What does 'free-range' mean to you?

Forgive me the holiday-quality of this post as I'm away unwinding, mostly wine-ing, but wanted to share this in a timely fashion.

A sometimes vegetarian with a guilty conscience, eggs have always been a staple in my diet and I'm always on the lookout for somewhere to buy the good eggs - the ones that have come from a happy and healthy hen. The last time I visited Melbourne, I came across a free-range product that I was really happy with - not only because the egg was good but also because I was able to get a lot of information about the process of production.

Back in Sydney, I spent a good half hour in the egg aisle recently, trying to find a free-range egg that was also produced by a local, Australian-owned company (to save food-miles). I eventually settled on a brand and was disappointed to find on my return home after some internet research, that although what I had in my hand might have been produced 'free-range', this company also (and might I add mostly) churns out eggs from cage hens. Although I had bought a free-range product, at the end of the day my money had gone to a company that profits most from non-free-range egg production - which includes practices such as trimming the beaks of hens and severe over-crowding.

Out of sheer frustration, I emailed the farmer that had produced the eggs that I had bought in Melbourne, wanting to know if he perhaps had a set up in Sydney also (alas no). Today, from that farmer, I received the following email:

At a time when most countries are tightening their farm animal welfare standards, here, the Australian Egg Corporation has launched plans for new standards for free range egg production which will allow de-beaking or beak trimming of hens as a matter of course, stocking densities on farms to increase from 1500 hens per hectare to a massive 20,000 and hens to be kept locked in sheds for up to 25 weeks.

Understandably, the free range industry and consumers are in turmoil over this proposal. We agree with the Egg Corporation that the current standards for free range egg production need to be changed - but they need to be tightened up to ensure that consumers are not misled. The changes proposed by the Australian Egg Corporation will allow large producers to charge customers a premium for branding their eggs as 'free range' without incurring the additional costs of genuine free range production methods.

We have set up a petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/freerange/

More info is on our blog at http://freerangereggs.blogspot.com

Besides the prospect of cruel practices being endorsed with the 'free-range' label, what I find most distressing is how difficult it is to access accurate information about food production and what the labels that we rely on to make our food purchase decisions actually mean. The changes proposed to animal welfare standards will only make this more confusing - how can a practice such as de-beaking be considered consistent with 'free-range' standards? When I go to the local outdoor market, convenience store, or supermarket, how am I supposed to know what I am buying? I'm no expert on farming, eggs, or free-range practices in general, so what I want is a system that allows me to identify quickly what food is produced in a way that I am happy with, that I want to support by buying. To me, the potential changes to the standards of free-range egg farming in Australia move further away from this and I see myself spending another half hour in the egg aisle trying to make the right decision and still making the wrong one.

As I said, I'm no expert, so if this is something that interests you then please take a look at the blog, website and petition for yourself. Also, if you have information that you would like to share (like where to find a good free-range egg in Sydney...), please add it in the comments section.

Oh sugar! Oh honey-honey!

I'm going to start by saying if you are a fan of the biscuits honeyjumbles and are particularly attached to them in their traditional form, then you probably shouldn't read on. This is not a honeyjumble-fanatic-friendly post.

For those of you who remain, I'm going to tell you something horrific: honeyjumbles don't actually have honey in them. I discovered this when making them this afternoon. Golden syrup is the only vaguely honey-like ingredient. As the name was obviously inaccurate, I felt well within my rights to rename the faux-jumbles. Searching for a name wasn't difficult; we didn't have any golden syrup so I substituted treacle and this gave the biscuit dough a deep brown colour. A rather specific brown colour.

Flatmate #1: Walks into the kitchen and upon seeing biscuit dough slows dramatically. Asks suspiciously.'What are you doing there?'
Me: 'Making biscuits.'
Flatmate # 1: With relief, laughing. 'Ha! That's good, I thought you were kneading poo.'
Flatmate #2: Enters kitchen. 'Woah - you realise that looks like shit?'

The recipe calls for the biscuit dough to be rolled into a log shape. Just like so:

Clearly the only name for these biscuits at this point in time was 'Pooh Sticks'. Rather appropriate as it references not only the appearance of the biscuits, but also a game invented by a silly old bear that most likely would have gruffled these biscuits (that's Winnie the Pooh, for those of you who have grown out of bedtime stories).

For those of you who just scoffed at the inclusion of a children's book character as an authority for how damn tasty these biscuits are, I'll have you know that grown men fought over these biscuits. In fact, you can see for yourself (or not see, depending on how good your night vision is, as this was shot in low light).

You will need...

• 125g butter, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups golden syrup (I used treacle...)
• 3 1/2 cups plain flour
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tbp fresh ginger, finely grated, or 3 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• splash of milk (use as required)

Icing

• 1 egg white, beaten lightly
  
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tbsp flour
  
• squeeze of lemon juice (to taste)
  
• couple of drops of food colouring of your choice
• optional - flavouring*
  

The how-to...

1. Combine butter and sugar in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the butter has melted. Once the butter has melted, continue stirring and bring the mixture to the boil. Remove saucepan from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

2. Sift in dry ingredients and mix to combine. Add a little splash of milk to help the process. Cover the mixture and leave it alone for two hours.

3. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees. Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and knead. You want a smooth, well combined dough - if it is coming apart then add a couple of drops of milk to hold it all together and if it is too sticky add a little flour.

4. Shape the dough into a rough rectangle and cut into 8 equal pieces. Take one piece and roll it into a long thin tube shape. Cut this into six pieces, each approximately 5cm in length. Round the ends of each piece to make the biscuit shape (see first blog picture).

5. Line the biscuits up on a tray lined with baking paper, leaving a couple of centimetres between each biscuit so they can flatten out. Put in the oven for 12 minutes.

6. Whilst the biscuits are cooking, make up your icing. Combine the icing sugar, lemon juice, flour and egg white to make a thick icing paste. If you plan to add colouring/flavouring, divide up the mixture so that you can tint/flavour each portion differently.

7. Pull out the biscuits and let them cool on the tray. After 20 minutes, transfer them to a wire tray and ice them quickly before they are all eaten.

Makes 48.

*I'm always frustrated by coloured foods that taste nothing like the flavours that the pigment promises, so I've added a little vanilla to the white icing and rosewater to the pink icing. After some pestering from my flatmate about what colour the vanilla-flavoured icing should be - blue, according to him - I made some less traditionally coloured jumbles. The 'Science' jumble (green = peppermint) and the 'Malaria' jumble (yellow = brandy). So you can imagine how good this one tasted...

Frontloader fail

"I'm a failed housewife" she cried.
"Safer than being a failed pilot" consoled he.

The year of living recklessly: an update & forecast

Dear all,

I've missed you, and (rather surprisingly) I've happily discovered that some of you have missed me too.

Late last year I declared that this would be the year of living recklessly, and after having said this with such certainty to all of you I feel obliged to give an update.

Since we last talked, these things have happened (roughly in this order):

• 4 months ago...My camera broke (a significant contributor to the lack of blogging - no photos = little inspiration to write). I would like to attribute this to a particularly reckless act, like swimming in the duck-pond at 3am in the moonlight just because I could, however I think that it just grew old, filled with sand and water after too many adventures and gave up. Today's pictures are brought to you by my flatmate's camera.
  

• 3 months ago...After having thrown in my old job, I landed a contract at the Sydney Royal Easter Show (Australia's largest event! and, according to Wikipedia, the sixth largest event in the world). I watched children plunder showbags, herded cows and also an escaped and angry pig, learned an excellent lime cordial recipe*, followed a trio of ducks with more dress options than even I have, pushed a pirate around on a trolley, ate half my weight in Show food and then drank myself green on closing night.
  

• 2 months ago...Molly & I (plus a rather nice man) moved out of the lovely home that we have shared for over 3 years. It seemed reckless and daring at first until I realised that after campaigning so hard for the change I moved us into a brilliant new place only two streets away from the old place, still within the same tiny suburb, and into the equivalent room (upstairs, front of house) - all these terraces are laid out the same. This particular terrace, however, sits higher on the hill, meaning more light in our room, and said light-filled room also has (joy of joys) an ensuite bathroom and built in wardrobes. Not one wardrobe, but two. That is one each. Words cannot sufficiently express the delight.

Pretty new room (plus kitten, if you look closely)



Pretty new flatmates outside the new house, living what a passer-by described
as a "charmed existence"

Molly, quite content in her new home, although not ready for her close-up

• 1 week ago...I turned a year older and largely tried to pretend that it wasn't happening as I felt I didn't have the time, then threw a cheese & cocktails* thing at the last minute when I realised that it would be a year before I could celebrate my birthday again.
  

• Yesterday... I bought a pair of delightful boots. Recklessly expensive (*congratulates self on use of key word*) but beautiful. The camera, and my leg, don't quite do them justice.

• Today... I blogged, instead of churning out more job applications. And galloped, instead of walking, around the house. Galloping lifts the spirits and distracts from more serious things, like job applications.
  

• Tomorrow...will be the beginning of the end of my employment, as my contract ends at the end of the week. In suitably reckless fashion, I have nowhere to go. In a style somewhat less reckless, my impending unemployment is troubling me and nights at my place frequently end with a significant amount of foot-stamping and a tirade about how I don't want to write any more answers to selection criteria.

• In the next 8 months...I will possibly do any, or none, of the following things: start one of the million craft projects stowed under my bed, skydive, sew, start a street festival, stop eating chocolate on a daily basis, drop everything and visit Canada using the power of Mastercard, write more often, be a little less of a 'fraidy-cat and start singing along whilst I learn to play guitar, join a burlesque troupe or start working as a film extra.
  

And that concludes today's update and forecast for the remainder of the year ahead. As you can see, I'm about as reckless as your nanna, or on the recklessness meter, I'd rate somewhere around 'Probably still pays for virus protection software when it can be downloaded for free'.

Until next time, when I think of something inane to ply you all with!

*Lime cordial and cocktails piqued your interest? When I started blog writing I promised myself that I would include something useful for the reader in each post. So this is the useful part.

The lime cordial recipe I learned is on the CSR website...right here...you can use regular sugar if you prefer, you will just need to double the quantity.

The cocktails recipe that I came up with is just an elaborate version of the cordial above. This served approximately 20 people, and made quite a nice non-alcoholic punch for those who prefer it that way.

You will need...

15 limes, juiced (save skins!)
2 punnets of strawberries, crushed with a fork
1 1/2 cups of raw sugar
1/2 L water
dash of Angostura bitters

3 L sparkling mineral water
2 L ginger beer
spirits of your choosing (vodka and gin were good, pimms was excellent)
ice, ice, ice

The how to...

1. In a large saucepan, over a gentle heat, combine the lime juice, raw sugar and Angostura bitters. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Slowly add the 1/2 L of water as/if required to help this process along.

2. Add the mashed strawberries and remaining water, and let the lot simmer until you have a light syrup mixture. This took about 15 min over a gentle heat, but needs watching otherwise you will end up with something that looks more like jam than something drinkable. Turn off the heat and let it cool for 10 min.

3. Take a jug, add a handful of lime skins and then tip in about a fifth of the syrup. Let it stand for another 10 min to cool if it needs it.

4. Add a scoop of ice to the jug, then top it up with chilled sparkling mineral water and ginger beer - I used about 3 parts sparkling to 2 parts ginger beer, but you can adjust this if you prefer it more or less sweet.

5. Drink! It's nice to leave the jug un-spiked so anyone wanting something non-alcoholic can partake and everyone can choose their own alcohol. Tip a shot of whatever you want into your glass and then fill up with the cocktail mix.

A little less spending, a little more Scrooge.

Christmas, a killer day trip to Brunswick St, Melbourne (source of all credit card woe and consumerist happiness), via Falls Festival, Lorne, and a rather ambitious 25-presents-to-celebrate-my-boyfriend's-25th-birthday project have all conspired to render me without cash or credit for the forseeable future.

Not wanting to be without entertainment I set myself a mission to ferret out free things to occupy myself with this weekend - and have oh-so-graciously decided to share said free findings* with you.

*All two of them. I plan to get better at this, to improve my spend-thrift self.

1. Cinema in the Cemetery

Genre-defining zombie horror flick, George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), is screening in a cemetery. Yes, it does seem like a blatant bid by the church to draw a younger crowd, but it's also an opportunity to watch a zombie film in a cemetery. For free. Bring a blanket to sit on/cover your head with/turn into an ingenious zombie-destroying device in case of a zombie apocalypse.

When: Friday 5 Feb, 8pm
Where: St John's church cemetery, 81 Alt St, Ashfield

To whet your appetite for all things zombie, watch this excellent 30 second re-enactment of the film...by cartoon bunnies.

2. CarriageWorks Kitchen Garden Project

CarriageWorks is launching phase two of their Kitchen Garden Project, a series of community workshops and activities for those interested in making their urban life that little bit more sustainable. Head along to the opening expo to hear from sustainability guest speakers and get some more info on the grow-your-own-kitchen-garden-project.

When: Saturday 6 Feb, 1pm - 4pm
Where: CarriageWorks foyer

Green AND free, with potential for grocery bill savings when you start growing your own vegies. Aren't you a lucky urbanite.

Since my list is not very list-like, at only two items, feel free (ooh! buzzword!) to add to the list in the comments section.

Art Loves Haiti

A belated Happy New Year to all.


Molly & Turtle have been on a bit of a hiatus of late, mostly because one of us *pointed, indignant looks at the kitten who cannot defend the accusation* broke the camera.


This post doesn't need pictures, however, as we've all already seen the heartbreak taking place in Haiti right now. Courtesy of Two Thousand this excellent fundraiser caught my eye today:



What: Art Loves Haiti
How: Donate art work to auction by emailing art4haiti@gmail.com with an image, two lines describing the artwork and a short bio. Please know that you will also be donating postage. Buy works from Art Loves Haiti online here. New pieces going up daily.
Where: Money raised goes directly to Save The Children: Haiti
Contact: art4haiti@gmail.com


After a week of the same news stories, with the same interviews and footage, what is happening in Haiti fades into just another natural disaster/humanitarian crisis. I read this account just before news of the aftershock came through and was reminded that the 'humanitarian crisis in Haiti' is actually the story of hundreds of thousands of individual people experiencing loss and uncertainity. Published by the Observer this op-ed is written by Regine Chassagne (of Arcade Fire fame); it documents her personal connection to Haiti and reaction to the disaster as well as suggesting another avenue through which you can lend your support.