Lunch @ The Food Co-op

My friend and coffee buddy Jacqui recently had a birthday and I offered to take her out to lunch to celebrate. She opted for the Food Co-op Shop and Cafe, which is around the corner from the Australian National University and very popular with uni students. I'd never been there before – Jacqui knew about it via her twentysomething, vegan daughter – and was delighted with this new discovery! It felt like stumbling into the 1970s! Everything ... the decor, the food, the patrons' attire, the music, was reminiscent of a simpler, hippy-dippy age. So lovely. A few pics ...

Oh, and the lunch! From 12 noon to 2 pm each weekday they serve a hearty, delicious, super-cheap vego lunch. Today it was black lentil dal, pumpkin stew, rice and chunks of bread. All for the princely sum of $8 (or less, if you're a member of the co-op). If I hadn't been so full I'd have tried the vegan cakes on offer too. Yum.

The Food Co-op Shop and Cafe is at 3 Kingsley Street, Canberra. I'm sure we'll be back!

Well, hello Bamix! (Oh, and a yummy ice cream recipe.)

Andrew likes to make banana smoothies for breakfast, using a hand-held stick blender. About a year ago our Breville stick blender died of old age. It had done an excellent job ... lasting over ten years and making at least 3000 smoothies! Not to mention helping out with soups, sauces, dips and the like. We started looking into options for a replacement blender and were disappointed to find that, these days, it is REALLY hard to find stick blenders that don't come with a whole bunch of unnecessary plastic clutter. Bowls, jars, scrapers, and all manner of pointless attachments. As someone who has been functioning as an adult for 35 years, I already own all the kitchen clutter I'll ever need. So we set our sights on a Bamix stick blender as it was simply a blender. No jars, no bowls, no crap. The Bamix is more expensive than most brands on the market, but is famously reliable (it comes with a 20-year warranty on the motor) so it meets our criteria for expected longevity better than the cheaper brands would have.

Meanwhile ... we decided to make do for a while, using an ancient bench-top blender we'd bought years ago from a friend who moved overseas. This blender works OK, but is harder to clean and isn't suitable for some foods. So we finally splashed out on the Bamix a couple of weeks ago.

It's purple!

So, anyway, I'd always used a hand mixer:

to make my many flavours of home made ice cream. Today, however, I tried whipping the cream with the Bamix rather than by hand. It worked well. So fast! So little arm-ache! Here's what I made:

Avocado, Lime and Ginger ice cream

Don't be deterred by the idea of avocado ice cream. This is delicious. The avocado gives it a gorgeous colour and texture, while the lime and ginger provide the flavour.

1 avocado (or two if they're small)
juice and pulp of 2 fresh limes
125 g glacé ginger, chopped finely
0.25 cup caster sugar
1 cup cream

Purée avocado with lime juice and pulp. Fold in ginger and sugar. Very lightly whip cream. Fold all together. Put in freezer. Take out 15 minutes before serving.

Rest in peace, Breville blender ;-(

Magic carpet cleaner

Our household has subscribed to Choice magazine (published by the Australian Consumers' Association) for over twenty years. The subscription has paid for itself many times over as the Choice team test and review all sorts of stuff: appliances, technology, food, cleaning products, service providers ... and we regularly consult back issues of the magazine when faced with a purchasing decision. Our washing machine, fridge, iron, vacuum cleaner and mobile phones were all selected based on Choice's advice. No regrets!

So, when a piping hot bowl of turmeric-packed curry and rice recently flew (seemingly in slow motion) through the air and upended on our light grey carpet (whoops) we consulted Choice for advice on carpet cleaners. They tested 26 different substances about two years ago and we were surprised and delighted to learn that a home recipe had outclassed all the commercial products! We tried it and it worked well. Here's the recipe (I'm going out on a limb and assuming that 'home recipes' aren't copyright):

2 tablespoons dish washing liquid [Choice suggested Fairy Platinum Lemon, as it had scored highly in other tests]
3 tablespoons white vinegar
0.25 cup water

Work the combined mixture into the stain, being careful not to over-wet the carpet. Blot it dry with a clean towel.

Thank you Choice! Excellent advice, as usual.

Happy New Year!

So, this is 2018. Happy New Year! I don't usually make resolutions (too easy to break) but do set measurable annual goals for myself. Stuff like living within my means, minimising purchases and waste, getting plenty of exercise, supporting my favourite charities, continuing my three volunteer jobs and cooking plenty of spicy food. 

This year promises to be challenging and exciting, perhaps in equal parts, as I'm planning to reduce my hours at my day job and increase the amount of freelance editing, volunteering and gardening I do. Since we bought our house eighteen months ago I've become absolutely enraptured with the joys of gardening! A recent article suggested that exposure to bacteria in soil has an antidepressant effect. I can believe that.

Our first boysenberry crop

You know you've moved to the 'burbs when you

excavate four balls in a single morning of weeding

Since deciding to semi-retire I've been making an ever-growing list of things to do with all my expected extra spare time. Things like reorganising the kitchen, taking classes in various household maintenance activities, sewing and knitting, writing, drawing, creating macrame thingimijigs to complement our 1978 house, learning history and languages with the U3A, volunteering at a local nature park and so on and so on ... it's all very exhilarating.

A friend put me on to the idea of hand knitting dishcloths. What a lark!

Whatever else I do this year, I plan to keep exercising at least ninety minutes per day. That's been my (achieved) goal for the past two years and I'm hoping it'll ward off (or at least delay) all the genetic nasties (diabetes, arthritis, heart disease) lurking within me.

If you'll excuse me now, I have to go and dig in the garden ...

The Art of Frugal Hedonism

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays ... or whatever greeting you prefer at this time of year! As always I'm hoping for a clutter-free Christmas. The gifts I'm giving are virtual (e-book vouchers), experiential (a trip to the ballet, a haircut, meals out, visits to exhibitions, food and wine) and charitable (donations to my favourite good causes). Fingers firmly crossed I finish this week with no more tangible possessions than I have now.

Anyway, time for a book recommendation. I am currently reading The Art of Frugal Hedonism: A Guide to Spending Less while Enjoying Everything More on my Kindle and it's an absolute delight.

Seriously. Read this book!

I've been on a bit of a journey for, well, decades, to find ways to live happily and meaningfully with minimal possessions and waste. As I get older it seems even more important as I'd like to (a) retire from my day job sooner rather than later, and (b) not leave a house full of crap when I die. Annie Raser-Rowland and Adam Grubb's book is a joyous roadmap to leading a frugal, ethical and healthy life. It is beautifully written and inspiring.

If you're still looking for a last-minute gift for someone, I bet they'd love the e-book. Or you could give them a hand-made voucher offering your time (in the garden, pet sitting, walking around a gallery, whatever), or a virtual goat. Or some home made shortbread or granola. Cheers!

Around the world in many tea towels

As I've often ranted and raved here, I don't like accumulating stuff. I'm definitely in the Swedish death cleaning phase of my life and hope never to acquire anything I don't need or want again. That said, there are still some staples of daily life we do need and use. Like tea towels. Over the years I've bought tea towels from many places I've visited. It is fun to be reminded of past travels while doing mundane activities like drying dishes. I usually manage to squeeze many years of use out of them before they become thin and tattered; at that point they begin their next phase of use as bathroom cleaning cloths. Here are a few that put a smile on my face and remind me of past jaunts to exotic locales ...

New Zealand (Australians may recognise the bird New
Zealanders call 'Pukeko' as the 'Purple Swamphen')

Canberra!

Brisbane

Cape Otway, Victoria

Wellington, New Zealand

Grumpy cats from Japan

Canberra (again)

 Canada (oh, Canada)

France

Lady Elliot Island

Adelaide

Victoria

New Caledonia

Tea towels also make great (reusable) gift wrapping. Why wrap a bottle of wine in something tacky and disposable when you can hand it over in a cow-print tea towel?!

The sustainable wardrobe

You know how sometimes several facets of your life seem to converge? I've been thinking a lot lately (well, for years really) about how to dress sustainably. There are many aspects to this: not following fashions, not buying 'disposable' clothes, only buying items I truly want and need and making them last for many, many wears ... and being mindful of where clothing and footwear come from, who made them, and the processes used in their production. For several years I had a goal to buy no more than 20 new items of outerwear or footwear per year; for the past two years I've reduced this goal to 12 items. This is quite fun as, in addition to feeling good about minimising clutter and waste, I only acquire things I really want to own and will make good use of.

So ... over the past month I've done a 30 Day Shop Your Wardrobe Challenge. While the challenge is associated with a program aiming to help shopaholics become more conscious about clothes shopping, I enjoyed having a list of prompts reminding me to wear what I already own. I had a bad habit of saving my favourite items 'for best', which meant some dresses and shoes only made it out of the house a couple of times a year. All that has changed. The 30 Day Challenge has seen me combine colours and styles I wouldn't have thought of, wear more accessories (rather than leaving them languishing in drawers), and receive lots of compliments.

Day 4: Wear something that's 'just for good'. Blue shoes!

Cool bananas. It has definitely reminded me to squeeze maximum use (and joy) out of my wardrobe!

Then, last night I attended an event called The Sustainable Wardrobe here in Canberra. Several speakers discussed aspects of clothing sustainability – materials, environmental impact, reusing and recycling, and ways to get more from less – and took some very curly (yet very intelligent) questions from the enraptured audience. I found the evening interesting and thought-provoking and came away with a bunch of new ideas about how to be stylish yet sustainable.

I'm excited about continuing this journey.

The stuff stops here

Acquire (verb): to come into possession of. (Thank you to the Macquarie Dictionary for this definition.) I tried to find an opposite for the word (dequire? decquire?) but no such word appears to exist. Anyway ...

I recently turned fifty. FIFTY! Once upon a time fifty seemed old; now, with increasing life expectancy, it's more like middle age. (If you're lucky.) I may not feel old but I'm definitely in the second half of my life and, accordingly, have decided to stop acquiring stuff. Sure, there will be times when something wears out or breaks and I'll realise it makes sense to replace it. But essentially, I plan to make everything I already own last for the rest of my life. I have ENOUGH stuff. More than enough.

From now on I will (continue to) refuse, reduce, repair, reuse, repurpose and recycle. I will decline, de[c]quire, donate and discard rather than acquiring.

This goes not only for things I purchase myself, but for gifts. After decades of trying to politely resist accepting tangible gifts, it is time to be more direct. No more stuff. None. Nada. Nope. If you do feel like giving a minimalist a gift, there are many options. Consumables like food and wine. Experiences, such as movies and meals and tours and e-books. Donations to their favourite good cause. A plant for their garden. Or nothing. If someone says 'no gifts', please believe them!

Let's reword that appalling bumper sticker message from the greed-is-good era. Let's say that she who dies with the least clutter wins.

Huggable podcasts

Happy Thursday!

Since moving to fabulous Kaleen last year I've fallen into a routine of riding my bike to work most days, but walking to the office on Thursdays. It's about 7 km so a fairly good chunk of exercise! On the days I walk I like to listen to music or podcasts along the way. It is also fun to listen to podcasts while gardening. Here are a few of my favourites:

ABC Radio National: Correspondents' Report, Dear Science, It's Not a Race, Trace, The Health Report, Best Practice, God Forbid, The Money (and probably others I've forgotten to list!)

I Hate My Boss: Solving workplace conundrums with a touch of humour.

Modern Love: The website says 'stories of love, loss and redemption'. Couldn't have put it better myself. You may need tissues.

Dear Prudence: An advice column. People ask the oddest things ...

Dear Sugar: More advice! I guess I'm interested in problem solving.

This American Life: A venerable radio show on all aspects of American life.

The Minimalists: Thoughts on living a well-curated existence.

The Good Life: My local federal MP, Dr Andrew Leigh, interviews people about living a happy, healthy and ethical life.

Brain food ;-)

A cornucopia of holiday reading

One of the many joys of train travel is having plenty of time to curl up with a good book (or three, or seven). On our recent trip to Oregon and Canada Andrew and I read heaps of books! I took a fully-stocked Kindle with me and also purchased a couple of Canadian books along the way.

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. I'd heard the author interviewed on ABC Radio National and was eager to learn more of his story. J.D. Vance grew up 'dirt poor' in Kentucky and Ohio, in a dysfunctional family, yet managed eventually to attend Yale University and qualify in law. The book has been praised by conservatives and (in some cases) panned by liberals; I find this odd as my politics definitely lean to the left yet I really liked it. It had a personal resonance for me: I've often felt embarrassed to be the first (indeed, only) person in my family to have fought for a university education and pursued a professional career. Hillbilly Elegy reminded me to be proud of my achievements.

The Conjoined by Jen Sookfong Lee. This novel is set in Vancouver and I bought the book in Montreal. It was compelling. The book tells the story of Jessica, a social worker, who is sorting through her dead mother's possessions when she finds two bodies at the bottom of a chest freezer. The author skilfully moves between past and present. The topics in the book are confronting but it was very well written and hard to put down.

Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan. Loved this book! It is the third novel by Kevin Kwan to follow the lives of the uber-rich Young and Shang families; his previous books Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend were similarly hilarious. Just read 'em. They're great fun.

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo. I'd been hearing about this book for ages and finally got around to reading it. As a bit of a minimalist already I don't think it'll change my life dramatically, but I did find its no-nonsense advice on what to keep, what to discard and how to store things useful. One thing the author doesn't address – and I wish she would – is the importance of simply not buying clutter we don't need. The environment would be cleaner, and people's bank balances healthier, if we just bought less crap. (IMHO.)

Short for Chameleon by Vicki Grant. I bought this book from a cute wee bookshop in Halifax, Nova Scotia and didn't realise, ahem, that it was more geared to the young adult market till I started reading. Anyway ... it was fun! Set in Halifax, it is a mixture of mystery story and romance, with plenty of quirky characters and plot twists. Ideal reading while waiting for a plane.

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. An oldie but a goodie. First published in 1873, this is a delightfully crafted and very funny tale. It was interesting to get a glimpse into the attitudes and social mores of ~150 years ago, not to mention to reflect on how much easier it is to get from A to B in the jet age.

And in a first for this blog, we have a guest post from my partner Andrew. Among many other books, newspapers, brochures, signs, etc. etc. he read on our journey, he enjoyed The National Dream by Pierre Berton. He bought a second-hand copy of the book from a tiny bookshop at Lake Louise.

He says: The foundation story of the Canadian Pacific Railway is in essence also the foundation story of Canada. If it hadn't been for John A. Macdonald's completely bonkers promise to connect British Columbia to the Eastern Provinces within 10 years in 1871 Canada may never have reached further west than Ontario and the United States would have stretched from California through the Canadian Prairies to Alaska. What is most interesting about the story of the CPR is the fact that it was ever finished; the level of corruption and incompetence is eye-watering. Be prepared for a story of politicians 'fixing' voters, wage clerks stealing workers' pay, towns fighting towns, contractors gaming the tendering system, money wasted on unneeded surveys, penny pinching on supplies to the point of starvation, politically appointed incompetents, and the discovery of the joys of building a railway across the muskeg and granite of the Canadian Shield.

(Thanks Andrew!)

A weird chat with my hairdresser

I've been going to the same suburban Canberra hairdressing salon for about fifteen years. The staff are lovely (and know me by name), they know how I like my hair done, they don't try to sell me unwanted products and their prices are reasonable. (Much better value than in the Canberra CBD.)

Anyway, y'know how small talk is obligatory while having one's hair done? Earlier this week I had my hair cut and the hairdresser mentioned that she'd recently had her jewellery cleaned (free of charge) at a local jeweller's shop. She asked me whether I did the same and I rather sheepishly replied that I don't own much jewellery. Indeed, that I'm not a fan of 'stuff'. The conversation became a bit odd after that. Something like this:

Hairdresser: You don't want jewellery? Don't tell your partner that!
Me: Oh, he knows. He doesn't like accumulating clutter either. We haven't given each other tangible gifts in years. [We do give each other e-book vouchers and take fancy-pants holidays together.]
Hairdresser: What about clothes?
Me: I try not to buy more than twelve items of outerwear (including footwear) each year.
Hairdresser: What?! We need to go shopping!
Me: Noooooo ... I'd rather have one great item of clothing than a hundred crappy items.
Hairdresser: But you could have a hundred great items!
Me: No. I don't want to clutter my house with unnecessary stuff.
Hairdresser: [No words. Just a puzzled expression.]

Hairdresser: What about when you need new furniture?
Me: Well, we've owned most of our furniture for decades. It meets our needs so we probably won't ever need to buy more.
Hairdresser: [Simply looked horrified.]

The exchange reminded me that not everyone lives the way we do. People tend to think of minimalism and frugality as denying oneself pleasure, or being cheap or stingy. That's not what those things mean to me. Minimalism means being absolutely conscious about what we acquire. I don't buy things on whim, or to cheer myself up. I don't buy things because they're on special or in fashion. Everything I own has a place and a purpose. Being frugal doesn't make me a cheapskate or ungenerous; it allows me to live in a tiny house (you don't need heaps of storage if you don't have heaps of stuff) and to save money for more important and enjoyable things. Like supporting good causes, travelling to exotic locales, and retiring sooner rather than later.

Anyway, while I was still pondering the question: am I weird? and realising the answer is probably yes, I stumbled across an apt article in today's Sydney Morning Herald. Entitled The Seven Secrets to Happiness from the Dismal Science, the article notes that 'the past decade has seen an explosion in economic research designed to uncover what truly makes us happy'. The seven 'secrets' listed are:

1. Have a high income
2. Be in control of your finances
3. Spend money on experiences
4. Buy yourself time
5. Spend money on others
6. Nurture strong relationships
7. Have a sense of purpose

Most of these tie in nicely with frugality and minimalism. Maybe I'm not so weird after all.

No stuff please, we're minimalists

Happy December to you! Hasn't the year flown by? Here in Australia December tends to be a whirlwind of parties, shopping and gifts. But not everyone likes or wants tangible gifts. I've been saying 'no, thank you' to cluttery stuff for twenty years or so ... and yes, it can take that long to convince people you're serious! So, if your buddy doesn't want stuff but you still want to give a gift, what are some options?

Gifts that give twice ...

I love receiving Oxfam goats

Kiva microfinance vouchers (you can check out my loan recipients here)

Edible or drinkable gifts (say, some homemade shortbread or lemon butter, or a nice bottle of wine)

E-book vouchers

Movie vouchers

Restaurant vouchers

Your time ... over a coffee, helping out in the garden, or repairing something around their house

Vouchers for experiences like a foot massage, an opera or ballet, a balloon ride or a cooking class

Here's hoping for a clutter-free December and a happy 2017 ;-)

Why use a weekly menu?

We’ve been using a menu to plan meals in our house for many years now. Just about everyone who hears about it, though, finds the idea bizarre. I wonder why? Meal planning helps our household achieve triple bottom line sustainability (to borrow a term from the environmental movement). Let me explain …

It saves money. By planning exactly what we’d like to eat each week, we can make a shopping list that includes all the required ingredients. With a well organised shopping list, you’re less likely to make impulse buys, and also less likely to need extra impromptu trips to the shops. It also saves money as no ingredients are wasted. None!

It saves resources. A few years ago, The Australia Institute produced a report on wasteful consumption which found that ‘Overall Australians threw away $2.9 billion of fresh food, $630 million of uneaten take-away food, $876 million of leftovers, $596 million of unfinished drinks and $241 million of frozen food, a total of $5.3 billion on all forms of food in 2004’ (page 6). Quite apart from the economic waste (which is appalling), what about the environmental impacts of this type of waste? The emissions created from producing and disposing of unused food, landfill loaded with discarded food and packaging, the time and energy and water wasted in growing and processing things that never get eaten. Our weekly menu is a great way to avoid waste. By being conscious of what food we have in the house, we ensure that everything gets eaten before it shrivels, or gets mouldy, or reaches its best-before date. Whenever I partially use a food item, I immediately plan how and when to use the remainder. For example, spare cream might go into a pasta dish, or be served with a dessert. Extra feta cheese or eggs might be used up in an omelette or quiche. A sudden surfeit of tomatoes might be used in a home made pasta sauce, or a batch of ratatouille or shakshuka.

It saves time and makes for a balanced and delicious diet. When I get home after work, the last thing I want to do is to have to work out what to cook, whether we have the ingredients, and how to get the missing ones. It is much quicker just to glance at the menu, take the ingredients out of the fridge, cupboard or freezer, and cook them! It also saves time if you make larger quantities and freeze extra portions. Dishes like soups, stews and curries are generally easy to cook in bulk, and simple to freeze for later consumption. By planning meals ahead of time, we can ensure that we get plenty of variety and don’t get bored with what we eat.

This next bit might sound a bit obsessive, but so be it. Every now and then, I gather up all the hand written menus I’ve made lately, and put the data into an Excel spreadsheet. This is a fun exercise because – as well as giving me an idea of what our most-eaten meals are – it reminds me of dishes I’d forgotten, and provides inspiration for new dishes I might want to invent.

Menu planning doesn’t have to be done all in one go, and doesn’t have to be rigid. We go to the supermarket twice a week, and have a farm shop cycling distance from our house, so provided I’ve planned the next three days’ meals in advance that’s usually plenty. If there won’t be much time available for cooking one night (or we haven’t had a chance to buy ingredients) there are always a few soups, stews or curries in the freezer that can easily be defrosted. I recommend using a menu. It frees up time and money to do other things. Like gardening :-)

A non-cluttery gift guide

We live in a tiny house and just don't need any more stuff. For about twenty years now I've been asking people not to give me tangible, durable gifts for birthdays, Christmas, etc. Some assume that means I don't want to celebrate special occasions but that's not true! It's just that I don't want them to waste their money, and the planet's resources, on stuff I won't appreciate or have room for in my life. Maybe you know someone who doesn't want more clutter. There are plenty of other ways you can wish them a merry birthday, Christmas, or other special occasion ...

• Take them out for a meal or send a voucher for a restaurant or café near them
• Buy (or grow) a plant for their garden
• Do they have a Kindle or other e-book reader? E-book vouchers!
• Food and wine are fun to receive and ephemeral
• Maybe they're going overseas soon and could use some foreign currency? US$, euros, yen or whatever
• Charity gifts (if they're so inclined), such as a goat for a needy community
• If they're into microfinance, Kiva vouchers
• Virtual gift exchanges ... for example, for many years my sister and I have each taken ourselves out to the hairdresser before Christmas and pretended our new 'dos were gifts from each other
• Mobile phone credit
• Fancy soaps that'll make their bathroom smell lovely for a week or so then disappear down the drain
• Bike repair vouchers
• Movie vouchers
• Google Play/iTunes vouchers
• Experiences ... cooking classes, language classes, a day out in a kayak, a concert, a ballet, a play, an exhibition ...

C'mon people. Let's avoid the deadweight loss of Christmas!

Happy holidays to y'all.