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| The tall fiction bookcase. |
Showing posts with label bloggers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bloggers. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
A-Z Bookish Survey
I was delighted when Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe tagged me in her post on this A-Z Bookish Survey. I hadn't see the survey before, but it is just the sort of thing that appeals to me. As far as I can tell, it started with The Perpetual Page-Turner a few months back and, as you might imagine, traverses from A to Z with 26 book-related questions. I am very grateful to Johanna for providing me with an excuse to do it!
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Fresh on Bloor with Hannah
I am getting slightly ahead of myself with this post (strictly speaking, we should have a generic post on Toronto first), but sometimes the heart wants things slightly out of order. On the second of our two nights in Toronto, I was delighted to fit in an early dinner with Hannah of Wayfaring Chocolate at one of Toronto's three Fresh stores.
If you read Canadian food blogs, you are likely to have seen Fresh reviewed previously. The restaurants (there are three) were on my list of must eat places for this trip, and feature many vegan salads, grain/noodle bowls, smoothies and juices, wraps and burgers, and a whole lot more besides. As I said to Hannah, I could eat the whole menu.
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| Fresh on Bloor |
Friday, August 23, 2013
Snapshot of Melbourne
For the last few days, I have been in Melbourne for a work conference that started on Thursday afternoon and will finish this evening. It has been an opportunity for some brief sight seeing and meeting with friends, in addition to the work component. It has also been an opportunity to rely exclusively on my camera phone, so I apologise for the quality of some photos!
The conference is being held at the Mercure-Pullman Albert Park, which is a slightly odd hotel that actually consists of two hotels. The Mercure, where I am staying, is the slightly less fancy half. The Pullman, where rooms are a little more expensive, is reportedly a little more upmarket.
The conference is being held at the Mercure-Pullman Albert Park, which is a slightly odd hotel that actually consists of two hotels. The Mercure, where I am staying, is the slightly less fancy half. The Pullman, where rooms are a little more expensive, is reportedly a little more upmarket.
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| Mercure hotel room |
I think my room is fine, although the view out the window is not, perhaps, Melbourne's best front.
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| The View! |
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Raw Kitchen Cafe, Fremantle - lunch with Mel
On Sunday, I was fortunate to have lunch with Mel from Veganise This! She and her family are currently travelling Western Australia, and we managed to meet up on one of her days in Perth.
This is the first time I have met a blogger friend in person, and there is something quite bizarre about meeting someone face-to-face after communicating online over months and years. There is also something a little intimidating about going to meet a new person you have only communicated with indirectly! As it turned out, Mel is as lovely in person as she is on her blog, and I really enjoyed the few hours we spent together.
When deciding where to go, I suggested Fremantle on the basis of its vegan-friendly cafes and merging of heritage buildings with a slight hippy vibe. It is a worthwhile place to wander if you aren't from Western Australia. We ended up choosing Fremantle's Raw Kitchen Cafe as our lunch destination, which I have mentioned a few times before but never actually eaten lunch at (my previous visits have been for snacks and/or drinks).
We arrived shortly before 12.30pm, to a queue of customers out the door of the cafe. It is a deservedly popular spot and I spent most of our time in the queue trying to decide what I would order. Every time a waitress carried a plate past, I would change my mind to the dish in question. Several bowls of zucchini noodles caught my eye, piled high with noodles under marinara sauce, as did raw nachos, pizza, and falafel balls.
In the end, I ordered straight from the glass-fronted cabinet within the store, asking for a mix of the Thai Papaya Salad and Tarragon Salad. Mel ordered the raw pizza, with sides of the same salads, and we both ordered coffees with nut milk that had been made in store.
My conversation with Mel would have been enjoyable in its own right, but set against this salad...it was a really great lunch. I wanted to dive into this salad bowl. I spent the first few minutes trying to work out what the flavours were, and the rest of the meal trying to work out how they made it taste so good.
As I couldn't fully decipher the ingredients, and the staff were quite busy on the day we were there, I actually sent an email to ask if they would mind letting me know what was in the salads. I received a helpful reply the next day, and so am able to tell you exactly what made these dishes so good.
The Thai Papaya Salad consisted of green papaya noodles, grated carrots, snow peas, cashews, and fresh coriander, mint and basil, with a dressing of olive oil, Braggs liquid aminos (soy sauce alternative), and various herbs and spices.
Even with the name, which really should have allowed me to work it out, I hadn't realised that it was green papaya that formed the 'noodles' of this salad. I was guessing zucchini, but am now keen to try papaya noodles at home - they were incredible!
The Tarragon Salad had grated beetroot, apple and carrot, walnuts, string beans and sultanas, with a dressing of tarragon, olive oil, cashews, garlic and other herbs and spices. I am guessing that the cashews gave this its slight creaminess, which worked well with the earthy beetroot base.
Despite being busy, our meals were served promptly and the coffees were hot and well made. Mel also reported enjoying her raw vegan pizza, but I will leave discussion of that to her should she wish to review it.
Thank you, Mel, for the opportunity to meet up, and thank you to The Raw Kitchen Cafe for a great lunch and for being so helpful in answering my email enquiry!
Other reviews of The Raw Kitchen can be found at Urban Spoon (our service experience was fine, unlike some of the reviews there).
Have you met any bloggers in person?
Or eaten green papaya in salad form?
This is the first time I have met a blogger friend in person, and there is something quite bizarre about meeting someone face-to-face after communicating online over months and years. There is also something a little intimidating about going to meet a new person you have only communicated with indirectly! As it turned out, Mel is as lovely in person as she is on her blog, and I really enjoyed the few hours we spent together.
When deciding where to go, I suggested Fremantle on the basis of its vegan-friendly cafes and merging of heritage buildings with a slight hippy vibe. It is a worthwhile place to wander if you aren't from Western Australia. We ended up choosing Fremantle's Raw Kitchen Cafe as our lunch destination, which I have mentioned a few times before but never actually eaten lunch at (my previous visits have been for snacks and/or drinks).
We arrived shortly before 12.30pm, to a queue of customers out the door of the cafe. It is a deservedly popular spot and I spent most of our time in the queue trying to decide what I would order. Every time a waitress carried a plate past, I would change my mind to the dish in question. Several bowls of zucchini noodles caught my eye, piled high with noodles under marinara sauce, as did raw nachos, pizza, and falafel balls.
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| Tarragon Salad on the left, and Thai Papaya Salad on the right. |
In the end, I ordered straight from the glass-fronted cabinet within the store, asking for a mix of the Thai Papaya Salad and Tarragon Salad. Mel ordered the raw pizza, with sides of the same salads, and we both ordered coffees with nut milk that had been made in store.
My conversation with Mel would have been enjoyable in its own right, but set against this salad...it was a really great lunch. I wanted to dive into this salad bowl. I spent the first few minutes trying to work out what the flavours were, and the rest of the meal trying to work out how they made it taste so good.
 |
| Best salad of 2013. |
As I couldn't fully decipher the ingredients, and the staff were quite busy on the day we were there, I actually sent an email to ask if they would mind letting me know what was in the salads. I received a helpful reply the next day, and so am able to tell you exactly what made these dishes so good.
The Thai Papaya Salad consisted of green papaya noodles, grated carrots, snow peas, cashews, and fresh coriander, mint and basil, with a dressing of olive oil, Braggs liquid aminos (soy sauce alternative), and various herbs and spices.
Even with the name, which really should have allowed me to work it out, I hadn't realised that it was green papaya that formed the 'noodles' of this salad. I was guessing zucchini, but am now keen to try papaya noodles at home - they were incredible!
The Tarragon Salad had grated beetroot, apple and carrot, walnuts, string beans and sultanas, with a dressing of tarragon, olive oil, cashews, garlic and other herbs and spices. I am guessing that the cashews gave this its slight creaminess, which worked well with the earthy beetroot base.
Despite being busy, our meals were served promptly and the coffees were hot and well made. Mel also reported enjoying her raw vegan pizza, but I will leave discussion of that to her should she wish to review it.
Thank you, Mel, for the opportunity to meet up, and thank you to The Raw Kitchen Cafe for a great lunch and for being so helpful in answering my email enquiry!
Other reviews of The Raw Kitchen can be found at Urban Spoon (our service experience was fine, unlike some of the reviews there).
Have you met any bloggers in person?
Or eaten green papaya in salad form?
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Christmas food ideas 2012: Main meal options
It is one week until Christmas.
One week.
And I am yet to decide what I am making for Christmas lunch.
This isn't quite as catastrophic as you might think. My family has a standard Christmas lunch that will be continuing this year with minimal effort needed from me. My mother has things in a nice routine, involving some traditional Christmas dishes that I wrote about last year. I do, however, need to figure out what I will be eating while the rest of the family tucks into turkey.
Last year was the first Christmas that I was vegetarian; prior to that I didn't eat red meat but did eat seafood and poultry. I added to our traditional Christmas dinner with purple nut roast, cinnamon sweet potato chickpea salad, and mandarin and maple spice quinoa salad with cranberries, apricots and almonds. My family was delightfully accommodating of my additions, and my Dad even ventured to try the quinoa salad. Given that he isn't even very fond of rice, and wouldn't voluntarily put dried fruit in savoury dishes, this was a touching gesture.
This year, I am having trouble making up my mind. I do, however, have a shortlist. It's currently more of a longlist, but I am working on it.
If you are like me and have yet to finalise your Christmas day menu, here are some ideas for main meals and sides - all vegan or easily veganised.
One week.
And I am yet to decide what I am making for Christmas lunch.
This isn't quite as catastrophic as you might think. My family has a standard Christmas lunch that will be continuing this year with minimal effort needed from me. My mother has things in a nice routine, involving some traditional Christmas dishes that I wrote about last year. I do, however, need to figure out what I will be eating while the rest of the family tucks into turkey.
Last year was the first Christmas that I was vegetarian; prior to that I didn't eat red meat but did eat seafood and poultry. I added to our traditional Christmas dinner with purple nut roast, cinnamon sweet potato chickpea salad, and mandarin and maple spice quinoa salad with cranberries, apricots and almonds. My family was delightfully accommodating of my additions, and my Dad even ventured to try the quinoa salad. Given that he isn't even very fond of rice, and wouldn't voluntarily put dried fruit in savoury dishes, this was a touching gesture.
This year, I am having trouble making up my mind. I do, however, have a shortlist. It's currently more of a longlist, but I am working on it.
If you are like me and have yet to finalise your Christmas day menu, here are some ideas for main meals and sides - all vegan or easily veganised.
Christmas dinner ideas from around the blogosphere
(see Johanna's blog for many more Christmas recipes, including a great collection of nut roasts)
Red rice, white bean and vegetable salad with toasted almonds and dried cranberries from Notes from the Vegan Kitchen
Christmas dinner ideas from bite-sized thoughts
plus
My 2011 round up of Christmas meal ideas can be found here
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| A gift package with punch! |
In other news, I was fortunate enough to return from work today to a package from the lovely Lou of Fridge Scrapings. I was the lucky winner of Lou's Christmas give away and she put together a gorgeous package - thank you again Lou :-) I feel like Christmas has started already.
What are you planning to serve this Christmas? Are you taking a traditional or non-traditional route?
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