In My Kitchen: January 2025

 

Phew!  January was so much busier than I expected.  It seems that we only survive the December festive craziness by promising ourselves a leisurely relaxing January.  Who am I kidding!  We had my sister visiting from Ireland, a high tea for my mum's birthday and a holiday to Walhalla. Plus life admin was so draining trying to sort out all our finances and activities.  Not a lot of cooking was happening in our kitchen.  Often it was too hot and we were too tired.  You will see a lot of easy meals here from the last month.  One amazing easy meal that I never even photographed was Turkish bread with hummus, falafel and salad.  We must make it again.  More about being out and about in January to come in My Monthly Chronicles.

The above sandwich is typical of our meals.  This was a rye bread loaf with cheese, leftover slaw salad from coles with chickpeas, plus tinned beetroot and lettuce and mayo.  Just the thing for a scorcher of a day!  It's the way to get through a run of days in the high 30s (celcius) followed by some heavy rain.  Not all of us are weeds that thrive on such weather!

This is our new years eve leftover nut roast (based on this nut roast).  I had tried a nut roast sandwich with lots of salad in it.  I didn't get it near my mouth before it collapsed.  So my next nut roast sandwich was simply made with just cheese and chutney.  I also loved a nut roast, cheese, lettuce and mayo sandwich.  We have been buying quite a bit of cos lettuce.

This new fridget magnet was bought at Readings bookstore in Carlton at the end of December.  It took me a few days to get it onto my fridge.  I really love this "make soup, not war" picture!  The mushroom was a present to Sylvia and I was amused to see I still have a coronavirus helpline magnet on my fridge.  I am not sure anyone would answer this these days!

We made our fave Recipe Tin Eats broccoli fritters again.  I tweaked it slightly but cannot find my notes.  I think it had peas and miso but maybe that is just my plan for the next batch!  The leftover fritters were great in a salad sandwich with lettuce, cheese, tomato, tinned beetroot and mayo.  So good but so hard to keep together before I photographed and ate it.

After a busy day in Geelong at my parents and a visit to Paddock bakery at Federation Mills I was so happy to have bought a fancy focaccia at Paddock and have bought a packet of Coles superfood slaw mix at the supermarket.  Note that those nails are Sylvia's not mine!

For dinner I made my fave easy salad of the slaw mix (cabbage, carrot, beetroot, kale, daikon and celery) which I mix with a tin of chickpeas, chopped almonds or other nuts (hazelnuts here), 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp seeded mustard and seasoning.  It was so satisfying with the focaccia.  The salad was also great for a quick work lunch on quite a few occasions. 

We have had a good haul of tomatoes in January.  The cherry tomato plant in the pot grew so well that it reached the top of its stake but it has withered somewhat in the recent hot weather.  I had tomatoes with salads but mostly on the run.  They are best rosy red eaten warm off the plant while pottering in the garden or just passing to take my bike out.  Also in the photo you can see the lovely pink gerbera flowering on the plant my mum gave me.

You can also see the black blob is the cat, Shadow.  He is easily startled by strangers but had an especially huge reaction when the neighbour had a medical transport arrive.  Shadow bolted inside at such a speed that he broke the flap off his cat door.  Thank goodness my dad has put in a slot for a wooden cover so we can stop him going out on a warm night when we want the screen door open but the cat flap in it shut.

The cherry tomatoes from the garden were great with cheese on this sourdough flatbread.  The flatbread was a couple of days old so I heat it on a greased cast iron frypan and then put the cast iron frypan under the grill so the cheese would melt and the tomatoes cook.  It was so good.

I was so impressed by my quick lunch that I think it could go in this list of recipe hacks from the Guardian.

A few day before my mum's birthday high tea I had a cuppa with my friend.  The next day she let me know that she had tested positive for Covid.  This meant I needed to test for Covid before the high tea.  All the tests I had got for free at the height of the pandemic were now well over a year out of date.  So7 fir the first time ever, I had to pay for a Covid test.  The ones in the picture were the cheapest in the shop at about $7 each in a 5 pack.  Youch!  But after my family had a super spreader Boxing Day lunch, the last thing I wanted to do was to bring Covid into their midst again.

I was busy the day before the high tea making Vegetarian sausage rolls and Miso maple banana bread and a collage birthday card.  We love a bit of whimsy in the collages we make with images from children's picture books and printouts from the internet.  If I had had the time, I would have included a retro teapot as a vase for a bunch of flowers in place of the present.  As it was with my limited time, I was pleased with the dog and chicken celebrating with a birthday cake on a bookshelf. 

I made the Spicy Kimchi Udon for dinner on one of the hot nights.  We had made Kimchi fried rice the week before and had kimchi to use up.  The noodles were fine but a bit spicy for my liking.  I prefer the fried rice for using kimchi.  I know both have the same amount of kimchi.  I can't explain it but I prefer the fried rice.

On one of the cooler days I made a simple broccoli soup with broccoli, potato, celery and four bean mix.  I added tahini to mine and Sylvia added cheese and pasta to hers.  It was so good.  I took a photo of it with some paintings by Sylvia that she did at an art workshop (does anyone recognise the album covers?) and a Monica McInerney novel. Upside Down and Inside Out was a fun quick read.  Just what I needed given my recent reading drought.  Then I followed it up with the charming Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aitken.

For my birthday treat I made Walnut cheatballs.  They are a riff on the nut roast I was making over Christmas.  I had cottage cheese leftover so it was a good way to use it up.  Then I heated a flatbread with cheese on top so it melted and then I placed cheatballs, rocket and relish on the cheese and wrapped it all up.  It was very satisfying.  The leftover cheatballs were used in vegetarian spaghetti and meatballs.

Here are a few of my birthday gifts.  The sushi socks are gorgeous and I still looking forward to using the corn dudes (to hold corn on the cob), the cactus shaped taco holders and the Asian soup spoons.  The rest is going to the garden.

I have written a few posts about our lovely long weekend holiday at Walhalla.  I bought a new tea towel when we went on the Walhalla Goldfields Railway.

Here are some more purchases from the Walhalla holiday.  The postcard andlittle train shaped pencil sharpener is also from the railway.  The cat card is from the cat cafe in Traralgon.  The purse, picture frames, metal jewellery, small chest and cute little green dipping bottles were from the Garfield second hand shop.  The green beads, scarf and purple top were great bargains from the Traralgon op shops.  Though the clothes aren't as cheap as those from mum's wardrobe.  Yep that means Sylvia is finally at the stage where she is raking through my wardrobe for clothes she wants to wear. 

And finally here are a few more bargains from the op shops and Garfield shop.  The little gnome with the face mask and "wash hands" sign is in the bathroom to give me a laugh.  Sylvia has hung the jewellery holder with necklaces and earrings.  She has plans for the cast iron lantern candle holder that involves plants.  And I hope to use the lovely casserole dish with green leaves that was a bargain at $2.  I am sure we will find some interesting food to bake in it that you might see some day.

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.  Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host this even that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens.

Walhalla-Traralgon-Garfield Road Trip

While our full road trip was from Melbourne, I preferred the part of our recent trip to Walhalla with great views and surprising discoveries when we were off the freeway that is mostly a tarmac expanse of boredom.  Even when there is some interest on the the major routes, such as the huge bird signifying the entrance to Gumbuya World, there is scant opportunity to stop for a photo as you speed by.  This post's photos are from when we got right out of town and into the countryside, with the small town of Garfield included where we stopped on the way home.  But let's start on the road from Traralgon to Walhalla.

The above photo is of a Tyers Lookout.  There was a plaque to the surveyor called Charles Tyers about about his achievements as an explorer and surveyor.  Nowadays I see the gaps in this "heroic" stories.  Did he show respect to the First Nations people?  Did they help him?  Did he harm them?  These stories so often have a dark side but we don't hear it.  But for all my dislike of what was done to First Nation people and their land, I still feel a sense of awe when I see the gigantic smoke stacks of the power stations that depend on coal to provide us with electricity.  But let's not spiral down into politics of climate change and Indigenous people.  Instead you can just admire the view of Latrobe Valley from the lookout.

Driving on from Tyers towards Walhalla, we also stopped at Peterson's Lookout.  The above photo was taken on the walk from the carpark but it looked quite similar to the drive along a narrow gravel track (W2)  to get there from the Tyers Walhalla Road.  We were a little freaked when we passed a car on the track.  There was not quite enough room between the rockface and the drop.  When I steered the car slightly to the drop, Sylvia thought the end was nigh.

The view from the lookout was not so great - a few boulders with masses of trees.  However this view along the walk downhill to the lookout was spectacular.  We then drove back to the sealed Tyers Walhalla Road by the Boola Boola forest.

After the turn off the Tyers Walhalla Road, we drove the winding lengths of the Walhalla Rd.  So many hairpin bends.  It was slow going but beautiful scenery.  In my childhood this would have made me very nauseous.  Fortunately concentrating on every turn of the road in front of us helps prevent carsickness. The photo was taken by Sylvia!

When we took the Walhalla Goldfields Heritage Railway we had a much better view of the scenery but also a much better sense of how high the road was and how steep the drop over the edge was. In the above photo you can just make out the road about two fifths of the way down the photo.  On the road I loved all the tree ferns.  Sylvia disliked the signs warning of rock falls where the road was cut into the side of the mountain.
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There were two options when driving home from Walhalla.  Either back to Traralgon and then on the freeway.  Or we could go on the back roads which would take as long but be more scenic than the soulless main road through the Boola Boola Forest.  Yes, we went on the back roads.  Lots more curvy roads.  Firstly we went on the Moe-Walhalla Road and then on the Old Sale Road.  We travelled 108km to Garfield with only 13km on the freeway!

Garfield was chosen by Sylvia for its op shop and Luna's Cafe.  Both were closed because it was a public holiday.  (These things are difficult to work out with just a quick web search.)  We were very happy with our brief visit nevertheless.  Most amazing was the second hand brick-a-brack from estate sales at the front of Buddha and Birdcage Nursery (57 Main Street).  Lots of great stuff for a song - jewellery, picture frames, plates, teapots, candlesticks etc.  And of course lots of plants outside.  With the occasional magnificent piece of antique furniture.  We could not resist buying a few pieces such a beads for $1 and a small casserole dish for $2.

The real reason to stop at Garfield was to have a bite to eat on the way home.  With our cafe of choice and the bakery closed, we went for lunch at 12pm at Brewsters Food Store and Cafe just along the street at number 81 where Main Street became the Nar Nar Goon - Longwarry Road.  As you can see from the sign above, they liked their coffee.

This suited Sylvia well.  The day was warm (forecast 36 C in Walhalla and 42 C in the inner North of Melbourne).  She had an iced soy latte.  Country towns have made great progress since I grew up in a country town that had probably never heard of a coffee machine.  I had a bottle of ginger ale.  We shared a very nice Apricot Danish.  (We asked for it to be warmed slightly because it had been in the refridgerated display).  It was served first. 

Then came our savoury pastries: a vegan chickpea and potato pie for me and a pumpkin, leek and feta quiche for Sylvia.  Yet again I was impressed at the food we were able to find in the small town. 

Then it was time to get back on the road and drive the next 87km home.  I took a photo of the above fine piece of street art at the local post office before we left town.  Garfield is near the outskirts of south eastern Melbourne so, once we were on the freeway again, it felt like we were back in the fast paced roads full of impatient drivers in big shiny cars.  I love the city but I missed the quiet green country roads as I passed the suburban sprawl.  It was lovely to finally find myself on familiar roads and at last pull into our driveway at home.

More posts on our holiday:

• Walhalla accommodation and sightseeing
• Walhalla Witchery cafe and meals at holiday accommodation
  
• Traralgon: Store 61, Momo, and Grounded Paws Cat Cafe
  

Traralgon: Store 61, Momo, and Grounded Paws Cat Cafe

When we were planning our long weekend holiday, I wanted to go somewhere in rural Victoria.  Sylvia wanted to go to the Grounded Paws animal rescue and cat cafe in Traralgon.  I was happy to go there but did not want to stay in Traralgon which seemed more suburban than my idealised vision of a country town.  So we compromised by staying at the beautiful gold rush town of Walhalla and visiting Traralgon on the way there and then driving back for another visit the next morning. 

This compromise worked well.  I loved the charming historic town in a green valley and Sylvia got to visit her cat cafe, op shops and nice restaurants in Traralgon.  Win win!

 

Store Sixty One Cafe, 61 Breed St, Traralgon 

When we arrived in Traralgon after over two hours of driving, it was good to stop for lunch at Store Sixty One.  (According to my friend Alison, this cafe has had a few name changes over the years.)  It was really busy on a Friday lunchtime.  There were no seats available inside but we were happy to eat on the front deck in the shade of the umbrella and enjoy the cool breeze.

We started with a cold drink.  Sylvia loved her iced soy matcha.  I had the passionfruit and orange kreol probiotic drink.  I expected it might be like the orange and passionfruit sparkling mineral water that used to be in many drinks cabinets and was a favourite of mine.  It was much less sweet but very refreshing.  I am noticing probiotic drinks are more and more available in cafes.

Sylvia went for the Happy Stack ($25.50) with hot cakes, butter, hash browns, maple syrup and strawberry compote.   She was able to have haloumi instead of the bacon.  I had the Breakfast Bowl ($27). It was a generous serve of buckwheat, seasonal greens, fresh avocado, roasted sweet potato, roasted cauliflower, confit tomato, pickled zucchini, edamame and miso dressing.  I opted not to have the poached eggs, but one of the protein choices was the zucchini and corn fritters which suited me very well.  So much good food with kudos to the crispy broccolini and beautifully roasted sweet potato.  While not the cheapest meal, it was excellent offerings from a country cafe.

Grounded Paws Animal Rescue Cat Cafe,  23 McMahon St, Traralgon

After lunch we went to Grounded Paws to spend time among the cats. At $5 for 30 minutes, this is the cheapest cat cafe we have visited (and we have been to quite a few).  It is actually a cat rescue, targeting cats that are at risk of being put down which welcomes visitors.  So the cats are well looked after and mostly friendly - as much as you can expect from cats!  

The photo above and the top photo show the whimsical presentation of a large warehouse.  The artwork has an Alice in Wonderland theme and is a work in progress. 

After we pay our entrance fee at the counter of the small little cafe that offers drinks and slices and gifts, we enter the first cat space.  It is a room for the kittens to keep them separate from the older cats.  These kittens are adorable.  Sylvia was very fond of a calico kitten called Peanut.  I was very taken by this gorgeous black kitten with white socks called Noel.

The main area for the older cats has lots of space and nooks and crannies.  There are lots of cat towers to hide in or, as in the case of the above cat (called Gherkin), to sit atop and stare with loooksthat are either judging us or terrified of us or both!

We had a lovely time with all the cats but the friendliest was a ginger tom called Robert.  I guess that makes him a bobcat!  He was my favourite.  You can see him sitting so patiently in this photo with Sylvia, loving her stroking his back.  Everywhere I was he seemed to be hanging out nearby ready for some attention.  He even was quite friendly with the other cats.

It was hard to photograph the large entrance to the warehouse that is covered in mesh so the cats can get fresh air without getting out.  The light from this entrance was glaring compared to the gloomy low light of the warehouse.  You can see Lenny's lighter natural light side and his darker warehouse side in the above photo.  He is on a large hamster wheel.  It was disappointing the cats didn't run on it. 

The cats loved this airy area where the warehouse met the outside world.  Sylvia's favourite - a black cat called Clarence - spent some time fiddling with the mesh trying to work out ways to escape.  He was a mellow cat who would stop to accept a pat but then go on his way doing his own thing.

You can see how much space there is in the photo of Robert.  Not all of the cats were so outgoing.  Quite a few of them liked to hide under the chairs and wooden pews as well as in the cat towers.  Below is a photo of a little tortoiseshell cat called Ariel under a fancy chair.

On our first visit, we were amused to watch the antics of Ariel who was avoiding the cat box of a couple who were adopting her. She ran up to the mezzanine where the table and chairs are (see top photo) and then ran out from there along a very high ledge.  The woman working there had to use a very long stick to nudge her back to the mezzanine.

Finally Ariel was shepherded into the cat doors to a smaller space where the staff look after food and kitty litter.  Even so it was taking quite a bit of time to coax her into the traveling box when we left.  When we came back for a second visit the next day, we happy to hear that she was sleeping soundly at her new home.

On our second visit I had a lot less desire than Sylvia to hang out with the cats so I stood and chatted to the volunteer on the desk.  It was interesting to hear more about the cafe.  I was sad hearing about the cats who were earmarked to be put down when their owners faced a change such as moving country or going into a nursing home.  It was especially sad to hear that one of the 12 month old kittens had been saved from being put down.  This made me really appreciate the work of the cafe in rehousing these cats.  If she could, Sylvia would have taken home this kitten called Peanut. But she is allergic to peanuts (ha ha).

Traralgon Farmers Market,  Kay Street

On our second visit to Traraglon we were delighted to find that the farmers market that is held on the fourth Saturday of the month coincided with our visit.  It was on a wide shady street with lots of trees along the nature strip.  We bought an amazing fig and black pepper baguette and mushroom arancini for our holiday kitchen.

We were able to resist much of the temptation but it is always fun to look around the stalls.  I got a laugh at the marshmallow stallholder's t-shirt that read "Whatever you do Marty, don't ever go to 2020".  (A Back to the Future joke!)  I also was amused by the caramel nut man who had a few cookie monster toys on display and showed us the one he had since he was a child.

MoMo, 103 Seymour Street, Traralgon

While in Traralgon, it was a good opportunity to catch up with my friend Alison who lives in country Gippsland.  We booked Italian restaurant, Momo, which was quiet when we arrived at 12 but got quite busy.  It was great to catch up with a university friend!

Alison had the orichiette with salmon.  Sylvia and I shared the Ricotta ravioli with peas, marinated cherry tomatoes, spinach, toasted pumpkin seeds, & lemon-butter sauce.  We had quite a few sides: Potato, roast garlic & smoked cheddar with aioli, House made beetroot hummus & dukkah, roasted tomato pesto, toasted pita & garlic & herb sourdough, and a Garden salad.  Together this was a really good meal.  Not cheap (our pasta was $30) but very delicious and satisfying.

Salvos and C2A Opportunity Shops

Sylvia had wanted to visit some op shops to hunt out some esoteric detritus.  She loves some second hand jewellery and clothing.  The C2A op shop (15 Seymour Street) was so cheap compared to Melbourne op shops.  I was delighted to be able to purchase 3 pairs of boots between us at $6 a pair.  I found a few other bits and pieces at the Salvos op shop 72 Princess Highway).  It wasn't as cheap but I really admired just how beautifully the shop was presented.

More posts on our holiday:

• Walhalla accommodation and sightseeing
• Walhalla Witchery cafe and meals at holiday accommodation
  
• Walhalla-Traralgon-Garfield Road Trip

Walhalla Witchery cafe and meals at holiday accommodation

One of the fun parts of holidays is finding good and simple food in unexpected places.  On our long weekend in Walhalla we took along fruit and baked beans and good bread and were delighted with the gloomy other wordliness of the witches and their mystical accessories in the Walhalla Witchery cafe.

 

Another joy of staying in a strange holiday house is discovering the kitchen.  New enchanting crockery for serving food and  sweet little floral jars for storage.  

Of course, there is also much to love in the familiar.  We stopped at Calle Bakery in North Carlton to take a little of fine inner city baking to the bush.  The croissant wheels are so spectacular they were hard to resist.  Sylvia had the blueberry cheesecake and I had the Kinder bueno.  Next time I should get the cheese and spinach pastry rather than so much oozing custard.  Sylvia disagreed!

Far more to my liking was the magnificent loaf of spelt sourdough from Calle.  It had a crust to challenge any bread knife and a soft fragrant crumb.  We enjoyed it thick slices with baked beans and arancini.

I found a fig and black pepper baguette at the Traralgon Farmers Market.  It was even better than I imagined.  We felt so fancy eating slices of the fine baguette with cream cheese and a bunch of grapes on the side.  Sylvia liked a lick of jam as well but I was happy without it.

The Traralgon Farmers Market also yielded a wonderful arancini that I had with spelt bread, and a salad of carrot, red capsicum and cucumber with a simple dressing of balsamic vinegar and seasoning, with a glass of sparkling water to wash it down.  I took it to the verandah where I ate it looking over the lovely view and reading Frankie magazine.

I have never used an airfryer so the little green multifunction over was fun to try.  The first night I airfried the arancini was a disappointment.  They were less crisp than if I had just put them in an oven.  The next night I place the arancini on the highest shelf and left them in for longer.  They were so much better and crispier. 

Walhalla had a few places to dine but the one that appealed most was the Walhalla Witchery.  We almost sat outside on the verandah with the breeze and the views.  Then we saw inside.  The atmosphere was magical and mystical.

There was a note on the counter pleading patience from the customers because the they were understaffed and their coffee maker was a trainee.  Service was indeed slow as the holiday crowd seemed to challenge the staff.  But it was such a lovely place to sit and wait that we didn't mind too much.  And I liked the staff: the pretty young goth woman, the older man with the long beard and big sighs, and the gormless new guy with a large head of hair who looked unsure of himself at times but was friendly and working hard.

Sylvia had the cheese and tomato toastie. ($10.50)  I had the Greek focaccia.  Mine was filled with spinach, feta, sundried tomatoes, red onions, olive and tzatziki ($15).  We were both very pleased with our choices.

We stayed for scones with jam and cream accompanied by a soy capuccino for Sylvia and a pot of peppermint tea for me.  Herbal tea is just the thing while the presence of witches.  The scones were lovely and watching people's reactions as they entered the cafe was fun.

This corner with the fireplace, the raven, the tarot and punch and judy had some of the creepy vibes you expect in a Hammer Horror movie.

On my final morning I ate my breakfast in this outdoor area that overlooked the tree fern and a bread box in a tree repurposed as a bird feeder.  I had taken along my usual fruit, muesli and yoghurt for breakfasts.  Even in a strange town it was a wonderful way to start the day.

More posts on our holiday:

• Walhalla accommodation and sightseeing
  
• Traralgon: Store 61, Momo, and Grounded Paws Cat Cafe
• Walhalla-Traralgon-Garfield Road Trip