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.

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.