Pandan trees, basalt lava columns, and seashells by the seashore

Yesterday Lauren and I went to Burleigh Head, down on the coastline south of Brisbane. The shore waters are lovely, in blues and greens, with a bit of tan clouding from the lifted sands as the waves crest. Along the coast are large black stones, which the experienced surfers manage to stop just short of along their glides.

We walked along the beach and picked up some glorious seashells - I've never seen such pretty ones just lying right out there on the sand in the USA. Beautiful twisted multichamber structures, and larger bivalves, and the colors! reds and blacks and pinks and oranges and creams.

There was 2km hillside walk along the coast, with rainforest-like flora. I met the pandanus tree - it has beautiful exposed roots and interesting multi-segmented fruit. I was thrilled to discover that these are what pandan sauce is made of - it's this lovely green southeast Asian butterscotchy sauce that flavors sticky-rice and cakes nicely. I've long been fond of the stuff.

The area has some volcanic past, and there were these interesting hexagonal boulder columns made out of old basalt lava flow.

We tried looking for a geocache in the area, but it turned out to be situated 2m from a high leaf-mound turkey's nest, atop which papa turkey sat. The other day at Maleny we got to see a turkey fiercely warding off other turkey intruders from its nest, and I decided I didn't want to risk being nibbled on whilst searching for a cache. It's possible that they wouldn't have attacked a far larger person the way they did their own species, but... I wasn't taking any chances there ;-)

At home, Lauren and Lucas cooked yet another incredible meal... Atop steamed fresh greens they put a sweet potato mash, and atop that were some roasted tofu-steaks smothered in homemade bbq-flavored marinade, and for a garnish there were freshly-made paneer crumbles. I'm finishing off the leftovers for breakfast as I type ;-)

In case you're wondering why there aren't any photographs in this post... my camera broke, just as we reached the shore yesterday. I think the lens-whirling mechanism got interfered with when I accidentally dropped the camera. Hopefully it's fixable... Sigh.

Off to see if we can go sight some koalas in the wild, today...

Lauren's Carob-Dusted Fruit and Nut Clusters

1. Put in a quart-bowl some combination of the following: Figs, pitted dates, raisins, dried apricots, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flaxseed, walnuts, peanuts (measurements are for the weak ;-)

2. Pour water over the top, soak overnight

3. Add some of the following - grated or dry ginger, dry-roasted sesame seeds, cinnamon, cardamom

4. Add some combination of these binders, 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup total - honey, tahini, molasses, maple syrup, nut butters

5. Give it all a whir in the food processor, to either a smooth or chunky consistency as desired.

6. On a plate, spread out a mixture of almond meal, crushed roasted sesame seed and nut powder, coconut flakes, and carob powder.

7. Drop handfuls of the fruit-nut mix into the powdery stuff, and coat with it. Enjoy!