Developing Belshaw's bucket list 3 - filling the buckets: gardening, introducing food

I began this series with a post ( Developing Belshaw's bucket list 1 - introduction) suggesting that various events had crystallized a sense of dissatisfaction based on my own inability to take advantage of the so many opportunities open to me. Very specifically, I worried about big things when the smaller things offered so many possibilities.

In my second post (Developing Belshaw's bucket list 2 - what is a bucket list?)  I discussed the history and concept of a bucket list. Often, this focuses on big things, whereas my focus was on the small. I suggested that the routines of, or sometimes the absence of routine in, daily life had a swamping effect.There are many things that we like to do or might enjoy that just get crowded out. In this post, I want to discuss some of those things.

Before going on, this is a picture of the Astrolabe Rd garden at an early stage in August 2012. kvd's chair stands guard. Later I had to add a chair for Legal Eagle as well. 

By December (Another simple meal at Astrolabe Road) I was consuming the produce on a regular basis. I had forgotten, by the way, that kvd introduced the concept of a bucket list in a comment on this post, but then it was something to use when throwing up after his mum served the wrong food! 

I had also forgotten how much gardening and cooking material there had been in posts and comments, including all sorts of meal suggestions.    

That garden grew and then collapsed. Why? I wasn't sure that I was staying in the house and I also ran out of time and, to a degree, enthusiasm. I was just worrying about other things at the time. At the time? Well, I seem to have been worrying about other things ever since! And isn't that true for most of us? 

Now in a comment on the second post in this series, kvd suggested that I should forget the whole bucket thing, fill the pots with soil and plant. This actually struck a chord. You don't need a big garden nor, in fact, a lot of time, to enjoy the benefits. You can always use pots and, if you have to move, take them with you. 

There is a certain irony here, for at a time when my own garden was in great disarray,  I encouraged a friend to do just this with herbs. It was a great success and I enjoyed the results. So I have put at least limited gardening into the bucket. One of the best simple Australian gardening sites is called Gardenate. This is what can be planted right now in Sydney. Quite a lot, isn't it? Is this for you? If you are doing it in pots, it takes a few hours to set up and then damn all time after that. 

Now for some reason, gardening takes me to food. Mmmm. This is a sad area, at least for me, because it is another of the areas that I haven't really responded too. An increasing number of Australians live alone as I do at present. It takes roughly the same time to prepare a meal for one as it does for a number. Then, if alone, you always end up eating left-overs. We are all busy, so food preparation suffers. 

Even going out is more complex for a single person. You don't go out when you might because you don't want to go alone then, sometimes, you just grab a meal at a familiar place. Too often, it's just easier to order takeaway. Then, of course, you suffer from a problem because a single person may incur delivery charges or end up buying more than they can eat.

Looking back over the last few years, I seem to have wasted a lot of money on restaurants both on my own and in groups with food that was not very good. So what can be done about all this? Well, I can only answer for myself. 

I, and this is a sad admission, live just a few blocks from one of Sydney's growing restaurant strips, Anzac Parade, Kingsford. A student area, the University of New South Wales is nearby, there are an enormous variety at generally lower price points. 

Taking advantage of this variety would greatly add to the texture of my life, yet I have not done so.Why? Well. it's complicated.

I have restaurant going fixed in my mind as a social activity. When I'm travelling, I have no problem in eating on my own. While working, I have no problem in going out to a restaurant for an alone lunch. Indeed, I often welcome it because I can sit there with food and my glass of wine while I write notes and plan next steps. But in the evening? Then the social mode seems to kick in. If I am alone I should go home and cook, even if it costs me more than eating out. Eating out must be done in company. 

I know that this sounds very silly, but it's a reality. Some time ago, I said that what I should do is come from work stop at Kingsford, eat while reading a book and take notes. Then I could wander home and get on with other things. I didn't do it. So now I have added exploration of the Kingsford restaurant strip to my bucket. It will also give me post copy. 

I will continue in my next post.

Update

I noted that in a comment on the second post in this series, kvd suggested that I should forget the whole bucket thing, fill the pots with soil and plant. Now I wonder if this is what kvd had in mind? - Bucket crops: Mississippi man takes container gardening to another level

Meantime, 2 tanners has provided further guidance on a vexed question for those of us living alone that I thought I would bring up from comments to the main post.

2 tanners wrote:

"I suggest curries and slow cooked meals with cheap cuts of meat (because they work better) and lots of veg (and you get your favourites). Two options here - you can cook forever at night, for not very much money, and as the room slowly fills with the smells of home, read and make notes. My favoured option though, is to leave the slow cooker on all day, walk into the house already redolent of your own cooking (i.e. a small amount of food preparation the previous night) and immediately sit down to a glass of wine, a book and dinner the moment you walk in the door."

I responded:

"Very nicely written, 2t. I do use the slow cooker and it is indeed good. But what I haven't quite worked out what to do with the left-overs. For example, say I cook corned beef, something I love. Then at the end I have lots of beef left. Or I roast a chook and then slow cook the remains next day with veg to form a soup. I seem to end up just recooking the remains with some additional things added until I have to throw the whole lot out.

I accept that this displays lack of imagination and this links to the theme of this series. I need some professional guidance here!"

2 tanners wrote:

"I rather like a challenge. If you are going to a weekend roast, and it's wonderful sitting around as everything cooks while you read your book and drink a glass, then you have to buy too much meat for one, in my view. You are definitely going to have leftovers. Let's leave that aside for the moment.

If you are going to slow cook a lamb shank, though, that's one shank, one onion, one carrot, a bit of bok choy or other greens that utterly vanish when you throw them in at the last moment plus herbs and of course wine from the bottle red. (strange, but I didn't notice you writing about the wine you had to waste). A bit of rice to soak up the yummy sauce and there ain't much left over. What there is turns overnight in your fridge to a really strong, almost irresistable taste. This can be heated in a trice in the office microwave to drive coworkers to a drooling frenzy. Applies to curries etc as well.

OK, so you wanted roast chook and you could only get a 2 kilo chook and there were the roast potatoes. And a roast onion. Oh and carrot, parsnip, and beetroot. And snow peas and red wine and onion gravy. Half your veg and two thirds of the chook are left over.

Step 1. first, wipe the roasting pan clean of the lard etc. With a slice of bread. Eat immediately, you know you want to.

Real Step 1: Decide how many meals worth of chook meat you have. i strip the chook first because I like bones with my roast, but not so much in other things. Let's say you have two meals left. Divide the remaining chicken into 2 and put one serve in the fridge.

Step 2: You've got at least one meal's worth of veg, maybe more. Decide how much you need, add the rest to the chook in the fridge. No cooked greens go in the fridge.

Step 3: So here we have chook, lots of root veg and a few sad looking snow peas. Mash the root veg roughly, keeping lots of colour mixed around, chop the snow peas and the chook roughly, stir in, and add some seasoning. The root veg will absorb the lot, but be careful since they're going to stand and hot things will get stronger. Like a crushed garlic clove and a single birdseye chili. stir in 2 eggs and pop in the fridge.

Step 4: you get home the following day and empty the mash mixture into a frypan preferably shaped into 2 easily turned patties. turn them each five minutes as you drift around with your glass of wine and the book. In about 10 minutes you have frittata. Mmmm.

Step 5. Get out the slow cooker, throw in your curry ingredients including the remaining roast chook and veg and tomorrow is sorted. kvd, don't forget both chili and ginger act to increase your core temperature, which must be good for you, so heap them in."

I must say that all sounds very nice!