Going Green in Australia

A lovely warm cup of organic green tea, with Australian native ingredient lemon myrtle, keeps me warm tonight. I sit outside in the garden with a refreshing bit of wind cooling down the air that has been hot and steamy today. It actually still is about 18 degrees, but after the 30 degrees earlier today it feels cool... refreshing... very pleasant!

I has been a long time since I actually sat down behind my laptop to write down some thoughts about life in Australia or new discoveries about food and eco-gastronomy in the big land Down Under. This is not to say that food and sustainability is no longer part of my life. Quite the opposite really! Every day the Drover and I try to make the best choices in our food consumption and especially the Drover dedicates quite a few hours of the week to our beautiful organic veggie garden. Spring is in full swing and potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, and much much more is growing like crazy.

I can't wait for the day that I can eat the first fresh tomato out of our own garden, combined with some Australian made buffalo mozzarella and basil leaves from our veggie patch, for a delicious insalata caprese. I get very excited every day I see the potato plants grow and think back of the first time I grew potatoes in my Mum's garden and the satisfaction I felt when I harvested the first lot of piepers... There certainly is nothing more satisfying than growing your own food and while cooking just walking into the garden for some fresh salad leaves, herbs, lovely veg and maybe even an apricot or two!

Words of Inspiration

These Words of Inspiration are written by Clare Lancaster, who started the blog Women in Business and wrote this Manifesto for Women in Business. Love her blog and her words!

Thinking

Do you ever have the type of moments that I have? Moments that you think. Think. You think about everything and you cannot stop thinking. Often there is no real logic in those thoughts or you are not even really thinking about one thing in particular. Your brain just keeps on going. Thinking about work, about love, about life, about memories from the past, about dreams for the future, about what to wear today and where to go tomorrow. Thoughts very often seem to be coming based on feelings. Feelings that I cannot always find the right words for, but they are just there.

Australian Autumn Days

Some thoughts about the Australian autumn and a recipe for Dutch appelmoes

My Mums Pancakes with Stroop

The smell of apple, cinnamon and cloves is filling the kitchen with warm Dutch autumn memories. Although what I am cooking is a very simple appelmoes, made from some old, wrinkly apples that I bought in the Central Market for only a dollar, the smell makes me think of pannekoeken met appel en kaneel, Dutch pancakes with apple and cinnamon. Preferably made by my Mum, on a dark and cosy autumn night. Although the pancakes made by my brother or my friend Irish are not too bad either. One thing that is missing in this moment of my Dutch thoughts and memories is the cold air, the rain and the grey clouds...

I am sitting in the kitchen in Adelaide in the season that is officially called autumn. But for this Dutch Cheesegirl it is still hard to believe that it is autumn at the moment. When I think of autumn I think of wet days with continuing rain and riding my bike through strong winds that try to push me into the canals while the tree leafs are flying through the air.

Hundreds of wines under one roof

In the weekend of 24-26 February the Cellar Door Wine Festival took place in Adelaide and as announced here the Drover and I went to have a look around, together with his parents. I was really curious to get an idea about all those South Australian wines and to see what good products there would be for taste and sale on the Regional Farmers Market. We had a lovely day out and certainly enjoyed a wine tasting or two... Or maybe... alright, a few more than that!

The location of the Cellar Door Wine Festival is absolutely beautiful. The event took place in the Adelaide Convention Centre that is situated along the River Torrens that crosses the city. When you enter the building you have a great view of the river, the park around it and the city centre. Che bello! At the entrance we received a Riedel wine glass to use for all the tastings, and to take back home afterwards - yeay, a little gift! The venue was divided into areas representing the various South Australian wine regions, being the Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Eden Valley, LimeStone Coast, Clare Valley, Coonawarra, Padthaway, Kangaroo Island, Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale, the Riverland and Southern Fleurieu. Jep, that is a fair bit of wine regions to explore in one day, especially because they together made up for more than 150 wineries! Of course this was way to much so the Drover made a selection in advance (since he is much more into wine than I am) to make sure we would taste some things a bit different and special.