Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

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.



Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Lazy DVD Day Eats

My friend Lisa and I like to have movie days and eat food. In truth, we plan far more of these days than we ever can actually manage to do given that it has to fit into our schedules (we work together, but often have different days off). However the other week we managed to get together on one hot Brisbane day and have a fun afternoon. The theme was Boarding School Movies and Lazy Day Eats.

First up, the movies. The theme started because of Lisa's desire to see Wild Child, which I happen to have on DVD. We then decided to also watch The Hairy Bird and St Trinian's. Except The Hairy Bird was nowhere to be found, both in actual shops, on line or even in rental places, and then there was an issue with Lisa's iTunes so we couldn't watch St Trinian's either. I came through with my DVD of She's the Man, and then we were at the mercy of Australian Netflix, which had NOTHING in theme. So we finished it up watching Suddenly 30 because it is awesome.

Now onto the food! Normally we make food, like on our epic Zombie Pizza Day (sadly I did not blog this!), or our Comfort Food 90's Teen Movie Day (I Instagrammed some of that). However it was going to be a hot day, I was working the day before and coming to her house after hot yoga, so we decided to make nothing and buy everything!

My mum had bought me this dip a couple of days before, so I brought that along. It is sweet and a bit spicy, great for dipping or on bread.

Vegan Dip Spiced Eggplant


I also brought some Absolute Organic Potato Chips, which are not gross and oily like most other plain salted potato chips.

Chips and Dip


Lisa went to Botanica and got us a bunch of their vegan salads for lunch.

Botanica


She got five of their salads. My favourite Quinoa and Roasted Carrot with Tahini Dressing, Israeli Cous Cous, Roasted Cauliflower, Quinoa Tabbouleh and Chickpea.

Five types of vegan salad


Then we loaded up plates with salad, and yummy sourdough bread spread with dip. We each had two of these plates. You may notice there was capsicum in the chickpea salad, but I picked around it when serving myself.

Salad, bread, dip


For dessert, Lisa got one of Botanica's delicious vegan brownies, which I heated slightly, and served with the So Delicious Cashew Salted Caramel Ice Cream I had brought. Heaven!

Botanica Brownie and So Delicious


After a day of eating, I needed something light for dinner. So I stopped off at Loving Hut and picked up some Summer Rolls and BBQ Buns.

Loving Hut


It was a really fun day of trashy movies, good company and yummy food. Can't wait for our next one, we already have the movies planned. :D

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

The beautiful Mae


Lisa's beautiful cat, Mae. She is fluffy and floofy and you may want to hug her and kiss her, but she is also feisty! She let me gently pat her head at this visit.

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Pride and Prejudice and Potbellies

Unfortunately I am referring to our potbellies, no cute little potbellied pigs will appear in this post.

A few weeks ago I have a Pride and Prejudice viewing day with some friends. Pete had never seen P&P, and we had to remedy this because it is awesome. If you are wondering 'which Pride and Prejudice did you watch?', then I need to remind you that there is only one Pride and Prejudice worth watching. There is only one Mr Darcy, and his name is Colin Firth. The end.

Of course, six hours of viewing requires sustenance! And we decided to have a 'high tea' for lunch and then a roast dinner for dinner because it seemed like the English thing to do. We are all vegan, but Sarah is also gluten free, so this was a completely gleegan spread!

Our high tea style lunch was all cuteness and charm. Also, can you believe how adorable Sarah's tabletop is? So perfect for the theme as well!

High tea


Sorry for this blurry pic! I love tiny sandwiches. I had planned on trying my hand at gf bread, but I just ran out of time. So I bought some Orgran crackers for these cute little bites. Plate one has cream cheese, cucumber and dill on it (my favourite!) and plate two has Tartex pate, tomato and chives.

High tea


Sarah made these amazing stuffed cherry tomatoes from Great Gluten Free Vegan Eats by Allyson Kramer. Oh my gosh these were so good. I couldn't stop eating them!

High tea


I provided the sweets. Fresh grapes, strawberry muffins, stuffed dates and Table Of Plenty dark chocolate coated mini rice cakes.

High tea


The muffins are the Strawberry Shortcake Muffins, also from Great Gluten Free Vegan Eats by Allyson Kramer. These are quite dense, in the way of gf goods, but were quite lovely. And very pretty!
Rating: :)

Strawberry Shortcake Muffins


I also made the Walnut Stuffed Dates from Vegan Without Borders by Robin Robertson, except I stuffed them with cashews instead. They are dipped in chocolate, making them a pretty indulgent little treat.
Rating: :)

Chocolate Cashew Dates


Several hours later we were ready for dinner!

Roast dinner


Roast dinner


Roast dinner


Pete made the lentil and walnut loaf from Oh She Glows, which was a big deal because Pete almost never cooks. But we were able to talk him into it. ;) Sarah made the vegetable sides - I believe the leeks, carrots and asparagus are from Great Gluten Free Vegan Eats, and there were also sauteed mushrooms and roasted potatoes and pumpkin. I also made a super fast gravy to bring it all together - some nuttelex and flour made into a roux with Massel beef-style stock and a splash of soy sauce. It was all so good!

Of course after all of this we were SO FULL! And Pride and Prejudice was wonderful, of course. It was an excellent day. :)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Sarah's kitties


Sarah is a huge cat lady, she has fostered kittens and more than one or two have become her permanent companions. This photo is pretty old, but check out these cuties playing in her kitchen. These kids are much, much, much bigger now!