January Nibbles, Just [Not] Like a Koala

What koalas and I have in common is that we both spend a large portion of our waking hours eating (or thinking about eating), but we diverge in the sense that koalas eat only eucalyptus leaves forever and ever, whereas I crave novelty on my plate.

Luckily, I have friends (human friends, even) who support me in my quest for delicious, new, and often From-The-Overseas treats. For example…

In the package of goodies that Heidi put together for me whilst gallivanting around America, I found a vegan fruit and nut bar that appealed to my raw vegan dessert tendencies. Pure Bar’s Wild Blueberry Bar is made of dates, blueberries, walnuts, cashews, rice protein, agave, lemon and a few other little bits and bobs.

The taste is fruity with a subtle nuttiness, but more than anything this bar reminds me of my mum’s apple and boysenberry crumble, perhaps because her (gluten-free and vegan, no less) recipe has walnuts in the crumble. Heidi, thank you!

Can I tell you a secret? I actually bought this Cocopure Coconut Chocolate Chilli Goji Butter to take to Melbourne as a gift, but I accidentally left it at home. So when I returned to Canberra, I ate it. Can I tell you another secret? I think my subconscious made me forget to pack the jar on purpose. This was wonderfully rich with a fruity edge and the odd chilli kick. I finished off the jar with naught but a spoon direct to my mouth.

Tangent: if you’re a Whitey-McWhitester Paleface von Alabaster and you go out for breakfast at 9:30am and spend an hour and a half in the not-even-that-bright-sun, you will turn into a Whitey-McWhitester Burntface von Alalobster. If you then spend the next two days walking around for hours in the sun without applying sunscreen, you will find that two weeks later your shoulders are still faintly pink.

That has nothing to do with food or koalas, of course. Just a reminder to Slip Slop Slap.

I deeply, deeply, deeply love enormous bowls of raw vegetables. This one is topped with sun-dried tomato pesto. Also, do you like the green vase, cinnamon sticks, and 6-piece coaster set version of The Lady Of Shallot by John William Waterhouse in the background? My subconscious left them there on purpose for you.

Sometimes, if you go to a café and request Tabasco sauce, you will receive not Tabasco sauce but three little pots of tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, and sweet chili sauce.

The waiter was clearly flirting with me. I mean, three different sauces? That’s practically a marriage proposal. I bet he didn’t even spit in any of them.

This was the Thai Iced Tea that I-Hua’s Boy ordered at iSpicy. I think it will shock most of you to hear that this was too sweet for me. In fact, my tastebuds actually tried to hide upon encountering this drink.

At Komeyui, we received an amuse bouche (or the Japanese equivalent) of sweetened black beans. These were also too sweet for me. I powered on and ate them regardless, though, because, well, free.

This last is a lavender macaron from Farmer’s Daughter, which was not only pretty but helped make work taste more like an potpourri-scented underwear drawer. Who wouldn’t want that?

I think I might go make a cup of tea and keep reading my book now.

Question Time: What flavours would you like to see in a fancypants coconut butter? If it’s doable (that is, if you don’t say something like “hibiscus flowers picked at 2am on the night of the solstice whilst wearing a petticoat made of stardust), I might try to make it for you. By which I mean I’ll make it for me, but in honour of you.

Tagged as: macarons, Melbourne, snacks