words@random: daylesford and hepburn springs

somehow we managed to wait almost 2 years from our last trip to hepburn springs but we finally made it back again. it was a good weekend of relaxing, lots of good food and a couple good walks. we stayed at the continental house (the conti) where we've stayed a couple times before.
somehow i didn't end up taking any pictures of the food (even though my camera was at my feet most of the time).
friday nite we went to jasmine thai in hepburn springs. we'd been there once before and it was good. this time when we arrived the waitress was too busy to seat us but she gave us menus and told us to head to the middle room where there was a table for 2. we went in and there was a (loud) group of 8 filling most of the small room and then our table just next to them. when we looked at the menu we had a moment of panic because under the heading "vegetarian" it said "non-vegan". that wasn't there last time. i looked down further and it stated that any item with an asterisk could be made vegan on request (and there were several items that could be made vegan). service was a bit slow (i'm assuming someone or a couple people didn't show up to work or something because you could tell the waitress was running off her feet and she actually told a guy at the next table a few minutes after he ordered a coffee that no one could make the coffee for him right now so if he wants caffeine he should just get a coke). when we did get to order i got stir-fried veggies with cashews in a sweet chilli sauce and just as zac ordered the waitress (who was vegetarian) highly recommended we should get the crispy fried tofu that was on the specials menu. zac decided to go for it. it was a great choice-- best crispy tofu i've ever had. it came mixed with stir fried vegies in some sort of red (curry?) sauce. soooo good!
the next day we went for lunch at the himalaya bakery in daylesford and both got smoked tofu pies. the filling was tasty but a bit dry. when you eat the pie there (not take away) you get a nice chutney with it so that took away the driness (it also came with a nice side salad).
unfortunately the conti banquet was cancelled on saturday nite because just us and one other couple had signed up for it (all the other guests at the completely booked up conti were there for a wedding in town on saturday nite). we ended up getting the only vegan item on the menu at the electric sitar indian cafe (a chickpea and lentil dahl which was really nice and filling and perfect for a rainy evening).
we ended up back at the himalaya bakery for lunch on sunday. zac just got a piece of garlic fried bread for lunch (and then another smoked tofu pie to go as we were leaving). i had the himalaya open faced sandwich with white bean dip, tomatoes, avocado and roasted red capsicum (bell pepper)-- really nice.
we went for a walk saturday afternoon and got caught in a thunder storm (fortunately the lightning stopped when the storm got overtop of us) but i got a couple picutres when i didn't have to hide my camera under my waterproof jacket.

arty shot of one of the many mineral water taps in hepburn springs (i didn't intend to take the picutre so i moved the camera while the shutter was open):