Cloudehill Gardens, Miss Marples Tearoom and Ripe Cafe: a day out in The Dandenongs

The Dandenong Ranges on the east of Melbourne have long been a magnet for the city's day-trippers.  We had a wonderful day out there in late January with fantastic food, fun shopping and a walk around a lush green gardens that was very welcome after the record breaking heat the previous day. 

We are lucky to have such a beautiful part of the state on Melbourne's doorstep.  It is slightly over an hour's drive from the inner north.  The last part of the drive has great views as the road heads upwards into the hills.  Visitors can enjoy scenic drives, lookouts, walks, gardens, cafes.  (The Dandenongs are not to be confused with an outer south east suburb of Melbourne called Dandenong.  The mountain range and the suburb are joined by the Dandenong Creek.)

Ripe Cafe 
376-378 Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, Sassafras

In late January, Sylvia had only been vegan a few weeks.  When thinking about where to eat, we were both wondering if we could get her a good meal.  There weren't heaps of promising places but we only needed one one good one and we found it in Ripe Cafe.  It had an impressive menu for vegans and beautiful food for everyone.

The day before, we had been sweltering with the air conditioner on in 44 C heat.  We had been making contingency plans in case there were bushfires in the Dandenongs.  It was a relief that it was a cooler day and no bushfire warnings when we set out but the buildings were still a bit stuffy.  

One of the signs of that scorching hot day that I remember most was out the front of Ripe.  The hydrangea flowers by the fence were mostly brown and crispy from the extreme heat.  With hindsight, I can see that these outdoor tables were probably the coolest but we were still craving air conditioning!

Inside the building we were welcomed by the rich dark tones of the wood panelling of the older part of the house that is one of the original houses from the early 20th Century soon after it become a village.  It has a rustic cosiness that would be great in winter. 

We sat in the older part of the cafe but at the end where we could enjoy the natural light where it opened onto the back deck.  This is a modern extension in pale wood with large windows opened up to the green trees out the back.  Fans were rotating in the high ceiling but it was still warm inside.

Sylvia and I shared the a couple of items because it was hard to decide which one we each wanted most.  We had the Italian tomato arancini served with salad and aioli ($24).  They were beautifully served with quite a substantial side salad of lettuce, cucumber, carrot, tomato, red pepper and red onion.  I love it when the side salad is bigger than its companion.  The crispy arancini were a fine match for the salad being crisp and tasty.  To drink I had a Remedy wild berry kombucha and Sylvia had an iced coffee.

We also had a magnificent Veggie Big Breakfast of Thai corn cakes with chilli jam, wilted spinach, guacamole, chargrilled pumpkin, dukkah & pecans, sourdough toast, beans, grilled tomato & mushrooms ($30), and a side order of vegan feta ($5).  This was so innovative and beautifully executed.  I really loved that they had the corn cake (even if the chilli jam was a bit too spicy but not outrageously so) and the pumpkin and pecans were also unusual but they worked.  Kudos for the lovely charred tomatoes and I approve of mixing the greens and mushrooms.  The home made beans and the feta were also delicious.  

It was heartening to see how good vegan food could be in the foothills of Melbourne.  On the way out, I really wanted to have one of the gooey brownies at the counter but there were other temptations nearby. 

Through the Looking Glass bookstore
3/383 Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd, Sassafras VIC 3787

Sassafras is one of the tourist towns in the Dandenongs with some fine shops.  We wanted to visit Miss Marple's Tearoom but were so full we browsed the shops first.  We passed the delightfully named Geppetto's Workshop toy store and the sweet aromas of Bluestone Candles before arriving at the gorgeous Through the Looking Glass bookstore.

The displays of books inside is attractively displayed in old wooden bookshelves that are filled with second hand books and on glass shelves with lots of mirrors and lights.  We were first attracted by a great selection of children's literature and then darling literary gifts.  It is filled with books I would love to read and I left with a purchase of the Red Queen by Margaret Drabble, which very much enjoyed reading.

The Little Eclectic Shop
Shop 1/372 Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, Sassafras 

 

One of the reasons to visit Sassafras for Sylvia was The Little Eclectic Shop.  She knew of it because she is a fan of Moons Claygrounds that sells its gorgeous mushroom pottery here.  But there was so much more to see.  Lots of charming hand crafted items and carefully chosen eclectic second hard wares.  The shop is actually a series of sections by different sellers.  The displays are works of art.  

In this display alone you can see tea cups, floral kitchen canisters, earrings, wooden carved owls, fans, fabric mushrooms, vases, china thimbles, silver jewelry, memorial tea spoons, bunting.  Elsewhere were hard cover Enid Blyton books, stickers, felt dinosaurs, tiaras, hand knitted beanies and bookmarks.

One of my favourite items was the vintage candy dispenser that you can see above which was filled with odd buttons.  Also in the bottom left hand corner is a silver filigree butterfly hair barette with a stick that I bought for Sylvia for her birthday.  She loved it.
 

Miss Marple's Tearoom
382 Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, Sassafras

The famous Miss Marple's Tearoom is just a few doors down from Ripe so we could not pass up the opportunity to visit.  Initially we were concerned that there was nothing more for Sylvia than a drink.  Then we were delighted when she saw online that they have vegan scones with jam and cream.  It is such as delightful slice of English village life in an unlikely setting.

The exterior recreation of an English cottage looks odd in an Australian bush town.  Walking inside is like stepping back in time.  I have been there a couple of times previously.  You can read my post about a previous visit to Miss Marple's tearoom for Christmas in July.  Sylvia can't remember visiting with me and her dad when she was 2 years old.  (A couple of photos from that visit are in this post.) 

We were very pleased to be at Miss Marple's on the day when school went back when it was quiet and there was no waiting list.  You can't book so there are often queues. Unlike past visits, there was plenty of choice for where to sit.

There is so much to admire in the cosy village decor: the dark beams on the pale ceiling, the pots by the fireplace, the floral table cloths, the cute window seats, and the shelves around the walls holding old teapots. I am sure it would be a lovely setting for one of Miss Marple's denouements after solving a crime.

On the walls are black and white photos of Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple.  She was well known in the 1960s for her role playing the amateur detective in films based on Agatha Christie's murder mystery novels. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster in villages riff with gossip and secrets.  I imagine that she would be quite at home in the this tea room but I am not sure the scones would be quite up to her standard,

This is the window seat where we sat.  Although it was a quiet day, the window seats were popular and we were lucky to chance upon one when someone was leaving.  It is so charmingly frilling and floral and cosy.

As I mentioned above, the scones were not the best I had had.  I was surprised that the normal scone were large wedges cut from a tray of scones rather than the traditional round scones.  They were a bit dry too but nice with jam and cream.  I was lucky that mine weren't as dry as Sylvia's round vegan scones.  She had vegan whipped coconut cream which was a nice gesture but a bit melty as coconut cream can be.  The highlight was the surperb home made strawberry jam.  That is to be expected in a part of Melbourne well known for its orchards and berry farms.

It is one of those ironies that we long for a traditional devonshire tea because it is part of the culture we grew up with but love the idea more than the reality.  My mum still regularly whips up a batch of scones.  Traditional scones are made with butter as well as heaped with crea.  Not at all vegan-friendly.  Sylvia had a big glass of red lemonade because we were still recovering from the scorcher the day before.  I had a peppermint tea and I do not like what a friend would call normali-tea.  Tanens do not agree with me.  Also I am not keen on cream.  We were not there for scone but for the vibe and despite the scones not being perfect, we were very happy to have afternoon tea at Miss Marples. 

 

 

One other highlight was the staff.  They were really friendly and seemed happy to have a quiet day after the busy summer school holiday period.  It made for a relaxed visit.  After we paid, we had a look at all the jams and teapots on the old dresser by the door.

There were also many more tea pots on the shelf that ran around the high up the wall.  They were so fun to view with lots of them reflecting the traditional English villages such as the ones above in the shapes of an old cottage, a railway station, a red postbox and a table set for tea.  These were the sort of teapots you might find in an old fashioned English home and added to the charm of the tea rooms.

Cloudehill Gardens, 
Olinda

Our last place to visit was the Cloudehill Gardens (89 Olinda-Monbulk Rd) the next town along from Sassafras.  I had worried the gardens might look a bit wilting after a scorcher the previous day but they were gorgeous and green with lots of colourful flowers and welcome shade.  It was so much cooler outdoors and I enjoyed strolling around.  

 

The gardens had some very formal landscaping with lots of hedges and entrances to spaces framed by hedges or garden walls.  We only occasionally saw another couple wandering around but mostly it felt quite private.

 

 

Most but not all the details in this photo collage were from the more formal parts of the garden.  The flowers, water lilies, grape vines and occasionally pieces of garden art.

 

This tree was wonderfully complex with twirly branches twisting out at all angles like athe snake haired Medusa or maybe even like a bonsai tree all grown up!  It would not be out of place in a spooky horror movie or as one of the talking trees in Babes in the Wood.  As you can see, it evoked so many wonderful images!  

On the website, the history focuses on the 1920s for bringing rare and exotic plants from England, the USA and Japan.  I would have liked to ask if this was one of the trees that are almost 100 years old if I had read about these before we visited.

This view from the back of a brick shelter over a bench seat is another example of the wonderful framing of the garden.  We sat here for a rest and were surprised to hear what we thought were bells.

 

This was the pleasing view from our bench seat.  Lush garden framed the steps to The Commedia dell’arte Lawn.  I walked up that way in the direction of the bells but could not see anything and it was surrounded by hedges.  Instead I enjoyed admiring pieces of art.
 

Later as I walked high along by the kitchen garden, where I wished I could have some of the abundance of zucchinis or rhubarb.  I could hear the bells again so I followed the path to this structure that had huge wind chimes that were ringing out in the breeze like some mysterious magical calling.

From the bench seat, Sylvia and I parted ways as I decided to go further down into the less formal part of the garden.  There were avenues of trees, gentle steps, occasional artworks but less of the framing hedges and walls with flowers and water features.  Above is the Beech Walk.

In the less formal parts I would come across statues such as this one among the urns.  Some statues were the classical sort sort you might expect in a Victorian garden and there were quite a few of this woman.  I don't know who she is but it looks more person than the classical statues.

Towards the end I got lost, despite the helpful look of this little wombat figure at the top of stairs with tree ferns either side.  The map I was given at reception got confusing in the wilder areas.  Since then I have seen the map on the Cloudehill website which looks more helpful.  It has more details of the garden drawn in and comes with information about different areas.  Perhaps if I had had this map I would not have been messaging Sylvia that I would meet her at the gift shop as soon as I could find my way there. 

Tealeaves Tea Shop
29 Olinda-Monbulk Rd, Olinda

Our last stop was in Olinda where I was attracted to this find piece of Alice in Wonderland art on the wall of the Tealeaves tea shop.  I took a photo and had a quick look in the shop.  I remember when the Tealeaves shop was close to Miss Marples Tearoom in Sassafras.  The tea shop moved to Olinda in 2025 so they had more space for the huge range of mugs, teapots, tea accessories and loose leaf teas.  

By then I was quite tired and it was I was quite tired and could not give the shop the attention it deserved, but I enjoyed looking over the Australiana mugs and quirky teapots.  However I had a long drive ahead of me so I was soon back in the car to head home.

More Dandenongs visits in Green Gourmet Giraffe posts:

• Miss Marples - Christmas in July, 2008
• Tulip Festival - 2012 
• Puffing Billy - vintage steam engine journey, 2013
• 1000 steps (walking track) in 2014 

In My Kitchen - March 2025

 

March was a unsettled month with the weather went hot and cold, just like my energy rose and dipped.  With the year passing the Autumnal Equinox, I am seeing the long light evenings of Summer  slipping away.  For my blog this means less natural light for dinner photos.  I have had busy days at work, with the technology problems being particularly bothersome and time consuming.  At home I have had exhausting late nights of life admin but occasional bursts of energy to do the fun stuff and occasional catching up on homework. One of my achievements was washing my Crumpler bike bag on possibly the last 37 C day of the season.  Perhaps that was when I had a flat tire and my bike was out of service for days until I took it to the bike shop.  I wish I fixed my own punctures but I don't!  Going into the bike shop meant an opportunity to buy a new bike seat because mine was held together by duct tape.  We have eaten a lot of salads, soups, tofu bacon salad wraps and vegemite and almond butter sandwiches.

Sylvia made matcha fluffy pancakes one morning (top photo).  I have been having a pretty consistent breakfast of chopped fruit, yoghurt and toasted muesli for over a year now.  It gets mixed up occasionally and one of the best variations was the discovery of having this combination on pancakes, with a drizzle of maple syrup.  I experimented with freezing this batter and it worked well to make the pancakes with batter from the freezer.  They made a good substantial brunch for Sylvia before doing her volunteer shift at an op shop.  I have loved having stone fruit with my muesli and for these pancakes, had some white peaches.

The matcha pancakes were good practice for Shrove Tuesday when Sylvia made chocolate fluffy pancakes with hot chocolate drinking powder.  I had these with yoghurt, plums, toasted musesli and a drizzle of maple.  Absolutely delicious.

We are a fan of Tofucado.  It is a regular inclusion in our weekday meals because it is quick, easy and nutritious.  Grated tofu is fried and mixed with carrot, avocado, and spring onions and served with rice, cucumber and toasted seaweed.  The bowl above was on a day when I added corn, lettuce and beetroot to my bowl plus a scattering of furikake. 

I have been trying to eat brown rice and it works in a lot of meals I would usually use white basmati rice.  However sometimes I wonder how much of it is sold because it seems more prone to beasties than the white stuff.  Recently I found weevils in my rice - those were weevils with wings!  I have washed and bay leaved the container but I am still wary of bags of the brown stuff.  So I have been in the habit of cooking up a kilo of brown rice for meals and leaving it in the fridge for days.  It is surprising how easily we eat our way through it. 

Another meal where we used brown rice is Spring Roll Crunchy Rice Salad. This is an excellent dish where seasoned rice is spooned onto a well oiled roasting tray and topped with frozen spring rolls.  These are baked until crispy and then served with avocado, seasoned cucumber and a creamy sauce.  It is not that difficult but needs a little energy.  It is a bit oily so is not diet food but crispy rice is amazing.  Above is a photo of my first go at the dish.  When I made it a second time and was so tired that I forgot to add the spring rolls.  Fortunately we had lots of tofu bacon to scatter on our rice and veg.  So I need to make it again with spring rolls.

I saw this Creamy mushroom and cauliflower soup on Hungry Happens and immediately added it to the meals for the week.  I added lots of celery and smoked cheese.  It was delicious but possibly one of the least attractive soups I have made for ages.  It looked like the sort of the gruel they served Oliver Twist.  But it tasted good enough to want more.  I took some to work and had it with a cheese and relish sandwich for a very satisfying lunch.

When I reflected on the photo, it shows my approach to sustainability in my kitchen.  I try to limit one-use containers and wrapping but still find my plastic tubs useful.   In an ideal world I would use less of the plastic tubs but still haven't found really practical alternatives.  A thermos for soups was good but more time consuming and got lost.  Glass containers are too heavy and smashable.  But I love my reuseable wraps for taking sandwiches to work.  Some progress but never enough.

The Kale and green pea fritters from Lazy Cat Kitchen were so good.  The photo is not the best but it shows brilliant green colour of the batter.  Even once golden brown from frying, they had a lovely green inside and were packed with vegetable goodness.  We are keen to make these again.

I bought these festive green and white gnocchi shapes in December (see the packet on this Christmas post).  We finally took them out of the freezer recently.  Once briefly boiled, we mixed the gnocchi with  cheese, cream cheese, lemon and seasoning and olive oil.  The festive shapes such as trees and stars were cute but not so obvious once on the plate.  I served them with lots of salad.

Here is the furikake that I have mentioned above.  I bought it at Terra Madre with this cute tricolour pearl couscouss.  The Kura furikake was very nice but slightly more salty that I would like but it did not have chilli so that was a win for me.  The ingredients are sesame, roasted seaweed, Himalayan pink salt, and kelp powder.  I have recently read that furikake is a Japanese rice seasoning that is generally sesame and seaweed and often fish.  We always make sure we read the ingredients to buy a vegan version but I am learning that the recipes all differ slightly.

We could not resist trying these Hot Cross Bun flavoured Kit Kat fun-sized chocolate bars.  Sylvia enjoyed them.  I wanted to love them but I was not keen on the flavouring which I found too artificial. 

I baked a Healthy Chocolate Tahini Banana Bread.  The recipe I was following from Erin Lives Whole was for peanut butter rather than tahini but as a rule I do not bake with peanut butter due to allergies in the house.  I also had a black cocoa that I used so it was very very dark.  The recipe had bananas, maple syrup and choc chips as sweeteners.  I love to taste a cake straight out of the oven and was disappointed by this one when warm.  It was a bit bland.  Once it had cooled it was really lovely and the flavours shone.

On one of the hot weeks in March we had Carrot, couscous, bean and feta salad. for tea.  Such a delicious and satisfying salad.

Another good dinner was this one of sausages, a particularly good potato salad (lots of tofu bacon, celery, parsley and spring onions) with lettuce, tomato and corn.  I took this photo because it was the first time we had used the "corn buddies".  They are such a cute way to hold the hot corn on the cob.

I really love the Voracious vegan pate from the How it all Vegan cookbook.  I make it occasionally and it never disappoints.  As it is a vegan version of a pate I am never sure how it would be received by meat lovers.  I had the chance to check when I took some down to my parents place to contribute to a lunch.  They loved it and asked me to leave some when I left.  Above is a photo of a quick meal with the pate on dark rye toast, topped with tomato slices and accompanied by lettuce, coleslaw and roast cashews.

I had a ride to Bake Alley Bakes who always produce innovative baked goods.  On this occasion I had a savoury danish with ricotta, zucchini and parmesan cheese or crumbs.  I should have written notes.  I did take a bad photo of the Just Beet It sandwich with roasted and spiced beetroots, green harissa, hummus, sweet & sour red onions with fresh herbs on focaccia.  It looked really interesting.  I also bought Sylvia a morning bun stuffed with an espresso cheesecake and a caramel frosting.  She loved it.

We recently had a great meal at Noi Pizza in Coburg (see My Monthly Chronicles February 2025).  On a Friday when I was really tired I ordered pizza from Noi.  It was the first time I had used UberEats for so long but it was a relief not to have to drag myself out to the car.  I had admired E's Sofia pizza at the meal in February so that was what we chose.  It is a fantastic vegetarian pizza topped with mozzarella, grilled zucchini, rosemary potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, chilli, and friarielli cream.  I love how there is so much in the toppings that they are not distributed evenly on the pizza.  It looks more rustic that way and gave us more choice in choosing pieces.

I have recently written a long post on our local Coburg Farmers Market.  Since 2013, I have been sharing good food from this market.  I collated lots of photos from these posts and my blog and scoured my files for other photos and have written a more comprehensive post on the market.  It was an interesting exercise.  Mining my posts for photos and writing was a good way to fast track a post on a favourite place.  Mind you, this was still a huge amount of work because I have been to the market so often.  

Above is a photo of Good Brew kombucha and Flinders Sourdough fruit bread from Coburg Farmers Market.  Good kombucha and good sourdough bread are some of my favourite things to buy from the market.  The kombucha in the bottle does not match the label because I finally remembered to bring back my bottle to Good Brew so I could get it cheaper.

Also bought from the Coburgh Farmers Market is this jar of peanut butter.  It is made by my sister's company Frankly Raw.  This is such good peanut butter.  I have always been keen on peanut butter made with 100% peanuts but this PB has convinced me of how good it can be to add a little salt.  Both peanuts and salt are sourced from Australia, which is not as easy as that sounds.  And it tastes so good that sometimes I find myself eating it by the spoonful from the jar for a snack. 

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.

In My Kitchen: February 2025

February started with some quieter times but worked up to being exhausting with birthdays, appointments, the start of the school year, crazy weather and heaps to do at work.  I was amused to hear that the February full moon is called the Snow Moon.  The term comes from the Northern Hemisphere and seems quite ironic given that February in Melbourne is the end of summer and brings energy-depleting heatwaves.  But we got rain too.  A fierce thunderstorm left a hole in my parents' roof.  

While Elon Musk is busy firing in the USA, my workplace is hiring a new team for an innovative pilot project.  As well I have changed my work days, moved to a new location and the VPN has been playing up on the days I work in an external office and from home.  The world is crazy!  My life is crazy!

I had my birthday lunch with Sylvia and my parentss.  In the morning, Sylvia and I got out our trolley and walked to the Coburg Farmers Market.  It was a fine weather to enjoy the welcoming stalls with such gorgeous produce.  We bought food for lunch and to use during the week: cherry tomatoes, kale, baguette, honey and walnut bread, curly zucchini, figs, strawberries, kombucha and coloured carrots.
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We also bought peaches, grapes, lettuce and cheeses from the supermarket on the way home.  My mum made a layered black forest cake and bought some amazing croissants from Paddock in Geelong.  It was a feast that seemed very simple to put together.  The criossants aren't in the above photo but you can see them sliced up in the top photo of the cheese and fruit board.  It is my nature to just whip up a recipe but I had to stop myself from doing this because I just didn't have the energy.

My parents also brought up a birthday present that my sister had left for me before returning to Ireland.  It is has the lovely title of Sylvia Plath's Tomato Soup Cake: a Companion of Classic Author's Recipe.  Celebrity recipes are always fun.  I have enjoyed dipping in and out of this book and yet again dreaming of making the eponymous tomato soup cake!  One day, Sylvia, I promise!

As soon as Sylvia saw the Barilla heart shaped pasta in the supermarket she snapped up a packet.  She loves shaped pasta.  It was lovely with a vodka pasta sauce but was far more droopy and not as pretty as when dried.

We discovered last year that all the ingredients in Smith's sausage crisps were vegetarian.  And we love vegetarian sausages.  So we checked the Summer Sausage Sizzle crisps and bought a bag when we found they were vegetarian.  They made for delicious snacking.

Last year we bough these sticks of giant spiral pasta from Geelong Fresh in Pakington St.  It took a lont time to use them.  When I discovered an Ottolenghi recipe for Zaatar cacio e pepe, it was a recipe that was simple enough and interesting enough to be deserving of the fancy pasta.  

I would not recommend using this pasta for the recipe.  The recipe involved cooking the pasta in a small amount of water so there was intensely starchy liquid to add to the cooked pasta, parmesan and butter to stir well to make a creamy sauce.  It was pretty amazing to see the alchemy at work.  I would make this recipe again but I would use less pepper - it was quite spicy for me.  I would also use a thinner pasta that is easier to stir.  It is pretty quick to make but I really needed a little more effort to make a simple leafy salad.

On a scorching hot day we went to the bask in the air conditioning at the cinema.  Sylvia was keen to see Companion but I wanted to see a Complete Unknown.  So we went to separate movies and met afterwards.  Sylvia had an iced coffee at Cobrick while she waited.  Then we got bread, salad and arancini from the Pentridge IGA to take home for lunch.  The mix of salads was Beetroot and feta, Kale and farro, and Pumpkin and couscous.  Delicious!  The arancini were not cheap but were huge and tasted amazing when baked til crispy (once the cool change came).

We are very fond of the Vegetarian meal from the Melbourne Kebab Station in Coburgthat comes with rice, salad, two dips, rice and pillowy Turkish bread.  I even keep cash in my purse just in case we want to make a purchase there because they don't accept cards.  The prices have risen to $20 for this meal but it is still so good that we are still eating it.  After all, where can you go that the prices aren't shooting upwards!  They do nice falafels but not as good as those nearby in the mall at Half Moon Cafe.  

When we got one of the meals from MKS for lunch recently I also bought some HMC falafels and did a comparison as you can see in the photo above.  The HMC falafels are much greener with fresh herbs and crispier but the MKS bread is the best.  So I am fond of both places for different reasons and wish I could eat their food more.

When we went to see Macbeth in the Botanic Gardens, I made a variation on my overnight sourdough bread rolls, by adding Red Leicester cheese and fried leek.  They were so tasty that most of them got eaten without anything spread on them, though I regretted making them without as much salt as usual.  I thought that the cheese would mean less salt was needed but I don't think that was the case.

Sylvia has started to do a couple of shifts at an op shop and loving it.  But she finds it tiring so I try and make sure she has a decent breakfast before heading there.  On here first shift I added matcha to a batch of Fluffy pancakes.  They were very satisfying.  I cooked up some blueberries with lemon juice and maple syrup to top the pancakes and then added maple syrup and yoghurt.  Excellent!

We have a craft project on the go to paint a box and a a shelf for the backyard.  It is going slowly but at least is underway.

A few weeks back I wanted a quick but satisfying lunch.  I fossicked around in the freezer and found peas, corn, spinach and pineapple.  I thawed them in the microwave. 

The I added brown rice, tahini, soy sauce, lime juice and seasoning.  I heated it all up in the microwave and took it to my desk where I was working from home.  It was a great change to heading to a loaf of bread for sandwiches when I wanted a quick lunch!

Another working-from-home lunch was a great sandwich of Chickpea flour (besan) scramble with lettuce and mayo in dark rye bread.

We've been eating lots of stone fruit.  It's summer peak is over but there is still plenty available in the shops.  When I discovered a simple Peach tarte tartin on Not Quite Nigella, I could not resist.

It was not my finest moment.  I was impatient and did not cook it long enough.  It was not charred like on Not Quite Nigella.  I would have liked longer cooked crispy pastry too and next time we might even try a sugar and butter caramel rather than the golden syrup as the base for the peaches.  I am very grateful to Lorraine for inspiring me to bake my first tarte tatin.  I hope it is not the last!

In the past I have enjoyed Easy Cheesy Vegetarian Cheesy Bean Bake.  While on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian, it is made by cooking a risotto-style rice that is mixed with lots of beans and tomatoes, I do it with pasta so there is a lot less cooking.  I just fry some onions and, in this latest version, a couple of zucchinis,  Then I added them with  fridge fresh tortellini and everything else (with slightly less water and seasoning adjustments such as adding smoked paprika) to the casserole dish and baked until the cheese topping is pleasingly crispy.  

This time Sylvia was happy to try sesame seeds on top.  I love them for extra crunch and she is feeling friendlier towards them because she has been loving seaweed salad with sesame seeds!  There are a lot of beans in the casserole which was a bit much for Sylvia but I was happy to have lots of meals in the casserole.

Another bake we had was this excellent Mac and Cheese which we make with cauliflower and fried leek.  It was made on the weekend before Sylvia's birthday because I worked on her birthday and did not have time to make it.  It is a rich dish fit for a celebration.  On her actual birthday we ordered pizza from Heaven as a treat.  You can read about more birthday fun at Juniper Eatery and cake painting at Meeya Cafe.
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We also had a  lunch at an Italian restaurant with Sylvia's grandparents and dad.  My mum brought along a birthday caramel tart.  This is such a nostalgic dessert for me.  We loved it when I was a kid and still love it at family gatherings.  So it was quite special for her to bring us one.  Sylvia call sit banoffee tart but for me it is what I had before I ever heard of banoffee and so much better because my mum makes it!

 Here are a few of Sylvia's presents.  I ordered the silver swirl from an independent artisan in USA and E ordered the special perfume but most of the rest of these presents were bought on op shop outings around Sylvia's birthday.  She also got new piercings on her birthday.  Note that the Vegan Stoners Cookbook is bought for the cute illustrations (for collaging) rather than the recipes.

 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.