This picture is of the drunken cherries/ strawberries I made as xmas presents. I also made chocolate & honey lip balm, skin soothing balm and chocolates, images of which are dispersed through this otherwise non-related post :)
I am currently in the process of writing the abstract for my thesis. I just have a few more tiny steps to take - formatting, writing acknowledgements, and so on and then I will send it off to the printers. We are looking for a suitable external examiner to mark it, but I'm not in a great hurry as I've already been accepted for a PhD scholarship :)
I'm intending to, first, have a break, and then study free food social movements for the next three years. Do I sound as crazy as I feel? Either way, it will be lots of fun! I intend to write about the democratisation potential of the internet, the concepts of abundance and scarcity, and look at various free food movements as case studies, both on and offline, and, hopefully in various countries. I will probably keep this blog running as part of it or start a new blog - we'll see how it goes. I'm very excited - but also overwhelmed with all my various projects. Other than academic aspirations I have lots of things on my 'to do' list: I want to renovate the bathroom and finish writing my novel, and further down the list I want to learn to play guitar, learn to speak French (and lots of other languages) and write some non-fiction books about food. Now do I sound crazy?
If anyone wants to read my thesis it will, eventually, be up on the Waikato university library website, but not until it's marked and so on. I am happy to email it to people to read before that if you want.
And here are some photos of some of our xmas fare:
Eggnog!
Thai carrot and capsicum salad
Laksa!
Yum your presents look great. Congratulations on your PhD scholarship and completing your thesis. I'm writing up at the moment and cannot wait until I finish. There are lots of free food sites on facebook and I have read a few blogs where people in Welly have written about dumpster diving. There was this article on stuff yesterday about a man that has opened a free food cafe in Chch http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/4555453/Cafe-lets-customers-choose-prices.
ReplyDeleteps you should post up your recipe for your choc it looks so so good
ReplyDeletecongratulations. i wish i could find the time to seriously read through the stuff you have posted from your thesis. fascinating, but chewy! i too love fermenting stuff and can relate to jars of kombucha and kefir on the kitchen bench. i make sourdough and have also discovered some of the things that can be done with the stuff that is usually discarded. and have you tried bokashi for your composting? another fementing activity. it's worth looking into because it is such an effective way to treat ALL kitchen waste - meat, onions etc. kind regards,
ReplyDeletekate
Thanks, spikyblondebombshell - the chocolates are mostly made by melting chocolate and making ganash and experimenting. That one had layers of passionfruit ganash, dessicated coconut, dried berries and nuts.
ReplyDeleteHi Kate, Isn't culturing fun? I tend to think of my cultures as not particularly demanding pets. I love the idea of the living kitchen. I do have a bokashi bucket, although I haven't used it in a little while - I tend to give all the scraps to the chickens and let what the don't eat turn into compost of its own accord. I could probably be more organised with composting!
Congratulations on finishing your thesis & scoring the scholarship! I'm amazed at anyone who's able to keep so many balls in the air: family, school, research, a novel(!). Juggling's never been my forté - I hold down two jobs to make ends meet, & inevitably, I get run down & neglect things, namely my blog & writing in general. It's always a pleasure reading your blog, too. It's challenging & makes me question the ideas I hold about food, pertinent given that I work as a chef. By the way, your sourdough's are amazing! You put my efforts to shame *bows head*
ReplyDeleteThe food looks mouth-watering, and the gifts were certainly unique. So, how was your thesis writing? I think it was a big help with thesis writing to take a break on Christmas season. That way, you can refresh yourself and have a clear mind to work with the paper.
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