Monday, January 30, 2012

Purple Congo Gado Gado (say that 10 times quickly)

When I went to write this the monitor died, then the flash card wouldn't read and the computer said the disk had been corrupted. Needless to say it has taken a bit of the joy out of blogging fixing these problems. Don't you just hate computer problems? They're so boring and time consuming, and that's putting it nicely. I wish my card would stop messing with the dark side. I bought a new card reader but I think the disk is the problem so wasted some money as well.  The good news is I did manage to rescue my pictures, of which there were many, using some free software. I have no association with this business but if you have similar problems I can recommend using Mini Tool Power Data Recovery. The software is free for the first 1GB of rescued data. It was amazing how it even found pictures I had deleted from months ago (handy to know for the accidental delete) and it was quite user friendly.


A recent harvest wrestled from the earth.  Some of the carrots are becoming firmly wedged and I am reminded of a story about a turnip. I loved hearing my mum tell this story as  a child, all that pulling and effort. There has been the odd snap at our house - an unscrewing action seems to work better


There is much enthusiasm for digging for potatoes at our house - the little one climbs over everyone to get in on the act. These are Kipflers and Purple Congos which taste like a yummy normal potatoes and are not at all sweet, despite their rich colour. Amazingly these tough old beetroot that were going to seed still tasted good when grated up.
 
Home made Satay sauce, noodles and free range eggs. Did you know if you play dodgem cars with your eggs in the saucepan (shaking them so they bang into each other) they peel much more easily? - first time I have tried this trick and it worked a treat! (One got broken by the big Bowerbird before we used the ricochet technique).

Last year I talked to our kids at school about eating a rainbow and it really struck a chord with my own children. The littlest comments on how she will make a rainbow on her plate frequently. We managed a good part of the colour spectrum in our Gado Gado, It was interesting to see how each family member arranged their rainbow. I am in love with the Puple Congos for their colour alone.
 (LittleBowerbird)
 (Papa Bowerbird)
(Mama Bowerbird) 


(Big Bowerbird)
Only the middle bowerbird's rainbow is missing - that's because it's dominant colour was white and not so exciting.

We made Gado Dado in December with our harvest but this one is definitely prettier.

4 comments:

  1. Very pretty..and yummy! A perfect dinner for these hot nights we've been having. Glad to hear you recovered your pics..pesky computers.

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  2. Yum! Looks delicious. I thought you just bought a new monitor? Great tip re. the card files. I have a corrupt one so will give it a try.

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  3. I've got to get some Purple congo potatoes when seed potatoes are next available - they look fabulous. Are they harvests from the Peter Cundall bed? I have harvested all mine now (I wrote a post a few days back) and replanted the new plants seem to love the straw and manure - so I'm very pleased.

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  4. Pesky and yet amazing.

    Ah yes Kimbamel, had new monitor just hadn't installed it yet - had to wait until the situation was desperate. Hope the software worked for you too.

    Liz - I do love the purple congos (i got them on ebay), these were from a few tiny tatas left in the garden from last year that were transplanted - tough things potatoes. I am yet to harvest Peter's patch as it is still growing and looking reasonably lush - although has suffered a lot of slug damage. I like the new patch too - that Peter is a clever man.

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In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.
Margaret Atwood

“She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
"Winter is dead.”
― A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young