twenty ten new years resolutions

I got serious this year. I turned 30 on the 9th of January and having been basically a crazed lunatic my entire life until a few months previous I felt that there was quite a few open ends that needed closing. So I made a list of everything I felt I needed to achieve to put a wrap on my twenties with a pretty bow.

1. Do a course (in anything - I never went to Uni)
2. Do 365 photo project
3. Apply to NMIT photography course
4. Go to the top three places I've always wanted to go to
5. Fix my teeth
6. Start running
7. Get rid of all lingering questions from my twenties
8. Last year of working full time
9. Continue to honour past resolutions
10. Finish first draft of book
11. Commit to volunteering

A lot right? Well with the ebs and flows of life some items on this list changed to something else but with the same intent. How I did:

1. Began a 2 year part time IT diploma at Victoria University
2. I am a few weeks away from completing 365, a massive body of work with some beautiful shots in it
3. I at least have the portfolio now to apply BUT am waiting until I finish my IT diploma so a couple years
4. Mutter Museum (Philadelphia), New York and Berlin DONE! I also went to Auckland (New Zealand), Edinburgh (Scotland), Glasgow (Scotland), London (England), Brighton (England), Los Angeles (USA), Sydney (AUS), Brisbane (AUS), Coffs Harbour (AUS) and Byron Bay (AUS).
5. I had braces for the first 7 months of this year, it was pretty much the worst thing that ever happened to me, but I'm really happy with the results and my health fund paid for most of it.
6. I started running in August and was able to complete the 3.3km track within 6 weeks of beginning training. I've fallen off the wagon lately but looking forward to 2011 (and my resolutions around this!).
7. Part of all of the traveling this year was this item. I resolved a lot of open ended relationships with many people all over the globe. I am happy that I now know that I want to stay in Australia and be with an Australian (or at least someone who wants to make Australia their permanent home).
8. I will begin working 4 days a week as of next year. BAM.
9. My past resolutions of taking care of my tattoos and skin was honoured. More more more sunscreen.
10. I finished the first draft of my book which I hated and then threw in a drawer. I have started writing a cookbook which I'm hoping will get off the ground next year.
11. You will see why I don't have time to volunteer right now below.

Additional things I achieved but did not want to commit to in a list was:

* I quit smoking ONCE AND FOR ALL. It only took me 3 years of actively quitting but I did it. MONUMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT (the running really REALLY helped me do this).
*I got more serious about the blog, my writing and started writing for an online Melbourne centric magazine called Milkbar.
*I set the goal of going on 8 dates, met some great people and am happy to say I'm seeing someone who makes me very very happy (and vegan! yeah!).
*I paid 6K off my debts and still travelled for 3 months this year.
*I started going to Buddhist meditation, something I am going to commit to in the new year.

And finally off my "idle" resolutions list (a list I keep to look at every now and then and do things when the opportunity arises):

*Bake a vegan wedding cake (I'm great at cake baking, have no patience or skill for decorating I found out)
*Buy one book a week (thank you Book Depository).
*Donate to the RSPCA. I donate to them and Medicines San Frontiers $50 a month and have committed $600 of my tax return to the Hamlin Institute. This has made me feel so good about myself I can't put it into words. I know a lot of people have problems with the RSPCA but for me I find them to be the most overall effective and pragmatic animal rights organisation that are making a difference. I was so blown away by their puppy farm bus stop poster campaign this year.
*Honour 3x50 rule. This was made up by Adbusters, to spend $50 a month in 3 local business.

My list for 2011 is working on a lot of the things I've started this year, number one is I will finally pay off my debt, I will be debt free for the first time in my adult life. Something I am really looking forward to.

What did you achieve this year? What do you have planned for next year?

new harmony - philadelphia

Another ridiculous vegan Chinese banquet. This was a bog standard 80's banquet with all the hits. Wonton soup, lemon 'chicken', tofu and vegetables, stuffed tofu skins, spring rolls, fried spinach pancake, steamed 'prawn' and vegetable dumplings, pumpkin and spinach steamed dumplings, bbq 'pork' dumplings and sesame chicken. The food was great! There were a couple of dishes that didnt do it for me, but with so much food it doesnt really matter. These kinds of banquets I feel like only a couple of times a year but when it rolls around I'm like a little kid again. A must do in Philly. The kicker? $12 all you can eat (an indication of how much this place is loved, Google maps has 4.5/5 with 127 reviews).

deets: 135 North 9th Street, Philadelphia
$$: the banquet is $12 per person, if you have more than 10 people you also get free access to the private karaoke room.

eataly - flatiron district - new york

This was one of those, oh my god I'm starving lets go here, discovery gems! Eataly is freaking HUGE! Think about an American sized fancy Italian supermarket with several eating nooks inside and you are on the way to imagining how huge Eataly is. From Foursquare "Mario Batali presents a 50,000-sq-ft gastro-playground with seven separate eateries, multiple food stores, a rooftop beer garden, a culinary bookstore and an educational center. Yum!".

A bit over priced, almost authentic Italian ingredients, but the lunch was exactly what I needed. In America its really hard to find a vegan middle ground. Its either fake meat arama, bean and rice burritos or high end really rich raw food, there's hardly any straight up plain vegetable action. To sit down and have a nice salad, cooked well with some lentil soup completely made my day. There are many sections, pizza, meat, poultry, fish and vegetarian. Sitting in the vegetable section most things on the menu are labelled vegan. TOTAL WIN. The bread was spectacular, a delightful chewy sourdough that made me miss home something chronic (you cant get bread in America like we get everywhere in Melbourne). Definitely something to experience, its always insanely busy and don't be like us and go out the wrong exit setting off an ear splitting alarm with about 100 people glaring at us out of the window.

deets: 200 5th Ave at W 23rd St, New York web: Eataly
$$: Was about $20 with tip

pure food and wine - new york

Meeting up with my old, dear friend Gordon in Union Square, we had tea and schemed as to where to have dinner. Gordon lives in the East Village and knows most of the best places to eat so when he suggested Pure Food and Wine I leapt at the chance as it was one of the ten or so restaurants I had book marked.

In the past I've found raw food to be a bit hit and miss but Pure Food and Wine was just spectacular. Its considered to be one of the best raw restaurants in the world, not having been to many, its certainly the best I've been to raw or otherwise.

We started with the hazelnut crostinis with crimini mushrooms and caper bearnaise with caraway sauerkraut, local apple cider reduction and the salad of arugula, endive, candied pecans, lavender shallot vinaigrette with aged balsamic soaked wild huckleberries, aged cashew cheese. Phew that was a mouthful. The crostinis were delicious, so creamy with the perfect balance of crunch. The arugula (rocket) salad I found a little over powering. The bitterness of the leaves paired with the tart balsamic and sour huckleberries was a bit too lip puckering for me. The revelation was the aged, smoked cashew cheese, I have never eaten anything like it. Like a smoked gouda, I couldnt believe it was raw (and vegan).

Main course, Gordon had the spanikopita with spinach, almond feta, cucumber yogurt with local cauliflower and white grapes and I had the zucchini, local roma and heirloom tomato lasagna with basil pistachio pesto, sun-dried tomato marinara, macadamia pumpkin seed ricotta. The spanikopita was just unbelievable. The perfect balance of flavours and textures, the creaminess of the almond feta and cucumber yogurt. I have no idea what they made the 'filo' out of but it was crunchy and light and perfectly held the filling. My raw-sangne was also amazing. My tongue tingled with all the flavours, the richness of the sun-dried tomato red sauce, the basil pesto was so full flavoured but light I have no understanding of how they made it. I found the acidity of all the tomatoes too much and couldn't finish it in the end or perhaps I was just making room for dessert.

A shared dessert of salted chocolate caramel tart with pecan caramel, dark chocolate ganache, maldon sea salt and vanilla cream was completely orgasmic. The salt, chocolate and vanilla mixing together almost made me cry.

The service was perfect, the space comfortable and warm. The organic wine was incredible. Its dining experiences like these that completely rock my world. Where I wonder "how the hell did they make this" with every dish that comes out, my brain flooding with seratonin at each bite. Its one of the top ten dining experiences I will take to my grave.

Sorry for the bad photos, bad lighting and drunk hands again.

deets: 54 Irving Pl (between 17th St & 18th St), New York web: Pure Food and Wine
$$: Not cheap but completely worth it. Our meal with 3 glasses of wine and tip was about $150USD

Urth Caffe - Santa Monica - Los Angeles

Urth is a great cafe really close to the beach that specialises in free trade coffee without being too hippy dippy. Post Starbucks revolution the States is getting better at having espresso available (and mainly good) in 75% of places but I still have good coffee shops pointed out to me by locals filed in the back of my mind wherever I go (though by reading Yelp.com found out that Urth is a chain). Urth is by no means anywhere near being a vegetarian cafe so I was suprised (but not so surprised if that makes sense) to see a HUGE vegan pumpkin pie in the display case. YES! This pie was delicious and my first. It was extra special to be in the States around Tofurkey time and get to experience so many veganised traditional foods. This was completely delicious and I'm keen to try to make my own in our Autumn. Get a table outside if you can, great people watching.

deets: 2327 Main St, Santa Monica web: http://www.urthcaffe.com/
$$: dont remember, not expensive I think $5 for the slice

real food daily - santa monica - los angeles

Another Real Food Daily special excursion. I had never made it to Sunday brunch there so hold onto your hats because RFD works its magic in the morning time as well as the evening. Pictured, I had the No-Huevos Rancheros with a side order of hash (with home made ketchup - totally divine) and Clare had the breakfast burrito. Much the same Anne Gentry goodness, the cashew cheese is absolutely to die for. Added bonus of Woody Harrelson being there when we were eating.

deets: RFD have 2 locations in Los Angeles clicky clicky and their website with menus is here.
$$: No Huevos Rancherso - $10.95 Breakfast Burrito - $13.95 not including tax and tip

kung pao kitty - hollywood - los angeles

Half Chinese restaurant, half punk bar, all awesome. Kung Pao Kitty is a favourite haunt of my friends and I go there everytime I'm in LA. Its great for awesome tunes, cheap booze and hot hot HOT staff. I don’t know if the kitchen staff has changed or I was just too much of a fall down drunk the last couple of times I was there but I had no memory of the food being SO FREAKING DELICIOUS. This was seriously one of the best (multiple times) meals I had in the US. We ate there several times but I'll wrap it all up into one post.

Pictured: vegetarian spring rolls, spicy sauteed tofu, szechwan broccoli, imperial eggplant and spicy wok tossed spring beans. All were mouth wateringly delicious, perfectly cooked and liberally doused in drool worthy sauces. Go at happy hour, for super cheap pints and doubled up entrée specials. This is a must do in Hollywood.

Deets: 6445 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles
$$: Most dishes are around the $7.50 mark, add tax and tip.

ps: sorry for drunk hands photos! :D

surviving the family roast

A shorter version of this also appeared in Milk Bar magazine:

Link to Milkbar

Christmas is quite stressful for most people. Add being the only vegan in your family and it can get quite anxiety riddled. Depending on how supportive your family is or how new to being vegan you are you may feel overwhelmed on how to deal with the gigantic leg of ham on the table or the full sized turkey or even Nannas well intentioned but ill-informed views. A few hints and tips I've picked up over the years on dealing with eating in group scenarios, particularily with people who feel comfortable enough to voice their opinions about your food choices.

1. My first rule about veganism is I do not talk about it around food. If you are meeting people for the first time at a group meal it's usually the first thing they learn about you. I've found most people genuinely curious which is lovely but its not really the right time to explain why you are vegan. I just politely tell them that I've found it not the best time to talk about such things but if they are really interested I am happy to talk to them later.

2. Avoiding any conflict and attention is my second step. If you are eating at a restaurant for Christmas dinner or lunch, find out the venue and call them at least a week before to find out what you can eat or if you can request a special meal. Most venues these days are knowledgeable about veganism and happy to cater for it.

3. If you are having a home dinner/lunch (or at a family members) and its not considered rude in your culture, offer to bring a dish. This is the best way to show examples of the constant question 'gee what do vegans eat' and it guarantees you will have something to eat. Most people are well intentioned but they don’t understand ingredients like we do (I've been offered 'vegan' jelly, fish pie, vegies roasted in duck fat etc etc).

4. If there are other vegetarians or vegans in your family collaborate with them for a few dishes, that way you will all have enough to eat and safety in numbers. The more vegetarians there are to cater for the less 'unreasonable' your dietary requirements will seem.

5. If it will rock the boat too much to bring a dish (hello! my family has many territorial chefs) offer to help prepare the salads and vegies. That way you can salvage some food before it gets slathered in parmasean or mayonnaise.

6. If all else fails and your family are quite hostile to your veganism pack a sandwich and eat it out of sight after picking at whatever you could salvage from the main meal. Its one meal out of your life and although its hurtful and it sucks that your family are not supportive of you there's really no point in being hostile back. It took ten years of being variously vegetarian and vegan for my family to finally accept it. Christmas is about being together and sharing, try your best to have a good time, one day your family will come around.

7. Finally I've had to learn to be more gracious and diplomatic. My veganism is about compassion which I have had to learn to extend to the people around me. Friends and family members have tried REALLY hard in the past to accommodate my veganism but there is a soy cheese in it with casein or dark chocolate with a small amount of milk solids etc. I've had to make judgement calls at those points where I've felt it would far more hurt the feelings of the person if I refuse based on tiny ingredient than to eat a small amount and tell them it was delicious (but remember to help them with ingredients choices next time).

Happy holidays!

christmas ideas

I've been getting a lot of requests for Christmas food inspiration. I like to cooked delicious salads that everyone can share (with no 'scary' or 'weird' things in it). I dont really like cooking much fake meat anyway but I think Christmas is a great way to showcase to your family and friends how amazing and delicious vegan food can really be.

Heres the link to the Christmas feast I cooked last year.

This year I'm going home to Sydney so will be taking a few dishes to my Auntys house (I'm not sure yet I think I will make cauliflower tart and a salad).

This year I'm also making food gifts of different preserves and cookies for my family. I wont post the recipes yet because my Dad and my Sister read my blog! (hi!).

What are you thinking about cooking for Christmas? For additional food porn/ideas check out Lisa Dempsters amazing Christmas potluck she hosted on the weekend!

blu jam café - melrose - los angeles

Its hard finding places that cater to everyone. Blu Jam does a good job of it. Steak, health food, burgers, labelled vegan options, it really has something for everyone. When we arrived it was also the busiest place on Melrose, packed to the rafters on the sunny winter day. We had to sit inside which was a shame but the food was really great. I had the vegie burger with no bun (was so over carbs at that point) and home fries (gotta love how Americans do potatos). Tasty, fresh, quick and recommend if you are in Melrose (doing amazing vintage shopping) and want a bite to eat. (again I took half of it with me and ate it for dinner - portion sizes are huge but you can take what you don’t eat with you).

Deets: 7371 Melrose Ave Los Angeles web: www.blujamcafe.com
$$: I cant remember and cant access their website. Around $15 including tax and tip.

monday melbourne roundup

It was wonderful to get around and systematically hit a few of my favourite haunts and add a few new ones to the mix. Jet lag meant I was all over the shop, mainly with 5am wake ups and a lost appetite but I'm happy to report I'm feeling 100% today! Hooray! I finish work on Thursday (half day) then head to Sydney to the 8th of January. Lots of beach time. What are you doing for the holiday period? Big love!!

out.

Tron Legacy in 3D at IMAX

AMAZING. Cheesy, camp, canned dialogue and bad acting. The effects were amazing and its exactly what you would want out of a Tron sequel!! Tron + Daft Punk = Orgasm. 3.5/5 (YOU HAVE TO SEE IT AT IMAX!)



Somewhere

The new Sofia Coppola. Its VERY Sofia Coppola. I saw it at the gorgeous Sun Theatre in Yarraville. Seriously beautiful. I LOVED THIS. 4/5.



eats.drinks

Tom Phat

I went to Tom Phat twice this week and both times were just awful. Shrunken tofu and tempeh with very little dark soy sauce and flavourless rice. We asked for more dark soy and they didn’t know what it was?!?! Then had the tofu scramble and it was like tomato soup with tofu in it. Really really bad food. Where has the good chef gone?

Bopha Devi

Disappointing as well! The rice was all clumped together and almost non existent sauce for the curry. I was very sad! The garlic chive cakes and pumpkin parcels were awesome though, and the service was as lovely as usual.

Bimbo Deluxe

Massively disappointing as well! My napoletana pizza had 4 cloves of garlic and 4 olives on it with a bland sauce. MELBOURNE WHAT IS HAPPENING TO YOU?!?!

real food daily - west hollywood - los angeles

Ahh Real Food Daily. MY FAVOURITE VEGAN RESTAURANT EVER. Anne Gentry is pretty much my pop star hera. I would squeal like a little girl if I ever got to meet her. You can read about my previous adventures to RFD here and here though I've been going there since 2006. Everything is AMAZING. I was so excited this time as I was finally there at the right time to sample the famous RFD Thanksgiving dinner!

The food was unbelievable as usual, though the portion size was GIGANTIC (thankfully I got to take it away with me and enjoy it for dinner!). The only thing I didn’t like was the faux turkey breast, just wasn’t my style. The smooth as silk mashed potato and sweet potato (with cinnamon AMAZING), delicious gravy and completely amazing corn sage stuffing were the things Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner are made of. I just wished at that point that LA was cold enough to have the entire experience, but I'm not complaining! (pictured behind my meal is Clare enjoying the RFD nachos).

Because of where we were staying we got to go to the West Hollywood restaurant all the time, I'd only been there once as I always go to the Santa Monica space. The staff are lovely and eclectic (so many cute boys with mohawks!), the service is magnificent and the location means we spotted quite a stars enjoying RFD.

Seriously, if you're ever in LA GO.

deets: RFD have 2 locations in Los Angeles clicky clicky and their website with menus is here.
$$: Thanksgiving dinner $15.95 not including tax or tip.

monday melbourne roundup - the LA - new york and philly edition

Where do I even start? I have to get something on paper so I can just move on. Restaurants will flow through and be documented that way so they wont turn up here. Guess I'll post a bit about the galleries, sights and films I saw while I was away.

Los Angeles

Love the place more than life itself. Some selected stills:

Venice Beach skate park


Venice


Frank Gehry - one of my favourite architects - Venice Beach


Muscle Beach


New York City

MoMA was pretty much the best thing that ever happened to me.

My favourite painter Mark Rothko


Three of my favourite female photographers and my favourite pieces by them:

Cindy Sherman


Nan Goldin


Dianne Arbus


The Guggenheim


Coney Island






My other equal first favourite architect Norman Foster has a building in NYC


Philly

The Rocky Statue!


And this amazing building straight out of the early 90s


And finally a quick 5 hour stop over drinking cocktails in Venice


Films

Black Swan 5/5 (my second 5/5 for the year)

Completely mind blowing.


Knight and Day

I didn’t hate this. I was completely surprised. 3/5.


I ate some great food while I was away. Its really hard to find good vegan food! Most vegan places are mock meat and it makes me mental. I ended up subsisting a lot on falafel sandwiches and burritos, but did manage to make it (and document) quite a few places. The torrent of posting will start tomorrow!

Hope you enjoyed some of my photos. Xo.

vegan MOFO!

Hi Everybody! I'm back but I'm retardedly jet lagged. Still feel like a photocopy so unsure when I'm going to tackle the monstrous mountain of monday melbourne roundup for the two weeks I was away, so stay tuned.

I just wanted to give props to everyone who did Vegan MOFO! Such incredible blogging, really interesting, I was surprised at the quality that everyone maintained! What a huge achievement. So to those who did it congrats!

I didnt keep up with it all but I have to say my stand outs were In the Mood for Noodles and Vicki Vegan. I absolutely loved all that they blogged (also loved that the PPK did Vegan MOFO too, seriously fantastic).

After travelling its always so nice to come home, but also to realise how wonderful all the vegans I know are. I truly know what people mean when they talk about the sense of community and shared values. Thanks guys. You rock! xo Carla

ps: and to those of you who have been recipe testing for me, I know I havent sent out a batch for a while, it will probably be late January before I do. xo. THANK YOU!

green bean salad with mustard seeds and thyme

Greetings from New York! Heres a post to wet your whistle while I'm away!

I finally had a moment to peruse Yotam Ottolenghis Plenty and frankly he is my God. I had a huge boozey afternoon dinner party with sechewan potato, roasted sweet potato, grilled asparagus, green bean salad and caramalised roast garlic tart. It was completely DELICIOUS. The tart recipe is being saved for the cookbook ;)

Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghis Plenty

ingredients
250 gm of french beans, trimmed
250 gm of green peas (fresh or frozen)
2 tsp of coriander seeds, roughly crushed
1 tsp of mustard seeds
3 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 small spanish onion diced
1 mild fresh chilli, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
zest of one lemon
2 tbsp of thyme, chopped
sea salt and pepper

method
1. Blanch the green beans and peas.

2. Roast the mustard seeds in fry pan on medium heat until they start to pop.

3. Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl!