This week-ends markets in Victoria - 2013-04-27 and 2013-04-28

Fourth Saturday-Sunday Markets

4th Saturday	Where	When	Entry	Notes
Ballarat Lakeside	Windmill Drive, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat	9am-1pm	free	2nd and 4th Saturdays, except December - 2nd Saturday only
Bentleigh	East Bentleigh Primary School, 90 Bignell Road, East Bentleigh	8am-12.30pm	$2 entry	4th saturday excl. January;
Casey-Berwick	The Old Cheese Factory, 34 Homestead Road, Berwick	8am-12.30pm		Dec 20th from 4pm to 8pm
Churchill Island	Churchill Island, Phillip Island	8am-1pm		Every Saturday during January - 8th, 15, 22, 29
Hume Murray	Gateway Village, Lincoln Clauseway, Wodonga	8am-12pm		Every 2nd Saturday from Jan 8th
Keilor East	Centreway Park, Wyong Street	8am-1pm		Starts: November 24th
Lancefield	Centre Plantation, High Street, Lancefield	9am-1pm		3rd Saturday in December
Mansfield	Mansfield Primary School, Bottom Terrace. Entrance off Highette Street, Mansfield	8.30am-1pm		No Market in January
Monty	Montmorency Primary School 60A Rattray Road, Montmorency	9am-1pm	gold coin	entry proceeds go to Primary School
Myrtleford	St Paul's Anglican Church, Clyde Street, Myrtleford	8am-12pm		Each Saturday - January to May; 1st/3rd Saturday - June to December
Newtown	Cnr Shannon Avenue and West Fyans Street Newtown Geelong	8am-1pm
Preston	Bell Primary School Corner Scotia St and Oakover Rd, Preston	9am-1pm	$2	children free
Slow Food	Abbotsford Convent, St Heliers Road, Abbotsford	8am-1pm	$2	Parking:$2
Taste of Gold - Monash	Monash University Clayton Campus Car Park	8.30am-1pm		moved from Holmesglen TAFE; no market January
Traralgon	Kay Street Gardens, Kay Street, Traralgon	8am-1pm
Torquay	Torquay Central, Bristol Road, Tourquay	8.30am-1pm		every saturday
Yarraville	Yarraville Gardens, Cnr Hyde and Sommerville Roads, Yarraville	8am-12pm

4th Sunday	Where	When	Entry	Notes
Fitzroy-St Kilda	Corner Fitzroy St & Lakeside Drive	8am-1pm
Flemington (ex Melb Showgrounds)	Debney Park Secondary College, 169 Mt Alexander Road, Flemington	9am-1pm		Every Sunday; restarts 9th January 2011; Parking $3
Kinglake	In the Shed, cnr Heidelberg/Kinglake Road and Healesvill/Kinglake Road	9am-2pm		Ex Yarra Glen Railway Market
Manningham	The Manningham Club 1 Thompsons Rd, Bulleen	8am-1pm		gold coin donation
Mt. Eliza	Cnr Mt Eliza Way and Canadian Bay Road, Mount Eliza	9am-1pm		No market in December
Mulgrave	Grounds of the Body Shop, Cnr Jacksons & Wellington Rds Mulgrave	8am-1pm		Every Sunday;
Yarrawonga	Piper Street, Yarrawonga	8.30am-12.30pm

Lemon Tea Cake - this + a pot of fair trade coffee @ home make for a marvellous informal coffee shop experience.

 

Are you like me and have quite a few orphans lurking in your recipe books? 

A recent comb through my personal collection of hand written recipes found an A4 sheet of paper with this recipe on it. Heaven knows where I got it from. Nothing to indicate where, when, or whom. However, it sounded pretty much OK to me and I made it up. 

Wonderful! Delicious! 

If you are thinking of opening a coffee shop, this is a must for the menu.

A warning: It can be more-ish!

LEMON TEA CAKE

Ingredients

Base

1 cup SR Flour

1/2 cup caster sugar (I love that raw caster sugar)

60 gr butter

1 egg

Combine flour and sugar and rub in butter with fingertips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Add egg and mix well.

Press 2/3 of mixture in base of 20cm springform tin or flan dish.  (Mine was 26cm) Reserve 1/3 for topping.

Filling

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice (adding a bit of grated rind turned out to be nice)

60gr butter

1 egg

Place sugar, lemon juice and butter in saucepan and heat until butter in saucepan is melted and sugar dissolved.  Lightly beat egg.  Add lemon mixture to egg and mix well and return to stove to thicken.  Cool slightly before pouring over pastry and sprinkle remaining base mix on top.  (I would advise making sure you crumble the base mix that remains into small clumps with your fingers.)

Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees C.

Serve hot or cold. (Cold next day turned out to be even better).  Really yummy!

Alla Wolf Tasker convinces me about the sort of food obsession we really need

Am listening to/watching this:

IQ2 Debate: 

Our Food Obsession Has Gone Too Far

 This is a must and thoughtful watch.

I particularly enjoyed the contribution of Alla Wolf Tasker

who runs The Lake House down the road at Daylesford. 

I try to be an ethical consumer - have done for more than forty years.

I try to support local producers and processors and jobs.

I try to support the smaller business rather than corporatisation.

After listening to Alla, I am going to become even more quality conscious.

I am prepared to spend a little more of my limited income on quality and local.

While I am not an admirer of all things French,

I do admire the relationship there between consumer and producer.

If only Australia would.

~~~~~~~

I am including below a paper which is not connected to the above

but may be of interest to Tucker Lovers:

      

Buttery Butter Biscuits are easy-peasy

This morning, I was up at 6am to make some biscuits.  Now I haven't made biscuits since I can't remember when so I wanted something that was great but no fuss.  I also didn't want a cream butter and sugar type biscuit because, at that hour, I didn't want to use a noisy mixer.  I thought 'melted butter' but I don't have a recipe - at least I think I don't - for biscuits that are made with melted butter. So to the 'net and Google and up came this.

BUTTER BISCUITS

Ingredients:

• 125 g butter
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup dessicated coconut (I didn't have any and substituted McKenzie's moist coconut flakes which worked well).
• 1 1/2 cups of self raising flour (I use plain flour to which I add Baking Powder in the ratio of 1 teaspoon of Baking Powder to 1 cup of plain flour)

Method:

1. Melt butter in saucepan, bring to the boil, then remove from heat, and allow to cool slightly.
2. Transfer butter to a large bowl, stir in sugar, then add egg, coconut and flour and mix until ingredients are combined.
3. Roll heaped teaspoons of mixture into balls, place onto greased oven trays, and press lightly with a fork.
4. Bake at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes or until golden.
5. Allow biscuits to cool on trays for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Biscuits will keep for several days in an airtight container.

These biscuits are delicious.  I plan to try out a few variations. My thoughts are:

• Add ginger
• Turn into Jam Drops
• Try adding sultanas or currants or other appropriate fruit.
• In short, I think these ingredients and method provide a quick and easy biscuit base.

Celebrating UN World Water Day - 22 March 2013 : caring about our food, our water, our soil

March 22, 2013 is the 20th anniversary of World Water Day. In honor of this important anniversary, this week we are highlighting 7 Strategies for Reducing Water Waste. Please visit the Food Tank website each day over the next week for posts focused on innovations around water.  Although the earth has 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water, only 0.001 percent of that is accessible for human consumption and use. And 70 percent of water is used for agricultural purposes. In 2012, the United States experienced the most severe drought in at least 25 years which, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), affected 80 percent of agricultural land in the country. Couple that with recent droughts in other parts of the world, most notably in the African Sahel, and the urgency for action to safeguard water resources is clear. As water supplies face mounting pressures from growing populations, climate change, and an already troubled food system, analyses of “water wealth” and “water security” are laying the groundwork for future cooperation and stability. In order to meet all municipal, agricultural, and ecological needs for water, it is crucial to develop innovative water saving systems for the future of food production. Here are seven strategies for reducing water waste in the food system: 1. Eating Less Meat According to Sandra Postel of the Global Water Policy Project, it takes roughly 3,000 liters of water to meet one person’s daily dietary needs, or approximately 1 liter per calorie. The amount of water needed to produce one kilogram of red meat can range from 13,000 to 43,000 liters of water; poultry requires about 3,500 liters of water; and pork needs about 6,000 liters. Eating more meatless meals, even one or two days a week, can help conserve water resources.  2. Using intercropping, agroforestry, and cover crops Soil health is critical to water conservation. Diversifying farms by including cover crops, planting trees on farms, and intercropping can help keep nutrients and water in the soil, protecting plants from drought and making sure that every drop of water delivered by rainfall or irrigation can be utilized. 3. Implementing micro-irrigation Approximately 60 percent of water used for irrigation is wasted. Drip irrigation methods can be more expensive to install, but can also be 33 percent to 40 percent more efficient, carrying water or fertilizers directly to plants’ roots.  4. Improving Rainwater Harvesting Since the 1980s, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, farmers in Burkina Faso have been modifying traditional planting pits known as zai, making them deeper and wider and adding organic materials. As a result, the pits retain rainwater longer, helping farmers to increase yields even in years of low rainfall. 5. Using mobile technology to save water Santosh Ostwal is an innovator and entrepreneur in India who has developed a system that allows farmers to use mobile phones to turn their irrigation systems on and off remotely. This helps reduce the amount of water and electricity wasted on watering fields that are already saturated. 6. Planting perennial crops Perennial crops protect the soil for a greater length of time than annual crops, which reduces water loss from runoff. According to a report from the Land Institute, "annual grain crops can lose five times as much water and 35 times as much nitrate as perennial crops." 7. Practicing Soil Conservation Soil conservation techniques, including no-till farming, can help farmers to better utilize the water they have available. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), studies have shown that no-till techniques improve water-retention capacity and improve water use efficiency in crops. Be sure to visit the official World Water Day website for more details about the day’s events, including activities in your community and tips for reducing your water footprint. You can also learn more about water issues from the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, the Global Water Policy Project, Food and Water Watch, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). What do YOU think? What are the best ideas, studies, and on-the-ground innovations helping to conserve water?  Check out some of our newsletter articles below, reply to this email or call me, and please join the conversation on our website, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Pinterest, on Google+, and on YouTube All the Best, Danielle Nierenberg Co-Founder, Food Tank: The Food Think Tank www.FoodTank.org Please connect with us on Facebook,  Twitter, and Pinterest

Meat Free Week 18-24 March: put yum in your tum with fruit and veg!

Just want to let you know that next week is Meat Free Week 

and Sustainable Table has a free booklet for download 

that will really help you out!

Hi there,

Hold on to your broccoli stems kids, next week is officially Meat Free Week, 18 - 24th March! It's a week in which we can celebrate a culinary world sans animal flesh. "Lamb chop move aside, it's MY time to shine," (said Mr Beetroot).

In all seriousness, Meat Free Week is an opportunity to think about how much we consume. In case you're wondering, we need to think about this because as a nation, we're consuming way too much. Even the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare agrees - the latest Australian Dietary Guidelines stress that we need to halve our meat consumption immediately. The amount of meat we are eating annually - 120kg per person or 190,000 tonnes nationally - is putting pressure on our environment and our farmers. Carbon, nitrogen and methane emissions, water use and ethically-questionable intensive farming practices result.

What to do and what to cook

The good news is that contributing to a brighter future for our environment, animals and farmers isn't that hard. It simply involves eating less meat (purchased from small, local and ethical farmers) and more vegetables and stuff. By stuff we mean highly nutritious yet super cheap protein sources like beans, lentils, quinoa and other seeds and grains. 

To help you prepare and enjoy Meat Free Week, we have developed  absurdly useful FREE recipe booklet that we've designed to cover ALL your meals anfor the week. That's 21 meat free recipes at your fingertips - 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 7 dinners. It's a trifecta! The booklet also includes a handy shopping list. 

Share your photos & win

Of course we have a competition! Share your photos of the meat free recipes you cook from our booklet and be in with a chance to win a copy of our award-winning book The Sustainable Table, valued at $40.  Here's what you need to know:

Take snaps of your pretty meat free dishes and share with us either on Facebook or Twitter. Be sure to tag us on Facebook using @TheSustainableTable or on Twitter using @SustainTable. At the end of the week we'll select the top 3 prettiest pics and draw a winner! Entries close COB 10pm Sunday 24th March 2013 EST.

You can fundraise for Voiceless too

Get your friends, family and workmates to sponsor you for the week and the money will go towards supporting the work of Voiceless. 

If you're vegetarian or vegan

You can still get involved by encouraging others around you to take up the challenge of a meat free week. Here's a few ideas.

For more information and 

to download your FREE copy of A Meat Free Week, 

visit our website here.