Tag Archive for ‘markets’ at me, my camera and my life.

Tag Archive for 'markets'

a little flower

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on November 2, 2008

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Since shifting out, I have bought myself more flowers. I don’t go buying flowers every week (my money doesn’t stretch that far!) but maybe once every six weeks or so something will grab my eye at the market and I will walk past it a few times thinking “yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, YES”. Last week it was these Waratahs. The flowerman said they would last two weeks or so. I have had these now a week and they hare now a lot less full of colour and they are taking on this interesting grey colour. When I told Mum that I have picked up these Waratahs, she told me of a scheme for next year to go see the Red Waratahs in flower. I think that sounds like the most delightful idea

Just living is not enough… One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
- Hans Christian Andersen

Squid Stir Fry

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Helen

on August 25, 2008

in food and photography

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A couple of Saturdays ago Andrea and I visited the West End Green Markets and then Reverse Garbage. The weekend after that Mum and I did the same thing

One of the stalls at the markets is a fish shop filled with polystyrene boxes of ice and seafood. I had eyed the local squid off the week before when I went with Andrea. When I went the following week with Mum she had brought an esky along in the the boot of the car, perfect for carting home seafood. I picked a nice looking squid mantle, and proceeded to pay for it at $8/kg, the mantle cost me a whopping $2.50. A bargain price for protein that would give me two meals.

The process of cleaning the squid was an experience but fun. I had watched squid being cleaned before but never tried it myself. It didn’t look that hard and it wasn’t just messy. I had a meal dancing in my mind though so it was worth it.

Squid, Basil & Chilli Stir fry

Ingredients
Cleaned squid
Onion
Garlic
Capsicum
Nam Prik Pao/Chilli Jam/Chilli Paste in Oil
Kecap Manis
Light Soy Sauce - I used Tamari
bit of water
Asian greens
noodles or rice to serve

Clean the squid and make cuts at a 45° across the squid on both diagonals, taking care not to cut all the way through the squid. Then cut the squid into diamond shapes.

Heat a little oil in a wok and fry the onion, capsicum and garlic for a few minutes. Add a spoon of the chilli jam and a dollop of the kecap manis and the light soy sauce and stir through. Add the squid pieces and give a quick stir. Pour in a little water and place the Asian greens on top and give a quick steam. Toss through a handful of fresh basil leaves and serve on noodles or rice.

West End Markets

Published

Helen

on August 15, 2008

in family, food, photography and random life

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For the last few weeks I have made a trip each Saturday morning to the West End Markets and oh how I loved them more than any of the other markets I have been to in Brisbane. A lot cheaper than the Jan Power markets and more general fruit and vege stalls as opposed to speciality olive and dip stalls, a whole lot more stalls than the Nundah markets. Just the perfect mix of everything.

I can get bananas from a banana grower at Crabbes Creek, near where Grandad grew up. I can get apples and pears from this lovely old Italian (?) man from Stanthorpe. Heritage tomatoes from this lovely lady. Fresh local squid from the polystyrene box fish shop. Turkish bread that is at least a meter long from the Highgate Hill bakery and everything else I need for the week.

The other week Mum came with me and I took these photos of her sitting on the soccer field eating some American cherries after our shared Hungarian spinach thing which we had for breakfast.

I probably won’t be going the next two weeks as I have weddings on both Saturdays but generally this is where you will find me on a Saturday morning.

not the day

Published

Helen

on January 20, 2008

in family, photography and random life

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There is all this stuff I want to say but it doesn’t feel like the right time to say those things at the moment. I need to dwell on them for a little while longer. It is frustrating. I’m looking for that fast forward button. I want things to start now. Moving on.

Yesterday morning, Mum and I dropped Matthew at work and headed off to the Hotel Broadway markets. We parked the car at the Kangaroo Point Cliffs and walked the rest of the way to the Hotel Broadway. It is a relatively small market but it was good. We got some Mangrove Honey We walked home via the specialist food shops on Balaclava st, which open at 7am every morning! We had a good walk, window shopping, garden shopping, people ~~shopping~~ watching and I had fun taking some photos.

The Markets

The Gabba

The Cliffs

The Story Bridge

The Valley

Windsor War Memorial

The Park

to market

Published

Helen

on December 24, 2007

in family, food and random life

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On Wednesday I went to market. to market.
I walked up and down.
Tomatoes, $8, great for sauce
Rockies, $2 a carton.
Cherries, super sweet.
Listening to their calls.

Some stand and watch you, waiting for you to decide that the price & quality is right. Others see you coming and do their best to talk you into buying from them.

There is no partridge in my pear tree but I do have 20kg of tomatoes, 8kg of capsicums, 5kgs of cherries and 4kg of mushies.

Which will become/has become
frozen mushies & capsicums
semi-dried & dried tomatoes
dried roasted capiscums
pasta sauce
frozen cherries for baking
cherries for eating

We picked up two cherry pitters from the shop which made it so quick and easy to pit the cherries for freezing. I also picked up a curved paring knife, which has made coring the tomatoes a dream. It is now Monday morning and I just put on the last lot of capsicums to dry and there is one last tray of tomatoes that will be dried in a few hours. For some reason, I am guessing the weather it has been taking a lot longer to dry the tomatoes & capsicums than usual.

I spent a period of time each day, sitting at a little table on the back cement, with a box of tomatoes on one side, my drying trays on the other and the waste bucket between my legs. I core, halve or third the tomatoes depending on size, pop the backs, squeeze out some of the excess juice, arrange them on the trays and pop them in the dryer. Some of the tomatoes I have seasoned with some salt and pepper but the others are 100% tomato.

The dried roasted capsicums are possibly my favourite though, they have this slightly smokey intense capsicum flavour, are about 2mm thick and have a texture similar to a fruit roll-up. Quite nice.

Today is Christmas Eve, it about 8:30am here and we are about to put up the Christmas Tree, like a good Icelandic family, we decorated the house yesterday and put our outside lights up last week. Mum and I went to the farm yesterday to get our tree and of course to decorate Grandad’s house ready for Christmas Day at the farm.

me, my camera and my life.