Back when we used to live closer to the city, I had a little garden bed with tomatoes, chillis and capscicums, and it was good.  When we moved up country, I always wanted to have another one, but my attempts were always eaten by possums :( So, only about four years later, I [...]]]>

Back when we used to live closer to the city, I had a little garden bed with tomatoes, chillis and capscicums, and it was good.  When we moved up country, I always wanted to have another one, but my attempts were always eaten by possums :( So, only about four years later, I was determined to fix that once and for all!

We recently had a hard rubbish collection day, so we got rid of the mangy old table we used to use “for outside”.  We replaced it with a new folding table from Officeworks, and the Doctor found a roll of some sort of plastic sheeting in the shed.  My herb collection at this point consisted of a couple of spring onion stalks and a long-dead lemongrass plant.

My plan was pretty simple, I just wanted a mesh cage that would protect my plants from random possums and other wildlife.  Since the frame would be leaning against the wall of the house, I could leave the back open.  But apart from this sketch I drew, and our table measurements, we really didn’t know how we’d build it.

Looking at our options, we decided on a wood frame with fibreglass screen mesh, and two drawer pulls that would work as the handles.  Since we didn’t want to invest in a staple gun (a decision I was regretting halfway through the project…) we bought Liquid Nails to join the bits that we otherwise couldn’t with nails.  Since the frame would be outside, and wouldn’t actually be touching the plants, we went with treated pine and galvanised nails.

Temperatures on the weekend that I started the project were over 35 degrees, so I decided to do most of the work indoors.  Using an old (terribly coloured) bedsheet as a drop sheet, I laid out the wood, measured it, and checked for fit.

After that, it was just a matter of cutting, gluing and nailing!  The Doctor showed me how to start off with the handsaw and workbench, and off I went.

Oh yeah, I make it sound so easy now.  This part actually took a little bit over a week since I only had so many clamps, and the liquid nails takes 48 hours to properly cure.  I just did little bits every night whenever I could, and the Doctor very patiently put up with the mess.

I mentioned the part where I hadn’t actually done anything like this before, right?  Good.  Just as long as you didn’t think I knew what I was doing.

When the frame was done, I figured out where the handles would go so that I could comfortably use them to lift it.  The Doctor helped me out again with drilling the holes for the screws, and sawing off the excess length.

Finally, I cut and stretched the mesh over the frame, and then glued and clamped everything together.  This is pretty much the only part of the project that I feel I could have done better – I really should have hired that staple gun.  The glue is “all right”, in that it’s holding together, but… yeah.  Just isn’t that pretty to look at.  Oh well!

Amazingly, the same week that I was gluing the mesh to the frame, this garden bed set came up for sale at Aldi!  So I rushed off during my lunch break and nabbed one, along with a couple of plants.

There’s a garden supplies seller at my local market, and they recommended a mixture of their “general” and “regular” potting mixes to start with.  The regular mix is higher in potassium, and the general is higher in nitrogen.  Mixing both together would provide a balanced start for my little planties.

Once the soil was in, I used plastic string and duct tape to divide up the garden bed into 6 plots.  I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of square foot gardening, so this seemed like an awesome way to start.  Since the string is just stuck on, I can always move it around if my plants need more or less space.

Ready for plants!  The four 25 litre bags of potting mix were more than enough to fill the entire planter box, plus a bunch of pots for seedlings, and even more to top up if I need it.  I keep the leftover potting mix in the shed in a big bucket, wrapped in a plastic bag.  Hopefully this will keep bugs out, and also slow any loss of nutrients.

I got two plants from Aldi, a lettuce mix, and broccolini.  I also transplanted my only successful bunch of spring onions.  Heading into winter is probably not the best time to start this sort of project, but I’m trying not to grow too attached to them in case it doesn’t work out.

Which is generally good advice for life, I think.  Gardening makes people so introspective.

Growing spring onions is so ridiculously easy.  You simply cut off the root end from any old bunch you buy, and stick it in the ground!  You don’t need to leave much, about 15-20 cms will give them enough height to be planted deep enough for them to grow straight.  I put maybe 2-3 stems together to give them a bit of space.  To use up the green part of the spring onions, remind me to post a recipe for spring onion pancakes sometime!

I like garlic chives as an alternative to spring onions, so I planted three cloves just for the sprouts, and one to try and grow more bulbs.  I simply took some garlic cloves and stuck them into a pot, leaving the tiniest little top part of the clove sticking out.

Finally, I cut open a Thai bird’s eye chilli, and scattered all of the seeds into another pot.  I have absolutely no idea whether this will work or not, but considering a small bag of chillis is like $1 at the Asian grocery, I figured I could afford to give it a try.

To mark what’s growing where, I wrote on paddle pop sticks I had in my craft room, and stuck them in the ground.  I still have three empty spots in the planter bed, so I let myself be a little corny creative :)  A nice bit of water for the plants, and I was…

Neaaaaaaaarly done!  The day after I finally had everything planted and installed, we had incredibly strong winds blowing across our region.  Since the frame is made of pine, it was too light to keep itself upright, so I cut a small hole in the mesh and clamped it to the table.

Our cat often wishes she could go outside, but there’s too many nasties (like wasps!  Since when do we have wasps!) out here for us to feel okay with that.  Sorry, kitty.

One week later…  My garlic is definitely sprouting!  The spring onion also looks a little taller, and I can see new growth.  Not much change otherwise on the chilli, lettuce or broccolini, though I trimmed some yellowish leaves off it.  Both the broccolini and lettuce should be ready to harvest in another 5-6 weeks, so hopefully there’ll be a lot more to report then.  That will also be around the time that I’ll fertilise the garden for the first time.

And most importantly, no possums eating my garden!  And that is the sweetest part so far :)

Have you ever built a garden bed?  Do you have problems with wildlife eating your plants?  Let me know in the comments below!

I have another home/garden [...]]]>

My second video up on Youtube!  Well, my third really, but I didn’t advertise the other one on my blog since it’s not really to do with cooking.   But if you’re interested in taking a helicopter ride with us along the 12 Apostles, feel free!

I have another home/garden DIY blog entry coming up soon, so please stay tuned.  I promise this blog isn’t just going to turn into a Youtube channel :)

No, you are not imagining things – I am now on Youtube!

And what better time to start a new journey than at the beginning of the Lunar New Year?  Being part-Chinese, I grew up with some great traditions that I’d love to share.  Pity I’m still too old for hong bao :(

Keep [...]]]>

No, you are not imagining things – I am now on Youtube!

And what better time to start a new journey than at the beginning of the Lunar New Year?  Being part-Chinese, I grew up with some great traditions that I’d love to share.  Pity I’m still too old for hong bao :(

Keep scrolling for the printable recipe, and if you’d like, subscribe to me on Youtube at SefEats :)  I’ll still be posting normal recipes, edible DIY and maybe a few more different things on here, so don’t worry if you’re more of a text and pictures type of person.

I’ve been dragged onto the bandwagon by wonderful people like my wonderful Doctor (motorcycle accessory reviews), and excellent friends like Fables in Fashion (makeup and cosplay tutorials), Surfaced Studio (video editing and SFX tutorials), Violet LeBeaux (style and craft) and Jimmy America (photography).  Look out for them in upcoming videos as well!

Have a wonderful, prosperous Year of the Water Snake!

Happy 2013!

The Doctor and I were invited to spend Australia Day doing cool stuff with a bunch of friends, so I thought I’d make something patriotic to bring along.  To keep going with the patriotic theme (and against my better judgement), I decided to make the lamingtons from the Donna Hay Classics 2 [...]]]>

Happy 2013!

The Doctor and I were invited to spend Australia Day doing cool stuff with a bunch of friends, so I thought I’d make something patriotic to bring along.  To keep going with the patriotic theme (and against my better judgement), I decided to make the lamingtons from the Donna Hay Classics 2 cookbook.  I’ll admit that it’s a lovely cookbook for inspiration, none of the recipes I’ve made from this book have ever gone 100% according to plan, so I’ve made quite a few changes.  Keep reading to see what they were!

Oh, and they did taste very good, so don’t let my edits put you off :)

For the Sponge Cake

6 eggs
2/3 cups caster sugar
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
60 grams butter, melted

For the Icing

3 cups icing sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup boiling water (plus more as needed)
75 grams butter, melted

Gear

Stand mixer with whisk attachment, handheld mixer, or whisk and bowl
Large baking tray (I used a 26cm by 32 cm roasting pan, not the one as shown here)
Baking paper
Sieve
Flexible cutting board (for sifting, not shown)
Spatula (not shown)
Small pot (not shown)
Metal mixing bowl (not shown)
Offset spatula (for icing, optional and not shown)

I had to change tactics very suddenly mid-cooking, hence why not a lot of the gear is shown in the set up picture.  Sigh.

Preheat your oven to 180C, and line your baking tray with the paper.  Put the eggs and sugar into your chosen type of mixing bowl.  You could make this by hand, but it will take a while and a lot of effort.

Whisk on medium speed until the eggs are light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.

While that’s going on, melt the butter and sift your flour and salt at least a couple of times.  This is a sponge cake, so you definitely don’t want any lumps at all.  The more times you sift it, the lighter the flour will be, and the less chance you’ll have in deflating the sponge when you mix it into the batter.

When the eggs are close to getting done, stop the mixer and add the vanilla.  Give it another few seconds at high speed, then bring the flour, salt and butter over.

Lightly sprinkle in a third of the flour and half the melted butter, and fold gently.  When that’s mostly mixed in, add another third of the flour and the remaining butter, then fold that in.  Lastly, add the rest of the flour, fold, then pour into your baking tray.

Bake until done.  The sponge should be slightly browned, and if you stick a toothpick in the middle, it should come out clean.  Cool the sponge in the tray on a rack for 10 minutes.

Take it out of the tray and remove the baking paper, and cool upside down until it is completely cool.  This is to prevent the bottom from getting soggy.

When cool, you can wrap it in cling wrap and place it in the fridge overnight like I did, or continue with making the icing.

Square off the edges, and cut the sponge into smaller slices.  I cut mine into 16 (quarters both length- and width-wise) for a generous size, but it’s up to you.  Reserve the edges for snacking or another dish (my idea at the end).

If you wrapped the sponge in cling wrap, be very careful peeling it off, as it could have stuck to the cake.

Set up a double-boiler on your stove.  Half-fill a small pot with boiling water, and make sure your mixing bowl fits well on top of it.  Turn your heat to low-medium, just enough to keep the water at a simmer.  If you feel the icing is getting too loose, take it off the double-boiler.  If it starts setting in the bowl, just put it back on and stir gently until it melts again.

Spread the coconut flakes out on a plate or tray, ready to be dipped.

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa together, again making sure there are really no lumps.  Mix them them together, then add the melted butter and boiling water and mix quickly.  Add more water if the mixture is too stiff.

Due to the large proportion of icing sugar, this will set up very quickly, so once it is combined, put it over the double-boiler to keep it reasonably fluid.  It also means that the icing won’t really melt on your fingers when you eat them, so it’s not all bad news.  But work quickly, and make sure you are all set up before you start dipping things.

The original Donna Hay instructions didn’t even use a double-boiler, but rely on the mere 1/3 cup of boiling water to keep everything warm.  Uh… no.

The pictures show me dipping the sponge pieces, but what I found worked a lot better was using an offset spatula to coat and scrape excess icing off the cake.  Make sure it is generously coated, then immediately dip and coat with the coconut flakes.  Let it set on a cooling rack for a few minutes, then brush off any excess coconut.

Don’t try to coat the entire slice at once, you can probably do two or three sides and let them set first, then go back and finish off the other sides.

And done!

As for the leftover trimmings and icing, I just… crumbled them up and mixed it in a bowl, and rolled them into balls.  Hey presto, cake pops!

Except I’m calling them “wombat droppings”, because Australia ;)

Also, wombats are dirty rotten thieves.  You don’t want them around your lamingtons!

Download or print the recipe details here:

This year, the Doctor and I have been indulging in a lot of local tourism.  After he got his motorcycle licence in February, he’s been taking little road trips around our neck of the woods.  When I found out that he regularly (!!) makes it all the way up to Healesville, I demanded that [...]]]>

This year, the Doctor and I have been indulging in a lot of local tourism.  After he got his motorcycle licence in February, he’s been taking little road trips around our neck of the woods.  When I found out that he regularly (!!) makes it all the way up to Healesville, I demanded that he stop over at the Beechworth Bakery and pick me up a couple of goodies!

Beechworth Bakery Healesville

316 Maroondah Highway
Healesville, Victoria 3777

Find them on the web, Facebook and Twitter (Urbanspoon entry pending)

So, he brought me back a lovely French vanilla slice on his next trip.   Which, of course, wasn’t enough of a treat, so I demanded that we take an actual road trip up there so I could sample things right on the premises.  But to be honest, I don’t remember where I first heard of the Beechworth Bakery.  All I knew was that it was apparently one of the best bakery chains in regional Victoria.

The first time we went was the Queen’s birthday public holiday, so despite getting there at 3pm, lines were still practically out the door.

When you walk in, you’re immediately met with a table full of branded merchandise, including a cookbook.  I guess maybe I was just grumpy because my goodies were further away than I thought (so tantalisingly close!), but this kind of gave me a weird impression.  Especially since a lot of the books were about the “marketing genius” of the founder which was … weird (as I said).  I was tempted by the cookbook ($30), but considering I hadn’t actually tasted anything yet, I didn’t want to make that leap of faith.

And while I wasn’t staring at the adorable teddy bears, I was staring at the massive display case.  There’s two of these, still bursting with so many goodies!

Sadly, at the time, I didn’t realise that their signature pastry was the Beesting, so I didn’t order one.  I did get one takeaway when the Doctor went up again with his dad, and it turned out to be a brioche-ish type bread, with flaked almonds and a honey-flavoured custard filling.  Not too sweet, not very sticky, and definitely something that you’d be proud to call your signature dish.

Though since I didn’t see very many other honey or bee-type things around, I wonder why it’s the “signature” item?  Maybe because of Beechworth honey?

L-R: Caulioccoli pie (cheese, cauliflower and broccoli), Country Chicken pie (chicken and leek), $4.90 each

Finally, we got to the front of the line, and made our orders.  Savoury first…

The pies weren’t in the front display cases, and needed to be heated, so we took a number and sat down at one of the outside tables.  Ibises, magpies and seagulls (this far inland!) fought with each other over scraps that children were tossing to them.  I guess the pies came out about 10-20 minutes later, and considering how long the lines were, that was probably pretty good for them.

L-R clockwise: Chocolate éclair, Lemon slice, Bavarian cream ring (vanilla icing, whipped cream and crème patissière), Peppermint slice – $3.90 each

On the other hand, since our sweets were taken from the displays, we had to sit and stare at them for … everrrrrrrrr…

They were worth the wait, though!  The choux pastry for the éclair and cream ring was still crisp and light, despite how long the cream’s been sitting in them.  The slices were satisfying dense, sweet, and very “faithfully” flavoured – you could taste the fresh lemon and coconut flakes in the lemon slice, and the peppermint was very nicely paired with dark chocolate.

Beechworth Bakery might be a fair way out of Melbourne, but considering that Yarra Glen, Lilydale, and even Healesville itself are starting to compete very nicely with the urban boys, I definitely think it’s a good spot to add to your itinerary.

Granola isn’t really a big thing in Australia.  Muesli is, though.  I wasn’t really sure what the difference was until I tried to make some.

Apparently muesli tends to be made with raw or unprocessed grains, and have the majority of its sweetness come from dried fruit.  Granola is bound with sweeteners (and usually [...]]]>

Granola isn’t really a big thing in Australia.  Muesli is, though.  I wasn’t really sure what the difference was until I tried to make some.

Apparently muesli tends to be made with raw or unprocessed grains, and have the majority of its sweetness come from dried fruit.  Granola is bound with sweeteners (and usually fat), and so can be either more chewy or crunchy than muesli, but definitely sweeter.  So, I guess muesli bars are as close as we get to granola without being accused of becoming Americanised.

Not that there’s anything wrong with being Americanised.  In fact, my favourite dessert ever is apple pie with ice cream.  So I decided to create that in muesli bar (or granola) form!

Apple Pie Muesli Bars (Granola)

Makes 24 small bars
20 minutes preparation time, 40 minutes cooking time
Adapted from Alton Brown Granola Bars recipe

Ingredients

225 grams rolled oats (not instant)
135 grams mixed seeds or nuts (for this recipe, sunflower seeds and sliced almonds)
45 grams wheat germ
180 ml honey (about 1/3 cup)
50 grams dark brown sugar
30 grams unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
180 grams dried fruit (for this recipe, 150 grams dried apple, 30 grams cranberries)

Gear

2 baking trays
Mixing bowl
Small saucepan
Spatula
Baking paper
Cooling rack
Muffin liners and/or ziplock bag

Heat your oven to 180C.

Put the oats, nuts and wheat germ on the widest, flattest baking tray you have, and mix them together.  When the oven is hot enough, bake them for 15-30 minutes until they are toasty brown and smelling delicious.  Remember to stir them around every 10 minutes so they don’t burn.

In the meanwhile, get the the rest of the ingredients (except the fruit).

Heat the honey, sugar and salt in the small saucepan until everything melts together, then turn off the heat.  Add the vanilla and cinnamon, then stir so you don’t have any clumps.

I’d suggest using the most interesting honey you can get – the first time I made this recipe, I used an orange blossom honey that we got at the Inverloch Farmer’s Market, and I can still remember how light and flowery it tasted.  Regular honey blends are fine, but the flavour really comes through in this recipe, so why not try something a little different?

Line your second baking tray with a very, very generous amount of baking paper.  Ideally, you should have enough so you don’t need to grease the tray.  Definitely err on the side of having too much paper rather than skimping, you’ll see why in a minute.

When your dry mixture has finished toasting, take it out of the oven and reduce the temperature to 150C. Don’t turn it off at this stage!

If you need to, chop the fruit into small pieces, about 1-2cm. You can cut larger chunks, but this might make slicing the bars difficult later on. If you’re intending to just leave the mixture chunky, cut them into bite-size pieces.  If you’re using more than one type of fruit, mix them together now.

Add the fruit mixture to the toasted oats, and then pour the honey mixture over that.  Working quickly (but carefully, things are hot!), mix everything together.  It will be sticky, and will probably look like it won’t be enough moisture to bind everything, but just keep going.

I find that a strong, folding motion with a wide spatula works best to mix things without flinging stuff all over the counter.

Once everything is moistened, pour the mix into the prepared baking tray.  Use the spatula to try to get it as evenly spread as you can, pushing the mix to the edges and corners of the tray.

By this time, the mix should have cooled enough for you to use the excess baking paper (see?) to help flatten the mix into the tray.  You want it to be uniformly flat, but don’t worry too much about pressing it down so it becomes a brick.

Bake at 150C for 40 minutes, until it is even more toasty brown.  The surface may still be soft and a bit springy, but that’s okay.

Take it out, and let it cool completely on a rack before cutting.  This can take at least an hour, so be patient!  If it’s still warm when you cut, it’ll stick to your knife really badly, so save yourself the heartache.

If you want to keep them in bar form, use muffin or cupcake liners to stop them sticking to each other, and store in an air-tight container.  They might keep longer a week, but that’s usually about as long as they’ve lasted in our house…

Any loose bit and pieces can be stored in a ziplock bag, and turned into crunchy granola by blasting it in a toaster oven for a couple of minutes.  If you don’t have a toaster oven, break the muesli up into large chunks, spread on a baking tray, and bake at 180C for five minutes.

Just by themselves, or crumbled over some yoghurt, I don’t really mind what these things call themselves.  They’re worth the effort, and endlessly flexible with the type of nuts, seeds or fruit you choose to use.  Yay!

Do you prefer muesli or granola?  What’s your favourite flavour addition to them?

Heading back to more familiar stomping grounds, I decided to play around with the rest of the Chobani Greek yoghurt I was sent by baking it into some lovely muffins.  I dug some almond meal out from the back of the pantry, added some delicious cherry conserves I bought on my birthday, et voilà!

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email asking if I’d like to try out Chobani, a brand of natural, low-fat Greek yoghurt.  I’ve really only used Greek yoghurt as a substitute for sour cream or in yoghurt cakes, so at first I was kind of dubious.  It’s rare that I get my [...]]]>

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email asking if I’d like to try out Chobani, a brand of natural, low-fat Greek yoghurt.  I’ve really only used Greek yoghurt as a substitute for sour cream or in yoghurt cakes, so at first I was kind of dubious.  It’s rare that I get my recommended daily amount of calcium (apparently the amount of milk in lattes isn’t enough), and for some reason I was never really a fan of yoghurt as a snack.

Good thing that Chobani made enough of an impression on me that I’m starting to re-think it!

Chobani flavours from top: plain, mango, peach, pineapple, strawberry, blueberry, passionfruit

Chobani (meaning “shepherd”) is an American-based and owned company.  The CEO and founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, started up the company while he was studying for his Master’s degree in New York and was desperate for good quality Greek-style yoghurt.  The master Yoghurt Maker  (how cool is that!), Mustafa Dogan was responsible for coming up with the all-natural, traditional Turkish recipe for the yoghurt.  Chobani believes in giving back to the community – 10% of their profits go back to charities through a program called “Shepherd’s Gift”.  They haven’t  partnered with any Australian-based charities yet, but support causes such as the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and UNICEF (Haiti recovery) and the Global Enrichment Foundation (Africa).

There are seven flavours of Chobani available in Australia – plain, mango, peach, pineapple, strawberry, blueberry and passionfruit.  All flavours except mango, pineapple and passionfruit (oh why) are fat-free, while the three tropical fruits are low-fat.

Ingredients list for mango (left) and plain (right) Chobani

Of course, I tried the mango first.  The ingredients list looked good – natural ingredients and live yoghurt cultures.  And before you say anything, locust bean gum is actually made of the same stuff that carob (vegan “chocolate”) is.  It’s a natural thickener, kind of like guar or xanthan gum.  The live cultures (probably my exception to the “don’t eat anything you can’t pronounce” rule) occur naturally in dairy products, and contains the same strain (lactobacillus casei) as in my much-adored Yakult.

The plain Greek yoghurt is the same as is on the fruit-inclusive versions.  Neither version uses gelatin or rennet, making it truly vegetarian-friendly.  A single serving size is about 170 grams, or a little over a quarter-cup.

I can’t say much about the benefits of a high-protein, low-fat product.  I know I really should care more about the actual nutrition values, but since I normally use yoghurt as an ingredient rather than eating it on its own, I don’t think too hard about the direct impact on my health.  On the other hand, the fact that all of the ingredients are either natural, or naturally occurring, makes me happy enough about the resulting taste and texture.

First impression of Mango Chobani

My first thoughts when I opened the container was “this is way thick!” (get it? … heh)  It’s not dry or grainy like other low-fat/fat-free yoghurts are, and is quite a bit thicker than sour cream.

Mining for fruit!

You do have to dig down a fair bit for the fruit, though.  If you were eating this on the go, you’d probably have to eat a bit of the yoghurt plain before clearing enough room to mix in the fruit.

Mango Chobani decanted into a glass bowl

I would have preferred more actual chunks of fruit, but the syrup is pretty tasty without being too sweet.  The yoghurt is also tangy, without being mouth-puckeringly tart.  It has a good mango flavour – not as sweet as Filipino mangoes, but honestly, nothing ever is.  Since taking pictures for this post, I’ve also tried the strawberry, peach and blueberry flavours.  All of them have actual pieces of fruit with a nice, soft consistency, and generous amounts of syrup to flavour the yoghurt.  So far, I’d have to declare the blueberry my favourite, though I still haven’t tried the pineapple (!) or passionfruit (something I normally dislike, but I can’t hold that against it).

As far as cooking with it goes – well, you’ll just have to tune in next week!

So, my verdict?  Chobani Greek yoghurt is pretty tasty and enjoyable to eat.  If you’re swinging by a Victorian or NSW Woolworths sometime soon, pick up a couple of your favourite flavour and give it a go.  Chobani will be available nationally later in the year.

Disclaimer: Sefie Eats tried out all of the Chobani flavours with thanks to Fleishman-Hillard PR.  This post was not solicited, and reflects the honest opinion of the writer.

Excuse me, please.

I’m having a bit of a bother with my gallery plugin, so I’m temporarily disabling them for now.  Things should be back to normal soon, and it doesn’t affect “normal” uploaded images on the blog [...]]]>

Left: Pizza stone we'd been using for over a year. Right: A brand new pizza stone!

Excuse me, please.

I’m having a bit of a bother with my gallery plugin, so I’m temporarily disabling them for now.  Things should be back to normal soon, and it doesn’t affect “normal” uploaded images on the blog (like the one above), but if you’re trying to view entries where I’ve mentioned a gallery, you’ll see a great big white space.

Not yummy.

I hope to get everything sorted out soon, so in the meanwhile, let’s have a bit of a chat!

I’ve been looking for a weekly/fortnightly vegie box delivery service, kind of like community-supported agriculture.  For about 6 months, we’d been getting a box through Aussie Farmers Direct, but they always seem to give us a kilo of potatoes, and at least half a kilo of carrots every week!  Now, we do love just about everything else and will continue getting our dairy and bread through them, but I’m looking for other alternatives.

I want:

• fresh vegetables, with no or minimal fruit, delivered weekly or fortnightly
• seasonal produce with reasonable variety
• preferably local, not too fussed about organic
• option to put deliveries on hold (if we’re on holidays or totally flooded)
• delivers to outer eastern suburbs (Dandenong Ranges)

If you have any recommendations, let me know in the comments below!  Affliate links welcome, just lay them on me, and I’ll post up a review if I find something I like :)

PS: If you have suggestions for good WordPress image gallery plugins too, that would be great!