Comforting things.

Sunday was the first day of Australia's winter, so it’s no surprise that I’ve been wearing sweatpants a lot of the time, and that we’re still eating lots of good warm meals.

This one started as a green curry and turned into a bit of a catch-all soup. Red sweet potato, carrot, spinach, snow peas, zucchini, chickpeas, and little gluten chunks were all simmered away in a mix of coconut cream, stock, and green curry paste. A bit of lime juice stirred in added a bit of tang.

And here is a good Australian staple food: meat pie. But without the meat, of course. I rehydrated some tvp (chunks and mince, for some textural diversity) in vegemite stock. We sautéed some onion, eggplant, and grated carrot with some spices. Then we added some shiitake mushrooms and their soaking liquid, and turned it all into a gravy. Some BBQ sauce, some other spices, and then puff pastry make for a yummy meat pie that has Andy thinking about it even a few days later.

What is it about small spaces that cats find so comforting? Whenever we open up a cabinet or closet, Nacho runs in (sometimes dives in). I know this photo is very dark, but she made herself cosy in the pantry, on top of our stocks of soy milk.

I’m pretty sure there is nothing more comforting than apple crumble. This recipe is a slightly modified version of the one given to me by Vaala. Delicious cinnamon-y apples topped with oats, wheat bran, butter, brown sugar, and dried fruit was amazingly good warm from the oven, but was similarly good cold to fill the afternoon hunger after a bike ride.

Beautiful hibiscus flowers are a good reminder that, even when it gets a bit chilly, I still live in the tropics and it’s really not that bad. On Sunday the new Animal Rights Townsville group set up a table at the city’s Eco-Fiesta, and at the end of the day the Townsville Hibiscus Society handed me two of their blossoms.

Even hibiscus flowers like to get comfy at night. When we woke up before the sun for the scientific testing, the hibiscus flowers had closed up shop.