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Tracy from Brisbane was visiting Cindy's lab group so, as with her last trip , Cindy gathered up a posse of ex-Brisbanite ecologists and hangers-on for after work drinks. Those of us with stamina ended up dining at Thaila Thai in Brunswick East - a giant two-storey restaurant with a tiny, open kitchen by the front door and a bevy of svelte, androgynous Thai waitstaff. Turning up unannounced with a group of seven seemed a risky plan to me, particularly when confronted with the hubbub around the kitchen, but we were cheerily ushered upstairs where there were still a few tables spare. The menu is simple and effective - a selection of stir-frys and curries and a choice of meats (plus tofu!) to go with them. Throw in the optional extras (cashews etc) and a fairly stark looking one page becomes a mix-and-match sensation with dozens of options . Mike and Jo-Lyn had visited previously and Cindy followed their recommendations (Mike: "It's so good you'll... you'll wet y

I have been wanting to visit Lord of the Fries since I first saw it listed on the Vegetarian Network Victoria website . This Sunday afternoon offered the opportunity, preceeded by a walk from Carlton to the CBD, which diminished my chip-guilt. Lord of the Fries is essentially a burger stand opposite Flinders St station, and it seems to be designed with me in mind. First, it's 100% vegetarian. Second, they offer a multitude of condiments with their chips. Third, they sell miniture burgers as well as regular-sized, because they know that some of us like chips more than burgers . Between us, Michael and I almost demolished a box of chips with Belgian-style topping (mayonnaise). The chips were tasty and soft in the centre, though not as crunchy on the outside as those at Grill'd . The thick mayo is actually on a par with home made , far superior to Kraft or any other supermarket brand. The burgers are like vegetarian Big Macs, though the soy protein patties might be beefier

The recipe is another result from our typical weekday search for a recipe that'll give us both dinner and easily-packed leftovers for lunch. It's called Ziti with Walnut Pesto, Zucchini, and Red Pepper, from Ken Charney's Bold Vegetarian Chef cookbook. Michael bought a little more than the required walnuts for the pesto, so I made extra and we tested it out on crackers while we cooked the pasta: it was a little too sweet for me and the raw garlic was really intense. I'd reduce the maple syrup and roast the garlic if I made this again just for snacking. I used the pasta I bought from Mediterranean Wholesalers a while ago instead of the prescribed ziti, but otherwise stuck faithfully to Charney's recipe. In this context the sweetness and garlic of the pesto became more subtle, creating a light but creamy coating on the pasta. The zucchini and red capsicum were just the right vegetable choices, and in the future I reckon I'll reduce the quantity of pasta an

Another morning, another serve of eggs. Having visitors is a really fine excuse to dine out every meal of the day, and Cindy and I took Doof to Mario's Cafe on Brunswick Street. Mario's has been around for over twenty years and, apparently, was the first to bring the all day breakfast to Fitzroy. It's maintained a good reputation as a breakfast place, so I was looking forward to it. It's a strange little place - a completely out of focus tv on one wall, posters promoting Mario's 20th anniversary wine and gift-packs on another and concert-posters covering the entryway. Despite the generally casual atmosphere, the waiters stroll around in black trousers and waistcoats, it's all very odd. The menu is full of breakfast standards, without too many fancy options. Doof and I had both got a taste for poached eggs at Cafe Varda the day before, and we both ordered them again (me with hollandaise, and he without). Cindy's anti-egg agenda continued and she opted

After an hour or two of recuperation and a lunch of strawberries, Doof, Michael and I hit the Johnston St Hispanic Fiesta . Doof was psyched for dancing in the street and we arrived in time for the last few minutes of a salsa dance class on the main stage. Michael and I were feeling more timid and, more importantly, I was hungry . We walked the length of the festival to check out our options and made our initial selections. Michael and Doof both bought bean-stuffed soft tacos. These were good fresh fare as far as stall food goes: rice and salad and deep-fry-free. I lined up for some corn cakes: choc-full of kernels with just enough batter to bind them together, and some crunchy shallots too. After all that eatin', it was time for some sangria at the incredibly crowded Spanish Club. After all that sangria, it was time to soak up the alcohol with some more food! Michael and I hung around the Los Amates stall, but by this time (6:30 or 7pm) they were selling their last stores a

After breakfast we browsed the Chapel St shops. Doof and Michael bought the only shirts they tried on: meanwhile I selected four different items, sending the shop assistant back for a second size of one of them, eventually rejected them all and bought a Devo figurine instead. However I could hardly be a picky customer once we hit the Prahran Market . We bought punnets of strawberries and raspberries within seconds of entering, and they proved to be the cheapest (99c), sweetest, juiciest strawberries so far this season. The charming French man at the Monsieur Truffe stand courteously laid out the origins of all his cocoa products, along with toothpicks and samples. Doof and I didn't need too much coaxing to choose a small packet each, and as we turned to go, Monsieur Truffe urged us to refrigerate our treasures since they're preservative free. As we looked over the fresh produce and organic dairy Michael lamented that we didn't have a recipe to shop for, but it was a h

Update 31/12/2014: Cafe Varda has closed, replaced by Luck Thai . Our vague plan to entertain Doof on Saturday morning was to go for a wander along Chapel Street. The first step, however, was to find some breakfast. A quick scan of Cheap Eats gave us a few options, and the description of Cafe Varda as "a comfy slipper in the heart of stilletto land" struck a chord. The menu and setting were very much comfy slipper material, so much so that I was slightly concerned that the food would be cheap and greasy. It was certainly cheap, but the chef soon convinced us that it would make our tastebuds "explode" and we settled in. The chef's enthusiasm was infectious and when Doof ordered a short-black, he rolled up his sleeves and promised to make a special, velvet coffee - like real Italians drink (he even made one for himself to prove the point). Doof was suitably impressed, although after the build-up he really couldn't have reacted any other way. The menu focu

On Friday, a work-day, Michael and I were obliged to leave Doof to his own devices. To make up for it in the evening we devised a dinner-and-cocktails plan on Brunswick St in Fitzroy. We unintentionally picked the same two venues that Krusty and Jason introduced us to on our visit to Melbourne last year. Admittedly it's not such a huge coincidence, given (a) Polly and the Vegie Bar are both a lot of fun, and (b) both Doof and Krusty are vegetarian, too. So, a few more samples from the menus: Since we didn't have a booking, we figured that entering Polly early in the evening would give us a better chance at a table and we did indeed score some pretty armchairs towards the back. My first cocktail was an S&M: "mandarins crushed with lime, mint and apricot syrup, shaken with Havana Anejo Blanco and mandarin liqueur, topped with soda." I also ordered a bowl of shoe-string fries with sweet chilli aioli to share. This combination was a flavour explosion: an intense

To welcome our Bris-friend Doof to Melbourne's fair shores, a home-prepared Indian meal was necessary. With Krusty, Jason and Sharon included on the invite list, we had to upscale from 'meal' to 'feast'. Luckily, Cindy and I are well-practiced in the art of Indian feast-making and we called upon some previous successes: palak paneer and mango rice pudding . To make sure we had enough, we decided to add some roti bread (picked up ready-to-fry at IGA) and broccoli pilau to the menu. Broccoli Pilau (from Mridula Baljekar's low-fat Indian vegetarian cookbook) Wash about a cup of basmati rice and soak it in cold water for about 20 minutes. In a good sized saucepan, fry a teaspoon of fennel seeds, half a dozen cardamom pods, 1/2 a teaspoon of peppercorns, a bay leaf and a cinammon stick in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. After about 30 seconds, add a finely chopped onion and a couple of chopped green chillies and fry until the onions have browned slightly.

On Wednesday night I put together a slap-dash but satisfying dinner of egg and soy bacon sandwiches. As I previously mentioned , I have a love-hate relationship with soy bacon: it really doesn't hold up against the taste and texture of real bacon, but I still enjoy eating it occasionally as I enjoyed the occasional KFC burger in my pre-veg life. On Turkish bread, I layered soy bacon, fried egg, sliced tomato, black pepper, lettuce and Worcestershire sauce. Note that standard Worcestershire sauce isn't vegetarian: I try to buy the fish-free kind, but sometimes resort to the more convenient Holbrooks. Categories: Cooking Savoury

On Tuesday night I improvised a cannelloni style meal, with the purpose of making a dinner that would use up some lasagne sheets and provide leftovers for lunch. As you can see from the picture, lasagne sheets do not make pretty, closed pillows and actually created a bit of a mess all round (this is a cold next-day one, which was at least a neat square). Still, both Michael and I loved the flavour: with a couple of tweaks and some proper cannelloni tubes, I'd cook this for guests. Cindy's careless cannelloni Filling : Michael peeled, chopped and roasted some pumpkin with a splash of olive oil. It'll take roughly half an hour in the oven at 180 degrees: the aim is to get the pumpkin a bit caramelised and soft enough to mash. Then I transferred the pumpkin to a bowl and, you guessed it, mashed it up. To the bowl, I added three huge tablespoons of quark (from the Collingwood market ), a small packet of pine nuts that I'd toasted in a frypan, some leftover sliced mushro

Before visiting the famous Spiegeltent on Monday night, Michael and I revisited Gopal's for another quick and cheap meal. He ordered the enormous chef's special again, and this time I had the concession special: a kofta ball with green salad and rice for $5.90. This kofta was enormous, spicier and more substantial than any I've eaten before. I couldn't finish even this down-sized Krishna meal! (You can see our last visit here .) Categories Restaurants

Our swag of goodies from the Collingwood markets had me pulled in all sorts of directions for the rest of the weekend's eating. Once I'd hit upon it, I become set on the idea of preparing a series of tapas-style tasting plates for the evening. Michael was feeling lazier, but kindly chipped in anyway. Round 1: strips of home-roasted capsicum with Holy Goat silk cheese, torn basil leaves, black pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. The capsicum and cheese were a perfect pair, the cheese being as smooth as the name suggests and very mild in taste. The balsamic added the acidity it needed, as did the tiny glass of iced limoncello I had on the side. A fabulous start, inspiring me to return to the kitchen for... Round 2: shitake mushrooms fried in a little butter, flavoured with garlic, chilli and parsley. I intended to buy Swiss brown mushrooms but was careless at the shops (wish we'd hit the markets before the mushroom stand closed). I found the shitakes too rubbe

In the past few months, Cindy and I have been slowly visiting Melbourne's many food markets . Saturday dawned sunny and warm and a quick check of our Cheap Eats Guide informed us that we'd luckily hit the right Saturday for the farmers' market at the Collingwood Children's Farm. A glance at the website for the on-site cafe was enough to convince me that we should head off straight away and have breakfast once we were there. The first thing we noticed when we finally made it to the Children's Farm after the long walk up Johnston Street was the greenery: trees, grass and little farm plots everywhere. Melbourne seems to specialise in these inner-city havens - at both CERES and the Children's Farm it's remarkably easy to forget that you're basically in the middle of a city of almost 4 million people. The first order of business was breakfast. Cindy had snacked before our departure, and settled for a lemon poppy seed muffin, whereas I'd starved mys

After a few days of surviving on very poor conference food and some tastier night-time outings in Cairns, Thursday found me back in Melbourne and raring to cook. Cindy and I had our usual indecisive conversation about exactly what it was I'd be cooking, before settling on the Eastern vegetarian burgers from Mridula Baljekar's excellent Low-Fat Indian Vegetarian Cookbook . Seeing as I had a free afternoon, I decided to add a baby spinach salad (also from the book) and a made-up raita to the mix. The burgers were a spicy treat - the patties were 'meaty' and tasty and combined well with the salad and raita. They probably could have used some further accompaniment (e.g. tomato, for those who like them), but I was pretty satisfied. Raita Seed a small cucumber and chop it into little pieces, combine with a small tub of plain yoghurt, a few tablespoons of chopped coriander and a couple of teaspoons of ground cumin. And that's it. Baby Spinach Salad Chop up about 200g

Making risotto cakes and gelato earlier in the week had me all cooked out, and I still needed to bake some more muesli for breakfast. Sufficient excuse for a takeaway dinner, I'd say. I denied myself an afternoon snack with the promise of an early Indian meal, and wandered over to the Balti Indian cafe when I finished work. The cafe has a very pleasant interior and I probably would have enjoying eating in, but I was all psyched up to go home, maybe watch what remained of The Cook and the Chef, and get some muesli into the oven. I picked out vegetable samosas, navrattan korma, basmati rice and a plain naan and they were ready in about 10 minutes. I particularly enjoyed the samosas: the pastry was thin, crispy and not flaky; the centre was mostly smooth flavoured potatoes. The rice and bread both provided good support to the curry without being remarkable in themselves. I was underwhelmed by the korma: the potato pieces were very firm and I'm not a fan of peas; the spic

My least essential kitchen appliance is, paradoxically, the first I ever bought. I was still living with my parents when I bought my ice-cream maker, so practical kitchenware wasn't a high priority. It cost me about $60 and it has churned out a lot of sweet creamy fun over the last 6 or 7 years. With my recipe for chocolate ginger biscuits falling off the main page, I thought it was time for another home-made dessert this weekend. Never mind that November in Melbourne is proving to be gloomy and chilly: cool weather makes the churning process easier and surely ice-cream weather is on the horizon...? The flavour choice was determined by a special on Lindt chocolate at Safeway ($2 per block!). I remembered a super-rich gelato recipe that I'd made a couple of years ago, grabbed some 70% and consulted my flip-book. I printed it from a website a few years ago, and it seems that the recipe is now only accessible by subscribing to Atlantic . My paraphrased version here has less

Michael hopped into a taxi, off to Cairns, at about 2:00 and the afternoon stretched out in front of me. My main task was to prepare something for dinner that would hopefully extend to a few weekday lunches too. I spread out some cookbooks, searching for a recipe, something that I like more than Michael does. I've always enjoyed a good mushroom risotto and the only way to make this creamy treat even more decadent is to crumb and fry it! I used a recipe for chestnut risotto cakes that I've made a couple of times before, though not for well over a year. I've always replaced the chestnuts with a smaller amount of pine nuts, and usually used fresh mushrooms instead of dried porcinis. This time we had some dried porcinis at home from Mediterranean Wholesalers , so I gave 'em a go. These are at their best with a squeeze of lemon juice and mountain of fresh greens (they assuage a bit of the guilt that goes along with this pleasure). The polenta crust is crunchy, the cen