa. This was a concert to celebrate the unification of Europe and proceeds to go to the UN Refugee Fund.  Princess Diana (looking stunning in pink) was the guest of honour, Pavarotti the tenor, Lorin Mazel the conductor, and the Moscow Philharmonic (all 100 members of them) the orchestra.

I was part of a choir of 3,000 - yes 3,000 - the World Festival Choir.  A concert of this magnitude had never been attempted before, and believe me, after the first rehearsal, I had serious doubts that we would be able to pull it off. The choir was so far away from the orchestra that we were hearing them with delay - so we could not rely on the music to guide us.  We had to memorize the whole score and just watch the conductor - maestro Mazel - listen to each other and ignore the music we were hearing - not an easy task.

Maestro Mazel had a big meltdown after the first rehearsal shouting at everyone that would listen that "this was just not going to work".  At that point Pavarotti approached the assembled musicians and choristers and told Mr. Mazel that "of course it will be alright on the night - everyone had come from half way round the world to make it right - and we were not machines - we had 3,000 collective brains to MAKE SURE IT WAS RIGHT".  You don't know how happy that made us - he was my hero from that moment on.

I ate a version of this dish for the first time in a memorable trattoria outside San Gimingano, Tuscany, after it was all over, and I'm happy to share it with you.  I have made it many times since - a real family favourite.  I served it this time with polenta - but great just with some crusty bread and an honest salad.

1 red and yellow pepper (capsicum) roasted to remove skin.  I do this on the barbecue, but you can do it under the grill in a conventional oven.  It's a rustic dish with few ingredients, but tastes really good - wholesome and hearty.

2 tbs olive oil
1 free range chicken cut into 8 pieces (ask the butcher to do it for you or consult your favourite cookery book for instructions on how to do it yourself)
2 brown onions sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs fresh rosemary and thyme
1 cup chopped tomatoes or passata
Sea salt and pepper

1.  Heat oil in large, deep frypan and brown chicken pieces (the skin needs to be crispy) - about 10 mins., seasoning well with salt and pepper.
2.  Remove chicken from pan and saute onions and garlic in same pan until soft.
3.  Add tomato, herbs, salt, pepper and peppers that you have skinned, deseeded and cut into strips.
4.  Place chicken on top, skin side up, and cook for further 30-40 mins. on low heat.

Venice - arriving by boat!

LASTING MEMORIES:

*  Finally arriving at our hotel near Padova at the spa town of Galzigano Terme and the mostly Austrian and German guests - plus the local staff finding us Aussies a complete mystery (thinking we must also be Austrian) - the Northern Italians, unlike the Southerners, had no cousin or uncle in Sydney.  Why were we coming to sing in Verona?  Did we have churches in Australia?  What language were we speaking? Mind you we thought the guests activities pretty strange - they would arrive at breakfast in matching tracksuits straining over their big bellies and backsides, eat a mountain of boiled eggs and salami and then go into the bowels of the hotel for well - bowel treatment!!  Us Aussies were told off for doing laps in the pool - (it was just for taking ze waters i.e. bobbing up and down) - and the youngsters doing the ubiquitous shark alarm swim up and down the pool with dorsal fin - not funny!

*  Everything changed after the night of the first concert - which was televised live across Italy - they finally got it.  When we arrived back at the hotel in the wee small hours of the morning, whatever staff were still there lined up to meet the coach with a big bunch of flowers, applause and shouts of 'bravo'.

Villa Pisani , Padova - on the Brenta Canal

*  Rehearsing whenever the Arena de Verona was free - which usually meant in the scorching midday sun or after concerts at night - which was exhausting.  Us Aussies were amazed to find that most of the choristers - particularly the Scandinavians stripped off to their bikinis (or underwear) during rehearsal not wanting to 'waste' any chance of a good suntan.  Choristers are always instructed not to wear strong perfume and deodorant sooooooooooo!  But the beautiful thing about singing in an international choir like this is that, even though we did not all speak the same language, we could sing the same language.

The sopranos - always in a state of undress!

*  3,000 choristers in our voice parts, queuing up around the arena waiting to register - usual Italian chaos ensued.  Suddenly after about an hour and a half, us sopranos heard the bored basses, from the other side of the arena, start to sing "Va Piensero" - the song of the Hebrew slaves from Nabucco.  Now all of us had learned this as a party piece to sing at a gala dinner to be held later for Pavarotti and guests of honour.  What I didn't realize was that this is the unofficial national anthem of Italy - and everybody knows it.  Unseen, but heard by us from all points around the arena, the tenors joined in, then the altos and finally us sops.  But, what also happened is that the traffic stopped  and every Italian around us stood up and joined in.  It was a truly spine tingling moment and one I will never forget.

Being swept off my feet by a tall, handsome Italian (props scattered around the Arena!)

*  Having a day off and sailing up the Brenta Canal from Padova, past the Villa Pisani and Villa Malcontenta, having a seafood lunch and then sailing out into open water and arriving in Venice and the Grand Canal by sea.  I found Venice to be heavenly.

*  Another wonderful day out in Vicenza and discovering Palladio and la dolce vita - and shopping, shopping.

Palazzo del Capitaniato, Vicenza

*  Taking a break from rehearsal and a prosecco in Verona's Piazza Bra and watching three handsome young men collectively turn their heads - like ventriloquists dummies.  I thought, for sure, they had spotted some young attractive girl, but no - they were watching an elegant, smartly dressed woman in her sixties (the age I am now) walk down the street.  What they were appreciating, now matter how old she was, was her beauty - ageless - and I realized it was something that Anglo Saxon men just don't seem to have an appreciation for.

*  After the last concert in Verona with the Moscow Philharmonic out on the tiles in their very dated dinner suits full of gravy stains and cigarette ash holes - playing like angels on their violins and drinking vodka - what a party!  We were quietly told by our choirmaster that  if we could afford it we should 'shout' the Russians because they had absolutely no money.

*  The sound of those 3,000 voices!  I was walking on air for months afterwards.  

San Gimigano, Tuscany - where I first ate this dish

TOP TIP:  If you have any of this chicken dish leftover you can make a ragu out of it and have it with pasta the next day.  Just strip the chicken from any bones, add a splash of dry white wine and some extra tomato and cook for a further 15 mins - I added mushrooms too. Adjust seasoning and sprinkle with parmesan and a little chopped parsley - and put on Verdi's Requiem while you're doing it.

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,

But to be young was very heaven!

William Wordsworth

I was not that young - but bliss it was!

Pest Control & Companion Planting: Love your Bugs

Many people suffer from entomophobia - an irrational fear of insects.  Often, their first reaction is to recoil, or to stamp on them, or to reach for the spray can.  In fact, most bugs are not harmful at all and many are beneficial.  By not welcoming insects into our garden we are making a much harder job for ourselves.

Just a Little Story:  The very first street that that we lived in, when we first came to Sydney, was full of migrant families, like us, and lined with paperbark trees.  I was thrilled to see these exotic trees suddenly burst into nectar-heady flowering that set the whole street abuzzing. Next thing, the sound of sawing!  I rushed out to see my neighbour, and her very elderly mother, felling one of these trees on the nature strip outside their house.  When I threw up my arms and asked them why she replied - too many bees!!  They were not allergic to bee stings - just entomophobic.

This kind of flowering border will attract all kinds of beneficial insects.

Pests only become a genuine problem when there aren't enough predators to control them or if seasonal conditions cause a temporary plague.

So how do we make our patch a haven for good bugs and let nature do the work for us?

1.  Well-fed plants - preferably nourished with compost and good quality mulch - are much less pest or disease prone.  As always, the answer lies in the soil.

2.  Understanding plant families will make you a better gardener. For example, knowing that the cabbage white butterfly only attacks plants in the brassica family (cabbage, broccoli etc.) helps you to understand that mixing this family up with another has a double benefit:

• the critters will be confused and hopefully fly off somewhere else.
• plants from other families will be unaffected by this pest so you will always have some food to eat.
  
  Blended families - mixing up brassicas (broccoli,kale, Asian Greens) with strong smelling plants from other families - like fennel, garlic and leeks.

3.   By integrating flowering plants with vegetables and herbs you are copying the greatest teacher of them all - Nature.

FACT: The DPI (Department of Primary Industries) recently spent a day at our Community Garden in Mullumbimby looking to see whether a large integrated garden like that (i.e. everything all mixed up) had any impact on the insect populations.  
WHAT THEY FOUND - not only just about every beneficial insect you could think of but just about ZERO pests.

The Praying(or preying!) Mantid are useful because they are voracious generalist predators and are able to start consuming almost as soon as they hatch - so watch out aphids and potato beetles!

SO, WHO ARE THE GOOD GUYS? Ladybirds (but not the 26 spotted one, which is a significant pest), dragonflies, damselfly, earthworms, earwigs, lacewings, robber flies, tachinid flies, mantids, springtails, wasps, chalcids, hover flies, leopard slugs, mole crickets, centipedes, millipedes, spiders.  And these are just the insects - don't forget about creating a safe, inviting habitat for birds and lizards.

"Birds eat approximately 40% of garden pests.  It clearly pays to encourage birds"

Jackie French 'The Best of Jackie French'.  My mate Maggie would agree with her - she's never short of a feed in my garden.

HOW TO DESIGN A HEALTHY GARDEN? Go to my previous posts Kitchen Gardens: Top Tips for Getting Started and April in the Garden: Autumn Planting.

FACT: About 80% of caterpillars in Australia never make it to adulthood, thanks to native parasatoid tachinid flies (Source ABC Gardening's Jerry Coleby Williams from Dr. Tim Heard CSIRO entomologist)

WHAT SHOULD YOU PLANT TO ENCOURAGE BENEFICIAL INSECTS: Brightly coloured flowers with prominent stamens - like cosmos, dill, parsley, zinnias, echinacea, gaura, borage, dahlia, basil, cleome, flowering bok choy, marigolds.  Don't forget that all of these will also encourage pollinators for your fruit and vegetables.

Dill in flower - with friend!

JUST ANOTHER LITTLE STORY:  We used to run an environmental pest control company in Sydney - specializing in the novel ideas of education and biological control - so entomophobes were our bread and butter.  I vividly remember an hysterical  woman ringing up one day who had seen a blue tongue lizard in her garden and was screaming at me to 'just come round and kill it' - little realizing that this harmless creature was performing a useful job by keeping down the slugs, snails and cockroaches etc.  So don't forget that lizards are your friends too - they just need a safe place to bed down for the night.

I used to have lots of lizards in my garden before the neighbours got free-roaming cats.

A little pest damage doesn't do real harm to a garden - but the dill with the spray can full of pesticides does.  As Confucius said 'The Wise Man Does Nothing'

Preserved Lemons

It's that time of year when the trees around here are dripping with lemons and this recipe continues with the theme of 'cooking with abundance'.  What do you do with all of them?

Well, you can start by making a few jars of preserved lemons - they are such a versatile addition to so many dishes - including the lamb, lemon and pea tagine that follows this recipe.

WHAT WILL YOU NEED?
A couple of friends (preferably one that has a tree with about a hundred lemons on it!)
A couple of hours
Lots of lemons
Lots of lemon juice
Lots of salt
Lots of sterilised jars
Lots of pebbles (pre-sterilized in boiling water)

NOTE: You don't actually need the production line that we had - you can make a few jars at a time whenever you run out.

Lemon preserving friends, Megan and Sharon

1.  Wash and scrub the lemons and cut into quarters - lengthways.

2.  Juice of lot lemons because you will need a few jugs full.

3.  Put some salt in the bottom of a sterilized jar and start packing in the lemons - squash them in so there is little space between them.

4.  Add some salt between each layer.

5.  Fill to the top of the jar with quartered lemons and sprinkle with more salt.

6.  Cover with lemon juice and tap a few times on bench top to bring air bubbles to surface.

TOP TIP from Sharon via ancient wisdom.  PLACE A PEBBLE ON TOP OF LEMONS TO WEIGH THEM DOWN AND KEEP THEM BELOW THE LIQUID or they may go mouldy.

7.  Leave in pantry until skin begins to soften - three weeks minimum.  Will keep for up to two years.

HOW TO USE THEM: Prepare by removing the fleshy part of the lemon (the fruit).  Wash under cold water to remove the brine.  Pat dry and slice the rind thinly.

TOP TIP 1. from Linda, cook extraordinaire and owner of LuLu's cafe.  To speed up preserving process QUARTER LEMONS AND PLACE IN FREEZER OVERNIGHT BEFORE SALTING THEM THE NEXT DAY.  The freezing starts to break down the cells and soften them.
TOP TIP 2. from Linda, add a spoonful of honey, coriander seeds, cinnamon stick a  couple of cloves to each jar.

Thank you girls!  I had a wonderful morning, learnt a lot and have lots of lovely jars of preserved lemons.

Thought for the day from Kingsley Amis

“No pleasure is worth giving up for the sake of two more years in a geriatric home at Weston-super-Mare”. 

Lamb, Lemon and Pea Tagine

This dish is an absolute winner and come via 'preserved lemon' partner Sharon from a Tess Mallos recipe (a wonderful food writer inspired by Middle Eastern cuisine)

So, if you are wondering what the hell you do with jars and jars of preserved lemons - you can start here because it needs one and a half!

Lamb and Pea Tagine

I served it on a bed of cous cous with a tray of Moroccan inspired roast vegetables - sweet potato, cauliflower, carrots and potatoes sprinkled with za'atar (Syrian oregano)

Lamb Tagine with Peas and Lemons

Ikg boneless lamb (I use a trimmed shoulder)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 tsp paprika

3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

2 teaspoon chopped fresh lemon thyme

11/2 preserved lemons...prepared for cooking (remove pulp and membrane....rinse rind and pat dry)

11/2 cups shelled peas

2 teaspoons chopped mint

11/2 cups water

Salt to taste

Preserved lemons (with weighting stone) and fried onions waiting to join the browning lamb

Add oil to heavy based pan and brown onion - remove.

Trim lamb into 3cm pieces, add to pan and brown.

Reduce heat to low, add fried onion, garlic,cumin,ginger, paprika and turmeric and cook for a few seconds.

Add 11/2 cups water and stir well.

Return lamb to pan....season with salt ...add chopped corriander,thyme,parsley and cover and simmer for 11/2 hours on low heat or until lamb is tender.

Give it a stir every now and again to prevent sticking.

Preserved lemons prepared to add to the lamb tagine.  These had only been salting for three weeks and tasted wonderful.  Just wash,  cut into thin strips to serve.

Cut lemon wedge into strips and add to lamb....cook for further 20 min.....add peas and mint Cover and cook for further 10 min or until peas are cooked.