Organic Jasmine Tea

Steenbergs sell organic jasmine tea. You can also buy it from Birt and Tang.

Lemon polenta cake

Downhearted from the failure of the simple domestic task of making homemade muesli, My Eco Self sneaks out to the local shop and buys a lemon polenta cake to pass off as my own to the domestic achievers. “What have you been doing with yourself?” asks one mum with baby to another. “I’ve been selling cakes to one of the local delis,” she replies. My attention is attracted, having started to lose interest due to excessive baby talk, and sizes up domestic mum friend as a possible source for cupcake baking. Suddenly My Eco Self remembers that domestic mum lives equidistant from the new deli with lemon polenta cake for sale. Mum is looking her straight in the eye as she says, “This cake is delicious.” “Anyone for more jasmine tea?” I ask.

Homemade muesli recipe

If you do want to make your own, there's lots of recipes on the internet. This is a basic muesli recipe from the BBC.

Ingredients
200g/7oz jumbo porridge oats
25g/1oz flaked bran or wheat germ
75g/3oz barley or rye flakes
50g/2oz hazelnuts, lightly crushed
50g/2oz flaked almonds
50g/2oz sultanas
50g/2oz dried, ready-to-eat apricots, roughly chopped
50g/2oz dried, ready-to-eat figs, roughly chopped

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.
2. Place the oats, flaked bran or wheat germ, barley or rye flakes, hazelnuts and almonds on a large baking tray and toast in the oven for 10 minutes, shaking and turning in the tray halfway through. Take the tray from the oven and leave to cool: this should take only about 10 minutes. 3. Mix the toasted ingredients with the sultanas, apricots and figs. These fruits are only suggestions: you can use whatever you prefer, for example dried apple, mango, papaya, dates or cherries.
4. You can eat this muesli straight away with milk.

A good place to buy muesli ingredients in the UK is Holland and Barrett. If you live in London, you could win extra eco points by buying these ingredients loose at Unpackaged - they have everything except the rye or barley flakes. In the US, you should find everything at Whole Foods.

NB: Check out my other muesli posts, here.

Lovely Lazy muesli

There is some lovely muesli for sale by Lovely Lazy. It's sold in some shops in South London, and is home-made and made locally, without My Eco Self's hint of garlic. I have bought the granola several times from Trinity Stores, and it is very tasty.

Homemade muesli

One of My Eco Self’s reduced employment initiatives is to make homemade muesli to reduce my salt and sugar intake from mass-produced brands, and to reduce the extortionate spend on various organic brands from the specialist deli. I am also keen to display something homemade and delicious in glass containers on the open shelves in my newly finished and debt-inducing kitchen. My Eco Self is hosting an afternoon tea for over-achieving domestic goddess friends with small children and homemade curtains, and can only compete on grounds of muesli-making. My Eco Self has a trip to the health store to buy organic oats, hazelnuts, Fair Trade honey, flaked coconut, and various oat bran things with well-documented health benefits.* Following a tip I’ve read in an eco blog, I roast the porridge oats in a cooling oven, instead of heating up a cold oven especially for the task. The next day I am up early and eager for some granola and yogurt to accompany my usual invigorating peppermint tea. There’s a subtle taste which isn’t disguised by the freshly added locally picked strawberries. “Taste this,” I tell Food Neurotic Friend when he calls round. “Why does your granola taste of garlic?” he asks. I wonder if this is a potential consequence of roasting the porridge oats straight after a tray of roasted vegetables. “Is it worth leaving it there for the display alone?” I ask FNF, but he shakes his head, not a frequent advocate of presentation over taste.

*Check out the recipe I have posted here. Or if you can justify the extortionate spend on food from the local deli, Lovely Lazy has a delicious range of mueslis which I have written about here.

Lola's ice cream - the inspiration

My Eco Self's ice cream van aspirations were also inspired by Lola's Ice Cream Van. I'm planning to have this at my wedding (date and groom to be confirmed.)

Look at these flavours - these are my favourites -I'm salivating already:

Fresh mint ice cream with a chocolate brownie
Pineapple and chilli sorbet
Melon and ginger sorbet
Lemongrass ice cream
Star Anise and Saffron Ice Cream
Beetroot and Cassis Sorbet

Beach hut for sale

This beach hut in Southwold, Suffolk, is for sale for £80,000 - find more information about this, and its scenic surrounding location here.

My Eco Self's finances may some day stretch to renting a beach hut - there's lots of information here.

Crab sandwich recipe

There's a great feature and recipe for making your own crab sandwich by Mark Hix of the Independent here.

Sustainable fishing

There are some places to eat eco-friendly fish (from a sustainable source) mentioned in an article in the Telegraph here.

According to this article, crab is in plentiful supply in the UK.

This is a list from Greenpeace of fish to avoid: (see link for more information, there are a few exceptions under some species.)

Red list fish: species at high risk of being sourced from fisheries using destructive practices -

Atlantic Cod
Plaice
Tuna
Tropical Prawns
Haddock
European Hake
Atlantic Halibut
Dover Sole
Salmon
Monkfish
Marlin
Swordfish
Skates and Rays
Sharks

In the US, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has some good information on seafood to avoid here.

Crab sandwiches

FNF and I sit on the end of the pier, eating crab sandwiches bought from a stand just off the beach.
“Do you think this crab is from a sustainable source?” I ask.
“Go and ask one of the fishermen,” says FNF, pointing to a group of men in yellow waxed jackets and trousers. “I need some time alone to research my story. I’m here in a professional capacity, remember.”
I walk up to the fishing village and look in an estate agent’s window. Despite having already remortgaged my flat to decorate it and have some financial slack through the three day working week scenario, I wonder about calling BT to see if beach huts can be wireless enabled. I don’t have any mobile phone reception. The beach hut fantasy might be short-lived.