PNG - A brief vignette with two important morals.

I've just spent 10 days in PNG. (I try to schedule posts while I'm away and avoid announcing my absence on the blog because you never know who's reading!)

I went over to visit Andy, who is finishing up his PhD research over there.  And to have a holiday, because after I submitted my PhD in July I went straight into a crazy semester of teaching, and I was in desperate need of a break.  I was very much looking forward to a trip full of snorkelling, reading, and lounging.


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Although the trip itself takes about 3 hours of actual time in the air, it is spread across nearly 12 hours of travelling.  I was pretty exhausted by the time I made it into the JCU house.  It was after dark (about 6.30 - sunset is ~5.50pm because we are only 5* south of the equator).  Thankfully, Andy cooked a quick dinner and we went to bed fairly early.  I thought I would sleep beautifully.  And I did, until about 10.30, when I woke up itchy as hell and unable to sleep through the hum of mosquitoes in my ear.  At 11, the generator shut off, so the fans were no more.  Despite the heat, I huddled under my sheet, trying to cover as much of my face, neck and ears as possible.  I got very little sleep that night, and woke up with red welts on my face and arms.  The moral of the story - ALWAYS TUCK IN YOUR MOSQUITO NET!

Anyways, Tuesday morning we were up with the generator (which is turned on at 6am) and then headed into town to stock up on food.

 

 When we came back the sun was bright and I had some time to marvel at my surroundings (sure I had been here before, but when it looks like this, there is no end to the marvelling).  The house we stayed in is at a conservation centre, next door to a dive resort, about 30 minutes outside the town of Kimbe.

 

While I was out snapping photos, the neighbours' very cute puppy came over for a visit, laying under the stairs and trying to chomp on my hands.

It wasn't a holiday for everyone - Andy (and sometimes his boat driver, Michael) were in the lab every day processing coral samples.  He had preserved them in formalin on an earlier trip and was now decalcifying them, drying them out (in a food dehydrator!), weighing the samples, soaking them in chemicals that dissolve the lipids, drying them again, and re-weighing them.  Good fun!

There was also a bit of field research left to collect - just measuring some corals on the reefs.  So while Andy did that, I snorkelled around, marvelling at the fish and the corals and the algaes and everything else around me.  I'll do a separate post on the underwater world, but here is a photo of our almost-daily trek from the conservation centre to the dive resort where the boat was docked.

 

 That was the general rhythm of the trip - a few hours in the lab in the morning; a snorkel in the afternoon.  Aside from the mozzie bites, I also suffered from red thighs when I decided that my legs were too white and I would remedy that by snorkelling with no board shorts on.  It hurt to sit for about 2 days.  The moral of this story - TAN LINES ARE BETTER THAN SUN BURNS!  We took a break from routine on Sunday when we hiked up Gubuna, the volcano behind Kilu village.  It was steep, and rainy, and muddy, and deserves its own post.  I will also post about some of the food we ate over there.  But for now, I'll leave you with this little glimpse of my trip.

 

And this cool lizard, who we transported from the bathroom to the veranda.

Some Things Vegans Eat - pasta

Pasta is a quick and easy meal, and can be done as simply or as fancy as you feel like.

Once, when I was young, I had dinner at a family friend's house and she served Spaghetti Pie.  It was wonderful - crunchy on the bottom and sauce on the top, with all the starchy goodness of pasta in the middle.  I tried to recreate this pie, based on vague memories.  But Andy baulked at the idea of a sauce-less layer of pasta, so I tossed some Spag-Bol sauce through the pasta, and then poured extra sauce on top before baking.  It did get crunchy around the edges, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for.  Good, anyways, and a good way to use up leftover sauce.

 Store-bought gnocchi is one of the quickest dinners there is.  This one is topped with a jar of sauce which we jazzed up with some eggplant and capsicum.  Next to the gnocchi is some leftover cauliflower-in-cream sauce, and fresh tomatoes.  Perfect for those days when I'm teaching until 5pm.

Andy made this light, summery pasta dish when it started to warm up and we decided we needed to shift our meals to reflect the change in seasons.  Tomato, green beans, cannellini beans, lemon juice and fresh dill lifted this pasta to light and tangy heights.

It's not really soup weather, but I still eat soup.

Sometimes you just feel like soupy noodles, ya know?

One weekend I was flicking through The Conscious Cook, an extremely under-utilised cookbook in my house.  I saw the Lemongrass Bisque and was taken with the idea of a clear lemony broth, and decided to make a similar soup for lunch.  I followed the broth recipe almost exactly, except that I used Lemon Myrtle, a recent score from Dee & BoaB's garden, in place of lemongrass.  And instead of making wontons to go in the soup, I made a bit of a noodle bowl.

Noodles, yuba sticks, capsicum and dried mushrooms went really well with the broth for a slurpy, soupy lunch.

Some Things Vegans Eat - Beans, beans...

Beans are one of the cheapest sources of protein around, especially if you buy dried and cook them up in a pressure cooker.  They are also versatile, and (I think) delicious.

 Andy made chickpea cakes from Vegan Dad's recipe, but changed it around to incorporate okara.  We had some leftover from dinner, so he made a big salad with spinach, tomato, grated carrot, cucumber and more chickpeas.  This was a delicious and huge Sunday lunch.

 Kidney bean patties are very hearty to eat, and went great with what I think are risotto balls, quick-wilted ceylon spinach, and tomato.

Beans are also a key ingredient for every fiesta!  This colourful burrito filling has black beans, kidney beans, corn, red & green capsicum, seitan, and tomatoes.  Ole!

Mark-Style Seitan

We've recently fallen in love with a new technique for using up okara - Mark-Style Seitan.  This recipe comes from a chain of other internet sources.  Andy found it on The Airy Way, who based this recipe on one from The Irreverent Vegan,  who adapted it from Scrumpdilly, who got the recipe from Joanna of Yellow Rose Recipes.  Did you follow that?

The first time Andy made these he followed the recipe fairly precisely, and they came out gorgeously!  The okara makes the seitan roll-able, so that it doesn't spring back quite so much when you're trying to shape the seitan dough.

Things we made with it were: Hawaiian Seitan (marinated in pineapple juice, soy sauce, and some other stuff) served with pineapple fried rice.

Dijon-Lemon Seitan, marinated and baked in a thick and tangy sauce.  Served with a stuffed capsicum, smashed potatoes, and cauliflower popcorn.

And Seitan Piccata, based on the recipe for Gardein Chicken Piccata from The Conscious Cook.  This is a lemony-capery sauce that we added dill to for a delicious and quick meal.

The next time, Andy tried to incorporate flavourings like tomato paste into the dough.  And he swapped the whole wheat flour for chickpea flour. 

The result was even less springy.  When Andy rolled these out they didn't even think about bouncing back.

But when we boiled up the first batch, they kinda dissolved.  Into a mushy, yucky mess.  There were a few salvagable bits of seitan left, but they were spongy and generally not nice.  However, fried up to a crispy, oily state they weren't too bad on a sandwich.

(We also tried turning the small mushy bits into a pie, but that was a serious waste of food because it was Not Good.)

Luckily Andy experimented with a double batch.  Before boiling the second lot, he kneaded in some more gluten flour, and some whole wheat flour (wearing gloves, of course, to avoid getting smelly seitan-hands).

This saved them, I think.  The result was still spongier than the original, but definitely edible.

These ones went well as a burger, with caramelised onions and dill mayo.

Also delicious marinated in a BBQ-like sauce and baked (served with smashed potatoes and cauliflower popcorn).

The moral of the story: If you have access to okara, you should try this recipe.  It is tender and cooks up into so many delicious meals.  Just don't stuff around with the recipe too much!

Some Things Vegans Eat - Baked Yums!

Vegans don't only eat tofu and veggies.  We also love cake - at least, I do.  Cake, and muffins, cookies, bagels, and pretty much anything sweet and/or chocolatey.  This edition of Some Things Vegans Eat is dedicated to delicious, delicious baked goods.

 Carrot-pineapple muffins, each with a little pineapple chunk in the top.  These were more cake than muffin and made a fantastic snack at uni.

 This is an improvised marmalade cake, which was only okay.  To be honest, the only reason I made it at all is because I had a severe craving for Macho Fudge Sauce, from Urban Vegan.  This sauce is rich and hearty, and I thought I should probably put it on something, rather than just eating it alone.  The cake made an excellent vessel for the still-warm fudge sauce.

 Once refrigerated, Macho Fudge Sauce thickens right up, making it dollop-able.

 But when you leave it at room temperature it become spreadable, so we cut the cake in half and sandwiched some Macho Fudge Sauce in the middle.  And spread some on top.  Sure, this is a bit of a cheat - I just showed you the same cake with the same topping three times.  But it was gooood, so it deserves it.

 Andy made this chocolate-orange cake, with okara, and topped it off with a spiced orange glaze.  This was really good.

Bagels with sultanas and sunflower seed - great for breakfast, or a perfect afternoon snack.

Granola...

As part of our quest to use up the several cups of okara we get from the soy milk maker each week, I was flicking through the helpful blog Okara Mountain and I happened upon this recipe for granola.  I used to make my own muesli for breakfast, as it is much cheaper and nicer than storebought varieties.  So I thought, why not granola?

I started simply, mainly following Toontz's recipe, but subbing marmalade for orange juice because that's what we had in the house.  It was good, and simple, and a batch lasted us just over a week so it was kind of perfect.

Then I saw Hannah's post about peanut butter granola, and badly wanted some PB in my breakfast cereal.  But, the point of granola is to use up okara, so I couldn't follow Hannah's recipe exactly.  So I did some combining and altering, and came up with Peanut Butter and Jam Granola.  It was wondrous - nutty and fruity and toasty-delicious.

I've since identified a formula to follow in terms of granola, within which there are endless flavour combinations and variations that can be experimented with.  Here is the skeleton of my recipe...

4 c. oats
2 c. extras (nuts, seeds, oat bran, flaked grain mix, roasted buckwheat, rice flakes, coconut, etc.)

1 tsp. spices (cinnamon, allspice, etc.)

1 c. wet okara (I suspect soy yogurt would work as well)
1/2 c. juice or jam
1/4 c. rice bran oil
1/2 c. brown sugar (less if the juice/jam is very sweet)

1 c. dried fruit

In a large bowl, combine the dry stuff.  In a jug, mix the wet stuff.  Then add the wet to the dry. Mix until all the dry stuff is coated in the wet stuff.  Spread into two baking trays and bake at 160 (275F) for 1 hour, mixing every 15 minutes.  Add the dried fruit at the last mix.  Cool completely on trays, then transfer to an airtight container.

Now, for PB&J granola, I used about 1/2 cup of peanut butter instead of oil, and I used strawberry jam.  I melted these together over the stove before mixing with the okara and brown sugar, so they were nice and runny.

In the future, I'm going to see what tahini granola is like.  What other flavours should I mix up?

A Whirlwind Trip.

Last week I went to Melbourne for a day.  It was for a job interview - I'm crossing my fingers that I get this job, because it is a permanent, full-time teaching position.  But, the interview only lasted about 20 minutes.  That left me the rest of the day to hang out in Melbourne.

Although it was rainy, and cold, I spent several hours wandering around the city centre, just getting the feel for the city.  There were loads of people in suits, and even more people in skinny jeans.  I saw salons offering eye lash perms (only in a city...).  I saw cupcake bakeries.  I went on a search for Melissa shoes, which took me into some interesting boutique shops.  I scored myself a pair of Summer sandals, in black.  They smell like cake and they make my feet happy.

The highlight of the trip, however, was lunch.  I headed over to Lord of the Fries and ordered more than I ever thought I could consume in one sitting.  And I was lucky enough to find an empty park bench which was under cover, so I could sit and eat (though photos proved tricky).

I got a vegan burger, which tasted like fast food from my pregan days, but so much nicer -- a soft, delicious bun, and really great pickles.

I ordered the onion rings too, with tomato sauce.  They were beatiful - crunchy and greasy with that sweet onion-y flavour.

I also got a serve of 'chicken' nuggets, with Thai satay sauce.  I didn't get a shot of these, but they looked strikingly similar to the last time I ordered these - but with a different sauce.  The satay sauce was tasty, but really thick.  And either the sauce or the nuggets were a bit salty.  I am impressed with myself that I ate all of this food in one go.

After lunch, I ducked into the public library to warm up and read a magazine.  Then I wandered around a bit, looking for the free City Circle tram - I got hopelessly lost on more than one occasion, but eventually found what I was looking for.  I had a ride around the circle on the crowded tram, and then it was time to head to Southern Cross Station to get the bus to the airport.  Of course, when I got to the airport I found that my flight was delayed by more than 2 hours, which was a huge pain in the ass.  But I eventually made it home.  I guess I wasn't away long enough for Nacho to miss me, but she did appreciate the souvenir I brought home for her...

Some Things Vegans Eat - the Seitan edition

Seitan is a cheap and easy mock meat made from wheat gluten (sorry, gluten free-gans, you should avert your eyes for this post).  You can mix in a range of flavours into the dough, so when it is cooked it will taste delicious.  It also marinates really well.

 Andy wanted souvlaki, so I looked up some recipes and made a batch of seitan with lots of lemon and herbs in it.  Then I marinated it in more lemon & herbs, and olive oil.  Here it is, at the top/back of the plate, with a little bit of cucumber/yogurt sauce, bulgur, a greek salad with tofetta, and ratatouille.  This was gooood.

These are unbaked chicken-style strips.  I followed the recipe from Real Food Daily except instead of baking in a big block using a double-boiler style cooking technique, I formed them into little blobs and baked straight up.  They got really puffy but were yummy with sauce.

 

 This seitan was marinated in jerk sauce and fried up alongside some quick stir-fried veggies.  We also served with coconut rice, and coriander-corn-tomato relish.

This seitan was marinated in a barbecue-style sauce and baked until it absorbed most of the sauce.  Served here with cauliflower popcorn, roasted potatoes and a stuffed capsicum.

Seitan also makes a great vessel for gravy, as seen here on this pile of mashed potatoes.

Friendly bloggers...

Although my garden is a bit pitiful, Townsville is generally a wonderful place to grow almost anything, if you just have the space.  I was given firsthand proof of this fact when Townsville blogger Dee sent out a call for help getting through some of the bananas and pawpaws that she has grown with her partner BoaB. 

These two have an amazing garden (and a gorgeous house!) and a generous spirit.  They piled my panniers with fresh herbs and fruit, so I was heavily laden on the ride home.  Luckily they are only about 2kms from us, so I didn't have to pedal too hard for very long.

We got home and emptied the bags and this bundle of greenery was our bounty.

 

What you see there is a small bunch of delicious, sweet bananas; several handfulls of fresh basil; 3 pawpaws in varying stages of ripeness; fresh mint; kaffir lime leaves; 6 or 7 tahitian limes; fresh parsley; and a few branches of lemon myrtle (an Aussie native similar in flavour to lemongrass).  We also found ourselves with two caterpillars who hitched a ride with us.

So what did we do with all of these fresh and delicious goodies?  Most of the kaffir lime leaves, and all of the lemon myrtle, went straight into the freezer.  That way we can take them out and use them as we want, and they will stay as good as new.

A few of the kaffir lime leaves, however, made a great addition to a stir fry.  First we cooked up some homemade tofu...

 And then we tossed everything with yuba sticks and veggies and put it over rice.

 One stalk of mint became a delicious pot of tea, while the rest was laid out on racks to dry.

 And the basil and parsley turned a quick pasta meal from meh to mmm. 

Thanks so much for your generosity, Dee and BoaB!