Veganventure 2014: Part 2 (Foxy edition)

I had a very special opportunity, thanks to Leigh, to visit the offices of Sydney Fox Rescue while I was in Sydney. Leigh didn't even realise that foxes are one of my favourite animals. Cats are first (of course), then unicorns (I don't care what you think), then horses, then foxes!! Though of course I love all animals. When we first arrived, one of the kits was about to go home with his new family! The first little baby we met was this gorgeous little kit who was still in quarantine.



Then we got to play with some of the frisky older kits - Fang, Ollie and Nimbus. This was a lot of fun. The nibbled our shoelaces and we fed them with spoons. Gah!









Finally, we met two teeny tiny kits (only about two and a half weeks old) who had just arrived that morning. These tiny babies were so little, we held them gently wrapped up in blankets.







If you want to find out more about fox rescue, which can be a contentious issue in this country, I recommend checking out the information on their page. New South Wales is the only state in Australia where foxes can be placed in private homes, in all other states the only option is slaughter. Sydney Fox Rescue offers an alternative to this for suitable kits, while also removing them from the native environment where they can cause a lot of damage. Currently there is proposed legislation in New South Wales that would make rehoming foxes illegal, meaning that all foxes not currently in homes would need to be killed. Sydney Fox Rescue is opposing this. As I said, go and look on their website for far better explanations than I could ever give, and if you live in Sydney they sometimes have open days!

Giddy from foxy hugs, we headed back into Newtown for some celebratory ice cream from my favourite ice cream place, Gelato Blue. I have serious love for their case of delicious vegan gelato and sorbets. They had a special flavour that day, which was Hard Cider and Lime. I tried a little bit, and it was delicious, but given that it was alcoholic and that I don't drink I chose a different combination. I went for a scoop of my favourite Chocolate Hazelnut and a scoop of Peach, which was wonderfully creamy and refreshing. Leigh went for a scoop of Strawberry and a scoop of Hard Cider and Lime. In cones of course, for super fun ice cream eating!



They also have a bakery case with a shelf of vegan goodies, and I couldn't say no to this lamington. I love lamingtons! This was a good lamington.



After basking in the post-fox glow, we went to Yulli's for dinner. Yulli's is a vegetarian restaurant in Surrey Hills that I had heard a lot about, but had never been to. Just ask for the vegan menu when you arrive. It was kind of dark in there, so forgive the photos.

We started with some Steamed Ginger and Leek Dumplings, which came with a plum sauce. The dumplings were really lovely, though the sauce mostly tasted salty to me.



I ordered the Mamak Rojak - fine rice noodles with banana blossom, ong choy and tofu with peanut sauce. Sounds great, right? Looks great, right? They might have thought to mention that this is extremely, extremely, extremely chili hot. I didn't even thing that it might be hot until I saw it came garnished with a chili. My eyes were watering after my first bite and after my second I knew I just couldn't go on. I don't have much chili tolerance. Thankfully Leigh does, so instead of sharing our dishes she took all of this one and left me hers. Bless!



Leigh's pick, which ended up being my dinner, was the Green Mango Fried Rice - snake beans, young baby corn, green mango and kaffir lime leaves with a lemongrass and tom yum sauce. I am happy to report that this was lovely, it was tangy and very addictive. I happily devoured the plate. Leigh warned me that the sauce on the side had some heat to it, so I avoided that given that the lining of my stomach had just taken a beating.



For dessert I had to try the famous Sticky Date Pudding (with caramel sauce and smoked coconut ice cream). This was delicious, I could have eaten about seven of them. I love sticky date pudding, and with the exception of a sub-par offering from a place I went to in the UK, this is the only one I have had in fourteen years! The ice cream had an intriguing flavour, but I only had a little taste because it was very rich in coconut fat (which equals death for me). Leigh had had this several times before, so decided to try the Steamed Chocolate Pudding (with chocolate sauce and smoked coconut ice cream). Sorry for the appalling photo!



Afterwards we went for a walk to find a taxi, and found an intriguing store selling 'candy apples' - apples dipped in all manner of ridiculous topping concoctions. There may have been one or two vegan options, but we were full of pudding so had no desire to check.

The following day we woke up bright and early to get ready to go to Melbourne. Leigh made an amazing green smoothie for breakfast (banana, berries, almond-coconut-choc iced snack, baby bok choy, cucumber, water), and we had some leftover Sprout and Kernel cheeses on crackers.



Then it was off to the airport (via dropping Squeak off for kitty boarding) and on to Melbourne! More adventures to follow!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



The keen observer would have noticed a certain feline face in the back of one of the photos of the teeny baby foxes. That was Toby! Toby is the Fox Rescue cat, he has three legs and he loves pats. When people are patting him and then go to look at the foxes, he puts out a paw to bring you back to him, and you just can't say no!