We have to start with Ruf's birthday, and Ruf's birthday cake, because he's the one who takes us to many of our culinary experiences.

And while we're on Western-style food, I have to mention Hani's pancakes, which come with ice-cream and melted chocolate. I'm not going to be able to complete my "pancakes of Yogya" study, but never mind, I've enjoyed the attempt.

OK, so now we're on to the cassava, which must be the most versatile plant in the world. You can make it into chips (singkong goreng) or crisps (keripik singkong). (And there are at least two kinds of crisps: the one we eat tons of, and also the drier and rarer keripik singkong Madura.) And I've mentioned the soup you can make with the leaves.

But in Java, cassava is also a dessert food. It can come crispy, with cheese and chocolate; boiled, with a thin, sweet white sauce; or as part of a sweet soup. It also makes sweetmeats. I've already mentioned getuk, but we recently also discovered sawut, another cassava-sugar-coconut creation.

Which brings us to gula Jawa (or gula Melaka or gula merah), which is one of my favourite things in the world. On our third Borobodur trip, we bought some locally made snacks at the supermarket. I'm still not entirely sure what the difference is between jenang and krasikan, or how they relate to wajik. But jenang is darker and chewier, more like a toffee, whereas krasikan is lighter and has a more slice-like consistency. (Both are delectable.)

We haven't been exclusively indulging in the sweet, however. One of my recent culinary pleasures was Tembi's Kambangan Tela Grandel. This consisted of incredibly flavourful, succulent, fall-off-the-bone duck, cooked in a banana leaf with spices and green chilli; a salad made of grated coconut and male papaya flowers (yes, you do need to be that specific); and a little leaf package full of fragrant rice.

And we have also only just discovered tongseng. This is a kind of soup, laden with vegetables and (in our case) chicken (though it's often goat), and flavoured with lemongrass and curry-like spices. Very, very nice.