Product Study : Champignons & Cereals

Time for an entry on products which I like. I use champignons some times for my dishes, especially when I cook ginger and sesame chicken with dark soya sauce. I have loved champignons since childhood. My grandma used to put lots of these in soups.

Over here in Australia, I always go for 'Homebrand' Whole champignons from Safeway Supermarkets. They are large and almost always do not have any blemish. Many other brands which I have tried will have some sort of blemishes such as black spots.

Cereals are convenient breakfast foods and I give it to my son a few times a week. The usual cereals in supermarkets really do have a lot sugar and salt in them.  I steer clear of brands like Kellogs, Uncle Toby's, Nestle etc. Cereals are meant to be good for health due to the fibre in them, but to get loaded with sugar and salt from eating cereals is surely not a good thing.

I usually visit the 'health foods' section to get our cereals.  They may be slightly more expensive than the usual brands featured on tele, but I find them worth buying and affordable. One of my favourite brands is 'Freedom'. They have a few flavours. One of them is 'Cocoa Puffs' (shown above). Here are the ingredients : gluten free flour mix (rice, maize and wholegrain sorghum flour), sugar, chocolate syrup 8.5%, coca powder, psyllium, salt, emulsifier, natural chocolate flavour, mineral (iron), vitamins (niacin, thiamine, folic acid)

Another is the Maple Crunch.  Ingredients : Gluten free flour mix (rice, wholegrain sorghum and maize), sugar, apple juice concentrate (6%), psyllium, salt, emulsifier (471), Tricalcium phosphate, nature identical flavours (maple, butterscotch), mineral (iron), vitamins (niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, folate)

'Orgran' is another brand which I buy. They have 'Rice O's' wild berry' flavour.  Ingredients : brown rice 59%, dextrose, milled yellow pea 12%, millet flour 8%, psyllium 2%, pear juice concentrate, calcium carbonate, brown rice syrup, emulsifier(vegetable-derived monoglycerides), beetroot powder, salt, natural raspberry flavour (0.3%), vegetable-derived stabliliser(guar gum), natural caramel colour, tumeric, citric acid.

'Itsy Bitsy Cocoa O' is Orgran's chocolate wholegrain cereal. Ingredients : Brown rice flour 65%, raw sugar, wholegrain sorghum flour 8%, psyllium 2%, coca 2%, natural caramel colour, calcium carbonate, salt, brown rice syrup, emulsifier (vegetable-derived monoglycerides), natural chocolate flavour.

Fresh Gai Choy/Mustard Green & Pak Choy Green

I have sown this patch with gai choy/mustard green and pak choy seeds towards the end of winter in August.  They were growing at snail's pace until recently when spring came and the weather warmed up. They are yelling out to me to harvest them.

The spinach in the planter in front of the raised vege patch are almost ready too.

This flowering pak choy has overtaken Big Fig in its pot. Big Fig does not seem to grow well this spring, its leaves rather shrivelled and there is only one fig in sight. The flowers of pak choy is is mildly fragrant and an attraction to bees. I am letting the seed pods formed so I can harvest more pak choy seeds.

Such a beautiful sight of the artichoke flower emerging among its architectural silvery leaves.

So here is some harvest of my gai choy/mustard green. My friend taught me to cook it with some roast chicken pieces (I used the wings and drumsticks), tamarind pieces and dried chillies.  And true enough, there is no bitter taste from the vege. The dish tasted sourish and spicy and very nice!

I also harvested some parsley for meatballs and baby pak choy for miso soup.

Pak Choy Green & Gai Choy/Mustard Green

All the pak choys that I have planted in winter are ready for harvesting....those in the large pot,

The baby ones in another large pot,

And those in the raised vege.  The gai choy/mustard green are also ready for use in cooking.

Sowing Seeds & Bird Watching.

Yesterday's temperature was 28 deg and accompanied by very strong winds. Then in the evening we had a bit of rain (not as much as I have wished) and lots more even stronger winds. I definitely am not a fan of high winds. It brings a lot of destruction.

I sowed another two pots of water spinach (kang kong) and two pots of bok choy. My focus will be on leafy vegetables this season.

 My Jasmine flowers finally bloomed. I think I could sit all day out in my back garden to enjoy its fragrance.

 My son and I harvested our fat coriander, some spring onions and vietnamese mint/laksa leaves for two dishes.

 We have placed some bird seeds on the front and back gardens in order to attract birds.  I very much wanted to attract lorikeets and galahs but it seems like wishful thinking as we do not have any tall native trees in our garden. So far our grevillea has attracted beautiful honeyeaters.  We also get some noisy nymahs. Today we have two fluffy and cute spotted necked pigeons as our first customers.

 They managed to find the bird seeds and were busy feeding themselves.

 If you look carefully, you would notice a white sticker on one of the birds' leg. My husband forgot to throw this sticker which he has peeled from the new garden edging which we installed on Sunday.  Poor birdy stepped on it and it got stuck to its feet. I wonder how it is going to stand on tree branches if the sticker doesnt come off.

 In the foreground of the picture are two hanging pots of trailing kalanchoe. I hung them out of my kitchen window so I could admire them. Amazing so far, a honeyeater has tried to land on the flowers and then a spotted neck pigeon tried doing so as well. Unfortunately when they saw me peering out at them, they took off. I thought that was very amusing.

Picking Up Treasures for Gardening

My boy and I are down with a cold thanks to the unpredictable hot and cold weather here in Melbourne. However, that did not stop us from spending a few hours in the morning sun cycling around the neighbourhood and then doing gardening.

 My green globe artichoke plants.  What a relief to know that the three which I divided late winter survived and are growing well. See them right after dividing.

 The two tomato silvery fir plants which I have rescued See the rescue here from Big Fig's pot, nursed under cloches, and planted here are growing bigger too. I have removed their cloches since yesterday (background).

 Doggy. He trotted around the neighbourhood while we cycled. Now he is happily resting under the olive tree and trying hard to get the treat out of his toy.

I captured a picture of my boy making himself so comfy on the lawn and looking at his car pictures.

It is the time of the year when the council comes in their trucks and collect bulk refuse, which everybody will place on their nature strips.  Every time we cycle around the neighbourhood, I kept an eye out for things which I can use for my gardening.  This morning, I picked up two glass door panels.  I cleaned it up and use them to cover over my seedlings to create a mini green-house.  It sure beats using plastic sheet!!! People's rubbish certainly can become my treasure!!!

 And I also picked up a showerscreen panel.  I know it may sound disgusting and I was really hesitant at first.  But it was rather clean without any human scum.  I took it home (it was heavy and I needed to come home to get my car to return to the panel) and gave it a good wash.  I want to use it over my vege patch during colder days.

 This morning I did some work, including sowing new seeds of Choy Sum in this planter.  Note the wire protection over the planters.  I cut this out from a larger piece and simply bend it into a curve before placing it over the planters.  It would deter any pests from landing on the veges when they grow bigger.

This is the second season for the tulips next to my small gate. Pretty! I do notice the stalks are rather short this year. I dont mind shorter stalks, just curious why they came up so short this time.

Today is a rather hot, scorching and breezy day. Temperature max 22 deg cel. It is a glimpse of the hotter weather to come and I seriously pray that we wont get any heat-wave coming summer.