Wednesday 29 November 2023

BrisVenture 2023: Day 5: Kangaroos, Koalas, and Izakaya Midori

Hello and welcome back to the penultimate post about my adventures with my friends from American.

I took then out to Coombabah at the Gold Coast, for some guaranteed kangaroo watching and probably koala sightings. I am happy to report that both were achieved! Excuse the fuzzy koala picks, it really is like trying to photograph a backlit blob high up in a tree.

Coombabah


Coombabah


Coombabah


Coombabah


Coombabah


Coombabah


Then we hit up Izakaya Midori for a late lunch.

Smoked Edamame.

Smoked Edamame at Izakaya Midori


Agedashi Tofu.

Tofu Agedashi at Izakaya Midori


Edamame Chips.

Edamame Chips at Izakaya Midori


Okonomiyaki and Veef Sushi.

Okonomiyaki and Veef Sushi at Izakaya Midori


Teriyaki Tofu Don.

Teriyaki Tofu Don at Izakaya Midori


Katsu Sushi.

Katsu Sushi at Izakaya Midori


Terichiki Don.

Terichiki Don at Izakaya Midori


Chiki Avo Nigiri.

Chiki Avo Nigiri at Izakaya Midori


Aka Ramen.

Aka Ramen at Izakaya Midori


After this incredible feast, we headed home, and there was a little bit of resting. Molly made us a late dinner, which included some Lamyong Salty Crispy Chicken she had bought from The Green Edge, rice, salad, and croutons.

Molly Dinner


Only one more post to share with you about our final two days together! A week goes so quickly.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Dim Sim


This Monday just gone (the 27th of November) was the three year anniversary of Dim Sim's passing. I miss her so much.



Sunday 19 November 2023

BrisVenture 2023: Day 4: Cranky's Farm

Hang on a minute, you say, where is day 3? On the Wednesday, after two hectic days and several early mornings before they arrived, my fibro came knocking. So they all caught a bus into the city to explore, and I stayed home and watched Buffy and rested.

I needed my rest because the next day I had arranged a private tour of Cranky's Farm, a farm animal sanctuary that I had been to a few times before. We had an incredible tour, and got to meet so many glorious animals. The goats were off doing their own goaty thing in a far paddock, but we met cows, pigs, equines, and birds.

Jonny is one of two mini horses they have at the farm. Both were rescued at separate times, but both had horrific foot conditions. Happily both were rehabilitated, and now they are silly little jerks together. They also have three donkeys as well.

Cranky's Farm


Marley is a tiny calf, only 39 days old, who they rescued and are hand raising. He was so tiny and gentle and sweet. He has been unwell for the last week, so please keep him in your thoughts. They also have a calf there called Fern, a bit older than Marley, who is partially blind but very sassy.

Cranky's Farm


Their big paddock houses a beautiful herd of cows! They were thankfully up the top of the paddock, not down the bottom of the giant hill where the goats were, so we could easily visit with them.

Cranky's Farm


Cranky's Farm


I also got to meet my favourite cow Freckles. I love him. He is typically a shy cow, so when I have been there before for open days he stayed away from the big group. But this time I was blessed with a little sniff and a tiny pat. Thank you Freckles! Isn't he handsome?

Cranky's Farm


Next up was a visit with Lopez, an ex-racehorse. He is beautiful! I love horses.

Cranky's Farm


Lopez was in a paddock with a beautiful giant Moreton Bay fig tree. The rest of us waited under the shade here while Helen trekked down to the bottom of the property to see if she could find their resident platypus who lives in a pond there. She did not have any sightings, but was definitely in a platypus vicinity.

Cranky's Farm


The final cow on our tour to meet was Peggy, who is a lovely girl. She had a femoral head osteotomy for a broken hip after she first arrived. We do that on cats and dogs, I had no idea it could be done on a large cow! She was chilling and snoozing in the sun, and couldn't be bothered getting up for us but was very happy to receive pats and adoration.

Cranky's Farm


We finished by meeting some of the birds they have there, including Gloria the turkey and (not pictured) Frank the duck.

Cranky's Farm


After our tour, we went to a lookout just a few minutes down the road to admire the view and also use the public bathrooms. It was a pretty view!

Mt Mee Lookout


And then we headed to another little park called Cedar Creek, which claimed to also be home to platypi and other wildlife. It was a pretty place, though my ankles absolutely did not want to stabilise on the rocks so I ended up sitting under a tree doing some reading while the others explored. We only saw birds, but birds are still cool, including a kookaburra.

Cedar Creek


Cedar Creek


Then we headed home. We had eaten a decent breakfast before we left, and I had packed some Clif Bars and dried fruit for snacking on, but we found ourselves close to VeganYumm, a vegan bakery, so stopped in to get some treats for a late lunch when we got home. I had a creamy chicken pie (not pictured), which was OK. But I was able to get a naked cinnamon roll, my favourite! I hate it when people ruing a perfectly good cinnamon roll with glaze or icing.

Cinnamon Roll from VeganYumm'


We had a small dinner after our very late lunch, and ordered in some Pizza Hut vegan pizza and vegan cheese garlic bread.

Pizza Hut


Stay tuned for a much more food heavy post from day 5!

Cute Kitty of the Post

Mirabelle


Close up of Mirabelle's little white chest sprinkle, and her whiskers (which are not white but are just shiny in the light).



Thursday 16 November 2023

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.

The Big Pineapple


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.

Blue Matcha Latte at Cafe Vie


Little Cin Latte at Cafe Vie


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

Japanese Curry Fries at Cafe Vie


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.

OG Veggs Benedict Croissant at Cafe Vie


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.

Mushi Parmi at Cafe Vie


Chicken Parmi at Cafe Vie


Molly also got a croissant with cheese scramble to try.

Croissant with Tofu Scramble at Cafe Vie


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

View from Buderim


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.

Tofu Bun from VietFoods Springwood


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.

Birthday Cake from Vegood


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.

Birthday Cake from Vegood


Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Boo


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



Wednesday 15 November 2023

BrisVenture 2023: Day 1: The Green Edge, Sushi

Hello friends! Last week the magical happened, and I had three friends from the US come and stay with me! My friend Molly had come and stayed with me in 2017, but this time she brought my long time Seattle friend Helen with her, plus new friend Sharnette. Helen and I have known each other for just over ten years, ever since she slid into my DMs on my second visit to Seattle and we had dinner. I have since visited her there twice more, including staying with her during my final visit, but it has been EIGHT YEARS since we have seen each other, and for her to be here in my hometown was incredible! They arrived early Monday morning, and I picked them up from the airport. I also saw these two coming through customs.

Dinos at the airport


After initial pick up, it was home for them to all have a shower (it was a long flight, made longer by delays) and get situated. Then we headed out for some food and vegan shopping at The Green Edge (see my previous posts about The Green Edge here). We ordered a lot of food! And some very fun drinks. Including the Strawberries & Cream Frappe for Sharnette, colourful lattes (turmeric for me, matcha for Molly, beetroot for Helen) and Helen also got a Salted Caramel Milkshake.

Strawberries and Cream Frappe at The Green Edge


Turmeric, Matcha, and Beetroot Lattes at The Green Edge


Salted Caramel Milkshake at The Green Edge


Lunch started with some chips and some Buffalo cauliflower wings.

Fries and Buffalo Cauliflower Wings at The Green Edge


Helen was committed to trying Australian things while she was here, so she got the Origin Burger (it has beetroot, which makes it Australian), where as Molly and Sharnette for the VFC Four Piece Meal and the VFC Burger respectively. I had the Mac & Cheese with a side of turkish bread. Sharnette also got the Truffled Mac & Cheese to try and take home for later.

Origin Burger at The Green Edge


VFC Four Piece Meal at The Green Edge


VFC Burger at The Green Edge


Mac & Cheese at The Green Edge


Truffled Mac & Cheese at The Green Edge


After lunch, some shopping was done at The Green Edge for fun things. Then I took them to our two major supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, so they could see and buy some of the vegan things we have available here. It was a pretty fun shopping trip!

After that we headed home for a very relaxed evening and early night. For dinner we ordered in some vegan sushi from a place called Sushi Too: Mini Tofu Rolls, Mini Avocado Rolls, Mini Pickle Rolls, Tofu and Vegetable Rolls, Inari, and Seaweed salad.

Vegan Sushi from Sushi Too


I am very excited to share our adventures and food with you from the week. Can't believe it is already over. At least I can relive the magic through blogging!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Eloise


One of the joys was introducing my girls to my friends! Eloise is pretty shy when you first meet her, and it took her a few days to fully warm up, but she was much admired. Obviously.