Autumn 2012

It has been just over 2 weeks since I returned from Cambodia. I arrived to a perfect Autumn day, the first day of Autumn to be exact. Mark picked me up and delivered me to Hawthorn from where number 2 son Andrew took me to breakfast at Pearl cafe. All I wanted was bacon, I don't know why because I always regret eating it, as I did this time!

The day passed with me achieving very little and my plans for returning to the country didn't eventuate until Monday.

Monday was another perfect day and I arrived at the farm to glorious sunshine and a very green garden. The rains that fell in this area whilst I was away had done a great job in keeping the place alive and flourishing. I parked the car and headed straight to the fig tree and plucked a beautiful piece of fruit which I promptly ate followed by several more. In the 4 years since I have been here I have never seen the trees bear so much fruit.

My next joy was to discover that the rain water tanks are all full for the first time ever. One less thing to worry about!!!

Actually I have never seen the garden looking so green and so healthy and the smell of ripe quinces was and still is intoxicating.

So, 35 liters of weed killer later, several hours of mowing and a day or 2 of weeding the vegetable beds, the place is back in order.

These lovely days have been tempered by several which were very cool with freezing nights and I was convinced I had seen the last of the warm weather. But this is Melbourne and the warm weather has returned.

I have been delighted to find that the vegetable garden has continued to produce beans ( although they are looking very raggy and need to be pulled) tomatoes, plenty of eggplant and I managed to get a few more zucchini before I pulled the untidy remains out.

The chillies are a source of amazement because I have never seen so much fruit grow on one plant. As mentioned before there are also many quinces and figs.

If I haven't been working in the garden, driving up and down to town to deal with the mundane issues of life I have been working frantically in the kitchen. These activities have been punctuated by Easter and birthday celebrations and a little bit of painting to boot!!! I have produced quince paste, fig paste, fig jam, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce and have been trying to use all the available produce in my day to day cooking.

I thought it senseless to plant anything else as I have plans to travel again but the pleasure that I experience from growing my own food has got the better of me and lettuce, broccholi and beet root are back in the garden. My major achievement has been to finally use the compost that has been maturing away with absolutely no assistance from me. I am embarrassed to relate the excitement that I felt once I had turned this organic matter over and dug it into the bare veggie boxes!!!!

The main work and renovations are just about complete and this week saw the final light fittings installed outside and Ross has just a day or 2 of work to complete a few minor outstanding jobs. The water feature in the front garden has the fountain installed and I now have to buy more water plants. I still have 9 fruit trees to pick up from the nursery and am contemplating where to position them. The last of the blueberries have been planted and there is a little bit of space in the planter boxes for who knows what!

Now most of the intensive work is done I no longer have an excuse for not getting back to my Spanish lessons ( except that I find it hard to sit still for that long) and am returning to Zumba, have to fill those long cold winter days.

On the weekend Lois and Dennis came to visit and this seemed a prime opportunity to test cook some Cambodian recipes. I made the Ginger Chicken, stir fried veg and we followed this with a quince sponge which is hardly Cambodian but I will blog the recipe anyway! The sweet chilli sauce is in keeping with this food even though it is a recently discovered one and successfully made through trial and error!

What I have discovered with Cambodian cooking is that a lot of garlic, oyster sauce, sugar, fish sauce and chicken stock powder is used! Ginger is used in specific dishes and not too many dishes have a hot bite to them. I am always tempted to add chilli to my food so have to restrain myself here!!!!

I have westernized the chicken cuts as I find chicken with little bones off putting when eating a stir fry.

GINGER CHICKEN:

Serves 4.

Vegetable oil 2teaspoons

Butter 2 teaspoons

Chicken thighs. 500 gms chopped into approx 2 cm cubes

Ginger. 1/4 cup fine matchstick pieces

Garlic. 2 teaspoons finely chopped

Sugar. 1 level desert spoon

Oyster sauce. 2 tablespoons

Fish sauce. 1 teaspoon

Chicken stock powder 2 teaspoons

Water. 1/4 cup

Spring onions. 4 washed, trimmed and cut into 2 cm lengths ( green and white)

Onion. 1 small peeled and sliced into fine crescents

 

Sauté ginger until tender and aromatic

Add garlic, sauces, sugar and chicken powder, stir well

Add chicken and brown

Add water and simmer with cover on for 5 minutes then remove cover and cook until chicken is sticky and cooked through ( approx 5-8 minutes)

Add onion and spring onions, stir through and serve.

Serve with Jasmine rice.

 

CHEATS RICE:

Serves 4

Thoroughly wash 2 cups jasmine rice

Cover with 3 cups hot water

Microwave uncovered 10 minutes

Fork up and let sit covered for 5 minutes.

Fork up again and serve

 

STIR FRY VEGETABLES WITH OYSTER SAUCE:

Serves 4

Lebanese cucumber. 1 peeled decoratively and sliced on the diagonal

Cauliflower 1/4 cut into florets

Green or snake beans. 1/2 cup sliced into 3 cm pieces

Carrot. 1/2 cup decoratively cut into bite size 3 cm batons

Red or green capsicum. 1/4 cup cut into bite size pieces

Garlic. 1 teaspoon finely chopped

Chicken powder. 1 teaspoon

Oyster sauce. 1 tablespoon

Butter 2 teaspoons

Vegetable oil. 2 teaspoons

 

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil

Add carrots and beans, blanch 1 minute

Add capsicum, blanch 1 further minute

Add cauliflower and blanch further 1 minute

Drain well and refresh veg in cold water

Melt butter and oil in wok

Sauté garlic until tender and golden

Add stock powder and oyster sauce

Add cucumber and fry for 1 minute

Add remaining veg and sauté 1 minute until heated through

 

I bought a vegetable cutter in the Siem Reap market that has a 10 cm fluted edge that is perfect for decoratively slicing the vegetables. This looks nice but also seems to hold the sauce better.

 

SWEET CHILLI SAUCE:

Although not generally served in Cambodia, I really like this with the cold or fried spring rolls. We seemed to be served this more in Vietnam.

 

Long red chillies. 12 chopped finely seeds included!!!!

Garlic. 8 cloves chopped finely

Ginger. 2 cm knob hopped finely

White sugar. 4 cups

White vinegar. 4 cups ( can use rice, wine or standard)

Salt. 2 teaspoons

 

Place all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.

Cook uncovered, stirring frequently over a low heat ( keep surface bubbling)

Reduce for about 20 minutes until syrupy ( remember it thickens on cooling)

Let sit 5 minutes

Pour into sterile jars and let cool before refrigerating. I would think that this should also be OK kept in a cool pantry.

 

Nice as a dipping sauce or in a stir fry to add some zip!!!!!!

 

Hope you try these dishes and enjoy them.

Next attempt will be a beef dísh called Lok Lac but first need an audience to practice on!!

 

Moving House and Going Home

Moving house in Cambodia really is a literal turn of phrase! We think of it as packing up our possessions and changing address. Not so here. A work force turns up overnight and from the roof down the house is dismantled and every part that can be is salvaged, is salvaged. We have witnessed this over the past week. The alternative route to school is along the Tonle Sap Road that follows the river. Every day there is another area of housing that has been cleared. The initial reaction was one of indignation that there has been an injustice served upon these poor residents and small businesses but it always pays to get the detail from those in the know!

It seems that some years ago a large donation of money was given by the Korean government to dredge the Tonle Sap River to increase its depth to try to prevent future flooding of the city. Funds were to also be used to beautify the river banks and improve the pathways. The residents were then given their marching orders but also financially compensated . Trouble was that nobody made an attempt to move and the deadline has now been reached so mass evacuation! The "evacuees" have also been given land outside of town to resettle on. I still believed that this compulsory acquisition was a bit harsh but have been reassured by an NGO manager that Khmer people do not put as much stock on possessions as we do and are a bit nomadic by nature!!!!

In some ways I can understand why the government want the river cleared because even though it is naturally beautiful, it has been dreadfully polluted by the riverside dwellers who allow all waste and rubbish to be drained into it. There is an article on www.travel fish.org if you wish to read another recent story on this topic.

There is some doubt that the widening and deepening of the river will actually resolve the flooding issue as the Tonle Sap feeds into the Tonle Sap lake which in turn is fed into by the Mekong. In the wet the Mekong and the Lake back flow up into the Tonle Sap River and eventually these waters will meet that which is flowing out and it is thought that there will be flooding wherever this occurs. Only time will tell.

 

It is my second last day at the project, Amber and Imran finish today and Thursday night plans include dinner at the Temple Club to watch the Apsaras dancers ( I have already done this but several haven't had the experience yet). The plan after dinner is for Karaoke.

It is always sad for the volunteers who are leaving, sad for us who have to say goodbye to people we have come to know very well over a short space of time. The kids at the project are always disappointed when teachers they have become fond of depart but I think they h ave become so used to this movement of people that it no longer troubles them. That is not to say that they don't welcome you back with open arms if you return.

 

 

 

The dinner and show were fun, but the karaoke!!!!! It is not so easy to sing when you can't hear yourself, but we all got up and made fools of ourselves, some more than others. It was such a funny night. Everyone kept themselves nice but it was a tribute to the comfort that we had with each other that we could open up this way! The French amongst us I am sad to say have terrible taste in music and thought they were at a wedding and belted out all the old French tunes. Sally was great and Beth was fantastic singing Alicia Keys hitting all the right notes but we will certainly remember Sally's Oooh Yeah!!!

 

 

My turn to say goodbye on Friday, I left for work early so that I could savor the last ride and get a few photos of the village and have the chance to say goodbye to the local friends I have made. Lessons as usual with some art to follow. Sad once again to say goodbyes and find it difficult to believe that 4 weeks has come to an end.

Nak and I had arrangements to go to Sugar Palm for dinner, he picked me up on his motor bike and off we went. Unfortunately a party was being held over the road to the restaurant and the noise was horrendous so we didn't stay. Plan B was to go to Nest, no tables left due to a big group booking so ended up at the Indian restaurant, good food but uninspiring surrounds for the last supper! The funny thing was that the waitress remembered me from last year! I hadn't been there this year.

Saturday morning - first at the pool and am going to make the most of it! 2 hours in the sun followed up by a final body scrub and massage. Bliss, what a way to finish my trip. Said my farewells and hugs all round from the female staff. Flight leaving at 6 pm for Ho Chi Min.

 

 

It has been a wonderful time in Siem Reap, the time has flown, I have met some wonderful people, worked hard, experienced a bit of culture and am ready to return for more! Sadly the volunteer tour is not going ahead for May and at this stage I am strongly considering returning to work at Grace House. Can strongly recommend that at some stage of your lives that you experience some volunteer work-It is so rewarding.

As promised I will be doing a test drive on the recipes I gleaned from the kitchen staff at Grace House and will post them once done.

Good luck for you, good dreams for me.