When in Oz

There is nothing like fresh fruit and vegetables to give me inspiration for new dinner ideas and as luck would have it, our new apartment is in close proximity to a produce market called, you guessed it, Get Fresh.  Jokes aside, the market is probably one of our favorite things about living in Melbourne.

I remember the first time that Ryan walked me through the Get Fresh market nearby our apartment.  It’s not even close to the largest market I’ve been to and it’s not outside in the open air (it’s too cold right now anyway), but it still left an impact on me because it was buzzing with people and alive with bright colors.

The market has any fruit or vegetable I could think of and some of which I’ve never heard.  There are strawberries, kiwis, apples, papaws, melons, oranges, pomegranates, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, squash, fennel, fresh herbs, spinach, onion, garlic, and so much more.  And my all-time favorite….

Avocados (Avos).  Enough said.

Red pepper is a widely used here in Australia. We see it in everything; from sauces to spreads to sandwiches and soups.  Ryan learned early in his stay that, here in Australia, bell peppers are called “capsicum”.  I’ll admit that capsicum coulis rolls of the tongue quite nicely.  Even though we’re still getting getting used to the nomenclature, capsicum makes a regular appearance in my grocery bag.

But each time I’m at the the market I find something previously undiscovered  and I make a mental note that I MUST find a recipe for that ingredient…a little backwards, I know.  This weekend, Ryan and I stumbled across these gi-normous sweet potatoes.   I wish we had put our hand near these for scale but these were almost as big as my head.

We’re finding and learning exciting things each day.

And really – I can’t help but feel good every time I walk out with my bag full of fruits and veggies.  It means that we’re helping out Australian farms, that our produce bowl will be stocked again, and ultimately that we’re cooking interesting and wholesome meals.  It’s a win-win as far as I’m concerned.  And Ryan’s not complaining about the fresh dinners either.