Street art in Melbourne: Brunswick 2021

Lockdown continues in Melbourne, offering us very little entertainment outside the home.  Thank goodness for street art to cheer me up with a bit of colour on my bike rides.  Here's some I have seen in Brunswick reflecting community, nostalgia and Australiana among other things.

  

 

More Brunswick Street Art on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Street Art in Melbourne #2 Ann Street, East Brunswick
• Street Art in Melbourne #5 Brunswick alley
• Street Art in Melbourne #7 Brunswick miscellaneous
• Street Art in East Brunswick (OConnor St and Piera St) 
• Street Art in Brunswick - Florence St (Sinch memorial) 
• Street Art in Melbourne: Tinning Street, Brunswick   
• Street art in Melbourne: Brunswick 2017-2018  
• Street art in Melbourne: Brunswick 2020 

In My Kitchen - September 2021

Most of August has been spent in Lockdown 6.  I can't wait until the pools open, children return to school and I can visit family outside Melbourne.  I am a little tired of the 5km outside my house but it seems it could be months until we are able to see much more of the world and our social circles.  Thank goodness for friends who live close by to walk and chat with.   Watching case numbers rising is scary but is tempered by hope of seeing more and more jabs in arms, which is our passport out of this lockdown. I have now had my second vaccination, as have many of my family and friends.  I also have recently had a covid test as exposure sites grow in our area in the north of Melbourne.  There have been lots of zoom meetings, walks and bike rides.  But not many plans! 

Above is a plate of working-from-home lunch.  I had some leftover Mexican rice, which I served with avocado on sourdough bread.  The Mexican rice was a huge batch that lasted a while and was great with different vegies added in on different days.

I had my second vaccination at the Exhibition Buildings during lockdown.  It was a far longer ride than I had anticipated when I booked a location near work.  Before I left home I made myself a snack.  These savoy dry biscuits with brie and strawberry kept me going long enough.  On the ride home as I passed the pub where I sometimes go with colleagues and was hungry for an eggplant parma and a laugh.

 

 

My neighbours are into lockdown baking.  Occasionally someone bakes and we sit on our verandah's around a courtyard and have a chat with a slice of cake.  Above is nut loaf (the cake sort) which makes me nostalgic for when my mum used to bake it.  I have also had chocolate cake and lemon slice, and offered pumpkin scones.  One afternoon, the cake and chat included a football finals match on the tv through one neighbour's window

  

 

We have had a few batches of lemon slice lately.  No doubt a result of lemons on our tree.  Sylvia made a slice a few weeks back that she intended to share with friend who had made cookies to share.  Somehow they didn't manage it so instead they met to share their bakes before school the next morning.  Lockdown makes life so weird sometimes!

I have been sewing and knitting and darning.  Seems anything counts as excitement in lockdown.  I have had to sew up sheets that have had holes scratched in them by a naughty cat.  Then I took up some knitting because it is a nice thing to do in front of tv.  Then I decided I would have a go at darning the heel on some old socks.  I much prefer shopping in store so the less I need to buy new clothes, the better.  Darning socks late at night felt so old school but I have got to admit, it is more of a hobby than a necessity.  I was so curious about darning for so long that it still seems like a miracle that I can do it.

Banoffee Tim Tams sounded intriguing.  They were disappointing.  The banana smell was a bit much, the vanilla biscuit was inferior to the chocolate biscuit, and the caramel filling was too little.  I had one (or two) after baked beans and cheesy garlic bread for another working from home lunch.

Sylvia and I have been rather partial to these Choc Berry fruity pillows for a snack.  The jam flavour was more prominent but I still like that they are a chocolate cereal.

Chocolate has been a bit of a comfort in lockdown.  We were tempted by the Raspberry Smash Mars Bar.  I am a sucker for trying a new flavour.  These ones were ok but these ones were no match for the originals.

Following on from a successful lockdown zoom quiz night in July, my workplace had a another in August.  Every participant was given an UberEats voucher.  I decided to try a local dumpling restaurant that I had been hopping to try.  I ordered spring onion pancake, panfried vegetarian dumplings, panfried vegetarian buns, vegetable spring rolls and crispy eggplant in teriyaki sauce.  I was a little confused about which dish each sauce was meant for.  The meal was rather beige and deep fried but fun to try some different dishes.  The spring rolls were the best - wonderful and crispy.  The dumplings had quite a lot of mushroom in them and the I wasn't sure about the buns filling but think it was quite a lot of egg.  UberEats just does not give the chance to quiz a waiter about your order.  The eggplant was not a great choice by itself and was quite pricey for a side dish at about $22.  It would have been better to order rice with it.  However it was a generous serving and great for leftovers.

Here is one of my leftover meals with eggplant.  I chopped some to put on a home made pizza together with tomato sauce, mushrooms, capsicum, olives and cheese.  It was excellent (thanks mum for encouraging me to try it).  I also had some mixed into Mexican rice and some mixed into a noodle tofu and vegetable stirfry.

My garden is thriving with some warm weather and spring rains.  I am really pleased how healthy my lavendar is looking.  If you look closely you can see buds just ready to flower.  A friend of mine showed me how you can put a sprig of lavendar in your face mask for some floral fragrance.

There is much hope in the pots in the backyard.  The blueberries at the back have many promising blossoms.  Parsley and mint are vying for real estate in the left pot.  My johnny jump-ups (wild pansies) are starting to grow back.  I love how hardy they are and their pretty and edible flowers.  And the pot at the front is geraniums which have a flower about to bud.  As it gets warmer I have to be more diligent with watering again.  I have a couple of days leave this week so might be able to give the garden some attention.

This is not my finest photo but I am sharing it because the red cabbage kraut was given to me by a friend.  I rode to her house for a walk along Edgar's Creek recently.  It was so lovely to get out into nature without a crowd.  (Merri Creek is great but gets so busy.)  I took her a fresh loaf of sourdough bread because it had been her birthday recently and her husband brought out a jar of the kraut.  It is great with bread and cheese or just sprinkled over dinner.

Last week a friend dropped by to gift me a bottle of her fine lockdownade.  Kerin is has fantastic craft skills and made gorgeous labels saying "when lockdown gives you lemons, made lockdownade".  The lockdownade was made with lemons and lilypily berries from her garden.  It was absolutely delicious, especially as it was made with generosity and kindness.

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.

Baked curried sausages (vegetarian)

Few of my recipes have been the subject of so many repeated attempts than these baked curried sausages over the past few years.  Curried sausages is something that all my family loved when I was a kid. Actually my mum still makes them.  She says we all love them so much she could serve them for our Christmas dinner, when we have high expectations for the best meal of the year!  Hers are more less fussy than mine - onion, meat sausages, water, tomato sauce, curry powder.  Of course, mine are vegetarian now.  And I add lots of vegies. 

I have added sausages to curries before but I got the idea of baking a curry (to make it totally non-traditional) from Jac at Tinned Tomatoes who has lots of great sausage bake recipes.  I kept notes on my attempts at baked curried sausages and the first version seems to date back to 2017.  I think it is the above photo.  My brief notes on this version said that the roasting tin was too crowded.

Earlier versions were quite edible but just not quite right.  The sausages needed more baking and browning.  I also have notes - perhaps on the version in the above photo - saying that the sauce was too thick due to too much pumpkin and too much cornflour.  It seemed to work better last year when I didn't have much pumpkin in the fridge but the sausages still needed more time to crisp up.  I am not sure why in an earlier versions, I have listed "1 tomato, if not mouldy".

When I had another go at baked curried sausages this month, I felt like I had hit the jackpot.  Previously I had added sausages at the same time as the vegies but it worked better when I baked the sausages with onions before adding the other vegies.  I was really pleased that the sausages had some crisp edges and there was a good consistency to the sauce.

I really loved this way of making curried sausages.  My only improvement would be to add more sausages but I think the amount I used was ok, and I loved having lots of vegies.  I have tried lentils and chickpeas in the past but I think the cannelini beans were the best.  The vegies can be changed around but I really like how the pumpkin breaks down into the sauce.  We always had sausage curry with rice but I had seen some who serve it with mashed potato.  

If you are working from home, as I am right now in lockdown, this is a great meal to put on early and let gradually cook as you work.  Or it would be a good meal to make on a lazy weekend.  And if you fancy having this for Christmas dinner ... well, you could do a lot worse!

More non-traditional curry recipes in Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:
Banana curry (gf, v)
Beetroot, greens and chickpea curry (gf. v)
Chickpea, peach and pumpkin curry (gf, v)
Sausage curry casserole (v)
Watermelon curry (gf, v)

Baked curried sausages
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe
Serves 4

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped into wedges
5-6 vegie sausages, chopped in wedges
300g (small wedge) of pumpkin, peeled and chopped
1/2 large red capsicum, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
2 cups water
400g tin of cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup of sultanas (or 1 cup frozen green peas)
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp vegetable stock powder
1 tsp seeded mustard seeded (or chutney)
1 tomato, chopped
1 tbsp cornflour
seasoning
Rice, to serve

Preheat oven to 220 C.  Toss onion and sausages in oil in a large roasting tin.  Roast for 10-15 minutes as you chop the vegetables (about 1 inch chunks).  Add pumpkin, capsicum, zucchini and pinch of salt.  Stir and roast about 35 minutes or until edges of vegies is crisp.  Mix in water, cannelini beans, stock powder, curry powder, mustard, tomato and cornflour.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Serve with rice.

NOTES: Change the vegies if you wish but I recommend the pumpkin which helps thicken the sauce.  Cannelini beans are quite similar to the beans in baked beans.  Leftovers are good but the sauce will thicken overnight.  I used Vegie Delights sausages.  These are vegan but if you wish to make it gluten free, these sausages aren't GF.

On the Stereo:
0898: The Beautiful South

Cauliflower, Zucchini and Butter Bean Gnocchi and Covid Vaccination

During the week I made a rather good gnocchi with vegetables and beans.  I wasn't going to share it but I decided to jot down the recipe to remember it like the old school blogger that I am and then just prattle on about vaccinations.

It has been a crazy sort of week that started with a couple of long 2 hour walks with friends (one each day with masks).  One friend told me she went to the doctor a few days before her second Pfizer when a nurse asked if anyone wanted an unused Pfizer shot.  On Monday I had my second vaccination jab.

I returned to the splendid Royal Exhibition Buildings where I had my first jab.  It was such a pleasure to spend time in this heritage building that became a hospital during the 1919 Spanish Flu epidemic.  (Actually many years ago I liaised with the management to organise a tour of the tower. and once posted about a visit to The Taste of Melbourne in the main hall)  It was convenient to work when I booked it but it ended up being as close as I got to a day out when I went there in lockdown.  Unfortunately they did not have a piano player there when I was there unlike a friend.

The government is really ramping up the vaccination program with lots more venues.  For example the Royal Melbourne Agricultural Show has been cancelled this year but the Showgrounds are being used for testing and vaccinations.  Hospitals, GPs, pop up clinics and pharmacists are all offering vaccinations.  It is beginning to feel more hopeful but we still have a long way to go and many infections to battle.

Our choices in Australia are the plentiful Astra Zeneca and the highly sought after Pfizer that is slowly making its way to our shores.  We knew months ago that we could have a winter surge but there was terrible complacency mixed with great confusion about Astra Zeneca.  I have had so many conversations about Pfizer versus Astra Zeneca.  When I got my second AZ jab, I was really happy to be told that I had a 1 in three million chance of blood clots and 92% protection against infection.

After I had my jab - which was done so well that I didn't even feel it (which made me happy because I hate needles), there was the 15 minute waiting time.  When I had my first jab it was so much quieter that this area full of chairs for people to wait was just empty space.  But it was busier this week.  I had to check in using my phone for the QR code about 3 times.  On my third check in I could not find my phone and was relieved when the staff member produced it because someone had handed it in.  Phew!  It took me about an hour to go through the whole process including waiting times.  Which was much better than a colleague who took 2.15 hours the following day at a health centre.

On the way out, there is a selfie wall.  I would have preferred a selfie with the gorgeous murals but I understand there are privacy concerns about the people who are being vaccinated.  I was really pleased to get my second jab as it was that day that my brother also got his 2nd jab, which meant all my parents and siblings are now double vaccinated.  In the same week my 19 year old niece and 12 year old (Irish) nephew had their first vaccination.  So now the next generation of my family is starting to be vaccinated.

It is a great feeling to be fully vaccinated.  Especially as covid cases are rising in Melbourne (65 today) and the exposure sites are growing at an alarming pace.  There are too many around me in familiar places.  In fact on Friday a friend told me that our local supermarket was an exposure site.  I was sent a screen shot of the times I had been there and advice it was tier 1.  I had terrible visions of 2 weeks in isolation not leaving the house and then the fear that I would test positive and have to tell the dentist, the neighbours and the friends who picked up a book for their child to read.  

On Saturday morning another friend sent me a social media screen shot of time and advice it was tier 2 and I just needed to get a covid test and isolate until I had the result.  So I queued in a drive through testing site and had a man in swishy blue PPE push a stick up my nose.  When I got home and finally saw the offical time on the government exposures website, I was most displeased to find the exposure times were different to social media and to my attendance.  It was a lesson about not trusting social media and about the peace of mind a vaccination can bring.  I was so happy to get a negative result this morning and be able to ride along the newly opened Upfield bike path to enjoy a walk in the sunshine with a friend.

More gnocchi recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Baked gnocchi with radicchio, gorgonzola and walnuts
Beetroot Gnocchi with Pea Pesto
Gnocchi with Mexican corn (v)
Gnocchi with pesto and asparagus (v)
Panfried Gnocchi with Cauliflower and Peas
Truffle gnocchi (v)
Walnut and tomato pesto with gnocchi, broccoli and feta 

Cauliflower, Zucchini and Butter Bean Gnocchi
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe
serves 2

250g cooked baby gnocchi
2-3 cups cauliflower florets, lightly steamed
2 cups zucchini, chopped and lightly steamed
400g tin of butter beans
1 clove garlic, crushed
olive oil
1/3 cup piemento stuffed olives, sliced
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp sour cream
juice of 1/2 lemon

Place gnocchi, cauliflower, zucchini and butter beans in a saucepan, drizzle with olive oil and mix over medium heat for about 5 minutes until warmed through.  Mix in olives, parmesan cheese, sour cream and lemon juice.  Serve warm.

On the Stereo:
Sing about Life: Tiddas

Pumpkin scones with ginger ale for International Scone Week

 
I have this story about how much I love pumpkin scones, how much I loved these pumpkin scones and how much I enjoyed sharing them.  But today I am so distracted from pumpkin scones.  Sydney continues to be in a desperate situation with covid cases rising at an alarming rate.  Melbourne has locked down tighter today as our cases are low (about 20 a day) but too many are mystery cases and infectious in the community.  And then hearing of the disturbing stories about women and minorities in Afghanistan, which has fallen to the Taliban.  On any other day, I might think my brain is scrambled after having my second Astra Zeneca covid vaccine but today there are so many reasons to feel tired.

But let me go back to the inspiration for the scones.  I am indebted to Tandy Sinclair of Lavender and Lime, a blogger who took on the International Scone Week baton and continues to hold it every year.   I come from a long line of scone bakers.  Baking and eating scones is a joy and a comfort.  But life is busy and I never bake them as much as I mean to.  So I love to participate in International Scone Week each year.  This year it is 9-15 August but I missed the deadline and am very glad that Tandy is generous with her timelines!

International Scone Week is not just an excuse to bake scones but to experiment with new ideas.  One of my favourite scones are pumpkin scones.  So I browsed through scone recipes on taste.com.au.  there were many tempting ideas: gingerbread, zucchini and cheddar, and a ploughman's platter with roast vegetable scones.  However I zeroed in on the Pumpkin and Lemonade Scones.  The idea of making scones with lemonade and cream instead of butter and milk is not new but I've never seen it applied to pumpkin scones.  It was worth a try. 

When I make pumpkin scones I often just microwave some pumpkin and mash it before adding to the creamed butter and sugar.  It took me a few times of adding warm pumpkin to the mixture to find I had to  cool it so it did not melt the butter.  So the idea of pumpkin scones without butter appealed.  No more avoiding melting the butter!

I liked the idea of adding sour cream and ginger ale.  Cream and lemonade are not routinely in my kitchen so I had to go out and buy them anyway.  While I am not a big fan of plain lemonade (the sparkling clear sweet one from the shops not homemade lemonade with real lemon juice), I love ginger ale.  It didn't make a big difference to the flavour but I was my happier with my leftover drink.  I had thought that soft drink would make up for not adding sugar.  But the scones weren't as sweet as my usual pumpkin scones.  I like how the sugar brings out the pumpkin flavour so I have put a spoonful in the recipe below.

I initially though I could give some scones to a friend but once I made the batch, it seemed much bigger than I had expected.  Sylvia does not like pumpkin scones (what!) so I am alone in eating them.  I made them at lunchtime on my half day and was about to go out for a medical appointment and to meet up with my friend.  So I took some warm scones in a tea towel to a neighbour to share with others in my block.  Our verandahs form a courtyard where we can sit with a cuppa and chat.  They had them with cream cheese.

Meanwhile I met my friend for a walk around Princes Park.  We stopped and ate some scones with butter and jam before starting our walk.  Given that it was in the midst of our current lockdown, it cheered us up enormously to share some warm scones.  It is the little things that are special in a pandemic.  So I am very grateful to Tandy for her inspiration which has been a cheering moment in lockdown.  Please visit her blog to see the list of scones other bloggers have made for International Scone Week.

More interesting scone recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Beetroot, apple and walnut scones (v)
Cheeseymite scones
Olive, pineapple and cheese scones
Pumpkin, pecan and poppyseed scones (v)
Walnut, brie and apple scones

Pumpkin Scones
Adapted from taste.com.au and Delicious
Makes about 16

2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 tbsp sugar (or honey)
Large pinch salt
1 cup mashed pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup ginger ale
1 tbsp milk, for glazing

Preheat oven to  230 C and prepare a medium size baking tray.  (I didn't grease or line but had a few scones stick so it is up to you which you prefer.)

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. (If you decide to use honey, add this to the wet ingredients instead.)  In a large jug,  mix pumpkin, sour cream and ginger ale.  Pour into the flour mixture and fold in with a flat butter knife.

Turn the soft dough onto a well floured board and knead until just soft.  Pat out on a floured board to about an inch thick and cut into rounds with scone cutter (or a glass).  Brush with milk.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Wrap in a tea towel until ready to eat.  Best eaten on the day of baking.  Serve with butter and jam or butter and vegemite or your favourite scone topping.

On the Stereo:
Tiddas: self titled album

In My Kitchen - August 2021

August finds me in Lockdown 6 in Melbourne.  It came a week after we emerged from  Lockdown 5 in July which followed hot on the heels of Lockdown 4 that ended in June.  I am so tired of going in and out of lockdowns.  I am so tired of cancelling plans.  On the other hand, I really appreciate any fun and socialising between lockdowns: lunch at the pub, swimming, Tuesday morning coffees, and even seeing Sylvia come home from school.  (You can read more recent lockdown reflections.)

The above photo is from my one social night in lockdown 5.  My family had a birthday zoom get together for my brother's birthday.  My mum made cupcakes and dropped them off to family nearby but those of us not close enough had to find our own cupcakes.  So we bought some from the supermarket as I just did not have the energy to bake.  My nieces did a trivia quiz all about my brother which was very entertaining.  About 10 minutes after it ended, I went into a workplace lockdown trivia quiz.  We were put into teams at random to discuss questions in breakout zooms.  I ended up with some pretty clever people.  Sylvia also helped with some questions, and I gave an answer or two.  It was good fun and my team won.  All participants were very generously given an UberEats voucher so we had Heaven takeaway pizza for dinner before our cupcakes.  It was a really fun night that gave some relief from the monotony of lockdown.

Our lockdown 6 started the day after we had a 'doughnut day', as we like to call days with no cases of covid.  It was cause for great celebration.  The joy didn't last long.  In the afternoon we heard of a new case and by 8pm the next day we were in lockdown.  It was a an incredible change of fortune.  So at the supermarket we bought doughnuts both for comfort and as a sign of hope that there will be more doughnut days soon.
 

A friend of mine whom I meet for lockdown walks, had asked for a loan of screwdrivers during lockdown 5.  She was very grateful for the loan and returned them with chocolates.  I forgot to ask what sort they were but I enjoyed the crispy chocolate mounds with a little nut inside.

I tried making a ravioli lasagne that I found in a supermarket magazine.  I did as the magazine suggested and layered ravioli with a home made tomato pasta sauce and topped it with a mozzarella grated cheese mixture.  It was rather delicious but calling it lasagne seemed a bit of a gimmick.  I think that it would have tasted as good if I had just mixed the ravioli and sauce.  I guess layering means you can layer some cheese in between.

We were excited to see some new Aussie shaped pasta at the supermarket.  Sylvia prefers her dinosaur shaped pasta.  I wanted to know if they are able to do Sydney Opera House shapes, are they able to do Flinders Street Station shapes.

Sylvia begged for this Green Tea Mochi Ice.  She went for the green tea as she thought (quite rightly) that I would prefer it to the mango version.  Sadly neither of us were enthused by the green tea flavour.  I am not sure if I have had mochi before but I don't think it is my sort of thing.  The Mochi Ice was like ice cream with a chewy dough around it.

We were more enthused about this Caramel Slice version of Chobani flip with choc chips, fudge chips and biscuit crumbs to mix with the caramel yoghurt.  Actually I am a bit confused by the packaging.  It says pie crust rather than biscuit crumbs but is this meant to be a classic Aussie Chocolate Caramel Slice which has biscuit base rather than pie crust.  Given chobani is American and the picture looks like pie not slice, maybe they means some dessert called caramel slice that I have never heard of.  It still reminds me of the Aussie slice.

For a long time Sylvia has not liked butter on bread or toast but she is suddenly switched to loving butter on any sort of bread or toast.  So after years of eating nuttalex margarine, she has asked to buy butter.  It is like we have turned full circle to my childhood!

 As I mentioned, my team won the work trivia quiz.  We won another UberEats voucher so when lockdown 6 started, Sylvia and I consoled ourselves with Coburg Pizza takeaway pizza.  It was a nice treat.

However I have been making some meals.  The one above is a disappointing version of the buckwheat salad I made a few months back.  That salad was so good I thought I had gotten over my problems with buckwheat.  The above meal of buckwheat, vegetables and beans showed me I still have some way to go.  Next to the buckwheat meal is chopped mozzarella that Sylvia discarded from her Coburg Pizza.  It actually improved the buckwheat when I mixed it through.  We have also been eating brussel sprouts and peaches in juice.  It is that time of year when there is not a lot of good fresh fruit and vegies around so I am longing for Spring.

Lastly I am stepping out of my kitchen to share a vegan chocolate caramel cake I had at Gloria cafe in Sydney Road, Brunswick in the week between lockdowns 5 and 6.  It was a nice moment to catch up with Faye and eat a big slice of cake.  I really loved the chocolate cake but the frosting was a little much.

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.