I started back at Monash Uni last week.
On Wensday, there was an orientation carnival, with most of the clubs and societies setting up stalls.
I signed up for several language and political clubs, including the German Club, the Spanish and Latin American Club, the Labor Club, and the Amnesty Club. (The Monash IT Society and The Monash Greens were noticeably absent.)
There was also a stall for a vegetarian restaurant on campus called Wholefoods. The idea is to volunteer in the kitchen for an hour and get a free meal. This was a revelation to me, as I'd been at Monash for two years, and never knew about Wholefoods. (It's upstairs in the campus centre.)
As I'd scored 3.5 planets on the Ecological Footprint Calculator, eating more vegetarian meals seemed like a good idea, so I signed up and went along to the training session later that day. Knowing I'd be at uni on Mondays, I signed up to do lunch on Mondays.
This week I helped out in the kitchen for two hours. When I started at 12 o'clock, there was already a long line of people waiting for us to start serving. I started serving people, but soon some more staff appeared, so I spent most of the time going back and forth between the kitchen and the front counter topping up the bain-maries.
I met some really great people, including Jay and Lance, who had been working at Wholefoods for ten years. Also met Ollie Bennett, who I knew from The Greens back in 2001, and served Jeremy and Alia who I met on the training.
When I did serve meals, it was really good. The people I served were all quite frendly, and I got a couple of big smiles and compliments. I think we must have served nearly 200 people! :-)
The other highlight was trying the food. I stopped around two o'clock to grab lunch, and had a bit of the spaghetti napolitana and a bit of the dahl. The spaghetti was nice, rather like spaghetti bolognese without the meat, but the dahl was surprisingly good.
I am now looking for any good dahl recipes, so if you know any, please let me know!
On Wensday, there was an orientation carnival, with most of the clubs and societies setting up stalls.
I signed up for several language and political clubs, including the German Club, the Spanish and Latin American Club, the Labor Club, and the Amnesty Club. (The Monash IT Society and The Monash Greens were noticeably absent.)
There was also a stall for a vegetarian restaurant on campus called Wholefoods. The idea is to volunteer in the kitchen for an hour and get a free meal. This was a revelation to me, as I'd been at Monash for two years, and never knew about Wholefoods. (It's upstairs in the campus centre.)
As I'd scored 3.5 planets on the Ecological Footprint Calculator, eating more vegetarian meals seemed like a good idea, so I signed up and went along to the training session later that day. Knowing I'd be at uni on Mondays, I signed up to do lunch on Mondays.
This week I helped out in the kitchen for two hours. When I started at 12 o'clock, there was already a long line of people waiting for us to start serving. I started serving people, but soon some more staff appeared, so I spent most of the time going back and forth between the kitchen and the front counter topping up the bain-maries.
I met some really great people, including Jay and Lance, who had been working at Wholefoods for ten years. Also met Ollie Bennett, who I knew from The Greens back in 2001, and served Jeremy and Alia who I met on the training.
When I did serve meals, it was really good. The people I served were all quite frendly, and I got a couple of big smiles and compliments. I think we must have served nearly 200 people! :-)
The other highlight was trying the food. I stopped around two o'clock to grab lunch, and had a bit of the spaghetti napolitana and a bit of the dahl. The spaghetti was nice, rather like spaghetti bolognese without the meat, but the dahl was surprisingly good.
I am now looking for any good dahl recipes, so if you know any, please let me know!
Labels: 2007, Environment, Food, University
Michael,
Here is a great Dhal recipe(As discussed at the cricket club)
This is based on a recipe in Stephanie Alexander's "The cooks companion." A great read with recipes chaptered by ingreidients.Anchovies to Zucchini.
Ingredients: Red Lentils(Washed and drained.Water,garlic, ginger,chopped coriander, ground tumeric, cayenne pepper (or chilli, or both depending on how hot you like it. Salt and lemon juice(add at the end of cooking.) vegetable oil, cuminj, onion , sliced into rings.
Bring Lentils to the boil, skim, then add garlic, ginger, coriander, tumeric, (not too much)and cayenne pepper.
Simmer until it begins to break down.
Meanwhile, caremelise onion rings on a low heat in the vegetable oil, then combine with crushed or whole cumin seeds. this will be added to the dhal before serving.
Add salt and lemon juice to the dhal when the meal begins to look like a thick soup.
Add onion and cumin mix.
Serve with whatever you like. I like pappadums (I think i spelt it wrong, but every packet has a different spekllling). ( Can someone clear this up)
naan bread could be good.; Stephanie suggests it's good with chicken.
(Not reccomended before a hot date because this recipe will already provide you with a hot date.)
Hi Joel
Thanks for the recipe! I tried cooking it last week.
It turned out quite different from the dahl at Wholefoods. It was browner and tasted more like the yummy mexican foods I'm used to, while the one at uni is yellower and more like a fragrant porridge. I guess the trick is how much of each thing you put in. Maybe more tumeric?
I was hoping it would taste more like a main meal somehow, given it took me several hours to cook! It seems dahl is better as a side.
Still, it was delicious. I also have a new love of cumin. Will see how it turns out next time!
Cheers
Mike
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