I was doing theatre review one night in Richmond and called out to the twitterverse asking for suggestions on where eat on Swan St. The gorgeous Ceri from Healthy Party Girl suggested Spud Bar, it's one of her faves, she's a local and a vegan so I thought I couldn't go wrong. MIND BLOWING, choose from a baked spud OR a baked sweet potato (and apparently there is some kind of potato/roast pumpkin hack you can get if you ask sweetly). Pictured is the Moroccan Dahl Spud (sweet potato) with baby spinach, tabouli, beetroot and peas. SO.GOOD. It looked so massive but I put the whole thing away ravenously in 5 minutes. With many veganisable options I can't wait to go back!
Cherry pie to make Dale Cooper blush. On my recent trip down a portion of the Great Ocean Road we stopped at a servo hawking $10 boxes of mangoes, cherries and other deliciousness and picked up some goodies. No prizes for guessing what I got. These cherries were unreal, so fresh, plump and firm, they didn't really need *anything* to make it into this pie. I kept it plain with a tiny bit of sugar and it was out of this world. That's damn fine cherry pie.
ingredients
1 kg of pitted, halved cherries
1/8 cup of sweetner (liquid or dry is fine)
2 x frozen pastry sheets, defrosted (short crust is best)
method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Line a 9 inch pie pan with a sheet of pastry. Mine doesn't make it all the way around so either use a smaller pie pan, roll out the pastry a little thinner or do what I do which is pinch a few strips from the other sheet and make up the difference. Prick the base of the pie about 10 times with a fork. At this point you can "blind bake" your crust, I didn't (I didn't have any baking paper) and it turned out ok for me.
3. Toss the pitted cherries in the sweetner and spread over the pie base. Make the lattice top, sprinkle with some sugar and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with a traditional scoop of vanilla ice cream.
It's 7.43am Monday and I'm sitting here exhausted barely able to move. But I have to leave soon so I can squeeze a dentists appointment in, a meeting with a prospective demo kitchen, a kind of business lunch then work then school till 10pm. This is pretty much my life at the moment. I feel like a hyperactive chihauha running after a non existent ball. School holidays are soon where I plan to *try* and stay home. The usuals were hit this week, Von Haus, Purple Peanuts, Movida Aqui (nom nom nom), Markov Place (yaya! I haven't been there in AGES) and A Simple Affair.
out.
hamlet - mtc
I was looking forward to this ALL YEAR, Ewen Leslie is the current darrrling of the Australia theatre scene and honestly his Richard the Third last year was one of the best things I've EVER seen. So the stakes were high. Hamlets a tough one, you have to butcher it substantially to get a running time under 3 hours so I felt it a little rushed at the end. Most of the actors felt exhausted, the stage was incredible and they did "make it their own" they managed to make Hamlet sexy.... which I've never understood why its been so austere in the past... its a big hulking brooding crazy sexy Danish guy getting his revenge on. Serious point for hilarity, the scene where Hamlet gets the travelling players to reenact his fathers death to the king and queen is played by BREAKDANCING MIMES (kind of). There was a tongue firmly planted in cheek here and everyone was wonderful but it just fell kind of flat for me. Impressive but they felt tired. ps: Pamela Rabe is so freaking HOT.
pina
Easily my favourite film of the year. Talking about this in Saturday night it made me cry all over again. I never really 'got' dance, I philosophically understood the place it occupies in the arts but it never really moved me the way other art forms did. This film floored me, I cried out of pure joy. Please please please go and see it before it finishes, you need to see it in 3D. 5/5
the aliens - red stitch actors theatre
Here's my review on Milkbar.
I love stories like Sheryl's of Cupcake Central. Retrenched in the GFC from her IT consultancy job she took the leap and slowly developed her passion into a thriving business. Now having opened her second store in Melbourne Central, her amazing vegan/gluten free cupcakes are now more easily accessible to us! (her first store is in Hawthorn).
Pictured are the vanilla gluten free cupcakes. My dear friend Katie brought them along to book club and what a surprise. They are without a doubt the best gluten free cupcake I've ever eaten (BEATING MINE!!). The frosting was amazing too, not that crazy crisco frosting that vegan cupcakes mainly have and not the so over powering soy flavour like the cupcakes at Babycakes have. Moist, slightly dense and fluffy icing they were unreal. Cupcake Central rotate 3 vegan gluten free flavours daily I can't wait to try the others! Thanks Katie, you da bomb lady.
Inspired by the Vegie Bars raw menu I have started experimenting at home. I had a raw uncookbook about 8 years ago, put it in storage when I went overseas and it never surfaced again (seriously where did it go?). I also had a dehydrator for 3 years but used it twice and sold it. So the interest has been there, but much like veganism in the beginning it just seemed too hard.
This recipe is ridiculously easy, though I have to admit I don't know what I'm doing wrong because all of the vegan alfredo recipes I've made I've found them too thin. So I subtracted 1/2 a cup of water from the recipe if you find it too thick you can always add more. This recipe has been adapted from The Rawtarian.
ingredients
2 cups soaked cashews (soaked for 20 minutes)
1/2 cup pine nuts (or just use more cashews if you don’t have pine nuts)
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cups water
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tbsp miso*
1 tbsp nooch
4 medium zucchinis
1/2 cup of packet, washed, spinach leaves
5 large basil leaves, shredded (I roll really tighter and snip with a pair of scissors)
method
1. Whizz the cashews, pine nuts, lemon juice, garlic, water, salt, miso and nooch in a food processor until smooth. Add another handful of raw cashews if its too thin for your tastes.
2. To make the zucchini 'noodles' peel the skin and slice the whole zucchini thinly on a mandolin or use a vegetable peeler. If you use a vegie peeler, peel down to the seed core - don't use.
3. Toss the noodles, spinach and basil in a 1/4 cup of sauce, adding more if you need it.
This made A TONNE of sauce which I later used for a mac'n'cheese bake, you might want to halve the recipe if you only intend on making one meal out of it.
Looks amazing right? It was sublime. Flax crackers, beet, corn, capsicum and tomato salsa with guacamole and coconut sour cream. The Vegie Bar is blowing me away with their raw options. The raw restaurant they are creating behind the Vegie Bar is apparently 18 months away. I am sooo looking forward to it! It's given me so many great ideas to experiment with at home, some raw recipes are coming soon.
Deets: 378 Brunswick St Fitzroy, 03 9417 6935 web:the vegie bar $$: $12
Ahhh "tempeh-con". I have to admit I've abhorred tempeh until now. The only time I'd eaten tempeh and liked it was at Real Food Daily in their burger. It's a texture thing, it's a taste thing, it's an all over tempeh you are seriously gross thing. But something came over me. I just became obsessed with recreating the tempeh bacon from Real Food Daily and although I couldn't be bothered making my own stove stop smoker or finding maple crystals I thought DAMN IT I can find a recipe that works. From there an addiction was born. Rummaging around the web the general consensus was maple syrup, soy sauce, liquid smoke. The cooking methods varied but the main method was slice thinly and pan fry. I then found this wonderful amazing woman Colleen Patrick Goudreau and tried the recipe in this video:
What I took away from this stuck, STEAM THE TEMPEH, it makes it completely amazing and like a sponge even eager to soak up the marinade. I can (and have) eaten a whole packet at once. It's seriously good, a little lengthy to get it crispy but OH so worth it.
ingredients
1 packet of tempeh, pat dry and slice thinly (bearing in mind it plumps up when steamed)
1/4 cup of soy sauce/tamari
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 tbsp of liquid smoke
method
1. Steam the tempeh slices for 8-10 minutes in vegie steamer. The tempeh will go a whiteish colour.
2. Mix up the marinade and soack the tempeh strips (I usually just line them up like before they were sliced and wedge them into a lunchbox) over night if possible.
3. Line up the tempeh strips on a wire rack and drain the marinade off then line the little soldiers up on a baking sheet and grill the shit out of them at 200 degrees (or high). I do 10 minutes each side, twice. That gets them real crispy, so good you feel like you're going to die.
4. Slather some toast with mustard and avocado and you have yourself a breakfast of champions.
notes: my grill is crap, keep an eye on the tempeh, most people need half the time
Busee bee. Back breaking week at work coupled with school and volunteering at the Lesbian and Gay Archives, I was B E A T come Friday night. You found me nomming at Bo De Trai (I finally got a wonton soup all to myself), and drooling over my new O B S E S S I O N Purple Peanuts Japanese Cafe on Collins st. BOMB. Seriously. Quick go there tomorrow and the next day and the next day. There was of course some Von Haus action and too much coffee. Saturday was the first annual Bookshop Day which I celebrated at Brunswick Bound and bought a coupld of Penguins (my long standing obsession). Yesterday we went on a road trip to Torquay. We had lunch on Fishermans Beach then went for a frolic on Bells. Browning skin, short shorts and scaling cliff walls barefoot is this goat girls perfect day. Completely magnificent.
ingredients
1 cup of cooked quinoa
2 tbsp of pomegranate seeds (sour)
1 tbsp of sultanas or cranberries (sweet)
1 tbsp of coriander leaves (bitter)
1 tbsp of toasted pine nuts
5 semi dried tomatoes, chopped (bitter, sweet, hot)
fresh cracked pepper and salt (heat and salt)
drizzle of olive oil
method
1. Toss all the ingredients in a bowl. Dress with a pinch of cracked pepper, salt and a drizzle of olive oil.
Sitting down to write this I draw a blank, what the hell did I *DO* last week. I can't really remember.. something about going back to school, a couple of dinner parties, 2 VERY boozy nights on the weekend and howling at the full moon? Just about sums it up right?
Been hanging out at Wide Open Road tonnes (especially now they have Henrys Beans on the menu WOOT). Also been seen at Von Haus too much and Self Preservation (delicious delicious wine nom nom). Been spotted at The Vegie Bar pigging out on raw food, I've been getting acupuncture in Clifton Hill so whoops find myself at the Vegie Bar a lot now (best - the raw cacao shake AMAZEBALLS). I also went and checked out St Jeromes Resurrection (and then went crawling to the Alderman shaking from skanky meth hobo overkill). So yeah, loads of boozing looks like, ever since I've been getting acupuncture I can drink like a fish it's crazy. Who knows whats going on there. No 'outs' proper did not go to an art gallery, show, theatre or anything this week WHOA. After MIFF I'm pretty keen to be out and about moving around TALKING.
raw zucchini fettuccine with cashew alfredo and raw parmesan
More Vegie Bar love. I am trying to incorporate more "raw food" into my diet so whenever I'm in Fitzroy I'm checking out the daily raw special at the Vegie Bar.
The freshness of the zucchini ribbons and spinach with the creamy cashew sauce is amazing, add the I-have-no-idea-how-it-is-made incredible 'parmesan' on top and my eyes were rolling around my head like Matt Preston. I have recreated this at home and will be sharing the recipe with you soon. DELICIOUS.
*I only did the first 3 pages of google, and chose to omit the carnivore blog. I've manually added Cindy and Michael as for some reason they do not come up in Google! (remember we had this problem before?). I always add the most recent of multiple reviews (from the same blog).
I've been going to school in Footscray for over a year now and I finally made it to Bo De Trai!! I have to admit I had become a bit over Asian vegetarian restaurants as I can't really eat mock meat anymore (wheat intolerance) but I'm so sad I didn’t go to Bo De Trai sooner! The descriptions on the menu are extremely minimal "wonton soup" so I wasn’t sure what it included, if it had waaay to much mock meat etc so I went for the safe option of stir fried vegies and rice.
My vegies and rice were perfectly serviceable, lovely fresh vegies in a delicious stir fry sauce with some rice but I was floored with envy when I tried Josh's wonton soup. The broth! Absolutely unbelievable, packed with so much flavour I almost fell off my seat. I hate food envy! hate it! I'm busting to get back there so I can have a wonton soup of my own. Apparently the menu is a bit hit or miss, I look forward to eating my way through it and letting you know!
deets: 94 Hopkins St, Footscray $$: wonton soup was $9? and stir fry $11
hear ye hear ye! The time has come for me to start selling advertising on my wee little site. As I'm sure you're all sympathetic, I need to start making MONEY out of this baby I've been nurturing. Ad revenue is not going to make much but with upcoming cooking classes and hopefully a cookbook coming out next year all little bits will add up. I will only be offering space to vegan businesses (but will be offering charity to space to both welfarist and abolitionist organisations).
The Deal
The advertising space on the site will be all on the side bar and will be placed in between content, ie: one ad space at the very top then EAVP content then ad space etc (1 ad every month placed at the bottom will be available for charity). The top ad, the one that will be most viewed, will be the most expensive (already sold for 6 months) then all ads underneath are set at the same price. Ads will commence on the 1st of September and space will be sold on a month to month basis. I'm offering a start up rate of 1st month free if you buy 3 months upfront and ongoing 10% off 3 months or more.
I am uniquely positioned as one of the most popular vegan websites in Australia (90% of my traffic). This is a great opportunity to get exposure to your vegan business. If you are an animal charity and would like to utilise the free space please contact me.
For more details (I have a longer version of this pitch available) with stats, future projects etc please email me: carla[dot]sammut[at]gmail[dot]com.
I'm going to be participating in the RSPCA cupcake day by baking delicious cupcakes and cookies to bring into my work. If you would like to donate a couple of bucks please go to my donations page.
I raise money for ALL forms of animal charities, this year so far I have raised money for the RSPCA, Animal Liberation Victoria, Animals Australia and Edgars' Mission. I do not align with one side and think ALL organisations do great work at raising awareness.
gas - oh - mee - ter the correct pronunciation folks. I think we're all aware of the newish darling on the vegan junk food dining scene. Its wheat, wheat, wheat and some wheat gluten so i was REALLY sick the day after eating there (my own fault) but damn it was soo good I couldn't stop! Gasometer is the venue for vegan drinks (the next vegan drinks I'm not sure when that will be) the staff are lovely and friendly, the vegan menu is extensive, the crowd full of tattooed hotties!
Pictured is the 'creole ckn burger' check out the size of that juicy patty! My favourite on the menu is the bbq tofu strips NOM (I have to admit it, brutal was way too brutal for me - and I LOVE CHILLI). If you haven't been to Gasometer where have you been? ps: their chips are the best I've eaten BEST. There's no excuse to go to the East Brunswick Club anymore! To check out what else they do have a look at the blog below.
deets: 484 Smith St, Collingwood
$$: can't remember maybe $12?
Ahh the home stretch, this is where I usually *gasp* lose interest. There's only so much amazing stuff I can take it at once you know? I still managed to do 21 films total which is pretty good. I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I was deeply offended and then also deeply bored. I house sat for a friend a bunch of times in between and had all in all a pretty amazing 2 weeks off work! So with a sigh of relief MIFF is over for another year and I am back to reality today with work then school later then volunteering tomorrow. It's been realz Melbs xx
out.
polisse
I found this film deeply offensive. I "get" that people who work such horrendous jobs like this sometimes have to find the humour in what they do, but I don't think that should ever be conveyed to the general public. For the majority of this film the audience was in hysterics, I'm sorry but I don't think the rape and sexual assault of children is funny. Ever. -100000/5
the future
Look this is very Mirand July, if you like her stuff I'm sure you'll swoon over it. I really liked this, what a bunch of childless shithead arseholes we can be and how we can throw it all away because we get bored... or have to eventually face our 'adulthood'. I liked it, a lot 3.5/5
presspauseplay
SO BORING. Honestly if you've just woken out of a 20 year coma and want to know whats up in the world of technology watch this. Otherwise snooze fest and what is with Moby? He's like the techno Bono.... just wheel him out for some vox pops on technology or veganism an voila! You have funding! Yawn. 1/5
innocent saturday
no trailer available.
Unanimously voted the worst film of film festival. I walked out at the half an hour mark. The shaky cam was making me nauseous and most of this film didnt make sense. 0/5
life in a day
This was ok, it kept me pretty engaged WARNING scenes of animal slaughter! (I wish I'd known that). In reality though its like they made Baraka out of youtube clips. Pretty poor quality. 2/5
attenberg
Absolutely profound. I *loved* this film, particularly from a Mediterranean persons point of view it talks about a lot of issues between new and old generation. A lot of people won't like this however, I think it would be too art film for them. There is so many layers of meaning to this I'm going to be thinking about it for weeks. Astonishing, I love the lead actress too, she is so raw, incredible. LOVED THIS 4/5
beauty
Winner of the Queer Palm? Why? SLOW, boring! I had high expectations after several SERIOUS warnings about the SHOCKING content by the MIFF crew. They said group sex, gang rape and peodophilia. Sorry but the rape of a 22 year old does not constitute peodophilia? Incest perhaps.
Anyway interesting film but too slow would have been courageous choices for the lead actors to do and it was very well acted/directed (the framing was sublime) I guess after all the warnings I was expecting a gay romper stomper... but to no avail. 2/5
exporting raymond
This was a great way to end the fest a very funny, wry doco about Phil Rosenthals trials and tribulations of making Everybody Loves Raymond in Russia. I personally find the show moronic and offensive to pretty much everyone (men, women, older people, children etc) but the doco was very cute. He is pretty much Raymond, a total putz but a genuinely nice guy. If that was my baby they were trying to mutilate I would have ripped them a new one but (perhaps because of the film crew) he very patiently and with good nature tried to steer the crazy Russian ship towards *something* resembling his show. Cute, funny, warm 3/5
I didn't enjoy this, I found it as jarring as an iPod on 'song intro' but perhaps that was the point. There were many threads that were interesting but I felt weren't followed through to a conclusion. The dialogue was realistic, I liked the staging and the actors were very good I just felt like this didnt go anywhere. 2/5
Considering this isn't the winter masterpiece exhibition (Tutankharmoun is) it's about half the size of the regular exhibition of this time of year. So with that in mind I thought it was too expensive at $25 but this is a minor grip. The show itself is incredible and has caused me to day dream for days now of how I want to design everything in my house from lightbulb holders to chairs and taps and basins. I had a very small amount of knowledge of this period of time in art and now I'm utterly obsessed. If you love design, painting, furniture, jewelery EVERYTHING go to his exhibition. Luck had it that I managed to tail the official tour which was also awesome, highly recommend it.
pan fried gnocchi with chia seed
stuffed tofu skins
tofu panacotta
You'll have to forgive my memory, I ate this quite a long time ago. Shakaharis' menu is almost all vegan now which is exciting! We popped in for a wee snack after going to La Mama, ordered a couple of entrees and a dessert to share, sadly the tofu creme caramel wasnt on the menu (MUST figure out how to make that). I tend to avoid 'fusion' food while out preferring to eat cusines in its natural environment but we went wild and crazy and ordred the gnocchi which was actually quite great. The texture was a tad rubbery but as always the tangy sauce transformed the dish into something incredible. The stuffed tofu skins were good, not knock your socks off, but of course that tangy sauce I could have licked the plate clean. The panacotta wasnt great and I wouldnt recommend. The texture is really gritty, your body naturally says 'off milk stop feeding me this'. I miss going to Shakahari. Must get along to Monday night Nova more and pop into Shakas.
Deets: best to book to avoid disappointment 201-203 Faraday St, Carlton ph: 9347 3848 $$: all dishes were around $13
Get your link on! So many people have things to say about Shakahari:
I find it quite bizarre that in homosexual hippy meccas like the Blue Mountains there is very little vegetarian food to be found (same goes for the Dandes)! I went to stay with friends up there a few months ago and one of my hosts works at Memento so we went a couple of times to eat.
Pictured is the standard avo on toast; it came with spinach, fresh basil and olive tapanade, the toast was particularly fantastic. I don't know why I chose something so boring I think I was having stomach problems at the time but it was your better than average avo on toast.
Cafe Memento has a really interesting menu (7 kinds of hand mixed chai anyone?), is gay friendly with labelled vegan options as well as most things being 'veganisable'. I grabbed a packet of the "mexican chilli" chai to take home, it's SO delicious!
If you're up in the Blue Mountains it's a must!
deets: Shop 2, 38 Govetts Leap Road, Cnr Wentworth Street, Blackheath NSW web:Cafe Memento $$: I think mine was $10
More Ottolenghi love. The delicate and simple flavours of this dish are a real knockout (can you expect anything less from Mr Ottolenghi?). Serve with loads of little plates of deliciousness.
ingredients
2 large and long eggplants
80mls of oil (I used less)
1 1/2 tsp of lemon thyme leaves
seeds from 1 pomegranate
1 tsp of za'atar (I used dukkah)
sea salt and fresh pepper
sauce
1/4 cup of vegan cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of white vinegar
1 small garlic clove, crushed
pinch of sea salt
method
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Prepare the eggplants by slicing them down the middle through the stem (the stem is just for presentation - do not eat). Slice a diamond pattern into the eggplant flesh (be careful not to go through to the skin).
2. Cut side upwards, place the eggplants on a baking dish and brush them with the olive oil until it's all been absorbed. Sprinkle with lemon thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Roast for 35-40 minutes until the flesh is soft and brown. Remove from the oven to cool.
3. While the eggplants are cooking make the 'buttermilk' sauce by combining all ingredients with a whisk. Whisk until smooth, if your sauce is not thin enough add a small dash of water.
4. Serve warm (Ottolenghi likes its cold/room temperature) with a generous lather of buttermilk sauce, sprinkled with the pomegranate seeds and za'atar. Drizzle with olive oil and a final sprinkle of sea salt.
woowee folks! This MIFF has been a CRACKER. Things I have learned, doing 3 sessions in one day is perfect. It gives you loads of full day breaks. 4 sessions in one day is not ideal though I can do it if the lineup is really good. My favourite spacing is 11am, 4pm then 6.30pm. If I have only 1 scheduled I generally wont go. Lessons learned for next year, schedule at least 2 back to back but ideally 3, become hot food monitor and publically heckle people who bring hot food into the cinema. EAVP news is, I'm trying to find a kitchen to do cooking classes in this week so if you have any contacts LET ME KNOW! If you want to find out when and where cooking classes are please sign up to my mailing list.
Not a dry eye in the house. This is a magical documentary that is so taut it makes you realise how *good* documentaries can be. 4.5/5
into eternity
Very interesting subject but the director was either trying to fill time (this should have been an hour tv special) or is just incredibly vein and pretentious as he was in the doco most of the time! The sweeping slow mo shots of the tunnel reminded me so much aesthetically of Matthew Barney and essentially this is what it feels like, an art wank. 2/5.
tabloid
Errol Morris is a genius and possibly the best director working today (certainly the best editor) so I'm partial. This is Errol in exquisite form, his wry sense of humour but also his human treatment of his subjects is *on*, this is side splittingly hilarious, where does he find these people?!?! 4.5/5
the ballad of genesis and lady jaye
A lovely and gentle doco about two very extraordinary people. Genesis P. Orridge and his wonderful partner Lady Jaye and their views on life and art and pangender identification and getting plastic surgery to look like each other. It's a wild ride and a touching one. 3/5
page one of the new york times
A completely extraordinary documentary. Seriously. I get worried when such an important subject as this gets a doco, I hope to the sky that its made well because its the only chance to get it right. This is such an insightful, balanced, exquisite documentary about the decline of print media, the rise of digital media, the role of journalism in our society and everything in between. David Carr is one of my favourite writers EVER and I was beyond ecstatic to see so much of him. This doco really did it for me and others too in an 800 person cinema you could have heard a pin drop, no one was daring to breath in case they missed a milisecond of this piece of genius. 5/5
beginners
Just gorgeous. Such a lovely gentle film about life, death, how its never too late to start living. Very funny and sweet, Ewan McGregor is pretty much the most gorgeous man in existence. 3.5/5
martha marcy may marlene
The darling of the indie film scene it just didnt do too much for me. I found the directed shots (the micro slow pan, the lingering body shots) like a dirty old man who went to Sofia Coppola school of direction. There was way too much gratuitous braless cult chick titty action in this for me to take it seriously. Cinematography is gorgeous and I could never say a bad word against John Hawkes but this just left me... blah. 3/5 (it gets 3 instead of 2.5 because the photography is seriously incredible, the use of natural light in particular is supernatural).
