YamDaisy Menu through the blogs

I am easing back into blogging after a delightful few days with Mr 7 year old staying with me.
So I thought I would share a YamDaisy Menu gleaned from the posts of others!

In my idea for the YamDaisy Cafes the menu is simplified to a soup, a choice of two main meals, and a fruit based dessert. This simplified menu makes it more home like, and more practical for the busy chef/managers.

I often see posts in the blogs I follow that would be perfect for a YamDaisy Menu, and as well as giving an idea of how the menu might work, it showcases some great blogs!

YAMDAISY MENU
SOUP: Miso Soup with Tofu and Vegetables
MAIN 1:Panfried Prawns in Soya Sauce
MAIN 2: Simple Couscous with Lamb and Vegetables
DESSERT: Carrot Halva

This menu may be just a little bit of a mixture of cuisines, but I am glad to have a vegetarian option, a seafood option and a hearty meat option. There is something for people who need to avoid dairy, soy, or wheat products. There is a lot to take into consideration for a menu!

SOUP
Miso Soup with Tofu and Vegetables from Foodstuff
Those who read my blog regularly will know this is my daughter's blog and.... (Proud mum alert!).... look at her most recent post! her blog was seen as a kind of folio in her interview and so helped her get her apprenticeship.
But back to the menu! What a lovely soup, full of vegetables and a meal in itself for those who want something light!

MAIN 1
Panfried Prawns in Soya Sauce from The Little Teochew
There is an upcoming post I will write about seasfood, but here, I have got some on the menu!
If you follow the link you will see that the recipe is here with such an interesting introduction.
I would serve with rice. I hope Ju will come and tell me if there is anything else that should be added! Please Ju!

MAIN 2
Simple Couscous with Lamb and Vegetables from Goodbye, Butter
I am new to this blog that is working through the recipes in The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook. Very appropriate because the Mediterranean Diet Guidelines are one of the foundations for the YamDaisy Menu. This recipe looks so delicious and hearty!

FRUIT BASED DESSERT
Carrot Halva from Not Another Food Blog
Firstly: Yes I know it isn't a fruit based dessert! But the point of the fruit based dessert is that there are some vitamin and minerals and not just empty calories. It is adding to the fruit and veggies in the diet. So a vegetable based dessert is quite acceptable!
Secondly: I love carrot halva! I want everyone to have the opportunity to try it!
It was this that made me decide to make up a menu from recent posts I have seen. Dessert isn't a huge focus of the menu, but we want to have something for those who can't do without!
What a treat for them!

YamDaisy, M, and Drop the Sick Bit!

Part 2 of the Maree Posts: see Part 1 here
 
The first response from Maree (via phone text) after a quick glance at my website was:
"* the thing-ummy stacker boxes (name will come to me as soon as I sign off) - love that they are sustainable and not disposable;

* I'd play down the "sick/ill" thing. It should appeal to all and you should push this or risk putting people off (food for invalids- eww- "that's not me");
You could push the "light and easy" thing- meals for the week for the time poor..."

I loved, loved, LOVED this feedback!
(Especially because our conversation had begun at the 'hospital food' level!)
But Maree had her businesswoman hat on now and a businesswoman's feedback is very welcome.

It is true that people would be put off with the idea of coming in and eating invalid's food!
If YamDaisy Cafes have the impression of being food for poor people and food for struggling people and food for people with no money.... well, that would be a worry.
I know that the chronically ill, or the people with brain injuries, and every one else would be thinking 'Eeeuw, that's not me!'

Just after I put the concept together (a few years ago now!) I started seeing the Lite and Easy ads, and at the same time perfectly healthy friends with families and busy lives were saying,
"I would love to be able to go to a YamDaisy Cafe on those days that I just can't get a meal organised!"
And that was when I realised YamDaisy Cafe's have the potential to be an important part of food culture for everyone.

BUT, I am in there fighting for the sick people, the disabled, the mentally ill, the homeless, the struggling people. Can I sell this as a wonderful vibrant food idea that emotes 'mum food' (the best selling point ever!)?

The truth is that YamDaisy food is for everyone, and making it for everyone is a social justice issue.

There are lots of ways to make the cafes exciting and cool.
The first is that the cafes look good. The use of artists and designers should keep the look fresh and edgy and expressing the local character by using local artists.
The second is that they work: the food is delicious and easy to buy, the IT applications all work and are as innovative as needed!
Each chef is skilled and engaging.
The advertising, specials and rewards are appropriate, community based and have integrity.

That way the YamDaisy Cafes would be inviting and useful for EVERY one.

So in my next website upgrade I do need to consider this and get it right!

All suggestions welcome!

YamDaisy, M and Hospital Food!

This is the first of some YamDaisy posts inspired by my friend Maree who has given me a whole progression of interesting feedback about my YamDaisy idea.

I will begin where we began: with Maree stuck in hospital and disgusted with the hospital food.

(The picture above comes from an article in Sydney Morning Herald about Traction Man's blog. He is a journalist who was stuck in hospital and wrote about the horrors of the food. He has recuperated enough to be at home now, but you can find his blog here: Notes from a Hospital Bed.)

It was Traction Man's blog that made me realise the YamDaisy Cafe model could fit perfectly well into hospitals (like the Macca's in Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital but much better!).

It could be an extra, that served visitors and those staff and patients who could get down to it... But there is plenty of possibilities for a greater role than that. There could be one on every floor, or in every wing. Or maybe there could be several in the hospital, one catering to people with allergies, another catering to religious food restrictions. In some places it would be possible for a YamDaisy Cafe to supply all the meals for hospital patients. There is enough flexibility in the YamDaisy Cafe model to make it suit a whole variety of contexts!

That is why, after I had commiserated with Maree, I invited her to look at my YamDaisy Cafe Website and tell me what she thought. I asked the right person! Maree has run several food businesses, building them up and looking to Franchise them! So much so that I have several more posts to write exploring the things she raised, and then the YamDaisy Menu she has given me, that I will share with all of you.

Lovely!

Joy and her car!

Look! Isn't she lovely!
I have named her Cherry Red ~ because she is!

She isn't too old and she hasn't done too many kilometers (unlike me!) and she just squeezed into what I could afford.
My darling mechanic gave me advice and checked her over, and I am going to bake him a cake! (A kugelhopf I think).

How can I express the relief and delight I feel?

Since my health has been bad, a car has been what has stopped me from being housebound. A car has given me my dignity. There are many things I cannot do ~ but with a car I can look after myself. I can manage shopping, appointments and being a mum!

Freedom and dignity! What a precious combination!

Thankyou so much for the kind wishes and support people!


PS When I have made Peter, my mechanic, the cake.... I can DRIVE over to give it to him! Whoopee!

Joy and Her Daughter

(Removed photo because of suspicious
stats activity)

This is what my daughter looked like 17 years ago! In the crusty back yard of the shabby elegant terrace we lived in, and in the gorgeous outfit her Aunty Jan made.

Now she is 18 and what a treat to see her a young woman living independently and embracing life.

She even has a blog!

So while I am determined and exhaustedly trying to find the perfect little second hand car to buy, I invite you to check out my daughters blog here http://lovefoodstuff.blogspot.com/
(she is so laid back and I am SO proud!)

And please cross your fingers that the little green car I am going to see tomorrow is just the one I am looking for!

YamDaisy Take Away Containers

When I first was thinking about my YamDaisy idea I wasn't thinking that takeaway would be a large part of it. But as I have looked more at the needs of those who struggle to provide themselves with delicious, nutritious fresh affordable food, I have realised that takeaway may be the biggest part of the service.

But how to avoid hundreds of disposable, wasteful, environment damaging containers?

There are some eco friendlier options ~ such as this one. But one of the features of the YamDaisy Cafe is to have local people who use it again and again and so reusable containers become an option.

My first thought was something like these:

I imagined the cafe having a big industrial washer so it could wash them as well. But what a lot of extra work! and they aren't microwavable.

There are local health laws that need to be taken into account, but I was very relieved to find that it isn't impossible for customers to bring their own containers. I kept thinking, thinking, and then I saw Ju's blog about the tupperware tapau container: The Little Teochew

How exciting. I checked out this product ~ and I must recommend watching the add on this page which is daggy to start with and even more so when dubbed into English!

The other package that I saw to impress me is the cute green one I put at the start. Here it is open so you can see how it works:

And also the laptop box shown in Mrs Q's post which is also inspiring.

I think the YamDaisy organisation (when it gets really big and there are thousands of little local cafes) will be able to work with manufacturers to design a range of suitable containers: for hot food, cold food, families (as a backpack perhaps?), so that YD customers can easily transport takeaway in a safe, practical way that is also good for the environment.

Joy and the Heart Bunker

I wanted to share this beautiful cartoon by Michael Leunig from last year's calender.
I love it because I have really worked to make my home a lovely bunker of comfort since I am so housebound, and have been even more so after losing my car (written off after being bumped into 6 weeks ago ~ but I am hoping to get another one in the next week!).

I do hope that all of you have a lovely bunker ~ a safe and friendly home, or if not that, a room of your own, and if not even a room of your own, that you can be beautiful and safe in your own heart.


btw I am seeing this year if I can use this blog for some personal posts (that will have 'Joy' in the title) and posts for my YamDaisy project (guess what they will have in the title) and YamDaisy food posts that will clearly be about food. Maybe I will pop some other ones in too.

Cheers everyone!