RecipeMuncher

June 14 is my mother’s birthday. But I didn’t get to celebrate with her because she’s 3,000 miles away. Instead, I gave her a phonecall and I visited Santa Cruz’s Swanton Berry Farm to get myself some of their strawberry shortcake.

Just a short drive of a few miles north of Santa Cruz on Highway 1, right on the Pacific coast, is Swanton Ranch. I initially wanted to bike up and eat my shortcake there but the thought of the ride back to Santa Cruz after pigging out on strawberry shortcake deterred me from doing just that. I chose the easier route of hopping in the car and going there.

Swanton Berry Farm is a 100% union shop (their farmstand shop is all about Cesar Chavez). All the farm workers are part of the United Farm Workers. All their produce is also organic and the berry varieties they offer are better tasting, lower yielding berries. They do great work, and their strawberries are beautiful.

Aside from the fresh berries, they d…

I was looking back at some recent photos I took in Cameron and noticed a familiar protruding flesh staring back at me from under my chin and arms. Argggg … what an irritating sight! Also, I’ve got tones of fruits and vegetables to use up, all from my impromptu purchase in Cameron Highlands and if I don’t use them any sooner, it will all rot. Wasted, just like that.

So this morning, I woke up with two mission. To finish up as much perishable as possible; from strawberries to vegetables and secondly, minimise fat or calorie content as much as possible during the cooking/baking or whatsoever process to turn them into something edible! My vegetables went towards a western dish called ratatouille, of which the photo DID not turn out well hence I will not be featuring them. The rest of the vegetables went into a pot, where I turn them into a classic ABC soup BUT with a aromatic twist. It was soooo gorgeously smokey and tasty, tasty! So stay tune for that recipe!
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Did you know that around a third of all the food we buy ends up being thrown away? That staggering information is according to research by WRAP, a UK government funded agency.

I like to think that I am quite good when it comes to buying the right amount of food to meet our needs. Even so, I am guilty of throwing some food away, I would by lying if I told you I used everything up.
When buying fresh produce, the thing that really makes me want to scream, is BOGOF (buy one, get one free.) I don’t want 2 massive cauliflowers, or 2 packs of 10 oranges. Sell it to me at half price please! And what’s my mum going to do with 2 pineapples? She lives on her own and only has a tiny freezer.

A campaign called Love Food Hate Waste is aiming to raise awareness of the need to reduce the am…