A weekend in Gerringong & Kiama

I have been a bit lazy when it comes to bloggalogging lately! So I am going to go back over what I've been up to in the last month.

Chris and I went down the coast for our friends' wedding. They were having the ceremony in Gerringong and we booked a hotel for the weekend.

On the main street of Gerringong is Perfect Break, a vegetarian cafe I read about at Happy Cow. They're right next door to a surf shop and they have seating outside, inside and up on their roof top. We ordered downstairs, a veggie burger w/ satay sauce for me and Chris asked for the raisin toast. I would have had a cup of tea but they only had soy milk so I passed.

It was a lovely day so we headed upstairs to the rooftop. A short time later our food arrived, my burger was huge! It was on turkish bread which I left, and was filled with lots of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, the veggie pattie, satay sauce and some hummus. It was delish and Chris enjoyed his raisin toast too.

After lunch we had a wander up the main street and found a Supa IGA that stocked lots of products and fresh produce and we bought some food to take back to our room.

We checked into our hotel, got ready for the wedding and then it was a short drive up the main road to the church. The ceremony was short and sweet and our friends looked gorgeous and happy!

After the wedding it was off to a boutique hotel up the road where we waited for the reception to start. After an hour we heard bongos coming from the function room and we were asked to come in and take a seat. All the chairs had been placed in a semi circle with a bongo infront of each seat. We had to play along with the musicians at the front of the semi-circle and soon the bridal party arrived who also joined in. It was a really creative and fun way to start their reception and everyone really enjoyed it.

The bride is a lovely girl and she sent out cards with the invites so that people could add any dietary requirement and she already knew I avoid gluten and am vegan. I didn't think this would be a problem as other weddings I have been to have gievn me awesome meals, like stuffed zucchini flowers and a vegetable stacks plus her sister is a vegetarian and would be there as well, so I wouldn't be the only one requesting a different meal.

The menus were at our tables and for the entree and main there was the choice of seafood or meat so I made sure to mention to one of the servers that I was the vegan. For my entree I got the seafood entree, minus the seafood. It was a little salad of bean shoots, one piece of mango and one orange segment.

In between the entree and main the bride and groom came around to our table and she ask how my meal was, I told her and said it was fine but she said she would make sure I was getting a decent main. A few minutes later the same server came and asked me if I was vegan to which I said yes and then asked me if I ate parmesan cheese to which I answered "No, I'm vegan!". We realised they were to serve me the risotto that came with the seafood main because they obviously hadn't bothered to think of a meal not containing cheese.

I was the first one at the table to get served a main and placed infront of me was a very plain looking green salad of iceberg lettuce (blërg), tomato, cucumber and a bit of balsamic &olive oil. I didn't even bother picking up my knife and fork, good thing I wasn't that hungry. Friends at my table said, in front of the server, that my meal was half-arsed and that I could have cooked a much better meal myself.

After the speeches the servers began collecting plates. One stopped before picking up my untouched meal and asked me if I was finished, I replied "Yes and please tell the chef he is VERY creative". I didn't like being the annoyed vegan but when the bride, who has paid a lot of money to have her reception at a so-called boutique hotel, goes to the trouble of asking for guests to be catered for, you expect something better than 2 salads! I am so glad we didn't choose to stay there, it was so overpriced and I would have been even madder if I'd paid to stay there.

Ok, rant over! This was part of the reason I was so hesitant to go to Bambini Trust (see previous blog entry) I just felt like eating out would be a waste of time when it's not at a veg*n restaurant but getting an awesome meal there made me feel much better.

Anyhoo, the day after Chris and I went for a walk along the beach in Gerringong and then drove to Kiama. We took a walk along the main street and then noticed there were markets down on the waterfront. There were lots of fruit and veg stalls so I bought some cute mini watermelons, lemons, zucchini, an assortment of jam and some string bags. Then I saw a cupcake stall and my heart sank realising they wouldn't be vegan, but we took a look anyway and I noticed one variety was vegan! I double checked with the stall owners and they confirmed they were vegan and gluten free, woo! So I bought one for me and Chris got a gluten free, dairy free cupcake and we sat in the sun and ate them up!

Later we went for a bbq/tennis game at the same silly hotel and then a few of us left to drive down to Berry. We visited a lolly shop there and bought lots of snacks and treats and then wandered around all the shops, there are like 12 homewares shops within a block of each other, crazy!

We headed home on Sunday, it was nice to have a weekend away but it was also really good to get home :)

A surprisingly awesome dinner

A few weeks ago we heard that Chris' parents would be having their birthday dinner at Bambini Trust Cafe in the city. I viewed their menu and was disappointed to see everything was animal based apart from the sides of vegetables.

So when we arrived last night I decided I would ask if they could do the risotto minus any butter, cheese or meat. The waitress let me know that the risotto is pre-made and probably contained animal-based stock. I said I would just have a salad and if they could bulk it up with avocado and other vegetables that would be great. The waitress then added she would see if the chef could do me something as a main which I was surprised by and I accepted her offer.

When she served our entrees I was told I would be getting a vegan main. My salad was lovely and far from boring, there were different kinds of lettuce leaves, baby spinach, rocket, tomato and avocado topped w/ olive oil and balsamic. Avocado always makes a salad for me, so I was very happy they were able to add it to the salad.

The mains came out and my mystery vegan meal appeared, an amazing looking vegetable stack or mini mountain was placed in front of me. The first thing I noticed was the delicious smell of saffron. On top of the mini mountain I could see fennel, red cabbage, roasted tomatoes & red capsicums. On the base was zucchini, eggplant and bok choy. The flavour was perfect, there was olive oil and dill as well and everything just melted together perfectly.

Here are two photos, excuse the fact that one is quite dull as the restaurant is quite dark and the other is taken with the flash, but atleast you can see all the colour!

The waitress came to see how I was and I told her it was delicious and to say thank you to the chef for me. She also let me know I could have one of the sides, the lemony herb potatoes as they were cooked with oil. The potatoes were also delicious and I ended up full and very satisfied!

I was so happy with my meal and the fact that I was taken seriously. I really didn't think a place like that would have bothered making me something :)

My Raw Kitchen, Witlof Leaf Boats & Raw Cookies

When I last blogged I was about to make another raw pizza. I opened up the container holding my flax crackers and ba-bowwwwww, they were growing fluffy, white mould :( I asked online about storing flax crackers and the general consensus was that they still contained moisture and should have been dehydrated longer or stored in the fridge. And even when they are completely dry they should probably be kept in the fridge or even the freezer.

So now I know. I made another batch and they are happily mould-free in the fridge :)

I thought I would show you the equipment I use in my raw food prep. First up is my hand/immersion blender. The blades and attachment are metal, I had a plastic one before it and it was too hard to clean and not strong enough. Chris bought this blender for me 2 Christmases ago and I use it daily to make my green smoothies. I love that it's portable because I can take it to work.

Next up is my food processor. My Mum bought me this also for Christmas. I have been using it a lot to make almond flour and to process dates and nuts for homemade Larabars etc.

And then we have my dehydrator, it's a round one with a hole in the middle by Fowlers Vacola. This was my gift from Dad that same Christmas (it was the year I went raw for the first time) and I didn't use it much back then. We did make some fruit rolls and since going raw I have had it on the bench rather than in storage. I have made crackers, stuffed mushies and raw biscuits with it.

I found a company online that sells accessories so I bought a pack of 2 sheets for crackers and fruit rolls (the dehydrator came with only one) and some flexible sheets for drying fruit and herbs.

Recently I purchased a spiral slicer. I had seen different makes online and wasn't sure which one to buy but then I found this one on ebay and it was cheap w/ free postage! It has been a lot of fun to use and I like the texture of the zucchini noodles it makes.

On to some raw food! I decided I should just try raw parsnip and see how I reacted but I didn't feel like making sushi so I bought a witlof (endive) and chopped up some shallots, avocado, red capsicum and some mushies that I marinated in tamari.

I filled each leaf with a bit of each and topped them with snow pea shoots. This was a great dish, I ate about 6 of them and enjoyed the different flavours. I'll have to try it with nori sheets next time.




Chris and I went away over the weekend for a friend's wedding. I wanted to take some raw snacks with me so I didn't have to eat all cooked foods while we were gone. I made another half bathc of Ani's Save the Salmon Patties (again minus the dulse) and then found a recipe for Raw Nut Crumble cookies at the Raw Table.

I forgot to add in the apple and I halved the recipe. I tasted the raw mixture and it reminded me of fruit minced pies, it was yummo! I think I might try using it for a Christmas recipe at the end of the year. I dehydrated them for 16 hrs and stored them in the fridge. They are a bit chewy and I love the flavour of raw cookies.

To transport these snacks and some raw chocolate with me I bought an insulated lunch box and some ice packs and everything travelled well, but more on our trip next time!