Thoughts From Becca

During the week I've been following a regional food challenge limiting myself to food within a 100 mile (160km) radius of my home. I started the tough way by cleaning out the fridge and starting with an empty larder. Well, it would not have been a challenge otherwise. Always mindful of using fresh seasonal produce, limitations on distance from farm to table have proved interesting. What an education I've received. Was I crazy to think I would walk into the Sydney CBD and find local produce, or even find food for which the origin was known. On the first day, I spent (more than) my lunchtime walking the city. Just one helpful fruit stall (Pitt Street near Martin Place) had produce (known to be) from this state. His display of apples was from Batlow and I purchased three. To be sure of my distance obligation, a friend did his technical thing and checked, and Batlow did not fall within range from Sydney. Regional for sure! But I'm a Taurus and determined. I did not want to

YOU CAN FOLLOW MY WEEK on the Live Local Challenge @ http://www.livelocalchallenge.blogspot.com/ Things have changed over time, and living in the city, we've really separated ourselves from being close to the earth, and to understanding our impact on it. This week, a new site http://www.livelocal.org.au/ is being launched with an aim of regrouping and rebuilding community. I'm going to do my bit and you can get behind it too by adding your ideas on the site. Of course with my food focus, a lot of my effort is food based. I've always tried to cook a lot of what I eat from scratch, to not use processed foods and to really support fresh seasonal produce. Once I started thinking about it, there was and is so much more that I can do. Starting this Wednesday I've accepted the live local challenge. As part of the challenge I've decided to take on a week of living only on regional produce (only grown within 100 miles of where I live). The preparation has been interesting,

During the week I asked Twitter friends what were their favourite pumpkin ideas. Actually it was a simple request, one little tweet (Twitter miniblog post), and I was surprised by so many replies and retweets (repeat posts). Here are the responses: @ sgere : pumpkin polenta! we just had that for dinner on Sunday @ Amykr : I love pumpkin ravioli or since it is late some pumpkin bread @ Kimbitz : my 5 year old asked for pumpkin pie today - something in the air? I make my pie with honey and coconut milk - fantastic! @ achillesmama : RT @frombecca : so now have pumpkin on my mind ... maybe pumpkin risotto tonight ... other pumpkin ideas anyone? @ VeronicaFitzhug : after din din you should watch the christin ricci movie pumpkin. it's 1 of my favs & soundtrack is awesome. love that ricci chick @ fridley : Pumpkin pudding!! Had it the other night. Delicious!! @ crazybrave : try pasta with chunks of pumpkin roasted with cumin and chilli, grilled ricotta and pesto. @ JohannaBD : nothing

During the week I posted a list of 5 favourite food films. http://cookinglinks.blogspot.com/2009/03/five-fabulous-food-films.html Mostly Martha (Bella Martha) Babette's Feast Like Water For Chocolate Chocolate My Dinner with Andre Discussion followed online as I was searching out those I'd forgotten, and those I had yet to discover. Here's a sample of the best of the rest... Happy viewing... The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover Delicatessen The Flavor of Happiness Le Grande Bouffe Tampopo as well as... Almodovar American Pie Baby Boom Big Night Blueberry Nights Brown Sugar Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Chicken Rice Wars Chicken and Duck Talk Chungking Express The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Eat, Drink, Man, Woman Eating Raoul Fried Green Tomatoes Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers God of Crockery The Godfather Hunting and Gathering Kitchen Stories The Meaning of Life Moonstruck Mouse Hunt Mystic Pizza No Reservations (note the original German movie Mostly Ma