BrisVenture 2023: Day 2: Big Pineapple, Cafe Vie, Birthday Cake

Day two of our adventures happened to coincide with my birthday! I had ordered a ridiculous cake for us all to share (Molly and I shared my birthday celebrations last time she was here, even though her birthday was much earlier in the year, so we made it a four way celebration this time). We had to pick the cake up from a place in northern Brisbane, so it made sense to have a little road trip up to the sunshine coast for lunch.

Helen was also extremely excited to find out that The Big Pineapple was not far away from where we were going, so we headed their first. I haven't been here since I was a kid, and it closed for a while, but now seems to have reopened. The pineapple was not as big as I remembered! We took some photos of the pineapple, and then also did some tourist shopping at the little kiosk there, which randomly happened to have a freezer full of mini vegan ice cream tubs! We did not go to the zoo there, obviously. It looks like, according to the website, they are planning on redeveloping the whole area into an event space as well. But for the moment, it is just a fun little roadside attraction.



After this, we headed to Cafe Vie for lunch. We kept up the fancy latte theme from yesterday. Helen and Sharnette both had the Blue Matcha Latte (not actually matcha at all - butterfly pea powder, coconut blossom, ginger) and I had the Little Cin (cinnamon, cardomom, ginger, cloves, coconut blossom). Both were really nice. And pretty.





For lunch, we got some Japanese Curry Fries to share, which were excellent!



I had the OG Veggs Benedict Croissant (cheesy tofu scramble, spinach, tomato relish, hollandaise on a croissant with added facon and a rosti. Everything was excellent, except for the rosti. They used to make good rosti, but I guess they changed it and now it is not good. But the rest, so nice.



I can't remember exactly who got what, but the others got the Crispy Mushroom Parmy Burger and the Crispy Chick'n Parmy Burger, which also had facon, cheese, tomato relish, and herb aioli.





Molly also got a croissant with cheese scramble to try.



Afterwards, we went to a little op shop, and then to a lookout area that had a nice view to the ocean.



Afterwards it was cake pick up and home. We were pretty full from lunch, so we ordered a lighter dinner from Vietfoods Springwood. I had the Tofu Vermicelli Rice Bowl.



And then it was time for cake! I ordered the cake through Brisbane-based vegan caterer Vegood. I wanted something very ridiculous and pretty and pink, and they delivered with this gorgeous three layer vintage heart pink strawberries and cream cake. IT IS SO PRETTY! I got them to put a cat-themed decoration on top.



And here is an inside shot! Three layers of pink cake, with buttercream and freshly made strabwrry compote between them, covered in cream buttercream. I am not an icing fan, but apparently cream buttercream is less sweet than traditional buttercream or meringe buttercream. It was a ton of icing, but it was good! The best icing! There was also some leftover compote, so they gave me that in a cute little jar to take home.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Speaking of birthdays, it was Boo's birthday on Tuesday - exactly one week after mine! She turned seven years old.

Eating Out: Izakaya Midori and Nonna's Nightmare (Birthday edition)

It was my birthday in November! And I had the day off work, so I spent it eating food. What else does one do on their birthday?

My friend and I headed down for an early lunch at perpetual favourite, Izakaya Midori (see previous posts here). We started with old favourites, the Agadashi Tofu and Smoked Edamame.





As well as trying some new things, most importantly the okonomiyaki, which was lovely! And I love that it comes as an entree (that's starter, for my US friends) rather than a main so you can enjoy it along with many other things! We also had the Katsu handroll, which has wasabi inside as well. I love wasabi! Also, just look at the okonomiyaki, almost too pretty to eat!





For my main I had the Teriyaki Tofu Don, which was a lovely bowl of rice, salad with dressing, tempura silken tofu, teriyaki sauce, and mayo. I realised I didn't take a photo of my friend's main, but it was the terichiki don, which you can see in previous posts.



And we finished off by sharing their wonderful Hojicha and Black Sesame Affogato with Red Beans and Crystal Mochi. So good!



Come dinner time and I was planning on ordering delivery from a vegan pizza place, but they were closed! But never fear, instead we ordered in from vegan Italian restaurant Nonna's Nightmare (previous posts here, which also has pizzas! We ordered the Amatrice (Tomato, mozzarella, red wine braised onions, vBacon, pecorino, black pepper, basil) and the Potato (Mozzarella, ‘pork & fennel’ sausage, roasted potato and capsicum, rosemary oil). Unfortunately on the ordering site, you couldn't modify anything, which meant I couldn't get the capsicum taken off, so I had to pick it off when it came. Still, worth it for potato and sausage pizza! There were both lovely pizzas. I gave them a brief reheat in the oven once they arrived.





I also ordered a serve of their Cannelloni (Cannelloni pasta filled with ricotta and spinach, cooked in a rich tomato sugo sauce and mozzarella), which was INCREDIBLE! Star of the show.





I didn't have a cake, instead we ate tarts that I had picked up from Flour of Life vegan bakery on the way home from Izakaya Midori.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Show



Speaking of birthdays, yesterday (30th of January), should have been Abby's 7th birthday. This photo is from her 6th birthday, and I will never recover from the fact we only got to celebrate one of her birthdays together. I miss her so much.

Eating Out: Easy House and Flour of Life

Easy House is my favourite place down at the Gold Coast, because I just love yum cha a lot! So in my week of eating last week, my friend Amy and I went down to eat our favourites. It had been a while since we had been. I don't always post when we go to Easy House, because I have posted a lot about it before and we tend to get the same things, but I thought in honour of the occasion I'd share these favourite things again.

While not originally on our radar, when they suggested getting some skewers with satay sauce, we said yes. We'd had these before (as with everything), and knew they were good. They seemed extra good today!



They make these amazing pan-fried rolled rice noodles in XO sauce. Problem is, XO sauce is spicy! But if you ask, they will switch out the XO sauce for some sweet soy sauce, and then I can enjoy them too! These noodles were extra crispy and delicious. But so hot... do not burn your mouth. Restrain yourself and try and let them cool a bit.



An array of favourites! Two lots of steamed BBQ pork bao, some steamed coriander dumplings, and my beloved radish cakes!



And no trip would be complete without some delicious steamed beancurd roll. Oh so good.



No trip down would be complete for us without stopping at Flour of Life, the vegan bakery. I got a strawberry flan (my favourite) and a blueberry crumble for me, a passionfruit tart for my mum, and an apple crumble for my dad.



My friend Amy is also a magnificent seamstress. She makes all her own close and they are so cute, she has amazing style. For my birthday, she gave me a super cute pair of pyjamas made in this adorable Pusheen fabric. I feel so lucky to have some talented and generous friends!


Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Abby being very cute on top of the cat turret.

Eating Out: Cafe Vie

Hello hello! I've been back at work the last two days, and heading off to work again shortly, but I still have some food adventures from last week to share. Starting off with this trip up to Cafe Vie in Buderim on Wednesday with a friend. I'd been there a couple of times before when I spent three days up at the Sunshine Coast earlier this year, and I was keen to go back. Though the one and a half hour drive is a bit of a drag, thankfully the food is worth it!

It was a weird hot/humid/rainy day, but we still ordered some hot drinks (as well as cold water for the table). I got the dark Hot Chocolate, and my friend got the True Blue Latte, which was butterfly pea, ginger, and coconut blossom. She said it tasted like slightly sweet blue milk, which she was expecting. But it made for a pretty photo!



We both spent some time deciding what to order. I eventually decided on the Where's The Ducking Pancakes! Which is like a giant duck pancake. Hoisin mock duck, pickled daikon, carrot, cashews, spring onion, and herbs in a housemade crisp pancake. It was delicious! Though the large pancake ended up being a little thick and not so crisp. It normally also comes garnished with some fresh chilli, but I asked ahead to make sure it was the only chilli in the dish and got them to leave it off.



My friend ordered The Asian Dons, which was three Baos with crispy Korean chycken, don katsu mayo, cucumber, pickled papaya and carrot, and herbs. Verdict: Also delicious!



Even though we both ordered Asian-inspired dishes, this is not the theme of the food at the cafe. They have a variety of all sorts of things. We also each got a side of fries with aioli, as one should always have potato with every meal. I really liked the fries, they had a great seasoning to them. The aioli was OK, but I preferred the fries on their own.



Afterwards we stopped by Nurcha Maroochydore for a bit of vegan shopping, and we also stopped into the IGA next door, which has yet more fun vegan things. Look out for some of these in future midweek munchies posts!





My friend is great at sewing and makes a lot of quilts. She giften me this super cute quilted tote bag for my birthday. It has black cats on the outside, pink straps (my favourite colour) and the inside is lined with a strawberry fabric (my favourite fruit), so sweet and thoughtful! Also with a couple of lovely little treats!



Even when I got home, it wasn't all over. Cafe Vie stocks Black Lemonade Bakery cookies in their treats cabinet, and I picked up two. A Rocky Road, and a Chocolate Cherry Peanut. Both were so good!



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Yesterday (the 14th of November) was Boo's 5th birthday! Happy birthday Boo! During the week, she had her bloods retested and her calcium levels are still high, which got her birthday off to a bad start and was had to start her on a new medication where she is not allowed to eat for two hours after, and she was beside herself! However, once breakfast was given, all was forgiven. She spent the rest of the day doing her normally happy Boo things. I got her this birthday bear cat toy, which she has completely ignored (I predicted that), and she also got a creamy treat, which she absolutely loved.

Eating Out: Nonna's Nightmare and Botanical Lab (Birthday edition)

After getting breakfast with my parents on Sunday morning, I met up with a couple of friends for dinner that night. We went to Nonna's Nightmare, a vegan Italian restaurant that I have been wanting to go to for awhile.

We shared the Black and Gold Arancini to start, because of course I had to order something that used charcoal to make it black! They were hot, savoury little porcini and saffron rice cakes coated in a charcoal crumb, with a smoked paprika mayo that I loved.



My friend both ordered the Lasagne Della Nonna, which used a Beyond Meat ragu, bechamel sauce, and cheese. I tried a little bit and it was indeed a creamy, cheese, meaty mount of deliciousness. Both my friends (one vegetarian, one omni), loved it!



I decided to try one of the pizzas, and I ordered the Barese. This had mozzarella, broccoli cream, roasted cherry tomatoes, and and crispy sausage. It was also meant to come with chilli oil, but I asked for this to be left off. Without that, it was a little bit on the bland side, but it was still really good. It was also quite large! I couldn't eat all of it, but I did make sure to scrape off all the topping to eat!! The base was woodfired and really nice as well.



Although there are desserts and Nonna's, we took a quick stroll down to Botanical Lab, because I wanted to end my birthday with ice cream! See previous visits here. I was pretty full, so I kept it simple with vegan black sesame soft serve in a cone. Amazing!



While that ended the adventures on my actual birthday, there are still several more to come! I hope you are ready for a bunch of eating out posts!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Boo is obsessed with the cat max. All day long she goes in and out and in and out. Here she is in front of the ferns imaging herself as the magnificent mini panther she is.

Eating Out: Grown (Birthday edition)

Hello friends, today is my birthday! I am turning 40, which apparently is a big deal but I am not so much a birthday person. I am not doing anything big for it, rather I am having a few small outings with only one or two people at each. And it started this morning, when my parents and I went to Grown for breakfast! You can see the other times I have been to Grown here. We all ordered the same thing! A mug of soy hot chocolate (their hot chocolate is the best!), and the tofu scramble (roasted mushrooms and silken tofu, with a slice of sourdough spread with sesame cheese) with a side of hashbrown (they make the best and crispiest ones) and seasonal sauteed greens. Everything was delicious, as it always is! But it was HUGE! We were all so full.





Afterwards I went home and made a cake! And while I was waiting for it to cool, we watched Bring It On. Bring It On is my favourite movie, and I will never get tired of watching it. It is iconic, and a classic. But about that cake...

Raspberry & Coconut Polenta Cake from Like A Vegan: I've had this on my too make list for ages, and this seemed like a great time. It is super fast to make! I mixed all the dry ingredients together the day before, so when we got home from breakfast I just pre-heated the over, mixed up the wet, and mixed it all together. So easy. It also fit my other birthday cake brief, because I am not a huge fan of icing. I love that this cake is delicious and gorgeous without needing ice cream! You could sift a bit of icing sugar over the top if you wanted to make it look a bit fancier (I did not do this because I am not an icing sugar fan), or serve it with a scoop of ice cream (definitely going to do this with leftovers). I highly recommend people try this cake out!



A couple of other birthday related photos...

My mum ordered me these beautiful bunch of flowers! She had ordered an arrangement with peonies, which are my favourite flowers, but the florist somehow managed to not actually include any. Good work florist! It is still a lovely bunch of flowers.



I also got some lovely vegan treats. My mum has ordered from this brand before, and she managed to get all of my favourites!



In other birthday-related news, two days ago I got my hair dyed pink again. This was my second time going pink, but this was a lot more pink over all of my hair! Here is a rare photo of me.



Stay tuned for more food-related fun times! I'm getting ready to go for dinner with some friends in a couple of hours.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This time last year, I knew Dim Sim was sick. What I didn't realise was how little time we had left together. Just 20 days. I am forever grateful that I decided to spend my birthday last year home with her rather than going out.