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Trial Blog - Alicia & Emma

100 mile diary.

Sunday

After our wonderful kick-off breakfast. Emma and I went home and napped. We were a little hung-over and had had very little sleep Saturday night. We were at that stage very afraid. We didn’t know if we would survive (especially the hangover) without coffee and refined sugar.

Sunday afternoon we worked in the garden and harvested some zucchinis, carrots and lettuce. Everything was looking good, with a couple of tomatoes on the horizon.

For and early dinner we set about making pumpkin and mascarpone ravioli (spelt flour) with a sage and burnt butter sauce with some young silverbeet leaves and lemon zest. A handful of Alpine cheddar to serve. It was a largish meal and meant we could go to bed full no sweets.

Monday

In the morning Emma and I got up early to do yoga and made a special event of breakfast. We took roses from the garden and used a very pretty tea set for lemon tea sweetened with honey. We ate homemade bread toasted with vegemite and Anglesea honey. (lotsa honey this week).

Lunch was a salad of speckled lettuce, roasted carrot and pumpkin, caramelised onions and a lemon vinaigrette. cheddar, a couple of apples and peppermint tea. All spread over a very long day. I was almost 8pm when I arrived home to find tea ready – hoorah! Emma had stuffed and battered zucchini flowers and herb roasted some potatoes to serve with chilli sautéed mushroom and zucchini *nb. Salt % pepper cheat here. All was delicious but Em was spent and dessert was peppermint tea (so dissatisfying). Nursing a nasty migraine Em turned in early.

We knew we needed to prep a bit better and so I stewed the rhubarb, caramelised some more onions, baked another loaf of bread and made rhubarb and apple muffins -the muffins would hopefully take the edge off the mid afternoon blood-sugar low. I also made a very little ricotta. I went to bed late – too late. In taking steps to make sure we had ready energy I had deprived myself of the sleep that would help me better survive the day. I was annoyed with myself for living this false economy.

Tuesday

We both survived the next day a little better with plenty of provisions taken at regular intervals. Lunch was leftovers, apples, a muffin and a walk.

For tea I cooked a tomato, and goats cheese tart with thyme, and sage. We ate after yoga at 10.15pm. Before yoga we had visited an old Italian lady Emma helped in hospital. She loves to cook for us but Emma had told her not to because of our special diet but she did any way. We came home with litres and litres of a vegetable and lentil soup (best-ever) but could not have any!

Wednesday

Breaky was lemon tea, toast ricotta and spreads. Lunch leftover tomato tart. Coincidently, Jonathan Pipke was speaking at our PPUFFN meeting so I took the opportunity to make us a 100 mile carrot cake. He spoke about the great things the Gardeners Alliance are doing for home gardeners.

Tea was some homemade spelt tagliatelle stirred with mascarpone and preserved lemon and garlic, grilled broccoli, asparagus and goats cheese(*nb salt and pepper cheat). Dessert leftover carrot cake and muffin. Then a glass of warm milk and honey (*nb cinnamon cheat) before bed. Another loaf of bread and some more rhubarb muffins (Thanks Janet! You have been a life saver this week)

Thursday

Breakfast: lemon tea, toast and spreads. Leftovers for lunch. Apple and homemade yoghurt for afternoon tea. Dinner after a glass of local wine was Potato latke’s (*nb salt and pepper cheat) with coleslaw (homemade mayo) and cheddar. Milk and honey before bed (*nb cinnamon cheat).

Friday

Ditto breakfast. Peppermint tea was made but I didn’t take any. I harboured a growing antipathy for peppermint tea. It seems so pointy not like other tea, not like milky coffee. It offers no comfort. Lunch was a coleslaw and salad sandwich rhubarb muffin, apples. Dinner was pea, mint and fetta stuffed zucchini flowers (*nb salt and pepper cheat) and salad shared with my sister. She was overjoyed to be able to offer me some local strawberries.

Saturday

Poached eggs, thyme sautéed mushrooms for breakfast (*nb salt and pepper cheat), then off to Ceres and Neesh’s urban orchard swapmeet. We were feeling a little weary and uninspired. But we got there and pow: People are amazing. It was lovely to see the folks we met last time and many new ones: some bearing honey, eggs, cherry plums, eggplant seedlings, sheep’s poo, etc, etc, etc. We chatted a lot about all sorts of things: gardening tips, chickens 101 at the Coburg neighbourhood house, bee-keeping, tremendous and industrious forefathers, mothers, grandparents. And again we walked away with 3 times as much as we had brought along. We had a birthday picnic in the park but needed to self cater. We took leftover latkes, salad, apple cake (*nb cinnamon cheat) and a Yarra valley bottle of wine but on offer were all sorts of cheezely-chippie-cakey-chocolately-things. We had to look away especially as the piñata exploded lollies everywhere. There were lots of people who noticed our segregated eating, many admirers, some sceptics. With work and extra curricular meetings, Christmas parties, etc, it proved a social and necessarily explicative week which we found tough.

The toughest bit for me was the 11th hour with my family. We met on Saturday night to make icecream for which I was an observer. I also looked on as they all ate fish and chips and drank beer. I had food that we had pre-prepared but it seemed suddenly so unappetising and with my family I just want to do what they are doing. I find it difficult being so difficult. My sister made sure I didn’t cave. Just before midnight*nb cheat – big cheat) there were scorched almonds and in the morning homemade fruit loaf and coffee.

We are proud because we managed. We had to plan and got upset because the planning dominated a lot of our conversation. Similarly the dietary restrictions in some social situations became all too visible. But it was such a tremendous learning experience – about the food production system, about our consumptive crutches.

*nb If it had not been for all of the research, collection and distribution of flour, butter, eggs, etc, etc, the group did, we wouldn’t have made it. I need to send thanks to everyone. I hope to be walked through each of the group’s 100 miles.

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