OzComicCon Adelaide 2016 (Part 3)

Friday dawned, with official OCC duties starting that afternoon. Still, I had the morning and early afternoon to myself to explore and eat. I headed back to Argos with a specific breakfast plan: waffles! Argos has vegan waffles loaded with toppings. There are two combinations on the menu - salted caramel and chocolate bomb. Neither of these appealed to me for breakfast, so I requested mine to be topped with fruit salad, peanut butter and maple syrup. They were delicious! I also had a Green Hulk Juice (apple, fennel, cucumber, spirulina, spinach and chia).





After breakfast, I went for a stroll up to the State Library to have a look at a local Fantasy Art exhibit, and then poked around Rundle Mall for a bit. Rundle Mall has super cute piggy statues!



I was tossing up where to go for lunch, but someone recommended Veggie Velo, a vegetarian burger food truck. I checked their FB page and, as luck would have it, they were in the vicinity. I got a yummy marinated tofu and pumpkin burger with satay sauce to take away.



The afternoon was spent doing a walk-through for the venue, but we had a couple of hours between that and having to turn up for the cocktail party that night. Bliss Organic Cafe is an Adelaide institution, and certainly the place in Adelaide I have heard about for the longest. They are only open for dinner on Friday nights, and they were very close to where I was, so it was the perfect chance to try them out. They are very famous for their Bliss Burger, however as I had just had a burger for lunch, I ordered a Curry Bake with Salad. It was a huge and delicious bowl of piping hot curry and mash, so good. They also had apple and cinnamon infused water available, which was so refreshing. I also had a chai latte. Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the cocktail party.



The next morning was the Saturday of OCC Adelaide. Breakfast started at the hotel with some hot oats (it was too chilly for overnight fridge oats) and a banana, and continued at the venue with (you guessed it) fruit salad and a juice I had brought along. For lunch I had bought a wrap from Argos the day before called the Soul Cleanser (beetroot, cabbage, avocado, spinach, sprouts, carrot, LSA, pepitas, gojis, hummus and tahini), which was a OK but mostly just a slightly fancy salad wrap, and some fruit salad. I was a bit under the weather and really would have liked something a bit more substantial.

For dinner, I was terribly anti-social and declined the offer of joining people for dinner at a non-vegan place because I really wanted to go back to Two Bit Villains. I am so glad I did! The first time I went, they were all out of their mac and cheese. But this time they had it! It was yum! And I also had the Fowl Play Burger (panko 'chicken, sweet potato mash, baby spinach, gravy... on a burger... yes) and a really refreshing Turkish Delight Iced Tea. It was glorious! I also got dessert, their Apple Pie (which was really an apple crumble) served with soy vanilla ice cream. I finished up with a soy chai latte, which was disappointing because it was just really sweet. The rest of the meal was great!











Sunday followed a similar food patter for breakfast and lunch, except I had a bread roll with hummus at lunch instead of a wrap. Because Sunday has the pack down at the end, it was a long day. Once I got back to the hotel, I hightailed it back down to Veggo Sizzle before it closed. It was the only vegan place that was still open at that time. I was still under the weather, so I got an Immunity Juice (carrot, apple, ginger) and the peanut stir-fry with coconut rice. The stir-fry came loaded with capsicum, which wasn't in the menu description, so I picked it all out.





The next day, Monday, we were all heading home. But there was time for breakfast! I popped by Argos and got a juice, I can't remember exactly what I ordered, but it was meant to have beetroot, carrot, celery, ginger and something else in it. But they were out of celery so they put some apple in. I was a bit miffed, because I paid an extra $1 for extra ginger, but it was in no way gingery enough for me. Next time I will ask for $5 worth of extra ginger. I want my throat to burn.



A short walk away from Argo was Fair Espresso, so I went there for actual food. They have a vegan big breakfast that had toast, mushrooms, spinach, tomato and avocado. They also have vegan juices, smoothie and acai bowls, vegan wraps, and vegan pies from Cherry Darlings available.



Then it was off home to Brisbane. I ended up absolutely loving Adelaide for the food there. So much so that I will be back there in November for their World Vegan Day Festival and my birthday. I am looking forward to eating a lot of ridiculous food, and some not-so-ridiculous food. There is a really good balance in Adelaide between indulgent and healthy.

And so ended my first Perth and Adelaide OCCs. I had such a great time! It is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, and I am so happy that this is a group I get to be a part of. Next OCC adventure will be Melbourne in June!

Cute Kitty Photos of the Post





A special treat, two photos today! Both photos sent by my mum while I was away of my sweethearts fast asleep.

OzComicCon Adelaide 2016 (Part 2)

The next morning I was feeling a bit weird and also knew I had to reserve my stomach for an epic adventure later on that day, so I went back to Argo's and just had a Fire and Ice Smoothie. It had almond milk, almond butter, cocoa, banana, cocao nibs, cinnamon, cayenne and maple in it.



After which I went back to the hotel and munched on the PB Blondie I had brought with me from Perth. Unfortunately it suffered from having some serious sub-par yucky chocolate chips in it. I picked most of them out.



I went for a walk up to North Terrace for some nature and some culture. It looked like there was a bit of a park with a river running through, but when I got there it was really just some grass and a canal. There were some cute birds though. Yes, it is bird photo time!









Then it was time for lunch, but not just any lunch! A short tram ride away from the city center, literally right across the road from the stop you get off at, is Cherry Darlings. Adelaide's very own all vegan bakeshop of delicious food. I had been so excited about going here since the moment I realised it existed. It didn't disappoint. As well as sweets, they have a rotating range of exciting savoury pies. I had a BroMac Pie, which is a broccoli and cauliflower mac and cheese pie. It is as yummy as it sounds! I also loved that they use soy as their base for most things, rather than coconut. This includes their home made ice creams. I got a strawberry milkshake, but you can also choose what flavour of ice cream you'd like in it. I picked peanut butter. So yummy and delicious! And I also got a little cinnamon sugar doughnut, my favourite type of doughnut, which was delicious.









I also got a couple of things to take away. They have croissants there, and I got a CroDog, which is a hotdog baked into a croissant. I should mention that the people working at Cherry Darling's were incredibly nice and helpful, and gave me a tub of tomato sauce to take away with it so that I could dip and munch once I got back to the hotel. I had this for second lunch once I got back, and it was glorious! I also got some sweets to take away, including a vanilla slice for me (this was so good, the only thing that would improve it would be proper passionfruit icing) and a peanut caramel chocolate slice for a friend.





If you find yourself near Adelaide, be sure to visit Cherry Darlings. I loved the food, the people, the place... I can't wait to go back and try some of their other pie flavours... including Bacon Cheeseburger, Hawaiian Parma, and Brisket Mac and Cheese!

Cherry Darling's is a short walk from Everything Vegan, Adelaide's 100% vegan shop. I stopped by and picked up a few things, that ended up having a pretty pink theme.



After that sensational lunch, I was so full it was ridiculous. I ended up back and the hotel, watching RuPaul and digesting a bit. When it finally came time for dinner, I was craving just some simple greens. And a stroll. I went for a walk up to Zenhouse. They were mostly full, but thankfully had a table for one I was just able to nab. The menu system was a bit confusing, they actually have two separate food menus and a tea menu, so I was glad I had a chance to sit down and look at everything properly. I decided to order some Stir-Fried Chinese Broccoli with some rice, and some mini Char Siew BBQ buns. While I was waiting, they came back to let me know they were out of chinese broccoli, so I changed my order to the Tofu Claypot. I was way too ambitious with all of this given the size of my lunch, the BBQ buns alone were enough to finish me off. But I was desperate for veggies, so I ate what I could. I also ordered a much needed pot of Digestion Tea (Peppermint, chamomile, lemon balm, liquorice, yarrow and calendular) from their extensive tea menu.







After this, I took my bulging tummy back to the hotel for the night.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Another photo my mum sent me. Dim Sim spends a lot of time snoozing on her pinky.

OzComicCon Adelaide 2016 (Part 1)

After my lovely final breakfast in Perth, it was off to the airport to catch a flight to Adelaide. We were flying Qantas, and I had registered as a vegan before the flight. I was provided with a nice vegan curry lunch box, complete with apple and vegan treat. It was definitely tasty for airline food. I also finally watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens.



We hung out and settled in for a while before I decided to head out to get some dinner. Thankfully we were staying in a very central location, and there was a place called Veggo Sizzle a short walk away. Although it was a short walk, it was a long wait. When I got there, no tables were free, so I was happy to get take away. What I was told would be a 20 minute wait for food ended up being an hour! They were really apologetic about it, and gave me a free dessert (a coconut apricot ball), but I was pretty hungry. I walked back to the hotel and tore into my food. So hungry! I was thirsty, so had ordered a Green Mantra Refresher, which was water infused with cucumber, celery and herbs. I had ordered a roti with peanuts, which was quite sweet, and also the Pad See Ew. Pad See Ew is one of my favourite ever meals, and I am sorry to say this was disappointing. It was really just stir-fried noodles and veggies, the minimal sauce was not Pad See Ew. Sorry for the bad photos, hotel rooms have the worst lighting ever.









The next morning I took an even shorter walk to Argo Espresso, which was very close to the hotel, for breakfast. Argo has many vegan options for breakfast and lunch on their menu. It was nippy, so I started my day with a Dandelion Chai Soy Latte (the regular chai had honey in the base), and a giant breakfast burrito. The burrito had refried beans, scrambled tofu, tomato corn salsa, guacamole and lettuce (I had them leave off the hot sauce). The burrito wrapper was presumably homemade, as it was much thicker than the regular store-bought tortilla.





After a bit of a respite back at the hotel, I went to explore the Central Market Arcade. This is a huge undercover market that extends down into Chinatown, and has a lot of fruit and veggie stalls as well as other things of interest to vegans. There are two health food stores there, one of which (Goodies and Grains) has a cafe section as well, there is also a Pure Vegetarian Chinese counter in the Chinatown food court. There is a place that is 100% raw vegan desserts. And lots of other places with vegan options. I wrote down a big list on my phone of all the places, but it didn't save. But half the fun is just wandering around and seeing what you discover.

I ended up at Tohsti, a toasted sandwich shop that had vegan options. I got a Vegemite, biocheese and tomato toastie (made on their dedicated vegan machine). It was hot and savoury and gooey and exactly what I wanted.



In the afternoon, we all went up to the Intercontinental for high tea. I was expecting to have some fun tea and nibble on some fruit, but they actually put on a little vegan spread as well as the regular one (they had advance notice). They brought out two beautiful big share plates, including a yummy and fresh quinoa salad and some gnocchi with tomato sauce. But then they also brought out a little plate that had some vegan scones, sweets and savouries on it. The little savouries seemed to be bread cut outs with pickles, but it was still fun. I didn't try many of the sweets, because I suspected (rightly so) that there would be a lot of coconut cream involved. But there were other vegans to eat them, so we all shared. It was fun! I also had a pot of rooibos vanilla tea, one of my favourites.







For dinner that night, I was excited to head out with a couple of friends to Two-Bit Villains, a vegetarian diner and soda shop that can make everything vegan (and most things gluten free). So excited! I ordered a strawberry milkshake (soy based, not coconut, hurrah), and one of my companions ordered one of their many fancy soda flavours, but I can't remember what it was! We got a round of chili fries to share, which were great, except that the sour cream is coconut-based and had that odd coconut fat flavour, so I just stuck with the guacamole. For my main, I had the Long Arm of the Slaw Burger (BBQ pulled jackfruit and apple slaw), which was really good, and a side of onion rings. I need to stop ordering onion rings, they are never the onion rings I remember loving when I was little. They were too deep fried for me. My friend ordered the Totillas with Chilli Beans, which came lots of fresh veggies, sour cream and vegan cheese.









After dinner, I was unusually social and went out to a hidden bar called Maybe Mae with a few people. They have a long list of very fancy cocktails, but I don't drink so I just had some water.

Cute Kitty Picture of the Post



Another photo that my mum sent to me. Sahara is staring... this is her 'feed me' stare.