An old gimmick outside pie shop selling prize winning multiple varieties of this favourite despite the foodies and health consciousness in Nelson Bay.  Cool rainy day and a good appetite and a smoked chicken and camembert pie was outstanding for $6.80 and had a sprinkling of caraway seeds on top - yumm

Change

A deconstructed clown and an additional special name on a familiar company.  'Party our way' says the sign hidden behind the post.
The interior is well done and the menu had a big revision in the last year.
Self selection was commenced and the health worries over the food remain as well as the materials that go to landfill as no sorting or recycling is ever apparent.  

ICONOCLAST....its all about money....traditions are broken   relative to our local culture where nothing opened on December 25.

Time for the rest of the gang to find their place. On trying to organise a group photo.  Most others finished lunch hours ago.
 No hurry at Wests - West Leagues Club. Diners relax as if it is their own home where lunch is eventually followed by trips to the coffee bar and cakes then a drink and another chat.  Also the requirement to supply cold drinking water at a drinks bar is very useful and healthy.  

Yet another Chautauqua. Even through the glass in the window of the train carriage the scene was truly green.  Rice fields grew all the way there and back in Java.
  It must be the case that over centuries of tending the land it has been levelled, divided and devised to succeed in holding a shallow bath of water for the growing of the staple food. 
  The impression is not one of broad acres which would seem fitting to meet the high demand. More often multiple small fields in different stages of growth are seen and well orchestrated and cultivated by one or two expert farmers or a small group.  Corn and other unidentified crops are there also. 

 Amazingly the crops must be harvesting by hand as no mechanisation was apparent except for the rotary hoe seen now and again getting along half submerged. No water buffalo. Fertiliser is made available and was the subject of some scamming according to the press. Plastic pieces were hung to flap in the breeze and act as scarecrows.
  Rice fields have 'fingers' into the small villages

and up onto higher 'shelves' in the hills, every where.
  The island has a fair share of hilly country.  Gardening extended up very steep hills, in valleys and fields and centers of population were a constant feature. 
  Next to the watery fields a farmer's house, in brick, would be seemingly built sat flat on the damp ground.  In all, the housing steadfastly resists change.
  The cooked rice was invariable good. 

 Tradition in woven cane. Unique way with street food.  The whole works carried balanced on the shoulders.
 Chef concentrates on an unknown delicacy but photographer unable to linger on the verge of committing Harri Kari by crossing the street.  Just as well road users exercise give and take.   

This is a busy treasure trove of local foods and curiosities gift wrapped or vacuumed packed for the visitor, it is supposed.
 Ikan Bandeng Presto is a special recipe that may be sampled from the menu upstairs and was a great dish although the best things to put on the plate with the fish was a bit hit and miss by the uninformed.
 The basis is milkfish which is specially precooked so that all the bones are made edible and the flavour is developed.  Pepes Bandeng and other forms of the fish are also prepared so it says on the 'net. 
 Presto was an unexpected word to see assuming it is the Italian presto and that's fitting. 
 The store is around Lima in Semarang, north coast, central Java.

A familiar Real Estate Agency on the high street near Indomart and the other shops in a 'suburb' of Jakarta. 
Apparently, the 'nobody does it better' franchise is found far and wide overseas, its quality difficult to eclipse. 'Thank you Mr H!
 No way.

 Am I the only tourist who had never sampled Indonesian Pisang Goreng with a twist. Banana fried in batter - fairly normal fare but it is lastly sprinkled with grated cheese, possibly grated processed cheddar!  A sprinkle of sugar or cinnamon, or coklat is added before the cheese and it tastes just fine.
  Cheese is keju according to my dictionary.
 

Super sized avocado. Imagine what would they cost in Australia. For comparison the mandarine is not small sized.
It is forbidden to bring durians into the hotels.  Wonder why!!

 Babies are seen here well clothed and wrapped up. Being like that from an early age  must account for the ability of adults to tolerate covering from head to toe with synthetics in the steamy weather.
 I was aware that short sleeves are not usual but am a slow learner because knee length shorts or dresses are not worn at all.  Women cover up legs in jeans or slacks or long skirts and the majority wear the head scalf.  

Looks like the concrete spheres have been relocated to harbour side.

Baby formula is in short supply. Our supplies have gone overseas.
Regular powered milk is not an inferior product. It is full of nutrition, free of additives, economical and is on the supermarket shelves. It must be the very same product as that of specialized baby formula.
  Regular powered milk was previously used as infant formula by diluting the milk to make it suitable for the newborn and then gradually increasing the strength of the mix. A few vitamins likely added. 
 Evaporated milk is no way inferior and was also used in various strengths, it was recommended at times. None of theses are exactly human milk, unmodified, but one survives on them if that is good enough.
 Just imagine, fresh cows milk was the most readily available product.

 Baby formula has a price tag. It has become a money making commodity that we are dependent on and hooked on.
 Countries in the region increase their demand. Is it far reaching for they were not traditionally consumers of milk. Milk products, often sugary, are seen in their on line supermarket pages.  
 Every baby is subjected to all sorts of additives in the formula and which are taken for granted. Complex data and figures are printed all over the container. Safe, clean and green!!
 It is very advantageous to cover all the nutrition and modify the milk in that manner. Probably. Professional formula is an important benefit.
  As in the past, the right mix is required and use of too little powder to extend the purchase would be a problem when a more economical product could be a wiser move.
 After a short time, feeding progresses to solid food the content of which is under no scrutiny, its do your own thing.
  A teacher said that a lot of primary kids are not sturdy kids and don't stand up in class without lounging or leaning on the furniture. Children are found to have bizarre behaviours and obesity.  As a start we could lift our game about what we feed our tiny kids.  


 
    

Roma Queensland cattle yards.
Fight for bovine freedom
Any darn fool thing is undertaken if there is a quid in it. Live export of cattle is an extreme cruel process. 
Instead of the export of butchered fresh or frozen meat we have been blackmailed into live export.
Forget value adding.  Forget decent animal husbandry. Turn a blind eye to the sick conditions on the ships and at the destinations, the barbaric slaughtering methods and the hugh distances the cattle are moved within Australia.
Any way, vegetarianism is beneficial for our world.
Lower, can't say grass was plentiful north of Hughenden.

. 

 Driver climbs up on rig to quickly peer in at the cattle on each level in the three trailers before he has a spell in the roadhouse.
  If an animal is found 'sitting'' then there are means of getting it on its feet again.  If an animal is lying down it is a worse problem.
  The rump of one beast had rubbed raw against the side of the trailer. Noses or rumps, either seem jammed into a position and the cattle are transported hundreds of kilometers. Was said, for example, the cost is $37 per head from north west Qld to Roma sale yards.

                                                                                                                                              

   Turkish Delight or  Turk Lokumu - giving rest to the throat.

  Take two saucepans. In the first one place 4 cups caster sugar, 11/2 cups dark grape juice and juice of 2 lemons or limes.

Boil till soft ball stage.  Remove from the heat.

  In the next saucepan place 1 cup cornflower and 1/2 cup grape juice.  Stir to a paste, add 2 more cups of grape juice.  Simmer on a low heat till thick, stirring

all the time. Pour the hot syrup into the thick cornflour mixture stirring all the time.

  Simmer on a very very low heat for about an hour.  Stir every now and then.  It will get very thick almost solid at the end.

  When sure it is really really thick and your arm hurts remove it off the heat and add 2 tablespoons rose water.  Pour into a greased tray.  Leave uncovered 3 hours.

  Lightly oil a knife and cut into squares or do this - mix 3/4 cup of icing sugar, not icing sugar mix, and 1/4 cup cornflour and roll each piece in this.  Store in air tight

cool place - not fridge.  Keeps 1-4 weeks.

Happy Birthday.....

Coffee and sweet treats and more, all fresh, from a new venue in King Street with green paintwork and a few doors from the corner of Watt Street. Sweet treats and condiments are literally baked right there and are very morish. 

Factory on north side of the river Macksville area 1912.
Before multi-national dairy. Local cooperatives have had their day.

Happy Chinese New year. Some planners must be expecting similar crowds here if this taxi sorting area is anything to go by and, gosh,  it puts us right up there on the world stage.

Recently I grabbed some canned fruit at Aldis and it is not my favourite food and later I noticed how pale were the chopped scraps of fruit containing 40% fruit juice and was made in China and the brand name was Sweet Valley (sic).  Remember our Goulbourn Valley brand?
   Australian fruit and processes are much more preferable than imports.  The food miles from Chine are absurd and unsustainable.  I won't buy such as that till forced.
  All the same, the space for real food, such as canned fruit, has shrunk on the shelves.  Dinky little tubs of fruit are the go.
  All wise,  all modern woman at the supermart happened to be praising the said tubs of fruit as the best thing since sliced bread for her children.  Better choice than some the processed fruit contains sugar in the sweetend fruit, is 40% juice and has packaging and shipping.
  We don't want to lose the ability to eat a piece of fresh fruit which is a more complex food and is a healthy choice. We can't become too helpless and lacking fibre to manage a piece of fruit!  The experts promote fruit and vegies for health - it is so easy.  Nevertheless, there are those who manage without eating fruit and vegies.  They must be the exception. 
 
Australian fruit industry needs support now.

As if I know anything about town planning. But here goes. The town of Cooma was established rather early in the piece by local standards and has a colonial court house lording it over us.
From the court house, down the steps, to a small reserve of land from where the photo is taken then behind the photographer is the wall of a supermarket and it fails to enhance the setting one little bit. Wish they did better than that to this little civic centre.

Then a colonial post office, which is not a pretend post office, has had additions in the form of the white building planned to blend in but I dunno about that. 
  Otherwise it isn't all that easy to buy a bottle of wine grown in the Hunter, a vin ordinaire. Wines are blended and shipped around.  But Aldi is selling Shiraz Merlot etc for a hugh $2.49, from South Australia.
Shopping at Aldi is like going to another country, the products are unfamiliar or copy cat and interesting European brand names take the eye and they say that savings can be made. 
Fried herring fillets in Mediterranean Dressing  - it doesn't get much better than that!  Large jars of pickled red cabbage - isn't that what the explorers took with them when they sailed the Pacific as anti-scurvy - well, that's good enough for me.

Aladdin's magic lamp burned oil that was a forerunner of canola oil.  When canola is in flower the country-side looks crazily sports minded wearing the green and gold. It is our third largest broadacre crop after wheat and barley.
At flowering time the crop has implications for honey bees.

Related to the brassica family with a name derived from Canadian Oil low acid, the Canola plants develope multiple seed pods, like runner beans, which change from green to brown to black so it seems that the crop is brown and dry by the time of windrow and large harvesters.

The seeds from the pods are crushed and precessed in various ways to produce oil and substances that have very diverse uses in foods and in industry.

GM canola is also grown.  Resistence to herbicides is a feature.  There are reports of the growth of hugh weeds as a result of how things are done.

The oil is said to have health benefits over other fats.
A multinational company, Cargell, with HQ in Minneapollis, has widespread operations in canola in Australia and at Kooragang in Newcastle has a crush plant and oil refinery and oil terminal complete with a smell of cooking oil.
One local organization among others, GrainCorp Oil, is to start producing and exporting the oil and the seeds.

 

Cherry trees near the town of Young NSW are beginning to bloom. 

Arrive in Newcastle and on leaving the airport either feel right at home or somewhat jaded on seeing a brand new Maccas outlet. However, Lamb [ham]burgers have arrived.  Now, would they be a local phenomenon?
And the idea for the McCafe service originated in Australia, I understand.  The car park is equipped with free air to pump up the car tyres again on the traffic returning from Stockton beach and the sand dunes just down the end of the road.  Is this in competition with the service station on the other corner?  No stone unturned.

This last coffee pot is in the style that I have seen local Italians use in the past - as do many other people.

.... One aspect of Arabic life is their hospitality, and the single food with which this is expressed is coffee. 
There are certain rules to observe.  First, do not refuse a cup: to do so is an insult to the host.  
Your cup will be replenished a second time and a third, and more if you do not indicate to the host that you are satisfied.
A simple little jiggle of your empty cup from side to side indicates that you have had sufficient.
Only a small portion of coffee is served - a third of a cup is poured each time and the handle-less cups are very small.
It is always served unsweetened and flavoured with cardamom. 
Taking three cups of coffee is expected of you rather than just one...

I have no idea if this info is up to date.