Spring has Sprung!

Well folks, it seems that spring has sprung here in Melbourne. Even though there is every chance that it might coil back up again tomorrow, there's a sense of excitement in the air, and it's catching.

I couldn't possibly stay indoors today even though I had emails to send and job hunting to do. So I went walking, and went scouring through the rubbish that's out for verge collection at the moment. I found a whole heap of plant pots, seedling trays and a piece of a fence that I can use to train my cucumber plants up. Yesterday I found a shelf with slide-out trays on my street, so I took it home to use as a linen cupboard. Hard rubbish time is great! Some people throw out really great stuff. Its a bit shocking really, so much of it should be going to op-shops or being recycled, rather than becoming landfill.

One tip when picking up verge collection items: watch out for spiders! As I was cleaning the shelf yesterday, I felt a sharp pain in my finger, and there was a spider latching on and biting me! I quickly pulled it off, and luckily I had no reaction. Phew!

With the lovely weather, I'm very inspired to keep gardening and growing more food. I found some great info and inspiration here .Here are some shots of my clam garden (my old burlesque prop that I turned into a veggie patch) It's just a kid's paddling pool, with some holes drilled in the bottom for drainage, and filled up with potting mix, compost and a bit of slow release fertilizer.

My veggie clams with their new seedlings. Garlic, bok choy, onions, parsley, broccolini and lettuce.

Progress on the veggies after about a month. We had some steamed bok choy with salmon and it was lovely and juicy!

Baby eggplants/ Demented carrots

So I haven't done many yummy food posts for a while. This is because I've been in front of a computer screen most days and nights for uni, with no time or energy to cook! Soy sausages are REALLY handy for when you can't be bothered. I eat them a couple of times a week with a simple salad.

The top picture is of some beautiful baby eggplants- which are called graffiti eggplants because of the purple and white scratchy pattern they have. I bought them at the markets just because they looked so amazing. I thought they would definitely be nice with some cheese, so I roasted them with some oil and spices, and made a cut through the middle of each one (not all the way, just up to the stem). Then I cut up some fetta and put a piece between each two halves. I put them back in the oven for a while for the cheese to melt, then served them with some pasta sauce and spaghetti. DELICIOUS!

I haven't shown the progress of my veggie garden yet, because it hasn't been so great! That is what my carrots looked like when I pulled them up. For some reason they just didn't wanna grow. I reckon I was singing them the wrong songs. My beetroots however are happy and purple and tasty! I grated some up raw and mixed them into a salad with grated carrot, a tin of 3 bean mix and lots of chives and corriander and a bit of lime juice. I love the colours of this salad. My herbs, spinach and spring onion are growing nicely. Its nice to pick bits off them to use straight away in my cooking.

Well, I'm going for a walk to get the blood pumping and warm myself up. The sun has officially gone in Melbourne! The heaters are coming out, and it's time to make another big warm soup I think.

xxx

Hello world, this is me.

I'm in a magazine!

Well, not really. I am in a pretend magazine. One that I made for an assignment. And yes, I did model for my own project, ha! My neighbour and photographer friend Madz took the wonderful photos for me, and I paid her in pie (the one in the photo.) It was great fun.