Tuesday 26 January 2016

The Sunday Session 4 - eat eat eat

last week was a week for visitors and visiting, with my mum arriving last sunday for a few days and with me jetting off to sydney for a long weekend and it's all revolved around food and the need to dress to accommodate the amount of deliciousness that has been on offer.

i think from the looks i wore last week, that the spotted pants and green top was probably my favourite.  it had the right amount of pattern and the brighter than bright green top just seemed to make it a stand out and it felt amazing to wear.
but the week really did belong to the food and my mum and i had some super tasty vegetarian treats during the week.
starting with this from Aix cafe in centre place melbourne.  this little gem serves crepes and damn are they good.  i was a bit reluctant at first, as i hate stuff made with lots of eggs and thought they may have been eggy, but no, they were just delicious.  i enjoyed a goats cheese, spinach, roasted capsicum and thyme crepe and my mum had a tallegio, mushroom and spinach one.

this is a pretty filling cheap eat as well costing about 13 bucks each with a drink. a return visit will be in order to try out the sweet ones, in particular the traditional lemon and sugar, but i don't think you could go wrong with any of them. try and grab a seat in the laneway to watch all the passers by.

then it was off to brunetti on Swanston St for an affogato.  coffee and ice-cream in a wine glass.YEP! at $6.50, this is a great refreshing beverage or a sweet dessert.
we went to a place called enlightened cuisine on queensbridge street, southbank.  this is an asian vegetarian restaurant that specialises in mock meat.  i am going to own this loud and proud.  yep, i don't eat meat but i do eat the delicious substitute.  fake meat originated way back in the 1890's and man has it come a long way.

there are many places that embrace the mock meat regime and luckily for me, this one is close to home.  we dined on sesame prawn toasts, wontons, vegetarian fried rice and duck with plum sauce. delicious.

this was probably the most expensive meal of the week. i think it was just over $60 with 2 glasses of wine.but it was so worth it and given that i love leftovers, i was able to get a lunch from this as well.
 
doc pizza at albert park was also a good night out - with the words "so good" being said about 1000 times.  cause it was so freaken good. this is my pizza go to of choice. we devoured the rocket, pear and honey salad and a buffalo mozzarella pizza. i am renowned for not eating my pizza crust, but this night, i decided to live a little and poured some of their amazing olive oil onto my plate, sprinkled it with a bit of salt and started dipping.  it is the way forwward now for crust demolition.  amazing pizza, salad and 2 glasses of wine was just over 50 bucks, but worth everyone of them.
one lunch time, my mum and i went and sat by the yarra and enjoyed the tofu curry on brown rice from shuji sushi at freshwater place.   this is a perfect lunch time dish, because there is so much of it that at about 11 bucks a pop, there is enough for the next day's lunch, making it a super bargain meal. and for the "i'm on a budget - give me a meal deal" necessity. it doesn't even need to be reheated, which is a bonus.
more delicious eating took place at etto pasta south melbourne.  this is a fave place of mine because it is authentic and also relaxed with footpath dining as well as a few tables inside. on my first visit, i very smartly ordered the kids size meal and man, that's the smart thing to do, cause the serves are massive.

on this visit i ordered the 3 cheese gnocchi and my mum ordered the meredith goat cheese ravioli in a tomato sauce with olives. we just keep reaching across each other to take spoonfuls of food. none of this getting extra plates biz. and we shared a caprese and yep - left overs.  the glass of wine is also a good size, so we shared that as well.

i really want to branch out and try some other things, but it's hard i seem to always come back to the gnocchi.  about 45 bucks with leftovers but we did order the ravioli special.
with my mum heading back to fiji, it was time for me to get ready to head to sydney for the long weekend with these guys, who recently made the move from brisbane to sydney.
we ate a LOT of food and a lot of cheese. happy days.  saturday brekky was at little mule in stanmore, where i had the best sandwich i have ever eaten.  it was brocolli, kale, swiss cheese and jalapeno.  a fucking party in your mouth.

the coffee was great also, and they managed to make the "hotcold" to perfection. ice, coffee, warm milk.
the ladies headed off to paddington for a stroll and again, managed to have some tasty treats.

first stop was orchard st, the raw takeaway, where kombucha was in order.  they had some good looking stuff, but i drew the line at being tempted by the chocolate that was laced with medicinal mushrooms. didn't end well over 30 years ago, so couldn't see it ending well today - given that i hate mushrooms of any kind. we didn't go and beg for any samples at sweet art, but it's a sydney institution in the cake making scene and the window never fails to delight.
we wandered to the markets where we stumbled across a man asking for people to try his balls. tasty balls they were.  it was an egyptian vegetarian place and we shared this delicious platter consisting of falafel, vine leaves, dips, beans and salad washed down with a fresh lemonade. seriously tasty and i would head back there in a heart beat.
saturday night belonged to espresso martinis from gunthers dining room, which followed an amazing meal at redfern continental. they are one and the same.  we started with some ginger cocktail and ended up in bad shape.

dinner was amazing, the vegetarian offer was stuffed zucchini flower and my main was penne arrabiata which was just right.  the sauce had that i want to stick to your pasta consistency. we shared caprese, brocollini, and fries.  there was a lot of food and we retired to the dining room at the back of the restaurant for some cocktails and nonsense.
 
the animals were an addition, as we felt the need to spruce up our drinks.
on sunday, i took dorothy for a walk and we enjoyed a coffee while my host and hostess did some sleeping.....a lot of sleeping. whoever said that three espresso martinis would keep one awake, was a big liar.
we decided to eat in that night and i got the pleasure of cooking.  oh it has been too long since i have been let loose in the kitchen to create something more than dahl and rice, or quinoa and raw veg.  and this dinner of gnocchi 2 ways - gorgonzola and chilli with caprese, salad and brocolli was a massive hit.  i am going to share all these recipes as it's definitely a dinner party waiting to be had that is pretty much foolproof - unless you are a fool.
on monday - 2 became 3 and we headed off to manly, but not before enjoying a homemade brekky of toast with tomato fetta and fresh picked basil.
 our trip to manly was great where we dined on kids meals at the manly 16ft skiff club.  brilliant.  pizza for one.
 and of course there is always shenanigans when we are together.
dinner was delicious leftovers from the night before with a serve of jenga and vodka shots for whoever knocked over the tower. phew - wasn't me.

 
and a lightening filled adventure up on to the roof of the house.  wow - hello sydney.
tuesday came and it was time to head home, but not before a piece of vegemite toast.  proud to be a vegemite kid, but only when the toast is cold and the butter spreads like cheese.  none of this melted business.
it's australia day and although there's a lot to celebrate - cause we do live in an amazing country, we could also do better at loving our fellow man - or woman, past present and future.
 
well i had an amazing week (apart from the bolt of turbulance on arrival into melbourne that had people loudly yelling "shit") and one where i got to see some amazing sights, eat some amazing food and catch up with great people.   

my week was topped off by waking up to find that my friends dog has pissed in my make up bag and a bit of my suitcase.  i knew that my deoderant hadn't leaked and if it had, it certainly didn't smell like wizz....  he either wanted me to leave, or wanted me to know how much he loved me.  either way, how fucking australian is that. at least he didn't try to hump me!

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