In my kitchen - July 2023

It's July and that means we are halfway through the year! Already?  June was a crazy month.  I had my first international trip in 7 years: doing some work in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.  It was amazing and exhausting!   I have taken it easy after the trip.  Not much socialising.  It is the time of the year bunkering down during the cold winter weather.  And to try and catch up on some life admin: bike service, car service, teeth service (yes I mean dentist).  Sylvia and I have been out for quite a few lunches and seen No Hard Feelings at the cinema.  I was sad to see Zomato has closed in Melbourne.  Though I haven't added  my reviews there for years I still found it useful to check out cafes. 

Above is a packet of Bakpia that I brought home from Yogyakarta.  This was my favourite version - pandan sponge with chocolate filling.  What is not to love about green and chocolate!

These are the packets of crisps I brought back from Indonesia.  The aioli Brets crisps were from France and the favourite.  The grilled seaweed Pota Bee crisps were the ones I ate by mistake and found rather strong tasting.  It made sense when Sylvia saw the fish powder on the ingredients.  Oops!  The Happy Honey Butter Japota potato crisps were odd but ok.  Finally was the KuSako Grilled Cheese cassava chips.  I bought these so Sylvia could taste cassava chips because they were quite popular in Indonesia.  She was not that keen but I quite liked them.

My favourite crisps from Indonesia were far and away these Qtela tempeh crisps.  They were delicious.  I was a little wary at first but once I tasted them they were almost as good as salted pan fried tempeh, but more convenient.  I wish they sold these in Melbourne.  Actually there are a lot of Asian groceries in Melbourne so I will need to keep an eye out.

These are the sweet treats from Indonesia.  As with the crisps it was hard to work out what was Indonesian and what was not.  The Choki Choki chococashew was a lovely tube of chocolate mixed with cashew paste.  Sylvia loves Hello Panda bikkies but we have never had cheese cream flavour.  She was not keen to have it again and I ate most of them.  I quite liked them.  Take-It was a chocolate bar like a kitkat.  The Roi cokelat keju was one of those very soft and sweet Indonesia bread rolls with soft cheese and chocolate sauce in it.  I quite liked it, despite it being very unusual for a Melbournian.  The Extra is actually my chewing gum from the airport.  The only time I have chewing gum is on a planes because it helps with any air sickness on take off and set down.  The round tub was fairy floss but it seemed more like Persian fairy floss.  The herbal peppermint lozenges were because I had a bit of a cough thanks to asthma.  And the Blastoz chocolate bar was something for Sylvia. 

 

I brought a few little non-edible bits and pieces to bring home from Yogyakarta.  The batik sarongs there are so beautiful.  I decided I would buy more at the airport but it was slim pickings at the Yogyakarta Airport.  I seemed to see more souvenirs from Jakarta and Bali than Yogyakarta.  I did pick up a couple of fridge magnets and also a Sally Rooney novel (Beautiful world, where are you?)  I also loved my Jogja tote bag.

 

 

 

I bought the little paper cactus for Sylvia because it was so cute.  The stupa from the Borobudur was bought just outside the temple.  I love the way that the lid comes off so you can see the Buddah inside.  I also swithered over the wooden bowls with the chopstick holders but their patterns were lovely and the customs officer just waved them through.

 

 

After returning from Indonesia, I took a week off work to spend sleeping, tidying and catching up with Sylvia.  On a trip to Barkly Square we had our first visit to the new Asian "Lunar Mart".  I tried to go easy but it was full of temptations.  Above is a miso soup garnish of dried seaweed, shallots and cute little rolls of gluten. 

 

  

Sylvia chose the crisps.  She is quite taken by these Lays regular flavour crisps and decided she needed to taste some seaweed crisps after the ones I bought from Indonesia had fish powder.  Both were enjoyed!

Here are some other quirky sweets that we bought: Banana Caramel Kit Kats (very chemical flavour) Hello Panda chocolate and strawberry flavours (very good), 'Smores Pop Tarts (very good), and freeze-dried trolli worms (I could not see the point - even Sylvia not a big fan).

We also have a new Pokero Roll and Bowl in Barkly Square.  Sylvia loves the sushi at Sushi Sushi there but I love to try something new.  This bowl of noodles with tofu, edamame, avocado, corn, carrot and green as well as a nice dipping sauce was a good meal to take home.

Some things never change.  Sylvia still loves a home made tofu nugget.  I made some recently and for some reason it all went well.  I was in the flow.  They were so good I decided I must rewrite the recipe with some of thing things I have learnt.  Another idea to add to my drafts!

Sylvia and I are still heading out for lunch to try some new and old places.  I have taken some of the food home as I love making a meal out of leftovers.  These buffalo cauliflower 'wings' were from Brew Dog at the Pentridge Complex.  I brought some home that I chopped up and added to a vegie pizza.  I also brought home a lot of leftover teriyaki eggplant from Happy Little Dumplings and added it to rice and vegetable dishes and also pasta dinners.  And I came home the remains of a Zambrero lunch at work which was bulked up with a few bits and pieces to make dinner. 

We continue to try different pizzas.  This one is from the PostMistress in Melville Road, Brunswick and called the BW Classic.  It is a white pizza with broccoli base (what does this mean?), fior di latte, smoked scamorz, broccoli florets, liced zucchini, chilli, pecorino.  It was pretty good.

We also had Vegan Smokey Pulled Jackfruit pizza from Crust Pizza in Sydney Road Brunswick.  It had BBQ pulled jackfruit, Spanish onions, roasted capsicum and vegan cheese on a tomato base, with vegan aioli, parsley and chopped chilli.  It is hard to explain how I liked this but also found it hard to eat the jackfruit which had some sweet softness.  I wont get it again but I wish I could like it more.

We have had some cleaning up while I was on leave and took three large bags to the op shop as well as rejected cat beds; our cat prefers cardboard boxes to proper cat beds.  I let go of some of Sylvia's childhood toys including the cash register above.  It has plastic coins which dates it.  Do kids have EFTPOS machines for cards now?  Or is it like phones where analogue is more fun than digital for toys even though it is seen as outdated now?  Kids get all the fun!

We've been eating quite a few dumplings at home lately.  Mostly they are panfried but not always.  These dumplings were served in a soup of vegetables and tempeh.  It was pretty good though there was a bit of preparation.

 

We have been to the Pentridge complex for a few lunches lately.  The IGA there is always a temptation.  It has different groceries to our regular supermarkets.  I got tempted by the Adobo Ole Spanish Mexican Spice mix.  When I made the tofu nuggets above, I was surprised to see that I had thrown out all the spice mixes that had been in my kitchen.  It felt like time for another one!

It is that time of year when my lemon and lime trees are fruiting.  I am still struggling with citrus leaf miner so there is not much new growth.  So maybe I need to make the most of the current crop!  I wish I could.  A bagful of limes has already been taken into the office already.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her gorgeous hand drawn header.