james test

May 23-25, 2017 I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Dublin last week for work. There wasn't a lot of time for sight-seeing, but I managed to squeeze in trips to a couple of the veggie places in the city. I started off with dinner at Cornucopia, a 30 year old restaurant right in the middle of town.  It's a pretty straightforward place - you get your choice of main and a couple of salads for €13.50 (~$20). The night I visited there were options like tagines, hot-pots and quiches - I picked the hot pot, with cauliflower, zucchini and fennel potatoes, accompanied by farro and beet salads on the side. This is hearty, old-fashioned vego fare. The plates are massively loaded down with food and it's tasty and a bit stodgy. Nothing innovative, but a satisfying experience nonetheless.  I was impressed enough to head back for a pre-conference breakfast one morning. You get your choice of five items plus toast and coffee for €8.95 (~$13.50). I went with beans, scrambled to...

May 19, 2017 I've really let cult classic Twin Peaks  pass me by for the 25+ years since it first screened. I've been so oblivious that I visited Snoqualmie Falls while in Washington last year , soaking up the scenery without any awareness that it's the most iconic landmark in the show. But some friends have brought me into the TP  fold in the lead-up to series' highly anticipated third season - we've been meeting up to watch each season's premiere, studiously working through subsequent episodes at home, then reconvening for each finale. Our meet-ups are the perfect opportunity for some themed food. One of the more prominent foods in Twin Peaks  is the cherry pie at the Double R Diner. Agent Dale Cooper urges every town visitor he encounters that it's "worth a stop". We're long past cherry season here, but I've always been partial to tangy jarred Morello cherries and there are plenty of recipes online that use them. I picked this one from  ...

May 14, 2017 The whole Korean fried chicken explosion that swept Melbourne a few years back kind of passed us by - it didn't seem to have too much to offer us vegos. It was a surprise then when we noticed the Gami Chicken & Beer in Fitzroy proudly advertising their 'signature' vegetarian fried chicken.  The Fitzroy restaurant is a cute little place - seats for maybe 30 people, lots of bright colours and K-Pop blaring on the speakers. Once you get past the fried chicken, the menu is surprisingly veg-friendly - more than half of the 'Gami Delights' and light meals are marked vegetarian, tempting us with kim chi pancakes ($14), potato heaven ($14) and fried rice cakes ($5.50). I couldn't resist a lunchtime beer, while Cindy ordered a crushed pear soft drink, which turned out to be a sweet juice rather than a carbonated soda. They came out with a serve of prawn crackers (not vego) and some pickled radish. Our choice of side dish was mushroom mania ($16), a hot p...

May 3-17, 2017 In the past two months, we've tried three different services that home-deliver ingredient boxes for home cooking. This week we're running short reviews on our experiences with each one. ____________ We've been ordering organic fruit & veg boxes from CERES Fair Food for years. We pay $46.75 for a small mixed fruit & veg box . It's intended to last two people a week but we stretch it out for a fortnight, supplementing it with a few extra groceries and, of course, eating out. What we received: apples, oranges, bananas, pears, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, onion, pumpkin, cabbage, spinach, lettuce. What we made:  salad on lentil tacos , roasted veges (with seitan chops , then sausage rolls ), soup , chimichurri pumpkin bowls , okonomiyaki , fruit as-is for snacks and juiced into soda water. Pros: Everything is seasonal and organic Total control over what meals you make of it It helps me form a habit of eating fruit, which I don't have at other t...

April 15-19, 2017 In the past two months, we've tried three different services that home-deliver ingredient boxes for home cooking. This week we're running short reviews on our experiences with each one. ____________ Friend of the blog @pfctdayelise gifted us a one week  free trial of the  Marley Spoon  two-person box that they subscribe to. We received two serves each of three dinners; this would usually cost $69.90. The Marley Spoon MO is eating well without too much effort, curbing the temptation to order takeaway on work-late weeknights. What we made:  warm roasted mushrooms with basmati & quinoa salad, roasted Dutch carrot salad, hearty pearl barley and sweet potato salad. Pros: Although I started with some skepticism, it was possible to prepare the meals in around 30 minutes as advertised Everything tasted good and felt nutritious Minimal food waste, since all ingredients are portioned to fit the recipe The recipes were detailed enough that we could recre...

March 31-April 1, 2017 In the past two months, we've tried three different services that home-deliver ingredient boxes for home cooking. This week we're running short reviews on our experiences with each one. ____________ We received a complementary trial of the Rice Kitchen   Vegetarian Delights Feast thanks to business co-founder Anh (we made friends as food bloggers years ago!). This delivery would normally cost $120 and is intended to cater to six people for one meal. Anh et al. describe their service as a 'DIY dinner party in a box' - it's an elaborate menu that calls for substantial preparation and encourages you to gather together the family or invite some friends over to share. What we made:  soy sauce eggs, tempura eggplant mantou buns, Asian mushroom salad, vegetarian popiah. Pros: The website and printed materials are beautiful, and definitely got me excited to cook! They supply all the necessary ingredients except for cooking oil, salt, pepper, some ...

May 8, 2017 This soup recipe has waited more than eight years to have its moment in our home. I bookmarked it in 2008 soon after it was posted by Jac on Tinned Tomatoes , and this month it was the perfect thing for bringing together the onion, potatoes, spinach and pear that arrived in our vege box. With garlic already in the cupboard and some home-made stock in the freezer, all we had to buy was the blue cheese. It's a simple formula that I made my tweaks to. I took my time cooking the onions down to soft caramelisation, Michael left the skin on the potatoes when he chopped them, and I retained the spinach stems too. It would all fall prey to the stick blender, after all! When that time came, my soup wasn't as gloriously green as Jac's, and I needed an extra cup of water to smooth its way. In our khaki soup, I was surprised how easily I could pick out the pear's sweetness from the pungency of the blue cheese, and the thick carbohydrate comfort of the potatoes. It was a...

May 7, 2017 The Snug has been promising weekend breakfasts ever since they introduced their vegan menu last year , and they debuted mornings this month! Sharp-eyed Michael noticed it from the street within two hours of opening but I kept him waiting further 23 before letting him loose on the Big Breakie ($19). This is an enormous shallow bowl with sourdough toast and margarine, two rashers of the best streaky facon, a Tofurky sausage, scrambled silken tofu, grilled mushrooms, a golden hash brown, tub of baked beans, and bonus unlisted grilled cherry tomatoes. Michael attacked it with gusto, saw the meal through, and skipped lunch entirely as a consequence. I took a little more time to choose than Michael. Fruit toast excepted, the menu is all savoury, and it's dominated by carbs and mock meats. On another day I'd be drawn to the Facon Butty or the BLAT; there's also Bacon and Eggs (facon and scrambled tofu) for those who like to mock the simple things. But I was on the look...

April 30, 2017 We used to love The Tramway Hotel, it had fancy burgers with vegan options, an open fire and relaxed vibes. The pub changed hands a few years ago and shifted direction slightly, but we'd heard good things about the new menu and have been meaning to go for ages. On Sunday arvo we had the perfect excuse - our friend's band Crop Top were playing a gig, meaning we could combine punk rock and vegan junk food. The menu is very veg-friendly, with a couple of vegan burgers and a vego one, heaps of sides and a vegan sundae for dessert. We went a bit crazy and ordered way too much food. Cindy couldn't resist the vegan mac and cheese ($12) and friends recommended the vegan mushroom poutine ($16). Foolishly, we also ordered a vegan whipper burger ($15) and the chipotle fried brussel sprouts with lime and coriander aioli ($12 - we weren't sure if the aioli was vegan or not). The poutine was out of control, with fat chips slathered in a chunky mushroom gravy and heaps...

April 29, 2017 We chose these Street Vegan  empanadas as a cooking project last weekend. They're certainly a commitment: there's pastry dough to make, a chimichurri spice paste to saute the tempeh filling in, a sweet paprika-spiked glaze, some slightly fiddly assembly and a relish on the side. We made it a team effort. There were a couple of recipe tweaks along the way, making the most of the sweeteners we had on hand and cooking down the onions a long time to make the relish sweeter still. The pastry has an unusual addition of silken tofu and is a huge bother to roll. I must admit that it baked up awfully well, though - a bit of crunch, a bit of crumble and a lot of toasty comfort. The glaze added some welcome brightness of colour and flavour to the hearty pastries, but there was far too much of it and I've reduced the quantity accordingly in the recipe below. I feel ambivalent about these empanadas - they're very enjoyable, but their flavour isn't as complex as th...

April 29, 2017 We've become pretty lazy Brunswick brunchers lately, more often than not stumbling around the corner to the ever-reliable Wide Open Road . This weekend though we decided to try to recapture our more adventurous spirit and check out somewhere new. I'd been meaning to visit Kines ever since Keeden left Sonido to open it up. It's a nicely renovated warehouse space just off Sydney Road - they've made it comfy without going over the top, meaning there's a kind of ramshackle charm to the fit-out. The menu is full of interesting options - pickled beetroot sandwiches, vegan-friendly toasties, kim chi pancakes, creamed corn and more. It's pretty vegan-friendly by default and they're happy to tweak things on most dishes to cater for dietary requirements. The link to Sonido is strong, with arepas popping up across the menu. The coffee (using Seven Seeds beans) is fabulous, but Cindy was more excited by the possibility of ordering a Milo ($4). It turned ...