hello hello....

 Our friend's garden was bursting with wonderful fruit and veg last week and we were lucky enough to be given some of these freshly cut asparagus spears. They were peeking out of the soil, looking so luscious!
Now i know the usual way to cook them is to poach, boil or microwave them, but we like stir frying them with sambal belacan [a malaysian spice paste with fermented dried shrimp....]

 below, a pasta bake from the back of an ardmona tin of tomatoes. It was something like a lasagne but with eggs in it. basically it just involves mixing up some cooked pasta, tomato sauce, vegetables, cheese, eggs and meat and baking it till the cheese melts.

 it's kangkung season again! Here in Hobart, our only source of fresh kangkung is from the Hmongs at either Salamanca market or Moonah island markets [on weekends] so out comes the sambal belacan for a  kangkung stir fry.... this recipe is closest to what we do at home, using a food processor instead of a pestle and mortar.

dont try this at home if you dont have a range hood though...coz the smell permeates everything it comes into contact with!

Kangkung can also be used in a Philipine spicy sour soup called "Sinigang" or in Malaysia prawn noodles. Or you could just use them in any sort of stir fry.

tassie....in spring

 this is just an everyday scene for us Hobartians.... whether walking by, driving to work, or walking out of my office, the river derwent is never far!

 at the Royal Botanical Gardens - my favourite part is always the veggie patch! Here, some rainbow beet!

 at bellerive beach while waiting for our next inspection appointment - we'd been looking around for homes, and it's tiring! fortunately there was a shop nearby selling valhalla ice cream...

 a new japanese restaurant's just opened in North Hobart - Midori. So far i've heard good things about it though i havent actually tried it. these photos were from the hubby's lunch with his workmates. tht big fat grilled eel looks so yummy!

 above, some bonito flavoured fried chicken nuggets with salad, pickles and rice.

 of course u cant go wrong with sushi!

hubby was so adamant that this sign in Kingston is grammatically wrong because it's meant to be "reduced" rather than reduce but i wonder if the English language has evolved so that verbs or adjectives can now be used as nouns. you know, like "party" and "stress"  to name a few. alright i cant think of that many now but i reckon some of you could. just watch some saturday morning tv. so if an earlier sign says to "Reduce speed", then a later one would say "end of reduce speed" and it makes perfect sense to me!

vietnamese in melborne

 i love vietnamese food. it's sort of like chinese, but with more herbs and raw veggies that give it a refreshing character. And I just love how cheap it is in Melbourne - this big bowl of pho [beef noodles in broth] at a noodle place in Preston was just $8.50! they usually come with a big heap of raw bean sprouts but I like them cooked, so I requested for that when ordering. Also, there's a huge bunch of fresh fragrant herbs as a garnish.I know one of them is thai basil but the others I can't name.The broth's made from meat, cinnamon, star anise and some other stuff, with a squeeze of lemon juice for tang.

the rice paper rolls are delicious too but if u're going to have both in one meal, it's best to share the noodles as you wont have enough stomach space. it's very filling!