I had hoped to upload this one last week as I had some recipes directly relating to what I did with the end of my Mixed Medium box – but I was thwarted by  the full moon – but I’m sure the people who know me are truly tired of me blaming everything on the full moon while maintaining my own personal immunity (moon in Aquarius – SHAZAAM!).  So here is a recipe I made on New Years Day, but is even more relevant now:

Roasted grapes and beetroot salad with pistachio encrusted chevre

It was hot, hot, hot in Melbourne and because my sweet little daughter won’t let us go to things like Peat’s Ridge Festival on account of her age (4 months at the time), we opted to sit in my 4 year-old’s backyard pool, douse unsuspecting passer’s by with water and dine al fresco on our aging Italian patio.  This was the day that my son started eating lettuce leaves with gusto – he grabbed a piece of lettuce, took a bite and exclaimed, “So sweet!  I love lettuce!”  Quite a pleasant surprise for me since I didn’t touch a vegetable until I was 30. Incidentally, I blame the boy’s love of lettuce on the fresh, seasonal, organic produce he gets each week.  He quite often eschews restaurant food and proclaims that the food at home tastes better.  I seem to have cooked myself into a corner….

In the end, anyone who is game can realise the beauty of roasting grapes -  and why not roll some of our very own Meredith chevre in pistachios to create a truly marvellous easy meal.  This is heavily adapted from The New Vegetarian cookbook by a wonderful cook, Robin Asbell in California, who calls this a winter salad, but doesn’t really seem to cook seasonally.  They probably have different seasons in California…..

The other night, just as I was about to go to bed, I found my lovely and beautiful naturopath partner sitting at the kitchen table peeling, deseeding and chopping the tomatoes from our box and garden in order to make a summer tomato sauce.

As it was 4 hours past her bedtime and only 2 hours past mine (I’m not breastfeeding anyone – what do I need to sleep for?) we decided I would finish it off.  2 hours later, we had a beautiful summer tomato sauce which we put into 2 pizzas the next day.

Summer Tomato Sauce

As I was waiting for the sauce to cook – I also ended up making two different batches of muffins and a stir fry….I know, crazy, but I’m considering it a personal day of transcendence…I will no longer purchase any poor excuse for a muffin, stir fry or pizza when I know I can do better at home.  Let’s start a revolution!

Welcome and thank you to the following volunteer Food Hosts for offering their premises.

Rebecca at Tanti St, Cheltenham – Tues 5-7pm
Liz at Frederick St, Brunswick – Tues 5-8pm
Mike at Collins St, Docklands – Thurs 3-7pm
Mel at Peterson Ave, Coburg North – Thurs 6-8pm

Click here to sign up and get your organic food delivered to one of these convenient Melbourne locations.

The following public holidays will affect deliveries

Australia Day – Thurs 26th Jan – NO DELIVERIES
Melbourne Cup – Tues 6th Nov – DELIVERY DATE CHANGED TO WEDS 7th
Christmas – Tues 25th & Thurs 27th Dec – NO DELIVERIES
New Year’s Day 2013 – Tues 1st Jan – NO DELIVERIES

You have three options if you’d like to continue receiving awesome, affordable, eco-friendly fruit and vegetable deliveries:

a) Change to an alternate Host before the cut off day for THAT delivery week  and change it back BEFORE the cut off day of the following week (Sundays @ midnight for Tuesday deliveries & Tuesday @ midnight for Thursdays).

You can change your Food Host on your account profile page: https://members.ceresfairfood.org.au/profile

b) Make arrangements to buy in person from the CERES Shop & Market that week. Visit www.ceres.org.au/marketandshop for location details, opening hours and special market day events.

c) Go dumpster diving with alley cats!

Questions & Answers

What happens when you change my Food Host’s delivery day (i.e. for Melbourne Cup)?
No need to change your host if you are happy to pick your order up on the alternative delivery day. The day change happens automatically from our end. Order as per usual if you can pick up on the Weds.
If you cannot pick up on the Weds nor change to a Thurs host, cancel & recreate order for the following week.

What happens if I can’t change Host?
If you don’t change Food Host, our system will automatically cancel any outstanding orders.

What happens if I’ve paid in advance for orders?
Can’t change Food Host but have paid for orders in advance? There’s no need to do anything. That weeks’ order will be automatically cancelled and your account credited for future purchases.

What about standing/repeating orders?
Standing orders will resume the following week when the Food Host reopens.

GOT A QUESTION?
EMAIL INFO@CERESFAIRFOOD.ORG.AU