And I have a broken umbrella.

Fortunately, Yankee Elv had a spare unbroken umbrella, so I’ve been using that, but it did get me thinking about the broken state of my umbrella. One of the metal spines (arms? prongs? what do you call them?) is snapped in half and the nylon fabric has become detached from another metal bit. It was a pretty cheap umbrella to start with. The plastic handle was really uncomfortable and it was super flimsy. As one blogger, Sharon Russell, said:

“Many people have adopted the belief that buying several cheap umbrellas is less costly than buying one umbrella of good quality that will last a few years. Instead, they simply plan to replace broken umbrellas whenever they need to.”

I must say, I have fallen prey to this attitude. What’s worse, when I stopped to think about, it occurred to me that pretty much every bit of an umbrella is non-biodegradable and non-recyclable. Also, considering the cheapness, I’m pretty sure it’s not made from recycled materials. A bummer all around.

So this led me to thinking… what kind of environmentally sustainable wet weather gear might there be available? The answer: not much.

Treehugger has a nice list of umbrellas, but everything is American (except one, which is British). I found a Dutch raincoat (but seriously, brown and yellow? what possessed them?), however it looks a bit thick for our climate. It mostly rains in summer here. Ecouterre has a list of raincoats but they are all so expensive! There are some good, inexpensive, Australian umbrellas made from recycled umbrellas available at Positive Impact, but they only sell them in sets of 1000 or more for corporate clients. I think that might be a couple too many. Even ebay can’t help me.

I guess I could go for the Urban Dictionary definition.

Does anyone know where I could get some eco-friendly wet weather gear?

Short of making my own raincoat out of the one Ikea bag I happen to have available and would rather like to keep?

I eat this pico de gallo piled on Mission corn chips/strips which I heat in the oven. In my pre-vegan days, I’d put cheese on top, but I find that it doesn’t taste that different. The heated corn chips add a really rustic flavour to the bright salsa. I also sometimes eat the salsa as an accompaniment to beans and rice. Or as a dip. Or on a spoon.

Yankee Elv has a weird genetic thing that makes coriander (cilantro) taste like soap, so we substitute parsley for coriander. However, if you don’t have that weird genetic thing, you like coriander and you’d like to be authentic, then that’s what should really be used.

Mango Pico de Gallo

Ingredients:

• 2 mangoes, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 5 – 6 tomatoes, with the cores discarded and the outer flesh diced for use
• 2 green chilis, diced finely (include the seeds if you like more heat)
• 1 red chili, diced finely (include the seeds if you like more heat)
• a handful of chopped parsley leaves
• lime juice, to taste

Method:

1. Stir all the chopped fruit/veges together in a bowl.
2. Add the parsley and lime juice and combine.

THE END! Easiest recipe ever.

We went to The Jetty Oxford, at Bulimba. It’s right near the ferry dock. It had big fat no vegan food. Except, I think, chips and maybe olives. There may have been a salad they could have removed the cheese and dressing from. Er… appetising for a lunchtime meal? I think not.

So I talked to the waitress and she talked to the chef, and he was not helpful. But I think I took him unawares, because about two mins later he had the waitress come back out and offer to make me a mysterious risotto. I agreed.

Here it is:

I think it had fennel, asparagus, apple and maybe mint? The sauce was made from peas. That is not something I would typically choose ever, considering I don’t particularly like peas or asparagus and I’ve actually never eaten fennel. However, the chef didn’t know that and it was very good if you discount the fact that the flavours were not particularly to my personal liking (and actually, I found the flavours were not even too bad). It was infinitely better than chips, olives or nude, boring salad for lunch.

So thank you, The Jetty Oxford chef!

The moral of the story? You should never be afraid to ask if the chef can offer anything vegan, cos they just might!

Anyway, I was eating watermelon the other day and after I’d removed all the lovely pink flesh of the melon, I was left with the rind, and I remembered reading about a Southern (as in the South, in the USA) snack – pickled watermelon rind. I don’t mind regular pickles, but I’m not as in love with them as my Polish-American partner, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to eat the pickled rind of quarter of a watermelon… but I figured I might as well give it a try at least once. Everyone raved about them, so why not?

Well, I gotta tell you, pickled watermelon rind is yummy! It’s crunchy and cool and refreshing – a perfect snack for hot weather, and it’s not super sweet. Most cold foods are sweet. This one is vinegary,  but a little sweet from the sugar. It’s nice for a change. And I really like the crunch!

I chose the absolutely easiest watermelon pickle recipe I could find. Others call for certain herbs, or soaking the rind overnight – stuff like that. Since I wasn’t even sure I would like them, I was going for minimum effort. I think this actually was a great idea. The simplicity of the flavours is part of what I really like about these pickles. Plus they’re quick and easy, and they use up something I’d normally discard. I just changed the vinegar to apple cider vinegar cos that’s what I had in the cupboard.

So now that I’ve raved… here’s the recipe.

Pickled Watermelon Rind

Ingredients

• Watermelon rind (from a quarter of a big melon)
• 1 very scant cup of water
• 1 very scant up of apple cider vinegar
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup caster sugar

Method:

1. Cut the watermelon rind into small chunks, about 1 to 2 inches in size. Make sure you remove the green skin.
2. Stir the water, vinegar and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Add the watermelon rind and stir.
4. Turn off the stove, but leave the saucepan on the hotplate. Let the rind sit until it reaches room temperature.
5. Place rind and as much brine as you can fit in a jar(s) and put them in the fridge.
6. Eat them right away or save them for a bit in the fridge. Remember, these haven’t been properly sterilised and sealed, so they’re not shelf-safe. You should eat them within a few weeks at most and keep them in the fridge.

Note: swish your mouth with water after eating, because it’s not good for your teeth to let acidic foods like vinegar sit on the enamel.

Anyway, regardless of whether or not they turned out how they were supposed to, they taste good. Just call ‘em muffin tops and eat ‘em all up!

This recipe makes about 36 cookies.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Muffin Tops

Ingredients:

• 2-¼ cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsps pumpkin pie spice
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup vegan margarine, softened
• 1 cup white/raw sugar (we used low GI cane sugar, which is similar to raw sugar)
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (I made my own from a grey pumpkin)
• egg replacer for a whole egg (we used Orgran’s No Egg)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence (imitation is fine)
• 1 cup vegan white chocolate chips (or chunks, in our case – we cut up some vegan white chocolate)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Cream the margarine and sugars.
4. Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to the wet ingredients and combine thoroughly.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
6. When all ingredients are combined, stir in the chocolate chips.
7. Drop small spoonfuls (slightly heaped teaspoonfuls) of dough on a non-stick cookie sheet, then place in the fridge for 5 to 10 mins before baking.
8. Place in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
9. Cool for a couple minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

We made two types: chewy chocolate chip and pumpkin pie spice with white chocolate chips. The latter turned out too cakey. The flavour is great, but the texture is not right. However, if you think of them as something other than cookies (such as muffin tops), then they are super yummy. As for the former – the chocolate chip cookies – well, they’re only the most super awesome vegan cookies I’ve ever tasted.

So, here’s the recipe. We didn’t really change it much; but we did reduce the number of chocolate chips. Admittedly, this was only because we didn’t have enough chocolate chips… We actually changed the method more than the ingredients. Clearly we made smaller cookies, cos we ended up with 48 rather than the 25-30 the recipe said it would make. Also, to get a great texture and shape, Yankee Elv puts the tray full of unbaked cookies in the fridge for 5-10 minutes before placing it in the oven. This really helps for some reason and is not a trick I’ve ever used before. This may be why I’m typically bad at baking cookies. But these ones turned out great (thanks YE).

Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of softened vegan margarine
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white/raw sugar (we used low GI cane sugar, which is kinda like raw sugar)
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence (imitation is fine)
• 2 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 300g vegan chocolate chips (the original recipe called for 12oz)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. In a large bowl, cream the margarine, sugar and brown sugar.
3. Slowly stir in the non-dairy milk.
4. Add the vanilla essence.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda.
6. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir well.
7. Fold in the chocolate chips.
8. Drop small spoonfuls (slightly heaped teaspoonfuls) onto non-stick cookie sheets and refrigerate each tray for 5 to 10 minutes before placing them in the oven.
9. Bake for 10 minutes.
10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, until you can lift them off the tray with a spatula. Then place them on a cooling rack until they’re cool. Make sure you eat some while they’re warm though!

When I made it, I let it simmer on the stove for about an hour while I was cooking something different for Mr Teeny-bop’s dinner and baking dessert. The long simmering time really made a difference – the curry would have been quite watery otherwise. If you want to make this with less cooking time, I’d reduce the coconut milk and chopped tomatoes – possibly using as little as half as much.

Chickpeas would also go well in this – in fact, that’s what I was originally going to use, but we didn’t have any! Kidney beans (rajmah) tasted great instead.

Rajmah Gobi Curry

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cauliflower
• 1/2 red capsicum
• 1/2 green capsicum
• 1/2 cup peas
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 400mL can coconut milk
• 400g can kidney beans
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tab lemon juice
• black pepper to taste
• 1 tab vegan margarine
• 2 tab curry powder
• oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat and fry onions until slightly brown.
2. Reduce heat to medium and add garlic, curry powder and tomatoes. Combine and simmer for 2 minutes.
3. Add cauliflower, beans, lemon juice, salt, pepper and half of the coconut milk. Simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.
4. Add capsicum, margarine and the other half of the coconut milk. Simmer for as long as you want – up to an hour – until the curry reaches a consistency you like. The chickpeas should be soft and the cauliflower tender.
5. At the end, add the peas for just long enough to cook through. (If you leave them in there too long, they’ll get mushy and gross.)
6. Serve with rice or flat bread. Yum!

So usually I make my own fast food.

This is what I had for lunch the other day:

• Roasted sweet potato (I had two in the basket in the pantry starting to get a bit old, so I roasted them up to eat as I pleased)
• Refried beans with jalapenos (thanks Old El Paso!)
• Mexi-beans (thanks again Old El Paso!)
• Mexican style express rice (this time, Uncle Ben’s was my friend)
• Roasted capsicum salsa (I’m taking out shares in Old El Paso).

So these aren’t the most eco-friendly items I’ve ever eaten… two things from cans, one in a plastic packet and one from a jar… but aside from the rice packet, it’s all recyclable and/or reusable, which is more than you can say for the paper/cardboard/plastic/styrofoam packaging you get from places like Macca’s.

It’s also loads healthier.

And it was fast! It took me less than 5 mins to make. Sometimes that’s what you want. Plus, there’s leftovers!!

But best of all, it was tasty. Nommmmm….