Goundrey Merlot 2006

Another good wine.  And i love that it was only $14.99.   Also i want to point out that the last Goundrey I reviewed was also just $14.99.  We'll be trying to get a case of the Merlot, unfortunately the Cab Sav is out of stock at our local bottle shop.

Organic Cafe Maroochydore

I love this place and the silly people in Maroochydore choose the cafe around the corner that is the same price and suits their upper class attitudes.  oh brother!  This means I will always get a seat at the Organic Cafe, and it certainly stays busy enough to turn a profit.  The coffee is good and it caters to the meat eater and the veg alike.  It also caters to those with food intolerances.

I asked them to cut the pancake in half so that the kids would have half each and they did even better, they made 2 individual pancakes with extra ice cream and extra banana.  gotta love the babycinos.  I had the vegie stack which is always great(aparagus, avocado, mushroom, salsa and hollandise sauce on pumpkin toast.  not doing the rating system this time (a bit sick i am) but I can guarantee that there is a great range of food there.

I feel bla so i'm going to go now.

my weight and the low carb veg diet

I've been without body weight scales for about 2 months and finally on Monday I bought some nifty ones that do body fat %, muscle% and water%.  And of course they do your actual weight.  After a month of illness and no gym I knew that I had put on some weight, as evidenced by my increasing love handles and the fact that my size 12 jeans were all a little too tight.  Well I was right, I'd gained 2 1/2kg  blerghh!!  It may not seem like a big deal to most but my ideal weight is 63kg, I look good at that weight and I'm usually 65kg which I was just ok with, but that extra 2 1/2 is a killer.  it all goes on that butt and thighs.  Anyway my body fat is good at 24%(22-25 is normal).  I'm aiming for 22.  Not sure if this will equal to 63kg but we'll see.

Continuing to the point, I eat way too many carbs.  Its easy to over do it as a veg i think as you cut out so many fats by not eating meat that you just think you can eat pretty much anything.  So i'm cutting out potatoes and I'm going to try to cut out white carbs like white bread.  So i'm going to record the food i eat here as well as my scale readings.  I don't know if some of what i'm doing is right on this diet but we'll see.  I'm increasing my protein to compensate a bit.

Breakfast yesterday

weetbix with bran and full cream milk

lunch

bocconcini, fresh tomato and basil slices

a couple of drinks of chocolate soy milk to tie me over

dinner

pumpkin and balsamic onion quiche

baked sweet potato

quartered mushrooms

a small serve of soy sesame tofu

fresh asparagus.

My scales this morning read at 

66.5kg  24%BF 38.4% MM(muscle mass)

Oh and I've bought a low carb veg cookbook of Amazon so I should get that next week.

truffle oil?

I bought some today.  Haven't a clue really what to do with it.  My only 2 references being its vague use in recipe books and on the Iron chef.  ooooh Truffles.  So i put some on my spiced pumpkin pizza tonight.  Does it taste any better?  haven't a clue.   but it tasted good.  So if anyone knows the specifics of Truffle oil, i would love to know.  

The best chocolate cake ever

I just have to say that the best chocolate cake I have ever had is the one I made last week.  The Raspberry Blackout Cake from Vegan with a Vengeance is wonderful.  I accidentally bought mulberry jam so it was a slight modification to the recipe, but still turned out great.  It was also the easiest cake I have ever made.  How wonderful not to crack eggs, it was a simple add the wet ingredients to the dry and that was that.  I bought the book based on a review of this recipe and I was not disappointed.  I also made the vegan corn fritters that night which got dh's approval.  

I'm not going to put the recipes up here as I really do think people should buy the book.  

no pic, but i do have a pic of the home made rhubarb pie i made about a month ago.  If you would like the recipe please ask.  It was a fly by the seat of my pants pie that turned out very nicely, especially since I have never made a rhubarb anything before.

Vegan with a vengeance

I bought this book and received it a couple of days ago and so far so good.  I am very interested in becoming vegan rather than just vegetarian and this book was recommended to me.  So far so good too.  I just tried my first real vegan recipe.  obviously i have had vegan food, everyone has, ie. asian noodle etc, but this recipe was for cupcakes.  Usually you need lots of butter.  The vegan version was so much easier to make and quite tasty.    

I look forward to doing some more cooking with this book.

a warning about fake meats

Its been a big week. To sum it up and i don't want to rehash, here are some dot points.

-  sterilising toothbrushes on the stove = 2 firetrucks and toxic smoke saturated house.

-  same night - nasty, nasty head cold developed

-  early that day - nasty rash on upper torso develops

-  3 days later discover our cleaner (brought in because of the toxic smoke) has ripped us off and damaged household items.

its all done now thankfully, many lessons have been learnt and the cleaner is due for some Karma.

So onto the topic of this post.

I developed a rash on Saturday morning and couldn't place why.  It took me 2 days to figure out why and in the meantime i continued to do what caused the rash.  It took a google image search of about a minute to discover that I had 'Ribo rash'.  This is a rash caused by an allergy to the food additive 635 (and sometimes the related 631 and 627).  It took me another 10 minutes of searching food labels in the cupboard(of which i found just one offender), then i clicked to the real offender.  Sanitariums Vegie Delights range uses 635 quite commonly I discovered after reading their 635 disclosure page.  geez.  sanitarium says there is nothing wrong with 635.  Don't think because you have eaten them and had no issue that you are in the all clear.  I have been eating them for the last 3 yrs, but had excessive amounts this week.  according to the website www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info  this is common.  you can be fine eating it once a week, but go over your bodies limit and you'll know it.  I had itchy swollen eyes, earlobes and neck.  aswell my upper torso.  I've put it on my no no list.  its the first thing on my no no list as i have never had a problem with allergies before.   i figure if too much causes a rash then any amount is probably bad for me.  

In the midst of looking at label in my home i was appalled to find MSG in the powdered vegie stock(vegeta) i have used for 5 yrs.  i was shocked.  

A great little place at Bondi

Before I completely forget I need to tell you about this great little place at Bondi Beach.  I don't know the name of it but its on the corner ( i think) of Lavrock Ave and the main esplanade.  One of the owners is vegetarian so they had a few vego options.  I indulged  in the mushroom burger.  Now this was a couple of months back so i need to remember the ingredients.  It was a turkish bread roll, fried mushrooms, aioli, i think it had baby spinach and some cheese.  It was truly satisfying.  like a real true burger.  I wanted another one, but we had to find accommodation before sun down.

Wine review - Goudrey Cabernet Merlot

I like my wine and beer.  Definitely not talking VB or XXXX here.  I like nice stuff.  I always forget to write down which ones tasted any good. 

Well, what better place to do it than here.  And what a great way to start than with this lovely wine costing only $17.

Here are the details:  

Goundrey - Western Australia

HOMESTEAD

2004 Cabernet Merlot

Seriously smooth and i don't like to give ratings but just to say it is definitely worth $17.

Descriptors from the label: Aromas of fresh raspberries, plums and vanilla.

rediscovering the vegetarian diet

I truly believe vegetarians have such a variety of recipes to choose from and have in their every day eating.  I have a huge repertoir of recipes that I recycle but lately I'm discovering the simplicity of vegetarian food.  I have been vegetarian for about 3 yrs.  I'd say 4 yrs but I caved during pregnancy.  As such I still remember the taste of meat.  It tasted good but its not something I will ever do again (survival permitting).  But I still want in my diet atleast 2 meat-like meals a week.  I don't 'need' them, I just 'want' them.  so I've finally discovered what alternatives I like.  I discovered i like bombay bites which are a curry flavoured tempeh.  And I also like prefried tofu.  Its better if its marinated in soy too.  

I mention this because I know many people become vegetarian but still crave meat.  There are alternatives and they do taste good.  This wont be news to hard core vegos or vegans but here is a list for those wanting to give being a veg a go but need a meat alternative and not just vegies.

soy mince (great in spag bol, and rissoles)

falafels

veg chicken nuggets (i made up an awesome vego version, i will post it soon)

tempeh (made from soy beans, you see the whole beans in it)

tofu (so many versions it is truly ridiculous)

then theres the processed fake meats - sausages, devon meat, roasts, burgers

not bad really.  Obviously there aren't crackling replacements and if you could get fake meat that tasted exactly like meat then perhaps we could get on track with making the world a better place.  Ah i'm mumbo jumboing now so i think i'll stop and pick up later.

Le Baroque - A real treat

I was very nervous about this choice. I don't really know why. Maybe its that i have never eaten french food. I've always been interested but had this preconceived notion of it being expensive and being small portions. These two presumptions were indeed true, though that should not put anyone off such a wonderful experience. Before i continue, here is the quantitative review.

Variety of vegetarian food      3/6
Vegetarian menu choice            1/6
Originality 5/6
Price 3/6
Taste 6/6
Presentation and service 5/6
Size 4/6

Giving La baroque  3.8/6

But giving some criteria heavier weight, like taste for example i'd say its closer to 4.5/5 out of 6.

It was La Baroque's second night.  And given that french food is not normally vegetarian, we were given great service and attention especially in terms of originality.    We arrived with our bottle of wine.  It was BYO as their license hadn't become active yet.  We were seated and given water and wine poured immediately.  The water was not too cold or too warm and had a squashed lemon in the jug.  You know good water when you taste it.  Our napkins were placed. We were given the menu. It was severely lacking in vegetarian choice (just one entree item).  But not surprising since it was a french restaurant.  There was not a lot of variety in general but it was clear that they took a great deal of care in preparing and presenting these dishes.  It wasn't about mass produced food.  These meals were planned and thought out.  

The bread was a sourdough slice with caraway seeds and beautiful butter.  One of the owners approached us to apologise for it not being their bread of choice. It was really quite nice.  For our entree we chose to share a plate of beetroot with accompaniments of of lightly caramelised onion, cream cheese(not sure what cheese exactly) and pureed peas.  It was nicely presented and the flavours were extraordinary.  Normally this dish would be of scallops and not beetroot, but changed it to suit us.  It wasn't huge, just right really for one diner.

Our mains were brought out fairly quickly also.  No waiting around tapping your fingers, but no rushing us either.  T had the cheese souffle with a side of leeks and beans and another side of quince toast with creme fraiche.  I had the gnocchi. It was in a reduced rich sauce with mushrooms.  WOW, WOW, WOW, though i did wonder if it was based on a beef sauce as the dish normally contained meat.  I'll never know though.  The gnocchi was like none i had ever tasted.  like soft pillows, they were devine.   T and I always split meals so I tried the souffle and sides.  PERFECT.   Didn't know leeks could taste that good.  We didn't get dessert this time as we'd had birthday caking before going.

When the bill arrived we found that they didn't charge us corkage, and our total had been reduced, possibly because of the no meat.  

For the bad points.  The waitress, while good overall did interrupt us when we were having a personal moment.  kind of stuffed the moment.  The food was a little exxy but it wouldn't stop me from going again.  It was a dining experience absolutely.  

Entree - $18 

main - $33

they took about $7 off the bill, so total was $77 

Do go there, its in Buderim.

If variety is the spice of life,

then whats to be said for vegetarian dining. Sure if you go to an indian, Vietnamese or italian restaurant then you would be moderately well taken care of but that gets a bit boring. I like dining out, and i like food but vegetarian menu choices are pathetic. I often do online menu searches to decide where to dine and find some with menus. ha!! menu with one maybe if you're lucky two vegetarian dishes. Not exactly variety. Especially when many restaurants favourite vegetarian dish to put on the menu is mushroom risotto. Not exactly original. So I thought there may be people out there that feel the same as i do. So why not review restaurants based on vegetarian criteria.

So here is the criteria based on a 1 to 6 scale.

Variety of vegetarian food - what you can get - menu or no menu

Vegetarian menu choice - whats on the menu

Originality

Price

Taste

Presentation and service

Size

Any suggestions to the criteria appreciated as this is just off the top of my head.