Eating Out: Thien An

Aimee Bubble Tea at Inala is a place that I have been hearing about for years, but never made it to. It has since had a name change to Thien An, but premise remains the same. Cheap vegetarian Vietnamese food! I finally made it out there with my friend Amy a couple of months ago.

I approve their menu of yummy drinks! Aimy got a Passionfruit Drink with Rainbow Jelly, and I got a Strawberry Drink with Pearls.



I tossed up a few different options on the menu (which is quite heavy on the mock meats), but eventually settled on the pho. I had heard a lot about it! It had a lovely broth that was full of noodles, tofu, veggies and some mock. Plus lots of crunchy beansprouts and herbs to top it with. Totally worth eating hot soup on a million degree 'winter' day.



Amy had the Wonton Soup, which she said was nice though the broth itself was quite oily.



We shared some spring rolls, which were standard fried spring roll-ness.



The Shredded Pork Fresh Rice Paper rolls were disappointing, however. They were pre-made from a cabinet, so had done that thing where the rice paper is simultaneous very dry but kind of sticky, and the filling was also very dry. Would not get again.



If was definitely fun to finally get to try this place out! Amy also got a couple of Bahn Mi sandwiches to take home, which looked good. She's had them before, and said that they are a little dry. But if you take them home then you can add some mayo. Pro tip! I was also happy to hear them ask if she wanted chili on them or not. Sounds like they can be made mild if you are a chili-phobe like me.

Thien An - Shop8/57 Corsair Avenue, Inala (at Inala Shopping Plaza), Brisbane, QLD - (07) 38792422

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Resharing this photo, taken many years ago, where Dim Sim and Sahara actually touched! It was amazing. This was seven years ago now, and they have never done it like this again. But I live in eternal hope.

Recipe Round-Up: 1000 Vegan Recipes

And we have circled back around to the start of the alphabet again! There is no larger book in my collection than the mammoth 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. I have been distracted away from it lately with all of my new cookbooks, but I still have the goal to cook through the entire thing at some point in my life. Also, to blog through it all. I still have over 100 photos to blog sitting on my computer! So, let's get to it!

Spicy Southwestern-Style Pizza and Creamy Cucumber Dressing: This pizza has chili beans, tomato salsa, chiles, olives and coriander. This was back when I could still handle a bit of heat... or was trying to handle a bit of heat. I also added some grated Cheezly, which was nice. And served with some sour cream on the side. I also served a salad made with some wonderfully refreshing Creamy Cucumber Dressing. This was based on yoghurt and cucumber.
Rating: Pizza :), Dressing :)



Ginger-Lime-Glazed Bean Curd: This recipe is meant to be made as grilled skewers. To be honest, unless I am out and about and it is a portable thing, I am not a big fan of making things with skewers at home. I always just pull them off. Though it is handy for grilling, but I couldn't be bothered. So I just left these as cubes and baked them. They were nice! I served them as a bowl with rice and broccoli, the extra glaze, and some crushed peanuts.
Rating: :)





Garden Variety Couscous Tabbouleh: I only used 3/4 cup of couscous here (rather than one cup) to increase the vegetable ratio. This includes chickpeas, scallions, cucumber and tomato... I left out the capsicum. I used some veggie broth thickened with a little guar gum in place or most of the oil for the salad, which I typically do. This is nothing against oil, I don't think oil is evil. I just have a low tolerance for oil so it is easy for me to find things too oily, especially in dressings. But oil away!
Rating: :)



Pasta Salad with Grilled Summer Vegetables: This is delicious! It took me awhile to grill all the vegetables, as I only have a little George Forman Grill, but it was worth the effort. Zucchini, squash, tomatoes, onion, mushrooms... no capsicum, of course. A nice cider vinegar mustard dressing (again with my oil sub). Make this!
Rating: :D



Winter Pasta Salad with Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette: I added some kidney beans to this to bulk it up and got four large servings, and it was great for taking for lunches! It has a good vegetable to pasta ratio as well. I found the dressing very tart, and ended up having to mix in a little bit of agave.
Rating: :)



Farfalle with Crunchy Crucifers and Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing: If you haven't guessed, I have uploaded the salad portion of my photos awaiting blogging. Cauliflower and broccoli is lightly blanched in the pasta water, to keep things crisp. I always enjoy poppy seeds in things, they just make things fun with their little spots everywhere.
Rating: :)



Rotini Remoulade: This salad has a creamy dressing of mayo, pickle relish, capers, ketchup and others. I used peas instead of capsicum and increased the amount of capsicum used, as well as adding kidney beans to bulk it up a bit.
Rating: :)



Creamy Artichoke Dressing: This is tangy but creamy dressing. It uses a jar of marinated artichokes, which you are meant to leave undrained, but I accidentally drained them. So I used a bit of veggie broth instead.
Rating: :)



Creamy Avocado Dressing: Another great, refreshing salad dressing. I love everything with avocado, and this was delightful.
Rating: :)



Lime-Cilantro Dressing: This is a yoghurt based dressing. I found that the lime taste was very subtle, and I also added some coriander. Very nice on some crunchy cos lettuce.
Rating: :)



(% 1000 Vegan Recipes blogged: 27.3%)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Today would have been Possum's 22nd birthday, if he was still with us. Happy Birthday my handsome angel cat boy.

Eating Out: Lost Boys

A few months ago my wonderful friend Nicole came for a visit from Canada. Nicole is originally from Australia, but has left our shores and is now being super awesome in Toronto. We had the chance to catch up for lunch with some other friends while she was here, and she decided to try out Lost Boys, a vegetarian/vegan cafe in Fortitude Valley. It was the first time any of us had been there, but I had heard a lot about them. They have vegan gluten-free waffles for breakfast that have been Instagrammed far and wide.

Lost Boys has a super cute interior, with a fake tree and fairy lights and bookshelves. The menus are pasted into the front of old books. I almost felt that I was not cool enough to be in such a place!



The breakfast menu was over by the time we got there, but they had their lunch and snacks menu available (they also serve their avocado toast all day... though it has haloumi and I am not sure if they sub anything for the vegan option or if they just take it off). They no longer seem to have their menu online, so I will have to remember things as best I can!

We all started with some drinks. Brendan and Di both got their pretty Ice Teas, Nicole had the Iced Coconut Mocha, and I had a chai latte (acceptable, not brilliant).







The menu is pretty small, and unfortunately they were no longer offering the root vegetable pizza I had my eye on. Nicole and I were the only vegans (the other two ordered vegetarian, so no photos of their food), and we both ended up ordering the veggie burger with no cheese. Unfortunately mine came out with cheese on it, and then there was a very long wait until they brought me a new one. The burger was very filling! The 'patty' was more like a semi-solid hummus that smooshed everywhere when you cut into it (it wasn't a pick up in your hands kind of burger), but it was tasty. It also had avocado, mushrooms and carmelised onions on it. Served with some corn chips drizzled in balsamic. We were all very full!



Unfortunately their dessert case was pretty sad for vegans, unless you wanted to eat a raw bliss ball (I did not). But thankfully there was a Doughnut Time near by that was attached to a little bar/coffee shop for us to sit in to chat for a few more hours. Finding a coffee shop open on a Sunday afternoon was surprisingly difficult!

I had a lovely time catching up with Nicole, who is now back in Toronto, and also with Brendan and Diana (who live north of Brisbane).

Lost Boys Fortitude Valley - 649 Ann Street, Brisbane - (07) 3172 8073

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Cat in a box!

Menu: Spring from Vegan Planet (Original Edition)

It's been a while since I've posted a menu. I don't often have time to make them, but I do love putting together elaborate meals suggested to me in my cookbooks. It's fun! These are some more recipes from the original edition of Vegan Planet, which suggested that these would go well together as the Spring Menu. I made this menu ages ago! I still have many many many photos in my cookbook folders to share!

Cool Cucumber Soup with Cilantro and Lime: This soup is a cool and very refreshing start to a meal. Cucumbers and coconut milk (this was before my coconut fat sensitivity really ramped up) give a creamy finish, though mine never went completely smooth. Leaving it to blend the flavours for a few hours, as suggested in the recipe, is a must for the best taste. So be sure to plan ahead.
This recipe appears in the revised edition with some minor changes.
Rating: :)



Fennel, Pecan, and Watercress Salad with Orange Vinaigrette: This salad was fresh, juicy, crunchy and had a wonderful combination of flavours. The dressing made about double the amount that I needed, so if you are cooking from the original edition you may want to halve it or plan for leftover dressing for salads the next day.
This recipe appears in the revised edition with less vinegar and oil, so the dressing is likely going to be just the right amount!
Rating: :)



Tarragon-Scented Artichoke and Wild Mushroom Strudel: This was pretty, and easy to make thanks to phyllo pastry. It is stuffed with mushrooms, tofu and artichoke hearts (I used tinned as I can't find frozen here) with some herbs and seasonings. Very pretty!
This recipe appears in the revised edition with no ingredient changes.
Rating: :)



Double Mushroom Sauce: The Double Mushroom Sauce is served with the strudel, and uses dried porcini mushrooms and sliced white mushrooms... you can also make it a triple mushroom sauce if you have any mushroom stock on hand (I did not). The recipe says it makes two cups, but I got closer to three, though mine was not as thick as I would have liked so maybe I should have reduced it for longer.
This recipe appears in the revised edition with increased cornstarch, so will likely be thicker than mine!
Rating :)



Key Lime Cheesecake: Key Lime flavour isn't something I grew up with in Australia. We were not much for lime things, except for Lime Coola cordial. This cheesecake is based on silken tofu and vegan cream cheese, and has a very strong lime flavour. Just using regular limes, I have never even seen a key lime. It has a gingersnap cookie base, which is nice. Just watch carefully when cooking, mine went from undercooked to almost overcooked very fast!
This recipe appears in the revised edition as 'Fresh Lime Cheesecake', and has a higher cream cheese to tofu ratio as well as a few other small changes in ingredients.
Rating: :)





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Resharing another Gizmo photo. I miss this beautiful face.

BrisVegan Fest 2016, Vegeme and The Cruelty Free Shop Brisbane

Sunday the 4th of September saw the very first BrisVeganFest! Finally, we get our very own vegan festival! I went along to do a shift at the ALQ stall, and to eat all the food. When I got there, I found a stall selling Mac and Cheese, which was nice, and also tried Myk's FFF Kefir. I have been wary of kefir, because I don't do well with fizzy drinks. But they picked out their least fizzy flavour for me, and showed me how to reduce the fizz in it. And it was really nice!



I had planned to go and get lunch from one of the many food stalls, followed by some I Should Coco ice cream, after I finished my shift at ALQ. However the event was so successful that lines were giant and there was a very long wait for food (someone waited over an hour for their ice cream!). I am thrilled that the event was so successful, but my fair skin and hungry tummy couldn't manage a long wait in the sun for exciting food from the vendors.

So a couple of us walked to Vegeme for lunch instead. Sitting down, inside, people bringing us food. Heaven. We shared a bunch of their little plates for a yum cha-style lunch! This included the Salt and Pepper Suji (like chicken, always tasty goodness, we got a second plate), my favourite radish cakes, sweet potato balls (very sweet and creamy, oddly dessert like, very moreish), spring rolls (a bit pale, but nice filling) and some pan-fried dumplings. And lots and lots of water, we were dehydrated from the heat after being at the festival! Lines for drinks, also long.











After lunch, we walked across the road to check out the opening weekend of the new Brisbane branch of The Cruelty Free Shop. It was also quite busy, with a lot of people coming out to check it out. It is a beautiful shop, with lots of lovely products. I picked up a couple of things. I am excited to try out the Birthday Cake cookie! I still haven't eaten it yet.



When I got home, I immediately took a shower to scrape of the seven million layers of sunscreen and sweat, then enjoyed a few goodies I was able to pick up at the VeganFest for afternoon tea. I picked up a yummy lamington from Foodmill, a great vegan bakery that is supplying a lot of cafes now as well, as well as some yummy chocolate truffles (PB&J, orange and hazelnut) from a stall... I forget their name, I'm sorry!



Even though I didn't get to experience (... eat...) as much as I would have liked at the BrisVegan Festival, I am beyond thrilled out the huge success of the day! So many people came out, and I know many of them would not have been vegan, just curious. I am happy to give up my ice cream cone to them, so they can see how wonderful vegan food is! I am looking forward to next year (fingers crossed it doesn't clash with OzComicCon!), where I will go as soon as they open and eat everything in sight. Hee hee.

Vegeme - 9/220 Boundary St, West End, Brisbane - (07) 3846 2723

The Cruelty Free Shop - 2/165 Melbourne Street, South Brisbane - (07 3255 0023)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sahara, sleeping dramatically against a cushion. She was just too tired to go any further.

Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Planet (Original Edition)

Oh wow, a recipe round-up... remember those? I barely can. But let's get back on that round-up train with the original edition of Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. Another edition has been released, which I also have, but this post is recipes from the original one.

Pan-Fried Tofu and Watercress with Lemon-Caper Sauce: This is one delicious recipe, but just be careful because the sauce boils off very quickly once you take the tofu out of the pan, so I added a bit more wine and lemon juice to help it along. I served it with some herby roasted potatoes and a baked tomato.
This recipe appears in the revised edition largely unchanged.
Rating: :D



Tempeh and Sweet 'Peppers' with Bourbon-Spiked Barbecue Sauce: Yeah, so I made this with zucchini instead of capsicum. The recipe for the sauce is also in the book, and comes together easily.
This recipe appears in the revised edition with a smaller quantity of tempeh.
Rating: :)



Black Bean Sauce with Jalapenos and Cilantro: This pureed bean sauce comes together quickly and tastes great as a sauce over rice, beans and corn. I had to add an extra bit of water in it to thin it out.
This recipe appears in the revised edition with more garlic and spices.
Rating: :)



Tempting Teriyaki Marinated Tofu: The book includes a number of marinades that can be used for tofu, tempeh, mushrooms... the choice is yours. This teriyaki marinade is quick and and tasty.
This recipe appears in the revised edition unchanged.
Rating :)



Three-Seed Lemon Tea Bread: This is a yummy, lemony loaf with flaxseeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds rounding out the trio. It is great toasted and spread with a little Nuttelex and strawberry jam.
This recipe appears in the revised edition unchanged.
Rating: :)



Zucchini-Tahini Bread: This bread has an interesting flavour, but I did enjoy it. I needed to bake it for an extra 10 to 15 minutes for it to cook all the way through.
This recipe appears in the revised edition with several changes to ingredients.
Rating: :)



Spiced Apple-Walnut Muffins: These are dense little muffins, that benefit from the addition of sultanas as well I think! The spice comes from cinnamon and allspice. Oh, and also using pecans in place of walnuts because they are better.
This recipe appears in the revised edition with a few changes.
Rating: :)



Pumpkin-Rum Cous Cous Cake: This sweet cake us unusual in texture, but very nice. It is made from silken tofu, pumpkin, rum, spices, apple juice and cous cous. Served here with ice cream on top.
This recipe appears in the revised edition without the tofu!
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I miss my Gizmo every single day. This is her on her 13th birthday, several years ago.

Brisbane OzComicCon 2016

This weekend, my OzComicCon journey for 2016 ended in my home city of Brisbane. The food pressure was largely off, as I had my own kitchen for breakfast and dinner and could make my lunch, though I didn't need to make my lunch as the venue provided. Hurrah!

After the venue walk through on Friday afternoon, I had a couple of hours to kill before the cocktail party. I didn't want to go all the way home and then come all the way back and have to pay for parking twice, so instead and I took a short walk into West End and visited the new The Cruelty Free Shop to pick up a few snacks. Then I went down to the Boundary St Markets for some dessert before dinner!

I don't have an exact date for when I went vegan, I just know it was during September of 2000 (because it was when the Olympics were on), so I generally take the mid-point of September as my veganversary. This year, it was my sweet 16 years of being vegan! And what better way to celebrate than with a soft serve from I Should Coco? Yes, coconut soft serve. But it doesn't taste like coconut and it doesn't make me sick from coconut fat. It is magic! I have been there once before (I am posting things all out of order, I'll get to that first visit at some point...). This time I picked their Cherry Merry (vanilla soft serve with chocolate sauce, cherries in sour syrup and coconut flakes). And it was glorious. GLORIOUS! I got it in a cone, because as previously mentioned, I love cones! But you can get it in a cup if you want to.



After that I popped into the West End location of VegeRama for actual dinner. I had planned on trying out some of their pizza options, but then I saw they had lasagne on the menu. I love lasagne! I know it isn't that hard to make it at home, but I truthfully just don't make it all that often. It was good! The side salad was also really nice, crispy and with a great dressing. A nice change from the regular old garden-style side salad. I also had a turmeric shot.





Walking back to the city, Brisbane was pretty at night.



Then it was off to the cocktail party, which was actually kind of fun now that I had already met Ksenia last week so it wasn't completely awkward. Just kind of awkward encouraging people to come up and talk! I also had an extra dessert of some rainbow meringues that I picked up from the CFS, made from aquafaba. My first aquafaba meringues and they were very nice.



Saturday morning I had some overnight oats (from the new Oh She Glows Every Day cookbook) for breakfast before heading to the venue, where I was supplied with second breakfast. I had chosen the vegan avocado and tomato muffin. It was as advertised, an English muffin with some avocado and tomato. But it was tasty avocado and tomato. I was still full from my oats, so I wrapped mine up to have as a nice mid-morning snack for later in the day.



For lunch I had picked the Vegan Chickpea Patty Burger. It was actually a nice patty, I think one of the Sanitarium ones, with a crispy coating and a softer inside. The burger was nice. It also came with a side of fries, which was a nice surprise, except that they were lukewarm by the time I got to them. I also had packed some veggie sticks from home so that I could get in extra veggies. Because veggies.



The next morning was a similar pattern - overnight oats at home and then my second breakfast of an avocado and tomato muffin. This time for lunch I had the Vegan Baguette, which had salad and baba ganoush in it. It was delicious! The bread was fresh and so yummy, and there was a heft whack of baba ganoush in it as well that made it far more than your regular salad roll. Pictured on the side is a cup of vegan curry, which was a sneaky little gift from the green room from Ksenia. It was really nice.



Dinner both nights was take away, though I don't have any photos for you. Saturday night I stopped off at Loving Hut and got the Beijing Black Bean and some BBQ Steamed Buns, and on Sunday night I had my favourite Falafel and Black Bean Salad from Charlie's that I had bought on Friday morning. I did plan on walking down to a Sea Shepherd fundraiser after finishing on Sunday to get another ice cream cone, as I Should Coco had a stall there, but I thankfully found out before I left that there was a $10 cover charge to get in because they had bands in the evening. I didn't want to pay $10 to walk in and out with an $8 ice cream, so I was extra glad I got my ice cream cone on Friday!

At the end of last year, I decided that one of my goals for 2016 would be to do all five OzComicCons, which I have done. And it was amazing! I am very aware that I am extremely lucky to have been giving the opportunity to become part of the OCC family for the past three years. I hope I can continue to be part of the team!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



One of the nice things about doing the con in Brisbane was coming home to these two sleepy heads every night!