Adventures On My Bike – Day 8/28

Today’s recipe: Souvlaki with Tzatziki.

“Every aspect of our lives is, in a sense, a vote for the kind of world we want to live in.” Frances Moore

It takes a great amount of muscle to vote for the world we want to live in. The modern world is not particularly geared towards those of us who seek a deeper kind of existence. One that is connected to the food we eat, the environment we steward and the humanity we share. One that values slow over fast, quiet over noise, less over more, make over buy, contribute over consume. But there is a gym for us and there are others training there too. It’s a small gym, the gym of creative living but it is gaining momentum … people are beginning to ask themselves ‘what matters most’? And once we ask ourselves that question we start the process of taking action and we start building the muscle to vote. We have no choice but to act if we want to leave a legacy of having stood for something or a life without regrets. A world we want to live in and contribute to not exist in and consume from.

One act will lead to another and then another. Take the spanakopita ‘rolls’ (brilliant suggestion Sue btw, rolling sausage roll style worked a treat!). Ingredients bought at the market* to buy fresher, to reduce plastic (#zerowaste), to bake from scratch, to live creatively. The ingredients then used to create something learnt from friend (food now has two stories), created specifically for my daughter because it’s one of her favourite dishes. Delivered to said daughter after school (before she went to a friend’s house) as a surprise with a kiss – an ‘I love you’ parcel. A parcel that votes for a kinder world. (I’ve lost track, food now has six stories yeah?)

And because I made the spanakopita I was all loved up and also wrote a funny little letter for her. One act that keeps giving …

‘Culture, when it comes to food, is of course a fancy word for your mom.’

Michael Pollan

Yes it’s hard enough being a mum I get it – I know! And I’m far from perfect but I want to care about the food culture I send my kids out into the world with it. I think it matters.

Speaking of kids favourites remember the first post of this 28 day series … the ‘I love you’ platter with Jimmy’s beloved Caprese Salad ingredients? Lisa my friend from Milwaukee created her own version. How good does it look! Jimmy said ‘yum’ when I showed him and he’s chuffed his favourite salad is a hit Lisa – a smiling 6 yo with his own new food story ;).

Oh and Lisa shared this meal with her daughter. And that reminds me of another story … I’ve never met Lisa face to face (yet) we became friends through blogging. But I did have the privilege of meeting her daughter in Sydney when she was traveling around Australia. Lisa asked if I could check in with her. And from one mum to another I shared with Lisa know how proud she should be of her strong, independent and capable daughter. And that I hope to grow mine with those qualities too.

Tzatziki.

So I guess you’re sensing a Greek theme here … again! A meal created because I made tzatziki to use up the dill and cucumbers. I don’t know about you but I don’t have a lot of kitchen appliances. Actually let me think … I have three. A food processor, a beater and a stick blender. And this little nugget! This was a gift from my mother in law, a Tupperware mini hand blender I guess you’d call it. I love it for chopping onions, garlic and making dips. Guacamole, tzatziki, hummus etc. I thought I’d share as I’ve had it for 9 years and it’s still perfect and I don’t cry on account of onions.

Souvlaki. Greek – Dutch – Aussie style.

Of course I’d never make these if Lexie was coming over, this is one of her specialties and it would look little different. She looked at me strangely when I said I’d put lemon in the tzatziki :).

Ingredients:

• Chicken (I roast the fillets but they could also be fried thinking about when we’re in the camper)
• Chopped tomatoes
• Chopped cucumber
• Sliced onion
• Pita bread (tossed in the pan or in the toaster)
• Tzatziki (recipe linked)

Method:

So simple! Fill the pita breads with fresh ingredients.

It’s Friday night and I prepared this dinner during the day so it was an easy relaxed meal. I even got a ‘thank you, I love this meal’ at the table. But mostly, I got togetherness, laughs and fun. No debate, the debater was at a friends. Lucky because her dad’s away and he’s the debater’s sparing partner. The debater is at her Greek friend’s house eating a home made (γιαγιά’s) meatball soup. So I guess you’ll have to watch this space for that recipe.

Have a beautiful start to the weekend … feel free to share a food story with me if you have one. I love a good connected food story.

Buen camino’ing,

Fran x

*the pasty came from the store pre-made. I haven’t attempted that … yet, not sure I will.