Tom Phat - Sydney Rd - Brunswick

I've waffled on enough about it. Tom Phats tofu scramble is my favourite weekend breakfast right at the moment. The combination of the smoky oils and the sweet and sour thai sauces, I squeal with delight when I know its time to go there. The roti bread is debateably vegan, I asked the kitchen and they said on the packet it says made with margarine, which could mean it has milk solids in it, so order at your own risk. I am actually salivating right now looking at that picture. yum yum! Their coffee is very good too, I have had friends who complain about the service there but I have found it always very good. Enjoy! My favourite in Brunswick. 17/20.

mushrooms on toast

Drunk. I caught the last 55 tram home to Union Square silently chanting for hot chips. Boo! No! Chastising myself I thought, I'm an industrious young lass, surely I can knock something greasy up, myself when I get home. Yes, bring on mushrooms on toast.

ingredients
olive oil
2x large mushys
2x cloves of garlijavascript:void(0)c thinly sliced
handful of sundried tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
tsp of dried thyme or fresh
fresh or dried chilli to taste
salt/pepper
handful of greens like spinach or rocket(arugula)

method
1. Fry up! I served on sourdough with a drizzle of olive oil and salt. I inhaled it so quickly I almost choked to death. Total. Win.

Monday Melbourne Roundup

So obviously since I got a new camera to replace my stolen one, I have been able to go food blog on y'all. This is where I will go with this from now on, very excited guys! I hope you enjoy the food I have to share with you. I will still be doing the roundup, however all restaurants will become food related separate posts laterz. Teh hearts.

Out

The God of Carnage - Melbourne Theatre Company
So most of my MTC subscription has been utter shite. The handful of plays I have liked have been life changing and amazing (grace, the year of magical thinking, august - osage county, and for a bit of whimsy I did kind of like moonlight and magnolias -mainly because I have a severe boner for jew boys and marg downey) , but the amount of cater-to-seniors-who-obviously-are-the-only-people-with-money-to-spend-on-the-theatre plays have been fucking painful. The God of Carnage was of the same ilk. The same old tired sexist stereotypes of 2 warring couples, the as the night-goes-on-exponentially-hysterical-wife and her so zen-he's-practically-retarded, monosyllabic-eye-rolling-husband who barely tolerates her. This play made me sick. Why is this kind of content funny? Why are horrendous gender stereotypes the main fare for 'biting' satirical humour directed at the middle aged and suburban? Why do they find these things funny? Cant they see what a mockery they are making of their existence? Are these stereotypes given the usual 'for tv' dramatic treatment because it mirrors real life for a lot of people and this is why they find it funny? Why are husbands idiotic twits that don’t care about their wives needs or wants and why are wives portrayed as hysterical, hormonal, screeching banshees that cant string a sentence together? Fuck you MTC, I cant tell what I'm more mortified about, the fact that they staged this play, or that the entire joint laughed until they cried over it.

Book Club - What is the What by Dave Eggers
I really reserve 5 stars for books that change the way I think/change my life, and Dave Eggers "What is the What?" certainly did that for me. The pasted together 'fictionalised' life story of Valentino Achak Deng, is one of pure heartbreak, survival and hope. A searing account of the life of a Sudanese refugee in America and of his 14 years spent as a refugee in Kenya, I was aware of Sudan and all of its troubles, however now I feel greatly educated to the Sudanese peoples plight and humbled by my wealthy life in comparison. This book just poured into my brain, made me cry on several occasions but also made me laugh and smile at the vivid descriptions of the people in his life. There are so many ways for a small boy to die in Sudan, and too many are described here, but an honest account couldnt be without them. An easy read, but a heartbreaking one, I urge you to give the gift of this book to yourself. It will change how you see the world and your life.

Soul Fringe
The Fringe Club party headquarters has been moved downstairs to the basement this year… why?!?! What a crumby space, Vince Peach of course never fails to please and $5 bottles of beer and very cheap snacks is a great way to enjoy the fringe vibe when you have no money. I danced my legs off!

Eats/Drinks
I had my first Tom Phat tofu scramble since coming home, I went to the Emerald Peacock and had the most ridiculously expensive and shit vegan pizza Ive ever had (the space is wonderful, a great bar but DON’T EAT THERE $17 for a button mushroom pizza with some thyme!), a quick wine at Syracuse and dinner at The Grandview Hotel for which I have already blogged about.

chocolate raspberry layer cake

I am a sucker for this packet mix, Clare and I call it 'not cake' as it doesn't seem to logically subsist of anything that makes a 'cake' haha. Deeply obsessed with making a layer cake, Clare and I concocted this plan.

Assembly:
We baked 2 sets of cake mix and left to cool.

raspberry jam
1/2 cup of frozen raspberries (or fresh obviously)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup of water

1. Combine sugar and water, heat until the liquid becomes clear.

2. Add raspberries and reduce on medium heat until it resembles jam (maybe 20 minutes to half an hour).

chocolate cream frosting
1x packet of japanese tofu rinsed(firm or soft I cant tell the difference)
1/2 cup of cocoa
1 x block of lindt 70% dark chocolate (melted)
1x tsp vanilla
1/2 cup of sugar

1. Blend all the ingredients with a whizz stick or food processor (you can even get away with doing it by hand with a whisk), until well combined then pop in the fridge for half an hour while the cakes are cooling. My trick with rinsing the tofu is to cut the sides off then cut the top off and pinch out the sides a bit and just dribble water into one side for a few minutes to flush it out.

2. Assemble! The trick to assembling a heavily frosted cake without ruining the plate, frost on a piece of baking paper cut down the middle, when you're ready to transfer to a plate you can easily pull out both halves from underneath the cake. This cake mixture doesn't cut very well, but it was SOOOOOOO TASTY! The cake also becomes so moist its like mousse after a few days.

The Grandview Hotel - West Brunswick

Basically fellow vegans, don't go there. They had no easily identifiable vegan options on the menu and their vegetarian options were barely vegetarian (lots of rennet products in there). I politely asked at the bar what options could be made vegan, the man at the bar (who was very sweet in trying to accommodate me) was trying to figure it out when the chef arrived and was quite terse about the whole thing. He informed me that the only thing I could have on the menu would be a pasta with pasta sauce (he also said it depended on how 'serious I was on the whole matter' and offered the tofu parma but it was dipped in egg wash) and if I had called ahead that afternoon better provisions could have been made. I told him that I live in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and I am used to having at least one vegan option clearly labeled on the menu. The chef did not like that.

I wanted to leave, but it was cold, my fellow book clubbers were drinking wine, they offered a few places to go but I didn't want to put them out. I don't want to sound like a whiney vegan but this is the whole reason why I live where I live, I am so used to Melbourne being extremely vegan friendly, I don't want to have to go back to looking up menus on websites before I go anywhere and calling ahead. Not when most places accommodate vegans willingly these days. Brunswick West has a little way to go for sure, but the chefs attitude just sucked, when I had been completely polite and friendly about my request.

I settled on turkish bread with dukkah (the bread probably had whey in it) and side vegies with no butter and olive oil instead. I got stir fry vegies which were very nice, however I'm sick to death of being relegated to side salads and hot chips in order to survive. A testament to Sandra as well who organised book club this month she said "I didnt even think to ask anymore".

Dear chefs, I know you take what you do seriously and probably see vegans as party poopers who have no enjoyment of life (via food) but there are a lot of us, and A LOT in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, so don't think of it as a nuisance, get creative with vegies and do something different!

handful salad

I love this salad, its quick and easy, tasty and gets better the longer you have it in the fridge! I call it handful salad because I use a handful (or two) of whats lying around.

ingredients
1/2 cup cous cous
1/2 boiled water
1 tbsp of oil
handful of fresh flat leaf parsley (I just snip in with scissors)
handful of fresh mint (I just snip in with scissors)
handful or two of sultanas
handful or two of dried cranberries
handful or two of chopped almonds
handful or two of sliced sundried tomatoes

method
1. Put the cous cous, oil and boiling water into a bowl and let sit for a few minutes.

2. Fluff the cous cous then throw in all the ingredients and toss. Salad is better left overnight as the sultanas and the cranberries plump up with the moisture from the cous cous.

notes: I love the sultanas and cranberries, creating the perfect blend of sweet and tart. Also most of these items sit in jars in my cupboard so its a quick and easy meal if you cant be bothered going to the shops.

Swedish Rye Bread

I dont know about you, but I've found it really hard to find nice, dark yummy European style bread here. There is one brand kicking around Safeway but its $5 for about 6 thin slices. Ikea to the rescue. This rye bread is not only delicious, but by Safeway standards about $150 worth in a $6 box. And it is RIDICULOUSLY easy. You add 600ml of warm water to the box and shake. Put into a loaf tin, leave to rise for 40 minutes and bake for an hour at 200 degrees. Slice thinly, toast, drizzle with olive oil and sea salt and eat with EVERYTHING.

Pizza dough and "anything goes" Pizza

It was my new years resolution this year to master bread and yeast products. I haven't 'mastered' it yet, but I can make a mean sourdough ciabatta and yeasty things like pizza dough and cinnamon scrolls! (a LETHAL skill to have). Yeasty stuff is a bit difficult to grasp at first but eventually you will get it! I make this batch of pizza dough, roll them out into mini pizzas and keep them in the freezer in between pieces of baking paper, ready to go whenever I feel like it.

Pizza Dough Ingredients

2 tsp of yeast
1 tsbp sugar
1 1/2 cups water warm
3 cups of flour
Pinch of salt

Method:

Mix warm water, sugar and yeast together and leave for 10 minutes. The yeast should 'foam' and/or come to the top of the water like this:



Then add flour slowly until the dough is pliable and slightly sticky (you don't want it so sticky however that you cant knead it). All flour is different so you may need to add more flour, or less, so always mix bread products minus 1/2 cup of flour until you know how much you need (boom chic!). Dust your work surface and work that bread! About 6-8 minutes of kneading should get it elastic, you can feel the difference immensely, in the beginning it was kind of rough and un-uniform, by the time its ready it should be smooth, elastic, fully worked in almost exactly like "play-dough".



Lightly oil a bowl and put your dough baby in it. Turn the dough so it is covered in oil and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Yeast is like mold (or is a mold I cant remember) it loves moisture and warmth. I usually turn my oven on to heat up for pizza time and let the bowl sit on top of the oven. Unless its hot hot summer you will need some heat help with making dough rise in Melbourne. It should take between 45-60 minutes to double in size. You can notice the difference, the dough basically becomes 'alive' and puffy (and be patient! if you have that warmth there the dough WILL rise, stop looking at it!). The marker on the bowl was where the top of my dough baby came to before it was left to rise:



Punch that dough! No I mean it! Punch in the centre to deflate all the air out of it and knead it for a minute. At this point in regular bread making you would shape it into a loaf and let rise again until doubled, but we don't need that for pizza bases.

Break off handfuls and roll out into pizza rounds (I'm rolling them out for single servings, use your noggin to cater to a larger bunch). I usually roll them out quite thin because the pizzas rise a fair bit and I like a thin crust. You will see when you're rolling it out that air bubbles will form in the dough constantly, its alive and burbling! so cool! Store in the freezer between pieces of baking paper.

Pizza is a great poor option. Next comes "anything goes" pizza, I had sun dried tomato tapenade, used that as a base, then used all the vegies I had in my fridge that were about to die, spanish onion, mushrooms, asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, and thin slices of garlic on top. Yum yum.

Madeleine Bistro - Tarzana, California

Another one of my vegan expeditions when I was in California. Madeleines Bistro was vegan delight, offering an extensive brunch menu. I'm trying to stay off the fake meats these days so I go the scrambled tofu but my companions got fake meat o rama.



Mine was "The Skillet" scrambled tofu, homefries and facon



Lisa got the Waffles and "Chicken" - I had never heard of waffles and chicken before as a breakfast option! so apparently a veganised one was revolutionary. Looked yummy.



Arne got the Madeleine Club - chicken fried seitan, tempeh bacon and homefries.

I was pretty underwhelmed with my tofu scramble, I think its because I make one thats very different and its what I'm used to. Definitely I am going to have a health food week next time so I can go and have the chicken and waffles! Something to check out if you ever make it to the valley in L.A.

Madeleine Bistro link here

Brunch menu here

Extensive list of menus looks insane!

porridge with coconut cream, raspberries and almonds

I cycle to work, 12kms each way, so eating a low GI breakfast is important. Porridge makes me feel full until lunchtime. I try and eat fruit at breakfast as well, as usually I dont eat much fruit during the day (I'm a pussy like that).

ingredients
handful of raspberries, fresh or frozen
3/4 cup of porridge oats
1/2 cup of coconut milk or cream
1/2 cup of rice milk or soy
handful of shredded coconut
handful of almonds

method
1. Toast almonds and coconut under a grill whilst making the porridge.

2. Cook the oats in the coconut and rice milk until they are tender. Add raspberries and cook until they are heated. Serve with some brown sugar (especially if the raspberries are quite tart), the toasted coconut and almonds.

scrambled tofu with roti bread

This is one of my favourite easy meals to make. I work in batches like a stir fry to keep everything crisp and fresh. The best part is, is you can throw in whatever seasonal vegetables you like, mix up the seasoning, tofu takes on any flavour you wish to make.

ingredients
1 package of firm water packed tofu (honestly any kind of firm/soft chinese tofu would work)
3 stems of asparagus, thinly sliced
2 vegie sausages, sliced
2 mushrooms, diced
1 onion, diced
1 chili, thinly sliced
2 tbsp of pine nuts
2 tbsp fresh parsley
a handful of english spinach
2 tbsp sun dried tomatoes shredded
seasoning of your choice, I used a 1 tbsp of dukkah, some salt and some pepper

method
1. Working in batches I first dry roasted the pine nuts and set aside.

2. Fry up the chili and onion in some olive oil until the onion goes translucent. Add the sausages and saute for about 5 mins until the sausages go brown. Set aside with the pine nuts.

3. Fry up the mushrooms and mash the tofu into them. Let the tofu cook for about 5 minutes to release all of the water. Drain the water then throw all of the other cooked ingredients in and add the spinach, parsley, asparagus and sun dried tomatoes. Toss in the pan until spinach is wilted.

4. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and lemon juice (its pretty much how I finish everything these days) Voila!

Bowl of Soul - Port Melbourne - CLOSED

Todays Bowl of Soul adventure was their "Creole Chkn Roll" - ckn rubbed with creole spices, no bun, with lime infused vegan mayo, cheezly, spinach, beetroot, alfalfa, carrot and facon. Yum.

Real Food Daily - Santa Monica, Los Angeles

As you may be aware I've been off in the states for the past 2.5 weeks. First cab off the rank was dinner at my FAVOURITE vegan restaurant EVER, Real Food Daily. I first went here 4 years ago and was blown away at Ann Gentrys macrobiotic/vegan fusion meals. This was the first time I had encountered cashew cheese and I've been going back ever since. The first meal I had there we did not record (I forgot my camera) but thankfully we had group dinner as my farewell there so there is a wider range of meals to show you. I have the cookbook as well, so I can recreate my favourites and not feel too left out when I'm not there. I highly recommend the cookbook, its the vegan cookbook I use the most.


My choice, the Ying Yang salad, 'cabbage, romaine hearts, edamame, carrots, cucumbers, sesame seeds, peanuts, coriander, peanut dressing' - a lovely light, refreshing salad full of lots of different vegies.


the real food Ceasar 'romaine hearts, capers, wheat free blue corn crutons, ceasar dressing' - I found this a little boring, however my carnivore friend ordered it just to have something to eat. I would have added extra tempeh bacon and other bits to pad it out a bit.


Burrito special 'red chilli beans, cashew cheese, brown rice, mushroom filled burrito, guacamole' - this was absolutely delicious, the mushrooms inside the burrito were slow cooked in some way, they were almost gravy by the time they made it in that burrito.


Stir it up 'julienne seasonal vegies in garlic ginger sauce over soba or brown rice' - I didnt try this but Lee said it was very nice.


The Real Food Daily 'TV Dinner' - tempeh vegetable loaf, mashed potatoes, golden gravy, ceasar salad' - I dont like tempeh, there I said it. I did like everything else on this plate however, yummy comfort food!


The Hummus Plate - self explanatory. This hummus was delicious, no seriously.

I highly recommend you bee line it to RFD if you're ever in LA. Some of their food can be quite rich (especially if you get the RFD tempeh burger with the works fresh off the plane with a sensitive stomach!) but get a few different things and share around.

The Real Food Daily menu available here

The Real Food Daily website here