Naming my Aussie Guilty Pleasure

Matilda has been discussing guilty pleasures and has challenged others to name their own, which I feel brave enough to do. There is always some guilty pleasure to indulge in from time to time but I have discovered that in pregnancy, those ‘guilty pleasures’ can go into overdrive – and I don’t really know why...

What is my guilty pleasure?

At present I am being consumed by one in particular (or it is the other way round, really..) a Weis Bar.

I’ve always known and enjoyed Weis Bars, natural ice cream bars made of pure fruit and rich cream, they have been driving Australians crazy for almost 50 years. The trouble is it’s a fine time for me to have discovered their latest bar – Macadamia, Mango Bar – made of real Mangoes, cream & macadamia nuts, with no artificial colours or flavours - there is nothing like knowing it is good for you, to hose down those raging flames of guilt, is there?

For me, it has come as such a surprise that this particular fruit and nut is such a perfect accompaniment for each other – I’ll never think of one without the other from this time forward.

When I think of the Australian state I live in – Queensland (with it's famous slogan, "beautiful one day, perfect the next") – I think of mangoes and macadamia nuts. So many Queenslanders have the proverbial mango tree or macadamia nut tree in their backyard.

I grew up with two enormous mango trees just three houses down from us, they were SO big that when they were finally cut out for totally ruining the owner's house plumbing, it took 3 days to do it – they were gigantic! The sun got it's first look in in that yard in 100 years or more and the haunting sounds of the storm bird could be heard no more from it's branches.

Mango fever hits our state every year in the Mango season (summer time...so coming soon) and they are seen as the deluxe of all natural indulgements. There will be lorries parked on the sides of roads with a local farmer selling boxes of mangoes with a string of cars pulled to one side behind it, lining up for their box or two! (or more..) They are great to freeze and put through the blender for the most wonderful fruit smoothies.

Next door to us, they had a Macadamia nut tree, growing right next to our side fence and as a child I spent many an indulgent time collecting, cracking open with a hammer and gobbling cheeks-full of this delicious nut - a nut that is really the king of all nuts, in my opinion.

Matilda, a Weis Bar is certainly something to be experienced but I’m afraid they are a fair-dinkum Aussie product only, so if you ever come down under my way, it will be another guilty pleasure you can add to your list!

I have to have a final giggle....as I was searching for a suitable image of these bars I found a good one on someone else’s blog – and they had referred to it as a gluttonous sin!!!

I think I’ll stick to my term of ‘guilty pleasure’ otherwise I’ll be off to confession, confessing my pure indulgence in them...

So what is your guilty pleasure?

The Feast of the Divine Maternity of Mary

Last night we celebrated the feast of the Divine Maternity of Our Lady 11 October. I had recently been greatly inspired by Katherine's Apple Pie we thought we would do something similar for the feast with our new alphabet cutters.

With Summer now fast approaching, we have been barbecueing on our deck each night, enjoying the outdoor living and catching the delicious, evening sea breezes.

My pie is not as accomplished as Katherine's, in fact cooking for both function and esthetics is not my strong point, but I am certainly a believer that with practice MAY come perfection and so I am sure this pie will be one of many.

We chose "M" for Mary, "M" for Mother, such a great idea when cooking pies for liturgical feasts.

What was a smashing success ~ the receipe! Katherine, simply fabulous, such a lovely tasting pie, we all enjoyed it thoroughly! One slice left over, which someone will enjoy today, I'm sure...

Here are some links for good reading for the feast:

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira's page for the feast.

This page includes quotes from True Devotion

Mary's Divine Maternity

An article from Australia's AD2000

Divine Maternity

Prayer for the Feast of the DIVINE MATERNITY OF MARY

O God, Who didst please that Thy Word should take flesh at the message of an Angel in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, grant to us Thy suppliants that we, who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

"Happy Feast Day!"

Keeping my husband healthy and happy

I had mentioned in my previous post, Enjoying the splendor of all things green and healthy, I use the herb wheelbarrow predominately for my husband, for his lunch and home pharmacy. I thought I would write a post about what he takes to work for lunch each day. He has just started a new job at a funeral parlour and everyone there are fascinated with his lunch. (Weird concoction, sort of thing...but in awe that he eats to keep well.)

Actually, I will not hide the fact that I’m not sure I’d eat my own creations for the lame reason, I try to pamper my taste buds where I can (dare I say, I probably live to eat rather than eat to live, if I really analyse it all..) Can I also admit that I haven’t TRIED these meals, and there is a possibility that I might like the mix very much....I have never been one for trying new foods. (artichokes, tahini etc.) Sad, really, I could be missing out on something wonderful.

I will step you through the making of his lunch, chatting about why I use what I do or allowing the ingredient lead to a link that mentions it’s health benefits and the possible varieties I make from a base amount of ingredients. (The links are impressive, it has really re-enforced my own basic knowledge on the different foods/herbs.)

Firstly I go to my wheelbarrow and cut the following:

Herb Robert (4-5 leaves as a good daily requirement)
Gotu Kola (4 smaller sized leaves per day)
Comfrey (2 medium leaves)
Sorrel (1-2 leaves per day)
Rosemary (just a small amount)
Curry plant (just a little bit)
Parsley (a sprig or two)
Mint (the head of a stalk)

The first three listed are exceptional herbs, that I recommend anyone to read more about. Herbs that help keep the body well and healthy in many different ways.

I wash the herbs and then place them all in the comfrey leaves, roll up into a parcel and preceed to dice finely. I then take some iceberg lettuce and dice finely and mix the two lots together as seen in this photo – this is the daily ‘bed’ that never changes.

Then I add some of the following possible salad ingredients, they vary everyday depending what I have on hand or haven’t run out of.

Diced fresh tomato (when I don’t have fresh, I will add some marinated sun-dried tomatoes.)
Capsicum (not chilli or hot, like you might think but this is the word used by Aussies to describe the big, mild varieties.) I've come back to add this link to Wortcunning after reading Spinneretta's first comment and looking at her blog, and low and behold there was my capsicum, called a pepper in the States!!
Stuffed green olives, cut in two.
Artichokes in water (usually two artichokes, I use these, as I read that in Sardinia, where they have a more centenarians than other countries, where men live to the same statistical age as women, 1:1 and 90 year old men have their arteries tested, showing they have the arteries of 50 year olds – they use artichokes liberally in their diets and it can help with keeping the arteries young and healthy and digestive system working well - the link's info is fantastic.)
Diced red onion (I would love to add fresh garlic to this mix but with the line of work he does now, it is probably not appropriate to have garlic breath!)
I would like to add cucumbers and advocadoes to this mix but dh does not like cucumbers (about the only thing I know he DOESN’T like) and advocadoes don’t sit so well with him.

Then for something a little heavier in the salad, I can add one or two of the following:

Cheese (soft or hard), diced
One or two of our boiled, organic free-range chicken eggs, diced
Kidney beans
Left over meat, diced

Then I add the following dressings and accompaniments:

Always drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the salad – he doesn’t not like to eat the mix ‘too dry’ so he prefers I be liberal with it.
Occasionally I’ll squeeze a little fresh lemon juice as well.
I sprinkle dried stinging nettle over it all.
I always add a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, as dh loves the crunchy texture it adds to it.
I top the mix with tahini (sesaeme seed paste – high in calcium) and then finally sprinkle a dusting of maca powder on that, about 1tsp worth.

I try to put a little fruit in dh’s box each day, oranges and kiwi fruit we have here today. It can vary, sometimes organic saltanas or stewed blueberries or apple sprinkled with lemon juice, just depending what we have on hand...

His salad and fruit container fit nicely into this carry bag and they have a fridge at work for him to store it in, until lunchtime comes. I've often seen advertisements on tv in years gone past, where workmen complaining about their wives packing them 'rabbit food'. Dh on the other hand, complains if I fill the salad container to the top (usually it is 3/4's full) saying he is too full. So he finds it satisfying and he lasts the day through.

Tucked away in the carry bag is a little clip lock bag containing a brahmi tablet and 4 fish oil capsules, Brahmi for better memory recall and fish oil for general health and wellbeing.

Ready to go, with his drinking bottle as well.

Bottle colour look a little unusal?... Ready for it? ~ It is clay water (1tsp) to this litre bottle.

Terramin Clay to be precise.

This clay detoxifies and re-mineralizes the body. NASA had been using Terramin Clay since the mid sixties, when they discovered that prolonged weightlessness in space causes rapid osteoporosis and kidney stones. They sponsored a study to see what suppliments would reverse this situation and all the calcium suppliments/preparations failed, except the clay, particularly Terramin Clay which is a calcium based one.

This does not have a strange taste, it is quite mild and not too noticable. Dh use to be a house painter many years ago and has high levels of heavy metals in his body due to those exposures in the painting business. So slow, daily removal of toxins has been important to health and well being, as well encouraging good bone health and mineral balance.

Well there we have it! ~ dh's lunch!!