neville’s cross ecofest

June 17, 2019June 16, 2019 ~ Gillie ~ 4 Comments

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I can’t remember how long the ecofest has been going, but it must be getting on for at leat 10 to 15 years. Now quite a fixture in the Durham calendar it is a wonderful mix of information, talks, music, food and, like weddings and funerals, one of the best places to catch up with people I’ve not seen in ages.

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First stop Transition Durham where I was helping out on the stand (aka talking to friends). 2019-06-16 16.14.39

Right next door to the splendid Abundant Earth, picked up some fruit and veg and locally grown fava beans and stared wistfully at Matt’s beautifully turned wooden bowls, lunchboxes and much more.

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The call of Jo’s baskets was strong but I really don’t need another basket, although these are quite special and I yearn for the one with the wooden handle.

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By now is was time for lunch from the fabulous Refuse, part of the international Real Junk Food Project they turn unwanted food into pay as you feel delicious meals. If you are ever in Chester-le-Street pop into their cafe. They are also superb outside caterers if you happen to have an event coming up.

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This was at least the third pan and as you can see there was not a lot left.

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Subscription boxes too. Why not combine it with a fruit and veg box from Abundant Earth?

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And whilst we are on the subject of food. Our food choices matter, and we ought to have a genuine choice and even if we are on the breadline, even if we rely on food banks we have a right to know what is in our food, how it has been prepared and packaged, where it came from, how it has been processed. Which is where Hannah and Peter from Food Durham come in, raising awareness of the importance of food and how it relates to the economy, the environment, health and well-being, and issues of social justice.

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Handmade crafts (the children and adults were swarming over the workshop Erica ran) all made from driftwood and sold to support the camps Erica helps run in Romania. She also makes exquisite fused glass jewellery and decorations.

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Then perhaps you can clean up with some gorgeous soaps from the Durham Soap Company.

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Fancy a rummage? Try the Swap Shop your unwanted books could be somebody else’s heart’s desire.

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Talking of books how about a bookcase from Handcrafted? Handcrafted are based in Langley Moor and “was born out of a desire to see people who are disadvantaged due to crime, alcohol or substance abuse, unemployment, ill health or old age making a positive step and becoming active members of the community again”

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Durham Wildlife Trust (of which I am a member) manage some of the most beautiful wildlife reserves in the county and have masses going on all year round. You’re not too late to take part in #30dayswild.

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And a quick diversion to pick up a loaf of bread from Sue.

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When it’s all over and you need somewhere to take a break and refocus.

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And finally …..

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Love Gillie x

a train, a parade and a ferry

March 25, 2017March 25, 2017 ~ Gillie ~ 1 Comment

From markets to sleeper trains. On the Sunday evening we headed back to Hualumphong to wait for our sleeper. Despite all the street food we had eaten at JJ we were all still ravenous so we took it in turns to look for a bite to eat that looked a little more appetising than that on offer at the station food court.

The Boss and I found a lovely street cafe, a few chairs and a small stall. A selection of pork, rice, half a hard-boiled egg and endless iced tea. The girls went in the other direction and found an apparently excellent noodle bar. All in all the food choices around the market are not great. There are several stalls selling fruit bags, banana rice and waffles and we later found a small noodle bar by the station itself but that was about it. To be fair it was a Sunday and we were in the middle of the business district and there did seem to be more on offer when we were there on Thursday but if you have time to kill and an appetite, eat before you arrive.

On the subject of food. We were in first class, which costs only a little more than second but sells out very fast. Tickets go on sale 3 months before departure so if you know your itinerary, book asap. In first they offer you food. Don’t bother. We got caught out by a steward offering us glasses of orange juice before we departed. How lovely we thought – how pricey we thought when we were offered the bill. We made the mistake of ordering breakfast and went for the sandwiches. The Thais like sugar. I have never tasted sweet mayonnaise before. Suffice to say one mouthful was enough. Apparently the fruit juice that came with it was even sweeter.

Fortunately we had stocked up beforehand with fruit bags, banana rice, seaweed (me only!) cremos (the girls – exactly like oreos but half the price), dried fruit and nuts. I suggest you do the same. There is a small store in the station and two 7/11 stores about 5 minutes walk away via the metro subway.

We had a connecting cabin with the girls – who insisted it was kept closed! The steward came to make up the beds around 8.30. They were excellent, larger and more comfortable than the Highland sleeper and the top bunk has a barrier put up so no falling off in the night.

A word about the air con. It is wonderful – but VERY powerful (apparently the top bunk is warmer – I’m having that one next time). We never found the controls so I had rather an icy night, however the girls worked out they were controlled manually on each air vent. Failing that bag the top bunk and let the cold air sink to the person in the bunk below!

We were woken with the aforementioned breakfast and a welcome cup of tea at 6am and pulled into Surat Thani at about 7am. Pretty much on time.

All very efficient, our ferry vouchers were exchanged for tickets. The Boss and the chap in charge of the buses to the ferry waxed lyrical over Phuket and Ko Samui 30 years ago and I went to investigate the parade.

This was one of the smartest parades I had seen for a long time, albeit with a rather incongruous bride like young woman at the front. Apparently it was National Health Day and health workers across Thailand were parading and being appreciated. Perhaps something the NHS should think about, it needs some love.

The bus ride from Surat Thani to the ferry is a lot longer than any of us expected – at least an hour, an hour and 15 minutes. But the bus is air conditioned – even if some of the signs are redundant. There are no seat belts!

We took the catamaran to Ko Samui, which is a lot faster than the regular ferry. If you manage to blag a seat on the top deck (where the views are amazing) do take lots of sun cream in your hand luggage, all cases (though not back packs) are put in the hold. Failing that there is a very pleasant air-conditioned room downstairs.

On arrival it is mayhem. We had a hire car ordered so it was a bit easier for us. There are hotel pick ups, taxi touts, everyone!

On the car hire front we were recommended to take photographs of all the scratches and dents on the car even if they had been written down. Just in case!

Then off to Sea Dance.

The roads are good until you turn off the main drag. Turnings can be very small and what you think is a dirt track may well be your road so keep your eyes open.

The oasis that awaited was stunning. We had a two roomed hut with private pool.

The main pool was pretty stunning too.

The food outstanding (more about our cookery lesson later). We were hungry. Margarita and lunch.

This is breakfast. I usually start with yoghurt and fruit salad.

The Boss prefers honey on his. My favourite juices are watermelon or carrot but there are all the usual suspects. I usually follow with dim sum and banana pancakes, I know, but it’s my breakfast and I like it. However if you feel the urge, there is pad Thai, Tom Gha, bacon, sausages, eggs cooked to order…

And endless pastries, croissants, toast and home-made preserves all in an airy dining room with a stunning view.

But most important the staff, they are out of this world, nothing is too much and they are friendly and helpful and just gorgeous. Faith is a star and can organise anything, I am sure she could arrange for Pink Floyd to play at dinner if we asked nicely enough!

Love Gillie

Lessons from Dory … just keep swimming

August 10, 2016August 10, 2016 ~ Gillie ~ Leave a comment

How did you get along with the repurpose challenge? For the final Friday challenge I repaired a photo frame that had been propped against a wall for eons and my knitting bowl that had a disagreement with the floor! Not sure if it counted but I podded a bowlful of mangetout that had been allowed to grow on. The peas are not great, a bit to marrow-fat for my liking but they made delicious soup and far better than putting them in the compost. The chooks enjoyed burrowing for the handful I thew on the grass as well.

This week has been Olympic week. Especially exciting as we watched Duncan Scott who we have known since he was a wee tot win Silver medal in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay and set a new British record in the 100m freestyle. The final for the latter is at 3.00 am UK time on Friday morning if you want to cheer him on!

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L-R: James Guy, Duncan Scott, Dan Wallace, Stephen Milne (courtesy of Ian MacNicol)

Watching the Olympics it is easy to get caught up in the razzmatazz and excitement and forget about the all the hard work that goes into just getting there in the first place. Duncan announced he wanted to swim in the Olympics when he was nine, that’s ten years of early starts, homework in the back of the car on the way to evening training. Ten years of driving across the country to swim in qualifying heats. Ten years of physical hard slog. Furthermore it’s not just Duncan that had to make sacrifices, who do you think drove Duncan across the country, sacrificed family holidays for training and so on? Then there are the sports clubs, the ones that train our Olympians. They don’t run themselves, someone has to be official timer, keep the books, fundraise, all volunteers. There is much more going on behind the scenes than we ever see on the screen.

So when you look at your plastic bags, or the recycling that didn’t make it to the recycling box; when you buy a takeaway because you are just too tired and too hungry to cook; when you look at all the stuff you have accumulated and wonder how on earth it got there, don’t worry, don’t give up. It took ten years for Duncan to become an Olympian and he worked at it seven days a week, 365 days a year. Nobody expects you to downsize, declutter, go plastic free, live off grid (delete as appropriate 🙂 ) seven days a week, 365 days a year. You have other responsibilities, needs, goals, ideals to fit in as well.

Do what you can, maybe up the ante every now and then and nudge yourself on. But don’t beat yourself up and give up because you haven’t achieved it all in a year. Watch the Olympics and remind yourself that nothing is quite as easy as it may look and congratulate yourself on getting as far as you have already.

Love Gillie x

The reusable takeaway

July 27, 2016 ~ Gillie ~ 2 Comments

Following on from yesterday I’m keeping to a bit of a theme. The reusable takeaway. We all like a good takeaway, for my husband it is a doner kebab with lots of chilli, the girls and I worship at the door of our wonderful Indian takeaway Jalsa in Ushaw Moor (their Chicken Makatoni is to die for). BUT and there is a big but, all those plastic/styroform boxes are the pits. At least our lovely Jalsa uses tin foil boxes so they can be recycled but still, we can do better.

I don’t drink coffee much, and when I do I like plain black from a cafetiere so all the fancy coffee shops are lost on me. On the other hand I do like tea, I like tea a lot, I like lots of different types of tea. I’m not a great one for buying a tea on the go, but there are times when I am out and about or waiting for a train when the only thing that I really want is a good strong cup of black tea. But I don’t want a non-recyclable cardboard cup from Starbucks. And they aren’t easily recyclable see here . Those plastic coffee pods are bad, but those cardboard cups are just as nasty.

Did you know that almost every coffee shop / tea room will let you take your takeaway in your own mug/thermos so long as it has a secure lid? This is what I take my tea away in.

Joco glass mug with silicone lid. It also comes in a lovely sturdy cardboard tub that I now use to store my Earl Grey!

You met my water bottle yesterday. I fill it up with tap water if we stop at a cafe or restaurant. Most cold drinks come in their own bottles, but not all. Plenty of smoothies, juices and cold coffees are made to order and are served in plastic cups. I use my joco mug or water bottle.

Finally food. We have these brilliant stainless steel lunchboxes which come from the same company as the water bottle. I’ve not yet tried them at my Jalsa (will update you when I do). However, I have taken sandwiches, paninis, salads, pies and even a doner kebab away in it.

Don’t be afraid to ask, the worst thing they can say is no. I have yet to find a health and safety (the usual excuse) reason why I cannot use my own container so even if you do get a no, ask why!

Love Gillie x

The reusable holiday

July 26, 2016 ~ Gillie ~ 4 Comments

I’m just back from a fabulous three weeks in Romania, which is why the blog has been so quiet (that and some techy issues that seem to have been resolved). However, I am aware that for many of you, particularly those of you with school age children, the summer holidays have only just started and you are probably packing and sorting ready for a few weeks R&R.

It doesn’t really matter where you are going, whether it’s a fortnight on the beach or hiking in the Alps, there are some things that are not just useful, but essential for a hassle-free holiday. In our case these tend to revolve around food and drink. We like lots of picnics, we like to try out the local foods and no holiday is complete without a beach or riverside bbq.

Most of the things required can easily be bought in the disposable picnic area of any supermarket. But I don’t want disposable, I don’t want plastic. I want reusuable and sustainable. So this is what we packed to go to Romania.

Bamboo Cutlery. One hundred percent biodegradable and compostable when they finally come to the end of their life. In the meantime, light and easy to use.

Food wrap. These are great and double up as plates as well I make my own using organic cotton and beeswax but there are plenty available online. Just rinse with hot water.

Drinking cups. Well you don’t really want to be swigging the wine out of a bottle!

Water bottles. There is only a few things I loathe more than plastic water bottles, not only are they unneccessary for most day to day situations, they contribute to vast amounts of waste and most contain bpa which is directly linked to some cancers.

Portable fire bowl and grill. This is the best thing ever! We used to buy a disposable bbq and reuse it all holiday but this is one stage better and is absolutely brilliant.

Finally, don’t forget a sharp knife, a corkscrew and/or a bottle opener! Happy holidays 🙂

Love Gillie

shake it all up

May 19, 2016 ~ Gillie ~ 3 Comments

Yesterday I was invited to talk to a group of business women about money. I am not an accountant, and I was fired by Barings as a corporate finance executive because I was rubbish at the job (and hated it even more) so I was an interesting choice of speaker. However, I am passionate about simple living and about organising oneself to achieve more time to do what you want to do rather than having to spend every hour God gave us working in order to keep one’s head above water.

I had a lovely morning, they were a super group of ladies and I think we all had a lot of fun and learned a lot from each other. During the course of my talk I held a jar with a thick cream liquid in it that I shook constantly. I said all would be revealed at the end.

This is what I made

Butter. And very delicious butter with no additives. Organic double cream which I shook, on and off for half an hour or so. By product, buttermilk for pancakes at the weekend.

Here it is wrapped and ready to pop in the fridge until we need it.

I am not suggesting that you all make your own butter, but I am pointing out that cutting out the middleman, making it yourself isn’t as hard as most people think It also means you know what is in it and it usually tastes a whole lot better too.

Love Gillie

upcycling the kitchen disaster

April 22, 2014 ~ Gillie ~ 3 Comments

One of the pitfalls I faced when I first began decluttering was the little economical eco-freak who sat on my shoulder and whispered little things in my ear like “you could keep that broken jug, break it up a bit more and use it for drainage in the bottom of your pot plants.” Yes I could, but I knew I wouldn’t, by the time the summer came and I was planting out my seedlings I would have completely forgotten where I had put my collection of broken crockery. I know my limits.

On the other hand there are somethings that I have no problem reusing or finding new uses for. Using up leftovers is something most of us do by second nature. More recently I have discovered I can use up kitchen disasters as well.

At the moment I only have an aga, my electric oven having died some months ago. Lovely though it is, as every aga owner will know, you cannot smell anything that is cooking. The opportunity to prepare a burnt offering to the aga god is frequently presented. That is why on Saturday afternoon I popped some bread in the oven and went out to do some gardening. It was over an hour later when I finally removed an exceptionally well cooked loaf. Believing that even the chickens would reject it I left it on the kitchen surface and went back to the garden to work off my frustration. The Boss wasn’t going to let an overcooked loaf get the better of him and when I returned he had bashed it up and pronounced it an excellent alternative to Grape Nuts.

The second culinary disaster was the yoghurt, also made on that same Saturday. I left it too long and too close to the aga and it had curdled. I poured off the whey (it went into the ill fated loaf) and mushed the residue around a bit. It tasted like yoghurt, but the texture was all wrong. Bingo Chocolate Coffee and Maple Brunch Cake (by Charlie Scott-King of the Durham Dales Clandestine Cake Club).

While I don’t aim to have kitchen disasters, it is good to know that I can usually find someway of using them up. Failing that there are always the animals. The chickens loved my overdone granola 🙂

zero waste vs zero food miles

March 17, 2014March 17, 2014 ~ Gillie ~ 3 Comments

Once upon a time all our needs were met locally. We collected wood for a fire, grew and raised our own food, made our own clothes us using whatever fabric was local to us from hemp to cotton to wool. There are some people who, admirably, manage to do this today, but for most of us it is essential to engage in transactions with third parties to feed and clothe and entertain ourselves and our families.

I have long been involved in both the Slow Food and Local Food movements. I was a founder member of The Durham Local Food Network and believe passionately in supporting local producers, not just of food but of as many other consumables as possible. However how can I reconcile that with a zero waste lifestyle. You would have thought it would be easy, surely the two go together. But they don’t.

Bea Johnson, who genuinely does live the closest to a zero waste lifestyle as anyone I have come across in this journey purchases almost all her food from Whole Foods. This is because she is able to take her own containers (thus no unnecessary plastic or even paper bags for anything from bread to meat) and she can purchase loose goods from pasta to biscuits from the bulk bins. Well therein lies the first problem. However, lovely Whole Foods is, it is essentially an upmarket supermarket (and has prices to match). There is little local about purchasing my oats at Whole Foods even if I could get to one.

So the other option? Durham Food Co-op buys in bulk from a large range of local producers and the balance from Infinity Foods (a co-operative wholesaler of organic and non-organic foods); Durham Farmers’ Market has an excellent selection of local produce; I have access to a good local greengrocer, butcher, fishmonger and cheese merchant. The problem? Most of the food I buy will come prepackaged. I don’t have the option, other than for the vegetables, to use my own containers.

Last year I read about Plastic Free July, unfortunately I heard about it rather late so when I attempted to go plastic free for a week I didn’t have the ongoing tips and support and fell quickly by the wayside. I have signed up for Plastic Free July for this year and am giving myself three months to prepare. I am going to need it. Plastic free is very hard to achieve. The easiest way to go plastic free is to start making as much as possible from scratch. I make my own soft cheese, yoghurt, dog food and dog treats, granola, jams, jellies, wine and cider vinegars, pickles etc. I have asked for a canner for Mothering Sunday with a view to canning our own home grown vegetables. But there is only so much I can do myself and I don’t work full time so I have the time to do all this.

So do I go package (and predominantly plastic) free or do I go local? I know in my heart I will go local. But that will mean compromise. What is more important to you. Zero waste or zero food miles?

food wrap and parrots

March 15, 2014March 16, 2014 ~ Gillie ~ 10 Comments

EDIT!!!!

I have been advised that due to the low flash point of beeswax (ie. the fumes produced become exceptionally flammable and could cause a fire) it should always be melted in a bain marie (ie. in a bowl over boiling water). As beeswax also has a very low melting point (approx 62 degrees) this should not take long.

I suspect that dipping the cloth in the liquid wax would result in a cloth with far thicker wax covering than required or even useful. So I am going to experiment with melting the wax and brushing it on. Will feedback later.

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Forgive me if this post is full of typos but this

has been on my right shoulder for much of this afternoon. And whilst we now get on quite well and she no longer tries to give me multiple ear piercings, she does still have rather sharp claws and I am wearing a sleeveless top and my right shoulder is rather sore. Also she is moulting and so is intent on removing her loose bits of feathers. She does not seem to have appreciated that I am not a bird, I do not have feathers and I do not need the feathers I don’t have to be removed…..

Today has been a busy kitchen day. I think a month away has given me aga homesickness. So today I made, yoghurt, granola, kimchi (for the first time), granola bars, yoghurt cake and bread. But the most exciting aga experiment did not involve food, but this.

Beeswax.

At the Artisan Fair at Byron Bay on Friday evening last week I came across a lady selling waxed cotton food wraps. This appealed to me on several fronts. First, no plastic, second the food can breath and third it is a lot prettier than cling and fling 😉 What appealed to me less was the price. So I had a go at making my own.

First cut your cotton. Taking the modern connotation of the word organic out of the equation for the moment, cotton is an organic substance, polyester is not. Linen or hemp would probably work just as well, but I happen to have a lot of cotton oddments lying around so I used cotton.

Place on a baking tray. Use an old one, you are not going to be cooking with it again.

Sprinkle granules (or grated) beeswax over the cotton and place in the oven. I used the aga on Bake but about 180 would be about right. Do keep an eye on it. The wax melts fast and you don’t want it to burn. It’s not as if you are making a souffle, opening the door is not going to cause a culinary disaster.

Once melted brush the wax evenly over the fabric (again using a brush that isn’t going to be used to spread beaten egg over your prized apple pie).

Hang up to dry. I put ours outside. It is a windy day. They were dry in seconds.

Wrap up your food.

You will have noticed that the baking tray is quite small. I wanted some bigger clothes. So this time I just sprinkled the wax, folded and sprinkled again (a bit like making puff pastry!). The wax melts through all the layers.

It worked just fine. So now I have sizes for cheese, for small bowl and for large bowls.

I had intended to read the paper now, but the parrot seems to have eaten it

how cut food waste, cut bills and see the back of your fridge

January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 ~ Gillie ~ 9 Comments

How often do you eat? I rest my case. You will spend a LOT of time in your fridge and larder (or food cupboards or wherever you keep the food that doesn’t live in your fridge, please don’t email me, larder is an easy word that you all understand 🙂 )

Is your fridge full of little bowls of leftovers, unidentified things in silver foil? Do you take one look and think it would be easier just to pop out and buy a couple of chicken breasts for dinner? How much money are you wasting on food? Combine decluttering with the essential post holiday belt tighten and clear out your fridge.

Give it a really good clean whilst you are at it (a paste made from water or water and vinegar and bicarb is an excellent cleaner and gets rid of any unwanted smells). Put back all the regular essentials (milk, butter, fruit juice etc.) and have a good look at what is left. Divide it up into OMG how long has that been there , it is no longer recognisable as food, and the rest. You can chuck the former. This is the only time you will do that. From now on there will be no more UFOs (unidentified food objects) in your fridge.

The rest needs to be sorted into what you have to eat fairly quickly, the open packet of bacon for example and what can hang on for a while yet, that hard heel of cheese. Take the first group and work out what you could cook with them. I tidied my fridge after the Christmas holidays, it was full of bits of leftovers and was driving me nuts. The last bits of cooked ham, some cold boiled potatoes, some rather dried out sausages and the end of homemade terrine (ie I knew what was in it) was chopped up and added to the butchers scraps and cooked up for the dogs. We had crunchy topped cheese and squash bake using only leftovers from the fridge. 1 elderly and slightly worse for wear squash, 1 bowl of dried breadcrumbs, the remains of a pot of creme fraiche, the open packet of bacon and all the left over and rather hard heels of cheese from the holidays. It was delicious.

If you really can’t think of what to cook with your assorted ingredients then hit the internet. “Cabbage and cranberry recipes” alone brought up pages and pages of recipes. So now you have tonight’s supper sorted you can put those ingredients to one side and look at the rest.

Again sort them into order of decay – i.e. use the ingredients that will last longest last.

Hey presto! You have cleared your fridge AND written a menu plan for the next few days and you haven’t even spent a single penny.

If you are feeling brave you really ought to combine a fridge clear with a freezer clear. With careful jiggling and swapping of ingredients you can take the hassle out of “what are we going to eat tonight”, save a fortune on groceries and find order in your kitchen. What’s not to like?

I plan menus every week, it makes life so much easier and cheaper. I don’t subscribe to the 15 (or whatever) circulating recipes. How boring that must get. Instead I start my shopping in my pantry and freezer. Then I get out 2-4 recipe books and look for new recipes to try using the major ingredients I have found on my “in-house shop”. I have planned every meal this week without having to purchase a single ingredient. Last night we had pan fried steak and cranberry sauce using the left over cranberries and two rather small steaks from the freezer. We are a family of five so cut the steak into strips after I cooked it, laid it over a mound of mashed potato, poured the sauce over the top and added lots of veg.

Once you have your recipes allocate them to days of the week, taking into account any evenings where you will have to serve at different times to accommodate other people’s commitments or will have little time to prepare. Baked potatoes and pasta (not together!) are our” no time to faff in the kitchn”meals. The shopping list is made on the basis on the ingredients I need which are not in the pantry or freezer.

And this is what our fridge looks like now.

Yes I know there are still some foil covered bowls. One is the last of the brandy butter and my life is not worth living if I don’t keep that, but I know it will go. The other is the meat from the remains of a game pie I made which I am keeping to pill Meg (an elderly springer spaniel not my daughter – she has six tablets twice a day and it can be a bit of a challenge persuading her to take them). Oh and you know those little plastic punnets that you get with soft fruit? I keep them and use them to hold little things like garlic, chillies, ginger, cherry tomatoes, shallots etc. It stops them rolling around in the vegetable drawer and means I can see exactly how much I have left of anything.

Tonight is cauliflower cheese by the way 🙂