Long time, no see

Well, I have been rather remiss about writing anything for a while. I have been in a mental state which hasn't really allowed me to write for any length of time, much less think thoughts which made sense when put together.

Things should be easing up now. Some of the issues which have been hindering me are more or less resolved. The main one being the fact that my aide was moving, and which meant I was going to have a new one, and all the uncertainties involved.

My aide of eight or so years has now left. She came to my home for the last time about a fortnight ago. This Friday my new and future aide will be coming for a short visit, just so we can get a feel for each other. Then her usual time for visiting will be Thursday mornings. This means my weekly schedule, such as I had been working on for a good while, will need changing.

My Thursdays are now probably going to be my busiest days. See, I have also managed to start going to choir again after a few years' break. And that is Thursday evenings. And the afternoons will be knit group meetings once that starts again.

On the other hand, this means that Tuesday is now an empty day. Which can be used for a whole multitude of things.

Now, Tuesday was the day when we got the veggie box. And I have to admit, it hasn't worked well for me. Or not as well as when it was Thursdays. Because it meant moving my meal planning day from sometime in the weekend to a few days into the week, so I could incorporate the contents. I need to figure out how I am going to solve that pickle. I might talk to the lady running the veggie box distribution about moving the day. One solution, the one involving not getting the box at all, is not going to be used. Because I can tell by the amount of veg I have eaten since the summer break (aka hardly any veg at all), that getting that box is a good help for me.

I seem to be improving on the fruit eating though. Or drinking. I have started making smoothies several mornings of the week now. So I'm not going totally without natural vitamins. And as I now finally have bought my second freezer I will be able to get loads of applesauce for consumption in innumerable ways added to my list.

Tomorrow is 1st September. The first day of a new month, the first day of a new season, and also the first day of a number of challenges I've signed up for or decided to do.

I have decided to do my own decluttering challenge. This involves me taking a picture in the morning of some small area, and then putting up a second picture of it in the evening. The goal is that the second picture should look much better. It doesn't have to be perfect, just better. If I do that every day (bar my birthday), I should have a tidier home at the end of the month. At least, that's what I'm banking on. If you want to keep tabs on that, I can be found at otteatthebackofbeyond there. I'll be using #Septemberdeclutteringchallenge2015.

I am also taking part in Miss Trenchcoat/Alexis Giostra's #CharmedDSLR photo challenge. I may well be doing it with both my new phone camera as well as my parents' old camera.

And then I want to see if I can finally get to grips with the ListersGottaList challenge. I have been trying - and failing - for several months. I think if September fails too, then it might be time for me to give up on that challenge entirely.

Now, all that remains to see is whether all these good intentions bring me towards Hell or someplace else.

Veggie box end of season and garden bake-up

I got my last veggie box of the season two days ago. I did take pics of it, but never got around to posting. I was tired after being away on a short trip, and then Wednesday was not the best of days, so I opted for giving my body and mind time to relax and recharge. I knew I needed to be strong for today, because this evening the local garden society is having our yearly garden walk. This always ends with cake and coffee/tea, and I had volunteered to make a couple of cakes.

Currently the cake part of a lemon roll is cooling, I have the filling for it ready, and then I opted for some oat cookies with nuts and chocolate chips, which are all done and ready in their containers. I have been fortunate enough that mum offered to make the third cake. I might have been able to make one myself, but then I think I wouldn't be able to go this evening.

But this all doesn't have much to do with veggies.

This is more like it. What really struck me about this picture was that for a bunch of greens, there's not a lot of green in there. There's the rocket leaves on the right, and the top of the fennel on the left, and the leaves of the kohlrabi and cauliflower (although you can't see those), but the rest is white and different shades of red.

There's two beetroots, a garlic, three red onions, and a whole bunch of cherry tomatoes apart from the aforementioned veg. And I will be perfectly honest with you guys; I still haven't got a clue how I am going to eat them up.

I have been so focused on the cakes and the walk this evening, that meal-planning has been non-existant. So I will have to leave you hanging on that for a few days more. On the other hand, perhaps some of you have good ideas for me. Especially the rocket and the cauliflower are going to be problematic.

So I'll do a trade with you guys. Give me some suggestions, and I'll reward you with pics of cookies and cakes and views from the three gardens we are going to visit this evening (hopefully it won't rain). And now I better go check up on the roll, once it is cooled I can spread the filling.

Veggie Box Tales: 3. June

And this time it is for real. I have the veg sitting on my stove.

And once again I have been swapping a bit with my mum. There was a head of white cabbage in my box, which I traded for two spring onions and three carrots. The rather somber looking stuff at the back is red kale, then the spring onions, carrots and two zucchini. They are flanked by spinach and broccoli and in front are toms, garlic and two limes.

I am contemplating having the spinach for supper, with some leftover pizza sauce and mozzarella, perhaps a wee bit of ham. I still haven't decided whether or not to have pasta with it. On the other hand, the spinach would go well with some feta. I could probably use the kale instead for this evening.

I never got around to having the fennel from last box as the toms and zucchini were eaten without it, so this could be the week when that combo happened. And the carrots, spring onion and lime could be used for some sort of Asian inspired concoction. I do have soba noodles and miso paste.

So, a day late, but full of yummy options.

Veggie Box Tales: 2 June

And another fortnight has passed and it is once more time to see what goodies are in store for me. Except ... I have to wait a day more.

This is one of those things which probably only happens when you live in a remote place. The lady in charge of the veggie boxes was phoned by the freight guy and told her supplies wouldn't be coming today. He had too much other stuff. So we'll be getting our veg tomorrow.

This means you guys will be getting an extra post this week. I won't be cheating you of the veg pic.

Instead I'll try to answer a question you might have been asking yourself: Why is Otte blathering on about veggie boxes and fridges every Tuesday?

Well, one reason is accountability. If I show you guys pics of the fridge and of my veg, I'm opening up for comments about how the fridge needs cleaning, or "why is that jar still in there? We've seen it for seven months now", and "did you actually eat those veggies?". Which means I have a stick, or is it a carrot, to try to keep the fridge in some sort of decent nick and to get those veggies down in my stomach to do some good.

Another reason is that I might serve as inspiration. I have learned that fridges sometimes do act as time capsules in other homes, and that other people may also have trouble eating all their greens. If I show you guys my efforts, perhaps you will find it easier to get to work with your own.

Thirdly, if I share ideas on how to prepare veg which I like, you may be tempted to share your methods with me. And although there is no guarantee that we share the same tastes, if we never try out new recipes and ideas, we'll never be able to broaden our culinary horizons.

I will admit I have also considered doing a freezer show and tell sometime. It seems my fridge exposing means I am keeping the fridge much cleaner and tidier than usual. But hey, that's a good thing!

There are a couple of more aspects to the concept of "foody Tuesday". My hoarding hasn't only been limited to things, it has also to a certain degree included food items. Frozen veg at 3-for-the-price-of-2? Hoard. Jars of yummy stuff at buy-1-get-1-free? Hoard. Frozen fish at save-x-Dkr-this-week? Hoard.

And then I forget about all the stuff floating about at the bottom of the freezer till some years later I start pulling out bags which are years past their "use before" date, and which, on some of the occasions where I have tested them, have felt like and tasted like eating cardboard. So much for those savings!

So flashing my food stores will mean I get better at using up the items, and toss less, and ultimately waste less money and food. Not bad.

And then there has been an added reason for this series. I have been seeing a dietician for some years now. She has now got a new job. And there doesn't appear to be any replacement coming to fill in her place. So I am now back to trying to figuring out this "eat healthy" all by myself again. At least I know more about it now. But having you guys along for the ride will make me feel less alone. I just hope you will want to stick around. And if I can help you guys back, well, all the better.

So that's why I'll be blathering on every Tuesday about food. And on occasion, even Wednesdays. Tune in tomorrow for the real unveiling of the veggie box.

Veggie Box Tales 19 May

A fortnight has passed, and it is time for a new box of veg. Hooray! It is almost like Christmas. Almost. See, I do actually get an email on the Monday telling me what's in the box. But still.

So, this is the goodies all lined up.

There's some tomatoes and a cucumber, a zucchini, fennel, some Jerusalem artichokes, a cabbage called "spidskål" i.e. pointed cabbage which a quick google tells me is a member of the white cabbage family, spinach, two lumps of ginger and a fresh garlic.

Now, actually the one ginger and the garlic were not in my box. Instead, there was a head of cauliflower in there. I have ... a complicated relationship with cauliflower. So mum traded me the extra ginger (my parents have a complicated relationship with ginger) and the garlic for it. Dad was looking forward to having cauliflower with the pork cutlets they were having today. I am looking forward to stuffing something with ginger.

I haven't munched my way through all the veg from a fortnight ago, though I admit I bought some toms to supplement. I do still have the lemongrass, which will now be paired up with some of the ginger, some garlic, soy, and other fun ingredients. A friend has given me a recipe for pointed cabbage, which is basically chopping it finely and then making an Asian vinaigrette of hoi sin sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. I think half of that head will be used up for that, and then perhaps I'll do a ginger/garlic/lemongrass/soy dressing for the other half as an experiment.

The spinach will probably find its way to a frying pan this evening, along with some onion and garlic, and some of the feta-type cheese in the fridge. The zucchini and the toms and part of the fennel will either make me a soup or a pasta sauce. I still have the kohlrabi and part of the celeriac from the previous box, and a few carrots, they could be paired up with the Jerusalem artichokes as oven roasted veg and then I could dive into the freezer for some steaks. I should have ostrich and kangaroo in there.

I am also wondering if I should try to cook some of the ginger in a syrup and preserve it. I had a jar of ginger in a syrup on my Ingredients shelf of the fridge for some years which was awesome for impromptu Chinese meals, and I finished it up some years ago. I miss it.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day for me, and by the time I get home, I'll be hungry and tired, which is never a good combo. I think I'll chop up half of the cabbage tonight and prepare it, so when I come home, there's at least something ready to eat.

Tip for people who have trouble with eating veg: soy and anything Asian style makes everything better! It's done wonders for me.

Veggie box tales: Getting back in

Once more I am subscribed to a veggie box. I get the small box, which comes every other week. I originally started off with the large one, but that was way too much for me to eat my way through. Even the small box can provide a challenge for me. It takes effort to focus on my diet, and the past months I un-subscribed, because I knew I wouldn't be able to cope with it. Now things seem to be easing up and so I am subscribed again. And getting excited about it.

And today, Tuesday 5th, I got my first batch of veggies after a break of several months.

Actually, that wasn't the exact contents of my box. There was a head of lettuce in it, and I don't really do lettuce. However, mum gets the big box, and knows about me and lettuce, and she likes the stuff, and she offered to trade it for the bunch of carrots. And carrots I can do. So out with the lettuce, in with the carrots. That trade also added more colour to the lot.

So, what is in there?

There's a bag of kale at the top, then a kohlrabi, the carrots, leeks and a celeriac. Below those there's parsnips, onions, a cucumber, and then finally a stalk of lemongrass, a chili, lemon and a fresh garlic.

And now for the fun part - figuring out how to eat them all.

I suspect I'll be using the kale to make a Danish dish called "grønlangkål" which is basically cooked kale in a white sauce. I am considering using part of the celeriac, and one each of the leeks, parsnips, and onions, and a few carrots to pop in a soup pot along with one of the chickens in my freezer. The kohlrabi will probably prove the trickiest of the lot. Along with the chili.

I'll be spending the rest of the day cooking up a meal plan for the next week or two, and figure out how to get through these. One of the reasons I started subscribing to a veggie box was to make it easier to get more veg in my diet. And meal planning in general helps me to eat better.