Welcome Reader to this issue of Laila's Kitchen.

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If any of you have a good reliable recipe for making homemade potato chips/crisps, I'd love to know!

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Portuguese Tart

I some research so I can bring to you, what I think is the best way to make Portuguese egg tarts at home.

A few of weeks ago, I talked about going on an Artist's Date to a bakery called Myrtle. I had a beautiful latte and a Portuguese egg tart. What I didn't say was that I couldn't help thinking the tart wasn't as good as I expected it to be. The pastry wasn't crispy flaky.

I indulged my creative soul by going down the rabbit hole of researching how to make these little delights. I watched various videos ranging from one with mind numbing monotonous narrations; to a few with no audio at all, just captions that you have to turn on. There was one that claimed she hacked the pastry laminates by rolling the dough with a pasta maker - I mean seriously girl, just learn how to fold and roll. It's a skill that extends beyond Portuguese egg tarts. If you really don't want to make your own, you could buy ready made puff pastry. I don't buy ready made puff pastry. They come in plastic packaging.

Plastic Free July

This initiative started in 2011 in Australia. I'd love to know if my readers in the Northern hemisphere are familiar with this. Essentially, in the month of July we make a commitment to reduce single use plastic. Ideally this commitment becomes a habit and extends beyond July.

Committing to plastic free is not easy, but there are definitely ways. For example, you can check to see if there are fill-your-own containers for bulk goods. In Wellington, there are a couple of shops where you can do this. I get milk in glass bottles from the local shop. I bring back the empty bottles and swap for a full bottle. This means I can make plastic free yogurt, or almost, as the culture still comes in a small plastic sachet. Hopefully they sell those soon in glass jars. I get tree-free toilet paper delivered every 16 weeks, and they come wrapped in paper, not plastic.

These plastic free ways are not always the cheapest. But I figured I can afford to spend a bit more to have less plastic sent to the landfills and for them to sit there for generations.

In my bag, I have a few essentials to be plastic free. I have a glass keep-cup, for those rare occasions I might want to get coffee while I'm out. In my coffee cup, I stuff a folded shopping bag. I carry a pouch with wooden utensils (salvaged from takeouts), stainless steel straws and chopsticks for when we may be getting takeout. I'd consciously decide where we're getting takeout based on what packaging they use. If they use plastic containers, then no. I prefer dining in for this reason too. But there are days when it is nice to get takeout and have a picnic in the park, or by the waterfront.

One of the reasons I make things from scratch is to reduce plastic packaging. This is why I make handmade ramen, spaghetti, flaky pastry and more. This week, I made filo pastry, so that I don't need to buy them wrapped in plastic when I want to make Spanakopita with homegrown rainbow beets (chard). Not bad for a first go, but I need to put in more reps. I can then also use the filo pastry to make Galaktoboureko.

See you next week :)

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