Food etc. post

My camera has been slightly screwy lately. In PNG Pidgin, you might say 'im buggerup'. It doesn't recognise batteries as full, even when they go straight from the charger into it. Stupid thing. What that means is that I charge the batteries, take a few photos, and then they die before I can download them. So I have some pictures from ages ago, and some from recently, with a big gap in between when I didn't feel like charging the stupid batteries again.4 little avocadoes next to some tomatoes. We got 6 of these guys for $2.50. They weren't huge, and they were a bit brown inside, but they tasted good!

Some fruit and veg from the market. Thankfully, bananas are no longer $15/kilo, so we've been buying them. Unfortunately, it is NOT tomato season, and those guys there are floury and tasteless. The pumpkin was big enough to last us for 2 weeks. The honeydew melon deserves special mention. We got it at the market and were really excited to eat it. The next day, a really hot day, I was at uni and Andy was doing some work in the spare bedroom. He heard a weird 'pop' but couldn't figure out what it was. Later on, he discovered sticky, green juice all over the countertop. It got so hot that the melon exploded! He stuck the cracked open melon in the fridge and we tried to eat it later, but it made my tongue tingle--I think it had started to ferment or something. The counter was sticky for a week!

Andy's latest food obsession: veggie burgers. The basis of these patties is mashed potatoes, and we load them up with heaps of herbs and veggies. These ones had spinach, carrots, garlic, sage, oregano, thyme, and some other stuff. The coating is bread crumbs and parsely. The patties here are pre-frying, though they don't look much different afterwards--just a bit brown. He likes this recipe so much because the burger is tasty, but not overpowering, so it makes a good layer when he stacks it with the 'works'--beetroot, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, bbq sauce, and mustard.

Some blurry breakfast oatmeal--or, in Aussie, porridge. It's chock full o' bananas, dried mixed fruit, cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, shredded coconut, and soymilk, and topped off with a healthy scoop of LSA mix (Linseed, Sunflower, and Almond).

A green curry made especially for me by Andy (he reckons I can't cook curry. jerk.). We didn't have any curry paste, so we made our own out of chillis, coriander seeds, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and some other stuff. You can see some chunks of tofu which were coated in curry powder and fried, then stirred through at the end of cooking. There were also potatoes, green capsicum, carrot, zucchini, and peanut butter (Andy is a creative cook).

Burritos! Chewy tortillas, a spicy mix of kidney beans, onion, garlic, carrot, mushrooms and tomato, creamy avocado sauce, sizzling capsicum strips, and crisp salad. And of course the bbq sauce.

Cabbage casserole. I got the recipe from vegweb, though the final product was nothing like the recipe. It has barley, cabbage, potato, tomato, and a bit of Cajun seasoning, topped with breadcrumbs and baked.

One of my favorite things in my house: A carved wooden angelfish from PNG, sitting on top of a scarf from one of the Op Shops there (about AU$0.20) and surrounded by seashells gathered from various beaches around PNG and New South Wales. I love having it at the dining table, because even though it takes up a bit of the limited space, everytime we eat there (at least twice a day) I'm reminded of the ocean.

A mamey sapote. Whole and...

Cut. On it's own, it tastes exactly like sweet potato. Even the texture was similar to cooked sweet potato: mushy and starchy. The lady who sold it to us said it's good in a fruit salad, or even in a green salad. I liked it on it's own, but the most amazing way to have it is to blend it up with some soy milk into a milkshake. Somehow it magically transforms into a strawberry flavoured treat! So yummy.

And last, but not least....

My little bikey in the early morning hours. I've been waking up at 6 to ride to uni, in the hopes that I can get there before (1) traffic and (2) heat. This puppy cost me $15 at a garage sale. The lock cost as much as the bike. She makes my legs tired as, but it's a good way to stay fit, and cheaper than riding the bus.

Coming soon, another mango post.