Okay, so its been a while since I last posted anything. Ok ok, so its been a REALLY long time since I posted anything. Nevertheless, here it is, an elusive post. Campbell Street Cottage.
Campbell Street Cottage is home to a weird and wacky couple who have been cooking up some great food in the months passed. It's an eccentric home, filled with odd-ball artwork, half-finished framing jobs, wafts of incense clouds, a myriad of arb instruments, a garden of spice, and specs of flour and dough in every crack and crevasse you can eyeball. Its a wonderful place to spend my time.
Since returning from Sri Lanka at the beginning of this year we have been revitalized. What a fantastic country and people. We have grown a lot and lately have become interested in becoming as self-sustainable as possible. Which means we have learnt to start making our own pantry products without having to rely on store-bought, preservative laiden, hormone mutated produce. I'm not really sure where this urge to live like this came from, possibly a
spinoff from my recent studies in environmental management or possibly a result
of the slight hermatage lifestyle I have been living for the past few years,
mixed with the strain of the financial noose that gets wrapped around our heads
once our parents shake us from the suckling teet. Either way, I have found
myself thirsty for knowledge. Knowledge of how to do things ourselves rather
than employing or relying on the production of others. It all started with a
simple vegetable garden.
When we moved into the Campbell Street Cottage there was backyard, not in great shape, but a backyard nonetheless. So we started a veggie garden. It wasn't easy and we definitely went about it the wrong way those first few
years - too many vegetables all planted at the same time equals BUMPER CROP of
note. We have since improved our veggie gardening skills and now have over 45
different vegetables, herbs and spices growing in the garden. We have summer and
winter harvests of seasonal vegetables and a year round supply of fresh herbs. We
try grow as many ingredients as we can, including some exotics which I have
recently planted (cardomom, ginger, galangal, star anise ,nigella etc) Its
become slightly obsessive, to the point where I even thought about growing my
own wheat to make my flour.
So that was stage 1 of our revolution. Next I
started building things. Learning capentry and trying my hand at making frames,
wooden chopping boards,musical instruments (stompbox and diddly-bow), additional
cupboard shelves etc. I started refurbishing old furniture of ours as well,
trying to improve our house without spending too much money and at the same time
adding intrinsic value to the furniture as we gain a sense of accomplishment
everytime we use it.
Stage 3 - Fatti and Moni aint got nothing
on me. For my birthday this year I was gifted with a pasta machine. A turning
point in my culinary and self-sufficiency journey. My first batch of pasta was
an absolute abortion, the dough was too eggy and I didn't roll it out thin
enough and it ended up being like eggy pylons. But I have learnt and now produce
possibly the best pasta this side of Cape road. Made lasagne last week that
brought me to tears. I made a batch one sunday afternoon for Nix's folks and
they called me on Monday evening to say that it was the best pasta they ever
tasted and quote unquote said "how can we go back to eating packet
shit after that?" They now phone down orders fortnightly!
After my intial successes at pasta making I
grew interested in making as much of our own food as possible. Pizza bases were
obviously next. Thin, crispy, delicious pizza bases were then turned out first
try. Charlie Superstar - you just got owned! Man, I thought, if I can produce
my own food, that is cheaper, healthier (no preservatives, colourants or added
hormones) and without a doubt tastier, then why the hell do we go to the shops
so frequently to buy this manufactured crap. The obsession deepens.
A few weeks ago sitting around on a lazy
Sunday afternoon I decided to try my hand at baking bread. Not just any bread
(remember I'm a master-baker already - well in my head at least) but rather
Ciabatta. Suprisingly for a
first timer, it didn't turn out bad at all. It could have been a bit more "airy"
and I used Sasko flour (bleached and all the good flavour taken out), but I
impressed myself and I thought, I can do this. So a few days later, with some
extra Biga sitting in the fridge (about a week spent fermenting), some fresh
stone-ground flour from Eureka Mills and an air of excitement I started my
second batch of Ciabattas. Holy cow balls did those ciabattas come out
perfectly, I mean like utter perfection, super "airy", slightly salty slightly
sour taste, chewy and soft inside, crusty flavoursome outside, they were like
breads from the heavans. Obsession deepens further. I started making different
breads, simple artisan breads, French Boules, Italian Altamurras more Ciabattas.
Its now been 5 weeks since I bought a loaf of bread from the shops and we've
eaten delicious bread everyday. And better yet, after some calculations the
other night I realised that for the same price as 3 loaves from the shop I can make
8 artisanal breads (including electricity usage of the oven) that are way better
than any store-bought mutant loaves.
Next on the agenda is cheese-making. Probably my favourite of all foods. If we get this right we will be in cheesy heaven. Until next time - Ayubowan!
