Great digestive biscuit recipe No. 2

Nothing too taxing about this: digestive, cheese, butter, Marmite. A good cheese can make anything taste good. I'm convinced that if you put decent cheese on top of a plate of sawdust it will taste good. Not that digestive biscuits need anything added to them to make them taste better - they're pretty good tasting all by themselves. But there's something about cheese and Marmite and butter and a crumbly thick digestive that just works really well. The first time I tasted this combination was after a night out with my friend Caroline (I have her to thank for introducing me to eating digestives this way). And I was surprised that something with such basic ingredients could taste so good. But that's usually the way it is.

The only problem with eating biscuits this way is that you have double the guilt - treble the guilt if you add butter, which I always do. And because this is so quick and easy to prepare you could quite happly work your way through the biscuit tin as well as a packet of cheese. You'd be OK with the Marmite, though, because as everyone knows, that never runs out...

Quick and easy fried bread

One of the excuses people use for living on precooked convenience foods is that it takes too long to make a decent meal from scratch. Utter tosh. Granted, if you want to eat burgers and fries, then yes, it will take quite a bit of time to make that meal from scratch. But what’s the point of making burgers and fries when you can get them anywhere and everywhere. Surely one of the good things about making a meal from scratch is that it’s not food you’re going to see on every restaurant menu (including the fast-food ones).

When I lived in the UK, I rarely made Indian dishes because there are so many excellent Indian restaurants on almost every high street in the south east of the country – in a lot of other places in the country too. The food’s excellent and it’s reasonably priced. However, that’s not the case here in Edmonton. While there are Indian restaurants, they’re not that accessible for me (at least not without having to drive miles).

I sometimes try my hand at the odd curry but having tasted such good Indian food, it’s always just an OK dish. I find that it’s much easier to whip up a cracking pasta dish. And now we really are talking quick cooking! Jamie Oliver has a recipe in one of his cookbooks that uses no more than half a dozen ingredients and it’s excellent. I’m always amazed that something with so few ingredients in it can taste so good. It’s spaghetti, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, chilli, anchovies, and lemon. However, what really makes this dish so good, I suspect, is the pangritata that’s placed on top of the spaghetti after cooking. Pangritata is poor person’s parmesan cheese – what the pheasants in Italy used to use instead of parmesan. It’s basically fried bread so probably not that good for you, but at least it’s cooked in olive oil and not lard! In Jamie’s chilli spaghetti recipe, you cook breadcrumbs – and these have to be course breadcrumbs, it won’t work with fine ones – in olive oil with sliced garlic and thyme. Once they turn crispy and golden, drain on absorbent kitchen paper all ready for when the pasta’s finished.

To make the pasta dish, cook the spaghetti. While it’s cooking, soften a chopped garlic clove in three or four tablespoons of olive oil. Add the anchovies to the pan. Once they start to melt, crumble in a dried chilli or sprinkle in some chilli flakes, and squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Once the pasta’s cooked, add the chilli mix and give it a good stir so that all the pasta’s coated. Divide between two bowls and then sprinkle on the pangritata. It takes no longer than around 15 minutes to prepare – including all preparation. I would happily eat this every day if I could only convince myself that fried bread was good for my health!

Spicy squash soup - a simple one that is

Another first for me living here in Canada was cooking with squash. I never tried it before back home, but I was so tempted by all the interesting looking squash in the supermarket that I had to give it a go. Admittedly, this recipe isn’t that adventurous but I am just beginning remember; and at least I can claim this recipe as my own (and if it exists elsewhere then that’s pure coincidence – on my part at least!). However, I now know why I don’t bother devising my own recipes: I can never remember all the ingredients I used (never mind how much I used!). And even when it comes to no more than five ingredients (see below), I still struggle – must be an age thing.

Spicy Squash Soup

Vegetable oil
1 butternut squash – skinned, gutted, and chopped into manageable chunks
1 large onion – skinned and chopped
1 garlic clove – crushed (I may be getting this ingredient mixed up with another recipe but I don’t think it would hurt to add it to this soup)
2 tablespoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin (don’t worry – these spices were both used and the measurements are exact!)
Half a litre of vegetable stock (or enough to cover the squash)

In a large saucepan, gently fry the onion (and garlic if using) in the oil until soft and shiny. Add the cubed squash and the spices and stir until everything’s coated. Add the vegetable stock and gently simmer everything for around 20 minutes until the squash is soft. Place in a blender and blend until smooth.

You know it makes sense

When I was growing up, I used to dimiss a lot of what my dad said because he was old; and because he didn't wear high-waisted flared trousers and wedge shoes. The people who knew stuff were the ones who looked like I wanted to look. Now that I'm middle-aged, I've come to realise that my dad did actually talk a lot of sense. One of the things he used to tell me was that it was important to eat breakfast, which is something I do every day now - and have done for quite a number of years. I don't understand people who don't wake up hungry. One of the best things about getting out of bed (or should that be the only best thing about getting out of bed?!) is breakfast.

My breakfast is home-made muesli. It's a fairly basic concoction comprising oats, nuts, seeds, and raisins. I usually throw on top some fresh berries (blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries), and then pour cold semi-skimmed milk (or 1 percent milk which is the closest equivalent here in Canada) over. It's absolutely delicious. It's the best thing I eat all day, any day. It's easy to prepare (I pre-mix all the ingredients - first chopping up the nuts, which are usually almonds - and then just spoon this from the storage container into my breakfast bowl), easy to eat, and you can just rinse the spoon and bowl out with water afterwards. Simple.

The reason breakfast is so important is that it provides the body with fuel to start the day and keep it going until lunchtime. People who don't eat breakfast usually find themselves hungry around mid-morning and then have to eat whatever they can get their hands on, which usually isn't breakfast cereal, but calorie-dense foods such as pastries or potato chips or chocolate bars. And it's this practice that usually mystifies some people as to why they're not losing weight - or gaining it. While it's true that they're just substituting a mid-morning snack for breakfast, it's what that substitution is that usually causes the problems.

Although when it comes to what to eat for breakfast, perhaps those breakfast-skippers are better off with a bag of chips than they are with most commerically produced cereals. Because unless you're eating a cereal that's a simple wholegrain, e.g. puffed wheat (not Sugar Puffs!), chances are you're not eating a particularly healthy breakfast. Look at the ingredients listed on most boxes of cereal and you'll see added sugar and salt. Most people may think they've grown out of having two tablespoons of sugar sprinkled on their Weetabix but they could very well still be eating the same in the guise of something else!

The good thing about oats is that they fill you up and release energy slowly into the body so they keep you going for longer. They can also help with your mood as it's claimed that alkaloid gramine, one of the components of oats, has mild sedative properties. You can eat them with cold milk, or make porridge with warm milk (or water). Oats also contain fibre which helps to keep bad cholesterol levels low; fibre also helps to keep you regular so another good reason to include them in your diet.

Now why didn't any of those cool looking people I wanted to be when I was growing up tell me this...?

Up where we belong

There has recently been some debate in the local paper here in Edmonton about cycling on the sidewalk (or what I call the pavement). Some cyclists prefer to ride on the sidewalk as they see riding on the road as too dangerous. In most cases, from what I can see, these are usually the big boys who look as hard a nails, but evidently that’s all swagger. You see them sitting as far back as they can on the saddles of their customized bikes nonchalantly weaving in and out of the pedestrians along Whyte Avenue. Now Whyte Avenue is probably one of the busiest sidewalks in Edmonton. It’s stupid to cycle along this sidewalk, mainly because, due to the numbers of people walking along it, it would take you ages to actually get anywhere!

I don’t generally have a problem with cycling on the sidewalk – I have to admit to doing it myself at times. However, this is usually when I want to travel the wrong way down a one-way street, or after I’ve crossed a road at the most convenient place to do so and I’m travelling against the flow of traffic. In both instances, we’re talking about riding on the sidewalk for no more than about 50 metres or so - and doing so very slowly. (Although here in Edmonton you see so few people out walking along the residential roads, at any time, that causing injury to someone by riding on the sidewalk is something that I imagine happens very rarely, if ever.)

During the debate as to whether cyclists should be “allowed” to ride on the sidewalk, one of the members of the provincial parliament said something to the effect that cyclists should ride on the sidewalk and that it’s safer for them to do so. Now this I have to disagree with. Rarely is it safer to cycle on the sidewalk than the road. One of the reasons being that the majority of motorists aren’t expecting to see a cyclist on the sidewalk so won’t be looking out for one. This means that if a car is pulling out of an alleyway (of which there are a lot here), there’s a good chance that if you’re cycling along the sidewalk the two of you will collide. For starters, as a cyclist, you will be travelling faster than a pedestrian will be walking. The motorist will be thinking that he can travel at a speed that will enable him to stop in time if he sees someone walking; however, this speed may not enable him to stop in time if you’re approaching on your bike. That’s just one of the dangers for cyclists riding on the sidewalk.

Cyclists are safest when they’re predictable and we are most predictable when we’re riding on the road: this is, after all, where we belong. Which brings me to an important point about this issue: anyone who wants to be taken seriously as a road user should use their vehicle in the manner for which it was intended. If we all take to the sidewalks, then we lose credibility as cyclists – and as road users. I don't know about North America, but in the UK it’s taken years for cycling to be accepted as a credible mode of transport and not just something people do because they can’t afford to drive. If cyclists move from the roads to the sidewalks then we risk going back to the situation where cycling is again viewed as a substitute mode of transport, not a preferred one.

Stick to the roads whenever you can. Ride assertively and predictably. And try not to feel intimidated by motorists. Remember that we have every right to be on the roads. It’s where we belong.

Great digestive biscuit recipe No. 1

This is the easiest dessert in the whole wide world. Just three ingredients and no instructions - the photo shows how it's made. I use a nice thick Greek yogurt, although if you really wanted to go for it, you could use cream. The biscuits are digestives (McVitie's to be precise), because they’re not too sweet and are relatively sturdy.

As soon as you bite into this it will fall apart – so a plate’s fairly useful. Don’t bother with any cutlery though; fingers are all you need.

Bean and gone

I have a great recipe for broad (fava) beans (or rather Rose Elliot does), which is why I decided to grow them this summer. When buying seeds I’m always tempted by the packets with those little veggie cartoons on the front: if kids can grow them, surely I can! I had moderate success with the broad beans. The beans I picked were of a decent size, color, and shape, and tasted good; however, some pods were soft and misshapen and their beans weren’t good. I’m not too sure if the beans were blighted by a disease or if I just didn’t give them enough room in which to grow (I have a modest sized veg patch in my back garden). I also think they may have suffered from a lack of water when I was away for a week or so.

Anyway, they take a good photo!

Rose Elliot's Penne with Minto Pesto, Peans, and Beans (or a variation thereon):

Boil up a pan of penne. While the pasta is boiling, finely chop some mint leaves, crush a garlic clove and stir these into some olive oil. When the pasta is almost ready, add peas and broad beans. Once the pasta’s cooked, drain it (taking care not to lose any of the small peas during the process!), then stir in the mint pesto and season. Serve with parmesan cheese.

Note: If the broad beans are particularly tough, you may need to boil them first, remove their skins, and then add them to the pasta once it's cooked. Frozen peas and beans work just as well, and if you can’t get broad beans, use lima beans.

Lovely jubbly

Unless I’m in a really good mood, I can usually count on the fingers of one hand - excluding my thumb - what I like about living in Edmonton (although when I lived in the UK I rarely needed more than one hand for the same exercise). One of those things is cooking on the barbecue in the summer. I know that barbecue cooking isn’t exclusive to Alberta, but to me it sort of is as before I moved to Canada I had never used a barbecue. I had eaten food cooked on one, but never used one to cook on myself.

When our landlord was showing me and my boyfriend round the house we’re now in, she pointed to the contraption tucked away at the back of the shed and said that we could use it (the barbie) if we wanted to. Seeing as my boyfriend is vegetarian we didn’t think we would ever bother to roll the thing out of the shed, but this being my third summer in Alberta, I find I’m using the barbecue more and more.

Yesterday evening I thought I would try cooking chips on it using Jamie Oliver’s “recipe” from his Jamie at Home cookbook. It’s not so much a recipe more a suggestion (but then I suppose all recipes are): slice potatoes in half inch rounds, par boil for five minutes, drain the water, throw in some olive oil and herbs, shake around, and then place the potatoes on the barbecue. I had only one of the herbs Jamie suggested using, which was rosemary, and I think that most of this got washed away with the olive oil at the bottom of the pan as there seemed to be very little green stuff stuck to the potatoes when they went on the barbecue, but nevertheless, these chips were bloomin’ lovely! (As the geezer himself would say.)

What helped with their loveliness was serving them with rhubarb habanero ketchup. I picked this up when I was downtown yesterday in the city’s gourmet supermarket (for gourmet read sells sundried tomatoes). It’s a locally produced ketchup-cum-chutney and very tasty. Habanero peppers are small spicy peppers from Havana (habanero meaning from Havana – La Habana – my clever boyfriend told me). The ketchup is made by Cooks Corner with all natural ingredients. Lovely jubbly!

So that’s two things I like then…

Chip off the old block

The problem with not eating fast food on a regular basis is that you don’t know how the menus work. Today I ventured into the city centre to buy tickets for a concert and as I hadn’t eaten lunch before hopping on my bike and cycling in, I thought I would catch up with Colonel Saunders and see how things are with his KFC. However, when I got to the KFC concession stand in the city centre mall I couldn’t be bothered to queue (it is, after all, just seasoned chicken remember).

I therefore decided to try some New York Fries. Less damaging than KFC (no meat at least), and probably cheaper (although on reflection I’m not sure it was). I always approach fast food menus with a little trepidation as they’re not quite as simple as they should be. To me, at least, it seems there are endless permutations of items and to simply ask for a burger and chips would just leave everyone confused (if not a little disppointed given the creativity that's gone into producing those menus). Anyway, the menu at NYF didn’t look too complicated (although I did wait until the customer in front had moved off so she wouldn’t actually hear what I was about to order). At the time, the chances of walking away with a simple portion of fries seemed out of reach, so I asked for a portion with sour cream and tomatoes (these were two of the four ingredients under the heading “Veggie Works”). The woman behind the counter – see what I mean? I don’t even know the correct term for someone who dishes this stuff up! – explained that the Veggie Works included all four ingredients. I knew then that I had screwed up, so said that that would be great and yes, please. I walked away feeling very grateful for her patience in dealing with someone who obviously belongs in the first half of the 20th century.

But thrifty NYF ain’t. $4.99 for a bowl of about thirty fries, covered in Cheez Whizz, sour cream, chopped tomatoes and green onions. And half of those fries tasted of little else than the plastic cheese. Next time I’m standing my ground and having just the fries!

On a green note though, I kept the plastic fork the woman advised me to pick up once she’d handed me my fries. I will keep it in my bag with my plastic spoon. I find it difficult to use this stuff and then throw it away. I’ve been carrying the spoon around with me since I found it impossible to throw away one of those plastic stirrers you get in the coffee shops (I think I’ve also got that in my bag too!). The spoon’s great though: just use it to swirl your milk into your coffee, stick it in your mouth to wipe it and then put it back in your bag. Although I sometimes take a little extra care with hygiene and use an old tissue I might have in my bag to wipe it clean...

Soap story

The reason I got into soap-making has nothing to do with thriftyness, or green or DIY living. It’s because I’m a sucker for a pretty package. In fact it doesn’t even have to be pretty. Some products are packaged in such a “natural” way that there’s little room for prettiness – and still these pull me in. The products I get a particular thrill out of seeing cleverly packaged are those that fall into the “lotions and potions” category – shower gel, hand lotion, and especially soap. Soap is such a useful product, too; shower gel and hand lotion I can live without (almost), but soap certainly has its uses. That’s why I bought a book from Amazon and set about making my own. As you can see, I’m still working on the packaging…

Making soap's just like cooking really. You take quantities of basic ingredients, mix them together, and then enjoy the results. You have to wait a little longer when making soap than you do, say, a cheese pie, to sample your endeavours however. But when you see your first bar of soap foaming up as you turn it over and over in your wet hands, it’s well worth it. And making your own soap does of course incorporate thrifty, green, and DIY living. It’s cheap to produce your own bars, no unnecessary chemicals or materials need be used, and you make it completely from scratch.

A very basic recipe for making soap involves just three ingredients: lye, fats, and water. There are lots of other ingredients you can add if you want your soap a little less basic, such as essential oils, bees wax, colorings, but these three ingredients are all that you need to make soap. If you've never used sodium hydroxide (lye) before then you need to know that it should always be handled with care. Wear rubber gloves and protective eye-wear when dealing with lye, and keep it stored away from children and animals - and anyone else who might be curious enough to know what it is! And before you ask, no, it's not possible to make soap without lye; there's no "safer" alternative.

Basic Soap Recipe (suitable for vegetarians)

Ingredients:

2oz (57g) lye

5oz (142g) distilled water or spring water

16oz (454g) vegetable fat (for the last soap I made, I used a 50/50 mix of olive oil and corn oil)

Equipment:

2 enamel or stainless steel pots

2 glass candy thermometers

Weighing scales (kitchen scales are fine)

Eye protection (DIY glasses or similar)

2 plastic spatulas for stirring

Old towel or blanket (to wrap soap once in mould)

Plastic mould (use what you can find!)

Knife for cutting the soap once it's hardened

Melt the fat in a pot. Use a stainless steel or enamel pot; don't use aluminum or iron as these will react with the lye, which you will add later. Once the fat has melted, turn off the heat and leave until the temperature settles at about 130 degrees F (54C).

In another stainless steel or enamel pot, place your water and then carefully pour the lye into the water. Put on your protective eye-gear and rubber gloves for this (and never pour water into lye or you’ll have an explosion on your hands!). Stir until the lye is dissolved. The mixture will give off a small amount of fumes, so be careful not to have your face too near and breathe in; it's best to do this in a well ventilated part of the house. Leave the solution until the temperature settles at about 130 degrees F (54C).

Then add the lye solution to the fats and carefully stir intermittently. After a while the mixture will start to thicken and then "trace" (leave a trace when it falls from the stirrer back onto the mixture in the pot). Once this stage has been reached, pour it into your mould. Don't worry if it takes ages for your soap to trace, sometimes when working with vegetable oils it can. If you've spent the best part of two or three hours stirring your soap every so often and it's thickening but not actually tracing, just pour it into the mould and it'll be OK. Wrap your mould in a towel or blanket for 24 hours, after which time the soap should be hard enough to cut (if your soap took a long time to trace it may not be hard until two or three days after having poured it into your mould). Whenever it is hard enough to cut, take your soap out of the mould and, wearing the rubber gloves (the soap will still be caustic at this stage so may irritate your skin), cut it into bars. Cover the bars and place them somewhere to "cure" (complete the saponification process) for six weeks before use.

Saponification occurs when an acid (fats or oils) is mixed with a caustic alkali (sodium hydroxide in the case of hard soap, also referred to as lye or caustic soda). When these two are mixed at a certain temperature, a process called saponification is triggered, the result of which is soap.

Once you've mastered this basic recipe you can experiment using different fats and oils, and then start incorporating other ingredients into your soap, such as fragrances, colors, and even fruit and vegetables.

Source: Melinda Coss: The Handmade Soap Book

Cheez pleaz

There’s a great scene in the film Infamous (starring Toby James as Truman Capote) where, having recently moved to Kansas, he's invited to a dinner party (of sorts). Being used to spending his days dining in the best restaurants in New York, Capote goes in search of a fine cheese to take as a gift to his hostess. At the local supermarket he's horrified to find that the only cheese on sale is Velveeta. Velveeta is far from fine cheese, or any cheese come to that; it's a "cheese product" – the original Cheez Whizz.

Capote was right: You can tell a lot about the civilization of a place from the cheese its inhabitants consume. I felt a bit like Capote when I first went to buy cheese here in my local Safeway's. On first sighting, I took the orange colored cheese in the supermarket to be slabs of Red Leicester and found it a bit strange that this particular cheese was so popular in Alberta. Until, that was, I discovered that the orange cheese was in fact regular processed "cheddar." In Alberta, the cheddar we get in the UK is referred to as white cheddar (and isn't orange).

But if you're looking for something a little more exotic than orange cheese here in Edmonton, then you may have a problem, especially when it comes to halloumi cheese. Because it seems that this cheese can't be had for love nor money. Well, actually you can find it if you venture out to the bigger supermarkets - but only during the summer months. The assistant in Save on Foods, where I was unable to buy some the other day, advised me that it's only stocked during the summer (it's the middle of August now but seeing as it's winter for six months of the year here, I suppose it's conceivable that autumn's already upon us).

The reason that halloumi is only stocked during the summer here in Edmonton is that, as it doesn’t melt, it’s a great cheese for the barbecue. And it certainly is: no more having to worry about what to feed vegetarians, and no more having to worry about whether what your guests are eating is actually cooked! But halloumi is more than just a gimmicky cheese that holds its shape when heated; it's also a delicious tasting cheese, creamy and salty with a lovely soft and chewy texture. There’s also something else that’s a little gimmicky about it; it squeaks when you eat it.

For great tasting halloumi kebabs (or kabobs as they're called in North America), marinate chunks of the cheese, with cherry tomatoes, squares of red pepper and red onion, and mushrooms in olive oil, crushed garlic, a little lemon juice and some chopped herbs (thyme, parsley, mint, and oregano work well). A few hours in the marinade should be enough. And then thread the cheese and veggies on to skewers and away you go. Use the remains of the marinade to baste the kebabs while they’re cooking. And if it’s raining, just use the grill.

Halloumi shouldn't be a "seasonal" cheese; it tastes just as good cooked indoors as it does out. So if anyone knows where to get it (all year around) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, please let me know!

Let's get this party started

Nigella says that her party popcorn is a thrifty recipe. Not many ingredients are needed and of those that are, only very small quantities are called for in this recipe. Popcorn's not expensive and you get lots of it for your money. So, yes, I suppose she's right. Although I find it difficult associating the word thrifty with anything connected to the divine Domestic Goddess...

As much as I like popcorn, there are a few drawbacks to eating it. It gets stuck between your teeth for days after you've eaten it (and yes, I do floss). And if you eat it at the cinema with melted butter poured over the top, then you end up with grease stains on your clothes. That's why I decline the offer of butter whenever I eat it at the cinema - that and the conversation I once overhead in the queue for popcorn during which the young woman in the popcorn kiosk told the guy in front of me that it wasn't really butter but margarine (pronounced mar-ja-rin in Canada) that they used. Urgh. (It's always important to get the balance between thrifty and taste right.) But if you wanted to make Nigella's party popcorn even more thriftily then you could substitute margarine for the butter in the recipe.

If you do decide to try this recipe - and it's well worth it as it's quick to make and tastes very good - then here are a few tips (plus photos)...

On the YouTube clip (the one in which the Domestic Goddess is looking glam in a LBD and natty cardigan), Nigella says that all you need to do once you've melted the butter and mixed in the spices is to pour the mixture over the popcorn and stir. I think she's opted for this method so as not to ruin her party look. It won't really work, as given the ratio of spice mixture to popcorn you will coat only about a fifth of the popcorn. What you need to do is what Nigella suggests in her recipe book, and that's take a big paper bag (although plastic will do if you don't have a paper bag), put the popcorn in it, dribble the spice mixture over, and then close the top of the bag up and shake - and shake, and shake. I think Nigella suggests three shakes, but again, she's taken the leisurely approach to party popcorn here because if you want to ensure that as many of the popped kernels as possible are covered, then you need to shake x about 10. And then get dressed for the party.

Hung out to dry

The winters here in Alberta can be brutal. The average temperature is around -20 degrees Celsius and there's snow on the ground for about six months. Everyone finds it hard going. A guy I was working with a year or so ago, during the winter time, started talking about taking a vacation to the UK to escape not only the cold and snow, but the monotony that can accompany the winter weather: Every day you wake up and look out of your window and everything looks exactly the same as it did the day before, and the day before that. One question he wanted answered was: how do the English do their laundry? I imagine that he had been carrying out a bit of research on properties in the UK and not many mentioned "utility room." I told him that while most homes would have a washing machine, not everyone used a tumble dryer (or indeed had one) to dry their clothes. It's not necessary when living in the UK. Although I had a tumble dryer when I lived in England, I very rarely used it. I, like most other people, dried my clothes outdoors.

I still do dry my clothes outdoors when I can. Obviously it's not possible during the winter, but once the temperature warms up, I place my clothes airer outside. While I can't say that there are no downsides to line drying, it's still the best way to dry clothes, not only from an environmental perspective, but from a clothes perspective too. Line drying is kinder to your clothes as well as to the environment.

For instance, the average tumble dryer gets pretty hot. Hot temperatures aren't kind to clothes and can damage the fibers in some items such as panties and bras, causing them to lose their shape quicker than they would if they were dried naturally.

Not only is the sun kinder to clothes, but it also comes complete with a few add-ons: It's a natural bleaching agent helping light colored items to stay that way. The sun can also help to remove stains in clothes: Place a few drops of lemon juice on a stain you want to shift and then place the item outdoors in the sun to dry. Another good thing about the sun where laundry's concerned is that it's also a natural deodorizer, so if you've got some clothes that don't smell too good, drying them in the sun should help to get rid of their odor.

Even though it's referred to as line drying, you don't really need a line to do it. Go to Ikea and pick up one of their clothes airers (or two depending on how much laundry you need to do at one time). Actually, you don't even need good weather to dry clothes naturally: Fix up a clothes airer somewhere in your house and leave the clothes to dry there - no worry about having to rush out and bring your clothes indoors when it starts to rain then.

The one drawback to line drying, for me anyway, is that I sometimes find I need to iron clothes, whereas if I've tumble dried them, having given them enough space to move freely in the dryer, I usually don't need to. But then a lot of this is personal. One man's creased shirt is another man's shirt that "looks fine to me."

Lastly, yes, a little more effort is involved in line drying (you've got to transport your clothes from machine to line and back indoors again - and have to rush to do so if it starts to rain), but we're not talking triathlon training here. And what are we using our bodies for nowadays anyway...?

Cup of char...?

Nigella’s Madeira cake is baking in the oven, and I’m looking forward to a slice with a cup of tea. I'm not going to write about Nigella now; I will save that for later, when I can post photos of her party popcorn here. This blog is about tea…

I’ve come to the conclusion that as we get older, we take more pleasure from the simple things in life. These are often the least expensive things, too. Tea isn’t free, of course, but it feels that way to me at the moment because the last time I was over in the UK I brought three huge cartons of Twinings Assam tea back with me, and am slowly working my way through them. It’s possible to buy Assam tea here in Edmonton, but not in tea bags: you have to go to one of the city’s fancy tea shops and buy it loose – for a pretty penny, too.

Talking of loose tea, my friend recently introduced me to Oghab tea, which is similar in taste to Assam although not as "malty." I’ve no idea what Oghab actually means – if it’s place or name of a tea company. I searched online but the results were in Persian and I didn’t glean a great deal from them. My friend is Iranian, and when we drink this tea in her house, she serves it in pretty glass cups – without milk. I don’t usually drink tea without milk but I’m content to do so in S’s house as when she hands me the tea, there miraculously appears small trays of delicacies to be eaten with our tea, which more than makes up for any absence of milk. And anyway, adding milk to the tea would mean I wouldn’t get to see the lovely dark amber liquid twinkling through the cut glass of the cup. The delicacies S serves up include a sort of Iranian trail mix. There are none of the rubbishy bits you get in the average trail mix such as Smarties and chocolate chips (nor are the nuts coated in salt); in this trail mix there are pistachios and these lovely soft berries that have a hint of caramel to them. Delicious.

The Oghab tea is loose tea and I’ve discovered that there’s no need for a tea strainer or to place the tea in one of those charming looking infusers when you make it. Just pour a couple of teaspoons in the pot and away you go. The leaves settle on the bottom of the teapot which means that you’re not forever having to pick them off your tongue.

Few people actually know how to make a decent cup of tea. I’ve even heard some people talk about using a microwave in which to “boil” the water. There was mention of this method on englishteastore.com’s website, but so was the word “inferior” in the same sentence, so let’s move on.

I’m not convinced that you can make a good cup of tea without boiling water. I tend to steer clear of tea that’s made with hot water from an urn. Water boils at around 210 degrees Fahrenheit and I’m pretty sure that hot water in an urn is kept at around the 190-degrees-Fahrenheit mark. Not a lot in it maybe, and not enough to deter someone who’s desperate for a cup of tea in Starbuck’s or wherever. But if you can boil the water, then it’s best to do so.

It’s claimed that loose tea makes a better tasting cup of tea, but I won’t hear a bad word said about the tea bag. Convenient, clean, and compostable. If you do use loose tea, the teapot should be warmed beforehand as this helps to maintain the brewing temperature thus extracting more flavor from the tea during the brewing process. Regardless of whether you use loose tea or a tea bag, it’s important to let the tea actually brew. Some people’s idea of making tea is to wave the tea bag in front of the boiling water and have done with it. You need to leave the tea to brew for at least three minutes. And there’s no need to fuss with it during this time; don’t keep squeezing the tea bag or stirring the pot. Go away and do something less boring instead. Like slice the cake…

Baking soda plus elbow grease = clean dishes

Sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda as it's more commonly known, is a pretty versatile item. Not only it is useful in baking, but it can be used in so many places around the home. It’s inexpensive and non-toxic – it doesn’t contain any nasty, harsh chemicals, and won’t leave you gagging for air when you use it unlike many other commercially produced cleaning products. You do need to employ a little elbow grease when using baking soda to clean, though. But with an abrasive cloth, a bit of effort, and a little time, you can clean off baked-on food from cooking pots and pans without too much fuss.

When using baking soda to get rid of stubborn stains, sprinkle it on and then dampen it with a little water and just leave it for a few hours. You may need to repeat the process, but eventually you’ll get your pot or casserole dish clean.

The photos show the stages of cleaning a glass dish with baking soda. The top photo shows the original application of baking soda; the middle photo shows how the dish looked after the baking soda was rinsed off the first time; and the bottom photo shows how the dish looked after the second application of baking soda was washed off. Admittedly, the cleaning process may not have removed every single last stain, but you can look on those as reminders of great meals gone by!

Cans, buttons, and bottle tops

Going green is a little like dieting; in order for it to be effective, it has to be a lifestyle change rather than just a quick-fix action. And anyone who wants to fully embrace the concept of "living green" has to develop their imagination and start looking at everyday household objects from a slightly different perspective. It's an approach that can reap dividends though, and you can save money on your weekly spending as well as reduce the amount of space you would otherwise be taking up at your local landfill site.

Before you place any household item in the garbage or recycling bin, consider its potential uses. Below are a few examples of how you can turn ordinary household items into useful objects that come with absolutely no price tag.

Cans: Repurpose cans and tins as individual plant pots. Pierce the bottom of the can to allow water to drain and then fill with soil and seeds. The plants can be transplanted into bigger containers or directly into the soil in your back yard at the appropriate time. Similarly, plastic fruit containers (punnets) can be used as plant pots.

Cans can also be used as storage pots for pens and pencils.

Bottles: Attractive bottles can be repurposed as vases for flowers. These can look great when filled with one or two striking looking flowers. Dot these around your home when you're having friends to dinner and you're guaranteed a topic of conversation at the dinner table!

Newspaper: Keep pages from newspapers to clean windows and glass. Wipe the surface with a mixture of water, liquid soap or detergent, and a little vinegar and then dry with scrunched-up newspaper.

Buttons: Before throwing away an item of clothing, remove any attractive embellishments such as pretty buttons. Re-use them to add a unique and interesting look to an otherwise drab looking bag or jacket. Store your buttons in large plastic can lids.

CDs: Hang your old CDs over the areas in your garden that you want to protect from birds. Or use your old CDs as coasters.

Bottle Tops: Recycle colored bottle tops into an attractive "bead" curtain. Thread the bottle tops onto pieces of string and then hang these pieces of string across a cane: attach the cane to the horizontal top section of a door frame.

Shower Curtain: Clean an old shower curtain by leaving it to soak in water and vinegar for a couple of hours, and then re-use as a table cloth when having a picnic. You can also use it as a ground sheet under sleeping bags when camping, or to protect surfaces around the home when painting.

Magazines: Cut out colorful and attractive pictures from magazines and use them to decoupage an old table or piece of furniture. Or decoupage a wall of a room with photos cut from magazines.

The possibilities are endless! All it takes is a little imagination and then you'll be hooked on finding uses for your everyday household items.

You say beet, I say beetroot

When I told people that I was relocating to Canada, most, at some stage, commented, "At least you won't have to learn a new language." In most respects they were right; but not all.

Beetroot is called plain beet over here. Rutabaga is a turnip; mangetout is called snow peas. My neighbour asked me the other day why I don't call a carrot a carrotroot, if I call a beet a beetroot. There is no answer to that. Or not one that I could give if I still want to be on the receiving end of the tomato plants he so generously donates to me every summer.

Having taken a leaf out of my neighbor's book, I attempted to grow my own veg this year. The growing season is relatively short here in Western Canada. Unfortunately, I couldn't start sowing indoors this spring as I was away for the month of April, so I had to sow straight into the ground - once I could see it that was (for six months of the year, it's mostly covered in snow).

Growing your own vegetables is a pretty satisfying process. Pulling the first beets up out of the ground, or gently picking off the first tomatoes from your plant, can induce a feeling of real self-sufficiency and capability. However, my vegetable patch isn't particularly big, and, as my neighbor had earlier pointed out, I only have enough veg for one or two meals. Which means that not only will I be eating the beets, but I'll need to find out what I can do with the leaves so I don't go hungry...