I was at Preston Market the other day (hello vegan donuts!) and, by some amazing coincidence, I was really hungry.  I was thinking about what to eat when I looked up and saw this:

A food truck!  A Mexican food truck! I am yet to try one of the food trucks around Melbourne.  Can you believe it?  I had fifteen minutes to myself to do a quick bit of shopping.  I used ten of those fifteen minutes to buy something from Cornutopia.

I asked if there were vegan options and was told that certainly, I could have things made vegan.  I needed something I could eat while walking so I opted for a vegan burrito.  It was filled with corn, beans, lettuce, a lovely rice with a lemon or lime tang and homemade chipotle sauce.   It would have been nice to sit at the chairs and tables provided but I had to get back to the family waiting in the car.  So here’s a messy action photo:

I managed to eat half and left the rest for later in the day as it was very filling.  It cost $10 which I think is the same price as the meat tacos.  I was kinda hoping the non-meat taco would be cheaper.  It was delicious but I do feel $10 was a bit too much.  That may make me sound stingy but… you know.  It’s just that I can put this together myself, with home made tortillas, for much less.  Still, it was something nice to try in that “I’m gonna pop some food, I got 20 dollars in my pockeeeet” child free fifteen minutes of quiet way, before the “where are the donuts I want a donut where’s my donut HIS DONUT IS BIGGER THAN MINE I WANT A BIGGER ONE THAT HE HAS” onslaught.

Cornutopia rocks up to the Preston Market but check their facebook and twitter pages for updates on their location. http://www.cornutopia.com.au

My friend Denise posted a photo on Instagram this afternoon of a fresh batch of green tea and mixed berry muffins. Naturally, I saw them and began to drool. She tagged the photo with ‘#procrastibaking’ and upon reading this, I dropped my essay research all over the floor and ran to the kitchen.

Procrastibaking is a real thing (I know, I was shocked too. And then I embraced it. Completely). It’s basically avoiding study by baking instead. Slightly more productive than trying to watch every Youtube clip ever uploaded.

My brief Google search turned up a recipe from Vegan Foodgasm, a vegan food blog that sadly hasn’t been active since 2010. But the person who ran it had exactly what I was looking for: a basic recipe that I could manipulate depending on what I felt like. I had some left over hazelnut meal that I was keen to use, so I substituted some of the flour for that. I also baked my muffins at 180°C (because 200°C scares me) for 25 minutes. The ingredients I ended up using were:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup hazelnut meal
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup Soy Milky
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup frozen fruit raspberries

Made 10 medium muffins. Nom nom nom. Now back to studying.

Husband and I had a day to ourselves without children.  We had a social event that went on for most of the day and by the time we left and drove the hour long journey home, we were pretty hungry.  We had our anniversary recently but didn’t do anything for it so tonight we had a sortof belated anniversary dinner.

We were passing through Moonee Ponds on the way home so I suggested we check out Magic Mint as we were both in the mood for Indian food.  Google told us Magic Mint were open tonight and there were options for omnis and vegans alike.  Sounds good!

Being Sunday, and very cold outside, only a few tables were taken.  That doesn’t bother me, it often means you get your food sooner!  After some discussion with a helpful member of staff, I ordered the onion bhaji and vegie pakora for our entree– the helpful woman confirmed that these were not cooked in oil used for egg/dairy/animal dishes.

I got a bit of a surprise when the onion bhaji came out because the onion bhaji I’ve had were more strips of onion as opposed to ball shapes.  I was soon bowled over by how tasty these were and perfectly cooked, with lovely subtle fennel flavours:

The veg pakora were also a nice surprise as there were different types and every one was delicious:

As you can see, there were a lot in the entrees for two people.  Whoops.  For my main I ordered the mixed vegetable curry with rice.  This was fantastic.  That’s all I can say really.  Faaaantastic.  And proof that veg curries can be bursting with flavour:

I was so stuffed from the entree that I ended taking three bhaji home and my leftover veg curry is currently sitting in the fridge too.  Husband ordered his omni meal and was happy with it.

Service was really helpful and friendly.  I think Magic Mint has become my new favourite Indian restaurant!

Magic Mint is located at 9 Hall Street in Moonee Ponds.  http://www.magicmint.com.au/

Sometimes, despite the overabundance of brunch date options in this town, the question of “where should we meet up to brunch?” can more often than not be met with blank, slightly panicked stares and much hmmm-ing and ahhh-ing. It’s almost as if an overabundance of good places and near-constant openings of new places, makes choice harder rather than easier (mon dieu!). Given that I am often viewed as a walking food directory, it is always relieving when before all indecisive eyes turn to me, someone pipes up with “I know a place!”

I had only vague knowledge of Oscar Cooper when it was suggested by Aimee as being a favourite of hers, so I was keenly anticipatory. Taking up a corner spot on Greville Street and St Edmonds Road, Oscar Cooper is light-filled, slightly industrial while also managing to err more on the side of cosy rather than cool, and manages to perk you up from your early morning fug from pure looks before you even spot the menu.

Determined not to start my Sunday morning with a caffeine jolt, I instead turned to the cold drinks section and ordered a strawberry, watermelon, apple and orange juice. One of several interesting fresh juice options on offer, this was a perfect burst of fruit sweetness to start the day with.

After being temporarily beguiled by both the thought of the Red Hill bircher with autumn poached fruits, and the thyme-buttered mushroom and ricotta jaffle, I ended up ordering the roasted beetroot, asparagus and Meredith goat’s cheese omelette with cherry tomatoes and balsamic glaze. It turned out to be more of an upturned baked eggs rather than an omelette, but no matter, it was still very tasty… were it not for the balsamic glaze, which was more of a sauce, and there was an OCEAN of it. It was sickly sweet, and having been recently schooled in the gloriousness of proper 25 year old aged balsamic vinegar, and how a lot of chefs will apparently try to make their vinegar last longer by cooking it down with a heap of sugar, I couldn’t help but be suspicious of the quality. It’s a shame, because without the vinegar the omelette was actually very nice, all cut through with chunks of sweet vegetables, and really the last thing it needed was yet more sweet.

I feel like I may have just accidentally ordered one of Oscar Cooper’s rare bum dishes, as the rest of the table were raving about how good their choices were. Aimee had the thick cut French brioche toast with grilled banana, maple syrup, chocolate buds, strawberries and cream, which was quite blatantly dessert for breakfast and a move that I wholeheartedly applaud. Kim and Bennett both had the Oscar’s benedict on potato rosti, featuring poached eggs, Berkshire bacon, smashed avocado and hollandaise, which looked gorgeous and they both raved about the dish’s fresh and crispy goodness. Aimee also pointed out a lot of other dishes that she’s enjoyed on previous visits – I really should have gone with one of her suggestions, clearly!

So here I find myself in the funny position of sort-of recommending Oscar Cooper, with the caveat that I suggest you don’t order the dish I did. There’s certainly plenty to choose from, it’s a very wide-ranging menu. The menu also made a particular mention of the fact that Oscar Cooper strives to be coeliac friendly, and that the chefs are happy to accommodate for any gluten issues you may have, which is always nice to see. The staff are friendly and the space exudes a surprising amount of warmth, which is often an element sorely lacking in Prahran eateries. This may be one I’ll have to revisit in the future in order to reassess whether this visit was a true representation of the cafe’s capabilities, but for now Oscar Cooper is a cautious ‘give it a go.’

Oscar Cooper

160 Greville Street, Prahran

Ph: 9529 5670

www.oscarcooper.com.au

Once upon a time birthdays used to be epic in our house. Teach and I would try our hardest to outdo each other for every birthday and Christmas and any other event that could be used to purchase gifts. Christmas is a perfect example: every year the competition was threefold: 1. who spent the most, 2. whose presents were largest in quantity, and 3. whose pile was the highest if you stacked them on top of each other. (Whoever wasn’t working on Christmas Eve usually won the last two.) We loved going nuts on gifts and smooches and dinner at places fancy or crap, whatever the birthday person wanted. Then we had a baby, and all these bills and so on and no sleep, and so birthdays have been more low-key, but also great because now there is a second person to give you a toothy birthday smile in the morning. Anyway, to eventually get to a point, Teach’s birthday was yesterday, and I got him a guitar pedal and a book (not very original of me) and some supercool EC comic cushions, and then we went out to dinner with his dad’s side of the family to Oriental Tea House in Chadstone.

Teach and I used to go here a fair bit; we’ve also been to the Little Collins, Prahran and Melbourne Central versions, but Chadstone is the closest. And I hadn’t really noticed this before, but it’s actually super kid-friendly – there are a bunch of high chairs, and the atmosphere is much more loud and vibrant than I’d recalled it being when Teach and I were alone together, staring into each others’ eyes. (This is lies. We have always been abrupt diners–in, order, finish, out, no dawdling.) I had been worried about taking  the Rocket since she’s discovered the ability to throw things on the floor and make dinosaur sounds while waiting impatiently for food, but I think the location was a success, actually.

As for the eats, well, there are no pictures, but as I doubt anyone comes here for my outstanding culinary photography, it’s probably no problem. We usually order the same things: two spring onion pancakes, buckwheat chili dumplings, vegetarian dumplings, and salt and spicy soy bean tofu. This time we also ordered two serves of the vegetarian san choy bao, because I thought the Rocket would like to try some. (She did not.) It was flat out, due, I guess, to the fact that there was some VIP night on inside the neighbouring behemoth of a shopping centre (this restaurant is on one of those arms that sticks out towards a car park, so, part of the centre but not inside) and it meant both the service and the food, while perfectly adequate, were hit and miss. I’ve often found the food to be great one day and average the next, but on the upside, it’s never been terrible. Teach didn’t eat his san choy bao but hoovered down everything else. I ate so fast I wasn’t sure if I was hungry or full at the other end. The dumplings come in little bowls of three, so you can order a fourth to even up the numbers or just let the birthday guy eat two instead. (I am Very Kind.)

The tofu was excellent as always, six little deep-fried cubes accompanied by spring onion and chili. I used to go to bat for these every time we were figuring out where to go for dinner. I think the tastiness of them blinded me to other things, like the fact that the skin on the buckwheat dumplings is usually too goopy, and none of the dumplings ever come close to most other places (like my current superfavourite China Red.) One other specialty of this place is the tea – every single one I’ve tasted has been beautiful, and they sell them instore, along with quite lovely tea sets. I’m trying to cut down on sugary drinks at the moment as I can’t fit into any of my pants, but I recommended the raspberry & lime iced tea to my stepsister-in-law and stared at her drink in jealousy when she ordered it, and did it again when she ordered a second.

Her grandfather’s birthday was the day before. We gave him, among other things, this Chinese Zodiac figurine, which the Rocket promptly broke.

So, in conclusion (these are turning into essays a bit, aren’t they? I am excited and wordy today) Oriental Tea House remains a decent place for a meal, friendly to those with kids, fairly well-priced (though sparing on the dumpling quantity), and a good atmosphere, probably because the decor is quite fun.

Oriental Tea House

Shop F015

Chadstone Shopping Centre

Chadstone

9949 2071

website

Arthur has been asking me to make jam donuts for a long time.  About four years in fact.  When I last made jam donuts, DeeW was crawling around and we had to put the deep fryer in our bathroom to keep her away.

So I agreed to make the donuts but we first had some stuff to do in the morning and went to an op shop as I had donations to drop off.  I’m supposed to be decluttering but I walked out with all this for the grand total of $2.50.  I already have two of these glass jars so I always snap them up when I see them:

I wish I’d photographed the original Simon Says game I saw.  Boring, you say.  What’s so good about Simon Says? you say.  WELL.  My fellow Aussies will oooh excitedly when I tell you it’s Simon TOWNSEND Says!  If it’s still there the next time I visit I’ll take a pic.  I think it was $10.  Worth it for a photo of Simon’s haircut on a box, don’t you think?

I was recently reading Woman In Real Life’s blog post about an op shop she visited and the Leave It To Beaver books she saw there.  Who knew they made Leave It To Beaver books?  And who knew they’d end up in a Melbourne op shop?  It was $5, bargain price for such a book but I resisted:

So, the donuts.  I really dislike deep frying so you can see why it’s been four years.  But I do love hot jam donuts and buy some from the van at Preston Market but that’s not often at all, which suits me fine.

Anyway, Arthur was also nagging for some spring rolls (lumpia) so this time I said I’d use the deep fryer.  When I made the spring rolls last week or so, I just used a pot on the stove.  I figured the deep fryer would be easier because you just put everything in the frying basket and let it go.  But oh my goodness you use SO MUCH OIL to fill the fryer.

And here’s where a slight problem starts.

The deep fryer is stored in a little storage room next to our laundry.  The deep fryer was put there around four years ago.  Except the deep fryer, from four years ago, had not been emptied before it was put away.  I’m pointing the finger at Husband.

Imagine four years of stinking hot summers and a deep fryer that still has the oil in it.  There was no mould but the rancid oil smell was bad enough.  Not to mention how sticky it all was.  I made Husband wash it out while I got stuff ready.  Even though he washed it thoroughly it still has that awful smell.

Anyway, I was going to use a fantastic recipe from “The Bread Book” by Linda Collister.  I’ve made it once before but it involved a fair bit of prep work– the first rise of dough, then you stamp out circles, plop jam on a circle, seal with another circle, leave to rise again, etc.  I don’t have the room to stamp out dough (well, I would if I cleaned the kitchen table) and I wanted something quick.  So it was a pretty cool coincidence that the latest free issue of the Woolworths Fresh Magazine had a recipe for donuts, although theirs were filled with chocolate.

This recipe was super easy.  I added 1/8th teaspoon of turmeric for a yellow colour but I could have added more as it wasn’t all that yellow and I doubt that much turmeric would affect the taste.  You know the nice yellow colour from the donut vans?  That’s what I wanted.

After the dough had doubled in size, DeeW and I rolled walnut sized balls:

then they were lowered in to the CLEAN deep fryer and cooked:

and finally a squeeze of jam and some caster sugar:

Getting the jam in was hard and we used a metal piping set.  Look what happens when you put too much jam in:

They tasted good but were nowhere near as beautiful as the donuts I made years ago, where the jam is placed inside the dough for the second rising.  That ensure the donuts stayed perfectly round.  Today the donuts got squashed a bit when we put the nozzle in.  They kind of look like demented eyeballs.

These are not something I see myself make again.  I felt sick from eating that oil (I get awfully queasy most of the time after eating something deep fried).  Still they were tonnes better than the gluten free jam donut I tried last week which was horrible and pretty much a solid oil formation.  I still feel sick thinking about it.  In future though, if we want jam donuts we’ll just go and buy them.

You can find the recipe on about page 26 of the Woolworths Fresh mag by following the link above.  I used egg replacer in place of the two egg yolks without a problem.  We used strawberry jam my mother in law made but nothing beats the jam the donut vans used and I have no idea what that is.  Or even if it contains strawberries.

Mmmm donuts!

I am the first to admit that I am a fussy snob when it comes to burgers. There’s a lot of things that irk me when it comes to burger-making that makes it hard for burger joints to gain a wholehearted tick of approval from me. Everything from having overstuffed burgers that are impossible to eat, too many sauces that create a sloppy mess, and having buns that are too soft, too sweet, or, worst of all, too hard to actually bite through all contribute to turning me into a sad panda.

The positive reports that filtered through to me from friends and various blogs about Jus Burger piqued my interest. Here seemed to be a place that might be able to offer an acceptable cheap and cheerful burger option to my particular liking. Honestly, any alternative to the dreaded Grill’d is always welcome in my book, so Jen and I went investigating.

Imported from Perth, the Chapel Street Jus Burger is the first Melbourne outpost for the franchise. It’s a pretty standard hipstery burger joint in terms of outfit – bright colours, high tables with bar seats, little plastic toy animals standing in for order numbers.

We started off with a serving of the onion rings, served with aioli, as I am terribly addicted to the ones from Lord of the Fries and as a consequence basically walk around with a cartoon bubble with a picture of onion rings floating above my head at all times. While they didn’t live up to LotF’s heavenly version they were still pretty decent: fine breadcrumb that went super crispy, and soft onion within. Jen felt that the aioli was far too mild, but I didn’t mind that so much.

To what we were really here for. While being quite tempted by The Chickpea, a felafel burger with tahini and slaw, I ended up going with the tempeh burger: spiced tempeh pattie, with mayo, tomato, lettuce, on the standard Jus Turkish roll. Now, possibly I should have known better than to go with this option as my first Jus foray, as tempeh can be a very hit and miss prospect. While the texture of this one was very pleasing, avoiding being a dense brick like so many other tempeh patties, there was something about the flavour that was slightly lacking. Not bad, just needing a bit more omph.

Structurally, however, the burger was definitely in the realm of my preferences – not too big, not too saucy but also not dry, the bread was soft enough to easily bite through but didn’t end up dissolving against the wet ingredients, and best of all, they served it with a proper serrated knife so you could cut it in half for ease of scoffing!

Jen was the burger winner with her choice – the panko-encrusted pumpkin with goats cheese and basil pesto. She was kind enough to let me gnaw a portion, and it very nearly was her doom because it was so delicious that I was tempted to push her off her stool and devour it before she had a chance to reclaim it. EXTREME BURGER ENVY.

As we’d chosen the meal option, the burgers were served with either chips or salad, coleslaw and a type of green pickle. I went with chips (because I don’t know when to stop when it comes to fried things), which were good and crispy, a very nice side, particularly with a squirt of ketchup. The slaw and pickle I was less enamoured of, but then again I am very rarely enamoured of either slaw or pickles. Jen’s salad was in the Greek mold, with a lot of cucumber, tomato and olives among the standard lettuce. Good if you can resist the fried sides (BUT WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO?).

So, despite not being that jazzed by the flavour of my eventual burger choice, I can see very clearly what Jus is doing right, and I like it. I’m very keen to go back and have a panko pumpkin burger to myself, and to also sample the other vegie burgers (as well as the Chickpea there is a build-your-own vegie burger). I’d love to hear if any of you are also very particular about your burgers, and where the ones that ring all of your foodie bells can be found.

Jus Burgers

364 Chapel Street, South Yarra

Ph: 9827 1318

www.jusburgers.com.au

It feels like we haven’t been to Mister Nice Guy’s Bake Shop in aaages.  That’s probably because we haven’t been in aaages.  Arthur had requested I make pancakes for Mothers Day (as in, Mother does all the work) and I said think again buddy cos I’m not going near a frying pan.  We decided on treats from Mister Nice Guy to take to my Mum’s house for afternoon tea.

As usual, there were lots of lovely treats at the bake shop:

My sister and I were pitching in for afternoon tea so got some cake (yum!) and a piece of the grasshopper cheezecake which is mint flavoured.  As it was brunch time when I visited the bake shop and I hadn’t had breakfast, I decided to try the ‘BLT’ bagel.  Oh my, it was delicious:

Part of our day today involved passing through the suburb of North Melbourne, a lovely part of town:

I love this old lettering on a store right near Mister Nice Guy’s:

… it matches this stove someone put out on the nature strip (grassed areas outside homes):

Best Mothers Day present: my legs look long and skinny!

Best wishes for a fantastic Mothers Day, to all you mums out there!

I’ve been slack AGAIN with my ‘what I ate this week’ posts.  Meal planning has gone out the window for another week because of Husband’s unpredictable work schedule.  I did manage to take some pics of various this-and-thats!

Kale and chickpeas dressed with lemon juice and nooch:

I can’t tell you how happy I am that Arthur and DeeW are eating porridge.  I get to cook ONE BIG BOWL then serve it out.  Bliss!  I had some with currants and golden syrup.  With toasted coconut, I call it ‘ANZAC Biscuit Porridge’:

Bad photo of the vegan packet rendang mix with leftover potato and sweet potato mixed in:

In the week before Greek Orthodox Easter my mum made vegan ‘koulourakia’.  Koulourakia are bready-biscuitty things served alongside coffee and tea.  Mum’s usual recipe has butter or cream but this version is made with oil.  Everyone makes their koulourakia differently.  My maternal grandmother made big hearty versions but my paternal grandma made hers sweeter and heavier.  My mum makes hers somewhere in between:

Speaking of Easter, here are the flowers Mum had on the table for Easter Sunday lunch:

For lunch Mum made rice with veg.  My sister made the roast veg and a leek potato soup.  Due to an unfortunate miscommunication, there was no vegan dessert.  It didn’t matter though as I was pretty full anyway:

One of my favourite smoothies is made with orange, lemon and frozen bananas:

I made a walnut basil pesto which was delicious.  I tried some gluten free rice macaroni.  The first time I cooked it according to the instructions.  Sat down to eat and the pasta was still hard (yes I’d tried a piece before turning the stove off!).  It was so hard I threw everything away and made a second batch.  I had to cook the second batch for double the amount of time stated on the packet and the piece I tested had turned to moosh.  Sat down to eat the second time and some of the pieces were still too tough and I’m not talking al dente!  I ate it  because I was starving but I’m never buying it again:

A Lebanese zaatar bread from Zaatar on Sydney Road in Coburg:

I went to lunch at Zaatar and ordered their falafel zaatar focaccia, which they assure me has no animal content at all.  It was delicious and I could barely finish it all:

My mum’s vegan ‘yemista’, which are Greek stuffed vegies.  Mum always uses rice but this time she used burghul:

I had a voucher for Lord of the Fries so I treated myself to their Spicy burger.  I forgot to take a photo until I’d demolished it:

…and this was my view as I ate my burger at LotF near Flinders Street Station:

It was a beautiful day and I had my camera with me, so I’ll leave you with some snaps of my super home town  :)

And home again:

\o/

‘Vegan Eats World’ by Terry Hope Romero was a book I pre-ordered with much excitement.  Vegan food, world cuisine– I’m sold!  When the book finally arrived I waited until I had a completely uninterrupted few hours just so I could sit down on the couch and really take my time looking through it.

The way I usually look through a new cookbook is like this: I look at pictures first.  Then I flip through the pages from the start and get a rough idea of the recipes.  Then I go back to the very start and read everything properly, the dedications, thank yous etc.  I then get a stash of little strips of scrap paper to use as bookmarks so I can come back to those pages.

With ‘Vegan Eats World’, I had to run and get myself some more little scrap paper bookmarks.  One recipe I made sure to note were the lumpia, or spring rolls.  I’ve never really wanted to make stuff fried in oil so I was pleased to see the recipe gives an option for oven baking.

Terry’s lumpia are made up of dried coconut that gets toasted, carrot, potato, cabbage, watercress, onion and garlic.  That stuff gets cooked up then you fill spring roll wrappers and roll them up and fry or bake.  I went for the fry option this time, just as one of those “I never do this otherwise, so why not try it”.  And truthfully, I wasn’t sure if they’d turn out in the oven.

The filling has vinegar in it (the kinds of vinegar are listed in the recipe) but I left it out entirely.  I also left out the onion because of pure laziness.  I just couldn’t be bothered dicing an onion.  That’s me.  There’s a dipping sauce recipe listed but I just used sweet chilli sauce instead.

I was surprised that these turned out great.  Not that I doubted Terry at all.  It was more this pattern I have, where I put effort in to a recipe and then somehow it doesn’t end up the way I think it should be so I’m all mehhh won’t do that again.

I ended up making another batch in the oven just to see how they turned out.  Baking does not give them the nice even browning and I found they went too crunchy.  Still, the kids ate them all up:

Since the initial experiment I’ve made them a few times and added chopped kale to the mix. The only problem with them is you can easily eat the entire batch in one sitting…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my many years reading and writing vegetarian food blogs about Melbourne, it’s this: if Cindy and Michael from Where’s the Beef really, really, REALLY like a place, you had best sit up and pay attention. Because they know their shit. Consequentially, Cafe Lua has held a high spot on my ‘must go’ list for an embarrassingly long time.

After a morning enormously well spent watching Jurassic Park in 3D at Imax with Michaela (turns out my whole life had been waiting for the moment where I got to see a three story tall shirtless Jeff Goldblum), the opportunity to finally visit Cafe Lua was now at hand.

The space runs wild with op shop hipster kitsch – mismatched tables and chairs, miscellaneous crockery, potted cacti and other tchotchkes crowd any flat surface, but it’s endearing rather than obstructing. The staff are friendly but not obtrusive, and the menu is a highly intriguing one, containing not only multiple dishes that are either vegan or coeliac-friendly (or both!), but also dishes that seemed to me to be quite unique in terms of Melbourne’s overall brunch dish trends.

This difference is present from the drinks menu onwards. Michaela and I were pleased to see a variety of interesting cold drinks. She went with the red orange juice, a cool glass of ruby red, while I couldn’t go past the chrysanthemum iced tea with peach nectar and mint, which was just as refreshingly, sweetly decadent as you would expect.

Food wise, I had been eying off one dish in particular through all my blog review reading envy: the pumpkin and chia seed pancakes with yoghurt, lentil and spinach salad, sprinkled with sumac and red onion. The description alone just sounded so different to what I am accustomed to expect from a brunch menu. Savoury pancakes! Savoury pancakes with LENTILS! And they were every bit as good as I was hoping, with the pancakes fat, fluffy, and noticeably pumpkin-y. The chia seeds definitely added interest texturally, while the saucy lentils were alternately tart with the yoghurt, and spicy with the sumac, and all over DELICIOUS. This is a candidate for dish of the year for me.

Michaela went with the sweet version of the Canadian French toast with rhubarb, strawberries and cream. This looked like the kind of meal you’d get in a dream American diner from a movie, all fluffy piles of cream and shiny strawberries, complete with a jug of syrup. Michaela was very well pleased with it indeed, and I also couldn’t help but think it would be the perfect sweet recovery from a hard night before.

After such a pleasing initial foray, it didn’t take me long to make a second visit to Cafe Lua in the company of Alison and Phoebe. While it was very tempting to just order the pancakes again, I diversified by going with a blackboard special of strawberry and rhubarb bread with orange ricotta and hazelnuts. While serving size-wise it was a bit smaller than expected, it was still a delightful (and rich) breakfast, with the warmed wodge of fruity-threaded bread generously drizzled with the thinned out ricotta and sprinkled with hazelnut chunks.

While I sipped on a nicely decent chai latte, Alison got stuck into the pumpkin pancakes at my suggestion, while Phoebe tackled the corn stack with bacon and a poached egg. They greatly enjoyed them, although Phoebe’s monster-sized dish ended up getting the better of her; going savoury is clearly the way to go if you have a big appetite. I also spotted a dish that sparked instant food envy, the haloumi and cherry tomatoes combo which has me itching to go back just to try it.

Seriously, get to Cafe Lua now. It’s clever, comforting food in a very unpretentious package.

Cafe Lua

Cnr Elgin & Drummond Streets, Carlton

Ph: 9348 1118

www.cafelua.com

Being vegan I hadn’t had a pizza in a couple of years.  This all changed last week when I topped a pizza base with an overdose of leftover pasta sauce, lots of garlic and a sparce amount of artichoke, kalamata olives and notzarella.  That simple pizza reminded me how good they are.

So when I saw these frozen pizzas at my favourite local grocer (Taste Organic in Crows Nest) I really really wanted to like them.  I grabbed four – 2 “Meatless Feast” and 2 “Ham and Pineapple”.  At about $8 each and smaller than my bread and butter plates, they’re not amazing value so I figured a taste sensation was waiting for me when I got home.

Ten minutes in the oven and the base was crispy and the “cheese” melty.. From first bite to the last I couldn’t be more disappointed..  Lacked the cheesy flavour and stretchiness of notzarella, there didn’t appear to be any tomato base, and the “meat” was mushy and lacking in flavour.

Long story short, just buy your own base and make one of your own, it’ll take you all of 2 minutes longer, be cheaper and taste amazing… Like this one:

A few weeks ago, my friend sent me a link to Merchant’s Guild in Bentleigh East, with the simple question – “Go with?” I responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” The menu looked great, with interesting options, and their chai was very highly praised (and I love me some chai).

Now, put any vegetarian dish with the word “polenta” in the description on the menu, and there is a pretty high chance that I will order it. So, predictably, I went with the Pumpkin, Fetta, and Harissa Polenta Biscuit, Free Range Eggs, and Za’atar. The waitress was also super lovely and gave me a sampling of the Jalepeno Salsa that had nearly pulled me over to order the corn fritters.

Beautifully plated up, right? The dish itself was really nice (bar the pea shoots though, as I absolutely loathe pea shoots!) – the polenta biscuit was lovely and smooth, with chunks of pumpkin and feta throughout. I couldn’t taste the harissa in the biscuit though, and even on the eggs it wasn’t there. It was quite fun to roll the eggs in the za’atar. The jalepeno salsa tasted more minty than jalepeno-y, but it was still quite good and zingy.

So, how did the their Chai rate?

I love the green cups and plates! Anyway, the Chai was pretty good, but the flavours were a bit too subtle for me (I might’ve killed too many taste buds with spicy foods) – I like my chai to have really bold flavours.

Afterwards, we headed over to the wonder that is the Oasis Bakery – I cannot believe that I didn’t know of its existence until then. To call it a bakery is a ginormous understatement.

680 Centre Road, Bentleigh East 3165

Haha no seriously, this is not some kind of definitive post on how to feed your kid. But sometimes it is just ridiculously hard to come up with ideas on what to get into that little squidgy belly of theirs that a) they will like and b) isn’t somewhat terrible for them. (I mean, the Rocket would eat chips all day, as would I, but it’s probably not recommended in anything but the Fiona Food Pyramid.)

Food can also be something that can really tie into your self-esteem as a parent. Sometimes you’ll turn up to a group outing with a packet of insta-food (Rafferty’s Garden do great ones) while every other adult has prepared something fresh for their kid, and you’ll feel like a lazy parent. If, like Rocket, your kid is a bit undersized, you’ll worry you’re not feeding them enough, or the right things, and then you’ll share your worries with some other parent of a normal-sized kid who will suddenly panic because their kid only eats half as much as yours is, so are they doing it wrong? Some parents pre-make heaps of healthy meals and then freeze them, but I have never been that kind of person and while I desperately wanted to be that kind of excellent, coordinated mother, I just cannot. (I did actually make a bunch of vegetables once and froze them, about seven months ago, and they are still in the freezer in the container I bought specially for the purpose. I don’t even want to unfreeze them because it will probably be gross. I’m thinking I might just buy a whole new fridge so I don’t have to think about it.) Once I spent two hours making these tofu vegetable pancakes that Rocket hoovered down at a potluck, only to have her push them off her high chair onto the floor in disgust. Sometimes she will eat everything I offer her, other times she refuses everything that isn’t bread. So I will say: don’t beat yourself up about food. Do what you can, offer variety, but look at the big picture, over a week or so, not that day where all your kid ate was sultanas from underneath the couch and eight hot chips from when you had lunch at the shops. And what you offer your kid compared to what your friends offer theirs does not in any way indicate who is a better parent or who loves their kid more.

That boring telling-off over, here’s what I tend to do. Sometimes she can eat what we’re having, but sometimes our food is a little spicy or awkward or too chewy etc etc so I mostly give her her own thing to munch on. Here’s just a few of the things I feed the kiddo, that she’s loved repeatedly, and if you have any excellent ideas I would love to hear them too. I especially like things she can feed herself, because that means I can eat my own food in peace without having her scream at me for being too slow on the spoon front. I AM NOT YOUR SLAVE, BABY. (I am totally her slave.)

1. Vegemite Sandwich. Never underestimate the Vegemite sandwich. Warning: you will get jealous, so make sure you have enough to make your own. Warning 2: it will go everywhere.

2. Baked beans. I chop up some spinach to go with them. Warning: you will get jealous, so make sure you have enough so that you can eat some, for temperature testing purposes of course.

3. Squishy packet of supermarket baby food + pasta. These packets are lifesavers, and I usually have one in my bag for a good snack and about ten in the house to add to things. They’re often pureed but you can get other types, meaty/fishy ones too, but I get the vegetable ones and they have no additives. (You know they’re telling the truth because they look totally unappealing.) Add them to couscous, quinoa, pasta, or when your kid is hungry, give them one to suck on. It’s fun because they can do it themselves, it’s not fun because they can get excited and fling them around, getting pureed swede on your newly cleaned floor dammit.

4. Felafel (I get the Macro ones that are interesting flavours, like split pea and spinach, or smoky eggplant, etc etc) mashed up into a bowl with other smooshy things, like avocados, cheese if you’re into dairy, hommous maybe, stuff like that.

5. One thing I make which takes no time and makes enough for maybe three meals is this. 1 can lentils (I mean, sure, soak, drain, and boil your own, but I am never that prepared.) 1 handful frozen peas, thawed. 1 little can corn. Put one third of each amount in a bowl and fridge the rest. Add 1/2 avocado. Mush together. The Rocket goes nuts for this. I’ve also used other bean things when I opened my can of lentils and discovered it had expired, even though I had bought it that day. (Putting the gross into grocery store, guys.) So, three bean mix, or maybe kidney beans, whatevs.

6. I am suddenly forgetting everything else I make.

7. My actual reason for this post was because I’d had a good success the other day with these tofu strips. We had a picnic on the State Library Lawn with my friend Steph and she’d contributed some marinated and fried tofu for the adults, but the Rocket got her hands on them and totally went for it. I demanded a step-by-step instruction text, because I am terrible at winging it with food, and made them. Fresh, they are crispy and SUPER GOOD. I ate them alongside her and am scheming ways to put them in grown-up dinners and sandwiches.

i. Get some of the firmest tofu you can, so it holds its shape. I went for the Macro brand again. Use about half a block, it makes enough for you *and* them.

ii. Not sure if this is necessary, but I pressed it to get the water out: you fold some paper towel, put the tofu on it, add more paper towel, then put a weight on top. (I used 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.) Leave as long as you can. I probably waited quarter of an hour.

iii. Slice into rectangles maybe half a centimetre thick. Or whatever. I’m not the boss of you.

iv. Make a marinade of 1tbsp soy sauce and 1tbsp Chinese 5spice powder. Coat tofu strips. Leave to marinate at least ten minutes probably.

v. Fry in a bit of oil, flipping over halfway, until golden brown.

vi. Eat them, MAKE MORE, share with the kid I guess. I left some in the marinade overnight and the next day they were good too. I served them to the Rocket with a bunch of peas and pasta (i.e. all lazy finger foods) and she ate every single bit apart from five peas that escaped the table. SUCCESS.

Thus ends a lecture on food for one-year-olds. You better have paid attention, because there will be a test.*

*This is lies.

Lately we have been really busy, hence the lack of posting.

Here are a couple of pictures of just some of the stuff we have been baking.

Medium Black Forest cake (GF)

-chocolate cake with cherries and dark chocolate, filled with jam and chocolate buttercream frosting topped with dark chocolate ganache, vanilla buttercream and even more chocolate.

Sugar free Brownies made with date paste (GF)- They don’t look like much but they were very tasty. I could eat them all day!

Red Bean Muffins- I made a red bean paste with red beans, maple syrup and a little cocoa. Then I made a simple wholemeal muffin mix and added some paste to the centre of the muffin as I was filling the tray. It worked out really well!

Here is what the inside looked like. You could even add more paste if you really wanted to… nom nom

Orange and Coconut Cake (GF)

Passion fruit tea cake (GF)- just because we felt like a sweet treat after a long day at work (basically we are addicted to baking/baked goods!)

And lastly a sneak peak of some (naked) Strawberries and Cream cupcakes (GF)

xxxx

SP&CC

www.sweetiepieandcuddlecakes.com

Last week I was treated to lunch at Rubicon Cafe in North Melbourne.  My dining pals and I went at a non-busy time so the place was empty.  In our group we had vegans (well, me), vegetarians and GF folk and we were happy to see there was something for everyone.

I was in the mood for pizza and the friendly guy who served us was very helpful and told me they’d make me a vegan special.  Sounds good right?  And it was.  It was also of hub cap size:

Vegan pizza is one of things I usually avoid because, well, the ones I’ve had are mostly crap and boring.  Not this one.  It had potato!!! And pumpkin!!!  And cherry tomatoes, capsicum, mushies, olives, spinach, red onion, broccoli WILL YOU STOP THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH.

This is the best vegan pizza I’ve ever had.  I was never much in to cheese on a pizza so the lack of vegan cheese wasn’t a problem at all and in fact if it were an option I would have said no.

It was about $16  and despite how huge it was, I managed to stuff it all down, leaving some crusts (and some dignity) behind.

Rubicon Cafe is located at 50 Errol Street, North Melbourne.

Husband said magic words the other day: “let me take you to lunch”.  Arthur and DeeW were with their grandparents and Husband and I had errands and stuff.  We were around Sydney Road in Brunswick so I suggested Wide Open Road because I was in the mood for those slow cooked beans.

We were there a bit after the lunch hour so we were one of only a few tables occupied.  Then I got a bit of a shock to see the menu had changed.  No slow cooked beans.  No smashed peas with maple walnuts on sourdough.  No apple-slaw sandwich.  I wasn’t feeling very well that day and was a bit down in the dumps-sooky when going through the menu and finding that nothing really jumped out at me.  I wanted beans so I ordered the side of ‘smoky braised beans’ and the summer salad.

The beans were delicious and the smokyness was just right.  Not like when you make a smoky-something at home and put too much liquid smoke in.  These were perfect and I really wish they’d make a big serve instead of having it as a side dish:

The ‘Summer Salad of strawberries, orange, pomegranate, watermelon jelly, coconut tapioca and puffed grains’ was pretty nice too, although I did feel the light sprinkling of puffed grains was a bit unnecessary, though that could be because I really don’t like the chewiness of puffed grains.  I was a bit disappointed that the watermelon jelly was just a few tiny thin slivers.  The coconut tapioca part was really nice though and the best thing about it was that it wasn’t overly sweetened.  The sweetness was just right, so that part gets a thumbs up from me:

Wide Open Road is located at 274 Barkly Street, Brunswick.  See their website for more details:   http://wideopenroad.com.au/

* * *

After lunch we had some stuff to do around Melbourne University.  I love walking around the uni grounds, some of the buildings are beautiful.  See? Enjoy!

Hommus, houmous, hummus, hummous, hommos, humos or hoummos. However you spell it, it has chickpeas and it tastes good. This Middle Eastern dip is a classic addition to any spread, but also extremely easy to dress up: throw in caramelised onions, sun-dried tomatoes or harissa for something a little different.

Hommus uses an ingredient called tahini, which is essentially ground up sesame seeds. To most people, it’s not exactly appealing by itself, but it does improve hommus. You might find you have a choice between buying hulled and unhulled. I’ve always bought the hulled type – the unhulled is darker and apparently has a stronger flavour – but there doesn’t seem to be too much difference between them. The brand I buy is Mayvers, which I get from the Health Food section in Coles supermarkets.

Ingredients:

• 1 tin of chickpeas
• 1 tablespoon of tahini
• 1 lemon
• Olive oil

Method:

• Chuck everything except the oil into a food processor. I like to juice the lemons buy hand, using one to squeeze and the other to catch any pips. If you’re not sure how much lemon you like, only add half to begin with.
• Turn on the food processor and slowly add olive oil until the dip reaches a consistency you’re happy with. Taste a bit and add more lemon if desired. You can also add some salt and garlic to season the dip, but I never find it needs it.
• And there you have it: hommus! Serve with parsley to garnish/eat and sprinkle with sweet paprika.

It works out costing roughly $2.20 for about 2 cups (or 400g) worth of hommus, which is the same cost as the Coles homebrand version… except you end up with twice as much and it tastes far superior.

When I read the description of white pudding, I assumed that A) it would be easy to veganise and B) I knew what it was.

I was wrongish on both counts.

On closer inspection it turns out that white pudding is actually made of suet and oats and spices, which are then stuffed into a sausage-tube-thing. I’ve replaced suet before, usually with margarine and copha, but I’ve got no idea how to substitute a sausage-tube-thing.

But the show must go on, and dinner must be made, so I had a crack at white pudding, deconstructed.

White pudding (sort of), clapshot and veggies

The recipe is below, so rather than go into detail about all the guessing and substitutions, I’ll just tell you how it was. It was good! I don’t know if I’d make it again, considering the trouble, but it was honestly very tasty, and certainly different to what we’d usually munch on.

I served it up with some sautéed vegetables, and clapshot, which is mashed potato, swede and chives.

Vegan, deconstructed, white pudding
Serves 3

• 1 cup oats, ground
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup tempeh, crumbled
• 1/4 cup copha, grated
• 2 tbs vegan worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbs dried sage
• 1 tbs dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp massell vegan beef flavoured stock
• more oil, for frying

1. Grind the oats in a coffee grinder or food processor.
2. Soak the oats in the milk for 30 minutes.
3. Fry the onion in the olive oil, until soft.
4. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and mix until sticky and well combined.
5. Wrap the whole mess tightly in some foil, baking paper or plastic wrap, and steam in a double boiler or bamboo steamer for 10 minutes.
6. Let sit until cool.
7. Attempt to cut the unwrapped ‘sausage’ into pieces (mine did not like being chopped).
8. Heat some extra oil in a non-stick pan, and add slices of sausage. Fry until lightly browned on each side.
9. Serve with a full breakfast, or with potatoes.

It seems like everyone in the Melbourne veg*n blogging world has been to Gong De Lin.  Okay well maybe not really, but I feel like I’m about fifty thousand years behind the times because I’d never been.  I was in the city today and was starving around 3:30pm so I said listen up Veganopoulous, you will go to Gong De Lin OR ELSE (or else you… will be hungry I guess).

Yet again, I forgot to take a photo from the street.  Anyway, there’s a little elevator that goes up to the third floor where Gong De Lin is located.  It’s a small, cramped, smelly elevator.  I sure bet Aerosmith didn’t have this lift in mind when they wrote Love In An Elevator:

Gong De Lin was completely empty at this hour:

I had a bit of a tough time working out what to order.  I thought about tofu but I have enough tofu at home I have to eat soon.  I wasn’t in the mood for noodles.  I don’t like soup much.  So I decided to get the sizzling black pepper steak, to see if it was something that Husband, Mr “Sizzling Pepper Non-Vegan Steak” would think was okay.

After ordering, I began to think that “what the heck have I done?” thought.  I’m not a fan of seitan and I want to avoid pure wheat gluten.  So yeah… a total “WHAT HAVE I DONE” moment of stupidity.  I was in the mood for jasmine tea and a pot cost $2.  I sipped it and looked out the window at the slightly blah scenery, thank you construction work:

I ordered some plain steamed rice and when the meal came out, it was sizzlin’ a-mightily:

Okay so first off, the actual taste was good.  The sauce was nice and not overly sweet and the vegies had a good crunch.  Because the sauce was sticky, some of the ‘steak’ was stuck to the foil covered serving plate, so little bits of foil remained stuck on the food.  No, I didn’t eat those bits.

Now I have to say, this did not resemble a steak in any way.  As veg*ns we’re pretty much aware that seitan won’t always fool a meat lover and this dish is certainly not one I’d recommend you use to convince your steak loving friends to eat because “it’s just like meat steak, honest!”  Because it’s not.  The texture of the seitan was just too soft for that.  This is a meal I’d refer to as “sizzling seitan”.

But if seitan is your thing then I do highly recommend the sizzling black pepper steak!

I paid $20.80 which kind of made my eyes bug out a little.  This is pricey for what I got and I was thinking why didn’t I just go to Om’s Vegetarian?  But Gong De Lin is a place I’ve been wanting to try for quite a while now and it was nice to have the time to myself to do something ‘special’.  Next time though, I’ll get a tofu dish or something without seitan!  Service was helpful and quick but of course, I was the only customer!

Here are a few photos out and about in Melbourne.  This is the old Melbourne General Post Office, which now houses a bunch of boutiques and other stores:

I absolutely love this building.  I want to get really rich, buy it and live there.  I love it so much, I have no idea about its history:

A typical Melbourne city street scene:

Gong De Lin is located at level 3, 264 Swanston Street.  They are open 7 days from 10am to 10pm.  When you walk in at ground level there’s the lift in front of you to your left.  The lift opens on level 3 directly in to the restaurant.

And I have to mention Chrissy Amphlett, who passed away two days ago. It’s only now as an adult that I’ve really enjoyed watching music videos and live performances of The Divinyls and I never really appreciated them as much when I was growing up.  Chrissy, in my opinion, was one awesome, rebellious rock chick but when I heard she had been cast in The Boy From Oz, as Judy Garland no less, I thought it was a bad choice.  That was until I heard her sing and she was magnificent in the role.  She wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I think under all the hunched over scowling (more so in her earlier days) and attitude, she was a deeply sensitive person and extremely intelligent.

Thanks Chrissy!