Tuesday, February 27, 2007

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.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi! I was able to come onto your site through googling any sort of vegan network in Townsville - not one yet, but I can't believe there are others out there!! *dum dum dum* SO, I'm a vegan in Townsville and at uni - do you have any health food shops that are good for animal-free foods? I only shop at Coles at the mo...trying to branch out but I'm lazy LOL. :D

Theresa said...

Hey, another vegan in Townsville! Wicked!

The health food shops are all pretty dear here, at least the few that I've been to. I've tried the one in Stocklands, right across from Woolies; one in Castletown; and one on Flinder's Mall. None are exactly 'health food' stores as such, but they sell all kinds of vitamins and supplements and a little bit of tofu and organic beans and whatnot. The one in Castletown had the best variety of foodstuffs (grains, nut yeast, powdered soymilk, etc). We do most of our shopping at the Farmer's Markets and at Woolworths/Coles. The bigger ones in Stockies/Centro Plaza have the widest variety of tofu, soymilk, soy mayo, etc (especially that Coles... they even have soy custard!).

So what are you doing at the Uni? We should have some sort of vegan meet-up. There's gotta be more of us around here!

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

exploding melons!? now that's some exciting produce! and the mamey sapote is such a pretty color - i've never heard of it. hey, i was reading a cookbook the other day & saw a pikelets recipe! and thanks to you, i knew they were little pancakes. i'm off to add your link to my blog! cheers. :o)

vko said...

Hi Theresa!

Thanks for visiting my blog- can't believe you have been recently transplanted. Seems like you are adjusting happily- cute little bike, great exploding produce and strange sweet potato-like roots.

The green curry that the man made looks delicious, camera problems and all...

bazu said...

Mmm, sapote- it makes me happy (if obsessive) to know there are so many fruits in the world that I havent' tried... yet!
All your food looks magnificent- and I love your table decor. It must bring back lovely memories.

Kati said...

Yum - everything looks delicious! Your area seems like it would be a raw food paradise with all that fresh fruit. That carved fish is lovely, too.

I have similar issues with my camera - charged one minute, zapped the next. I ended up buying new rechargeable batteries and now it's totally fine, so maybe that is the problem?

urban vegan said...

You are a frugal vegan, like me! All those avos for AU $2.50? That's a steal. [Good on ya', mate.]

I guess saying "Coriander" on my blog was an Aussie-ism. I get mixed up becuase Cilantro is the plant, but the seeds from the plant are called coriander [which is the spice]. I am herbally dyslexic.

Theresa said...

urbanvegan--frugal is a nice way to put it. Andy and I usually use the term tightass! On Saturday afternoons here the grocery shops mark down all the produce because they're closed on Sunday, and we call is "Tightass Saturday Shopping". It's intense--everyone is reaching over one another trying to pick out the best fruit and vege. I usually stand by the bread aisle with the cart while Andy goes and fights the crowds for cheap produce!

vicki--glad I could be of use! You can actually buy packages of pikelets here in the bakery section... it's crazy!

bazu--I totally know what you mean. I *love* trying all the new fruit we find at the markets. Unfortunately, some are disgusting. We tasted on (luckily before we bought it!) called Santol, and it's tart and nice at first, but it leaves an aftertaste of roast beef in your mouth. Gross!

vko--the green curry was amazing. I'm lucky... at first Andy couldn't even conceptualise a curry without fish sauce, and now he's making his own curry paste! What a guy.

kati--I'll try the new batteries. We had some, but they got all mixed in with the old ones (and I think they're still sitting in Andy's underwater camera). Also, as soon as I get my scholarship payment sorted, I'm going to start looking for a new camera all together. Mine is like 5 years old, and it was a cheap, old one at the time of purchase. I'm going to treat myself!

KleoPatra said...

Nice carved angelfish. That's really beautiful!! I wonder what's going on w/your batteries/camera. How frustrating. I liked the pix you posted. Nice bike, too. Cool!

Steve said...

Hi,
enjoyed my visit to your blog.. found link at Dan's blog. Mangoes and creative food.. how wonderful!