this place

Why haven't I posted about Hazeldean Forest Farm before?

Amazing, delicious apples of many varieties. Also beautiful other fruit (see persimmon above), and some darn good cider, both of the beery kind (King Pippin) and méthode champenoise (label says BawBaw). Everything organic.

They had a harvest festival last weekend and I was lucky enough to be free to get down to Gippsland.
They sell their stuff at the farmers' markets around Melbourne most weekends.

Tadaima!

So I'm back in the land of cheap butter. And the best thing I have eaten in the last month, apart from fruit, is this.

Kokoro Ramen means 'Heart/soul ramen.' To avoid gushing, I have no comment on that name.

The staff in the kitchen were speaking Japanese. The next two people to me sitting at the bench (or counter, if you're that way inclined) were Japanese, speaking Japanese to each other. And the food tasted like in Japan, with the exception of vegetarian gyoza, which you would never see. They were ok, the gyoza. The other stuff was really, really, really good.

They've got Japanese beers and other drinks, including umeshu - sweet plum wine - and a cider made by Asahi. Open till 5 am Sat night/Sun morning. I can't wait to get back there.

157 Lonsdale St Melbourne VIC
Tel: 03 9650 1215

wanko soba

Something I never expected to find myself doing in Japan is an eating competition. 

The room before: wooden tables all set, tatami floor, floor cushions waiting with bibs.

Of course, the Japanese are known for doing well whatever they do... and for doing everything. Whatever you can think of, there's a Japanese person doing it or who has done it.
They're also known for small, cute things... so, without further ado, Wankosoba.

You can read the story here. 'Wanko' means something like 'cute little bowl'. And that's what happens... a lady stands over you and gives you a mouthful at a time, into your little bowl. 15 of these serves is equivalent to a single normal serve of soba.

Seasonings make the experience more enjoyable.

The challenge is 100 bowls, after which you get a little wooden plaque.
Now, I'm not an eating competition kind of person. I find it kind of disturbing. Not only is it a waste of resources, when there are so many hungry people in the world, but it's gross. But being in a group kind of changes things... this was a fun experience. 

Wanting to get to 100, some people left their sashimi. It was sad. 

I made 65 bowls. There were boys sitting around me on all sides, and most of them got to 100. Our champion was a tiny Japanese guy, of course, at 150.

After.

Aki

Meet Nabe. 

Nabe is 2 things: 

1. a pot

2. a soup/stew with everything in it. (Some call it a hotpot.)

Today I want to praise the second of these things.

It is warming, delicious, and comforting. And can be, naturally, brimming with health!! 

Here are some things that are particularly good in nabe, and help to make it.

water

dashi (stock - I use powder, which is made of fish and probably MSG)

miso (add it at the end)

pork (in Japan, it pretty much always comes in thin slices, with fat on)

carrots

onion

cabbage 

bean sprouts

konnyaku noodles
tofu* 

Chuck it all in. Or if you're like me, cut and add as you go. Cook.

*Nabe was the first time for me that tofu tasted really, really good.

Thai cooking class

Amn't I in Japan? Yes, I am.

Being in Japan, as a Caucasian person, I have instant access to international communities, and also the high school English of every Japanese adult, which often greatly expands when you find them drunk, or 'dorinku'. ("Nice to meet you, I am doRINku!")

In Japan, I have met people from more countries than ever before, and from countries whose people I never would have expected to find in Japan - either because the country is far away or I never used to think about the country very much. Here is a brief list. (I may be a bit wordier than usual at the moment because I've been reading Tolkien.)
Ireland, Jamaica, Philippines, Korea, China, US, Canada, UK (England, Scotland), Singapore, Mexico, Kenya, Germany, Finland, Thailand.

And it is thus that I found myself invited on Facebook to a Thai cooking class, called 'Connie's Mum's Cooking Class.' I don't know who Connie is, and because it was explained in Japanese, I don't know who her mum is either, but off I went.

spicy glass noodle salad

We made three things: green curry, spicy glass noodle salad, and an almond 'pudding', which here, as it seems in American English?, means basically milk jelly, or, gelatinous custard in a cup. Kind of like creme caramel, however that's meant to be spelt.

'pudding' or 'purin'

It was all good, but the green curry was premium. I should have taken a photo of the paste - yes, we did use curry paste, but it seemed to be made entirely of spices, and it came out of a bag, not a jar. It was dry, not at all liquid.

But, I will post the recipe here. I think the secret is as much in the method as in the amazing curry paste.

By the way, Japan's tablespoon size is 15 mls. 

green curry (and half an egg, yes.)

(serves 4-6)

chicken, diced 150g
curry paste 2-3 tablespoons
canola oil 2-3 tablespoons
coconut cream 200 ml
coconut milk 400 ml (or 200 ml coconut cream and 200 ml water)
eggplants 3 medium
fresh, skinny, red chilli... 1-5 [depending on how hot they are and how hot you want it. Slice the chillies and soak them in water. I believe this takes out some of the heat.]
kaffir lime leaves 3 or 4
fish sauce 7 tablespoons? I'll check.
lime juice 3 tablespoons? I'll check.
sugar 1 tbsp
fresh basil mmmm about 8 fully grown leaves


1. Heat oil in a pan, and over a LOW heat, fry the curry paste until fragrant. (It can become bitter at too high a heat).
2. Add coconut cream and stir over a medium heat until a green oil separates on the top. This might take a few minutes.
3. Chuck in the chicken, cook for a few minutes, and then add the coconut milk. Cook for about 5 minutes. Cut the eggplant into Ds or however you like.
4. Add kaffir lime leaves and half the sliced chilli. (The rest will be a garnish.)
5. Add seasonings (not basil) and eggplant.
6. When eggplant is cooked, add the basil and turn off the heat. Serve with rice. Make it as pretty as you like.

Oishii!!!!!

Japan: good, bad, etc

Because it amuses me, here is a list of stuff. My impression, obviously. 

Good/cheap:

Fish
Eggplant

Cucumber
Tomato

Spinach (though kind of sweet)
Alcohol (particularly spirits, excluding whisky.)
Cabbage
Salads
Seaweed

Bad/expensive:

Bread
Celery
Cheese
Fruit (when mouldy - not joking, a mouldy peach was discounted to about $2)
Okra (DISGUSTING)
Peanut butter

Good + expensive:

Fruit (fresh)
Rice (!!!!!!!!!! Japanese short grain)
Butter
Chocolate

Unavailable/insanely expensive:

Oats
Rice (non-Japanese)
Wholemeal anything (though I did find some brown rice in a little backwater town.)
Goat cheese, haloumi
Dips (not made of cream cheese)

Also, chicken breast is pretty well the cheapest part of the chook, because it has the least fat.

Everything goes with rice

If you read this blog because you are a friend of mine, which I suspect you are, then you probably know that I'm in Japan this year. 

Whee! Japan is fun. Japanese food is also fun. And I am slowly, slowly immersing myself, like at the swimming pool. I'm probably in up to about my ankles so far.

So yes... I'm working for a company that apparently pays pretty poorly, but it's still the most money I've ever earned, because it is full-time work, plus through the company I've met a heap of great people, plus the company organises housing and car lease, and places for me to teach, and a bit of extra security for when I do stupid stuff or if something goes wrong. So I don't mind too much about the pay. 

The foreigner community is great, too. I'm probably at just the right age to appreciate the sort of stuff that happens... one such being a cooking club, whose inaugural session I was lucky enough to attend. 

We made nikujaga, which means 'meatpotato' or maybe more like 'meatpota' because 'potato' is 'jagaimo' ... and which is better than its name. My next door neighbour calls it Japanese soul food.

And I made it tonight! OISHIIIIII!!!!! (delicious/yum) 

I also made the kind-of-pickled cabbage/cucumber salad that we made at the cooking club, and it was also oishii. Cut some cabbage and cucumber. Put on a bit of salt and maybe a tiny bit of granulated dashi. Squash a bit. 

Nikujaga - serves 2 people

200g sliced beef (or pork)

2 potatoes

1/2 carrot (I used 1)

1 onion

Snow peas (if you can afford them. I didn’t bother.)

1 cup water

½ tsp granulated dashi

1 ½ tbsp sake (we had US tablespoons, i.e. 1 tbsp = 15ml)

1 ½ tbsp sugar

1 ½ tbsp soy sauce

Preparation

Peel the potatoes and cut into 8ths.

Blanche snow peas. Set aside. (Or just chuck them in a minute before the end, that’s what I would do.)

Slice carrot into rolling wedges. Cut the onions in half.  Cut each half into 3 wedges. Cut the meat bits in half.

Cooking

Fry meat until brown.  Add carrots, onion and potatoes.  Cook until potatoes become opaque. 

Add dashi, water, sake and sugar.  Cook for 10 minutes, covered.

Add soy sauce.  Cook for another 10 minutes or so to reduce the soup. Add snow peas and cook for about another minute. 

Serve with rice, and cabbage salad. Itadakimasu!

Coffee (prices) in Brisbane

I'm not particularly a snob or aficionado when it comes to coffee. I do drink soy, primarily because it doesn't make me feel sick, secondly because I like the taste (and I don't like the taste of milk), and also, it uses the processing of beans, rather than cows. But I do like and eat cheese and ice cream, and cream, with stuff (hello, everything goes with cream), so I'm not going to attempt a moral highground.

Anyway, in Brisbane, coffee and food is expensive compared to Melbourne, and when you are a soy drinker it's generally more so. To find a soy coffee for under $4 is a rarity, so, this post is one of a few that will tell you where I find coffees to be drinkable, good value, and such.

My #1 coffee in Brisbane right now, of the places my life takes me:

Cup 2 Go, coffee cart at Central station: $3.50 (takeaway only).

'no extra charge for soy, decaf or marshmallows!'

 They have a cute sign out the front. They use merlo beans, which are probably my favourite beans in Brisbane, and they use the red/original Vitasoy, which these days has added calcium, yay. Most importantly, I really like their coffee, which is $3.50 for a normal size, or for a large keep cup, which I have. If you get a large paper cup it's $3.75. (Did you know you can get a medium coffee in a giant keep cup? The blue ones, anyway, have an 8oz line. I often use that.)

They also have a cute guy behind the counter, at least on Mondays (ahem, just the one, not like at the Frisky Goat). And a lovely girl who seems to be there most days. The staff are all really good, they know what they're doing and they are always pleasant. And, they are open reasonable hours, like, til, 4 or something, I don't know, but I once tried to get coffee with a friend at about 3:30pm, and everywhere in the city was closing. Wt. 

Leavain Bakery

I haven't actually been there yet, but this post is basically an ad for Leavain and their wonderful wonderful bread (and brownies). I really particularly enjoyed a spelt and walnut roll.

I've discovered Leavain through Jan Power's Farmers Markets in the city on Wednesdays. If you go there, you might see the Russian-seeming man that preaches something that sounds a bit like communism. I've also seen him at Central station.

Anyway, here's a link to a decent post on an interesting site - by someone that has actually been to Leavain. With a photo. :)

Just discovered

Green & Black's, 85%.

Best chocolate ever.

(Someone told me something recently about the ownership of Green & Black's? something not good?)

Stanthorpe

Stanthorpe is home to the Big Apple.

 And dogs and cats, resident at wineries, cidery, cheese place, Jamworks, a lavender farm, a Bramble Patch, and such.


Most of these photos speak for themselves, I think, and maybe tell the story as well, of my weekend there a few weeks ago.

Sutton's cidery was the first place we went on a bright Saturday morning. Plenty of juices, apple brandy, as well as a dry and a semi sweet cider. I bought a bottle of semi sweet.

 

Those are real apples.

!!

 

 My favourite thing I bought in the whole weekend might have been the wooden board I got at the cheese place. Actually I wasn't blown away by the cheeses generally, and thought them a bit on the steep side, but that's probably just me. I did quite like cheese no. 2, Pepato, and bought a chunk of that.

After cheesing, we went to this liqueurs place, Castle Glen, which had about a billion kinds of liqueurs. To be honest I was a bit put off by the outside of the place. Look at it.

 

Summit wines (they had a restaurant and a cat. I saw neither)

Summit also have a delicious merlot and an insane chocolate port 'Cocovino' that tastes incredibly like Cottee's chocolate topping (too much for my taste).

I really do want to recommend, though, that you go to Felsberg. For the food and the view, even if you're not into wine. The haloumi was beautiful. The burger looked great, and the pizza did too.. and I sTILL want that cake. (One of our party was still full from breakfast, and didn't want to spend too much money, so decided on cake for lunch. Worked out well for her!)

The wine is great though. We got 6 bottles between a few of us, and were given a free bonus bottle. We chose the Gewürtztraminer because it was wonderful :) and drank it with lunch.

 

LOOK at that Ganache. Yes, with a capital G.

We thought it was pretty cute that when Miss S picked up her fork and spoon there was a stencilled... space.

In the garden at Felsberg

At Tobin you learn a lot from a passionate winemaker. I think you appreciate the wine all the more for it. It's a bit of a boutique place, where the grapes are handpicked and the merlot is intense. The wines are named after grandchildren :) I bought a bottle of the Luella Plum Cabernet for cellaring (or cupboarding).

The Jamworks bear. (Jamworks: relishes, chutneys, jams, curds everywhere. They didn't have their Apple Butter out for tasting but I bought some anyway on recommendation from a veteran Stanthorpe foodie tourist.)

The Bramble Patch.

In the rain. It was very beautiful, especially after what I felt had been a hectic weekend really. Trying to get to everywhere before they closed. 

Below - Symphony Hill. I think they have wines there, too. Their sparkling chardonnay would certainly suggest so. They also had a great gewürztraminer.

Not sure I even got photos of the olive place (with the fudge place). By the way, this dog is not the dog from the top photo - the top photo's one was at the lavender farm, the bottom's is from Symphony Hill wines.

That box in the pic is half full compared to when I brought it home, by the way.

Stanthorpe is highly recommended.

P.S. Just saw a post from Deb on Smitten Kitchen about fruit butters - hers being peach butter - check it out, especially if you haven't met a fruit 'butter' before. I hadn't. (It has no butter, egg, or any opaque thing in it. More like a jam.) This peach butter looks rather good.
The thing about apple butter not having butter IN it is that you can have butter WITH it. Or, as I have yet to do, put it on a crepe with some icecream and fold the thing up. Mmm, would not mind some of that right now.

Calcium has two allotropes, says Wiki

I've been thinking more about a few things, including propaganda of various kinds, particularly since the other day - we were standing at the bus stop and I made a joke about how a particularly plump bird nearby (not sure what kind it was) looked good to eat. Then I remembered that one of the friends I was with was vegan, and said sorry.

And he laughed, and said why should I be sorry, and something about being sorry for me because I was going to get bowel cancer from having rotting meat sitting in my bowel for 6 days at a time; a remark that sounded extremely like something out of Skinny Bitch. I was - maybe unreasonably - gobsmacked. I gave a shocked laugh and said I get plenty of fibre, water and exercise, thankyou very much, and I can't believe you just said that.

That was the best I could do at the time. But he seemed so AGGRESSIVE in that moment, and it actually really freaked me out.

This got me thinking about some value things. On my friend's blog, he has a recent post about some things that bother him about other vegans, and some omnivores' attitudes towards veganism. In another post, he also mentions not wanting to kill and maltreat animals 'just so I can eat'.
I want to make it clear that I have no problem with veganism - there are many things about it that I admire.  And I hate the idea of 'factory farming'. But I take issue with the implication that people's eating is not important. I believe that whatever kind of diet you eat, and lifestyle you lead, somewhere high on the list of priorities should be health. Your own as well as the planet's and all the creatures on it. (And I mean HEALTH, not being skinny, which is popularly marketed as health.) And of course part of health is wellbeing, which doesn't come about by obsessing to the point of getting stressed and ranting at people.

Sometimes considering the ethics of eating, it occurs to me and other thinkers/writers that eating meat/animal products - and also eating plants - has shaped our evolution in some ways, such as the use vs. disuse of our appendix, the length of our intestines, and as the meat ads on TV say, something or other about the brain. But maybe if we are designed to eat meat, we need the nutrients we get from it, like B12 and heme iron? Of course it seems there are other ways of getting most things. For ages now, though, the dairy issue has fascinated me. Especially as more meat and dairy is consumed in countries where it hasn't previously been such a part of the culture.

And I am somewhat lactose intolerant, which has also contributed to investigations about this. (Ironic on a blog named as this is, I know.)

Anyway, I've read dairy propaganda and vegan propaganda. Everyone wants you to buy what they're selling. And it may be the academic in me, but when I see a reference from a journal called 'AnimaLife' or similar, it seems a little bit dubious. As is a reference from a meat or dairy association. And nearly all of them are, because if you've got a vested interest, you're going to do the research, aren't you, but you're also going to talk about the evidence that makes your point look good and the other irrelevant.

The cry goes round my mind, again and again, 'Are there no objective investigations into this?'

I have found a couple of pieces with a pretty neutral tone, that also make it possible to feel you understand the principle of the thing, because attempting to Wiki calcium just makes me wish I'd kept doing chemistry past year 11. Anyway, thank goodness for LiveStrong. Have a look. And also the tone of a level-headed Singaporean vegan, whose thoughts on the issue (of calcium and bones) make sense and are beautifully written and, actually, who has just posted today on why some vegans are so angry, which I'm not writing on today, but have been thinking about.

Also, can anyone else put the science of this calcium-leaching issue into a clear light? Or got a reference that explains it slowly and clearly?

P.S. My attitude, from my mum, remains 'everything in moderation.'

P.P.S Phrased differently, from my dad: 'The best diet is a good vegetarian diet. Plus meat.'

winter comes to an end again

Not that I have anything seasonal to write about really.

Except I LOVE navel oranges in season.

This post, by the way, has no larger coherence. (Local coherence it has got. I know about this because of a doubly interesting talk I attended last year in a Research Methods class. But that is a tale for another time and place.)

Aaaand here is a goat.

My mum and dad came up to Brisbane, and we went to Childers for a visit. The dirt is red and amazing. It grows anything. (below see flowering.. peas?)

 SUPER anything.

They've got macadamias, bananas, avocadoes, pineapples, pawpaws, mangoes, vegetables all over the place, and beautiful oranges and mandarins and enormous lemons. But check out the carrot. We took another photo of one next to my head - think that's on Mum's camera - and it was quite a thing to behold.

In other news, I am reading P.G. Wodehouse, and not just because Stephen Fry has also read him. I recommend! It has also got me almost interested in cricket. (Ha, that just put off any friend of mine who is reading. I mean it though... ) It's great writing and thoroughly enjoyable. Not that I know what 'good writing' is. But that is far too philosophical a topic for this blog, because you and I aren't at a table with a cup of tea and something comforting that I would need to stave off the headache that this topic would bring on. (I stand by my belief that Harry Potter is well written. The end.)

In other other news, I finally tried Campos coffee. It's so attractively presented that I just knew it would be good coffee. Error. Did not particularly enjoy. I'd rather have something I made myself, with beans either from Merlo, Grinders, Oxfam or Frisky Goat. (Not Lavazza! Does not combine well with soy milk.)

Umm.... yep.  One of my friends went vegan for Lent and is now vegan. I went vegetarian for a few days because I was freaked out by both the amount of factory farmed meat in the house and the amount of time it spent out of the fridge, before spending twice as long in the fridge, before maybe being frozen for a week or several, then left out of the fridge for a day again to thaw, etc. before being fed to people. But the thing is, partly, I myself am by choice omnivorous (but I don't want meat every day, and generally not more than once a day), and more than that, I don't want to cook separate meals to the rest of the house. It just seems way antisocial. So I am back to sometimes vegetarian. And I buy free range eggs and don't use them all the time. And sometimes I cook vegetarian for the house. And it is grawesome.

Oh dear. This post has been a bit "Dear diary". Hope it's entertained you for a minute, anyway. I've had fun.

soul bistro

I found this place at http://www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/soul_bistro/ and walking in, didn't expect too much.

WIN (as they say)

Here's their website. Do yourself a favour, Brisbanites, head over there sometime soon. Great service, delicious food (bread, not on the menu, OMG) (and apple crumble sundae, [gf] sounds weird I know but is anything but)!!!! The decor is not amazing and to use the toilet you have to get the key and go over elsewhere, but you win some, you lose some, this is excellent value. And they have a $28 three-course meal.

If you're too lazy to click on the link, it's BYO, it's at 5/16 Baroona Rd Milton.

couple of good things

So I've just finished a coursework masters... in linguistics, which I love.

Just wanted to share a couple of great things:

A friend's music

Friend of a friend's writing from what seems like another planet, but also not

Interactive version of my life for the last couple of years (though more writing in English recently)

It's Ride to Work Day on the 12th of October

Makings of pear and almond flan from Consuming Passions.

I'm nuts about nuts, as you probably know. And I really have been after an almond and orange cake recently. Fingers crossed I'll be getting some today. Did you know that practically every recipe for flourless orange cake is the same one? It's in Claudia Roden's Middle Eastern Cookery book. I can just about remember it - 2 whole oranges, boiled for 2 hours, then cooled and mushed up in the food processor.. 250g caster sugar, 250g almonds, 1 tsp baking powder, 4 eggs or is it 6?. Pow!
Cooks for about an hour. That's how many times I've found this recipe.

Oh and one more thing. I stumbled on Frisky Goat Espresso yesterday after marvelling at my workmate's Frisky Goat paper cups for the last few months.
Coffee was nice, but I'm not a real snob. I enjoyed it all the more because of the attractive three manning the (kind of empty) deck... they, and the place, reminded me of home, though it was definitely Brisbane prices. They seemed to know what they were talking about, and they didn't laugh at me for soy, but instead chose a complementary coffee bean to match the flavour of the bean, as it were. AND they spelt my name right on the bottom of the cup. In arty handwriting.
All this being said, if you don't handle your caffeine well (and I thought I had increased my tolerance), go for small.

Procrastibaking

And I haven't even got any photos. But any reader of this blog would probably smile to know that in the last 5 days or so I have made 2 cakes and I smile to know that they are both eaten (except for the pieces that we took to a certain grandmother's house, that will probably be on top of the fridge next week, growing mouldier by the day).

And I have been wanting to make a pecan pie for AGES. seriously months. And we've got all the ingredients. But that seems too heavy and needs an occasion. Yes it would be fine for it to BE the occasion, but cakes are quicker when you're trying to cull 3000 words from a study AND add a conclusion and limitations/further research section.

It's not even really procrasti- anything. (Saw [title of show] a couple of nights ago which inspired the title for this post.) (Though blogging is a bit of a procrastinatory tool, as you know.) It's more just stress relief - it's nice to be able to chuck something together and then have wonderful smells in the house and people telling me things are delicious and making me tea to go with them. (WHERE IS MY TEA? haven't had any today.) But at the moment I don't really feel like cake. Or floury/bready things, actually.

Is it truly Monday? Feels like Sunday.

Yeah, this post doesn't really go anywhere. But tell you what, I have nearly finished a Master of Arts.

choice of fat, bit of a rant (sorry about that)

I like butter. Do not misunderstand me. Toast, pastry, crumbles, pancakes. YES.

But I am a Mediterranean girl at heart. I live with/for olive oil.

At the moment one of the people I live with cooks everything with butter. The assumption seems to be that if it tastes good, it is therefore evil, bingeworthy and made with butter. I caramelised some onions for a barbeque - for which I made those salads in the last post - and butterer was impressed and asked how I did it: just with butter?

NAY!!!! Go the evoo!

Onions, potatoes, pumpkin, rosemary, roast garlic, leeks, chicken, oogggggmmm ogm uhgrnm. (this is a throatier --> more realistic version of om nom nom)
What got me started on this today was my appreciation of salad dressing with decent vinegar and good oil. (Which happens to be imported from Italy. This I would not buy, but said butter-lover does not seem to have food miles or food ethics of any kind, really, on the radar. Coles tinned tomatoes from Italy, mineral water and olive oil from Italy, it pains me on my moral highchair. But Italian balsamic-olive oil blend tastes better than the nail-polish remover Coles white wine vinegar!) And sourdough dipped in evoo, like they give you complimentary at Tutto Bene.

So, darling reader, you sexy thing (did you love the Doctor calling the Tardis lady Sexy or what!!???), this is what I plan to cook tonight.

Chicken thighs (found in fridge, highly ethically dubious, but I want to use them before they have a chance to be extremely old, cooked and left on the stove for 24 hours, and fed to us with butter) WITH
chestnuts, olive oil, potatoes, rosemary and garlic (whole cloves) chucked in the oven and roasted. Salt and pepper, bien sur. May have to cover at some point to keep moist.
And leafy green salad. Possibly with some warmed bread on the side to mop up any juices.

Get some free-range (organic, I dare you) chicken and do the same. Tomorrow if not today.

PS. Do I use too many brackets in my blogwriting? What do you think?

last of the summer barbeques.. well autumn really.

Potato, lemon and green olive.

These salads took me ages a few weeks ago. The beetroot one was popular.

That mush is actually delicious couscous with figs, grapes, almonds... and stuff.

Tabbouleh :)