‘The Good Life’

A Massive Festive Hug!

Posted on December 24, 2014 by leroy watson

The depths of winter on Mojon Beach

Just a quickie to say:

MEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRYYYYY CHHHHHHHHRIIIIISSSSTMMAAAAASSSSSS!!!!!!X

and then:

HAAAAPPPPYYY NNEEEEWWWWWWW YYEEEEAAAARRRR!!!XXXX

Hope you have a very magical time with plenty of tofu pie and pumpkin crisps………and the odd sherry to wash it all down.

It seems like an ice age since we last said a little ‘hello’. We have been suffering from a very Spanish dilemma over here in Murcia, cooking loads of gorgeous nibbles and bites, but easing into the manana (tomorrow) lifestyle a little too easily. “Manana, manana, manana…..” its a magnificent way to live, but leads to a lack of posts and far too much time to contemplate dinner whilst lounging on a beach. Its 20oC today, Christmas Eve and we are soaking up the rays on behalf of all Beach Houser’s out in lands not so well endowed with festive sunbeams. We salute you!

We are planning a quiet Christmas on the terrace with my Dad and some stunning local vino and a mammoth veg-fest terrine (not necessarily in that order!). Jane is plotting a platter of potato served three ways, as you all know, Jane is partial to a patata or three. Dad is fully on board with the vegan express and we’re going totally vegetal this festive period. Bravo big man!

2014 has been a great year at the Beach House, thanks for all of your support and inspiration. Jane and I are in India in the new year, so you can expect plenty of curry based action very soon. Our new year resolution will be to whip up more posts, hopefully this year, we’ll actually get around to it. Life so rich and ‘Manana’ an ever viable option…..

Peace, Love and Light,

Lee and Janexxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Winterwonderland (a massive calcite wave with turquoise pools) Pammukale, Turkey

CHEERS! (G+T’s all round)

Categories: 'The Good Life', photography, Travel | Tags: christmas, food, photography, spain, travel, vegan, vegetarian | 12 Comments

Autumn’s End at the Beach House Kitchen

Posted on November 6, 2014 by leroy watson

A very belated Happy Samhain/ Halloween to you all! We spent it packing up the house, soup bubbling and preparing the garden for winter. Here are a few images of the last days of Autumn, a week ago, in the Beach House Garden.

We have flown the nest again like migrating birds. We’re in Turkey, up to our necks in ancient ruins and scrumptious kebabs and salads. Looking at these pictures makes us feel privileged to live in such a special little corner of the world. More news from Turkey, Spain and India soon…..goodbye Beach House until AprilXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Beach House Garden bracing itself for the Welsh winter

Our Hawthorn tree all red and sparkly

Last of the blackberries, still fruiting into late October!?

Autumn sunset off the Llyn Peninsula

Late Autumn and the chills are setting in. Soup tonic, Pumpkin, Fennel and Leek with Soda Bread

Kindling ready for the fire

Potato patches covered with manure and compost, ready for next year

The source of great potatoes, our neighbourly horse who lives next door.

The source of great potato manure, our neighbourly horse in the next field. Not the friendliest, but quite a quite prolific manure provider

Stash of funky rocks from the beach

Steamy kitchen action, Welsh cottages not cut out for heavy wok action

Steamy kitchen action, Welsh cottages not cut out for heavy saute action

Wake up, 3oC, warm Banana Bread cookie time (recipe to follow)

Categories: 'The Good Life', Autumn, Garden, photography, Wales | Tags: autumn, cooking, food, gardening, nature, photography, vegan, wales | 5 Comments

Goodbye Buster (The Worlds Coolest Cat) and Big Hello from Spain!

Posted on December 18, 2013 by leroy watson

Buster (aka, Buzzy, Buzz-man, Buzzeroonie, Buzz face, Raja, Buzzer, Buzzoid, Buzzeroo, Busty, Little Tiger………and other pet names) has left the building. He is the most wonderful little guy, but we are now in Puerto Mazzaron, Spain and soon to be in India for an extended period and we couldn’t find a way of keeping him close.

We managed to find a brilliant home for the Buzzman in the next valley, real animal lovers. The first night he went to his new home, he made his way back over the mountains at night and turned up at the back door, a little peckish. He must have used the stars as a map to make his way across the streams and hills, its around 5 miles away. What a little grey star he is!

Just looking at our recent lack of posts makes us very ashamed of our behaviour. We miss the posts but have been busy with other exciting projects, more about these very soon……. We have been cooking shiny food all the time and have a huge backlog of photographs and recipes to post, we just need a little time and internet access (which always helps!)

Much Love from us and have a magical festive timeXXXXXX

Categories: 'The Good Life' | Tags: animals, cats, food, nature, russian blue, travel

World’s Best Kitchen Implement – Skrub’a Gloves!

Posted on August 10, 2013 by leroy watson

Jane happily skrubbing!

A very lovely friend from Germany sent us the most fantastic present the other day, the like of which we have never seen before on Welsh shores! Introducing Skrub’a The Scrubbingglove – a clever Danish invention in a pretty orange carrot design!

These wonder-gloves could not have come at more perfect timing (another wonderful synchronicity, thanks Nicole). You probably know that we are now lucky enough to be loving the weekly fresh local and organic veggie box grown by lovely Pippa and John down the road…. Such delicious, fresh and DIRTY veggies! Up until now the lowly washing up brush has been doing all the hard scrubbing work. But we find that still leaves little bits of dirt on the veggies, especially in the nobbles and bumps.

gloves

It was with delight and happy intrepidation that we donned the gloves for the first time, dunked the root veg and began skrub-ing them with our gloved hands. The gloves (very much like those exfoliating shower-mitts) were utterly perfect at getting into the grooves and pits of the most twisty of carrot.

It was a quick and unusually satisfying job, and at the end of it we had smiley faces and very clean beetroots. Not only that, but 50% of the vitamins in veggies are in the peel! So Skrub’a Gloves thank you very much, you are our new favourite kitchen implement!

Categories: 'The Good Life' | Tags: cleaning, equipment, food, kitchen, kitchen tools, scrubbing, skruba gloves, vegetables, vegetarian | 9 Comments

Primitive Juice Man Conquers Mighty Mountain!

Posted on July 18, 2013 by leroy watson

Primitive Juice Man – on the way up

I did. Two days ago I climbed the second highest mountain in Britain, Snowdown, which is just behind our house. I climbed it in record time (for me) fueled only by a beetroot, carrot, apple and ginger juice. Wahee! Juice power.

The Super Juice

As many of you will know, the Beach House is tucked away in the valleys of Wales, overlooking Anglesey and the Llyn Peninsula. We have the most spectacular views and on days like today, when the skies are clear, I can see some of my favourite landscape anywhere.

Britian is experiencing a heat wave at the moment and we are getting some of it, with temperatures in the mid 20’s for the past two weeks. The garden is loving it (post to come soon) and our veg patch is looking amazing.

RAW EARTH MONTH UPDATE

The weather has come at the perfect time for our Raw Earth Month and it is definitely salad and smoothie weather at the moment. The only down side to a proper British summertime is that I get chronic hayfever, which is a huge drag. We have consulted Jane’s homeopathic/ magician friend and she is sending up some remedies as we speak, hopefully this will stop my sniffles.

We are going to extend our Raw Earth month by two weeks, we are loving it! The candle light at nights is perfect as it doesn’t get dark until 10ish anyway. It adds a very peaceful feel to the house and there is something timeless about reading by flickering candlelight. Handwashing our clothes has been interesting. It takes a while and a little effort, but with the sun out and a special herbal soap, we are getting great results.

We have been making once a week trips in the car to pick up our amazing veg box from some wonderful people a couple of valleys away, full of the finest organic produce and the courgettes are coming thick and fast at the moment!

One thing we are using alot is the dehydrator. Jane is taking full advantage of the abundant herbs and wildflowers at the moment and we are drying them for use in teas and infusions. We realise that it uses a bit of electricity, but know that we will have to buy less in the long run. It seems to at least balance out.

We watched an interesting documentary recently ‘No Impact Man’ about a guy giving up many things in a one year project, in the centre of New York. We can draw alot of parallels with Colin and his family, but we are lucky to live in the country and have no TV anyway! We are well from many temptations up here on the hill, no restaurants, bakeries or cafes. No cinemas, shops, pubs! It would be alot more difficult to do this kind of thing in a city. Hats off to Colin and his family for sticking to it and setting an amazing example, his project became huge and was all over the media. I am sure it made a big impact and they seemed to be having a good time doing it, which is surely the main thing!

I think we’d do this all again, especially the raw food part. We are consuming alot less, recycling most of our water on the garden and generally life has slowed down. So far, the experiment is going well and the sun is shining. What more could you want!

View from the bottom – Snowdon, Nantlle Side.

View of Nantlle Valley from Snowdon

What has this got to do with food you may ask? Very good question. I guess it highlights the fact that you don’t need a full English/ Welsh breakfast and 5 mars bars to go walking in the hills and that juices are super cool and full of energy.

I also realise that the weather is chilly in some parts of the world now (Tasmania especially I hear!) and it is surely nice to look at little wet Wales bathing in glorious sunshine for a change! Long may it continue…..

OK, heres something food related, todays smoothie. It’s a:

Green Banana, Coconut and Almond Smoothie

Makes one large jugful, enough for three glasses:

The Bits

2 bananas, 2 cups coconut milk (watered down), 1 apple, 1 cup cucumber, 3 cups spinach, 1 cup soaked almonds, 2 teas green powder (barley powder, spirulina), 1 cup grapes, 1 lime (juice and zest)

Do It

In the blender and blend, scrape down the side, blend, scrape down the sides and blend…….repeat until all is smoooooth.

Banana, Coconut, Almond and Spinach Smoothie

We Love It!

Very sweet and filling smoothie, packed full of nutrition. Anything green is great.

Foodie Fact

Spinach is regarded by many as the best thing you can eat. Ever. We agree. Not only does it taste so, so good, it contains more iron than beef, pound for pound.

Categories: 'The Good Life', Healthy Living, Raw Food, Smoothies | Tags: eco living, food, hiking, low impact life, no impact man, raw, smoothie, snowdon, wales | 2 Comments

Beach Birthday Photographs

Posted on June 1, 2012 by leroy watson

Biker Jane

It was my birthday recently so we thought we’d share some pics:

Before a day out on the Blaenau Ffestiniog Railway (last years present from Jane)

My Dad outside the Beach House

Jane and a bottle of bubbly – Whistling Sands Beach, Llyn Peninsula

My birthday bash, with Jane and my Mum – Whistling Sands, Llyn Peninsula

Lift off! Being launched from the sea (we saw seals here later!)

Jane and I looking concerned about the lack of champagne

Jane has a sunset splodge

Categories: 'The Good Life', photography, Special Occasion, Wales | Tags: beach, birthday, blaenau ffestiniog railway, blogging, celebration, champagne, Dad, food, llyn peninsula, motorbikes, mum, nature, north wales area, photograph, photography, photos, railway, sea, seals, special occasion, sunset, train, vacation, wales | 2 Comments

Homemade Nettle Tea

Posted on May 24, 2012 by leroy watson

Nettles

Nettles are here and we are loving them. They are like a cross between mint and spinach and one of the first green leaves of the summer. Some call them weeds, we call them feed!

Nettle leaves can be dried and enjoyed later in the year, or just thrown straight in a pan of boiling water. They can also be stir fried to great effect as a spinach substitute.

Nettle tea can also be made for your garden, it makes great plant feed. You just need a load of nettles in a large container covered with water. Every day, stir them. This will stink after a while, keep going for 4 weeks and you have some seriously good feed that can be used on tomatoes. Great natural fertiliser.

You can even throw some nettles leaves in a bath of hot water, it apparently helps to relieve aches and pains. We haven’t tried this one out, please check that the sting is long gone before diving in!

Brewing the nettles

For the drinking variety:

The Bits

Nettle leaves (1 cup of leaves makes 2 cups of tea), Water

Do It

Boil water in a pan, add leaves.

Homemade Nettle Tea

Serve

In your finest mug.

We Love It!

It literally grows on trees (well bushes).

Foodie Fact

Nettle is a natural elixir, invigorating the body in preparation for the busy summer time. It is a strong blood purifier and helps to dissolve kidney stones. It is ant-inflammatory and can help with arthritis, high blood pressure and helps to clean out the digestive system.

Learn more about nettles and sustainable living on this great site, earth easy.

Categories: 'The Good Life', Budget, Detox, Foraging, Garden, Healthy Living, Infusions, Local food, Recipes, Tea, Vegan, Wild food | Tags: detox, food, foraging, gardening, health, healthy living, herbs, nature, nettle leaves, nettles, recipes, sustainable living, tea, wild food | 6 Comments

Sunbeam Fruit Salad

Posted on May 22, 2012 by leroy watson

Blooming great rhododendrons. It’s finally May!

The perfect fruit salad!?

Impossible to tell really, but it certainly hit our spots.

This is not what you would call a seasonal wonder, more a bargain basement bonanza!!! This is a salad for when you have a glut of fruit that needs eating soon. Its totally OTT and befitting of my birthday weekend, when excess is embraced.

This fruity number is very delicious and perfect for this morning in wonderful Wales. It’s a glorious day, full of sunbeams, the birds are singing and Buster (a cat) is lounging in the herb garden. Everybody is out in their gardens, wondering what on earth to do. You realise the importance of our sun when it is hidden behind grey clouds for many months. When it returns, it has an incredible effect on people; they go outside, they begin to re-connect with the light (sun). We all start shining!

We have this type of salad most mornings, a mixture of fruit and vegetables topped by a thick smoothie. It keeps us going for most of the day, brimmed full of goodness. Jane and Mum went shopping this weekend (Mum was visiting for my birthday, which was an amazing time, the best birthday I’ve had since I was 9 years old and organised a mass football match on the local park and had a cake shaped like the FA cup) and chanced upon some amazing bargains in the fruit section. Organic blueberries, apricots etc for 20p a pack! Its capitalism gone mad! We have not seen fruit like this for many, many months and their return has a similar effect to the return of our beautiful sunshine.

Top tip – I have been making these beauty salads for a while now and if there is one tip that I would offer to you lovely people it is this, use a clean board. Sounds obvious, but the slightest hint of garlic or onion on a board can spell disaster for the subtle flavours of your fruits. We have a separate board for all things fruit.

If you think that mixing fruit and vegetables in salad is a little weird, perhaps it is, but it is delicious. Carrots are very sweet and celery has a lovely mild flavour. They both add real bite to proceedings.

The Pear and Peanut smoothie topping recipe will follow on the next post. This makes enough for two massive bowls.

Bumble bees get busy with bluebells

The Bits

We used our selection of fruit and veg here, but you can of course have a play and use what is in season or any good stuff that you can get your hands onto. Mix in seeds/ nuts for added crunch and texture, a citrus fruit to add a little tang, the addition of flax seeds really helps your digestion:

2 apricots (de-pipped and diced), 1 big handful of blueberries, 1 apple (diced), 1 pear (diced), 1 orange (peeled and diced), 2 kiwis (peeled and diced), 3 carrots (chopped), 2 sticks of celery (chopped), 1/2 handful of roasted sunflower seeds, 2 tbs flax seeds, 1/2 handful of roasted hazelnuts, 1 handful of chopped mint (chopped)

Do It

Grab your favourite salad bowl, chop all bits up into your favourite shapes, mix then all in gently and top with your smoothie (see next post). Serve liberally with smiles.

Serve

In bowls of the size that befit the mouths to feed. In the Beach House, this means big bowls!

The Sunbeam Fruit Salad

We Love It!

Really, what’s not to like here! The perfect way to start the day.

Foodie Fact

Blueberries are a sign from nature that snacking has always been OK. They are one of the original grab and go foods!!!! Served straight from the bush. I am so glad to have these back in my life, they are real burst of incredible nutrition. I love their dark colour, it adds brilliant contrast to any dish it touches.

They contribute amazingly to our health, that dark purple colour is thanks to some wonder pigments that are full of antioxidants. They contain some of the highest levels of antioxidants in the plant world. They limit free radical activity and actually regulate our blood sugar levels.

Categories: 'The Good Life', Breakfast, Garden, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, Organic, photography, Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Snacks and Inbetweens | Tags: amazing bargains, apricot, bees, BHK Favourite, blueberry, breakfast, cat, flax, flowers, food, football match, fruit, fruit and vegetables, fruit salad, garden, nature, organic, photograph, photography, raw, raw food, recipes, rhododendrum, salad, salads, seasonal, seeds, smoothie, summer, sun, sunshine, vegetables | 15 Comments

The B.H.K Garden Photos – Spring and Seeds

Posted on April 24, 2012 by leroy watson

We hit the patch. 4 types of potato in furrows, blue, white, red and knobbly.

April in the B.H.K. garden has seen much activity. Mainly we have chopped wood for next year, but we managed to squeeze some gardening in also.

We are following organic practices , with a little biodyamic thrown in (new moon and all). The veg patch has been turned several times, with piles of local horse manure from the adjacent field and four different types of potato have been planted. Pete at Trigonos Farm, Nantlle, kindly donated the seeding potatoes (some just sprung to life in our veg basket!). We have blue, red, white and knobbly. One day I will learn the names of them.

The front garden is full of herbs and four different types of latin american bean. We hope for great things from the latin bean patch this year.

We also expect lots of flowers, some wild strawberries and the regular marjoram infestation. The slugs are happy, but we plan on trapping them in underground cups with beer in. Slugs like beer! Get them tipsy and they seem to lose interest in plants. Probably opting for a kebab instead.

The newts have returned to the pond and the frog spawn seems to be wriggling even more. Bring on the frogs!

We have a dodgy looking gang of sheep hanging around our back wall, but we have reinforced the defenses and hope to keep them out this year. Apparently they like to walk along the walls and eat all things green. The are also very dim and noisy.

Breaking news – beetroots, green beans and leeks are rumoured to be on the way.

We are keen amateurs at best in the garden, any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Here’s hoping for zero food miles soon!

Happy plantingX

Beach House herb garden circa April '12

Our seed trays (formerly traffic cones)

Jane puts her back into the spuds

The local beige tree frog

Happy cook with the sun on my face.

Categories: 'The Good Life', Garden, Healthy Living, Local food, Organic, Wales | Tags: biodynamic, food, frogs, garden, gardening, herbs, home grown, horses, local food, manure, nature, organic, pests, photography, photos, potatoes, seeds, sheep, slugs, vegetables, wales | 4 Comments

Ernie’s Easter Eggs

Posted on April 8, 2012 by leroy watson

The 'Ostrich' Easter Egg

Happy Easter!

A nice time of year, but it does seem strange to still have snow on the ground.

I woke up this morning to find a psycedelic goose egg on the kitchen table (Jane had been up to some late night craft scribbles) and a nice slab of cherry chocolate.

Which triggered memories of my own egg painting days. I once won a prize at school for dressing an egg up as superman. Which remains one of my highest accolades in the field of art (and tailoring).

Being Easter, we have eggs on the mind. Not chocolate though, Ernie’s eggs. Ernie is an old navy captain who lives with his dog Paris and a garden full of ducks, drakes, geese and chickens. It’s a proper cottage menagerie.

Some of Ernie's Bantam Eggs

Ernie’s fowl seem to like the sun and springtime snow, they are popping eggs out at an incredible rate, meaning an abundance for the Beach House table.
Ernie lives just down the way and has recently recovered from a broken hip that he injured whilst delivering our Christmas card. We do live on quite a steep hill!

Ernie’s cares greatly for his birds, they run around semi-wild, eat fine grains and are housed in a selection of well appointed coops. You can see it in the eggs, which are really rich with brilliant yolks. Perfect for soldier dipping (‘soldiers’ are slang for sticks of toasted bread, to avoid any unnecessary military confusion). The first time I saw one of his goose eggs, I was sure he had a ostrich tucked away somewhere. They are huge! We haven’t eaten one yet (it’s the weight of around five hens eggs) but apparently they are good for baking. Goose egg brownie?! I may crack it tomorrow, I’ll keep you posted.

We may not have a shop in the village, but at least we have an Ernie.

Lots of Easter love from the BHKXXXXXXXXX

P.S. – If you’re in Carmel, it’s 6 Duck Eggs for a pound. Bargain.

Categories: 'The Good Life', Baking, Breakfast, Local food, Organic, Wales, Welsh produce | Tags: bantam, carmel, cherry chocolate, coops, duck eggs, easter, easter egg, egg painting, eggs, ernie, food heros, goose egg, goose eggs, local food, organic, the good life, wales, welsh producers | Leave a comment

Holiday Photos – The B.H.K hits Spain

Posted on March 28, 2012 by leroy watson

Jane walking in the forests of the Espunas. 12oC, sandals and snow.

Viva Naranja!

Under an old olive tree. La Santa Monastery

View from the terrace of Antipodas Restaurant, La Azhoia (with the bar mascot)

Our local goats cheese platter.

Jane in the Monastery Square, La Santa

Sunset over the Port of Mazzarron

Gorgeous local Raf tomatoes. Sweet, sweet, sweet...

Hello Beach House Folk,

So this is where we’ve been, doing what we do best, going on holiday! Hopefully this explains the lack of Beach House Kitchen action recently.

We visited Murcia, the Costa Calida, a magical place. We have done all our ‘foodie’ friends proud by eating and drinking in brilliant ways and of course taking it very easy. Que Vida Espana!

The produce in Murcia, known as the garden of Spain, is exceptional and some of our favourite times were spent in the markets practising the lingo and meeting the farmers. Buying fresh dates, figs, almonds, amazing vegetables (peppers, aubergines, artichokes), olives, lemons……….etcetc. The list goes on and on here. The earth seems very arid in the whole area, but a little sun goes a long way!

We are going fully Raw in June, we met some amazing so we need some help planing for that. Whats your favourite salad/ juice/ smoothie? We met some guys in Spain who really inspired us in this respect, very shiny people, cheers Rob and LindaX

We will be back to full throttle soon-ish. Watch this space…….

Peace and Happiness,

Lee and JaneX

Categories: 'The Good Life', Healthy Living, photography, Raw Food, Travel | Tags: goats cheese, healthy living, holiday, photography, raf tomatoes, raw, raw food, spain, spanish food, the good life, travel | Leave a comment

Homemade Goats Cheese with Wild Garlic

Posted on February 12, 2012 by leroy watson

Goat's Cheese Recipe With Wild Garlic

I love Goats. They are far superior to sheep. More character, a little like their cheese. I became aware of this love affair in Laos…..it’s a long story.

‘Eat Weeds’ (http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/) inspired me here. It’s a great little website all about living from the land and getting out for the odd forage. All you need to know about wild eating. They regularly send me emails and this recipe reminded me of how easy this cheese is to knock-up.

The first time I made Goats Cheese was when I volunteered to help on a farm in Central Laos. It proved to be very simple and deliciously creamy. This method is almost as good, without the super fresh, still warm milk of the farm.

The Kids

We would milk, feed and clean the goats out before dawn, with the afternoons free to spend under the blazing sun, hacking down banana trees for feed. After around five hours hard graft, between three of us, we normally produced only four small blocks. This experience really developed my appreciation of cheese!

The blocks were normally whisked off to the farm restaurant to be served to bus loads of tourists. Sometimes we did manage to sneak a chunk ourselves and with a fresh baguette (which are amazing in Laos), it made all of the shovelling shit worth while!

With the lads on the farm

For this recipe, if you can get your hands on wild garlic, lucky you. Otherwise use bulbs. Goats milk is fairly easy to come by in the shops.

If you like eating weeds, subscribe and get the Classic Wild Food Collection. It is free and packed with info on what to do with weeds and plants (and how you can eat them).

Bon Fromage!

The Bits

1 pint of raw goat’s milk, ½ lemon (juiced) or 2 caps of cider vinegar, 25g ramsons/wild garlic (finely chopped)***, sea salt

***An alternative to wild garlic would be one clove of minced garlic and a handful of roughly chopped parsley.

Do It

Pour goat’s milk into a pan and slowly bring to the boil. Remove from heat immediately.

Add lemon juice a little at a time until the curds separate from the whey. Curdling. It will begin to resemble very off milk.

Pour the pan of curds and whey through a fine muslin cloth, making sure that you collect the whey. Leave to drip for a few hours. You can refrigerate the whey for a couple of weeks, and use it in your sauerkraut recipes, in soups, stocks or as a refreshing drink. Whey is super full of minerals, and an excellent digestive.

Next tip cheese into a bowl and add the finely chopped ramsons and few pinches of sea salt, then stir until the ramsons and salt are thoroughly worked into the cheese. Taste saltiness and adjust accordingly.

Put the cheese back into the muslin and twist into a ball. Put on a slanted board with a big weight on top (always a bit of a balancing act), and leave for a couple of hours. The salt draws more moisture out of the cheese making it firmer.

If you can resist eating it, this cheese will age nicely.

Serve

Baguette! (warm)

Foodie Fact

Whey is a super-dooper food. It’s packed full of protein, meaning that people who would like to be one big lump of muscle (mass) take it as a high cost supplement. It’s free with this cheese. The proteins in whey can be used easily by the body.

Whey is very low in calories and full of anti-oxidants that boost the immune system.

The end product

Categories: 'The Good Life', Foraging, photography, Recipes, Snacks and Inbetweens, Travel, Wild food | Tags: foraging, free-gan, high nutrients, recipes, snacks, travel, vegetarian, wild food | Leave a comment

Sprout! The evolution of the mung

Posted on February 7, 2012 by leroy watson

Heres something that could change your life. Maybe extend it a little also.

Sprouts!

Mung bean sprouts this time.

These little wonders are a gift from nature. They are packed with nutrients, very, very good for us and best of all, easy and cheap to prepare at home.

My sprouting guru is a wandering flautist named Yanny, he is in his late 70’s and fit as a fiddle. Yanny even sprouts on his travels in hotel rooms and in backpacks.

There are a few companies selling sprouts in the U.K. at inflated prices. They need not be a costly ‘health’ food. They can add an incredible range of flavours to salads.

Many prices in ‘health’ food shops are appalling, some necessary, but many seem to go against the ethos of the ‘good life’, where money (you would hope) plays a secondary role to living well and helping others.

We are fortunate to have many good people living around us, giving us inspiration and positive examples of methods and practices that are sustainable, meaning that we can move away from the mass food movement (Tesco’s et al) or prohibitive ‘Health Food’ Shops.

You don’t need to spend a small fortune to eat healthy. All you need are sprouts! Mung beans are the easiest, but once you get into it, there are so many avenues of sprouting joy.

So head to the hills, of your windowsill and start sprouting.

The Bits

Mung beans (any variety works well, we used the green ones)

Filtered water

Do It

Acquire a receptical (see the evolution of the sprout), a spare plastic tray (recycled normally), a large water bottle with vents cut into it (be creative) or a proper sprouter. I was so lucky to pick up a sprouter from a charity shop for two quid! They should not be costly bought new.

The important thing is that the sprouts get air and are not in direct sunlight, they also need to be kept warm. Optimum conditions will result in a quicker sprout.

The evolution of the sprout (tray, to bottle, to sprouter)

Soak the beans in filtered water for 24 hours, empty water and place in your sprouter. Keep them damp for the next 48 hours and then leave them dry (rinsing regularly if you can).

After a couple of days, they should start to sprout. Younger sprouts are sweeter and large sprouts have a fuller flavour. Experiment on which you prefer.

You won’t get them all to sprout, so try to sort out the hard un-sprouted beans. They can be a little crunchy and some hard as rocks. Beware.

It’s as easy as that. They keep well in the fridge. Once one batch is finished, get the other one started and you have a rolling harvest on your hands.

Serve

Put them on anything, of course salads are best. If you are feeling decadent, or need a serious boost, mix up an unadulterated sprout salad. ZING>

Foodie Fact

Mung beans are one of the most cherished foods in Ayurveda, full of vitamins, minerals and vital veggie protein. They are said to balance all three doshas (making you more stable and relaxed) and make absorption of nutrients easier. When sprouted, very high levels of Vitamin C become available (rising by 60%). Most importantly, Mung Beans contain a low quantity of the sugar molecule that make you fart!

It is simple, if you avoid speeding buses and eat more sprouts, you’ll live longer.

PS – Yanny is a wood sculptor, this video show the life of a true artist and dear soul:

Categories: 'The Good Life', Ayurveda, Healthy Living, Raw Food, Salads, Superfoods | Tags: ayurveda, healthy living, high nutrients, mung beans, salads, sprouting, sprouts, superfoods, the good life, Vitamin C | 2 Comments

Morning ‘Steamers’

Posted on January 31, 2012 by leroy watson

My mug

Fresh and clean. These steamers are the perfect way to get the body hydrated and feeling vibrant in the morning and are easier than making a cup of tea.

There must be something in the ether because two friends, Julie and Gwen, have sent me their style of ‘steamer’ through today. I felt prompted to share.

A steamer is basically an infusion of anything with hot water. I regularly used ginger, mint, lemon, rosemary (a little), add a little honey if you’re a sweet one. I would not drink them very hot, let them cool a little, be gentle with your poor old body, especially in the morning.

There is not much to this.

The bits

Your favourite mug that brings you the most happiness.

Choose from:

– A couple of teaspoons of sliced ginger (no need to peel, just wash)

– A nice wedge of lemon (squeezed into water and plopped in)

– A small handful of torn mint leaves.

– A classic. Teaspoon of honey, squeezed wedge of lemon, teaspoon of sliced ginger.

Julie’s Steamer

Add one stick of bashed lemongrass

Gwen’s Steamer

Add one stick of peel liquorice root and a small handful of mint leaves.

Do It

Drop in bits and leave to steam for a few minutes. Then aaaaahhhhhhhenjoy.

We Love It

As Gwen rightly put it, a fresh steamer will beat any tea bag, any day, forever. Viva steamers!

Foodie Fact

There are many health benefits to drinking warm water when you first rise, especially with a slice of lemon in (see the post ‘Magic Morning Lemon Water’). Warm water will flush out the kidneys and prepare the stomach for food by stimulate the glands on its walls, helping the bowels move regularly (hoorah!).

Warm water can be used easier by the body, it’s not such a shock to the system, because it doesn’t need to be warmed up. Drinking water at mealtimes can dilute gastric juices and slow digestion. It’s a good idea to drink water half an hour before eating. Drinking water is different from getting water via food or juice, clear water helps to cleanse the body internally.

The ‘Steamer’ variations are many. Have a play and let me know of your favourites……star anise, sticks of cinnamon, grapefruit juice etcetcetc……….How do you like yours?

I truly believe that after a good stretch, they are the best way to start the day.

If you like this kind of thing, Gwen has a great vegan and freegan blog, have a wee look: http://peasandloveblog.blogspot.com/