After Easter, Michael and I took a holiday. We booked a self-contained unit in Bryon Bay, hoping for one last bit of warmth before tackling winter proper, determined to do as little as possible. It rained for much of the week and we didn't spend as long at the beach as we would have liked, but we read and slept and caught up on some favourite TV series and barely thought about our jobs at all. The latter was what we needed most.
The best thing we did was also one of the wettest - we visited the Byron Farmers' Market on our first morning, where we filled several bags with tremendous produce. This stuff not only tasted great, it retained its fresh crunch over our entire stay. We backed up our market shop with a visit to Santos for more SOLE-friendly groceries. While we racked up a hefty bill, it was ultimately far cheaper and healthier than dining out daily.
Here's a sample of what we cooked up in our holiday-home kitchen. It's a little different to how we cook at home, where we have an enormous collection of spices and condiments. Instead we were focused on using up everything in the time we had, repurposing a smaller number of condiments and herbs over several dishes.
A curry made with
onion, chilli, galangal, garlic, kaffir lime leaves, Thai basil, coconut milk,
onion, chilli, galangal, garlic, kaffir lime leaves, Thai basil, coconut milk,
carrot, beans, tofu, capsicum, and bok choy on top of rice
Tofu scrambled with vegan pesto, a whole fried mushroom,
and avocado on toasted pumpkin bread with lemon, salt and pepper.
Fried egg on pumpkin toast with pesto
Local camembert and blue cheese with rosemary crackers (and sometimes red wine!)
Fritters made from mashed pumpkin, haloumi, Thai basil, egg, salt and pepper,
served with beans, kale and chilli chutney.
Eggplant parmas with roast potatoes and garlic and kale
Eggplant parma burgers with pesto, spinach, and roast potatoes on the side.
Nasi goreng with tempeh, broccoli, carrot, capsicum, Thai basil, onion, garlic, chilli and tomato paste
Nachos with a black bean-onion topping, avocado, cheese and chilli relish
very impressive cooking in a holiday home - all looks so fresh and colourful - glad you got a good break
ReplyDeleteyou cooked all of that in a one week holiday?! I AM IMPRESSED.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic selection of tasty looking meals! The one thing I do miss when going on holidays is my kitchen. It gets rather tiresome finding different veg meals when you are away although Byron does have some good options. We fell in love with the pizzas there a few years ago...
ReplyDeleteeggplant parma burgers. well, of course, that's all i want to eat right now, thank you.
ReplyDeletebarely thinking about your jobs sounds like heaven. :-)
Wow! Well done, they all look great, I'm sure they tasted great too. I need to you to come with me next time I go away somewhere, I think.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone! We spent a lot of time cooped up inside with the rain, and so inevitably I used much of it to plan and make food (... though Michael chipped in too). :-)
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