From the point of view of food (and indeed from many other points of view), we are incredibly lucky to live here. I recognize this every single day. But I rarely blog about food that's not "new".

So this post is to celebrate the once-unknown-but-now-gloriously-ordinary.

Below is our menu from yesterday. It contained nothing "new". But it struck me that every day we eat delicious things that can't be found in New Zealand or Australia, and that cost very little.

-- First breakfast, from the bolang-baling cart down by the market: a nice, simple, crispy, warm doughnut (500 rupiah each, or A$0.05)

-- Second breakfast, from the rice porridge stand across the road from the bolang-baling cart: a yummy bowl of bubur, with tofu and vegetables (2,000 rupiah each, or A$0.20)

-- Lunch, from a warung in the city: lotek, which is a kind of salad, comprising spinach, other vegetables, tempe, and pressed rice, tossed in a spicy peanut sauce, and served with kerupuk (with a glass of iced tea, this cost 10,000 rupiah each, or A$1.00 -- quite expensive, actually, compared with our local lotek, but hey...)

-- Tea, from the martabak cart, which arrives outside the market most evenings at about 5.30 pm: terang bulan, which consists of a kind of fat pancake sandwiching chocolate, condensed milk, cheese, and peanuts, and should really be called sin-on-a-plate... (18,000 rupiah or A$1.80 for the two of us -- because of the price, and because of the calories, this is a rare, rare treat...)

I doff my hat to all those wonderful people who provide our daily food. God bless them all.