Quark

Quark recipe
from Tam -

To make quark

I leave raw milk in a pot for two days

then take off the cream

and pour the jelly-mess thats left into cheesecloth

what stays in the cheesecloth (mostly protein) is quark

what drips out is whey

it has vitamins and minerals and lactobacillus

and protein, apparently, but im not sure how cos its so thin

it's yellowy thin liquid that tastes sour

kind of yum

bit weird

I put the whey on the garden to make the dirt have good bacteria

sandor told me to

Thought

This blog isnt a straightforward nutritional guide, or how to prepare easy recipes, it is not intended to be a place of personal dogma; it is a
process based research into life and art practise through the medium of food, grounded in my experience, of engaging with food, plants, and people; growing, preparing and feeding. It is open ended, multi-faceted and experiential. I 'think' by doing, and quite often 'I do' by reading or simply being. I research through direct experience. I am in awe of plants. The revolution is made out of plants and healthy cells pulsating with light.

Connection

Food as connection to self and to community
food as connection to environment, land, weather, season, climate, geology
food as ritual
food as politics
food as concept
food as religion
food as design
food as engineering
food as nutrition
food as revolution

Food carts!

I came upon this post on veggie food carts in Portland, which lead me here (there's a video complete with gypsy guitars and simulated bicycle travel), then of course the doors opened up and I got very very excited. Move to Portland or start something up here?

"Don’t expect fast-food or deep-fried goofs here. Think Slow Food-Cart Movement, where dedicated cooks grind quinoa into flour, carefully source ingredients, and pay attention to presentation. Twenty minutes for a fried-egg sandwich—are you serious? Then again, it may be the best you’ve ever had."

"A parallel subculture thrives online, where cart zealots track every new opening on websites and Twitter feeds. At its most successful, the cart diaspora creates improvised village plazas where neighbors gather (and spend), generating reams of positive online chatter about a new kind of place—usually a former vacant lot" Portland monthly magazine



Friends lets start designing our food carts!

Ive been thinking about something along these lines for awhile, after meeting a boy in Berlin who had a coffee machine setup in the back of a tricycle. The inspiration of Portland gives me momentum, and broadens the vision to include a whole culture of beautiful slow-food carts.
Everyone that wants to make one, lets do it, the autonomous revolution of food carts in Melbourne (or wherever you are)!

Victory gardens 2007+

In 1943, 20 million gardens were producing 8 million tons of food.
Victory Gardens, also called "war gardens" or "food gardens for defense", were gardens planted both at private residences and on public land during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil "morale booster" — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. These gardens produced up to 41 percent of all the vegetable produce that was consumed in the nation.
-City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America, Laura Lawson

Drawing from the rich history of World War II Victory Gardens, Victory Gardens 2007+ puts a new spin on the meaning of “victory”. In this program, “victory” is:
- independence from corporate food systems
- community involvement
- getting people closer to the natural environment.

read more about Victory Gardens project in San Fransisco

I photographed these images from the Victory Gardens 2007+ book when i
was at MCA last week. This began the re-ignition of the food cart dream

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants

"We’re not eating food anymore. We’re Orthorexics, people with an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. And now that the ideology of “Nutritionism” has its cold, clammy hands firmly throttling our very throats and controlling what we mindlessly shovel into our mouths, food has been distilled into a convoluted linguistic labyrinth of nutrients, macro-nutrients, micro-nutrients, vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, carbohydrates, saturated fat, antioxidants, polyunsaturated fat, cholesterol, fiber, amino acids, etc, etc, et al. Good Grief!"
-- From review for Michael Pollens book In Defense of Food, An eaters Manifesto by James from San Fransisco
--
Michael Pollen has written lots of books on food politics, I haven't read any, just some reviews and discussions on the web, the solution he offers to the nutritional crisis is: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” which seems sensible. I would add - enjoy with it wonder, chew slowly, taste, smell and touch your food, spend time gardening and wild foraging, playing in kitchens, and sharing with love.

My smoothies are getting greener

I having been enjoying adding more water and less fruit and making 'smoothies' somewhere between smooth and watery. More like the inspired electrolyte drinks I spoke about a few days ago. I just drank something that made me so alive and grounded, and as I drank it my body was infinitely grateful. I don't think I need to eat so many bananas (just to make a smoothie smooth)! Nothing I post is meant to be a specific recipe or suggestion for you to follow, they are ideas, experiments that will perhaps inspire you to play and find ways of engaging with your food and your body. If we think of everything we do as an experiment we can never get it wrong!
--
grated Ginger
small lemon (with skin)
small apple
3 butter lettuce leaves
3 sorrel leaves
fresh thyme
2 cups of water
2 tsp coconut butter
2 tsp amazing raw honey (could definately use a date or two instead)

Food as art practice?

So many possibles here.
this is the question I'm investigating at the moment.
Life as art practice.
Living a conscious engaged artful wonderous existance.
Sustaining.
The clarity with which we do things.
All research being art, all art; research.
What is a practice?
Where are the lines between myself and my art? Obviously when posed as a question the concept seems redundant. There is no separation.

Disco beans!!

After walking most of the afternoon and into the evening, I arrived at Disco Beans close to closing, I wasn't overly hungry but it had been quite some time since I last ate and was passing into overeaten (like overtired, when your past hungry). The menu is totally packed with amazingness, it took me awhile to decide, I meandered around things then Lara supported the opting of a tofu salad with homemade mayo. Yuka brought it out from the kitchen and I was instantly in love. So beautiful, so nice, super crisp greens and I didnt realise tofu was so good. This place is very special.
--
disco beans
238 High St Northcote

Isn't is amazing

How catalystic we are for each other
people in a community - feeling, sensing, thinking, learning and progressing -
Share food with people, fill it with love and enjoy it slowly!

The Sunny Raw Kitchen

Sunny Raw Kitchen is a cute blog by Carmela, full of sunshine and lovely recipes. My favorite part is the food photos taken outside in nature. Very inspirational, I think I will have to crack out my SLR and start taking proper photos again. Every photo on this blog thus far has been taken with my phone.

A grounding thrill

--
Purple stemmed kale and fresh coriander my friend Isaac got from the community garden he is working in
A small organic Fuiji apple and banana
Squeeze of lemon
A cup of water

Sometimes you need a rainbow

Beet Crepes

Recipe for raw beetroot crepes
Looks quite amazing if you have a dehydrator

Ooh...

some recipes I found today

Sarma's Cilantro Shake

Frank Giglio's Mineralized Bulky Salad

Italian Chocolate Almond Zuccotto

Electro blend

After all that research and thinking, i was compelled to put electrolyte knowledge into action.
--
2 tsp coconut oil
1 whole lemon (Brendans recipes are just the juice but I don't mind pith, makes it more intense though)
1 tbs grated Ginger
3 cups filtered water
3 tsp raw honey (Miellerie lake peddars nectar)
and himalayan salt
I suggest playing with quantities to find your own taste levels, especially as Ginger can be quite intense. Anyway I'm inspired to include more electro jazz to my daily food wonder. Happy experimenting!

Electrolytes

Electrolytes are salts with electricity conductive properties. Throughout our body tissue, fluid, and blood, electrolytes conduct charges that are essential for muscle contraction, heart beats, fluid regulation, and general nerve function.
-- Brendan Brazier author of The Thrive Diet (from Thrive, the vegan nutrition guide to optimal performance in sports and life, page 286)

Electrolytes consist primarly of the minerals chloride, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. The balance of electrolytes in our bodies is essential for normal function of our cells and our organs.
If the electrolytes in our system are low the absorption of water will be inefficent and will eave us feeling dehydrated, when we drink too much water we can also flush the remaining electrolytes out. So achieving balance is important, drinking adequate (but not too much) pure energised water and replenishing our salts regulary.
A very good source is dulse (purple seaweed), which comes in flakes from your health food shop and can be easily added to your drinking water, it's a bit like a purple confetti party in your drink bottle.
They are also present in other seaweeds, Celtic sea salt, Himalayan Crystal salt, citrus fruits, and homemade 'sports' drinks (which unlike commercial ones don't have unneccesary refined sugar and chemicals).

In Brendan Brazier's book he offers a few delicious and nutritionally considerate recipes for sports drink alternatives. I often just add dulse to my water bottle, or if really dehydrated I drink warm salty water with a squeeze of lemon and a tiny bit of maple syrup (for glucose). Young coconut water (if you can access it) is an incredible source of electrolytes.

--
Electrolyte Sports Drink with Ginger (thrive, p122)
'the young coconut water provides the electrolytes, while the agave nectar delivers an easily digestible form of slow release carbohydrate. The Ginger helps minimise inflammation.
1 lemon
2 cups of water / coconut water
1 tbs agave nectar
1/2 tbs grated fresh Ginger
sea salt to taste
blend
--
Lemon-Lime Sport Drink (thrive, p123)
juice 1/2 lemon
juice 1/4 lime
3 dates
2 cups water
1 tbs agave nectar
1 tsp coconut oil
sea salt to taste
process in a blender until smooth

Nasturtium Icecream

Inspired by the incredibly strong and fragrant smell of the early spring nasturtiums in our lunch, I had the sudden impulse to make a quick 'icecream'. Anni and I took our little tea cups full of cold creamy desert with us down the street and ate it on the bus.
--
2 and 1/2 organic frozen bananas
one small tub of mungalli creek biodynamic rainforest honey yoghurt
1 tsp loving earth brazil nut butter
blended together
put in tiny teacups
and topped with freshly crushed brazil nuts and nasturtiums

Lunch in a singing bowl

--
cooked millet with lemon juice, salt, olive oil, mountain pepper, fresh parsley
delicious raw green beans,
lettuce and rocket from garden
chopped up tomatoes
ready cooked primasoy tempeh with pepitas, linseeds and sunflower seeds
an olive, and the olives friend
a single nasturtium
served in a singing bowl
with drizzle of mount zero olive oil
and a sprinkle of crushed brazil nuts

Smell your food

It will change your life.

Get garden in

a morning green smoothie
--
Chickweed, milk thistle, lemon thyme
1/2 avocado
1/4 cup walnut milk
2 tsp coconut oil
7 tsp carob powder
1 tsp agave
1 and 1/2 cups water
This was almost awesome, a little gritty and fiborous, would have been good with some lemon and a bit less chickweed

Should we eat chocolate?

Diamond (tree)

1 + 1 + 1

The first 1 + 1 + 1 event was held last night at my house with some very good friends in attendance. The invitation read as follows --
To celebrate us all being alive and existing at the same time, I invite you to my house for dinner on Tuesday. You are welcome to arrive anytime after 3pm, we will be preparing the dinner together. Please bring 1 fruit + 1 veg + 1 something.

We cut, sliced, chopped, grated, ground, fried, smashed, blended,and mixed together creating an amazing array of interesting dishes that wouldn't have been possible without the input of everyone. It was a organic process of following a line of thought- response to an ingredient and a ongoing unpredictable collaboration in the present moment.

--
pie (pictured)
filling - 1 custard apple + 1 avocado mashed together
crust - 2 handfuls of walnuts smashed in mortar and pestle.
1 handful of dried organic apricots, soaked, chopped + smashed into a paste
Combine + add lemon juice (1/2 ish)
Peel 2 kiwi fruits + chop in |) and
Put on top. Ta da!

Pumpkin patties
- grated pumpkin
- 3 eggs (or 4) from chooks
- walnuts chopped (handful)
- silverbeet from garden chopped
- parsely
- salt
Make into balls and fry!

Spicy Eggplant
1 Eggplant salted, washed, fried in slices with red pepper, salt, coriander.
Mash it up + add tahini (2 desert spoons)
more salt, lemon juice (1 whole one)
Add smashed walnuts, and cayenne pepper
yum

Walnut milk
crack open freshly walnuts from their shells,
add to blender with filtered water
a little Himalayan salt and agave

green smoothie
100 leaves of stinging nettle
1 whole pineapple
8 bananas
4 leaves of milk thistle
7 cups of water
(enough for 10 people and there were five)
-
thankyou to Antonia for writing some of the little recipes down on a piece of paper while the conversation meandered towards bedtime. We ate more things and drank Salep with walnut milk and honey, it was delicious. The dishes were done, the compost taken out and the lights switched off.