Thursday, April 26, 2007

Moudly pasta and stern statues

Statue that resides in the gardens of St Patricks Cathedral. I have absoloodely no idea who he is, but gosh darn he looks impressive.

Yesterday was a very good plastic free day, if I do say so myself:

- I washed the bathroom basin using a baking soda paste. This was so easy, and I'm a bit ashamed of myself for not doing it before. I shudder to think how many scary chemical cleaners I've been responsible for pouring down the sink over the years. Anyhoo, baking soda is very good at breaking down grease and grime, so you just plonk a bit into a cup, add enough water to make a paste, then smear it all over the dirty sink/bath/bench top. Wait 15 minutes or so, then scrub it all off. So simple! And now our basin is sparkling. I kid you not. It's gleam-a-rama in that bathroom of mine. If you're keen to try it yourself, here's a nifty site with lots of baking soda tips and tricks.

- Being a public holiday, you know this means a bike ride for the Jorth household. We took the Bay West rail trail again, but this time rode all the way along to under the West Gate Bridge. My verdict of the ride? Very windy. But a good kind of wind, the sort that blows all the cobwebs out. And a bit of sea air never goes astray. We were even big nerds who packed our own lunch: Moroccan sweet potato, carrot and chickpea soup in a thermos with some fresh organic bread. Yum! Although a word from the wise: Only add one tin of chickpeas to the soup, not two as I did. It kinda tasted far too chickpea-ey, rather more like a liquidy hoummus than a soup.

- With the good always comes bad: the pasta nests I made went mouldy. Sob, sob! In our old house we never encountered that problem, as it got a lot of sunlight in through the windows, and I would have ample room to let the pasta dry in the sun. In this house, however, it's much darker and colder, and the poor old pasta nests just didn't stand a chance. So, I'll make some more this weekend, then hang them over the clothes horse so the air can circulate all around. We live and learn. At least we had one meal out of them.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:35 pm

    you dont sound like a nerdy family. why do you call yourselves nerds? its not as though you are computer geeks,

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  2. Anonymous5:56 pm

    Bad luck about the pasta. And it's not nerdy to pack your own lunch (it sounded yummy). It used to be what everyone did. In the olden days. Thankyou for the comment!

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  3. Anonymous9:50 pm

    Back in the day when I use to cook for a living, we used to freeze our fresh pasta nests. First on a tray and then bundle them into a container when frozen.
    And drop them straight in boiling water to cook.

    Not as ecco-sound as dried pasta, I'm thinking but just a thought.

    I am enjoying following your plastic free quest. It's quite rivetting actually. And darned impressive.

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  4. Yay to you!

    I use Baking soda too. If you want to and a little germ blasting to it, you can add a few drops of eucalytus oil to the mix. It smells great too.

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  5. Anonymous8:09 am

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. oh, that's crap.

    See, that would have set me off on a rant, and i'd vow never to try and be good again. I'm undisciplined like that.

    *Especially* when it's hard-worked, homemade and all the rest. It's hardly like throwing out something made by Cottees.

    Grrr.

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  7. My condolences on the pasta.

    I must agree that the anonymous statued fellow does look impressive. My chances of being immortalized in marble are somewhat slim, but on the off-chance that I become posthumously famous, I'd like it recorded here that I want to be carved wearing a swishy skirt. Oh, and heels, as I am short.

    ReplyDelete

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