I've spent a most enjoyable morning reveling in the fact that the clocks went back last night and we gained an hour. For most people, that hour was spent in bed languishing decadently and trying not to think about work tomorrow. That thought was also on my brain when I turned the light out last night. I was looking forward to being lazy, perhaps waking up with a start at 10am, then realising it was 9am and sinking back under the covers feeling good about having that extra hour in bed.
No such luck. My stupid brain woke me up at 6:50am. I huffed and puffed for a bit then decided to knuckle down and get a job off my list that has been bugging me for some time: varnishing the mantelpiece of our fireplace. When I realised how little time it took to do that bathroom windowsill, I felt a bit guilty putting off finishing the mantelpiece for two years.
Right now, I'm waiting for the first coat of matt varnish to dry so I've decided to listen to an episode of The Podchef Gastrocast. The Podchef is Neal Foley, an American chef living in Washington, and once a week he records an hour's podcast on food news, his passion for growing his own food and the politics of it and then he'll talk about a recipe he's made recently.
Today I've been listening to podcasts #79 and 80 (there are almost 130) which cover his thoughts on wartime nutrition and he's been reading from a book called The Wartime Kitchen. Now, I'm not sure who wrote this book - I seem to keep missing that - but looking on Amazon I think it's this one by Marguerite Patten:
He's a fascinating narrator and has a natural way of speaking that makes you feel like you've got a friend in the room chatting to you. He drifts off topic, goes here, goes there, comes back yet he's never boring. He covers both kitchens and gardens during the two podcasts and puts forward the opinion that we should all have Victory Garden's, except in this day and age they would stand for Victory over consummerism. They would stand for that little piece of you that hasn't yet been swallowed by compulsive shopping and keeping up with the Jones'.
I like that idea. You wouldn't have to go mad and grow all your own food. Just something that you can hold up proudly and say "I grew that" and then after a quick wash scoff it down.
Anyway, have a listen to some of his podcasts if you get the chance. They really are a nice to have on in the background instead of the radio and you learn a lot about food.
Those podcasts sound really interesting i'll try and have a listen.The victory garden idea is great, i've been amazed how satisfying it is to pick stuff that you've actually grown yourself, it really does make me feel like i'm sort of beating the system.
Posted by: donna | October 28, 2007 at 09:19 PM