In my kitchen: November 2025

So autumn becomes summer at the end of November!  A time for stone fruit and festive food.  We have enjoyed Dubai chocolate products, peaches and nectarines and a soap that smells of marzipan and makes me think of Christmas and stollen waiting in the pantry for a special occasion.   I hope you are enjoying this crazy time of festivities and holidays.  Read on to find out more about our experimenting with vegan food, buying interesting groceries and making some new recipes.  (I will soon post My Monthly Chronicles for more about November's outings and wider world.)

Above is one of a box of Dubai inspired Chocolate and Pistachio Tarts.  The filling was pretty good with  thick soft chocolate ganache over with crispy kataifi mixed with creamy pistachio spread in fairly ordinary shortcrust cases and topped with pistachios.  At $12 for 6 tarts at Woolworths supermarket, I expected a bit more than a thin tough shell of pastry but the filling was so good that I might just go back for more.  The packaging is festive like quite a lot of sweet offerings there, but only a few of them are traditional Christmas treats.
 

Dubai chocolate was a bit of thing this month.  I am sure I am seeing it more about me but also have developed quite a taste for it.  So much so that for our special birthday lunch at the start of November ,I made a adult Dubai Chocolate caterpillar cake.,  It was delicious but the chocolate brownie cupcakes were a bit of a challenge.  So much so that I made another batch a week or so later.  

They don't look very impressive in the pans but the texture was much softer than my first two goes.  When they cook, they must be watched carefully as they get dry quickly but are amazing when less dry.  I had also hoped another batch would use up the pistachio cream frosting but we still have some left in the fridge, with the hope that we might be inspired enough to use it up.

I found some energy to make a Sourdough antipasto focaccia.  This time I packed it with olives, cheese and chopped pickled red onion.  I also used mostly wholemeal flour.  It did not rise fantastically but was soft and tasty.  I blame the lack of rise on the cold weather that continues to alternate with sunny warm days and make the weeds grow like crazy. 

I dropped into Mr Dad Asian Supermarket on the corner of Victoria Street and Bouverie to check out their furikake.  I was waylaid by small chocolate slabs with a pleasing green criss cross of matcha.  The I discovered the rows of furikaka.  I chose a Marumiya furikake whose ingredients included matcha and pleased Sylvia.  I also bought a Korean Seasoned Seaweed by Surasang that looked similar to furikake.  It worked well in Tofucado.

Aldi is well known for it's Christmas items in the middle row.  We checked it out and there was a tyranny of choice: fudge, nougat, nuts etc.  The Christmas liquorice is an old favourite.  We love lebkuchen: covering it with chocolate and filling it with apricot jam took it to another level!  The European spice cookies (speculaas) were excellent.  The mini-stollen is waiting for the right moment.

These all butter cheese biscuits from Aldi are so cute with their star and Christmas tree shapes.  They are being saved for a Christmas platter!

The Mushroom Bao Buns from Aldi are so cute with their green ribbon and red bow.  They are still in our freezer.

I enjoyed converting a carnivorous sausage and broken lasagna recipe into a vegetarian one.  I have written a post on Stovetop lasagna two ways which includes the (vegetarian) sausage ragu lasagne.  It was so good we made it twice in the month.
 

Sylvia found a recipe on social media for a Dumpling bake based on a viral recipe.  I used a recipe from Cooking with Ayeh.  We loved the crispy topped dumplings in the (coconut) creamy Thai curry sauce that was filled with bok choy, bean sprouts, edamame, enoki mushrooms.  Next time we will buy a bigger bag of dumplings.

Another winning new recipe by Sylvia was a vegan Cheezy broccoli orzo.  The pasta and orzo were cooked separately and then mix together with peas and a vegan cashew cheese sauce.  It was an easy meal with oodles of comfort.  

We made a lot more than the recipe said by adding a 250g packet of orzo, 2 cups of frozen peas, an additional 1/2 cup each of cashews and water for the sauce plus a bit of maple syrup and smoked papika to tame the sharp lemony flavour.  Next time I might add a little less lemon juice.  We are very keen to make it again!

It is the time of year when Sylvia begins to plan her Christmas dinner with her dad.  I always have the same meal with my extended family but she likes to explore different ideas.  She has tried cooking some pigs in blankets with vegan sausages wrapped in vegan bacon (secured with a toothpick) for 18-20 min  at 200 C in the air fryer.  She tried a cranberry maple marinade on some which was very nice.

We have been buying more vegan products lately.  Here are a few from the local supermarkets: Sheese shredded cheese (good when melted), Plantein plant based schnitzels (ok but not as good as Sylvia's favourite Fry's schnitzels), Bio cream cheese (ok but a bit oily), Yay plant based feta (nice but a bit oily) and Vitasoy oat yoghurt (not great).  

I am less keen on the commercial processed plant based products, especially the cheeses.  The vegan cheeses seem to be predominately coconut oil which I don't like much.  It is heavy and has less nutritious value than dairy cheese.  I have found that home made vegan cheeses and cheese sauce much better nutritionally because we often add nuts and nooch plus is less processes.  However the market for vegan cheeses seems to continue to grow so there must be people who like it better than me.

We also went to the Brunswick IGA which had a greater range of plant based foods.  Sylvia loved the Otherly chocolate.  The Green Vic "parmesan" and Laud's smoked oat cheese were good in a mac and cheese sauce but not as good by themselves, though Sylvia had some "parmesan" sprinkled on meals.  The Laud's had split peas, oats and cashews so I liked the ingredients list more but it was not great cold.  I was really pleased to find smoked tofu as I have been looking for it and wondering if anyone makes it any more.  Also pictured are tofu nuggets (which had minimal flavouring so weren't so different to firm tofu) and Community co dairy free buttery taste spread which tasted nice but I still have a soft spot for Nuttalex margarine.

Here is a closer look at the Otherly Salted Caramel Oatmilk Chocolate.  It is creamy and smooth with wonderful notes of caramel but is not too sweet or salty.  The chocoate is worth buying for its whimsical illustrations on the packaging.

Another product that we have tried and enjoyed is a jar of pickled red onions.  We added these and the Yay plant based feta to a Pearl couscous, cucumber and feta salad recently.  I had some of the leftovers for lunch when there wasn't much left and also added red cabbage and red capsicum.  It was an excellent lunch.  I am not usually a fan of raw onions but have been enjoying these.

Another way we have been vegan cheese and pickled onions is on pizza using my regular fast track sourdough pizza base.  In the above photo half the pizza is from my dairy cheese pizza with tomato sauce, mushrooms, capsicum, olives, pineapple, pickled onions and a mozzarella melty mix of grated cheese.  Sylvia's pizza had tomato sauce, olives, pickled onions and kale.  Half of hers had Sheesh tasty cheeze and half had Yay plant based feta.  I enjoyed them all.  Sylvia loved her feta versions with none of the adverse effects of eating lactose.

When riding home past Calle Bakery I decided to drop in.  We love their wonderful baking.  I could not resist the amazing pistachio croissant with an oozy creamy crunchy Dubai chocolate filling and a generous blob of melted chocolate that cooled hard.  Sylvia had a cinnamon scroll that was messy with lots of frosting but deliciious.

I also tried the Wallaby Dubai style chocolate squares with a pistachio cream filling and crispy gluten free filo.  It wasn't as impressive and crispy as the Calle croissant filling but was pretty good.  It was interesting to see because it had a gluten free filling because Dubai chocolate is usually uses wheat pastry.  

  

Sylvia had a trip to Lune Bakery, Rose Street Market and Red Sparrow vegan pizzeria.  They returned to our place with a Strawberry matcha croissant (with matcha coconut frangpani, strawberry jam, whipped matcha ganache, freeze dried strawberries, white chocolate shards) and the Turtle ("A pain au chocolat twice-baked with chocolate frangipane, roasted pecans, and salted caramel. Dusted with chocolate powder then finished with dark chocolate ganache, salted caramel sauce, and candied pecans").  I tasted both and they were superb but I am a chocolate lover so I was most impressed with the Turtle.  (And the leftovers lasted well.)

I have written about a lovely afternoon with my family involving gluten free miso grubs (truffles) and a birthday tea for my twin nieces' 21st birthday.  I took this photo later in the evening when I got home.  I brought home some Marks and Spencer Percy Pigs and chocolate wrapped as fruit that my sister had given my mum for me on her visit to Dublin.  I had bought home some birthday cake, grubs, hedgehog and fruit.  Sylvia had made gorgeous collages that we printed up as birthday cards.  Meanwhile she was out with her dad and brought home a goodie bag from the Lara Buchanan gig and jewellery and a cute little house from op shopping. The day was as busy as that photo!

November ended with a crazy day.  We had planned to drop in at a local community market before meeting up with a friend for lunch in the south east of Melbourne.  But she cancelled because she was sick.  The market had such heavy rain it turned to hail.  I was planning to go to look at the new Metro tunnel with Sylvia but it got complicated because she was also keen to have brunch out, it was raining too much to get around without the car but driving the car meant a parking nightmare.  Then she got a last minute message from a FaceBook Marketplace seller to pick up a tiffany lamp in a far suburb of Melbourne.  I finally decided we do the metro tunnel or stay home.  She stayed home and I rode the 5 new metro tunnel stations that opened that day.  (I plan to write more about it.)  I got home and prepared to go grocery shopping but the car battery was flat so instead we wanted for roadside assistance to fix it and went shopping late.  

The photo is of a Metro tunnel celebration newspaper, a celebration lollypop, a string of fabric "tinsel" bought at the market from my friend Kerin of Remaki, the bag of a cookie I had to keep me going in all the walking and stairs and tunnels on the metro line, a tiny mouse and felt pumpkin that Sylvia had bought in Fitzroy the previous day.  So much fun and wonderful stuff!

 
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's url to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her gorgeous hand drawn festive header.  Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host this even that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens.  

Miso grubs (truffles) two ways and a birthday tea

Before I had heard of truffles, rum balls, energy balls and bliss balls, we often ate grubs as kids!  I thought everyone called these balls of chocolate goodness "grubs".  I still do.  They were made from condensed milk, coconut, cocoa and marie biscuits.  This year I have had fun trying a couple of different versions of these childhood favourite with an unmami addition of white miso and different sorts of biscuits.  One was a dark version with black cocoa and chocolate ripple biscuits.  Another was a gluten free version for a birthday afternoon tea that had choc chip cookies, quinoa flakes and seeds.

Lately we haven't made lots of sweet baked or unbaked goods in our kitchen.  We love a sweet treat but our household is small and we don't go to as many events where we take a cake.  Occasionally I get the urge for some sweet comfort food and grubs are at the top of the list.  When I make something often I am familiar enough with the recipe to experiment.  Say, in the case of these grubs, I wondered how they would be with miso added.  The black cocoa and chocolate ripple biscuits were just serendipitous.

My original title for this post was "Black miso grubs for dark times".  It was earlier this year when I made these grubs for comfort.  I was delighted in how the dark mixture reflected the dark times ushered in by Trump returning to the presidency of the USA.  Together with the polarised attitudes on te Israel-Palestine war, immigration, global warming and diversity, it feels like we are inhabiting an impossible conundrum. 

At the time I heard an interview by David Marr on ABC Nightlight and jotted down some of the ideas that resonated with me: how can we show care for one another and have political debate, law and order wont fix the problem, we need brave conversations to navigate difficult questions, we need to sit with the discomfort of disagreement.  I would add to these that empathy is important in understanding behaviour and opinions we might not approve in others.

The black cocoa made an amazing difference in colour.  So dark!  It really begged for balls to be rolled in black cocoa for the ultimate darkness!  I was busy and tired.  There was no energy for even this small task.  Instead I sprinkled coconut onto the bottom of a small baking tin, evenly dolloped the mixture into the tin, pressed it down and smoothed it out, and then sprinkled more coconut on top.  It was in the fridge for some days where I would just cut a chunk or two when needed!  The result was my childhood comfort sweetness with the miso adding a welcome adult touch of umami.  

I liked these black miso grubs so much that I kept dreaming of making them again.  The opportunity arose when I wanted to take a plate of food to a family gathering.  I wanted to use the chocolate ripple biscuits again.  As we have celiacs in my family, I was excited to try the gluten free chocolate ripple biscuits that had excited my sister Susie.  It was disappointing to hear that Arnotts is no longer making them due to lack of sales.  Susie has told me that there is an uproar in the celiac community!

How disappointing!  I found a packet of Woolworths free from gluten choc chip biscuits.  It was only 160g compared to 250g in a packet of chocolate ripple biscuits.  (As a bonus they are also vegan.  This means if you use a vegan coconut condensed milk as well, you can have vegan gluten free grubs!)  They were easy to crumble with my hands.  I added some seeds and quinoa flakes to add the bulk lacking due to the smaller biscuit packet.  This worked really well.  I love a bit of texture.  But even Sylvia enjoyed them despite her wariness of bits!  

Alas I had used up my black cocoa.  So I could not claim that I had made dark and seedy grubs.  It sounds like a lowlife in film noir who might be shown in the shadows outside the halo of street life.  I was still happy to take them along to a birthday tea of find food!
 

My family were celebrating my twin nieces 21st birthday.  I have found memories of baking with Ella and Grace as little kids.  It is hard to believe these smiley cheeky cherubs are now grown women.  They were gorgeous as kids and continue to be so as adults.   It made me reflect on how 21st birthdays don't seem to be as momentous these days as they were when I was that age.  It seemed such a milestone in becoming an adult for my peers.  These days perhaps it is not seen as so important because we accept that it takes until well into the mid 20s for the brain to fully mature.

It was a lovely birthday tea.  My brother's girlfriend has amazing creative talents in food presentation.  She set out a gorgeous table of cheese, dips, chips, vegetables, popcorn, fruit, (and something for the carnivores), with even a jar of my sister's fantastic Frankly Raw peanut butter, with a flourish of charming flowers.  My mum made hedgehog and profiteroles.  Susie made a chocolate ripple cake with Coles Ultimate gluten free cookies with 40% triple chocolate chips.  (These biscuits worked beautifully.  Note though that they are not vegan like the Woolworths biscuits.)

Susie, the mother of the birthday girls, ordered a birthday cake each: a chocolate mud cake for Grace and a red velvet cake with cheesecake filling for Ella.  She present them with a lovely birthday speech.  Everyone enjoyed mingling and ate well with three dogs darting around us.  (My brother brought his dogs to play with Susie's dog.)

 

After the cake had been served, we spent a bit of time taking photos, as is the way with my family.  It was great to get together with my parents, siblings and niblings.  That is balm for the devastating politics and  polarised opinions of our time.

Unfortunately, Susie's dog was just a little enthusiastic about the celebrations and helped himself to the fabulous chocolate ripple cake.  So Susie and Grace spent the evening at an emergency vet clinic.  Fortunately Banjo recovered well and I am sure that he will be well monitored next time chocolate ripple cake is on offer to the humans.

I was struck with a great idea that I could substitute the stale bread crumbs from the freezer for the biscuit crumbs and tried it in a variation on the seedy grubs.  The bread crumbs did not give the heft and sweetness needed for the recipe   More crunble than trufflem grainy rubble than soft grub.

This does not diminish the success of my latest seedy version.  It is so much fun to play with my favourite recipe for grubs and so satisfying to find the seedy verson that suits me better in these days when I want more texture and less sweetness in my baking.  It ensures that this is still a recipe I love to turn to for a celebration or comfort and I hope will continue to be so.  

More chocolate and coconut "grubs" or bliss balls on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:

Chocolate almond and coconut balls (gf, v)
Coconut almond-tahini balls (gf, v)
Chocolate tahini maca bliss balls (gf, v)  
Grubs (v, gf)
Grubs - with Tim Tams  

Miso Grubs - two ways 
Two original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipes based on a childhood recipe
These recipes each have different ingredients but the same methods! 

Gluten Free Seedy Miso Grubs 

160g packet of gf choc chip cookies (woolworths brand)
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/4 cup quinoa flakes
3 heaped dessertspoons cocoa
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
400g tin condensed milk
1 tbsp white miso
extra coconut for rolling (about 1/2 to 1 cup)

Black Miso Grubs 

250g packet of choc ripple biscuits
1 cup desiccated coconut
3 heaped tbsp black cocoa
400g tin condensed milk
2 tbsp white miso

Crush biscuits to the size of lentils with some larger chunks and some finely ground.  Mix with dry ingredients in a medium to large bowl.  Pour in condensed milk and drop in the spoonful of miso.  Mix the miso into the condensed milk with shallow strokes and then mix into dry ingredients until you had a thick sticky mixture.  

Shape mixture into walnut sized balls (I use my hands and like to have a glass of water by me that I regularly dip my hands in to dampen my hands every time the mixture starts to make them sticky and/or clings to them.)  Roll in a small bowl coconut until covered evenly and shake excess coconut back into the bowl.  (Alternately, if you prefer they can be rolled in dark cocoa to keep to the dark theme.)

I prefer them at room temperature - which makes them softer - and keep them on the bench in an airtight container for days but you can also keep them in the fridge.

NOTE: My seedy miso grubs were gluten free.  Both versions could be gluten free and vegan with coconut condensed milk and vegan and gluten free biscuits.

On the Stereo:
The Boatman's Call: Nick Cave 

Stovetop lasagna two ways: in a soup and in a sausage ragu (vegetarian)

I love lasagna.  But it is an effort.  I was excited to hear about lasagna soup.  It fits my lifestyle so much better.  To make a traditional lasagna involves lots of pans and steps.  There is a saucepan for the the vegetable/protein filling, a frypan for the cheese sauce, the even layering in the roasting tin and then waiting for it to bake.  It is a revelation to hear that you can have all the joy of sheets of pasta with a creamy sauce of lots of vegies and protein with a melty cheesy topping with a lot less of the slog!

Sylvia first made lasagna soup last year.  It was amazing with a vegan bolognaise made with a cauliflower, walnuts and mushrooms minced meat from this vegan ragu recipe.  It was rich and thick and reminded me of a lasagna that is hot out of the oven and will not hold its shape.  Sylvia liked this because it was easier to make bolognaise sauce and break up up lasagna sheets rather than doing the layering.  She topped it with basil and spoonfuls of ricotta that had been mixed with parmesan, salt and pepper.  The soup with ricotta mixed through tasted great.  There was grated cheese in the soup but it was not so noticeable. 

When I asked for the recipe, I found she did not have one.  This year I had a go at a lasagna soup based on warm happy memories of Sylvias soup but making it even easier without making a vegan minced meat.  I could not find the recipe of my dreams so I read a few and then did my own thing.  

I made this lasagna soup in August in the depths of wintery weather.  It was the third soup I had made in a week and still we welcomed its comforting mass of creamy beany pasta.  I used cashew cream because I prefer its taste to dairy cream and Sylvia prefers it because it does not upset her stomach like pasta.  But we used mozzarella and ricotto when serving it.  It would not be difficult to convert to all vegan or all dairy if it suited.

As a bonus, it used up lasagna sheets that were years out of date.  They were found in the shadows at the back of the pantry and were still good to eat.  This is the beauty of this soup: it is great for using up broken bits of lasagna and the odd ends that have not fit the exacting nature of layers of traditional lasagna.  There are so many reasons to make this soup!

I found Em the Nutritionist's social media after linking from The Annoyed Thyroid's IMK post.  While idling browsing her recipes, I found this one, which it was intended for carnivores.  The creamy ragu looked great delicious and was easy enough to convert to vegetarian.  

The downside to not layer the lasagna sheets is that it clumps together.  I guess the Italians had figured this out!  I have found that even when stirring lasagna sheets into the ragu a little at a time, it still clumps I have tried to separate them with a spoon and fork but have given up on ever getting rid of all the sheets the cling to each other.  It just is a nature of the dish.  And they still cook through.  The upside is that it is satisfying to break up the lasagna sheets and not have to be precious about trying to keep them whole as I layer them.  (There is always one that breaks when it shouldn't and another that I break badly as I try to fit it to the dish in a traditional lasagna.) 

As always the fresh kale piles high, well over the top of my pan but, like the leek and mushroom, it cooks down.  What seems like so many vegetables does not look quite so generous a helping once cooked into a dish.  Despite this, I really love all the vegies in this dish.  The veg and sausages are so satisfying that it would be fine to make this vegan without cream cheese or mozzarella (and you would need to check that your sausages are vegan).  I love the lasagna sheets getting crisp edges under the grill.

 

I also love the cheese crisping up under the grill.  a bit of crisp lasagna as well as golden brown gooey lasagna very pleasing in the topping.  I think I did this one under low heat on the grill because it took longer than the one below that I made tonight.

Indeed, we loved it so much that within two weeks of making it, we had it for dinner again.  This time there seemed to be more vegies but it was excellent yet again.  I didn't have chestnut mushrooms this time so I used more button mushrooms but also added in some wood ear and one chestnut mushroom from an exotic mushroom pack.  It is one of those dishes that seems different every time and can be tailored to what is on hand.  Sylvia is already declaring it a new favourite dish to eat over and over.  It is a good one coming into summer.  Although it is quite rich, at least we don't need to turn on the oven for this lasagna!

More recipes with vegetarian sausages on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Baked curried sausages (vegetarian) (gf, v)  
• Creamy vegan gnocchi soup with sausage and kale (v) 
• Pumpkin and sausage roast (v) 
• Tomato sausage barley soup (v)
• Warm pasta, lentil and sausage salad (v)
  
  

Vegetarian Sausage Ragu with Broken Lasagne
Adapted from Em the Nutritionist's tiktok
Serves 6-8

6 vegetarian sausages (300g)
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 large leek, diced

2 sticks celery, diced

200g chestnut mushrooms, diced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped (or 1 tsp rosemary)

600-800ml boiling water


2 teaspoon of vegetable stock powder
1-2 heaped tbsp cream cheese

1 heaped tsp seeded mustard

250g packet of lasagna, broken into pieces


2 large handfuls of kale, torn
Handful or two of grated mozzarella

Heat a deep ovenproof pan (mine was cast iron) over medium heat.  Meanwhile, slice and then chop sausages into small uneven pieces.  Fry the sausages over the 5 or so minutes in olive oil, stirring occasionally so it has a chance to brown.  Add leek, celery, mushrooms, sage and garlic with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper.  If it is too dry, add some more olive oil (vegetarian sausages don't release all that oil like meat sausages).  I added these as I chopped them so they were soft and cooked down by the time I finished but if you want to add together then fry for about 10-15 minutes.

Add the boiling water (I added 750ml at first but found I needed to add more water), stock powder, cream cheese, and mustard,  Check and adjust seasoning.  Gradually add lasagna sheets.  (I piled my lasagna sheets on top of each other but it would be better to add a few and stir to cover with sauce, add a few more and stir and so on and until they are all in the pan.  This will reduce the amount of trying to separate the lasagna sheets so they don't clump together and cook unevenly.)  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until the lasagna is almost cooked.  Stir occasionally to make sure the pasta is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Add more water if it seems to be sticking.

Stir in kale and simmer for a minute or two, then  remove from heat.  Sprinkle with mozzarella and place pan under the grill (broiler) for 5 to 10 minutes until cheese is golden brown. Let sit for 5-10 minutes (if you can).  Serve hot or warm.  Can be kept in a fridge a few days or frozen.

Vegetarian Lasagna Soup 
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe 
inspired by Midwest Foodie, Easy Cheesey Vegetarian, and Ela Vegan
Serves 

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 sticks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
400g tin of diced tomatoes
3 cups water 
2 tbsp tomato paste
400g tin of brown lentils, rinsed and drained
400g tin of canellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt (I used smoked salt)
1 tsp stock powder
freshly ground black pepper
4or 5 large kale leaves, ripped into small pieces 
2/3 cup cashews*
1 1/2 cup water 
2 tbsp pesto
handful mozzarella
few spoonfuls of ricotta cheese 

Fry onion, celery and carrots in oil over medium heat until softened (5-10 min).  Stir in tinned tomatoes, 3 cups of water, tomato paste, lentils, canellini beans, mustard, salt, stock powder and pepper.  Check and adjust seasoning.  Break lasagna sheets into the soup, gradually adding with stirring between every few sheets so they don't clump so much.  Boil then simmer for about 10 minutes .  While it is boiling, blitz cashews and 1 1/2 cup water to make a pouring cashew cream (*I make cashew cream in a high powered blender - if your blender is less powerful either soak cashews and use cashew butter).  Once lasagna is almost cooked, stir in cashew cream, water and pesto.  Simmer for a few minutes until kale is bright green and softened.  Serve and swoon!

Notes: Since making the recipe I have added extra tomato paste and cashews to the recipe because it needed a bit more.  It is quite flexible with adding more or less of the vegies or changing the herbs and pesto flavourings.  I saw a few recipes use red lentils and that would be a nice alternative to the beans and brown lentils, and perhaps I will try it some time with a vegan mince meat.
 

On the stereo:
The Köln Concert: Keith Jarrett

Potter Gallery First Nations exhibition: 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art

 

The Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne has had a large extension and renovation over the past few years.  To celebrate it's reopening, its first exhibition in this new space is an exhibition of First Nations art that goes by the name of "65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art".   The title does not mention Indigenous people but, given that Australia was invaded by the British only less than 250 years ago,  to frame Australian history as being 65,000 years illustrates how the colonisers are only a small part of the country's rich culture.  It also places First Nations people at the centre of Australian history since colonisation.

The extensive exhibition, 10 years in the making, is curated by Distinguished Professor Marcia Langton, Senior Curator Judith Ryan, and Associate Curator Shanysa McConville.   Marcia Langton was the first Indigenous professor at the University of Melbourne and coincidentally was there on both my visits (one visit was not enough) and I would have loved to have congratulated her on the achievement if she had not been busy talking to other people.  The gorgeous colourful design, the thoughtful text, the helpful staff and the selection of artwork give a great insight into Aboriginal history and the diversity of First Nations art styles in Australia.  

I have written up this overview, with my best intentions to be respectful as a non-Indigenous person.  I loved the exhibition so much but must note that what I am sharing here is by no means comprehensive.  Over 400 works of art can be viewed in this exhibition with rooms on three levels.  It is a lot and yet not enough to represent all of Australia's First Nations.  The exhibition is intense and joyful and spiritual and thoughtful and painful.  It covers distressing issues such as colonisation, massacres, stolen generations and Aboriginal deaths in custody.  Yet it also a wonderful celebration of the richness of Indigenous culture and creativity.

Art of Victoria and Lutruwita (Tasmania), Ground floor:

This room of 19th Century artworks and modern pieces reflecting on first contact give an insight into this brutal period of colonial history,  

 

This wall displays the diversity in this room with portraits and other illustrations by European artists, small artworks by Indigenous artists and historic artifacts.  These are images traditionally associated with the history of the Aboriginal people in South East Australia.  

As with Australian post-colonisation history, the European perspective (in the large paintings) stands out but if we look we will see the Indigenous perspective.  The top left artwork is Corroboree (1890), an ink drawing by Tommy McRae, an Indigenous artist of the Kwat Kwat people from north-eastern Victoria.  It shows a line of Wathaurong men performing a ceremonial dance, with one white-skinned, hat-wearing man who is thought to be William Buckley, an escaped convict who lived among Indigenous Australians from 1803 to 1855.  The ship in the background is perhaps the Calcutta from which Buckley escaped.

This painting, Tunnerminerwait and Maulboyheenner by Marlene Gilson is from 2015, memorialises the first public hanging in Melbourne of two Palawa 'outlaws, Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner for killing two whalers.  The textbook below the painting belonged to Irish born Redmond Barry, inaugural Chancellor of the University of Melbourne and judge.  He had written notes here as he questioned both the reliability of the evidence and the legal basis of British authority over the Aboriginal defendants who weren't citizens.  

The hanging of the two men on 20 January 1842 was held on what is now the corner of Bowen and Franklin streets in front of 5,000 people.  This part of the painting shows the different sections of society watching: soldiers, colonists and Aboriginal people.  What was going through their minds?

First Encounter and Responses, Ground floor:

This room has artwork that re-interprets traditional first contact images from an Indigenous viewpoint.  The above The Island VI from The Island series by Brook Andrew has red painted layers in 2008 over a photo in the mid-19th Century.  

Opposite this are sculptures by Lin Onus called Taking the Children Away, 1992.  Seeing these broke my heart with the grey harshness of the European official and the drooping defeated sorrowful posture of the young Aboriginal child who has been wrenched form family and culture as depicted by the rich colours.  The stolen generations history is shameful when we look at the amount of hurt, broken relationships and loss of culture it has caused in many Aboriginal families.

Drawings by inmates of the Fannie Bay Gaol were hailed as the 'Dawn of Art' when they were displayed in the 1888-89 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition. This was the first time that works by Indigenous artists were exhibited and acknowledged as art in Australia.  This artwork above from the exhibition has the following text under the title: "Original Sketches and Drawings by Aboriginal Natives of the Northern Territory of South Australia, executed without the aid of a master. Exhibited by J. G. Knight, Deputy Sheriff, Palmerston, NT." This way of describing their art says a lot about the way these artists were seen.

Celebration of Women Artists in stairwell:

 

This fibre art display includes baskets, string bags, fish traps and ŋanmarra mats from across Arnhem Land and woven eel traps and rusted metal narrbong (bush bags) from South East Australia.

The website says "These contemporary works of art are at the forefront of the exhibition, in acknowledgement of the importance and continuity of women’s intergenerational cultural knowledge."  I read that Marcia Langton noticed that there were no artworks by women in the University's collection so the curators commissioned works to include.  I am not clear if these were among these commissioned works but they are a great contribution to the exhibition.

Art of Central and Western Dessert, First Floor:

This gallery showcases the linear designs and dot paintings developed at Papunya in 1971–72.  Traditional designs that were drawn on the ground, bodies and artefacts were transferred onto board and canvas.  The layers of dots were used to camouflage sensitive images.   This was the foundation of the Western Desert art movement.  I wish I had taken more time in this room but there is so much to see.

Art of Arnhem Land: First Floor 

 

I loved this gallery of the earthy ochre bark paintings against the striking green walls.  The painting are from the Yolnu people in Arnhem Land at the top end of the Northern Territory.  The paintings with their cross hatching and x-ray styles are very different to the dot painting of the Western Desert artworks.

Many of the painting were collected by anthropologists in the early to mid 20th Century, including the significant ethnographic art collection of Donald Thomson collected between 1935-1942.

 

Above are bark paintings of the ancestral spirits and spirit figures that were commissioned from 1912 onward by Baldwin Spencer (then professor of biology at The University of Melbourne) and Paddy Cahill in exchange for sticks of tobacco.  It is notable that these non-Indigenous collectors did not record the names of the Indigenous artists.

The First Nations experience of first contact with the British colonisers happened so much later than in the North than in the South East of Australia.  Compare this art with that in the Art of Victoria and Lutruwita room where so much culture had already being taken from Indigenous people by the mid 19th Century that much of the remaining artistic representations from that time are by European artists

At the end of the Arnhem Land room was a display of 21st Century art.  The modern bright blues and pinks are so different to the traditional earthy brown and white pigments.  The large blue picture is "Welcoming the refugees / Scott Morrison and the treasure 2020-2021" by Dhambit Munungurr.  It shows her Djapu clan welcoming the refugees who came across the water with escorts and ceremony, while the depiction of the politicians is Yolnu pushing them out to sea in a canoe!

Art of Groote Eylandt, First Floor

 

The artworks here, from an island off the coast of the Northern Territory, were collected in the 1940s by a curator of anthropological collections at the University of Melbourne.  Many of their paintings are on a black background and range from traditional animals to the ships of first contact.

"A new Australia flag" was painted in 1969 by Liwukaŋ Bukulatjpi.  He was the brother of David Burrumarra,and an important leader of the Warramiri clan at Galiwin’ku (Elcho Island). The quote from Burramarra in the information panel focuses on the need for a new Australian flag to replace the present one which symbolises war.  This, he says, is will give recognition of Aboriginal people in the past and present and be a step towards bringing black and white together.
 

Scientific Racism: At the University of Melbourne and Beyond, First Floor 

The painting of Professor Richard Berry in front of a traditional academic desk becomes disturbing when seen in the context of the truth telling in this room.  He is one of the researchers who studied Indigenous remains stolen from burial sites to justify their racist eugenic theories of Aboriginal people being inferior and defective. The exhibits in this room have photos, letters, academic journals and replicas of bones to tell the story of what was done to Aboriginal people without their consent.  In recent years, Richard Berry has been so reviled by activists that they succeeded in arguing for the Richard Berry Building to be renamed.

Alongside the exhibition of the wrongs done to Aboriginal people are contemporary artworks responding  to these distressing acts.  "A preponderance of Aboriginal blood" by Judy Watson in 2005 is a powerful look at the archives.  She has taken copies of archival documents that demonstrate the oppression of Aboriginal people in an era of constriction and control.  She then showed this harm by simulating blood stains to blot the pages.

In this room the University grapples with its own shameful history.  As a white non-Indigenous person, it is uncomfortable to be confronted with the sins of my ancestors (it is uncomfortable even to write about this room) but important to understand and see it from an Indigenous point of view.  

Cultural Astronomy, Second floor 

From the Scientific Racism room, I went upstairs to a more celebratory display in the Cultural Astronomy room and yet there are still disturbing men in these stories.  The Tjanpi Desert Weavers created a large installation using woven wild grasses that conjures forth the ancestral story of the Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters) in 2020.  The sister flee across country, relentlessly pursued by Wati Nyiru who wants to court the eldest sister!  They finally launch into the sky to be transformed into the stars that form the Pleiades constellation. Wati Nyiru follows to become the Orion constellation.

This grouping of cultural objects, paintings and sculptures is from Cape York, Arnhem Land, the Tiwi Islands, and the Kimberley.  I spent some time wondering at The Last Supper (2021) by Jonathan 'World Peace' Bush from the Tiwi Island.  The joyous scene with traditional ochre colours and motifs is such a different interpretation of the bible story that I grew up with.  Notable is the kangaroo on the plate in the middle of the supper.  (Or is it wallaby?)  Also from the Tiwi Island are the figures carved from ironwood from the 1950s.

I loved this bright painting called "Milky Way Dreaming" (1986) by Larry Jungarrayi Spencer, a Warlpiri from the Tanami Desert, northwest of Alice Springs.  The Milky Way, stretching across the sky, represents the Jungarrayi-Japaljarri ancestral beings who created it.  This is a great example of how dot painting can make it seems that the picture is moving like a living creation.
 

Resistance and Innovation: in city and bush studios, Second Floor

This gallery features more recent artists who use art as a form of political activism over the late 20th and early 21st Centuries.  These artworks showed more confidence and range in moving away from traditional styles while still retaining elements of them.  Here we see bright colours and fun as well as pain and anger.

I found the paintings representing Indigenous people in prison very moving.  Above is a painting called Deaths in Custody (1993) by Vincent Serico who is a Waka Waka / Kabi Kabi man, from south east Queensland First Nations.  He paints Mopoke the owl watching over the prisoners.  The owl is a powerful symbol of their connection to their country, culture and family.   

Art of the Kimberly, Second floor

This was the last room that I visited in the exhibition and it left me feeling heavy of heart.  Perhaps that is why I have found it difficult to write about.  This is an art movement that grew out of an unsettled time of dislocation and unemployment for Gija people in the East Kimberley region, Western Australia.  In 1998, Gija-owned Jirrawun Aboriginal Arts was formed. The Jirrawun artists' ochre canvases conceptually mapped their lands and recorded sites of massacres and other atrocities in their region.  No wonder there is so much black in these paintings!

The above painting is Three Nyawana in Yariny Country (2016) by Rusty Peters.  It is of a Garnkiny (Moon) Dreaming place.  The story of the place starts with an old man who fell in love with a beautiful woman of the wrong 'skin' so a relationship with her was forbidden.  He was instead meant to marry her daughters but he got shame and walked away, turning into Garnkiny (the moon) and cursed everyone, turning these Nyawana (straight skin or potential wives) into trees. 

More of the artworks in the room related to massacres that were so awful it was difficult to read the information panels.  This painting of "Major" (1999) by Freddie Timms had a different angle on the violence done to Indigenous people.  Gija hero Major, a Wardaman rebel and bushranger, was shot dead in 1908 by the Western Australian police after killing whites at Blackfella Creek.  Major is said to have acted in retribution for terrible murders and atrocities and, after killing the whites, he rescued Timms' grandmother and her sister.  The style brings together elements of dot painting and the influence of (non-Indigenous) Sidney Nolan's iconic Ned Kelly paintings.

This exhibition sits uneasily in a university that has done great harm to Indigenous people but in recent years has celebrated the resilience and centrality of their culture in our nation, albeit in a patchy way.  Truth telling requires looking at Indigenous history through the lens of empathy rather than the lens of other.  It can be confronting to try to understand history with nuance where it is not the good and the bad but real people who strive to be good but don't always manage it because our lives are so very complicated.  

After seeing this groundbreaking exhibition, I was unable to walk past the (copies of) European sculptures that adorn the walls of the Potter Gallery without feeling conflicted.  But I was very glad to have the opportunity to view  and learn about the amazing breadth of artworks from such talented and diverse First Nation artists.

65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art
The Potter Museum of Art (aka the Potter Gallery)
Corner of Swanston St and Masson Rd, Parkville
30 May – 23 November 2025
https://potter-museum.unimelb.edu.au/whats-on/exhibitions/65000-years

NOTE: It has taken me too long to write this to share it before the exhibition finishes tomorrow.  If you don't have an opportunity to visit, there are ways to learn more about it.  In writing this, I have drawn on the Potter Gallery's website as well as the rave reviews with photos and insights from the exhibition in Artlink, The Guardian, The Conversation, ABC News, The Art Newspaper, The Age and SBS NITV.  There is also a book of essays and artworks, with the same title, as a companion to the exhibition.