Melbourne OCC 2017: Part 2

Thankfully Sunday was a slightly shorter day compared to the Saturday. So let's talk about laughable venue food. I started off in my hotel eating oats, and then went to the venue for the 'catered vegan breakfast' of tiniest fruit salad ever. In what world do they think this is breakfast for anyone?



They had three vegan options you could choose for lunch, two of which were the same as last year. The sad, soggy, oily veggie wrap and the tiny serve of rice paper rolls. This time I ordered the veggie gyoza for both days... at least it would be hot, right? Oh, silly Susan. It was lukewarm, dried out gyoza with a drizzle of stuck on sauce and sesame seeds. At least the taste was not offensive. And at least I had packed my noodle cups and snack bars and fruit!



Anyway, thankfully I planned ahead and never was hungry throughout the day. And after it was over, I went and met Jess again for some ramen. I love ramen! We went to try Mr Ramen San in the city, which had two vegan options. We wanted a little started, and asked if the natto with mushrooms was vegan. Neither of us had tried natto before, but we were both keen. We were told that it was, but they kind of suggested maybe we wouldn't like it, which was funny and only strengthened our resolve! And of course it was fine. Sure, a little bit slimy, but it tasted nice. And it was mixed through with some mushroom chunks. It was good!



There are two vegetarian ramens, which are vegan without the egg. And we ordered both. They both have the same broth, but one was a 'charsu' ramen (with vegetarian Roast 'pork', leeks, spring onion, bamboo, Wood ear mushroom and seaweed), and the other is tofu ramen (with tofu, spring onion, beansprout, corn, pickled vegetables and seaweed). We swapped some of the toppings between the bowls so we could try everything. They were hot and tasty!







On the way home I got another Soy Matcha Latte from Starbucks, but I got a larger one. Which was yummy, but then made me pee one million times overnight, so I have to remember that for the future! Also of note, they had both vegan Vitasoy Cafe soy milk there, and the non-vegan Vitasoy with Vitamin D, he started making it with that one, so thankfully I saw and stopped him. But double check on the soy milk you get there!

Monday morning was a team breakfast at a hotel buffet, which is not a good time for vegans. But it is a nice time for seeing everyone. So I went out for breakfast first and then met everyone there. I went to Lord of the Fries for a Tibetan Burger (tofu egg, vegan cheese, mustard and mayo) with bacon added and a hashbrown. I also stopped by Broad Bean again and got a turmeric latte, and I had a juice left. The burger was OK, but it is certainly no Smith & Deli Egg McMartinez. The bun was very soft and oddly sweet. But still, it was a filling breakfast.



We got picked up and taken to the airport, only to be hit with a three hour delay (I hate Jetstar so much). So I walked around, we chatted, and I got some lunch. There are a few options at Melbourne airport, but you would think there would be more. The best options are in the Jetstar terminal, at least. I ended up getting a Mucho Veggie Burrito Bowl from Salsa, which was nice and fresh option. It had lime and coriander rice, zucchini and broccoli, black beans, corn salsa, and guacamole. It is also meant to have onions and capsicum and a chipotle salsa, but I asked for them to be left off. Still had a slightly uncomfortable hit of chilli, though. I also grabbed a sushi roll for a plane snack.



I was pretty exhausted, and glad to be home to my sweet Dim Sim! Speaking of sweet, I picked up some chocolate goodies to bring home with me. The Loving Earth chocolates were on sale and Broad Bean. They are the only raw chocolate brand that I like, and these flavours are SO GOOD. Especially the berry one. I also stumbled across a little shop that had every single flavour of Seed & Bean! I started piling up all the vegan ones, before reminding myself that they were $8 a black, so I pared it back to three. My favourite sea salt, the mandarin and ginger (which was yummy), and the intriguing fennel (which I am still yet to try). I do have some regrets about not getting Orange & Thyme. As a bonus, all this chocolate is on the Food Empowerment Project Approved Chocolate List, so I can enjoy these without worrying that they were made using child slavery!



And finally, let's talk about Alyson Hannigan. Buffy is the show of my heart, my forever show, a love of my life. And Willow is without a doubt the best part of Buffy. I got to spend a lot of time near Alyson Hannigan while I was looking after Tom, which was lovely. I am pretty awkward, so I liked not having to talk to her a lot because - oh my god - fan girl alert. At the very end of the con, I did manage to babble a brief thank you for being Willow at her, and then she was off so I was able to slink away. Of course I had a photo with her! Behold!



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



You can bet your bottom dollar that I was overjoyed to come home to my perfect little princess.

Melbourne OzComicCon

I got back from Melbourne a week ago, though I've been struggling with an injured back and head cold of death since then. I was in Melbourne just for the weekend to work at OzComicCon, as I do, so there wasn't much time for a lot of food. However, there was some food!

Flying out from Brisbane, I of course had to stop by Doughnut Time at the airport for a doughnut. In happy news, they have made their jam doughnuts permanently vegan. Cinnamon sugar dusted and filled with raspberry plum jam, they are pretty great! Though my favourite is still the blueberry one they used to have.



We got in on Friday afternoon just in time for me to grab a few grocery supplies before the walk through for the venue, then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the cocktail party. Our hotel was in the Southbank region of Melbourne. I do not recommend staying in this location, there is nothing and it is not near The Food. Well, there is actually one veg*n restaurant that was quite near the hotel, but it was closed for two weeks so wasn't open while we were there. One of the other guest handlers who was staying at the same hotel (we were split between two this con) is recently vegan, so we decided to get some food.

After getting ready for the cocktail party (my dress was super cute, I wish I had a photo), we caught a cab (it would not have taken long to walk, but it was raining) to... Lord of the Fries. If you've read my previous thoughts on LoTF, it has ranged from being meh to downright not great. But it was nearby and we just needed something. I decided to order the vegan Melbourne Hot Dog (cheese, onion, tomato sauce, mustard) and a kids size of classic fries with vegan French Canadian sauce (gravy and cheese). There is nowhere to sit at the Flinder's St LotF, so we decided to go and eat in the lobby of the hotel where the cocktail party was. The heavens opened and we got kind of wet. Maybe it was the fact we were cold and wet and hungry, but the food was... pretty good! Particularly the poutine fries (though the fries themselves were not that great). My photo of the fries was super blurry, but enjoy this photo of the hot dog perched on my lap (see a glimpse of how pretty my dress is).



The next morning I had a banana and a cucumber and hummus sandwich (I had brought it down for the plane trip the day before but didn't end up eating it) before a brisk and freezing 10 minute walk to the venue. Emergency socks became essential socks. The venue supplied fruit salad as the vegan breakfast option, but it was served in the tiniest little glass cup ever. About six pieces of cut fruit. Good thing I always eat breakfast before I go! The day was spent looking after my guest, who was an absolute delight, and munching on some snack bars and bananas and juices I had brought along with me. This OCC, for the first time, the venue had two vegan options for lunch. I ordered the Grilled Veggie Wrap, which was a sad and soggy wrap with soggy grilled veggies (so much capiscum to pick out) and a dried on schmear of hummus. They actually screwed up heaps of the lunch orders, so they had to go and chase this down for me. A sorry state of affairs.

After we finished for the day, I headed into Fitzroy (where all the food is) to meet my friend for dinner at Fina's 2, a vegan Vietnamese place that I had been wanting to try. We both ordered drinks - Jess had a lemon iced tea, and I had a custard apple smoothie (I asked them to cut way back on the soy condensed milk... you can ask for more or less of any ingredient, which is great!). I was particularly excited for the custard apple smoothie, as when I was younger there used to be a Vietnamese place in a shopping center near me that had the most delicious custard apple juices.



I was pretty hungry, so we started off with the Vegan Crispy Tofu - four huge and perfectly crispy fried pieces of soft tofu with sauce. It was great. We decided to share our mains. We got the Vegan Bamboo Soup and the Vietnamese Pancake. Jess had warned me that sometimes the pancake could be a bit coconutty to some people, but other times it wasn't. It was a glorious and large pancake, but to me it did have that unpleasant coconut fat taste in some bites (not all), so Jess ate most of it. Which meant I got most of the soup, which was by no means tragic as it was delicious - noodles, tofu, mock duck and bamboo in an amazing broth. So good!







Unfortunately all their desserts were raw and full of coconut oil, so a no go for me. But it was OK because Jess had brought me some cinnamon sugar doughnuts from Crumbs, who make the best doughnuts ever. Sadly their North Melbourne branch had closed the very day before, which is why Jess brought me some. They still have their Ascot Vale flagship, though it is not close to the city.

I ate one of the doughnuts as soon as I got home, and then I had another one the next morning for breakfast along with one of the muesli cups I had brought with me.



Then it was off for another day of OCC. I was looking after a different guest today, who was also lovely. Unfortunately I was pretty sad as I had hurt my back the night before. It was so cold... so very cold... and when I get that cold I start shivering violently. I have been to a physio since I have been home, turns out I actually sprained the joints where my ribs meet my spine. All I knew on Sunday was that I hurt like hell. It was another day of a tiny fruit cup, juice and bars. The venue's lunch was veggie rice paper rolls. They were okay, but the whole lunch was just two tiny rolls. Luckily I had packed a McDougall's Garlic Noodle Soup cup that I had as well. I am always prepared with food!

After the event finished, we stay behind to help pack down. But I was in a world of hurt from my back and apparently looked it, so my vegan friend whisked me away in a cab a little early for some hot food before bed. We went into the city to Gong De Lin. It is a little hard to find, being up on the third floor or a little side building, so I was glad she knew where we were going! They have an extensive menu, though it is very heavy on the mock meat. I jut really wanted tofu and veggies, and I struggled finding it on the menu.

I started my order with a nice little bowl of sweetcorn soup. Janelle had the salt and pepper calamari, which I tried a piece of. The seasoning was good, but faux seafood is not my cup of tea. She also ordered the chicken curry and rice special, which was huge! The chicken was nice, but the curry was a bit too spicy for me! I thought I had found my happy place by ordering the Fragant Tofu Clay Pot and some rice, though when it came out I discovered it was some tofu and veggies in sauce... with heaps of faux seafood! I picked all of that out and gave it to Janelle to eat. The tofu and veggies that remained were OK, I was hungry and they were hot. I have realised that I forgot to take a photo of my hot pot! I must have been too shocked at all the frawns. Ha!







Then it was back to the hotel for a hot shower and falling asleep on my heat pack (which by some miracle I had decided to pack at the very last minute). The following morning we were all flying out late because one of the organisers was having their 40th birthday party at a hotel in the city. I started my day with some overnight oats and my final, delicious Crumbs doughnut.



We had all woken up to the horrifying news about the massacre in Orlando, and one of the handlers had lost a friend there. So it was a little surreal to be off to a 40th birthday party. It was actually an extremely silly party that was very lovey. It included Glitter Bomb Q&A Pass The Parcel (the birthday boy had to answer questions about the people who had the parcel when it stopped, and if he got it wrong they got to shower him in glitter... it was really fun) and other silly games. Other than a fruit plate, there was no vegan food. It was also a public holiday in Melbourne, so a lot of places were closed.

So we went back to Lord of the Fries. And I admit, I was feeling optimistic. I ordered the vegan Original Burger (cheese, pickles, lettuce, mayo, mustard, ketchup, beefy patty... hold the onion), and a kid-sized Chunky Chips with vegan gravy and cheese. I also got a peanut butter milkshake. I'd skip the milkshake next time, it was just kind of thin and nowhere near peanut buttery enough (they also have Oreo flavour). But the burger was satisfying and the fries were good... chunky fries are definitely the way to go. Vegan French Canadian sauce is also the way to go. I did have this the very first time I had LotF, but it was on an assorted munch box of deep fried that left me feeling icky. Potatoes, gravy, cheese... don't mess with this formula for success.







So, LotF has left my bad books. It is not exactly in my great books. It is in my 'happy to eat it if there are no other convenient options' books. Which is a step up!

Then it was off to the airport for the flight home. I grabbed a couple of sushi rolls to take on the plane for a snack, and when I got home my mum had made some vegan pumpkin soup. Just the thing to enjoy before having to jump into bed for work the next morning.



This was not a typical trip to Melbourne, in that food was not the primary goal. It was a bit sad not having a chance to get to my favourites (Smith & Deli, I love you), but it was also nice to try a couple of new places. The good news is that I am going back to Melbourne in a week and a half, with the goal of eating all of the food. Also to see RuPaul's Battle of the Seasons and to see dinosaurs at the museum. But there will be heaps of food. Though it will be even colder. So. Many. Layers.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I have mentioned my love for Neko Atsume before, the cute little cat game that you play on your phone. I have been looking for NA merchandise in Australia for a long time, without success. On Friday as I was walking around the venue during set up, I happened to notice a stall that had a few plush NA kitties! I was giddy with glee! They offered to put one aside for me, but I ended up going back with cash and saying I could take her home right then. They had my favourite kitty! In the English version her name is Sunny, but I played the Japanese version and have named her Berry. She is perfect for hugging.

Eating Out: Vegerama West End (Supanova edition)

Supanova, a pop-culture expo, was on recently. It isn't my favourite (I prefer OzComicCon), but when they announced that Summer Glau was going to be there I knew I had to go. Summer Glau is from one of my favourite TV shows, Firefly, and she was one of the two cast members I had yet to meet. So off I went! I was really only there for a couple of hours to get my photo and autograph with her, and poke around the stalls.

One of the stalls was selling taxidermied fox tails and had entire taxidermied foxes as well, which was really upsetting. Especially seeing how flippantly people were treating the poor corpses. Thankfully there was also the wonderful Button Fox Crafts there, who have super cute foxy-themed crafts and were selling a cute bag to raise funds for Sydney Fox Rescue, so of course I had to buy one of those.

So I met Summer. She was lovely, of course. Here is my photo with her. She looks great, I look shiny and frizzy. Though I guess in the context of Firefly shiny is a good thing. ;)



I didn't stay long, so I left in time for lunch. It was just a short walk from the Convention Centre down to the West End location of Vegerama, which I hadn't been to yet. Vegerama is a vegetarian restaurant, though almost everything is either vegan or can be made vegan, and a lot of it is gluten free as well.

To drink I ordered a Liver Cleanse juice. Not because my liver needs cleansing, but because the combination of carrot, apple, beetroot, ginger and turmeric sounded good. And it was good, but it was also beautiful. Check out this presentation!



I started off ordering the Niçoise Salad - cured tofu, radicchio, green beans, truss tomatoes, naturally fermented olives and malt croutons. This was delicious, I especially loved the tofu in it. This is on the entree list, but I wish they made it as a main! US readers, we have entree and main where you have appetiser and entree.



I was still a little peckish after this, so I decided to try the Cannelloni I had heard about from friends. These were stuffed with kale, silverbeet, spinach and a house made nut cheese and served on Napoli sauce. These were good - quite rich! The stand out part for me was really the tomato sauce, which was amazing.



They also have a case full of vegan desserts. While it does have quite a few raw dessert items (die in a fire, coconut oil), they also had chocolate cheesecake, a selection of Cloverly cupcakes, caramel tarts and several cute little pudding cups. I got the strawberry custard cup to take home for afternoon tea. It was so nice.



Vegerama have a lot of great sounding things on their menu that I am keen to try, plus they have daily specials as well. I am looking forward to going back! There is both indoor and outdoor seating, and while they do have air conditioning it is also very open to the street so it was a bit warm in there on the hot day I was there.

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

Note, although the address is Melbourne St I found the entrance just around the corner on Browning St.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



After I got home I was exhausted from my outing, so spent the afternoon sprawled on the sofa. Dim Sim was clearly similarly overwhelmed by her morning's exertions (whatever they might have been), and conked out next to me on her pinkie.

Eating Out: Grill'd Wintergarden (Buffy edition)

A few weeks ago I was very excited to be able to take part in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer trivia night. For those who don't know, Buffy is my favourite TV show ever. I do an annual rewatch, but have been known in the past to watch it four or five times in a year. I was the secretary and then president of BuffySoc at my university. I quote Buffy almost every day. Basically, I love Buffy.

I was pretty nervous going into the trivia night, because I hadn't started my annual rewatch yet and I was feeling the pressure having previously been undefeated in Buffy trivia competitions (though the last time I played was years and years ago back at uni... until I became part of BuffySoc and started writing them!). I brushed up a bit using my Watcher's Guides (which are not as comprehensive as I hoped). I joined my friend Kim's team, the Doublemeat Pals, and I am happy to report that we totally won. Even with a temporary evacuation of the building due to a fire alarm. UNDEFEATED BUFFY TRIVIA CHAMPION!

Anyway, about the food. The event was held at Grill'd in the Wintergarden in the city. Grill'd has locations all over. They have three veggie burgers on the menu, which can all be made vegan if you take some things off. Their selection of fries is also all vegan, but the only dipping sauce that is vegan is the tomato relish.

I think every time I have been to a Grill'd I have had the Garden Goodness burger - a veggie pattie, beetroot, avocado, salad and relish. You leave off the cheese and mayo to make it vegan. I decided to branch out and try their sweet potato chips. They were OK, kind of small and smooshy. See, Grill'd is the home of some of the best chips ever - herby and fried and delicious... so the sweet potato chips certainly didn't live up to those. Plus they came in a smaller cup than the regular chips. Hmph.



We actually did share some of their original chips later on that night. But really, who cares about chips when you are winning at Buffy?

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Speaking of Buffy, here I am watching is with Sahara on my lap.

Seattle 2014: Part 3 - Twin Peaks Adventure Day!

When I was in Sydney earlier this year I was introduced to the amazing show that is Twin Peaks, and I watched it all and tweeted about it a lot. Helen saw my tweets, and then she watched it as well. So by the time I was coming to Seattle we were both obsessed. Many iconic locations in Twin Peaks were filmed in Snoqualmie and surrounds, which is a reasonably short drive from Seattle. Helen was able to recruit us a car and a driver, the lovely Tim, and together (along with Madeline, another friend of Helen's) we embarked on a Twin Peaks adventure.

All good adventures begin with food. As it happened, that day the SLU location of Veggie Grill was having a fundraiser where a percentage of all sales went towards a great animal cause that I unfortunately cannot remember, so we decided to meet there. I kicked off with some nachos and a side of kale. The nachos were OK, but needed more guacamole - what is with that tiny little scoop? Helen got one of her favourites - the B-Wing Salad (essentially a buffalo wings salad). You may notice the binder above the nachos in the photo - that was full of Twin Peaks location information. We were prepared!





Then we were on our way. We ran into some traffic early on, but then it was out and driving through beautiful Washington state. I was excited - this was my first trip out of Seattle! Our first stop was Twede's Cafe in North Bend, better known as the Double R Diner in Twin Peaks. This place completely embraces the heritage of Twin Peaks - the mugs are embossed with a Twin Peaks motto, there is a Twin Peaks memorabilia and news clipping wall, and they sell Twin Peaks maps (and frisbees)! Helen ordered herself a Damn Fine Cup Of Coffee (and a beer), and Maddie ordered a (sadly not vegan) piece of famous cherry pie. As I don't drink coffee, I ordered a grapefruit juice. I think the waitress was amused by our orders and our quietly geeking out. At the end of our visit, we also bought a Twin Peaks map for fun, and to add to our collection of Twin Peaks location information.







Our next stop was Reinig Bridge, otherwise known as Ronette's Bridge. It was kind of creepy, though it was set over a beautiful river with lovely mountains in the back that I completely forgot to take a photo of.



After spending some time by the bridge and the river, we set ourselves the task of finding the spot where the iconic Welcome To Twin Peaks sign appeared in the TV show. Of course it isn't actually there in real life. It took us a few goes of driving up and down the road, listening to the Twin Peaks theme song and comparing the views to a photo of the sign from the TV show until we found it. But then we found it!!! To make up for the lack of sign, Tim and I posed with the Twin Peaks map in a sign-like fashion.





Another place that took us a few goes was to find the right vantage point for the Twin Peaks High School. The school itself was easy enough to find, but the entrance used in the show was concealed from the road by some trees. But not well enough to be concealed by our super snooping.



We headed into the main street of Snoqualmie to visit the rail yard. Oddly, Snoqualmie makes no references to Twin Peaks in the town, or even on their website. You would think they would tap into the Twin Peaks tourist market, but apparently not. At the rail yard we found the Really Big Log that was used in the opening credits. Helen found a really cool 'Fire Walk With Me' graffiti on it, though I didn't get a photo. There are also a lot of railway cars stored here, and we were trying to find the car used for the murder scene, but no luck. There were some cars under some covers so we assume it was under there.


Speaking of logs, Helen decided to try out being a log lady in training. Because she is in training though, she only has a stick, it takes some time before you are reading for the log.



Afterwards we decided to head out to the falls and the lodge, and to enjoy a picnic. A Twin Peaks adventure day requires a Twin Peaks picnic! Helen had made a delicious vegan cherry pie and Tim had picked up some Mighty-O doughnuts (including my favourite cinnamon sugar). We also had the new Maple Bacon Kettle Chips (they are OK, Tings are still the best of all) and some black coffee with hemp milk. And yes, Helen did carve 'The Owls Are Not What They Seem' into the top of the pie.





Snoqualmie Falls was pretty popular on a Saturday afternoon. It turned out there is only an observation platform, you don't actually hike down to the falls themselves. The falls are famously shown in the opening credits of Twin Peaks. At the top of the falls is the Salish Spa and Lodge, better known to us as The Great Northern Hotel. (Note my super sun sensible attire - a red head should never expose more skin to the sun than absolutely necessary, even with sunscreen).











We did go and have a poke around the lodge, and a look in their gift shop. While it did have cute things, there was nothing related to Twin Peaks! Though there were some owl things so I can make that into a Twin Peaks thing in my head. After this it was time to head back to Seattle. There were a few places we wanted to go to and didn't get to, but I think we still did a pretty awesome job of covering a lot of the iconic ones.

Helen and I got dropped off at her house so I could meet her kitty Zeno (see below!), then I got a lift back into the city. I arrived back at the hotel just in time to get to the downtown Veggie Grill before they closed, so nipped in to get a BBQ Tempeh Plate with Fries to take away. Then I took it back to the hotel, had a good hot shower, and ate my dinner in bed while watching totally trashy TV.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post





Helen is an awesome cat lady, and Zeno is her cat. I was very excited to get to meet Zeno, who was utterly adorable.