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.



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.





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



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.



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.





Molly also got a croissant with cheese scramble to try.



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



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.



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.



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.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



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

Eating Out: Cafe Vie

Hello hello! I've been back at work the last two days, and heading off to work again shortly, but I still have some food adventures from last week to share. Starting off with this trip up to Cafe Vie in Buderim on Wednesday with a friend. I'd been there a couple of times before when I spent three days up at the Sunshine Coast earlier this year, and I was keen to go back. Though the one and a half hour drive is a bit of a drag, thankfully the food is worth it!

It was a weird hot/humid/rainy day, but we still ordered some hot drinks (as well as cold water for the table). I got the dark Hot Chocolate, and my friend got the True Blue Latte, which was butterfly pea, ginger, and coconut blossom. She said it tasted like slightly sweet blue milk, which she was expecting. But it made for a pretty photo!



We both spent some time deciding what to order. I eventually decided on the Where's The Ducking Pancakes! Which is like a giant duck pancake. Hoisin mock duck, pickled daikon, carrot, cashews, spring onion, and herbs in a housemade crisp pancake. It was delicious! Though the large pancake ended up being a little thick and not so crisp. It normally also comes garnished with some fresh chilli, but I asked ahead to make sure it was the only chilli in the dish and got them to leave it off.



My friend ordered The Asian Dons, which was three Baos with crispy Korean chycken, don katsu mayo, cucumber, pickled papaya and carrot, and herbs. Verdict: Also delicious!



Even though we both ordered Asian-inspired dishes, this is not the theme of the food at the cafe. They have a variety of all sorts of things. We also each got a side of fries with aioli, as one should always have potato with every meal. I really liked the fries, they had a great seasoning to them. The aioli was OK, but I preferred the fries on their own.



Afterwards we stopped by Nurcha Maroochydore for a bit of vegan shopping, and we also stopped into the IGA next door, which has yet more fun vegan things. Look out for some of these in future midweek munchies posts!





My friend is great at sewing and makes a lot of quilts. She giften me this super cute quilted tote bag for my birthday. It has black cats on the outside, pink straps (my favourite colour) and the inside is lined with a strawberry fabric (my favourite fruit), so sweet and thoughtful! Also with a couple of lovely little treats!



Even when I got home, it wasn't all over. Cafe Vie stocks Black Lemonade Bakery cookies in their treats cabinet, and I picked up two. A Rocky Road, and a Chocolate Cherry Peanut. Both were so good!



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Yesterday (the 14th of November) was Boo's 5th birthday! Happy birthday Boo! During the week, she had her bloods retested and her calcium levels are still high, which got her birthday off to a bad start and was had to start her on a new medication where she is not allowed to eat for two hours after, and she was beside herself! However, once breakfast was given, all was forgiven. She spent the rest of the day doing her normally happy Boo things. I got her this birthday bear cat toy, which she has completely ignored (I predicted that), and she also got a creamy treat, which she absolutely loved.

Mooloolaba Part 2

Hello! As I write this, we are in lockdown because there is a Delta outbreak here. And because such a small percent of our population is vaccinated, we are in a precarious position. Thankfully me and my parents are all fully vaccinated! Of course, lockdown doesn't change the fact I still need to go to work and interact with staff and public. Big shout out to essential workers, there is a special kind of lockdown stress that comes from having to still go to work and be around people coming and going.

So let's cast our minds back to happier times, with the conclusion of my Mooloolaba trip earlier this year! You can see part one here. We left of having just had a lovely brunch and visit to a pretty park. After that, my parents headed home and I had some time to spend on my own up there. That brunch was pretty big, so I wasn't hungry for a while. But I started getting a bit peckish in the afternoon.

A lot of restaurants are closed between lunch and dinner. But fancy pants vegan restaurant Elixaba was not one of them. So I was able to stop in to sample a few small bites on the menu for a late lunch.They have several fancy cocktails on the menu, and a couple of mocktails. I got the Blessed Bird, which is the mocktail version of their Pink Flamingo. It is basically grapefruit and cranberry juice (no fizzy, yay!) with a salt and hibiscus rim. It was very pretty and refreshing.



For food I had Loaded Hemp Chips (spiced chips with aioli, hemp seeds, and coconut bacon) and their Tea Smoked Mushrooms (with herbal pesto, napoli sauce, and pickled carrot). I was really excited about the mushrooms, but to be honest they were not all I was hoping. Still good, but I was expecting a bit more from their signature starter.



All their desserts have coconut oil in them, so I finished with a sweet Moontime Latte. It is a rose and maca latte, and it was DELICIOUS!



I went back to the hotel afterwards and spent some time reading. In the evening, I heading down to the beach for some dog spotting. But I was feeling suddenly very invigorated, and took a really long evening walk. Not on the beach, but on the boardwalk around the beach. It has been a while since I have walked so much. My feet were screaming at me, but the fresh sea air with the wind and the beautiful full moon kept me going. (My body punished me afterwards.)





After my walk, I was starving again! But what to eat? I spent some time Googling. And ended up choosing a place called El Bigaton, a Latin Street Food restaurant that had several vegan options. Sadly, their delivery part of the website wasn't working. So I hoisted onto my feet and walked down. It wasn't a long walk, and it took me down to The Wharf Mooloolabah, which I hadn't been to. The Wharf is a place you can rent assorted water activity things, but it also has a lot of restaurants (a few with vegan options). This was a Tuesday, which meant they had a special on tacos! I got two vegan tacos (grilled veggies, slaw, beans, guac, salsa), a vegan arepa (cornmeal flatbread with grilled veggies, beans, sweet plantains, and salsa) and the patacones con guacamole (fried green plantains with guac). OMG. Everything was INCREDIBLE! Like, I could cry incredible. Even with having to pick out a bit of capsicum. So fresh, so good, I had to stop on the way back to complement them. And since I have been, they have released even more vegan options! I had never heard of this place before, but this should be a must visit for any vegan in the area.



One thing I did struggle with during my stay there was finding any kombucha that didn't have stevia. The places I went, or the 7-11 near the hotel, even the Coles I went to after Elixaba, only seemed to have Remedy Kombucha, which is full of stevia. I did find these two little digestive shots at a Coles. The Mojo I have had before, in fact normally I drink Mojo ginger kombucha out of big bottles. But this little gut health shot was new. And let us never speak of it again, because it was like a sludgy gross pear juice. And I like pear juice! But they ruined it.



Before bed, I took a final visit to the frozen yoghurt place. I got American Cream and Green Apple Sorbet (so it was kind of like an apple pie), with raspberry syrup and maple nut granola. Eaten while looking at the beach at night.





The final morning, I went back to The Nectar Bar for another smoothie. This time I had the Cyclops (carrot cake), which had carrots, oats, baobab, dates, cinnamon and almond milk. No photo, because it looks just like the last one... in a cup you cannot see through.

I headed out to try a new place for brunch. Cafe Nurcha at Maroochydore. This place is a cafe attached to a vegan food/new agey shop. The cafe has a huge menu for breakfast and lunch. I got the Brekkie Bagle, which was a charcoal (yes!) infused with garlic butter, smashed avocado, potato rosti, smoked tofu, tomato, spinach, and hollandaise sauce (hold the chili jam). It was big and messy, but very nice. I also had their Jaffa Surprise hot chocolate.





I now know that this is the place to go first on any visit. Because there are loads of fun things in that shop, and it is also right next to an IGA that has a load of other fun things. Things I have never seen! Fun frozen and chilled things I could not buy because I sadly didn't have any ice packs to transport them home to Brisbane in. Things I will definitely return for. And also, so many different types of stevia-free kombucha! I only bought a few things, very restrained of me. I got some chocolate covered seeds and blueberries, as well as some tumeric ginger chews from Nurcha. And from the IGA I got some nice looking cashew butter, and some raspberry chocolate. Also included is some vegan shrimp paste I bought from Cafe Vie.



Then it was time to farewell the far too sunny for me beach, and head home.



I did not return home empty handed though. I realised I forgot to mention that the day before I left, I paid a visit to Roots Cafe and Bakery, which has a bunch of vegan options. I bought these to take home. As well as a couple of take away treats I got from Cafe Vie as well. On the savoury side, there was the vegan quiche and pastie from Roots, and a ham and cheese croissant from Cafe Vie. For sweets, there was a peanut butter cookie, cornbread cookie, and banana bread from Roots, and another Lamington cookie that I got from Cafe Vie. Everything was very good, but my favourite as the pastie!





Thus ends my little two day trip away! Thanks for reading this far. I do hope one day to be able to go back and buy more fun stuff and eat more fun food! For now though, I will get ready to go to work, and otherwise I'll be hermetically sealed in my house.

Mooloolaba Part 1

A couple of months ago, I did something I hadn't done in several years. I went away for the night. Two nights, even. I hadn't been away from home overnight for a long time, because I didn't want to leave Dim Sim. Sadly, things change. I had the opportunity to go up to stay at Mooloolaba at the Sunshine Coast for two nights, one with my parents and one night alone. I haven't been to the Sunshine Coast even for a day trip for longer than I could remember. It is further away from me than the Gold Coast and all it's amazing vegan options. The Sunshine Coast is not without its fair share of great vegan food though.

I got started on my food adventures before I even got to the hotel, stopping in at Cafe Vie in Buderim for some brunch. I had been wanting to go here for a very long time, and it didn't disappoint!



I tried a Char Char Latte, because of course I did. It had activated charcoal, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and coconut blossom. To be honest, it tasted mostly just like slightly sweet soy milk, but it had to be done.



For food, I had the Vrioche. Which was a brioche bun with tofu scramble, house sausage patty, facon, onion, tomato relish, aioli, and baby spinach. I forgot to ask them to leave off the raw onion, so I did have to pick that out. It was also impossible to eat in one piece, everything slid out of that bun. But it tasted great! The only thing is that the tofu scramble is not so much cheesy as it is more like slighty curried. I also got a rosti side, because you should always potato.

Cafe Vie also has a bakery case and a small collection of vegan groceries. Plus the people who run it also run the Mini Tails Sanctuary, which I hope to visit some day. But back to that bakery case. They have some pies and sausage rolls, as well as a selection of sweet things. They stock Black Lemonade cookies! I got a lemon sandwich cookies, which was lovely. So tangy and light! As well as a Lamington cookie, which was amazing. It had chocolate chips, peanut, coconut, and cherries in it.



Then I headed in to meet my parents at the unit. This was the view. Very pretty, but very sunny!



After a lazy afternoon of reading and looking at the sea from the sun-safety of the unit, we decided to order dinner. I had just done a big drive, so didn't really feel like driving out to get food again. Though there were a number of vegan options around, so I ordered some delivery from Bella Venezia, an Italian restaurant. They have a vegan menu, though unfortunately not everything on it was available for delivery. I really wanted to try their roasted dutch carrots with pumpkin and macadamia puree. But I wanted to not go out even more. I opted for their Pumpkin, Spinach, Mushroom, and Avocado Pizza (hold the capsicum). It was a really nice little pizza, good flavours. I also was craving some veggies, so I ordered some seasonal vegtables. These ended up being broccolini, though they came absolutely drenched in oil!



After dinner, Dad and I went for a walk to get some night ice cream. There was a place just up from the hotel that had some vegan sorbets. But when I got there, turns out they also have vegan frozen yoghurt! Frozen yoghurt is of course pay by weight, but I had to try a bit of all the vegan flavours, minus the coconut one. I got American Cream (like a creamy vanilla and maple), green apple, strawerry, and Black Hawaii (charcoal... again). Topped with some granola and strawberries. All the flavours were really nice! Just a note about charcoal. It is fun, but if you eat or drink it make sure it is at least two hours either side of any medications you take, because it does decrease absorption.



There are several smoothie and juice type places pretty much right outside the place we were staying, so the next morning I popped out and picked up a Siren Smoothie from The Nectar Bar. This place has juices, smoothies, acai bowls, and also some wraps and slices (only some of those are vegan). I got the Siren Smoothie, which was an apple pie smoothie. It had apple, spinach, oats, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, banana, lucuma, and almond milk. It was really lovely.



I took my parents back to Cafe Vie for brunch. We all got a hot chocolate to drink, and it came on a beautiful tray! They serve their hot chocolates in little heated pots and you pour it over the marshmallow in your glass. There is more than one glass worth of hot chocolate in the pot as well. With three arranged in a tray, it was a very pretty hot chocolate party!



My mum ordered the Benedict, which was cheesy tofu scramble (though again, more curry than cheesy), facon, hollandaise, and baby spinach on a croissant. With a side of rosti, because of course!



Dad got the Yiros Welcome, a wrap with braised mushroom meat, tabouli, hummus, and herb aioli.



And I got the... Avocado Toast. Yes, I am that vegan. But the 'Avo You Seen This' is not just any avocado toast. It was organic sourdough, with black tahini, smashed avocado, greens, pickled daikon, and mustard cream. It was a tower! A delicious tower. And I also got a rosti on the side. Duh.



On our way there, we drove past a park that Mum mentioned they had visited before, as it was very beautiful with a cathedral of trees. So we stopped there on the way back. It is called Wirreanda Park, and it has a beautiful area flanked and canopied by giant trees. It was a cool and peaceful place.



We also saw some bird friends! This kookaburra was giving me some cheeky looks, and there was a family of bush turkeys. I got a photo of one enjoying a little dust hole.





That's all for this post, but I will have a second part coming up some time soon!