Birthday eats.

A few weeks ago I turned 32, which was kind of exciting for me because ever since I was little I always felt that 32 would be the ultimate age. Why? I have no idea! Although at one point I had toyed with some exciting party plans, in the end it wound up being a pretty low key event. But of course I made sure there was some good food involved.

On my actual birthday I was working a 12 hour day, but thankfully my workplace is not too far away from some pretty nice food!

Botanica is a small but amazing shop that has opened up near the clinic. This takeaway only place is a salad shop with a difference, with several amazing gourmet vegetarian salads (most of which are vegan) available everyday. Quinoa and Roasted Carrot and the amazing Shaved Broccoli are always on my rotation, but I also love the Potato Salad. Sadly the days I work and the days they have potato salad are almost never the same, but one of my friends from work brought my in a whole box of potato salad for my birthday. Yum! Unfortunately I did not get a photo.




48 Degrees Raw is new raw cafe that has opened not too far from work. I have been enjoying raw food at Orawgi lately (a post on that is coming), so I was keen to try 48 Degrees Raw. I got there just before they were closing, so there wasn't a great deal left, but I got a salad with some walnut meat, cashew cream and avocado as well as a raw smoothie. The salad itself had a lot of really bitter sprouts in it, so I mostly ate the toppings and then picked out the non-sprout bits, but the rest was very yummy.



A few minutes work from the clinic is Fundies, a great health food shop with a cafe. The cafe often has raw vegan cakes from Carrie On Raw. Normally I can't eat raw desserts because the amount of coconut oil in them makes me horribly ill, however she makes a Cherry Ripe cake that is out of this world and doesn't make me sick! I had been told they would have some on the day of my birthday, and asked for a piece to be put aside. Unfortunately when I got there they had a different flavour, but they were so excited about my birthday that I bought it anyway. It is a sticky chocolate cake and it really didn't work for me, but the raspberry sauce that came with it made it quite lovely. Though a bit too much coconut oil.

I work late, so by the time I got home dinner was just whatever leftovers I had pulled out of the freezer. Unfortunately my poor bear Sahara, who had been in hospital earlier that week, had another turn and I spent my night nursing her and running in to the clinic to pick up some injections to help her feel better. The following morning, both my girls had appointments at the clinic (Dim Sim was just for her regular senior check up). I am happy to say that Sahara has since recovered and is back to her regular self! Still, it was a bit of a tense time.

Two days after my birthday was Saturday that I wasn't working, so it was eating time!



My family and I headed down to the Gold Coast to Mandala Organic Arts Cafe for some delicious food. We started with a trio of dips and refreshed ourselves with lemon drinks and cane sugar juice. There were three of us, so for our mains we shared three pizzas - Satay, Potato and Caper, and Wild Mushroom. They were delicious! My mum finished with some raw chocolate cake with Cocoluscious ice-cream. Because of my coconut oil issues, I just enjoyed a chai to finish off my lunch.



On Saturday night I went out for dinner with my friend Lisa to Kanishk, an Indian restaurant that has an entire vegan menu. I was still pretty full from lunch, so I skipped the entree (that's the starter, for my US friends... entree is what we call the main dish here). I chose the Palak Pakori, which was vegetable dumplings cooked in a spinach, curry and coconut milk sauce. Served with some saffron rice and roti, it was delicious!

As for presents, my parents gave me a Baby Q Weber BBQ. It is adorable and portable, so I can barbeque on the deck or take it out and about for cooking in the park (no more having to use skanky park barbeques!). And finally I can bust out Grills Gone Vegan over summer and have a glorious time!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



My Sahara, the cause of all that concern, is now back to her normal self. Here she is snoozing on the foot rest in the sunroom. I am so happy she is feeling better!