monday melbourne roundup - the adelaide edition

I love Adelaide. I know its who you know a lot of the of the time (which is particularly true of Adelaide) but I've had some amazing, fun filled crazy times in the City of Churches. This time was more sober, my friends have a small child now and my other friends I stayed with are 6 months pregnant but much fun was still had. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I had another jam packed week before I headed to Adelaide on Friday.

out.

emerging writers festival - Opening Night

EWF is such a fantastic festival and with my friend Lisa Dempster at the helm its getting better each year. I've bought a Golden Pass this year and am trying to make it to as many events as possible. Though I found some of the acts uninteresting, Max Barrys speech on e-readers and digital publishing was one of the best things I've heard in ages. Check out the festival.

adelaide central market

THE BOMB. Much like a smaller, more contained version of Vic, Adelaide Central Market goes for quality over quantity. You swoon the second you walk in there.

See haul below: olive tapenade, morroccan hommous, german rye bread, garlic marinated olives, marinated artichoke hearts and corriander and walnut pesto.



hahndorf (aka german town)


"One of the Adelaide Hills' most famous towns, Hahndorf is Australia's oldest surviving German settlement." AMAZING! So SO many amazing small goods shops. As I'm trying to avoid wheat I found a BOUNTY of rye based products and many vegan sweets as Germans love rye and have proper dark chocolate! I got a bunch of ingredients on sale and am looking forward to using them all (particularly the bush spices)! See below:



back row: raspberry licorice, kapha tea (for my dosh - an ayurveda tea - bought at bliss organic cafe), sea salt with rosemary, 100% rye crispbreads (so SO much nicer than ryevita), dark chocolate mint thins

middle rows: organic fair trade coffee from Adelaide Central Market (cant remember the blend), chocolate and caramel pudding mix packets, teese mozz (bought at Bliss Organic - cant wait to try this), Melbas rum and raisin dark chocolate, native pepper, lemo myrtle and pepperberry seasoning, mountain pepper, roasted wattleseed.

front row: dark chocolate marizpan bar and spanish drinking chocolate.

melbas chocolates

Vegan heaven! All of their dark chocolate is vegan therefore A LOT of their dark chocolate covered things were vegan too! I exercised restraint and only bought rum and raisin and a giant freckle. I also bought red licorice!! and finished the packet in one sitting before realising I didn't check whether the red dye was vegan :( I've been dying to eat gummi bears for so long and this gave me my fix, so definitely check before you buy them.

art gallery - south australia


The Patricia Piccinini exhibition is exquisite. Think Matthew Barney, Guillermo Del Toro, Ron Muek, her body of work is breath taking. I was rendered completely speechless by this exhibition and was an amazing find for me. I can't believe I've never heard of her before! If you're in Adelaide go and see it. Other items of interest on display, some of my favourite Margaret Preston woodcuts and a Sidney Nolan crayon exhibition that was amazing.

eats.drinks.

In the coming soon department, Bliss Organic Cafe - Adelaide, Blue Corn - St Kilda, Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery - Melbourne.

mekong neua - kingland - auckland - new zealand

Auckland has a surprising amount of great Asian food, particularly Thai and Japanese. This is one of the many Thai (mixed Laos) places I went to. I find it difficult, outside of Sydney, to get the level of chilli/heat I want even after ordering something that is described as "hot". The Tom Yum was delicious, the perfect lip smacking sour taste that makes you breath funny. There wasn't as much heat as I wanted, a truly hot Tom Yum is the cure for the common cold. The second dish of the evening was the Pad Kra Pao, again disappointingly mild but still lovely and delicate in flavour. All in all some lovely food, even on a bad hair day Auckland is still serving up better Thai than Melbourne.

deets: 483 New North Road Kingsland Auckland web:mekong neua
$$:We comfortably ate for $30NZ

monday melbourne roundup

Insanely busy week. I've embarked on a serious liver cleanse, my first in 5 years. No alcohol, wheat, refined sugar or fried food. Its a 2 month process ending in a liver flush which is like being possessed by the devil but clears out all liver and kidney stones (before they become calcified). I'm looking forward to feeling like a million bucks at the end of it. I also bought this book and after doing the liver cleanse diet, blood type and researching eastern medicine it all funnels into this. I'm committing my life to Ayurveda fully from now on. It just makes so much sense to me. I'm really really excited about this.

out.

the pearl fishers - opera australia

After having had a subscription to Opera Australia for 2 years now, their production of the Pearlfishers is everything I dream of when I imagine 'Opera'. Lush, surreally vibrant sets with equally colourful costumes, you almost drown in the colour saturation of the Ceylon setting. The perfect blend of drama, love, jealousy and religion (all Opera key stones) with a delicate and romantic score the Pearlfishers was a 3 dimensional Opera to me, hitting everything perfectly. The arias, the story, the sets, the costumes, in particular the use of fire for light and the ever gorgeous Henry Choo, it’s a wonderful performance.

next to normal - mtc

Honestly I'm SICK of these crazy mother plays the MTC keep choosing as part of their repertoire. The songs were good but overall this insane/cold/intellectual matriach causing destruction in the atomic family schtick is getting really really old. We didn't even wait for the interval and snuck out half an hour into it.

the mikado - opera australia

So so wonderful. I was so looking forward to this, a fun, humorous night at the Opera and they didn't disappoint. The set and costumes were to die for, gigantic tea pots, vases and Japanese fans. The chorus were lovely but Ko-Ko was a stand out. Played with the camp slapstick of the Dean from Community, he was absolutely hilarious and the perfect amount of camp. My highlight was the "they will not be missed" free style where he criticised climate change deniers and Andrew Bolt lovers and the conservative, wealthy crowd stopped laughing. G O L D.

body electric dance studios - animals

If you don't know what Bodyelectric is where have you been? Spandex, glitter, high camp, guns n roses it has something for everyone. Every once in a while they have an inter school dance competition and they've finally moved to a venue where lots of people can come! (before dancers were allocated 3 tickets). This was an AMAZING night full of THEATRE. Get along to the next one.

blue bird cafe - mt eden - auckland new zealand II

My second trip to blue bird cafe was as lovely as the first. Their vegan menu is extensive, it's rare that I have a really hard time choosing what to eat due to the variety. Pictured, a spinach nut loaf with mushroom gravy and salad. Utterly delicious. Blue bird does the healthy side of vegan food but not just dahl and rice, served in a serene environment with many bubbly happy people quietly enjoying their lunch. The sweets section is extensive as well but I have always been too full to try. Next time!

Deets: 299 Dominion Road, Mt Eden, Auckland web: blue bird cafe
$$: I think my main was $14NZ - it's that ball park anyway

ying thai 2 - carlton

Larb Woon Sen Pub - Warm vermicelli salad with vegetables, chilli, lemon juice and ground rice


Pud Med Ma-Mueng - Stir fry vegetable with cashew nuts

Ying Thai 2 nom nom. Some lovely Thai food right there. Not as amazing as the first time I went but still really really good. Be sure to specify vegetarian so you dont get fish or oyster sauce. A uni hang out, food is served whip fast in a colourful as a kindy environment. Totally.Go.There.

Deets: 110 Lygon St, Carlton and 235 Victoria St, Abbotsford
$$: mains around $10-14 entrée $6-$10

other voices, other times:

joyce gave it a HOT
brian from fitzroyalty also loved it
cindy and michael also had good things to say
that jess ho also loves it

monday melbourne roundup - the moving house edition

I had grand plans to do many things last week (brighton rock, macbeth @ opera australia, bands at the retreat, book club), but my life at the moment is like a tidal wave that is just washing me along so I just have to go with the flow. I found, inspected and got the house of my DREAMS last week and picked up the keys on Friday so I spent the entire weekend and Monday moving (and there is still more to go) but I am feeling so happy and settled. The universe has lots in store for me and is providing me with a comfortable base for me to COPE with the joy and amazingness that is going to continue flooding in. There were trips to MoVida, Syracuse, an artists dinner at the exclusive members only gentleman's club The Savage Club but I don’t feel like going into detail. The cold weather is making me ecstatic (WHAT HAPPENED TO CARLA?!?! WHERE IS THE GIRL FROM SYDNEY?!?). Melbourne truly shines in Winter, I can't wait. Prediction, I actually think its going to snow in Melbourne this year. Wacky.

spiced dahl burger - berrymans cafe and tearooms - maldon

I recently went to Castlemaine for the weekend, part of my goal this year to see more of country Victoria. Berrymans is in a neighbouring town of Malden which is a tiny one street town with lots of country side things like scones and antique barns. We were starving by the time we got there and peered into the cafes along the strip finding nothing we could eat. We got to Berrymans and there was a huge sign out the front that said "ask us about our vegan and gluten free options" wow!! So of course they got our business. I had the spiced dahl burger on gluten free bread. They get all of their gluten free products from Silly Yaks. The dahl pattie was delicious, so full bodied and possibly the best vegie patty I've ever had. The rest of the fixings were nice, your usual. A bit expensive but I found everything in the country really expensive! I don't know how that works! A vegan works in the kitchen and was chuffed to have vegans to cater for.

deets: 30 Main St, MALDON, VIC, 3463
$$: Burger was $16

monday melbourne roundup - the I'm back edition

Strap yourself in because this is going to be a long one (I'll try to keep it as succinct as possible). Big news:

* I got accepted into the CAE to teach vegan cooking classes. This is huge for me and the first step into living my absolute dream. I will definitely be in the Spring program but there is a possibility I will be in the Winter program. I will of course keep you all posted.

* I went to New Zealand and had a ball (again). Ate till I thought I was going to explode, saw some cool volcanoes (there's 6 in Auckland ALONE!) went to Wellington for the first time. I will be posting what I ate there soon enough.

* I'm about to move house into the flat of my dreams. It's all brand new, dishwasher, reverse cycle air con, gas cooking/heating and loft bedrooms with huge sky lights. I've sold all of my stuff and am starting again. Living in a mouldy house can really REALLY ruin your health I'm looking forward to gaining strength and starting fresh and going back to training.

* School is going well, I've dropped one subject so I'm only doing 2 this semester. I've changed streams from 12 subjects to 9 which means I will get a web development diploma instead of the full IT diploma, that suits me fine because

* I got my EU citizenship (finally) and am planning on moving back to London July 2012. I will finish my diploma end of June 2012, wrap everything up and go. Depending on when I get a cookbook deal (its not if now its when) and what I have to do.

* Concentrating more on activism has been one of the most heartful and rewarding experiences in my life. I will continue to do this. The vegan bakesale was SO EASY and FUN I will definitely be doing it each month. Getting better at it as each time goes by. I will do a vegan bakesale separate post soon.

* Its almost film festival time and every time I think about it a little bit of wee comes out.

Jam packed 6 weeks right? Its only going to get busier but I'm feeling like a well oiled machine and that I'm doing everything my being was set out to do in this life time. Its the most freeing, joyful feeling that I go wobbly kneed if I think about it too much. I want to teach people, reach out to them that vegan food and the lifestyle is EASY and brings you so much peace and joy. Its why I started this website, its why I try and connect with as many people as possible.

soooo... to not overwhelm myself with the amount I have to report I will just stick to film and leave it at that. I've seen some great opera and theatre since I've been on break but I use the blog as a film journal to record what I've seen for my end of year list so here goes:

Barneys Version

Paul Giacometti is an extremely interesting actor, having managed to nail 3 of the most full and intriguing characters over the past 10 years. I loved this movie, it was gentle (and long) but the performances were completely amazing. I'm Canada obsessed so it was a cameo squeal fest for me too. Most other people wont get as much as I did out of it but I recommend you see it anyway. 3.5/5



Limitless

This was GREAT! What an AWESOME action/drama. Tight, cogent, great performances and superbly paced this is just the kind of action film I can get behind. An old theme done in a refreshingly new way. 4/5



Inside Job

I knew everything that was in this doco so it wasnt a big surprise for me, but I urge EVERYONE TO WATCH IT. It explains exactly how the global financial crisis happened. Will make you absolutely furious. Great subject matter and pulled together really well, great use of music. This was also the winner of best doco at the Oscars. 4/5



The Way Back

Peter Weir is a wonderful film maker. The cinematography and landscapes in this film really steal the show from the performers. I thought it was too long but a perfectly good film, extremely well made and executed. Quality production but lacked drama for subject matter. 3.5/5



Kaboom

I'm a huge Gregg Araki fan, Totally Fucked Up really REALLY helped me through my teen years. Known for his harrowing films Gregg Araki set out to make the film the critics said he could never make. This dark drama is beautiful and quite funny with a hilarious ending. I personally never thought Gregg Araki *could* make a light hearted film but he has here and its spectacular. This is one of my favourite films of the year so far. 4.5/5



Incendies

Whoa. Amazing. Harrowing. See it. 4.5/5



Source Code

Duncan Jones second film after the magnificent Moon is lovely. Its nice to see a director who truely loves human beings. His film style is straight mid to late 70s sci fi from the large score to sweeping aerials his technical skills and aesthetic is seriously gifted. His direction and use of light is as technically skilled as Kubric, his subject matter a happier ending Gilliam. This film is just downright lovely. 4/5



What have you been doing in the meantime? Any great recipes you'd like to share?

vegan bakesale - raising funds for the RSPCA queensland

HELLO!!! It begins!!! My first vegan bakesale is raising money for the RSPCA Queensland. They had most of their infrastructure washed away during the floods. If you dont like the RSPCA (like a lot of vegans) never fear! because I will be raising money for Animals Australia AND Animal Liberation Victoria at subsequent bakesales.

What do I need from you?

Wear your eating pants and come on down and buy some delicious vegan baked goods...!

I also need people to donate vegan baked goods. Ideally things that are easily eaten in a single serve, ie: brownie slices, cupcakes, lemon bars that kind of thing. If you are making cookies please bag them into say $5 lots. Also if you can bring your item with a cover on it that would be most helpful, we have to have the food shielded in containers.

For tips on what to bake and other things please looky here!

I will be making one gluten free option and one wheat option. If someone could bring something raw that would be awesome as well!

Love to see you there! Carla

when: Saturday May 7th, 10am to 2pm
where: Fitzroy Public School, corner Napier & Chapel Streets Fitzroy

Fitzroy Market website
Facebook event