WHB Basil pesto

You'd think after almost five years of food blogging that I would have a basic recipe for basil pesto on my blog.  You would also think I could photograph pesto in focus.  You might even expect I could make a basic couscous salad with pesto.  I regret to inform you: No, No and No!

I almost didn't post this because the top photo wasn't as in focus as I had dreamt it might be (and it is the best of a bad lot).  But the pesto was still green in the airtight container after a week.  It is one of the best that I have even made.  So I am sharing it with you despite blurry photos, wilting basil leaves and crumbs on my table. 

Some days you just have to take me as I am.  I never promised sumptuous photos.  Surely you wont mind if you taste this pesto.  It really was wonderful.  Fragrant, tasty and brilliantly green.  Great in a seeded bun with tomato and cheese when you have been swimming.  Quite cheesy.  (Note to self: find a good basic recipes for vegan pesto that works for me!)

It is also fantastic on chia bread.  But here is a tip!  Don't store your pesto in a purple airtight container.  Because you will surely open the fridge and curse at how your glorious green pesto has discoloured overnight.  Murky brown pesto just doesn't have the same appeal.  I didn't cover mine with oil as the experts recommend.  Yet once the lid was off the purple tub, the pesto miraculously stayed green for a week.

Lastly, a spoonful of pesto over a minestrone-style soup is delicious.   Which made me realise I have also never posted about a basic minestrone.  Let's leave that for another time.  For now, I will just feel my blog is that teensy bit closer to completion with this pesto recipe.

I am sending this to Lynne from Cafe Lynnylu who is hosting this week's Weekend Herb Blogging #321, the event coordinated by Haalo and founded by Kalyn.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Kalyn's stuffed peppers
This time two years ago: CNY Potluck, Pearl Balls and Healthy Treats
This time three years ago: MLLA8 Dal Makhani
This time four years ago: PPN #52 Gyoza and Salad

Basil Pesto
Adapted from taste.com.au
I think it made about 1 cup but will check next time

• 45g (1/4 cup) pine nuts
• 1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves (I used leaves and stems of 1 bunch)
• 2 small garlic cloves, crushed
• 60g (3/4 cup) finely grated parmesan
• 60ml (1/4 cup) good olive oil

Blitz in blender until smooth.  Keep in fridge in an airtight container - I didn't cover it with oil and it was still green after a week.

On the stereo
Latitude 20: Arthur Lyman

NCR couscous salad with chermoula

Before I start telling you about herbs and couscous and salad, you might notice that I have updated my blogger banner so it goes across the whole width of the page.  Sylvia and I had a craft session this afternoon.  I worked on my banner and she glued and cut and stickered.  I am not sure the banner is quite right but it is an improvement!

Like my banner, couscous is a constant work in progress.  It is hard to get right.  Often it turns out clumpy or dry or just plain stodgy.  Following a recipe would probably help!  I was searching for inspiration for Lisa and Jacqueline's latest No Croutons Required challenge which is herbs.  I stumbled upon a recipe for 'Giant couscous salad with preserved lemon and chermoula in Alice Hart's Vegetarian.  It took some tweaking but I ended up with one of my best couscous salads yet!

I was quite taken by the idea of making Chermoula.  It is a sauce of parsley, lemon, olive oil and spices.  I had decided that this would also be a good way to use some of the lovely olive oil that Fran and John gave me for my birthday. 

Firstly though I went on a detour.  I remembered that I didn't have any parsley in the house.  I headed off to the supermarket before dinner and as I got there I remembered I didn't have parsley because there was non in my last visit there.  So I bought basil and made pesto.  I tried a couscous salad with pesto, roast pumpkin, endamame, tomato and avocado.  It was nice but a bit clumpy.  E said it was more like a side dish.

The next morning I had to put the car into the mechanic and found myself in the unusual position of walking into the supermarket on the way home at 8am.  They had parsley so I bought a bunch and decided to try again with chermoula.  It was very good though not swimming in oil like the picture in the book.  It was brilliant with the couscous because it kept the grains moist and separate.

The first night I was happy to eat a big bowl of it with some salad veg on the side.  E less so.  The second night I served it with lentil burgers, salad veg and chia bread.  E was very pleased with it that night.  Sylvia didn't taste the couscous but did eat a chunk out of the bread - can you see it in the above pic?  E just thought the bread had come out of the oven that way.  Sigh!  Ah well, he does the dishes!

My one reservation is that parsley can sometimes stick in your throat but that is a minor quibble as I have come to love parsley and use it a lot.  I once thought it was only good for a poncy garnish so I have come a lot way.  In the above pic you will see Sylvia's new ninja babies (a bargain at 30c each!) that we bought last week on the day I made the salad.  She loves them and has spent many hours making cots for them with her building blocks.  Her imagination is amazingly fertile at the moment.  I like to think that this salad shows my own imagination still has a bit of kick in it!

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Samosa Pie
This time two years ago: NCR Bann’s Parsnip Soup with Walnut Ravioli and Carrot Cream
This time three years ago: Potato salad, freak weather and bushfires
This time four years ago: FF #3 Dip and muffins from the pantry

Couscous salad with Chermoula
Inspired by Alice Hart's Vegetarian
served us for 3 mains and 3 side dishes

large wedge of pumpkin (about 800g)
2 large parsnips
olive oil and salt for roasting
400g tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 cup couscous (I used wholemeal)
1 1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 tsp stock powder
2 heaped teaspoons honey (or other sweetener)
juice of 1 lemon

Chermoula:
Adapted from Alice Hart's Vegetarian

1 bunch parsley
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup good olive oil, or to taste
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, lightly toasted
1 small clove garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sweet paprika
dash cayenne pepper
dash cinnamon

Firstly make Chermoula.  Blitz all ingredients in a food processor.  I did mine in some batches especially as I found the parsley chopped finer if I did it in batches in my little blender attachment for my hand held blender.  Mine was a bit tart but that worked ok once in the salad.

Trim, peel and dice both the pumpkin and parsnips and toss with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Roast at about 200 C for about 40 minutes.  (I went to the mechanics to pick up the car in the middle of this so I can't be too specific.)  Cool slightly and mix with chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes and spring onions.

Mix couscous, stock powder and boiling water in a medium bowl.  Cover and sit for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Fluff up with a fork.  Stir through about half the chermoula.

To serve pile couscous in a large shallow salad bowl.  Heap pumpkin, parsnip and chickpea mixture on top and then dollop some chermoula on top.  Serve with any extra chermoula.

On the Stereo:
Authentic Hawaiian Favourites: Arthur Lyman

On the Stereo: the soundtrack to my life!

Ever since starting this blog, whenever I write a post with a recipe, I include "On the Stereo" at the end.  I love to have music playing while I cook or while we eat dinner.  We should each have a soundtrack to our life!  I thought it might be fun to write a post about the music in my life.

Music has been part of my life from singing along with a Rolf Harris record, accompanying my sister to K-Mart to watch videos of Wham, living with a New Order obsessed housemate, watching my brother's folk band at Port Fairy Music Festival, participating in Top of the Pops chats while working at the BBC website, making friends in London with Blur fanatics, standing in a muddy field at my first Pulp performance, and travelling from Scotland to Ireland to see a Will Oldham gig. 

E is first and foremost a musician, even though he now has a day job.  Years ago he had an album released on vinyl.  He goes through phases of listening to different genres which since I met him have included: lo-fi, country and western, blues, Americana, American folk, Celtic folk, industrial, krautrock, electronica, classical, post punk, progressive rock, reggae, funk, psychedelic, turntablism, neo-folk, jazz, ukelele, easy listening and lots more. His tastes are eclectic and account for a lot of what we hear. I love Britpop, folk and indie music, but listening to E’s selection has broadened my tastes.

We don't go to gigs as often as we used to but we still love music in my household.  We can easily get into a rut with albums.  Amazing, given that we had over 800 CDs which I did a quick count a year or two ago.  (All my music is on CDs rather than an ipod or digital, though E is more digital savvy.)  On the Stereo' challenges me to listen to more of my albums, and gives me a reason to insist on a change when E has an album on repeat.  It has also given him a great excuse to buy new albums - as if he needs any.  I don't have an ipod or download music from the internet. 

Earlier this year when we drove to Orange, E didn't quite understand my request for driving music, so I spent hours listening to a cassette mix that I made a couple of decades ago.  I was pleased that it still sounded ok.  After all it is the soundtrack to my travels.  Rather than expect you to read my scrawly handwriting, I have typed out the list for those who are interested:

• Morrissey - Now my Heart is Full
• Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
• Greenhouse - See Saw
• Rob Clarkson - Great Day Alright
• Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia
• The Cranberries - Linger
• Beautiful South - Let Love Speak Up Itself
• Kristen Hersh - Your Ghost
• The Drunk, The Monk and The Spunk - Pretty Hot Corn Girl
• My Friend the Chocolate Cake - A Midlife's Tale
• Pale Blue Eyes - Another Rainy Day
• Beautiful South - Lips
• REM - Perfect Circle
• The Church - Metropolis
• Hummingbirds - Blush
• The Welcome Mat - Play Me
• Teenage Fan Club - Escher
• Killjoys - Shibboleth
• Madonna - Oh Father
• Club Hoy - You Promised, You Said
• Billy Bragg - Warmest Room
• Penelope Swailes - Strange Hands
• Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart Again

Music is more than sound.  It is also a culture that develops around musicians, bands and genres.  I am fascinated by it.  I love hearing about crazy experiences that music brings to the lives of the stars and the fans.  Here is a snapshot of some musical material culture that has interested me in recent years.  Lists are an important part of music culture so here is my five lists of five.  As you might notice, these lists are eclectic and there are many gaps.  I have much to hear, see and read!

Five phases of music in my life
Not a comprehensive list but it covers some of the people I have been excited by over my lifetime.  I thought of a list of 5 best gigs but it was just too hard to choose.  But many of these bands would be included.

• Youth: Patsy Biscoe, Danny Kaye, Rolf Harris, Bushwhackers, Wham, Billy Joel
• University Days: Killjoys, Wild Pumpkins at Midnight, Billy Bragg, Paul Kelly, Rob Clarkson, The Smiths
• Travelling/Edinburgh: Pulp, Divine Comedy, Belle and Sebastian, Blur, Scott Walker, Will Oldham
• Return to Melbourne: Jarvis Cocker, Reindeer Selection, Decembrists, Missy Higgins, Barb Waters
• Recently: Beirut, Franz Ferdinand, Michael Nyman, Phillip Glass

Five interesting music documentaries
Talking heads, archival footage and retrospective angst.  Almost as good as being there!

• The Factory Records Saga (Channel Four, 2008)
• George Formby documentary (BBC, presented by Frank Skinner, 2011)
• The Joy of Easy Listening (BBC, 2011)
• Live Forever: The rise and Fall of Britpop (2003)
• Made in Sheffield (2001)

Five fascinating books about music
Since reading music reviews in InPress and Beat street magazines, I have admired how words can be used to describe what we hear, and how the background stories make the music more interesting. 

• The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock (2003) by John Harris
• Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 (2006) by Simon Reynolds 
• Song Man: One Man's Mission to Write the Perfect Pop Song (2008) by Will Hodgkinson
• Truth and Beauty: the story of Pulp (2003) by Mark Sturdy 
• Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City (2004) by Paul Morley

Fantastic films about music
These films illustrate the passion and pathos of both the stars and the fans.

• 24 Hour Party People
• Almost Famous
• Amadeus
• Control
• High Fidelity

Five entertaining Youtube music videos
I don't spend a lot of time watching Youtube or music videos.  If I had all the time in the world, I would link to videos or audio for each album I mention in my On the Stereo section.  Instead I leave you with a few quirky vids that I shared with my niece Quin recently.  She is a fan of Korean pop which explains the third vid.

• Blood - Middle East
• Eet - Regina Specktor 
• Marshmallow IU
• This is Hardcore: Pulp
• Tribute - Tenacious D

WW Healthy Chocolate Ice Cream

I am not a huge fan of ice cream but Sylvia loves it.  Her eyes light up at the mention of it.  So when I found myself with bananas that need to be used and a ripe avocado, I followed Not Quite Nigella's unlikely recipe and made chocolate ice cream.

It was my most successful ice cream venture so far.  Which is not saying much, considering my track record.  I felt I did better this time at stirring the freezing custard to break down the ice crystals than in previous ice cream attempts.  Or maybe it was just the banana and avocado were creamier anyway.

A minor problem was that I could detect a slight taste of avocado.  Not enough to put me off.  Worse were the choc chips.  I think the ones I used may have been heat affected.  But they were more like chips of cement than soft chocolate in the ice cream.  Next time I might use either finely grated chocolate or even just try melting the chocolate. 

All in all not a a bad way to please a child!  After all, who can resist an ice cream that not only is vegan and gluten free, but also has more fruit and veg than sugar!  Giving a child a scoop or two feels like saying, here have some fruit, have some vegetables!  Great to come home to after swimming lessons! 

I am sending this to Ricki's Wellness Weekends.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Cheeseymite, burgers and sylvia
This time two years ago: More baby food, more healthy muffins
This time three years ago: Tofu Burgers and Tennis
This time four years ago: WCC # 25 Velvet Soup from Nigellaland

Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream
from Not Quite Nigella

3 medium or 2 large bananas
1 ripe avocado
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup dark choc chips (or cocoa nibs)

Chop banana flesh and freeze (I froze mine about 5-6 hours).  Blend in food processor with avocado flesh, cocoa and maple syrup until you have a creamy custardy mixture.  Stir in choc chips and place in plastic container in freezer.  Remove from freezer, stir and return to freezer after about an hour or two.  Do this about three times to break down the ice crystals and get a creamy texture.  To serve, leave out to soften for about 1 hour.

On the Stereo:
The Flying Club Cup: Beirut

Pizza with carrot and leek and recent food

My energy for blogging is a bit low lately.  I have had such a lovely time of getting my backlog down.  Then I was hit by a wave of making new recipes this week.  Now I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the lovely new food and want to tell you about it all now.  But I am trying to spend some time organising photos and can only spend a little time (especially when the internet is on the blink!).  So I will start with the surprisingly wonderful Carrot and Leek pizza from the weekend.

Firstly, let me share some of Sylvia's artwork and some good and bad foodie experiences of recent weeks:

The bad:

• I tried Bill Granger's Real Muesli Bars.   I loved them when Fran made them when we visited her last year.  But mine crumbled into muesli.  Not a great success but I am enjoying the museli.
• I made bad rice paper rolls.  The rice paper was old and the noodles weren't soaked enough.  Must try harder next time!
• I absent-mindedly put cayenne pepper instead of cinnamon in Sylvia and E's porridge.  Fortunately I realised before serving.  (I also took Sylvia to her swimming lesson at the wrong time when she started back after the Christmas break.  Too many distractions in my life!)

The good:

• I remembered to tuck a serviette into Sylvia's Jenners party dress neckline at Cafe Lua just before she dropped butterscotch sauce down her front!
• I finally tried tofu bacon.  Excellent on fried rice.  It was so good I will make it again to do it justice.
• I tried mock tuna salad again.  This time I used a bottled low fat ranch dressing rather than bitey dijonnaise and it was excellent.

The pizza I made was among the recent good cooking.  It is exciting to have made it because I have been tempted by the photo so many times and promised myself to make it one day.  In fact I now feel that emptiness you feel after achieving a huge goal.  Well not quite but I loved this pizza.  Sarah Brown calls it Cheese and Leek Pizza.  I call it Carrot and Leek Pizza.  It is the least cheesy pizza I have had for ages.  All it has is a little parmesan which is more a flavouring than a rich flatty blanket.  So I am sure it would be easily veganised.

Sarah Brown's recipe has a layer of carrot puree, a layer of leeks and ginger topped with raisins, parsley and parmesan.  I was amazed at the lack of salt and added a pinch but the flavours work without salt.  I didn't have sultanas (as we call what the Brits call raisins) or parsley so I just used dried apple because it annoys me sitting around when I don't really want to eat it.  Of course as soon as I was cooking with it - way after Sylvia's bed time because it took me ages - she was running out of bed and sneaking off with pieces of the dried apple!

She loves pizza but not this one.  I made her a tomato and cheese one to have for lunch the next day instead.  Speaking of dough I used 1/2 a cup of fine semolina in my pizza dough, inspired by Mel's pizza dough recipe.  It worked really well.  Finally I have hope I might finish the semolina in my pantry before the weevils attack it.

When I made the pizza on Sunday we had a busy day.  I sorted some of the clothes she had been given.  When I was young they were called hand-me-downs and not really welcome but the quality of stuff she has been given is lovely.  We also made a birthday card for her cousin in Scotland and with terrible timing, set out for the pool just as the cool change hit.  There are some advantages to an indoor pool.

Lastly as I made the pizza, I had Young Talent Time on the telly.  It is pretty awful but I have such fond memories of watching it as a kid that I had to check out the new version.  My favourite Young Talent Time member was Sally Boyden.  No one as sweet as her on the new show.  And they didn't finish with a rendition of All my Loving.  Sigh!  I guess I am just no longer the target audience.  I'll just stick to my hippy pizzas!

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Queso dip, enchiladas and food processor
This time two years ago: Pizza for the Working Woman
This time three years ago: Jam-Making Reflections by a Novice
This time four years ago: Wanton Dumplings in Ginger Broth

Carrot and Leek pizza
adapted from Sarah Brown's Vegetarian Cookery

Pizza dough for 1-2 medium large pizzas (I used about 1/2 a quantity of fast track pizza dough)
500g carrots, peeled trimmed and chopped
pinch of smoked salt (optional)
2 tsp rice bran oil (or other oil)
25g sunflower seeds
1 large leek, trimmed, washed and sliced
1 tbsp ginger, finely grated
25g dried apple or raisins
25g parmesan, finely grated (or 1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast)
Cornmeal for pizza tray

Make the dough and let it sit while you prepare topping.  If you take ages to get the toppings ready like me, just punch it down every now and again when it looks a bit fluffy.

Steam or microwave carrots until soft (I boiled mine with minimal water, for 20 minutes until I smelled burning, scrapped the burnt bits off and found they still were a bit undercooked when I tried to puree them, so I then microwaved them for 3 minutes and they then were mooshy enough to puree.)  Puree in until smooth (I used my blender attachment to my hand held blender but you could probably get away with just mashing them with a potato masher).  Stir or puree in smoked salt.  Set aside.

Meanwhile heat rice bran oil in a large frypan and lightly fry sunflower seeds for about 5 minutes.  Add leek and ginger and gently fry until leek is soft.

To assemble pizza:  Sprinkle large round pizza tray with cornmeal.  Roll or stretch out dough to fit tray and flop it onto tray with only a slight stretching to fit.  Spread dough with carrot puree.  Scatter dried apple or raisins over carrot.  Arrange leek mixture evenly over the carrot and dried fruit.  Sprinkle parmesan over pizza.  Bake in preheated 190 C oven (I also use a pizza stone) for 25-30 minutes (I did mine for 30 minutes) or until golden brown.

On the stereo: 
Night on my side: Gemma Hayes

The relentless tide of technology

I have Luddite tendencies.  Once at school I didn't want to do computing and was called Mary Lou Cabbage Patch by a teacher.  It is not that I don't like technology.  I am a blogger, after all.  It is more the stealth in which technology works.  I wish technological changes would be presented to me by a courier with a list of items, a return address and a choice to sign if I choose to accept it.  Instead they sneak in like a thief in the night, often bringing benefits but rarely do these happen without some loss.  

Google's recent "developments" have prompted me to take a little time out to reflect on some changes I have seen recently.

Book Affair
I have mentioned my sadness at the bookstores closing before.  On the weekend we went to Book Affair.  It is a secondhand bookstore in Carlton that I have loved since my student days.  Many times I have enjoyed checking out books displayed in the window and browsing books in a quiet corner.  We visited their new store on Elgin Street on the weekend and found they are closing in a few months.  So look at the above picture of the couch in the basement and think of where you were when you last bought a book online and tell me which place you would rather be!

Google Privacy Policy
Big Brother is watching you!  That is what the new policy seems to be about.  I have read a few people commenting that with this new policy, Google will know more about you than your wife.  For me, I hope it wont make too much of an impact.  All my blog information is public anyway (I use Blogger which is a Google service) and I don't have a gmail address.  The only thing that concerns me slightly is that Google will collect information about my googling (ie searches).  But as some of the commentators have said, what do I have to hide?  I guess what I really dislike is the idea that Google seems to be serving marketers and big business more than the users.  But then again Google has made this blog possible at no cost too so maybe that is the price I pay.

Blogger comments
On a more positive note about Google, it was a pleasant surprise that they have changed the comments so that I can reply to individual comments as a thread.  I decided to stop moderating comments when we went on holiday in January and when I returned it seemed to work well.  Hence I will continue this for as long as I don't see too much spam come through.  I don't use the captcha code because I dislike using them myself.  (I suspect that one of Google's other stealthy activities is to block more spam as I get less now than I used to.)  I will of course still keep an eye on comments.

Blogger urls change
Another recent change is that my url has had a ".au" added to the end of it.  So now I have both www.gggiraffe.blogspot.com and www.gggiraffe.blogspot.com.au.  This sort of change annoys me both because I didn't choose this url, because the only reason E and I could think it might be done is for advertisers, and because it has affected my ability to edit my blog.  (Update - just found this explanation of the url change from Blogger but not explanation of the changes to editing.)

New Blogger urls affect quick edit button and others
Just a few days ago I found the quick edit button (pencil icon) at the end of each post has disappeared.  I googled it and found that others were also affected since the urls had changed.  I am very annoyed about this as I like to correct typos and update posts with this button.  Less concerning for me is that it has affected some templates.  Very concerning is that I have just discovered that I can't delete comments any more which makes me wonder if I will continue to leave comments unmoderated if I can't delete spam.  (Update - I have found I can still delete comments via the comments tab in the backend).  The more optomistic side of me hopes it will be like my Delicious experience where big changes means I lost a lot of functionality but now it is even better than it was before the overhaul.

Picnik moves to Google Plus
I have used the free online photo editing software a few times for my banner and for event badges.  So I was sad that it is no longer.  Apparently it is moving to Google Plus.  I don't know what that means for those of us who don't want to sign up to Google Plus.  Having said that, for anyone who does want to use any of the photo editing software, it does not close until mid-April and until then all the premium products that we had to pay for are free!  Now's your chance!

About this Blog page
I have created this new page on the menu bar beneath my banner.  I have been thinking about the best way to have some things like my comments FAQs page and other resources on my top menu and I have decided to collect these sort of pages together rather than individual pages for each.  I have got up a basic page but I plan to develop it.  To fit my menu pages on one line, I have transferred my Kudos from a page to a post.  It just seems the least important of the menu pages and will fit into About this Blog page nicely.

Gas oven
Not information technology but as good a place as any to mention my gas oven that I bought last year.  We have had technicians out 2 or 3 times so far.  The one that came out this week said that we have some problems with our gas supply being on the weak side.  This explains why a new oven (and my old oven) have also needed to turned up quite high to cook anything.

SOPA
I thought it might be timely to mention the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) while I am talking about the relentless development of technology that makes me feel like a cork bobbing along on a sea of change.  I confess I didn't look into this act very closely but what I saw alarmed me about punishing people for linking to dodgy sites.  While it can be done with dodgy intent, it can also easily be done innocently.  More information at SOPA Blackout and Wikipedia.  I hope the current media silence on it is a good sign it might go away but maybe that is just me being optimistic again!

Kudos

Update: this is an old post that was originally posted as a page that I have moved into a post so I can create a new page.

This is my poolroom (for those of you who have seen the Castle).  It is the display case where all my favourite words and awards go.  If you want to see what others think of me, here is the place to look.  If you aren't interested in naval gazing then I suggest you go home (to my homepage I mean).

AWARDS:

Liebster Blog Award - thanks Jeni Treehugger and K and Toby

Stylish Blogger Award - thanks Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen and Rivkia of Healthy Eating for Ordinary People. 

Thanks Michelle at All Home Cooking, All Year Long

Thanks Cakelaw.

Thanks Cakelaw.

Thanks Cakelaw, Katie, and Tanna.

Beautiful Blogger Award - Thanks Elle

Hoy Award - thanks Rachel

Triple award - thanks Jeanne of Cooksister

Friends are like Bras - close to the heart and always there for support Award - thanks Fleur

Yummy Blog Award - Thanks Lucy

Kreativ blogger award - thanks Katie

One Lovely Blog Award - thanks Ashley at Eat Me Delicious, Cakelaw and Sweet Artichoke

Excellent Award - thanks Jacqueline, Amanda, and Pixie

Rockin' Girl Blogger - thanks Lucy of Nourish Me and Susan of the Well Seasoned Cook.

Butterfly Award - thanks Fleur from Flowers at Home

I love your blog award - thanks Katie of Apple and Spice

Winner of the inaugural No Croutons Required blog event February 2008. Thanks Lisa and Jacqueline and all the voters. Check out my winning Wonton Dumplings in Ginger Broth and all the other soups.

Winner of No Croutons Required November 2008 for my Pumpkin and Tofu Laksa. 

Winner of No Croutons Required February 2010 for my Parsnip Soup with Walnut Ravioli and Carrot Cream.

Listed in the Gourmet50's Top 50 Gourmet Resources

Listed in the 100 blogs leading the food revolution

Listed in 2010 Top Australian Cuisine Blog Awards

TESTIMONIALS:

• "Poster Girl for Pumpkin"  Lucy of Nourish Me

• "Johanna of Green Giraffe Gourmet - Infectious enthusiasm, a weakness for winging it when the ingredients are AWOL, and the best mix of rockin' music teasers at the end of every post on her virtual stereo. " Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook

• "Johanna hails from Melbourne, Australia and she is all about really good vegetarian comfort food". Jenn of the Leftover Queen

• "Johanna is so clever. Her recipes always have me licking my screen. " Amanda of Mrs W's Kitchen

• "Green Gourmet Giraffe who always makes interesting delicious vegetarian things like tofu and pesto crackers, and is still cooking and baking a ton with a baby! I hope I'll be like her. " Ashley of Eat Me Delicious

• "If you haven't checked out Johanna's site, I highly recommend that you do. Readers are treated to thoughtful writing, mouthwatering photographs and a frequent selection of delicious vegetarian recipes. Even if you aren't a vegetarian, you are sure to enjoy Johanna's varied assortment of culinary offerings." Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen

• A fellow vegetarian and a great source of inspiration when I’m stuck for ideas of what to make for dinner." Katie of Apple and Spice

• "Johanna is just great, and full of ideas and advice and of course living in Oz just automatically makes you cool." Fleur of Flowers from Home

• "Johanna is constantly posting the most beautiful, colourful food photos I've seen on the web (or in most cook books for that matter)." Rachel of Rachel's Ramblings

• "Johanna is vegetarian but has been posting amazing vegan food every day for vegan mofo, also I got to try some of it and it was damn tasty. Shes also the best commenter too not just here but on so many blogs, I don't know how she finds the time, but I think its so awesome." K and Toby of In the Mood for Noodles

Passing on the tags
Here are some posts about awards where I have passed awards onto other bloggers if you want to find out about where my tags go as well as where they come from!

• Awards and a kreativ meme
• Awards with substance (and quicklinks)
• Memes are due. Thanks are due
• 10 Things/Bloggers that Make Me Happy 
• What does home mean to you?