2023 review thingo part 1

Annual review and reflection time!

This post is going to be published in several parts, because going on prior form, but also, I’ve been doing this for fourteen years – how can I stop now?!

For earlier “years in review” see here.

1. What did you do in 2023 that you’d never done before?
I can’t actually think of anything. Oh my, am I that boring?

2. Did you keep your 2023 new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for this year?

a. Reduce single use plastics by buying from bricks and mortar store, rather than online.

I stopped saving the soft plastics in December 2023 because I still hadn’t sorted out with the council an account with recycle smart, nor have I organized a collection pickup. 

b. Be kinder to myself. Daily grateful moments

I think this fell by the wayside. In November, I started a new pocket diary (moleskine!) in which to record a sentence or two about what I was grateful for that day. This travels with me wherever I am, and seems to be working so far. Hint: do this daily, don’t save it up in a big lot because you’ll forget. 

c) Failing that – no negativity in 2023!!

Nope. 

For 2024: better budgeting! I basically don’t, and in 2023 I started looking at my bank account to see if month to month the balance had increased. That’s about it. I don’t know how much of my money goes towards essentials (and how many of those essentials are actually essential!). Let’s adult!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No.

4. Did anyone close to you pass away?

Probably the biggest shock to me was the death of Tina Turner. I felt like she was an immortal – how could she pass away? At the time, the musical Tina! had just opened in Sydney. 

5. What countries did you visit?

Taiwan. We love the place. A new town that we visited was Keelung. 

New towns/villages in Australia visited in 2023: None.

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked in this one?

In 2022 I said: “Space! I have too many partially completed projects. One of them includes buckets of honey (& leftover honey detritus) from pre-2020. Sitting in my living room. My bees died in January 2020, and so this is stuff left over from about November 2019. Let’s reclaim that space back.”

2023: the honey buckets are still there. Oh dear. 

In 2022 I said: “More garden harvests/garden time.” 

2023: I recorded more of my harvests… so at least I know how much I grew? Even if I haven’t managed to tell keep you, dear reader, up to date. I have a photo somewhere. Rather than just a generic statement “I grew a whole bunch of cherry tomatoes”, at least now I have a record of what I have grown in 2023. Partial success. 

So what do I want from 2024? Memories. I cannot remember yesterday, let alone last week or last month. So I think I need to be a bit more in the moment and impress that upon my memory at the time. And time! This reflection diary also helps with that.  

7. What dates from this year will remain etched upon your memory?

First international flight Australia to Taiwan in what felt like forever (four years, since 2019). I had forgotten what it was like to travel internationally, but then slipped into the groove once we were there. As an example, I brought along my reusable coffee cup – which barely got used. The climate was too hot for coffee! Instead I should have brought along a reusable milkshake cup – I got so many bubble teas/boba teas when I was there, because it was so hot. And yes I did feel guilty about the plastic. In Taiwan the government has instituted a NT5 (20c AUD) discount if you bring your own cup, with I think a gradual phase out of the disposal cup. (https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2022/04/28/2003777367) Next time I visit, I will bring my own 500mL cup to use as a (small) boba tea cup. I can brew coffee using the milkshake cup, but cannot get boba tea in a coffee cup. Saying that though, 500ml is small for boba tea in Taiwan, and is sometimes too small – the “small” is 700/750ml!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I think my regular harvest monday posts. I made it to November 2023, and the post for December 2023 is in draft. 

I know I meditated throughout 2023, and as of 26 January 2024 I had achieved an 80 day streak of meditating everyday. 

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not living life in the moment. Scattergun approach to everything. Finishing tasks, everything seems to be in a state of not-done. 

N/A “$1/day meals” in Australia

I was doomscrolling late one night when I came across this US video about eating for $1 a day in 2024. This type of content is quite popular because of the current post-covid cost of living crisis, but I was struck about how unrealistic this is in Australia. Is it because Australia only has two major supermarkets? The Walmart costs I double checked online using Sacramento CA as the location.

USA Item	USA Walmart cost (2024)	AUS equivalent	AUS Colesworth cost (2024)
12 eggs	2.48 in video (2.88 in CA, April 2024)	12 eggs (cage free)	5.00
1 pound (454g) brown rice	0.88 in video (0.92 in April 2024)	1kg white rice	1.80
1 pound pinto beans	1.24 in video (1.08 in April 2024)	375g chickpeas	1.70
1 pound lentils	1.34 in video (1.92 in April 2024)	375g lentils	2.30
12oz (340g) frozen veg	0.98 in video (1.08 in April 2024)	500g frozen peas and corn	3.00
708g white corn tortillas (30 off)	1.77 (1.98 in April 2024)	360g 4″ flour tortillas (20 off)	7.50
20 oz (567g) all purpose baking mix	1.98 in video (2.18 in April 2024)	1kg self raising flour	1.40
1 brown onion	0.39	1 onion 220g	0.86 220g at $3.90/kg
1 red apple (?gala)	0.28	1 apple 120g	0.42 120g at $3.50/kg
1 head garlic	0.10	1 head garlic 38g	1.10 38g at $29/kg
1 tomato (assume round slicing tomato)	0.21	1 tomato, 0.98 each	0.98
1 jalapeño	0.18	1 jalepeno chilli	0.94
total	11.83 in video (1.69 a day) (12.99 in April 2024, 1.85 a day)		26.78 (3.82 a day) 19.28 without tortillas (2.75 a day)

I didn’t go out and buy these items as I generally have them at home anyway. As I suspected, the “cost per day” for the same basket of goods in Australia is twice that of in the USA. The video states the costs are $1.69 per day, when I checked against Walmart prices as of 30/4/24 and noting that sales tax in California is one of the highest in the US, I came up with $1.85 per day. The Australian equivalent of this basket of groceries is $2.75 per day, without the tortillas. Assuming 1AUD is 0.65 USD, this is the equivalent of 1.79 USD per day.

There are some regional differences:

1. There is a shift towards non-caged eggs in Australia (phase out by 2036), so the costs for eggs are increasing. The two main supermarkets have pledged to phase out caged eggs in NSW by 2025.
2. Mexican food is not seen as a cheap food in Australia, it’s more of an exotic or “gourmet cuisine”, and even more so for corn tortillas. Flour tortillas are more common here but they are still expensive. I would not ordinarily include tortillas if I was trying to keep the grocery costs down.
   Actually on second thought, perhaps I would substitute “lebanese bread”, a flat bread similar to pita pocket bread. I used to be able to get this for $1 a packet of six flatbreads about 18cm/7″ in diameter from the local shop. This is now $1.80 a packet of six.
3. There isn’t such a thing as “all purpose baking mix” in Australia. The closest equivalent is self raising flour, which is all-purpose flour with added bicarbinate of soda (leavening agent). However the “all purpose baking mix” also includes some vegetable shortening in the ingredients list, so I would need to include some of that in the grocery list as well in order to make the “biscuits” in the video.
4. Chickpeas aren’t really a substitute for the pinto beans, but this is the closest I could find in the major supermarket. “Great Northern Beans” are a white bean which is available in some supermarkets at $4.50/kg. But as I live in western Sydney, I would probably visit the local Indian grocery store for the cheapest source of beans and lentils. I could even get them plastic free!
5. I would probably include a packet of pasta (0.90/500g) and a bottle of passata (tomato/pasta sauce – 2.20/680g) instead of the tortillas. I don’t think Australians eat a lot of beans/lentils generally, but of course if you’re on a budget, this is really the only way to include most of your essential vitamins and minerals to keep healthy.
6. There’s no fat in the shopping list. I would include something like olive oil, butter or ghee or maybe a large tin of tuna or salmon. This definitely breaks the budget!
7. I need to refine my spreadsheet above to work out unit costs (costs/gram) in each country. But it’s late, I’m tired, and I need to push “publish”.

Your thoughts dear reader? Have you had to reduce your grocery costs recently? What would you include in your “cheap eats” shopping list?

27 November 2023 Harvest Monday

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. For the origin of Harvest Mondays, please visit our happy acres. Yes, I know it’s March, four months later, but better late than never!

Bananas:

I was watching my bunch of bananas almost but not quite ripen over several months. Then it got to holiday time, so I harvested and gave them to my neighbour to eat as they ripen. 4kg.

But after I returned from holidays, they had ALL ripened, All at once! My poor neighbour had eaten a few, and frozen a few, but then gave me back the rest of my bananas. So I dehydrated them for later snacks.

Raspberries:

I got two raspberries! I took one photo. 6g.

Blueberries:

6g of blueberries, nellie kelly/sunshine. So sweet. Happy I beat the birds to the fruit.

Broadbean (singular):

My neighbour in a fit of enthusiam planted broad beans for me. In a spot that got no sun. I think I grew mostly aphids, and then just as summer arrived I got one broadbean. The broadbean plants definitely wanted to ensure survival of the species by giving me one bean! 8g, although once podded, I think it was only 4g.

Cherry tomatoes:

75g this harvest. The plant is a compost volunteer.

Harvest Summary for November 2023:

So dear reader, have you harvested anything from your garden recently? How does your garden grow? Have you had any raging success with compost volunteer plants?

30 October 2023 Harvest Monday

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. For the origin of Harvest Mondays, please visit our happy acres. Yes, I know it’s February, four months later, but better late than never!

Passionfruit:

Passionfruit, which came from a vine from a home grown seed. Obtained via swap. Not grafted, thankfully! 28g.

Jewel of Opar Leaves:

I don’t normally track when I pick leaves and herbs from the garden, but here we are. Jewel of Opar or Talinum paniculatum is one of those plants that once you get it, you can never get rid of it. The seeds spread everywhere. Luckily the leaves are edible and taste a bit like spinach. 14g

Okinawa Spinach:

I got this plant also as a swap. Tastes like spinach but the underside of the leaves is this lovely purple colour. 8g.

Goji berry:

8g this harvest. Plant obtained via a swap. I have had larger harvests in the past, but it’s a race between ripeness and the ants getting to the fruit before me! There is a plant in this family in which you eat the bitter green leaves “gow gei” in Cantonese; and there is the kind where you eat the fruit – this one. This has a slight bitter savoury flavour, very different to the dried goji berries you see in the health food stores, which I think are soaked in sugar water before drying.

Harvest Summary for October 2023:

So dear reader, have you harvested anything from your garden recently? How does your garden grow? Have you had any success in foraging in your local neighbourhood?

2022 review thingo part 4

Annual review and reflection time!

This post is going to be published in several parts, this is 2022.4. And considering that 2023 is almost over … this part of the review might be slightly flavoured with 2023.

For earlier “years in review” see here.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Read books. Actual physical books. Most of my books have been read by listening to them.

17. Hang on, what happened to question 17?

Not sure… it disappeared sometime before 2019.

18. How did you spend Christmas?

At an old house/converted shearing shed in the Australian NSW outback. Daily temperatures were mid 30s, which is pretty darn cool for mid-summer. Highlights included families of emus and (probably) brown goshawks visiting the pool of water beside the leaking water tank, the sunsets, the stars, and clouds of damselflies at dusk.

19. Did you fall in love this year?

No.

20. What was your favourite TV program?

I don’t watch too much tv. And abc (australian broadcasting corporation) has annoyed me by requiring a log in to watch their on-demand free-to-air repeated shows online. So the two shows that I wanted to watch – War on Waste and Back in time for the cornershop, I didn’t really get to see because I wasn’t in front of the tv when they were on tv and who can be bothered with another site to log in to. At least the latter show had some interesting shorts on you tube!

21. What was the best book you read?

Hmm, not books, but perhaps a podcast? There were several health/gut/brain axis podcasts by Dr Joanna McMillan which I quite enjoyed, particularly Gutfull: What to eat for a happy gut.

22. What was your favourite film?

I caught Ito or Bread of happiness via the Japanese film festival, online. A very sweet film, how strangers in a small town can become a family through food.

23. What did you do on your birthday

Normally I take the day off from work. This year I took off half a day off, and the second half went for a work related awards ceremony for which our team had been nominated. We didn’t win (dang it), but they couldn’t give an award for a non-serious not-work-related team.

24. What kept you sane?

I can’t remember. Am I sane? or insane? Possibly a combo of exercise (zumba/yoga/cycling) and meditation.

25. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I’m going to re-hash my preference for James Hoffman, and in 2022 the ridiculous video for the best portable method for brewing coffee is probably my favourite. I *ahem* downloaded his audiobooks (read by the author, natch), so I can listen to his soothing voice even when I don’t have mobile phone signal.

26. Who (or what) did you miss? I still miss spontaneity. Being able to go away for a weekend away now has to be negotiated month’s in advance – all down to who is looking after my mum at the time.

2022 review thingo part 3

Annual review and reflection time!

This post is going to be published in several parts, this is 2022.3.

For earlier “years in review” see here.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Osteopath treatments.

12. Where did most of your money go?

Osteopath treatments.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

When the Australian Labour Party and Anthony Albanese were voted in. Oh thank goodness, some sanity in parliament.

14. What song will always remind you of this year?

I can’t really remember. I actually went through a bunch of songs that I had been introduced to via Zumba, and none of them remind me 100% of “this is 2022”. Probably the closest would be Ed Sheeren’s Shivers – I can’t remind the choreo we used, but I’ll pretend it was similar to The Fitness Marshall’s.

16. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
Happier. I made a few friends who have a common interest in food and cooking. We’ve gotten together a few times to learn to cook something new and then share the lunch. It’s been fun.

b) stronger?

Probably not as strong. I haven’t been keeping up with my yoga or my cycling: I’m mainly walking and some zumba dancing. But generally intermittent exercise as the routine and certainity of what is happening each day has gone out the window.

“Hybrid” working has a lot to answer for. People have gone from scheduling online meetings back-to-back to scheduling in-person meetings back-to-back, without any allowance for you to get from one meeting room to another.

c) richer or poorer?

Poorer.

25 September 2023 Harvest Monday

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. For the origin of Harvest Mondays, please visit our happy acres.

Guavas:

Look I know I got a few guavas, but they were in one’s and two’s; and mostly went into the compost. I was done with guavas for this year. I mean – 18.46kg for the months of winter 2023 is pretty impressive!

Cumquats:

My partner let slip that he had been eating “those little orange things” straight off the tree, and they were delicious. So I harvested the last four, so I could have a taste. I think I had ten in total this year. Granted, my cumquat tree is in a pot, but I have seen some enormous cumquat trees in the past – one was at least 6m tall and provided incredible harvests!

Parsley:

The parsley in the south facing garden bed is getting big and starting to form flowerheads before going to seed. With a run of hot weather upon us (records have been broken), I figured that making tabouli was the answer. Two bunches (48g +170g), and two batches of tabouli made to the recipe from Moroccan Soup Bar cookbook. I couldn’t find my bulghur wheat, so I used quinoa.

Landcress:

42g this harvest. I haven’t weighed it when harvesting in the past but I have an entire 2 x 1m garden bed filled with landcress. Planted once to distract the white cabbage moth from targeting my brassicas, It appears that I will have landcress every winter, whether or not I try and grow broccoli again. It tastes peppery and spicy, much like rocket/arugula.

Asparagus:

14g. I have ignored instructions about not harvesting when thinner than a pencil, I keep forgetting to fertilise. I hardly ever water. So my asparagus bed – which should be in its prime, gives me about 4 spears each season. I am a bad asparagus-bed parent. I think I’ve harvested two fat spears before this, but I didn’t weigh them.

So dear reader, have you harvested anything from your garden recently? How does your garden grow? Have you had any success in foraging in your local neighbourhood?

28 August 2023 Harvest Monday

Like sands through the hourglass, August just ran away from me.

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. For the origin of Harvest Mondays, please visit our happy acres.

Guavas:

This is the last of the guavas, but the photo is not all the guavas harvested in August 2023.

Most have been turned into fruit leather “chips”, and some were frozen in slices with the intention of making a “guava pie”. That bit hasn’t quite happened yet. Also some are slowly desiccating in my fridge because I haven’t gotten to dealing with them yet.

7.025 kg in 5 lots.

Mandarins (foraged):

Near one of the places I visit is a whole block of houses that is slated for demolition so that the developer can build some apartments. One of these houses had a mandarin tree that I have been cooing after, so one day when the top of the tree had been felled, I went and collected all of the mandarins (360 g + 1340g = 1700g). These were terribly sour – probably not yet ripe. So I ate a few and then swapped the rest “to make marmalade” for a loaf of homemade sourdough. I also grabbed a few cuttings of an unknown grapevine that was also destined for landfill – the stump was quite thick, so I think it was quite old.

Passionfruit:

One passionfruit, 62g, sharp and delicious.

Cumquats:

Last year, I decided that I would bite the bullet and buy my own Nagami cumquat tree. Lucky, because this year there doesn’t appear to be that many of them up for swaps in the crop swap group this year. Two cumquats (18g), but I’m pretty sure I ate another two without taking a photo – let’s say 36g.

So dear reader, have you harvested anything from your garden recently? How does your garden grow? Have you had any success in foraging in your local neighbourhood?

31 July 2023 Harvest Monday

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. For the origin of Harvest Mondays, please visit our happy acres.

Guavas:

The guava season was slow to start this year, and then it hit with a vengeance. This is the first year I haven’t netted or protected my guavas, because *effort*, and I still have many prior years worth of guava related products which I still haven’t eaten. So of course the lorrikeets have been having daily parties in my tree. The photo above is not all the guavas, only one day’s worth!

Of the guavas that I managed to collect and process (removing seeds, bite marks, bad bits and fruit fly larvae), I weighed a whopping 11 kg worth (taking into account 19 x 20g plastic containers).

The majority were cut and processed into a guava “fruit leather” disc, some was eaten fresh, some was turned into a guava cake, and some cut up and frozen because I didn’t have any other time to do anything else (and food waste annoys me). For my guava fruit leather, 50/50 apple sauce and guava puree appears to be the winning combo, otherwise it is too gritty and the discs crack during the drying process. In terms of eating them fresh, I have actually turned into a bit of a guava fruit snob – I only like to eat the centre seeds, the sweetest part of the guava!!

Pumpkin:

I told you last month I was waiting on a pumpkin to cure. Unfortunately I left it on the vine for too long, and the worms decided to reclaim it as benefits. When I cut it, half was liquid ooze which cascaded out (gross!). I then painstaking cut out the rest of the soft mushy pumpkin into wedges and then put the wedges into the fridge.

The pumpkin was mostly turned into a coconut pumpkin curry, with a few wedges roasted with miso and honey glaze. 1300g, accounting for container weight.

Passionfruit:

One passionfruit, 99g.

Bananas:

Second of three bunches/stalks of bananas. I left this on the tree for too long, and although I cut out the bad/overripe ones whilst the bunch was on the tree, I couldn’t get the whole piece of fruit. So then the vinegar flies and ants started hanging around. 4.6kg of edible fruit, but I had to compost at least another 2kg of rotten fruit. Most of this fruit was dehydrated, eaten fresh, or baked into a cake. I am now watching the third bunch of bananas very closely to ensure that they don’t suffer the same fate.

So dear reader, have you harvested anything from your garden recently? How does your garden grow? How about foraging in your local neighbourhood?

2022 review thingo part 2

Annual review and reflection time!

This post is going to be published in several parts, this is 2022.2.

For earlier “years in review” see here.

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked in this one?
Time.

I am unfortunately always on the go, living between two houses, but living three full time lives (work – pays me. my home. looking after my mum). I always feel as though I’m running behind and don’t have enough time.

7. What dates from this year will remain etched upon your memory?

The day I discovered Ambi’s Chai. I had found out that my favourite Zumba instructor was teaching out at a gym at Pennant Hills, so I drove to the gym. Once there, I could smell something spicy, alluring and delicious. No, it wasn’t the smell of the locker room, but the smell of a tiny chai bar, perfuming the entire car park. Now I always make some time in my week for chai, whether it be at the original Pennant Hills location or the new spot in North Sydney.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Next! Can’t remember.

But since I talked about meditation in 2022, I’ll talk about it in 2023.

As of 14 January 2023, I had made it to 700 meditation sessions on the app that I use; compared to 221 out of 365 days in 2022. Some of those meditation sessions may have been multiple times in one day.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Making time for me. I saw this image online “Types of Self Care” from createdbyginny, and it made me realise that while I practice some self-care, I don’t practice across the whole range in this image. I tend to favour the physical self care over the other types.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I had a lower back niggle for a while. Regular massages were treating the symptom but not the cause – and my regular massage therapist threw up her hands. I was referred to an osteopath. We’ve managed to return the lower back niggle that went excruciating back to a low level niggle and a sometimes not-there-niggle. And apparently it started all with my shoulder. Reminds me of that song, which I didn’t even know had a name!