Moving eats

If I am less present online this week, it's because I am immersed in packing boxes, updating addresses, and doing all the other things you do when you move. Yes,14 months after our move to London we are moving again! This time the move is domestic rather than international, but there still seems to be a lot to do.

We have made the decision to settle in commuter territory just outside the greater London area. We will still be working in London itself, but our immediate neighbourhood will now be a small town with surrounding countryside instead of London streets. One of the key benefits of this change is more space, and we will be living in a (semi-detached) house with garden instead of a 1-bedroom flat. It is a huge change and very exciting. For now, though, the excitement is fighting with mild panic over things yet unpacked.

Our soon-to-be dining room

Holding that in mind, this is a brief post to showcase some of the simple meals I've been throwing together to use up produce. Whilst we can transport our kitchen ingredients down the road, the less to move the better!

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Orange and almond cake, and orange chocolate truffle balls

I am picturing the horror that this post title will send through orange haters, and can only apologise even as I smile at the thought of your reaction. For those of you who think oranges are best served whole, and never paired with chocolate, feel free to look away. For the rest of you? Settle in and enjoy.

Whole oranges, pureed

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Random Thursday

1. It rained this morning. The last time I experienced water falling from the sky was, I think, in early December 2013. On a hot humid morning, running in rain drops was blissful.

There's no actual rain in this image, but it captures this morning's sky

2. I just finished two Australian books: Eyrie by Tim Winton, set in Fremantle, Western Australia, and Peace, Love and Khaki Socks by Kim Lock, set in Darwin, Northern Territory. I rated them both 4 out of 5 on Goodreads and recommend them highly whether you are Australian or not.

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Loving this week {February 2013} - easy food combinations that taste really good

I am linking this into cityhippyfarmgirl's 'loving this week' post for February. Her 'loving' posts are about the little moments in your days and weeks that have tickled your heart.

For February, I am focusing on some easy food combinations that I am loving a whole lot right now.

Quinoa with apple stewed in vanilla and cardamom. Sometimes with berries too.

This is top of the list for a reason. I love it cold, at any time of day.

Vanilla soy ice cream with 70% cocoa chocolate scattered on top.

Also vanilla soy ice cream with carob powder mixed through.

In truth, vanilla soy ice cream is going pretty well right now, however it comes.

Sweet potato with puy lentils, lettuce and sweet chilli sauce. I would have used baby spinach leaves, but we were out. Lettuce stood in just fine.

Sweet potato with tahini and nutritional yeast is a pretty good mix too.

And on the topic of tahini, it turns out that fig jam and tahini is an amazing combination, even for someone who doesn't usually eat jam. When spread on crackers or dolloped on oats, wonderful things happen.

Smoothies with cereal sprinkled atop.

And on a final, store-bought note - tofu rice paper rolls, with a side of fruit.

If you took away my cooking rights for a week (and let me pre-cook quinoa, puy lentils and sweet potato...), I might just eat these in constant rotation.

What easy food combinations are you loving right now?

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Luminous Night: University of Western Australia Centenary celebrations

2013 marks the 100 year anniversary of the University of Western Australia, Perth's oldest and most traditional university. To celebrate, the University is holding a number of Centenary celebrations, the biggest and most public of which was Luminous Night last Friday.

Luminous Night was intended to transform the University into a walk-through gallery and performance space, with continuous displays and performances by artists, musicians, actors and acrobats. The 'luminous' part referred to the use of light around the campus, and to a light projection masterpiece on the 1932, cathedral-like Winthrop Hall.

Luminous trees and many people

The Friday celebrations were also timed to coincide with the start of the Perth International Arts Festival. I have mentioned the festival previously, in relation to our outdoor cinema outing. From now until March, there are Festival happenings in Perth most nights, and plenty of free entertainment to complement paid events.

As we drove to UWA on Friday evening, Mr Bite casually mentioned that it would be a shame if no one turned up for the centenary celebrations. That is the sort of comment that is guaranteed to fire up my over-empathic steak. As I was worrying about how the evening would turn out for the organisers (who I in no way personally know), and thinking about how horrible it would be if no one turned up, we reached a traffic jam that extended out from the University campus.

Approaching the University one hour after the start of events

I think it is safe to say that people turned up.

I suspect the crowds were even beyond what the University had hoped for, with certain parts of the campus being difficult to walk through. One such section was the Winthrop Hall area, where a 20 minute light and sound show was played on five occasions over the night.

This isn't the usual exterior of the building...

The lighting transformed the hall into a series of images that covered Western Australia and the University from pre-British settlement, to the first days of the University, to the current day.

We watched through heads and trees, but even with those inconveniences the effects were stunning.

Our night also included a 30 minute silent film of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, accompanied by music from University musicians, which was shown because it too debuted 100 years ago. The celebrations continued until midnight, but we left after a fireworks display at 10.30pm. Even so, it was a late night by my standards!

Luminous swans.

I am glad for the University's sake that so many Perth people turned out to help celebrate the centenary, and glad for our sake that we went along. We hope to enjoy a few more free Festival events this month, but I suspect that none will be quite as atmospheric as Friday night.

Have you had any bonus local events lately? Or taken part in any centenary celebrations for organisations near you?

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A wild Friday night (and Christmas decoration photos)

We don't have wild Friday nights. We never have, even in our younger years before we met each other. I think there was a six month  period when I was aged 15 - 16 when I went to parties that had a tiny flavour of 'wild' (i.e., there were boys and girls and alcohol), but that was about it.

These days we are an old married couple in every sense of the word, even if we have only been married 3.5 months and are not so very old really. I love it, truth be told. Our Friday night routine includes going home from work together, the one day of the week when that is possible, and I may then do some cleaning (I know! the thrill!) while Mr Bite makes dinner (that is a thrill) and we then eat in front of the TV and watch a movie.

I'm sure you're overwhelmed with excitement for us.


Our house is not suited to large-scale Christmas decorations, so we have a bite-sized tree. Please don't laugh.

Two Friday's ago, we watched Tomorrow When the War Began, adapted from John Marsden's book of the same name. Those of you who grew up in Australia in the 1990s will likely remember the series that followed from that first book. They were always out of my high school library and I devoured them with great enthusiasm, as did most people my age.

The movie is no where near as good as the book (of course), and had a certain teenager vibe to it. Still, it was worth watching. It was also mildly suspenseful and I think that led to Mr Bite making knocking sounds on the inside of our front door when the movie was over. He does this sometimes, playing on my anxious, easily startled nature. I wasn't taken in though, not for a second.

Except, an hour and a half later, there really was a knock on the door. At 11pm. And Mr Bite was upstairs, so I knew it wasn't him.

Our wreathed front door.

I frantically called out "don't answer the door!" as Mr Bite trotted downstairs to do so.

"It's okay", he said, "there's a police car out the front".

For the record, that isn't a statement that tends to make me think that things are okay.

From bed, I eavesdropped on the conversation that resulted when Mr Bite did open the door.

(Very young) policeman: "Good evening mate, we're just following up on a complaint about loud music in the area. It sounded like it was coming from your place, but now we see it isn't."

Mr B: "No, we can hear it too but it isn't from here."

Policeman: "We actually can't find the source of the music. We drove behind your place and in front of your place, and it sounded like it was coming from within. Now we're here it sounds like it's coming from elsewhere."

Mr B: "Yes, we have that problem too! We have tried to find the source of the music in the past but haven't been able to do so."

I like to think that the tree looks bigger up close.

To give you some context, we semi-regularly hear loud-ish music coming from a house in our vicinity. When we're inside, it sounds like it's coming from just behind us. But when we go outside, it sounds like it's coming from somewhere in front of us. We once went for an evening walk to try and find the house in question, but failed.

The policeman apologised for disturbing us and left with his car-bound colleague to continue searching for the mysterious music, whilst we went to bed after being visited by police for the first time in our respective lives.



Another wreath - this one in the kitchen

And that, dear readers, is my definition of a wild Friday night: a teenage movie watched on the sofa, followed by a spark of adrenalin by a genuine front door knock at a late hour, followed by a visit from the police that wasn't really intended for us. It was perfect.

What does your Friday night look like? Any wild moments of late?

And did you enjoy the Tomorrow When the War Began books?

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So Delicious ice cream comes to Australia

People, I am very excited.

Overwhelmed, slight hyperventilation (okay, a lot of hyperventilation), buy-as-much-as-you-can-in-case-they-disappear excited.

Farmer Jack's in Subiaco has become, without a doubt, my favourite supermarket in Perth. It is expensive, but it stocks so many wonderful things. It is the store that provided me with So Delicious no added sugar coconut milk (and Pacific hazelenut chocolate milk) last year. Those discoveries led to quite a bit of excitement too, and every time I've been back, I've walked the freezer aisle in the hope that one day So Delicious ice cream might appear as well.

Yesterday, that day came. It seems my sympathetic nervous system wasn't prepared for it.

As the above picture shows, I bought rather a lot. There were more flavours, too, but thankfully I wasn't carrying a basket or pushing a trolley. I wasn't in a restrained mood, and given how much these products cost, I think it's for the best that I only bought what I could pile into my arms.

The turtle trails coconut milk ice cream was one of a number of flavours on offer (including chocolate, cookies and cream, and mango), but won out quite easily. I had heard of turtle trails ice cream via American sites, but never actually seen it before.

It has a base of vanilla coconut ice cream, and incorporates caramel sauce and chocolate-coated praline pecans.

Yes, it tastes as good as it sounds.

It is rich, sweet, and entirely decadent. The recommended serve is half a cup and I can see why; in fact, I think a quarter cup would go a long way.

The mini coconut milk ice cream sandwiches were also rich, but by virtue of their smaller size not overwhelmingly so. The centre was creamy and oh-so-coconutty. Wonderfully coconutty. The chocolate biscuit edges were soft, sweet and very reminiscent of the non-vegan ice cream sandwiches of my youth.

I liked them a lot. A little sweet, perhaps, but manageably so.

The mini almond milk bars were a serious highlight. I have long suspected that I would enjoy almond milk ice cream, more so than coconut ice cream, and it seems I was correct.

These bars had an ice cream centre that was less sweet and less rich than the coconut ice cream products, and I would happily have bought a full tub of it had such an option been available. Having the ice cream in bar form worked well too though, and the chocolate coating tasted entirely authentic despite being dairy free.

My last purchase, the no sugar added coconut milk vanilla bar, is yet to be tried. I could have waited to post this, but my excitement levels are such that I didn't have the patience. I am also striving for moderation in my consumption of these, because they cost about $15 a box (!). So, I can't offer an opinion on the taste, but I am hopeful indeed.

None of these products are low in energy, and they have lengthy ingredient lists (all nutritional information is on the So Delicious website so I am not re-posting it all here). They are probably a little sweeter than my taste buds would like, and a little creamier. However, as a vegan ice cream treat they work perfectly and I am beyond thrilled, really incredibly thrilled, that they have reached my vicinity.

What was the last supermarket discovery that got you excited?

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Vegan MoFo wrap up, and reflections on September and October

As the month of vegan food draws to a close, I have been reflecting on my experiences with taking part as well as the last two months more generally. The months in question, as you may appreciate, have flown by! My last "what I enjoyed this month" post was at the end of August and it feels like an incredibly long time since then.

Being part of Vegan MoFo has been wonderful. I took part with very little forethought or planning, and while I did develop a list of recipe ideas, I didn't follow it closely. There are recipes I haven't got to yet, and other unplanned ones appeared over the month instead. Next year I think I will be more organised, but I had a lot of fun in the kitchen this month despite (or perhaps because of) the lack of structure. I have also had fun reading others' posts. I didn't read as widely as I might have - time disappears so! - but I did discover some new blogs and I have bookmarked plenty of recipes.

As someone who usually blogs every other day (and blogged less often than that during September), I was curious about how I would find posting more days than not. For the first few weeks, it was actually quite fun and I enjoyed the constant immersion in food and cooking. For the last week, it has been a bit harder. I think I am ready to go back to 15, rather than 20+, posts per month. I am also ready to go back to more varied posts. While I loved the challenge of creating multiple new recipes per week, I did miss focusing on other topics. In some ways, Vegan MoFo consolidated my sense of what I value in blogging and how I view myself as a blogger. I certainly like food and recipes and related topics, but I like variety too.

The pace of Vegan MoFo has mirrored, in some ways, the pace of October. September was a fairy tale month. Busy, yes, but busy in a way that was entirely removed from day-to-day life. From our wedding on the 1st September, to our time in Europe from the 8th September onward, it was a beautiful, amazing, dazzling month that created memories I will forever treasure.

October was pretty wonderful too, although it has had some downs to balance out the ups. It started in England, saw us return home to work and 'regular' life, had me fly interstate for work in Queensland, incorporated several serious work failures / rejections (those who work in research will know the sorts of things I mean) and a smaller number of less important successes, and ended with a delightful day trip to Rottnest. With there now being less than two months until Christmas, I am quite ready for November to be settled and 'normal' and quiet!

One thing I can't help but feel, when I reflect back on September and October, is incredibly lucky. Even Vegan MoFo has had me feeling lucky - I have come to value blogging in a way I could never have predicted at the start, and the shared focus on MoFo amongst bloggers has been quite lovely. I also feel settled with my life in a way that I didn't know was possible, even with busy-ness, challenges, and some difficult days thrown in to the mix. I suppose I feel grown up. Perhaps that's what marriage does.

On that reflective note, here is the wrap up of my posts from October:

#1. Vegan MoFo from afar - Goji Cafe (and liquorice cake) in York, England

#2. Vegan snacks in London

#3. Warm vegetable salad with bulgar

#4. Chocolate coated peas and beans

#5. Pikelets with peanut butter, banana and hemp seeds

#6. Orange baked tofu parcels

#7. Individual vegan bakewell tarts [Vegan English baking]

#8. Chocolate pasta with tomato and white bean sauce

#9. Fruit digestive biscuits [Vegan English baking]

#10. Sushi salad

#11. Dark chocolate tiffin [Vegan English baking]

#12. Restocking the fridge and pantry after being away

#13. Advantages to telling others you're vegan, and chocolate fudge balls

#14. A Vegan MoFo recipe round-up

#15. Queensland - Govinda's Vegetarian Cafe

#16. Product review - Lindt 90% dark chocolate and Seed & Bean dark chocolate with lavender

#17. Baked tofu 'scampi' [Vegan English baking]

#18. Vegan brownie bites with avocado and coconut flour

#19. Cherry scones [Vegan English baking]

#20. 30 minute meals, including tahini sushi

#21. Loving this week - Rottnest Island

#22. Chocolate orange cupcakes for Halloween

What has your October been characterised by?

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Loving this week - Rottnest Island, Western Australia

I am linking this into cityhippyfarmgirl's 'loving this week' post. She has shared four previous 'loving this week' entries, which are well worth viewing if you want some inspiration in your day, cause to smile, or just like looking at beautiful photography.

I was a little unsure about doing a non-food post, given this is the month of vegan food. However, 20 consecutive posts on food must be my record for staying on a single topic and my blogging nature wants to veer off topic now! I am hoping that others don't mind the wandering. I will be posting my final Vegan MoFo recipe tomorrow, before a wrap up post as the month concludes on Wednesday.

Rottnest Island, Western Australia

I was delighted with the timing of the 'loving this week' theme, because it fit perfectly with my thoughts at the end of the weekend. Yesterday, you see, we were fortunate to have a day at Rottnest Island, an 11km long, A-class reserve located 19km off the coast of Western Australia. It is a 40 minute ferry ride from the Perth coastline and an extremely popular spot in summer - we squeezed our visit in before the peak busy season got going.

Rottnest is relatively unique in that it is free of cars (mostly - there are shuttle buses around the island and vans for essential services), making it a haven for bikes and laid back exploring. It is also free of residents, with the only people living on the island being those employed in essential services there, such as police, nursing staff, and rangers. There is a small school for children of worker residents, but it generally has 10 - 15 primary school aged students at most. No one is allowed to own property personally, and all land and buildings are managed by the Rottnest Island Authority. They also own and oversee the holiday accommodation, which makes up most of the buildings on the island. In effect, it is a self-contained community that changes every time a ferry arrives or departs.

Planning our cycle route of the island

I gave Mr Bite return ferry tickets for the island last Christmas, but with our whirlwind year it has taken us to now to get to using them. Fortunately for us, my sister works part-time at one of the ferry companies, which means we get generous discounts on crossings (and free bike hire - thanks again, darling!). If you don't have such connections, it is an expensive day out, but definitely a worthwhile one as a treat. It had been 10 years since I visited, and longer since Mr Bite had been, so we felt it was a well-timed trip.

We arrived on the island at 10.30am, and set off to cycle the perimeters of it. We didn't quite do the full loop - there is a narrow out and back stretch at one end - but saw plenty of gorgeous beaches on our circuit. We finished with a dip in one of the bays and the water was incredibly cold, but a refreshing finish to what had been a hot cycling stretch.

In addition to beaches, Rottnest is home to quokkas, which are small herbivore marsupials that are common on Rottnest but rare outside of the island. They are quite oblivious to humans, being so used to them, and wander the streets happily.

We also saw two snakes on our trip, which were less welcome on our path!, but they didn't seem interested in us either.

As a child, the food options on Rottnest were limited to an alcohol-focused hotel, fancy lodge restaurant, bakery, fast food chicken and chips, and two small supermarkets. We were interested to note that things have changed over the past decade or so, with the chicken / chips shop being replaced by a Subway, the hotel being renovated, and three new options being added: a seafood restaurant, a casual cafe with gluten free options, and a Dome Cafe (Dome being a Western Australian institution akin to Starbucks or Gloria Jeans, but with more food). We bought lunch at Subway and afternoon snacks at Dome.

I am not usually a beach person and yesterday gave me more sun than I have had in a while, but it was a gorgeous day and a reminder that it only takes one free day to have a holiday-like experience. We have had lots of holiday experiences recently, and I felt very blessed to have another day to ourselves yesterday. Rottnest is a definite perk of living in Australia, and one that I appreciate having so nearby.

Have you had any days out recently? Or do you have any favourite places to visit when you do manage an excursion?

This (non-food!) post is part of my Vegan Month of Food contributions for October 2012. 

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This weekend

This weekend...

The sun has been shining and the smell of spring is in the air,

things have been growing,

strawberries are featuring,

some computer-based work has been necessary,

but bikes have also been used,

and second hand books have been bought.

Can you guess which are Mr Bite's?

This week...

I have three presentations to write and one to deliver,

there is a paper to finish and a number of reports to edit,

there are meetings galore,

and on Thursday, I fly to Adelaide (South Australia) for a work conference.

Right now...

I am content in spite of the busy-ness,

happy in the knowledge that in two weeks time, I will be married,

and married to a man who is so perfectly wonderful, and so perfectly right,

that he makes work fade into the background even when it is pushing into the foreground.

What has your weekend looked like?

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Things that scare me

I don't consider myself a scared person. Anxious, yes. I can worry wholeheartedly, work myself up over small things, interpret innocent comments in a self-critical way, and become nervous at any opportunity (although all of these things are less pronounced in my adult years than they were in my adolescence, thank goodness). But scared, well, it isn't what comes to mind when I think of myself.

However.

I startle easily.

Today, I thought I'd share some of the things that make me jump, quietly shriek, or otherwise take fright in a rather obvious manner.

For variety, I'm throwing in some phone photographed food too. I seem to have rather a lot of such photos and my computer is starting to groan when I add more images to the ever-expanding 'phone photographs' folder.

Apple with chocolate avocado pudding, weetbix  crunch bites,
and cherries from America that I couldn't resist buying despite the air miles.

Things that startle me

Mr Bite appearing in the kitchen when I think he's upstairs.

Mr Bite appearing upstairs when I think he's downstairs.

My water bottle on my desk out of the corner of my eye. (I thought it was a person. I appreciate this is illogical. Logic and fright aren't firm friends.)

The cord for the kitchen blind, swinging into my line of vision.

This looks like a mess. It tasted delicious.
Sweet potato with  a sundried tomato & olive veggie sausage. 

Unexpected irregularity in the ground when I'm running. Or walking. My feet don't adjust well to unexpected changes in the ground beneath them.

A feather flying into my head.

Mr Bite waiting behind me whilst I am hand washing, resulting in a person in the laundry mirror when I look up.

Any TV show featuring suspense. Not necessarily horror, just suspense.

Spot the chocolate coconut milk drink

Grasshoppers hopping at me. We have had a family colony of grasshoppers in and around our house lately, so this has been a regular occurrence.

Balloons bursting. Or any similar noise.

The statue of a woman that has recently appeared in my neighbour's garage, and is just visible from our kitchen window. I sense that this statue and I are going to have a tumultuous relationship.

Seaweed hitting me in the sea.

My new work cup. It has a lid and a built  in strainer. I like it very much.

Perhaps, on reflection, I should re-think my belief that I'm not a scared person.

Tell me - what gives you a fright? I haven't listed it here, but I am also hopeless in horror movies and am even a bit daunted by horror-themed books.

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