james test

July 2-9, 2017 I visited Brisbane for a week this month. My trip was scheduled for work, and I stayed on campus at the University of Queensland. My accommodation was on the pretty lake side, near a bus stop and a bridge that didn't exist when I was a student there 15 years ago. I made the best of them, venturing to my old neighbourhood in West End, meeting up and eating out with friends, family and past colleagues at every available opportunity. The weather was stunning and I clocked up more steps on my phone's pedometer than I have since summer. Here are the seven meals that most delighted me during my stay. ____________ The Tibetan Momo Cafe is less than a month old, and located just around the corner from my first sharehouse in West End. It is a total charmer, with friendly generous hosts just bursting to share their traditional foods with new customers. There's a full vegan menu in addition to the standard meaty one, and they make both flour-based and gluten-free momo ...

December 19-23, 2016 We took a long overdue trip to Brisbane this summer, to visit family. Mostly we took it easy - jigsaws, beach walks, reading novels, chatting over cool drinks and cheese plates. I ate avocados and mangoes at every opportunity. Amid all that we visited just a couple of veg*n cafes that have sprouted up recently. ____________ Vegan 'superfood bar' Charlie's Raw Squeeze has nine outlets around town, with more in the works. One is on the Redcliffe peninsula, where I grew up - this area has certainly evolved from those days of Sizzler and KFC. Charlie's Clontarf is staffed by numerous fresh-faced young women, who whip up juices, smoothies, acai bowls and banana-based 'loaded nice creams'. Mum & I stopped in for a browse right from the airport. We took away a taco bowl (~$12, not pictured) to share for lunch - we were impressed by the walnut mince and the bean salad, and glad for the fresh veges on a hot day. We browsed the Vegan Pantry, wher...

June 17, 2015 I spent my formative years living in Caloundra on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. At the time eating out for me usually meant fish and chips at the beach, Pizza Hut or, if we were feeling particularly sophisticated, a trip to the local Thai place. I was thrilled to notice last year that Caloundra's first all-vego place had opened and even happier to find it still in business nearly 12 months later when I finally managed to swing by for a visit.  Greenhouse is more than just vegetarian - it's also fully organic. The menu seems to change semi-regularly, and on our visit there was a good mix of vegan and non-vegan stuff, including made-to-order dishes, pre-made wraps and sandwiches and an array of muffins and sweets. There's plenty of gluten-free options scattered throughout. They're also big on smoothies and juices and they have kombucha on tap. We settled in for a proper lunch with my Mum and all three of us ordered from the a la carte menu. Mum went with ...

On this weekend, Michael and I had rare chance to share some time and food with Doof. A lot has happened since Doof and I were co-renting five years ago, yet it was surprisingly familiar and comfortable sharing wine and takeaway pizza with him and his current housemates in their New Farm home. His beige and brown crockery, which once held my mediocre pre-vegetarian meals for one, probably helped. Doof's housemate was on the receiving end of a painful accident and some poorly executed medical attention that week, and a combination of medication and wine had her excessively apologetic that she hadn't made cake for dessert. She had this great cream, you see. I didn't, but figured some cake was achievable enough. With my hosts' blessing I raided their cupboards for cookbooks and ingredients, converting a Donna Hay recipe for a rectangular maple cake into a dozen golden syrup cupcakes. Though they were nothing spectacular, I was quietly proud of my resourcefulness and s...

It's been about six months since we last visited Queensland and I felt a little tug to return, so we set aside 5 days at the end of March to visit as many of our family and friends as we could. We began on the Sunshine Coast on Monday and were comforted with the home cooking of Michael's mum Robyn: tea and fruit cake shared with Nan and two uncles, then miniature pies filled with pumpkin, pine nuts and feta for dinner. Thursday was my mum's birthday, to be celebrated at my childhood home of Redcliffe. Dining in the outer suburbs has come a long way since Sizzler ! There's now a lovely Italian restaurant on the foreshore, where I gobbled up gnocchi in sage butter. Then, wonder of wonders, a new Indian takeaway and grocery just metres away! Frozen flaky breads, shiny serving dishes, discounted DVDs, and a few ground spices I haven't even been able to locate in inner Melbourne. I hope Redcliffe's ready for them. On Friday afternoon we moved on to Brisbane and...

Michael and I took advantage of the mid-week public holiday to schedule a loooong weekend in Queensland. This included an overnight stay in Kingaroy, where my brother Liam has just landed his first job as a journalist. I suspect it was actually my mum who did a bit of early research, identified and then booked the most attractive and veg-friendly restaurant in the area, the Bell Tower Restaurant . With Liam's job success, mum's recent birthday and this rare opportunity to share a meal together, there was plenty to celebrate. While the food at the Bell Tower was quite tasty, reasonably priced and certainly at the more gourmet end of what Kingaroy has to offer, the biggest reason to eat there is the view. Our booking ensured we had a table on the restaurant's back deck, which offers a stunning view of the farmland below and blue-tinged Great Dividing Range beyond. We were further blessed with a warm day, blue skies and cotton-ball clouds to best appreciate our prime locat...

Michael and I finished 2006 and began 2007 with a whirlwind tour of Queensland, with much eating and a little cooking to be had. I prepared two trays of spanakopita , and my friend and host Justine and I gradually ate our way through them, in small microwaved episodes, as we finished our last week of work. I baked the very American butter pecan turtle bars for a very Australian Christmas party, a beery barbeque on the verandah of a Queenslander-style home. For our Cairns Christmas, we passed round eastern vegetarian burgers with raita , and I had a complete home-made mayo failure. The potato salad survived, but was a pale imitation of the Soulmama version . A few days later at Redcliffe, we wowed my dad with our fried brown rice and ability to give the recipe to him in seconds from my USB memory stick. Christmas arrived a little early with a surprise package from Michael's mother, Robyn. Inside was a bunch of Oxfam goodies! Indian Chai, Za'atar , Hot Chilli Sauce, Swa...