james test

July 7-9, 2016 As my week in Washington went on, I ventured a little further on foot and via the Metro. This allowed me to track down some of the more hip veg-focused eateries hidden around the city. ____________ The first was the aptly-named HipCityVeg , an all-vegan burger joint near Chinatown. It's light and bright, with an emphasis on nutrition, sustainable practices and keeping it cruelty-free. The burgers are based around mock meats, mushrooms or tofu, fries are made from sweet potatoes, and their kale lemonade is promoted over the modest range of sodas. I got myself acquainted with a Disco Chick'n burger (US$9.55 ~ AU$12.75). I loved the sturdy multigrain bun, bit o' spice on the mock chicken, smoked tempeh strips, pickles, soy mayo, lettuce and tomatoes (and picked out what little raw onion was included). It was the fun kind of messy, not turning soggy or disintegrating completely. My soy-based vanilla milkshake (US$5.65 ~ AU$7.55) was sweet and slushy. I could bare...

January 15 & 17, 2016 MOFO was primarily based out at MONA this year, so we didn't get too much time for Hobart eating. We were out at the festival by lunch every day, so we really only had time for breakfasts. Our first stop was a return visit to Pilgrim Coffee, a regular haunt on our Hobart trips. The menu has changed around a bit from previous meals, meaning I had to branch out from the bean-heavy ' hipster breakfast ' that I usually order, instead trying out the omelette with kim chi, rice, spring onion, wombok, coriander and crispy shallots ($18). The omelette is a wonderful combination of flavours - little dabs of blended up kim chi give it all a great spicy tang, while the shallots and rice add some crunch. It's a top-notch example of the genre, but at $18, it probably needs a slice or two of toast to go along with it. Cindy's breakfast was even more minimalist - she ordered the charred stone-fruit with vanilla goats curd, mint and almonds ($15). And ...

Our luxurious dinner at The Gate ran later than we planned, and the four of us endured a tense tube ride back to Liverpool Street trying to beat the 11pm closing time of the place we'd left our luggage. We made it, with minutes to spare and all piled onto the Colchester train for a weekend at Kirsten and Jason's place. Appropriately, we'd somehow picked the weekend of the Colchester Food and Drink Festival , so we started our weekend wandering the festival in Lower Castle Park. Despite our hosts' skepticism, the festival was pumping - the first couple of tents were filled with dozens of stalls filled with delectable goodies. Not quite The Borough Market, but a pretty impressive effort. We made it out of the tent and into the open spaces of the park, only to stumble onto the bafflingly irrelevant salsa dancing drum band. I still haven't quite figured out how Brazilian drumming is related to Colchester food, but it was an entertaining distraction regardless. The U...

On Friday morning we had intended to get going early and breakfast at the Borough Market. However, events conspired against us. First, we discovered that on Fridays the markets don't open until noon. No problem; instead we shared a still-warm baguette breakfast (fresh from the bakery, smothered in butter and Vegemite) with Emily and Sam, also savouring a final chat before we moved on. Plan B was to stop by the Tate Modern before lunching at the market. Heavy traffic and subway construction ensured that instead we would spend almost 2 hours travelling little more than 3 kilometres. I surprised both of us by feeling neither anxiety nor annoyance - truly, I'd shaken off my recent work pressures and embraced the holiday! So it was straight to the markets for browsing and grazing. The Borough Markets are kind of posh, from the produce to the small goods, cakes, pies and olives - everything is organic or free-range or biodynamic and often comes with a slick logo. It's d...