Thoughts From Becca

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...

It's been a bit easy for most of us growing up. We've come to know food in cities as packages on the supermarket shelves. We've lost touch with the earth under our feet. I thank my lucky stars that I spent some time on family farms seeing, feeling, touching, smelling the produce growing, and eating it fresh from the soil on the day it was picked. This is what taught me to appreciate freshness and flavour as well as gain an understanding of the seasons of food.  My first food memories are of a large walk in pantry on Aunty Dossie's farm. The shelves were lined with vacola (preserving) jars taking the excess of each season and stored for later use. I still remember the taste of icecream that came fresh from the cream of her cows. The icecream was lovingly beaten by hand every 20 minutes (no churn no icecream machine) throughout freezing to stop crystals forming. The chickens produce eggs that were gathered warm each day and used in the kitchen on the same day they were...

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...

GENEROUS, NURTURING, CARING, LOVING, SUSTAINING When I was a little girl, everyone around me could cook. It may not have been with the sophistication that is sometimes expected today. It may not have been with the variety of produce that we can access today. But the food we ate, was always cooked and served with love. It was often homegrown, or windfall, and nearly always from produce of the season. The neighbours swapped backyard produce, swapped gossip, and swapped recipes. I was reminded of backyard swaps, only this afternoon. I stopped the car to pick up a bag of fresh limes. There was a handwritten poster at the side of the road: "Limes $2 a bag". The two young boys, young entreprenuers were selling the limes from their overladen backyard tree. The limes look delightful as they adorn my dining table, and the aroma permeates. They'll later be used for a range of delicious treats. When I was a little girl, of seven turning eight, my grandmother died. She died the day b...