member blog: jamjar
jamjar
From
Melbourne, Australia
Member since
14th Oct 2007
About
Michelle (jam) is a kiwi living the urban dream in Melbourne, Australia. She works for the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) as the Communications Officer. Yes, yes: she does talk a lot.
She didn't like food for a very long time, but rediscovered a joy of putting simple, fresh tastes into her mouth thanks to Jamie Oliver's accessible recipes, beautiful food-photography, and awesome Tefal wok/frying pan!
She is crazy-go-nuts about blogging - and can also be found at thejamjar.com
jamjar's blog posts
Two Thousand and Great!
Sat 26 Jan 2008GENERAL BLOG
It's a new year - HAPPY NEW YEAR! Yes, I can still say that even though I'm a bit late - it's still January.
I flew home to Auckland, New Zealand to have Christmas with my family. My son was kind enough to give me Jamie At Home for Christmas, and after looking through the pages in the morning, decided to cook the slow cooked lamb for Christmas dinner that evening.
It is such a simple recipe that I could do that on Christmas Day - decide to do it then do it! I was lucky that there was a leg of lamb in the fridge though - a vital ingredient of the dish.
The lamb cooked all afternoon while I watched the whole first season of Dr Who. I've grown up with the Doctor - Jon Pertwee and those cyborgs scared the living bee-jesus out of me but I could never look away even when I was hiding behind the sofa. I had a massive crush on Tom Baker when he made the character of The Doctor his own. But when the series was resurrected a few years ago with but never did see the first episodes when the series was resurrected a few years ago with Christopher Eccleston taking over the role.
It was really good - and awesome to watch back-to-back like that: clean Christmas house, smelling of pine and roast lamb, family all around, Dr Who on the telly - sort of a perfect Jamjar Christmas Afternoon.
I tucked traditional vegetables around the roast about an hour and a half before dinnertime, and they roasted to a gorgeous colour, full of flavour. While the roast was resting, I made the gravy and the meal came together in a glorious, pull-apart meal we all enjoyed immensely. There wasn't a single piece of meat left on the bone of that lamb roast by the end of the meal - we saved the bone for the dog and she spent the last of Christmas evening gnawing away to her heart's content.
PS: my tomato is growing, due to a snap in the main stem because the fruit was too heavy and I was too lax in my staking. But the fruit are still growing and the leaves are still green though I think they're working pretty hard - my tomato plant is a battler! It's about 1.5. tall, and has about a dozen green tomatoes.
Tomato Plant
Sat 15 Dec 2007GENERAL BLOG
Man alive.. my tomato plant is going great guns! I swear it grows a couple of inches every day. It's more like a tomato *tree*!
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Up with the larks!
Sat 24 Nov 2007GENERAL BLOG
I'm not a morning person. This fact is well known and documented. So for me to rise before mid-morning on a weekend takes a monumental effort on my part, and a very **** good reason from whomever has decided that I have to.
Bart, a friend of mine here in Melbourne presented me with a very good reason to rise early on Saturday morning: to go to Victoria Markets and buy locally-grown produce. I'd never been to the markets before, and accepted his offer and agreed, bravely, to meet him there at 7:15am.
I was somewhat surprised at how many people are up-and-about at that time on a Saturday. By the time I got there, there were already many people bustling around the stalls. For all my effort to rise early one morning, these hard working stall-keepers were up before God every weekend to transport their fare to the markets, set up their stalls and be ready for when I dragged my poorly caffeinated butt there at 7am.
Stall-keepers called out to potential-customers to entice them to buy their produce, claiming the freshest and the best of all manner of things from asparagus to zucchini.
The variety of produce was stunning too. I've never seen so many different types of mushrooms, for instance, and they all looked so fresh and beautiful.
Fresh fruit and vegetables weren't the only things on offer though. If I needed to buy live ducks, chickens or quail, they were caged at some stalls and could be purchased for less than $4 each. Lots of fresh, free-range eggs too.
Indoors at the Victoria Markets, is the Deli, Meats and Seafood sections. Beautifully presented meats and sausage, home-made pastas and sauces, cheeses and wines - the Vic Market is truly a one stop shopping experience which is both more enjoyable, and cost-efficient than going to the Supermarket.
The sun was getting up and the day was getting warm, but it was amazing feeling to have done all my shopping, and been out in the world for what felt like half a day by the time it was 9am.
I can't say I'll be rising at 5:30am every Saturday morning but I can see me doing it "sometimes". As it was I needed a bit of a nap later in the day to take the edge off my grumpiness-due-to-tiredness.
I did a bit of research on the Internet to find there is another Farmers' Market at the Abbortsford Convent on the 4th Saturday of every month - it starts at 8am which is a little more reasonable - and is in my "neck" of the woods.
If you are in Melbourne, take a look at Melbourne Community Farmers' Market's website - www.mfm.com.au - to see if there's a market near you.
My Garden
Sat 17 Nov 2007GENERAL BLOG
Planting my tomato and basil plants into their new pot full of soil was easy and fun. After filling the big pot about half full of the soil, I put the tomato plant into the centre and continued to pile the dirt around it, supporting it's roots and making it feel at home.
When the tomato plant was snugly embedded, I separated the basil plants and planted them into each corner. I carried my simple garden into the bathroom, sat it in the bath and gave it a good water, leaving it to sit for the rest of the day.
Carefully pressing the trellis into the damp dark soil, lifted my garden onto the deep window-shelf of our apartment. We face the sunrise, and I hope my tomato will enjoy the sunshine it's going to be soaked in for at least half of every fine day.
Garden Fixin's
Sun 11 Nov 2007GENERAL BLOG
A visit to the big hardware store, Bunnings saw a one-stop-shop for me to get what I need to grow tomatoes at home.
Interestingly, and temptingly: they also stocked a "Garden in a Box". A very portable polystyrene box of dirt with packets of seeds (only AU$17.95), to grow salad greens or herbs on a windowsill, without having to buy a huge bag of dirt or pots or stakes etc.
I carried one of the herb versions around for a while before deciding to put it back and just concentrate on the tomato plan to start with. But it was a real indication to me that there are ideas out there making it easy for people without gardens to still grow stuff at home.
There were so many tomato varieties to choose from and it seemed overwhelming. There were even small pots with four different tomato plants and they were so tempting. I did notice a number of tomatoes were described as suitable for container gardens, so keep an eye out for those types - and definately ask one of the gardeners wherever you shop, I found those at Bunnings so helpful and patient. Rather than buying the four different tomato plants as I'd originally planned (the photos of the "mothership of tomato salad" recipe still gets me so mouthwateringly-excited), I decided on one type and added basil plants. The tomato type I ended up buying was called "Mama". I made that decision after reading the little ticket on the pot said it was "easy to grow" and "ideal for first-time gardeners". I thought "That's me!"
I found a green plastic square pot that would sit nicely on the windowsill and an overly ornate trellis to give the tomato plant support as it grows. There were bags of soil that already had wetting agent added to it, so I bought that so the tomato plant's soil would be less likely to dry out between waterings in the hot apartment.
Now I'm ready to put all my ingredients together and get growing!