Cabbage salad and digital disquiet

I am aware that for someone who spends so much time putting my life online, I am very wary of our digital age.  One part of me loves it and embraces it with fascination and excitment, while another part feels overexposed and vulnerable to have so much information that someone might just turn off with the flick of a switch.

Living online changes how we live.  I used to scribble recipe down in a notebook or take them from cookbooks before blogging.  These days I often search online for ideas, scribble down what I do as I cook (or soon after) and then write up for my blog.  I then trust the internet gods to take care of my recipe for I don't have a copy elsewhere.  (Must remember to back up!)

Take for example this Cabbage Salad I am bringing you today. It wasn't my very favourite dish but I found it strangely appealing.  On the first night I found it refreshing but slightly piquant. On the next night Sylvia had rejected some chopped peach.  I cut it into small pieces and added it to the salad.  It worked nicely.  E was still not convinced.  Brief notes today because I have more to reflect on, but, with the photos, it is enough to remind me of a moment, an idea for making a salad right, and how to use up a what is in the fridge.

At times I get very nervous that all that I have created on my blog, all my memories and recipes, will disappear.  I think maybe I should make a book of some favourite recipes.  Of course if my blog was to go down, I would still have all my recipe books and notebooks from where I have taken many recipes and ideas.  I worry too that these could all go in the blink of an eye if the house burnt down.

Then I think of a recent piece I heard on the radio about an Aboriginal elder talking about how in his time children learnt from the uncles not from school or television.  It reminds me of our inner resources, of all I have learnt.  We now are so reliant on books and computers that we can easily forget how much resides within us.

I started thinking about the longevity of digital data when I heard a discussion on the radio about digital assets in deceased estates.  It had never occurred to me to think about what happens to my passwords and online accounts when I die.  I was a bit horrified to hear that some online music accounts expire when people die so children will not inherit their parents' collection of albums or songs.  After all E has a great collection of music.

It is ironic that the digital age has made it so much easier to share many things.  Food blogs are brilliant at sharing recipes and if I don't find what I want at one news site, I can easily find another.  Yet in other ways it inhibits sharing.  This was brought home to me recently when my dad told me about how much he enjoyed reading a book.  I asked to borrow it but he had it on his Kindle.

Further to my digital disquiet, here are a few links that I found interesting:

• Ten bogus excuses to use a photo you found on the internet - Francis Vachon
• Delete - a very funny song about his grandkids deleting his life from computer by comedian Sammy J. 
• How to develop your blog voice by Sarah Wilson.  Interesting because she seems to include traditional journalism as well as new digital media in her summary (I haven't listened to the whole lot, Not really about digital disquiet but of interest about blogging.)
• The new ACCC Guidelines: Australian law and online review - a very helpful post by Melbourne Gastronome
• How social media changed in 2013 on The List (Radio National, ABC radio).  I was particularly disturbed by someone talking about her future kids seeing her whole life on Facebook.  Will Facebook still be around by then and if so will it have some sort of navigation features?

I am sending this salad to Karen of Lavender and Lovage who hosts the Cooking with Herbs event.  This month she has challenged bloggers to use both herbs and spices.  This salad uses what is probably my most prolific herb in my garden and a favourite spice from my pantry (mustard).

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Peebles, Snow and the Prince of India
Two years ago: CC Chesterfield Farm and Smoky Red Pepper Hummus
Three years ago: Buns, soup and crunchie in yaz's kitchen
Four years ago: David Bann - vegetarian excellence!
Five years ago: Festive Shortbread
Six years ago: How green was my mole?

Cabbage salad with lime and mustard dressing
Inspired by Gourmet Traveller and Straight Up Food
serves 4 as a side

250g wombak cabbage, finely sliced
1 red capsicum, cut into sticks
small bunch of asparagus, chopped and lightly steamed
good handful of mint, chopped
good handful of snowpeas, trimmed and chopped
2 white peaches (slightly underripe), matchsticks

Dressing:
2 tbsp lime juice (about 1 lime)
1 tbsp seeded mustard
1 small garlic clove, crushed
pinch of salt
ground black pepper

Place all salad ingredients in a medium to large salad bowl.  Toss through dressing ingredients.  Check and adjust seasonings.  Serve fresh or keep overnight in the fridge and serve the next day.  Great with vegetarian haggis or pasta with vegan alfredo sauce.

On the Stereo:
Hirta Songs: Alasdair Roberts and Robin Robertson