Ok…so I have never cooked beetroot. I rarely buy it (maybe a few years ago I purchased tinned beetroot for burgers) and I have never grown it. I will happily eat it, quite like it, but for some strange reason I have overlooked this vegetable. Perhaps I associate it with doilies, pickled onions and mini-gerkins (like a…

Tom was delighted with his Christmas present (see The perfect Christmas present for the perfect man), and why wouldn’t he be. It’s not every day you get a meat mincer, sausage casings and some spices. A gift that enables you to be creative, make mess, make dinner, and involve the whole family is indeed the…

I guess after a few months of trying to DIY many things at home, eventually ones thoughts turn to the topic of hair. Does becoming self-sufficient mean I need to attempt DIY haircuts?

Last night Melburnians experienced their hottest night on record since 1902 – 30.6 degrees Celcius. This temperature didn’t drop below 30 degress until morning (See the Age: Sleepless in the city: Melbourne sweats through equal-hottest night).

A few weeks before Christmas, my friend Anna rang me with one of her more unusual requests. Could we house her boyfriend Andrew’s two goldfish (at that stage contained to life in a small tank with bright blue pebbles and a plastic plant)?

I stared at the badly browned and limp banana on my bench the other day, so tender to the touch that I could barely lift it, and knew what had to be done.

Banana Loaf 1 ¾ cups self raising flour ¼ teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt ½ cup sugar 2 eggs ¼ cup milk 75g butter, melted 1 cup mashed bananas Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Mix in sugar. In another bowl beat eggs. Stir in milk, butter and bananas. Mix quickly…

I feel very concerned about the way we are destroying our planet, and at times I have felt helpless to stop it. Sometimes it feels like our own small changes are insignificant when the issues we are facing (global warming, peak oil crises) are so large. Normal living pressures and trying to juggle work, family,…