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CAPERS

As I arranged some capers on my smoked salmon sandwich, I wondered where they came from, did they grow on a bush and do we grow them in Australia? Capers are the edible flower buds of the capparis spinosa, the caper bush. It is a prickly bush which grows wild across the Mediterranean region of Southern Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Caper plants also grow well in the hot, dry regions of Australia. The capers I ate at lunchtime were pickled and bottled in Italy from ‘imported produce.’

Once picked, they are pickled to preserve them. Interestingly, preserved nasturtiums seeds can be used in place of capers. They are considered to be more pepppery than capers. The seeds are pickled in a brine of white wine vinegar, salt and pepper corns.

Although I don’t think people eat huge amounts of capers at any one time, one of the Australian growers claim capers contain two flavonoid compounds, rutin, which strengthens capillaries and prevents platelets clumping in blood vessels, and quercetin, considered to be anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and also an analgesic.  So eat up and think of the benefits!

Now that your taste buds are tingling, I’ll share an amazing French Potato Salad recipe. It’s not creamy and thick with mayonnaise, but really delicious and, you guessed it, includes CAPERS! This French Potato Salad is more like a traditional German Potato Salad. I used small red potatoes because they taste so good and look attractive.

FRENCH POTATO SALAD

Try to make this at least one day before you need it for the flavours to blend and develop. You need

• 1 kg ( 2.2lb) potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

• ¼ cp vinegar, any sort you prefer ( I found apple cider vinegar was not sharp enough)

• 1/4 cp mild olive oil

• heaped dspn of drained capers, 2 dspn chopped parsley, 2 dspn chopped shallots, or red onion  or chives

• salt and pepper

1. Cut the potatoes to bite size pieces, put in a pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Test doneness with a fork. Drain the potatoes, leave for a few minutes to cool slightly, then while potatoes are  still warm, tip them into a bowl.

2. Shake the vinegar and oil in a screw capped jar to amalgamate then pour over  the chunks of potato and stir.  Repeat about every five minutes until the liquid is mostly absorbed. It doesn’t take long. Add some pepper and a good pinch of salt and stir again.

3.  Stir and add the capers, chopped chives ( or red onion or thinly sliced shallots ) and the parsley.

4. Leave to cool then stir. All the liquid will now be absorbed. Cover and put in the fridge. This French Potato Salad will improve in flavour overnight and is even better the second day.

There are so many varieties of French Potato Salad. Although the basics are the same, some recipes add chopped gherkins, some add anchovies and some add celery for crunch. Many recipes include garlic in the dressing. It depends on what you have available and what you like!

This French Potato Salad is suitable for lactose and gluten intolerant people plus suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

I had to open a new jar of capers the second time I made this salad and although they were packed in Australia the capers had come from Morocco.

ROAD SAFETY STATISTICS

All statistics referred to in this section were obtained from August/September 2023 HORIZONS magazine  printed by the RAC W.A. The information was collected from a number of member surveys.

Recently the sun was shining briefly after freezing cold days with frequent rain so we went for a drive along the beach. I was the passenger and was surprised at how many drivers along side me were using their mobile phones. It is illegal in Western Australia to use a mobile phone when driving. Then I read in the Horizons magazine that 15% of drivers surveyed thought using their mobiles to text, phone or watch movies is acceptable at traffic lights. At one set of traffic lights the female next to me was texting when she arrived, kept texting waiting for the lights to change and continued texting as she drove off. The survey revealed 27% of all respondents had used their mobile phones when driving and 44% of drivers under 30 admitted they they’d done it in the last year.

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In the same survey 93% say of people say they generally use private cars to get to work/study, 12% catch the train, 9% work from home, 7% walk and 5% cycle, including e-bikes. There’s some overlap as sometimes commuters used one or the other method of transport. Although people have varied reasons for driving their own cars to work the train network in Perth has been extended in the past few years. We were once regular train users to go to the Art Gallery WA, the Museum, to eat in Northbridge and shop in the City but the last two journeys were marred by unsociable behaviour. In fact, on one journey, many of us got off at the first station and went down a carriage rather than be abused. When we talked about this with friends, they agreed it was a problem but not so bad during the usual going to and from work times. They are the times we try to avoid! Do you feel safe on the train?

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DOES HOME OWNERSHIP MAKE YOU HAPPY?

Australia is experiencing ever increasing inflation with no end in sight. The cost of food, fuel, insurance, electricity and consumer goods rises every week. Home owners with mortgages are experiencing regular increases in their repayments and most are feeling the pinch. The cost of living continues to rise. ( Mortgage stress is considered to  be making repayments greater than 25% of the homeowner’s post tax income. It is estimated more than 30% of West Australians with mortgages are already in this position)

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This poses the question: Does home ownership make you happy? A  leading psychologist in New Zealand, Professor Robert MacCullioch, an expert  on Money and Well Being  refers to the cognitive bias, the ‘Endowment Effect’ which claims human beings place more value on the things they own.

The article also claims that people who own their own homes are richer and this results in greater happiness. This is because people feel they have control of their money. Home ownership also means you move less often and children perform better at school. Other research claims areas where home ownership is high have better schools and children achieve better outcomes. They also have greater access to services within their community. There’s references to higher social status, better mental health, financial security and independence, as well as less crime in areas of high home ownership.

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This is supported by research both internationally and in New Zealand  which consistently supports the belief that home owners are more satisfied with their lives. Some studies cite psychological security ( the home is a safe haven), privacy, equity in the home, choice about where you live, a sense of belonging and being part of a community as important components  of home ownership.

So what about countries where renting is more common? Countries such as Germany where more than 50% of people rent have laws that protect the renter, obligations about maintaining the properties and long leases. Traditionally most people rented rather than purchasing their own homes as a result of the substantial deposit required to get a mortgage. Culturally, renting was accepted as a way of life. Due to the shortage of housing stock in Germany anyone wanting to buy their own home would more commonly buy land and build a house. Similar situations exist throughout Switzerland and France.

HOUSEHOLD THINGS

Are you building or renovating your kitchen? I’d like to suggest you place the rubbish bin in a pullout ‘drawer’ below the area where most food preparation will occur. Then you can just pull it out and clean the cutting board or bench top by wiping everything straight into the bin.

This terrible photo of the slide out rubbish bin shows how easily I can swipe rubbish into the bin from the bench top where I do most of the food preparation. I know I should make compost from fruit and vegetable scraps but past experiences make it plain compost is not my forté.

I frequently make sourdough bread. This time I added caraway seeds to the dough and sprinkled some on top before the loaf went into the oven. Lovely flavour. I’ll do that again.

Our greengrocer is full of many different types of apples at the moment. I bought too many for us to eat raw so I stewed some and made tarts and an apple pie. Disappeared quickly.

Now that we have two or three different bins for different sorts of rubbish I use spatulas to clean jars and tins as clean as possible before washing them to go into recycling. Some things can be swished out with hot water and added to whatever you’re cooking or the soup pot.

Thought I’d try a supermarket brand of baked beans having read a few articles saying these items are the same as brand name products. I am sure some are, but not the baked beans I bought. Never mind, they went into the pot of minestrone and tasted wonderful after mixing with everything else.

Minestrone with home brand baked beans. I had to dilute it with more stock as it just got thicker and thicker. Three days of slightly different soup depending on what I added to use up or just dilute it!

Made cheese and sweetcorn muffins to have with the soup. The leftover corn went into the soup, too. Recipe I used (here).

Today is WORLD CHOCOLATE DAY. Well, that’s easy to celebrate!

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