Midweek Munchies

Hi friends, thanks for being lovely. Here are some munchies.

This is the KM Foods Lemon Meringue Cheesecake. I got it from the freezer section at The Green Edge, and it is lovely! As with all the KM cheesecakes, the base needs some work. It tastes good but is a bit too soft. But the tart lemon filling and the fluffy sweet meringue, delightful!



These vegan wontons were hanging out in my freezer for AGES. I had plants to make some wonton soup with them, but then that all became a bit much and I ended up just cooking them and eating them. After all that anticipation time, they were kind of bland.



There's this great little Japanese grocery store just down the road from me, and one visit there I picked up this vegan friendly soy milk corn soup. It was SO GOOD! It is like a cream of corn soup and just delicious and I need to go back there and buy a bunch more. Incredible with toast spread with a little nuttelex for dipping into it.



Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodle Snack sounded nice, little crunchy bites of chicken flavoured ramen noodles. BUT, oh my gosh friends, these are SO SALTY. Imagine just opening up the seasoning packet from ramen noodles and putting it straight into your mouth. I died. I ended up putting them in a mug and covering them with boiling water to turn them into a noodle soup, which was much better. That flavour needs some dilution.



Balsamic Vinegar and Caramelised Onion Seed Crackers were really nice. They had a really good flavour, and were great with hummus.



OmBar is a newer chocolate brand here, and I got this Fruit and Nut chocolate on sale. It of course was a bit too sweet, but I do love a fruit and nut chocolate bar.



My favourite Fry's Vegan Brioche Buns have vanished, but this new brand is around now. They are not as good as the Fry's ones, but they are not bad. RIP Fry's buns.



Finishing off with this Super Vegan lasagne. You can see from the photo that instead of making a regular vegan lasagne, they decided to cram as many superfoods into it as they could. And I must ask, why? Just make a regular vegan lasagne. The miso mornay part was good!



That's it from me this week! How are you all holding up?

In three and a half weeks I will be on my way to the UK! So that's something that is happening.

Also just started planning a visit to the US for next year.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Please enjoy this photo of Mirabelle making Eloise lick her head. It happens several times a day, Mirabelle just presents to Eloise with her head down. LICK MY HEAD PLEASE! How long it takes Eloise to get sick of it and bop Mirabelle instead varies.

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.













Then we hit up Izakaya Midori for a late lunch.

Smoked Edamame.



Agedashi Tofu.



Edamame Chips.



Okonomiyaki and Veef Sushi.



Teriyaki Tofu Don.



Katsu Sushi.



Terichiki Don.



Chiki Avo Nigiri.



Aka Ramen.



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.



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



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

Eating In

Hello friends! Long time no blog, I know. Things have been things. I am on the final push to finish my PhD by the end of June, and work is also taking a lot out of me at the moment. I mentioned I while ago that I had various news, and one of those bits of news is that I have been formally diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. It makes a lot of sense, given what my life has been like the past few years. And it was very validating to get the diagnosis, but it is also sad because it means that this really is my life now. So between work and PhD and trying to rest and recover from the two, I haven't had a lot of brain power for blogging.

But, here I am! With a blog post about some fun food that I have had delivered. I am happy that there are more fun options becoming available, so let us see!

First up, Chili Coco Thai! It is hard to find a Thai place with vegan options, as a lot of them use fish sauce and shrimp paste as a base for a lot of their sauces. So when I find a place with a vegan menu section, I get very happy. This place had a limited selection of non-spicy vegan options. I got Vegetarian Dumplings with Peanut Sauce. The dumplings were good, but the peanut sauce had a bit too much spice in it for me! I also got the Ginger Vegetarian Stir-Fry and some Coconut Rice. The stir-fry was extremely expensive for what was essentially a fairly small bland container of vegetables with a few bits of soggy tofu.





Much more fun was discovering Okuman Karaage and Ramen Bar! This place is in West End, so the delivery times can be a bit longer... plan ahead! But it is so good! This is the first of many times I have ordered from there. This was their Agedashi Tofu, which is incredible and very generous with the tofu! I also got their Gyoza and their Tofu Yakisoba, both of which were also good.



And a couple of things I ordered from Vietfood Springwood, which is a Vietnamese place with a heap of vegan options. This is the Vegan BBQ pork rice paper rolls and the Buddha's Delight (vegetable and mushroom stirfry... it said it was meant to have tofu, but it didn't). They were both really good.



When I ordered delivery from Vietfood, Doordash sprung up with 'do you want to add a drink from another place, the same driver can bring it to you'. So I ordered Lemon Roasted Melon Tea with Basil Seed from Gong Cha, a bubble tea place. But then Doordash had a second driver bring me that, and I felt bad because they order was split and I could only leave a tip on the app for the first driver, so I won't do that again. But ethical quandaries aside, the drink was lovely.



Finishing up this post with some food from Motto Motto, which is a chain of Japanese restaurants that has a few vegan options! Including their Teriyako Tofu Don bowl, made vegan by leaving off the kewpie mayo. So when I got it home I transfered with to a bowl and added my own vegan kewpie! This bowl is good, and I have ordered it a number of times now, normally with extra tofu and extra pickles! The downside is it doesn't have any veggies, so I will often add some baby spinach at home. I also got some seaweed salt fries to try, which were nice but needed more seaweed flavour.





Hope you are all hanging in there!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Poor Boo has had some more health problems over the last couple of weeks, but thankfully I am able to get the very best veterinary care for her. She has picked up a bit now, thankfully.

Eating In: An Assortment

An extremely random assortment of takeaway and deliveries from a while ago!

Is there anything more annoying than a salad place that doesn't have some decent vegan options? Soul Origin used to be one of those places, but thankfully now they offer a few vegan salads that are clearly labeled as vegan. Here I tried the Pumpkin Cous Cous, Falafel, and Vegan Katsu Slaw salads, topped with their vegan aioli.



Baker's Delight is a bakery chain that has long had vegan options. Though I don't tend to be near one very often. But I was this one day, and was moved to buy some treats. This is the Apple Scroll (a long time favourite of mine) and the Finger Bun. The Finger Bun looks like a lot of fun, and it was, but that icing was also very sweet. Still, it reminded me of tuck shop days at school, though those didn't have the hundreds and thousands!



Another poke bowl from Cheeki Poke Bowl. I tend to make my own these days, and often can't remember what I put in them! But this had black rice, greens (that don't fit in the bowl so they send them on the side), pumpkin, corn, sweet potato, spinach, tofu and beetroot hummus. I think I was going for an autumn type vibe with this one.



A vegan Garden Goodness Burger with Chips from Grill'd.



I have posted ramen and gyoza from Ramen Danbo on here a few times, but one day I got some of the onigiri. Because who doesn't love warm rice pressed into a triangle and wrapped with seaweed? They sent the seaweed in a seperate bag, so I didn't get super soggy during transit, which was considerate.



Finally, a fun drink! I love that Cha Time has soy milk options now. This is the Strawberry Soy Milk Tea with Lychee Jelly. Sadly they have stopped having the red beans as an add in, because they are my favourite to have with strawberry.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



More sniffing. Mirabelle sniffing Eloise's toes. They actually sniff each other's faces all the time. But this was very cute as well.

Eating In: Mexican, Chinese, Ramen

Some more things that I either took home or had delivered.

Sometimes you just want something fresh and light, and that is where getting a burrito bowl from Zambreros delivered. I got the IQ bowl, which has black rice, pinto beans, cos, guac, and salsa. Getting it vegan means you get extra rice and beans, and most importantly extra guac, no charge! I always get it with the zesty and non-spicy trezigo sauce. I added some vegan sour cream and cheese for fun, but given the cost of these additions, how much you get, and what they bring to the flavour, I wouldn't bother next time. One day I will try their vegan nachos, and the vegan sour cream and cheese will have their time to shine.



Woka Woka is a group of Chinese restaurants near me, and they recently added a Woka Woka vegetarian delivery option. I got some dumplings, and a Buddah delight. They do have some mock meat dishes as well, but I was feeling basic. Let's be real, I am often feeling basic when it comes to things like this. I just love a big stir-fry of mushrooms and vegetables! I only wish it had a bit of tofu in it.





Guzman y Gomez is another Mexican-inspired chain, and they recently added some a Chimi Shredded Mushroom option to their rotation. This is msuhroom meat ala Fable. I also love chimichurri sauce. These had the mushroom meat, lettuce, tomato, salsa and their vegan chimi mayo. I had to pick out the raw onion from the salsa, but other than that these were very lovely. Unfortunately I think they were only limited edition, as I don't see them on their regular menu online.



Finally, some ramen! The vegan ramen from Ramen Danbo, with extra tofu. I also added the baby spinach once it arrived, because I had some in the fridge that was about to go off. While this isn't my favourite vegan ramen available in Brisbane, it is my favourite vegan ramen that I can have delivered to me!



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Next up for the randomly selected kitty photo is this cutie patootie photo of when Sahara suggled herself into a little cave in a basket of blankets. She looks so snug.

Eating In (Mostly): A Random Assortment

Here's a selection of foods I have taken away or had delivered...

Grill'd has a new vegan range using the Fable Mushroom Meat as a patty, and it is delicious! I hadn't tried Fable from the supermarkets before because it is expensive and has coconut oil so I didn't want to risk it. Trying it out in a patty seemed a lower risk option. And it was awesome. I love the mushroom flavour. I got the Vegan Fable Southern BBQ Burger with pineapple added, plus some chips. A very good meal!



Here is the mostly part, because I actually at this in a food court. This is the vegan ramen from Shinobi Ramen in Westfield Carindale. You get the vegetarian one, but without the egg. It is really lovely, though I wish they added some tofu. But all the veggies in it are very nice.



Also at Westfield Carindale, I stopped by the Nodo's pop up for a vegan doughnut. Their option this time was a chocolate raspberry doughnut, which was lovely. I very much enjoyed the tang of the raspberry icing.



A Ginger and Lime Sugarcane Juice from my beloved Huey's sugarcane, which is closing... I think as I type this it is actually closed. RIP Hueys. I don't know why, because they were always busy. I will miss them. I still have a few more drinks to share from them in upcoming posts.



I picked up my favourite Chickn Caesar Salad from The Green Edge to take to work for lunch one day. But they have done something to it. I think it was the chickn, it wasn't seasoned the way it normally is? It was just a bit of a letdown considering how much I normally love these.



Finally, a collection of salads from Nonos. Nonos is a great Lebanese place an all their salads are vegan. They where close to one of work's old locations, but that location has moved even closer! So I can walk there! This is a combination of their potato salad, rice and lentils with crispy onions, and green beans and tomatoes. One thing I forgot about Nonos after not eating there for awhile is just how much garlic they pack into everything. At least wearing a mask means that everyone is safe from my garlic breath... except for me. ;)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I know what you are thinking, what about Boo? Well, Boo is doing OK. She came home last Saturday (so a week ago) after her surgery and has been wearing her cone and resting in a collapsible cage since then. She's been mostly very good about it. Though in the last day she has decided that she feels much better now and would like to be cheeky and run around. We are letting her have supervised time outside of the cage. She managed to get her cone into the purple cat house, and turn around, what a clever girl! Her gut biopsy results came back as IBD, so not cancer. This is good news, though IBD is still a chronic condition that needs ongoing management. We are still waiting for some more blood tests regarding possible causes of her high calcium to come back. She will get her stitches out on Thursday, and will start some medication then that will help both her IBD and her calcium.