Thoughts From Becca

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,

Mum has provided me not only with unconditional love, and the groundwork for my life, but also within that a connection for this city girl with rural life, with fresh farm produce and a love of cooking. Mum and the women in my family taught me how to cook. She along with Aunty Dossie, and Aunty Mona are the inspiration for my Becca's Bakery blog www.beccasbakery.blogspot.com too. Today is Mother's Day, and yesterday, I was excited here in Sydney to find country produce from mum's home in country town Wingham, New South Wales. Shopping at Sydney's Orange Grove farmers market, I was delighted to see a Manning Valley Beef stand. Only their second week coming from country to city (a good three and a half hour drive) I discovered that the farmer was representing himself and his neighbours in an attempt to receive better prices for their wonderful produce. And, this week in particular as my treasure for a Mother's Day present, I was delighted to discover, preserves. They

This started with a comment this week in my techie group at work... It was about foam, as it's been 'fashionable' recently... (and the comment was take it off the food please! Or maybe the please was omitted?) Not one for 'fashion' (in couture perhaps yes though not cuisine) au contraire, I've always been one to put flavour first. While I enjoy thoughtful and new food combinations, and I revere craftsmanship I cannot create at home without the restaurant's brigade of chefs, I tend to the honest, not the fashionable. Over the years I have observed a number of food trends. Nouvelle cuisine, comfort food (sticky date pudding, lamb shanks, boeuf bourguignon), food from different regions of the globe (Moroccan, Italian, Vietnamese), different fashions in plating (piped sauces, stacked food, food served in bowls that make it hard to eat) ... The trends absorbs us ... Some of the latest flavour combinations (unlike those by the truly inspired such as Alain Passa

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

While I have a great love of home cooking and comfort food, there are a few food moments that stand above all the great memories (food delights or otherwise) of my life. On food, one of my favourite times was enjoying a simple piece of artisan bread shared with some local NZ cheese on a parkbench on the banks of Lake Taupo, New Zealand. Another bread and cheese favourite, is of course enjoying fresh baguette and camembert in Paris (cliche! but unforgettable!) The greatest moments however have been above fine produce, and ultimately have included exceptionally crafted cookery. I'm talking the kind of food (and service), that no matter how much I do love to cook, and no matter how practiced, that I just could not ever achieve at home. My star amongst a handful of ultimate dining experiences is still a recent memory. I'd done some research on what would be my selected 3 star Michelin dream for this Parisian holiday. Yes, such 'fine' dining is a costly exercise, but, to me,

There are a few friends and acquaintances that really impress me. They have outstanding manners. It doesn't matter if their sense of etiquette matches mine or not, if their manners are from a similar cultural background, or a same sense of generation. What impresses me is that they are always thoughtful. After all that's what the foundations of etiquette are all about.  I've been lucky enough to grow up with a fine example. On the second day after any event, there will always be a card arrive in the post from mum to say thank you. Maybe, heritage post is a lost tradition. I certainly am not as vigilant in using that medium. I do always try to show my appreciation for thoughtfulness that has been extended to me. Mum relates that if a woman left the table, or the room, the gentlemen would always stand. I think this is divine and always appreciate that courtesy (though rarely observed today).  Knowledge of the table setting, of how to act when dining, is an art that is worth

This week is mum's birthday, and I have a big '0' birthday not too long afterwards ...  I got to thinking about celebrations and the part that food plays, and has always played in the defining moments of our life. Birthdays are just one of the celebratory milestones of course. On a personal note we also have births, deaths, marriages, coming of age, and more. These celebrations mark the passage of our lives. There are also celebrations in community, whether that is spiritual or other.  Food is significant in all of these, and sometimes symbolic as well. Each year for mum's birthday, we try and make her feel even more special to us, by selecting the foods for her family birthday celebration from amongst her favourites. For her birthday in April, in Sydney, in Australia, this will mean that some of her favourites are in season: figs, persimmons, pomegranates, chestnuts, artichokes, spinach, white sweet potatoes, mushrooms... Mum's getting on and it only just dawned o