Sunday 23 October 2016

Eating Out: I Should Coco and Vegerama West End (Dinosaur Edition)

After the heaviness of the previous forum topics, let us return to some frivolity and fun! A couple of weeks ago, my friend Ashleigh and I went to the Dinosaurs After Dark Night at the Museum of Queensland. The museum had been running a Dinosaur Discovery exhibit for several months, and on its closing weekend they had an event where they opened up the entire museum, including the dinosaurs and the science centre, for adults only! It. Was. Glorious!

We started our night at the Boundary Street Markets. We had planned to get dinner there, but although there were a few vegan options none of them were particularly exciting (especially as Ashleigh is gluten free). I think there are less vegan options compared to the last time I went, which is a shame. However, they did have I Should Coco Ice Cream, and what better way to start dinner than with dessert? We both got the Cookie Wookie, which has warm GF chocolate chip cookie dough. Ashleigh got hers in a cup (they don't have GF cones) with caramel sauce, which is how it is originally meant to be. I don't like caramel sauce (too sweet!), so I asked for mine with chocolate sauce instead (and in a cone, of course). It was delicious! The bottom tip of the cone was packed with warm cookie dough. So good.

Cookie Wookie Ice Creams from I Should Coco


For our dinner, we decided to go to Vegerama at West End, which was on the way to the museum from the markets. Ashleigh got a Winter Shot (Ginger, turmeric, lemon, cayenne, $5) and I had the Liver Cleansing Juice (Carrot, apple, beetroot, ginger, turmeric, $8).

Winter Shot and Liver Cleansing Juice at Vegerama West End


Ashleigh was feeling like something light, so she got the Mini Raw Tacos (Crisp corn and flax shells, shredded lettuce, Mexican spiced nut mince, salsa, guacamole, raw sour cream, $14.50) and a side of Kimchi ($3.50). She said the tacos were great (generous with the avocado), except for their sour cream. It was pretty much just solid coconut fat.

Raw Tacos and Kim Chi at Vegerama West End


I tried the Linguine (Radicchio, shiitake & enoki mushrooms, vine ripened truss tomatoes, nut parmesan, $17), which was really nice. Though I wish it had a bit of freshness and crunch on the side.

Linguine at Vegerama West End


Then it was on to the dinosaurs! It was a lot of fun. The animatronic dinosaurs weren't quite as realistic as when I went to the Jurassic World exhibit in Melbourne earlier this year, but there was also none of the unfortunate zoo/theme park associations with the set up. Here are some fun dinosaurs!

Dinosaur Discovery


Dinosaur Discovery


Dinosaur Discovery


Dinosaur Discovery


Dinosaur Discovery


Dinosaur Discovery


Afterwards, we went for a bit of a stroll around South Bank, to admire the river at night. I also passed two food trucks that had vegan options, which was cool.

Brisbane River at night


Vegerama West End - Shop 2a 220 Melbourne St, West End, QLD - 07 3255 3388

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Nekkid Gizmo


It is the time of year at work where we are starting to clip kitties so they can keep cool over summer. It reminds me of when I had Gizmo clipped. She was a short haired cat, but with a very thick double coat. When we moved to Brisbane, the summer was rough for her. So she had a few years of getting clipped. She got so frisky when she didn't have all that fur in the heat! I miss her.

8 comments:

  1. The Cookie Wookie sounds amazing! That picture of Gizmo makes me think she might have been pretending to be a Sphynx cat for Halloween! :D

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    1. Hee hee, perhaps she was in the Halloween spirit and I didn't even realise! I am a Halloween grinch.

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  2. Warm cookie dough in an icecream!!! Love the sound of that. I love it when museums and galleries open late. There's a couple of times a year when they all do that at the same time in England so you can do a gallery crawl after work.

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    1. It was so much fun, I really enjoyed it.

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  3. That's really cool about the dinosaur exhibit - it must have been very fun.
    I'm seriously drooling over the gluten-free cookie dough ice cream cup (with caramel sauce!). The tacos sound nice, but I think your linguine sounds better.
    Sounds like a great outing =)
    What a cute little grey kitty! We just had Sunny clipped... though she has to be clipped ever 6 weeks as her hair will grow and grow and grow. It was all the way down to the floor when we got her.

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    1. I thought of you when I was eating the cookie dough, and that you would like it.
      I hope Sunny enjoys her nekkidness post clipping!

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  4. "I don't like caramel sauce (too sweet!)"

    I love hearing what people consider too sweet. I complain about it all the time, but things that are 100% sugar like hard candies, and caramels, never too sweet. Too much frosting on a cake? Yes too sweet.

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    1. Those 100% sugar things I just can't really enjoy, too sweet. Icing on cake... too sweet! I like all my baked goods nekkid. ;) And my sugar to be balanced out by pastry!

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