down to earth

A couple of people commented and a few more emailed asking for Sunny's recipe for Korean BBQ beef, which is called Bul Go Gi. Not only has she given me the recipe, she's remade the food and taken photos so it's easier for you to make it. Thanks for your help with this, Sunny. I send my love.

BUL GO GI

As with all Asian cooking, you do all your preparation and cutting first.

Ingredients

500g thin slice of beef (sirloin or tenderloin)
1 onion
½ carrot
5 dried shitake mushroom
1 spring onion (shallot)

Marinade Sauce

30 ml soy sauce 30ml
1½ tablespoons caster sugar
1½ tablespoons sesame oil
½ tablespoon sesame seed
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 pear
5 garlic cloves
½ onion

METHOD

1. Soak shitake mushrooms in warm water until soft.
2. Prepare and slice vegetables: slice onion and mushrooms, cut carrot julienne, cut shallot finger size.
3. Blend marinade sauce ingredients using blender.

4. Marinate beef in the sauce with sliced vegetables.

5. Put marinated beef in the fridge and leave for overnight (you can cook immediately but better if you leave overnight)
6. Heat the pan and add 2 table spoons oil.

7. Cook until beef has changed colour.
8. Serve in the plate on the table for everyone to help themselves.

Sunny's notes:

* It is usually served with rice in Korea.

* You can put more or less sauce as you like.

* You can buy sliced Bul Go Gi beef and shitake mushroom at Korean supermarket.

* You can use any kind of mushrooms (like button mushrooms).

JAB CHAE - noodles, beef and vegetables
Ingredients below are for one person - multiply by the number of people you're serving.
Glass noodles

10 grams dried champignon mushroom (or any kind of mushroom)

½ onion

½ carrot

¼ red capsicum (pepper)

⅓ bunch asian spinach or baby spinach

50 grams beef (sirloin)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon sesame seed

Sauce 1

5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon caster sugar
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves sliced garlic

Sauce 2

1 tablespoon soy sauce
a pinch black pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon sugar

METHOD

1. Soak dried champignon mushroom and glass noodle in warm water until they are soft.
2. Slice onion, julienne carrot and cut beef into strips.
3. Marinate beef strips in the sauce 2 for 20mins.
4. Boil sauce 1 for 1minute and put aside.
5. Blanch spinach for 30 sec and drain water.
6. Heat the pan and add 1 tablespoon oil.
7. Saute vegetables, mushroom and beef separately and then put aside.
8. Saute drained noodle in the heated pan with 2 table spoon oil and boiled sauce 1 until noodle is soft.
9. Combine 5, 7 and 8 and mix with sesame oil and sesame seed (you can add more sauce 1)
10. Put on the serving plate.

Sunny cooked both these meals for Jamie's 100th day celebration so I can tell you they are delicious. If you've never tried to cook Korean food before, these would be good to start with. They're both fairly simple, and they're healthy and delicious.

Just a note to those who've ordered goods from my shop: I'll be in touch with you tomorrow with details of postage and payments. I'm at the Neighbourhood Centre today. The baby's arrival has put me back a day.

I hope you enjoy what you're doing today. No matter what it is, take 10 minutes for yourself to sit and relax.

Things are still busy here, but that's good, I work well when there is a lot to be done. I worked at my neighbourhood centre yesterday. We got our grant for the life skills workshops so it's now full steam ahead organising them and setting a calendar for the next few months. I'll be teaching how to preserve jam and relish, fermenting, breadmaking, soap, laundry liquid and homemade cleaners and maybe cheese, as well as the ongoing Frugal Home workshop. We might also have a bush tucker and crossing cultures workshop by my friend Aunty Bev, depending on her current commitments, and there will be a series on how to plant an organic vegetable garden, worm farming, composting and keeping chickens. We hope to use the garden as a tool to help people create their own vegetable gardens at home, then use the garden and plant fruit trees so we have a productive kitchen garden operating at the Centre.

I feel this is a strong and positive statement about sustainability for our Centre to make. To get those under-used traditional life skills back into local homes, and many more vegetable gardens and chickens in backyards, will be good for our community. It seems many more people want to learn these skills now too. These tough economic times are making people see possibilities in places they never thought to look before - inside themselves and in their own backyards.

Today I'll be making aprons and finishing off some knitting. Tomorrow I hope to set the shop up and start trading. It's been a long time coming but it feels good to be earning some pin money using my hands and a little effort. Now that the grandchildren are here it's good to have that bit of extra cash to spend so we can see them whenever we want to, or if we are needed.

But I have to let you in on a little secret - my work room looks like a crazy monkey has been let loose in it. I'm sitting here now - well, let me take a photo instead of describing this mess.

This is a list of the workshops I was working on when I came back from the Centre yesterday. And yes, that is this post being written on the laptop screen. This really is instant blogging.

And these two photos are the mess on the other side of the computer. I've been sorting through my stash to mix and match fabrics for aprons. So there, my secret is revealed. Hopefully, before I start sewing this morning, it will all be sorted and the extras put back in the cupboard.

I've been meaning to blog about silver cleaning since the last time I cleaned mine, so here goes. Not many of us use silver cutlery nowadays but I do, although we also have a stainless steel set. I love using my bone handle knives and old silver and every so often it needs more than just washing, it needs the tarnish removed. This is how I do it with no harsh chemicals.

I boil a kettle of water and while it's coming to the boil, place a sheet of aluminium foil on the base of the kitchen sink. Then I sprinkle a tablespoon of bicarb soda onto the foil and place the silverware on the foil. When the kettle boils, I pour it into the sink, making sure I cover all the silverware. I walk away, leave it for ten minutes, when I come back, the silver is clean. If you've got heavily tarnished silver, you could add a tablespoon of salt to help the process along. You can clean any silver like this, including silver jewellery. When the tarnish has disappeared, take the plug out, rinse the silver and dry it with a soft cloth. It will be sparkling and like new.

Thank you for visiting me today. I hope you have a beautiful day.

ADDITION: I'm going to knit a couple of organic cotton teddy bears for our babies. I have the yarn but I would like to stuff them with some kind of organic wadding as well. Do you know where I can buy it online, or in Brisbane or the Sunshine or Gold Coasts?

We celebrated Jamie's 100th day on Monday with the family gathering at Kerry and Sunny's home. The Korean name for this 100th day is baegil. Sunny, who is also a chef, cooked a traditional Korean meal for us and looked as cool as a cucumber after cooking all day, housekeeping and looking after Jamie, who has decided he will only sleep for 20 minute intervals during the day now.

Shane and Sarndra came along too and we sat down to a meal fit for kings and queens. Sunny made (I won't attempt to spell the Korean names because I know I won't get them right) BBQ beef and noodles, tofu parcels with vegetables, kimchee, rice paper rolls with prawns and vegetables, glass noodles and vegetables and a plate of fried zucchini rings coated with egg, little thin and folded omelettes, and little pieces of fish, coated and fried with a sesame leaf. Afterwards we had Sunny's rice cake and some peanut, pistachio, coconut rice balls with red bean that Sarndra and Shane brought along. All delicious!

I love those traditions that celebrate special family milestones and I wish we had a few more of our own here in Australia.

As most of you know, Sarndra and Shane are expecting their first baby any day now. This is such a wonderful time for our family. Not only do we have the cute and giggling Jamie in all his sweetness, and Sunny and Kerry who are the most excellent and calm parents, we also have another surprise packet waiting in the wings. Another little boy that we will love and cherish and watch grow, and who will turn his parents into a caring and proud mother and father.

I have to tell you that when I retired, I didn't give grandmothering much thought. Our sons showed no signs of settling down, and then kaboom! two babies close together. I never thought I could love anyone as much as I love my sons, but now their own families are cocooned inside that love as well. I'm delighted Sunny and Kerry are such loving and gentle parents. Every time I see them together, caring for their son, it's like a gift to me. And now, I can hardly wait for a new baby to arrive. His parents are SO prepared for him, and he too will be born into a family who really love him and want the best for him. There is no greater gift a child can have than loving parents who want him to have a good life; nothing else comes close to that.

Happy 100th day, Jamie! We wish you continued love, happiness and many more cheeky smiles.

TWO MORE PHOTOS JUST EMAILED! Thanks Sarndra.

This is Kerry lighting the candles on the cake, with Sunny and Jamie.

And Uncle Shane with Jamie.

Last week I received an email from a women who said she wanted to live a more simple life but she couldn't leave her job in the city until she paid off her mortgage; when she does that, she's moving to the countryside and will then get serious about simplifying. I have to question that course of action because it doesn't matter where you live, nor how much money you have, almost everyone can start simplifying right now, if they choose to. There is always something you can do, even if you're not doing everything you want to. Doing one or two things will start to make a difference in your life. This is not a competition but our days are numbered; you don't want to waste a day.

Making sour cream and picking the first of the tomatoes in the backyard.

If you start with small modifications and changes, the big things will follow when you're ready for them. So you can't grow a garden where you are? Look around for a growers or farmers market and buy fresh fruit and vegetables there. You don't have the energy or the time to keep house or declutter your home? Start small by making your bed every morning and removing or recycling one thing per week. That could be as simple as giving a pair of your shoes or a dress you no longer wear to a friend or a local charity. You'd like to learn how to make bread but don't have the time? Learn how to make scones instead. It's simpler than working with yeast and it will get you baking and learning about how to mix flour with liquids and how your oven works. You can stop buying disposables and replace them with homemade dishloths, rags, sanitary products, modern cloth nappies and cotton shopping bags. You can't cook from scratch and don't have the time for it? Just stop buying takeaway food for now - cook your own food in your own home and see how much you save. You can start a budget, that will help you no matter what stage of life you're at. You can get rid of the harmful cleaning chemicals you use and start cleaning with homemade laundry liquid or powder, vinegar, bicarb, soap and elbow grease. You'll be surprised at how effective and cheap simple cleaning can be. And slow down, take time out for yourself to think and plan. That should be the easiest one but for so many of us, it's the toughest.

This simple life isn't a giant leap into the unknown for any of us. It's a series of simple steps that can be started in any way - you choose what you start with and how to keep going. What I write about here about my life with Hanno, well, it's just the way we've chosen to live. I know it's not for everyone and if we weren't the age we are now we'd be living simply, but in a different way. It's not an all or nothing way of life, in many respects, that's one of the attractions, because you can start with one small step and add others when you're ready. You'll find that some things you do now won't suit another stage. I have no doubt that Hanno and I will make changes in the coming years; as with everything we do, we'll make our life fit our capabilities and goals.

Knitting more Saartje bootees for the shop.

There are no simple living police watching what you do. Be kind to yourself and start small, add more when you can; if it doesn't work, don't be afraid to change things around until they suit you. I believe there are two big things attached to this way of life - it's usually a big change in attitude that gets you started, and there is a big payoff, in satisfaction and time and money saved, that keeps you going. But always remember it's your choice. Your life and how you live it should be about your choices, values, vision, goals and capabilities. Don't let anyone else tell you what you're doing isn't good enough, or strange. This simple life has the potential to be as beautiful and profound as you make it, and it all starts with one small step.

This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. It opens the door to us sharing our lives through these photos and gives us all a new way to discover each other, and maybe form new friendships. Your photo should show something at home that you're thinking about TODAY. If you're in another country you should join in when you read this, even if it's still Thursday.

To take part, all you have to do is post a photo on your own blog, write a short caption explaining it, and link it back to here. Please write a new post, don't link to an older one. When your photo is published, come back and add a comment below, with a link to your blog photo so we can all find you. Please visit all the blogs that appeal to you and leave a comment. Slow down, take the time to cruise around and enjoy your cyber visits.

I wrote a couple of months ago that we'd planted our loofas late this year and wasn't expecting much from them. Then I reported that I was going to pick the handful that had grown. Well, I didn't get around to picking them, one thing after another put it to the back of my mind, then yesterday, I thought I'd better check them out and probably rip out the rotting vines. It's been raining here on and off for some time and loofas, like their cucumber and pumpkin cousins, develop powdery mildew and all kinds of mould then they're constantly wet. I couldn't believe my eyes when I discovered the loofas were not only healthy, but they're still growing and flowering! We had one drying on the table on the back verandah, I picked three more dry ones to complete their drying, and there are about 12 more, still green, on the vine. So Jeni, I'll reserve one for you and I'll also be selling the seeds. So that, as well as the overwhelming response yesterday is on my mind. I'm working at my neighbourhood centre today so I'll be sewing, knitting and planning soap making, drying and storage with Hanno on the weekend.

Thank you for your visits this week and thank you for all the emails that arrived too. I'm trying to answer them as best I can.

I've been busy this past week with knitting and sewing for my online shop I hope to open next week. It will never be overflowing, just be a few things I can do in my free time that I hope will earn us a little pin money. I've been told I could make a fair bit of money on my blog now but I'm not about to sacrifice my integrity for the sake of a few dollars. I see my little shop as something altogether different. I've often had people write to ask if they can buy something I've made and written about. This seems to be a fair way to earn a little bit of extra cash while giving others something I hope will add value to their lives. It's the same way I see my sponsors. I will only promote or support those people who share my values and who sell products I would use myself or for my family. Whenever you see a sponsor button on my blog, please be assured it will be for a small ethical business or a home business that I'm happy to support and buy from myself, and it has been the one in a hundred that made it to the blog.

The things I'm making for my shop are those things I would normally make for myself - dishcloths, aprons, scarves, soap, tea cosies, table runners and a few odds and ends. I am using good quality materials - all from my own stash, some are organic, and all of them are cotton, linen, wool and natural fibres. The soap is just rain water, lye and oil, nothing else. It is suitable for washing the whole family, including the babies, and your hair. I hope some of you like my meagre offerings. I understand that my taste won't suit everyone and my products might seem a bit old-fashioned but they will be made with love and care and to the best of my ability.

It would help me quite a bit if I had some idea of how much soap I might sell. I've made three batches and that will be fine if that's all I need, but if there are a lot of people who wish to buy the soap, I'll get a few more batches done before Monday. If you're thinking of ordering soap, can you say that in the comments so I have a better idea of numbers. It won't count as an order, so don't worry about making a commitment, it will just give me a general idea of numbers. Thanks friends.

Recently I bought these two books with my Amazon points. They're the Chicks with Sticks Guide to Knitting and Guide to Crochet. Both are very good books and I'm happy to recommend them to you if you're a new knitter or, like me, a new crocheter. I am determined to learn to crochet because I want to make some jug covers for the shop and I would like to add lacy edges to my knitted tea cosies. One of the good features in the books is they have instructions on how to learn knitting and crochet for both right and left handers, or as they call them, southpaws. Both books go through basic stitches and how to hold needles and yarn, then go on to a wide variety of beginner and advanced beginner projects.

I'll be apron sewing and knitting today. Hanno is going to the Gold Coast again so I'll be alone and can get on with it. It's been raining these past couple of days so I'll cosy up with my craft work and see what happens. I love these diamond days. I hope you have a wonderful time of it too and if you're knitting or sewing, working at your job or in the home, enjoy yourself.

Lasagne is one of those great meals that can be modified to suit a range of tastes and is often a favourite meal from childhood. I make lasagne from scratch, usually with a meat and tomato layer, a spinach layer and cheese sauce. I make the pasta sheets too. The ones I used for this lasagne were the leftovers of the chicken noodle soup noodles I made a week or so ago. I kept the pasta well wrapped in the freezer and defrosted it in the fridge the day before I used it. The same recipe does both meals well and cooks equally well being boiled in the soup and baked in the lasagne. That recipe is here. This lasagne feeds Hanno and I for three meals, so it's a frugal favourite and it's very tasty.

Lasagne is a good dish for vegetarians. When I was vegetarian, I replaced the meat layer with a homemade baked bean layer - with half the beans crushed and half whole to give a thick and rich sauce. If you add the spinach layer and cheese sauce and make the pasta with wholemeal flour instead of white, you have a complete protein, vegetarian meal.

MEAT SAUCE

Brown 700g\1½ lb topside mince\ground beef in a frying pan on medium heat.
Add one chopped onion, one sliced stick of celery and some garlic - as much as you like, and mix it in.
When the onion is starts taking on some colour, add two big spoons of tomato paste, mix it in and cook for three minutes. Stir it so it doesn't burn.
Add salt and pepper to taste, one can of whole tomatoes, one can of water and one teaspoon sugar. Crush the tomatoes and mix together.
Add herbs of your choosing - I added fresh oregano and parsley.
Bring to the boil and let it simmer, with the lid off, for about 30 minutes - until it's well reduced and the sauce is thick.

CHEESE SAUCE

Pour about 600mls\one pint milk into a saucepan over medium heat. You can use milk power and water.
Add 2 large tablespoons cornflour and whisk in.
Add salt and pepper and a sprinkle of chilli powder or Tabasco.
Add 1½ cups grated chedder cheese.
Mix together and stand there stirring until the cheese has melted. Cheese sauce burns easily, so keep stirring.
When the sauce is thick and smooth, add it to the lasagne.

I'm sure everyone knows how to make up a lasagne in layers. I usually have two layers of meat sauce, two pasta layers, two cheese sauce layers and one spinach layer. But make yours up however it suits you.

For a gluten-free version of this, don't use the pasta - use a layer of cooked mushrooms or eggplant instead and instead of making a cheese sauce, sprinkle grated cheese on instead.

MOIST AND RICH COFFEE CAKE

This is a very easy to make coffee cake but it turns out so well, you could use it as a special dessert or a celebration cake. Naturally, you have to decorate it better than I did, but it would stand any test for a special cake. Probably not the best cake for children or anyone on a diet.

Like my whole orange cake, this is all done in a food processor and is equally easy to make.

COFFEE CAKE

75g\2½ oz walnuts

225g\8 oz caster sugar

Add these first two ingredients to the food processor and mix until they're powdery.

Then add:

225g\8 oz room temperature butter

4 fresh eggs

5 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in two tablespoons boiling water

Mix until everything is light and creamy.

Then add:

225g\8 oz self raising flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

and enough milk, sour cream or yoghurt to make a thick batter. Use whatever you have on hand but the addition of sour cream or yoghurt to any cake gives it something extra special.

When the mixture is nicely combined, add equal amounts to two 20 cm greased and baking paper-lined cake tins and cook on 180C\360F for 20 - 25 minutes - or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Turn out both cakes on a cake rack. If both cakes have a raised dome top, cut the top off one of them. You'll need the bottom layer to be flat on both top and bottom.

While the cakes are still hot, mix together 2 teaspoons instant coffee and two teaspoons boiling water, and dribble this over the tops of each cake. Then let them sit there to cool down.

COFFEE FROSTING

350g\12 oz icing sugar

175g\6 oz soft butter

2 ½ teaspoons instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water

Beat the icing sugar and butter together until it's creamy, then add the coffee and mix until it's incorporated.

Sandwich the two cake halves together with about one third of the icing and decorate the top and sides with the rest. Decorate with crushed walnuts.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and they make it into your favourites recipes file.

For a while it looked like our economy was improving and that soon prices would level out and start falling again, but when I researched online for information about electricity yesterday, there was doom and gloom all over the place regarding food, utility and fuel prices. Australia did a bit better than most countries during the recent economic crisis, but now, due to the floods and storms, food prices are higher than they've ever been and fuel prices are going up due to the high Australian dollar and trouble in the Middle East. What's happening here is being mirrored in countries all over the world. Many people are struggling, no one is safe in these troubled times.

If you've ever doubted your role as homemaker/housewife be assured that now is the time you will help your family more than ever before. Take the lead and make sure that every penny coming into your home now is used to its true value. Develop a plan to take your family through this crisis. When food and fuel prices rise and utilities bills increase faster than they should, it's your job as a home maker to be frugal and smart. Look around, research online and ask your friends about good wholesome recipes for main meals and snacks. Whatever your grocery budget was before, see if you can reduce it a bit. Stop buying convenience foods and start cooking everything from scratch - it will save you more than you know. Buy fruit and vegetables in season and if you can't afford fresh vegetables, check out the prices of frozen. They're often a bargain when the fresh prices go up. Buy as much as you can in bulk, not only is it usually cheaper, it cuts out a lot of packaging.

This is a good time to start networking with your friends and neighbours. Despite what you may think, everyone is dealing with high prices and even if there has been no talk of cutting back, when you start that conversation, I'm sure most of your friends will tell you they're struggling too. Can you start buying a bulk meat order together? If you can find a good local butcher and buy a side of beef together, you'll pay (in Australia) about $7 a kilo instead of anything up to $20 a kilo at supermarket prices. The butcher will ask you how you want the meat divided up and you can still get topside mince (ground beef), T-bone, rump, round, chuck, roasts, silverside (corned beef) and sausages all included in that price. Don't forget to take the bones too, for stocks and soups.

If you have a family and haven't started a stockpile yet, now is a good time to start. Look around for things that will store well for a while in a cupboard and when they're on special, grab a few of them. It will take you a few months to build your stockpile but it will see you through these bad times well and it will save you money and time. Old posts on stockpiling here.

If you're new to frugality, it's an exciting time. Don't see it as a burden to be endured; it's an opportunity to develop character and to protect your family. My hope for you is that you'll see this as a permanent change and even when prices fall and times get better, you'll remain a tightwad and continue to live a simple life. If I were coming to this for the first time, I'd stop ALL unnecessary spending and spend only on:

Food, groceries
Utilities - electricity, water, rates
Fuel and transport
Debt repayment - mortgage, credit cards, car payments etc
House, car and clothing maintenance
Insurance
Medical and dental checkups

Phone, internet, cable TV - all these could be stopped if you needed extra money for any of the above.

Work out how much you're currently spending on all the above and try to work out ways to cut your costs in every category. If you can do that, put the money you saved aside as an emergency fund or to pay off debt. Once a month, as a reward, give yourself money for a treat. Not too much - a movie, DVD or a magazine. The rest of the time, entertainment will be inviting friends around for a BBQ, recording a free movie to watch, and getting acquainted with your library. They're a treasure trove of books, magazines, DVDs, CDs, games and free activities.

If you can make your home a safe and comfortable haven for your family they'll enjoy being at home more. If they're going out to work or school everyday, make your home a joy to come back to - a place where they'll rest, recover and regain strength. Don't be frugal with the love either, that needs to be given out freely and on show all the time. Nothing makes a family more united and strong than knowing they're loved and cared for. That is your job. In addition to putting food on the table, love in their hearts and paying the bills on time, these tough times are a unique opportunity for you to step up and guide your family. It's not an easy job but it's a part of our job description: homemaker. And when you're older, you'll look back on these years and know they make you and your family stronger. Sure, everyone enjoys the good years, but it's the difficult ones that we learn from and that make us tougher, more united and resilient. Let's get our aprons on and start work.

ADDITIONAL READING
Australia - food and food price increase.
Australia - tough times ahead.
UK - rise in the cost of living
UK - inflation
USA - Gasoline price rise
USA - cost of living reaches record high

ABOUT ME

Down To Earth Book

MY FAVOURITE PLACES

Popular Post of All Times

Making ginger beer from scratch

The last post

How to make cold process soap

Preserving food in a traditional way - pickling beetroot

Cleaning mould from walls and fabrics

Five minute bread

This is my last post.

What is the role of the homemaker in later years?

Every morning at home

You’ll save money by going back to basics

Categories

Followers

About Blog

Last Year's Popular Posts

The last post

Every morning at home

You’ll save money by going back to basics

Creating a home you'll love forever

Time changes everything

It's the old ways I love the most

An authentic look at daily life here — unstaged and real

Labels