vege2go

i just found this photo on my phone from a couple weeks ago (not a great photo either). we hadn't been to vege2go for ages cuz i find the food kind of bland (except the garlic tossed broccoli, i really like that) and it seems a bit pricey for what it is. we were walking past one day and zac decided we needed to have lunch there (he really likes it). he got the vegan lasagne and i just got a serve of the celery and bean salad (i'd had a big breakfast). they messed up and brought both items on one plate with a spare plate for us to share with. this worked out well cuz i ended up having a small part of zac's lasagne (and he got a bit of salad). i don't know if they've changed something about the lasagne but i really liked it. the bean salad was really nice too with lots of flavour. we didn't get any dessert (i didn't really care for the vegan tiramisu we had once) but i just looked at their online menu and noticed they have a vegan cheesecake. i think i have to try it. i'm glad zac convinced me to try the place again. now i might be more up for it when he suggests it for a quick dinner (i thought he might offer to get something from there tonite since he'll be nearby and we need to have something quick and easy). he didn't say anything so i decided use the coriander pesto that i made last week and we'll have pasta with a bit of salad (if i get around to throwing the salad together before he gets home).

quesadillas

i think i've found my favourite quesadilla ingredients: refried beans using cannellini beans, homemade fresh salsa, vegan nacho cheeze and avocado to top it off. sooooooo good.
i make refried beans using a simple recipe from Hot Damn and Hell Yeah:

3 c canned beans (1 can has 1 1/2 cups so i either half the recipe or use 2 cans, if i use cooked dried beans i usually add a bit more salt)
1 1/2 cups water
1 Tbsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt (slightly more if using cooked dried beans)

simmer all ingredients uncovered on stove until most of the water is gone then mash with potato masher

my fresh salsa is:

3 tomatoes (seeded and diced)
small amount of onion (yellow or purple)-- about 1/4-1/2 an onion
about 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
salt and pepper to taste
lemon or lime juice
1-2 cloves garlic minced
optional chilli

mix all ingredients and let flavours blend for at least an hour or so before using.

the cheeze is from happy herbivore. i found the printed off recipe in my recipe book but i'd never used it before until a couple weeks ago. i'm really liking cheezes that use miso in them right now.

pumpkin

we went to empire cafe for lunch yesterday to try out some more of their new vegan menu. i did take a couple photos but we were in the back room and it was dark and i didn't put the flash on so i have a couple dark blurry photos of sandwiches which i won't bother putting up. i got the vegan pumpkin sandwich (roasted pumpkin strips, vegan cheese and spinach-- there were supposed to be pine nuts as well but the supplier hadn't arrived yet with them. it was still really good even without the pine nuts). it was exactly what i wanted for lunch on a cold, wet day. zac went with the vegan blt and a side of wedges. he really enjoyed that. it ended up costing us $33 for lunch and 2 coffees (and one was free with the last free coffee on my punch card they no longer do). seems a bit pricey for a couple toasted sandwiches, a side of wedges and coffee but it was really filling. and really good.
we were at the supermarket later in the afternoon and i saw this:
i wonder how many people actually buy "halloween pumpkins" for $3.98/kg (there was a kid begging his dad to buy one as i was taking this photo. dad wouldn't give in though). i said to zac, if this was north america it wouldn't just be 8 pumpkins on a little table display but it would be anywhere from 3-8 gigantic (hot tub sized) boxes out front of the supermarket where you could get pumpkins of every size (and i'm sure they must cost a lot less-- i never really priced pumpkins in canada). halloween does seem to be getting slightly bigger here (even over the past 7 years i've been here).

fear of germs

i don't know why but for some reason advertisements for cleaning products annoy me more than any other ad. on tv. especially the ones where it's a mother saying how she doesn't want her children exposed to germs that may be on the kitchen counter, the sofa cushions or, heaven forbid, in the toilet bowl so she likes to spray chemicals which claim to kill 99.9% germs on these things and let her family be exposed to those instead. i don't know why those ads bother me more than other ads which are also using fear of something to get people to buy a product but they do. why don't people realize, most germs aren't going to harm most people and that breathing in or ingesting chemicals from cleaning products is likely to have some negative reaction in a person's body (even if it does happen slowly over many years)?

rain. and more rain.

somewhere under all that rain is melbourne and 128km of it's surrounds. so much for the great spring weather we've had most of the past 2 weeks. zac and i did have plans to spend our friday off doing something fun. i kinda just wanna curl up on the couch with movies and food now (and zac's still in bed).

tuna

zac insisted we go to yong green food for lunch the other day because he had gone there earlier in the week and had the tuna wrap and really wanted another one cuz it was so good. they've changed their menu a bit since the last time we were there (i think it was at least a few months ago). i wasn't that hungry when we got there so i just got a light lunch of rice paper rolls. they were really nice. for some reason i really didn't like the smell of the chili dipping sauce they come with but the flavour was nice. zac got the tuna wrap that he was craving (i think it replaces the fishball wrap they used to have on the menu-- i don't think that was still offered). i managed to get a bite of it and really liked it. lots of flavour with a slight "fishy" sort of taste. they've got a good selection of dishes of all sizes at yong green and most are vegan (or can be made vegan). it's a good place for a snack or meal on brunswick street (and much healthier/tastier than the chips we would end up getting if we stopped at a pub for a drink and snack).

munster haus

we've been going to munster haus (on the corner of barkley st and st. georges rd.) for lunch pretty much any time zac has a day off when i'm working. there's always lots of good choices for food. some days have more vegan choices than others (today the only non-vegan things were pizza and a quinoa dish that had some butter in it). i skipped getting rice in the bottom of my bowl since there were so many other things i wanted to try today. i got an eggplant miso dish (on the bottom of my bowl so it isn't in the photo). on top of that was some marinated tofu with salad, a rice dish (i can't remember what was in it), a sweet potato noodle dish with sesame dressing (my favourite dish-- can't go wrong with sesame flavour) and some broccoli and marinated tempeh (i think i've had the broccoli dish every time i've been there-- it's good). all the dishes are so full of flavour. i usually get the $8 bowl for lunch and it's a good, filling lunch. zac either goes for $8 or $11 bowl depending how hungry he is.

style

the first homemade magarita of the spring is always done in style with a proper glass (i LOVE these glasses, we were given them at our wedding. i'm so scared of breaking them though). after we get more into the warm weather home made magaritas will likely be served from the pastic-jug-with-a-handle-style cup it was blended up in.

bagels

yesterday i made bagels for the first time. i followed theresa's recipe. they're pretty easy and they taste really good (i think better than the ones that i've been buying). i used molasses instead of treacle (some websites say they can be used interchangeably in recipes, others say they can't). it worked fine. i just added a few sunflower seeds to this batch during the mixing/kneading process in the bread maker. next time i might coat them with toasted sesame seeds or maybe dukkah (which theresa recommends). i like my bagels fairly plain because i make sandwiches with them (today i had avocado and homegrown sprouts).

belly tanning

wombat enjoying some belly tanning time in the backyard (that pink belly will be black soon):

i think spring has finally arrived (only a month late)!!!

crêpes

last weekend i decided to make crêpes. they were so good i made them again this morning. i got the recipe from here. i've been filling them with things like berries, jam, chocolate spread and almond butter. we had a norwegian nanny for about a year when i was little and she used to make norwegian pancakes (which are basically crêpes). we would fill them with jam or a spoonful of sugar or some fruit canned in syrup and top them with whipped cream. it seems really funny to me now that we used these fillings when we had them served for breakfast or a breakfast-at-dinnertime meal but they were SOOOOO good (and we only had them every once in a while).