We're currently in Melbourne (Australia) on a holiday. I haven't been here for at least 4 years, maybe 5. There are things I immediately remember and know where to turn or what to do. There are other things that are new or I've simply forgotten.
I had forgotten about the Queen Victoria markets but Brad, my partner in crime adventure, lived here as a child and knows this city much better than I do; he directed us there first thing this morning.
As we walked through the endless rows of cheap, imported, copycat clothing and knick-knacks I was bored; my commitment to buying less, buying higher quality items and buying second-hand as often as possible has got stronger these last few years.
But then we entered the fresh produce section and suddenly I felt
alive.
I usually have little desire to create, prepare or cook meals. The reason for that is another story for another day. But being surrounded by a wide variety of colourful fruit and veg, well, I suddenly realised I wanted to buy a heap of things and create something for us from scratch.
I'm not the greatest cook. Teaching us how to cook somehow wasn't high on my Mum's to do list. (I think she thought it was more important that we got outside to play).
But if I have a bunch of veggies I figure I can pretty much fry or steam or boil them and no-one will die. Brad is about the least fussy eater ever and I don't exactly have the most discerning taste buds, so cooking a bunch of veggies on our house doesn't exactly require a fine dining chef 😉
Back to those gorgeous veggies: to be honest, it was the mushrooms that did it. Whenever I see different varieties of mushies I can't get in Woolworths (our biggest grocery store near home) then I feel compelled to buy some.
So mushies were chosen and then paired, inexpertly, with a handful of snow peas, a tomato, a bunch of asparagus, a few cloves of garlic and an avocado. I knew we had half a loaf of g/f sourdough at the apartment and that I could pile the whole lot on a plate and the man would be happy. He was.
Veggies ✔️
Cheap meal ✔️
Caroline happy because she cooked something ✔️
The raspberries I had to buy. They were devoured as soon as I got back to the apartment...
And the finished meals! Brad eats more than me, so he got less veggies and some toast (his preference). He put the veggies on the toast and made a sandwich. Then got yet another piece of bread and made another "veggie sandwich"... while I happily munched my way through this plate of veg.
It turns out that making meals that are plant-powered is way easier when I'm surrounded by a wide variety of fresh, colourful plants I can pick from 🙂😉😀
{Photos of all foodstuffs close up, taken by me on my Google Pixel 2XL phone. Photos of me at the market obviously not taken by me 😂 They were all Brad, aka @new.things.}