In the garden this weekend

The rain water tank is still providing our house and garden with all its water. During the past 6 months we have only used 16kL of mains water and the rest of our comsumption has been totally from the tank.

The warmer weather, followed by some good rains, have helped our garden pick up. The stone fruit trees (plum, peach, apricot) are all netted and bearing one of their first fruit crops. The newly planted corn is up to knee height and looking healthy. The row in front of beans are coming along nicely, as is the row of late peas. There are baby tomatoes on the roma and cherry tomato bushes and the first strawberries have been picked.

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Melbourne Vegan eats weekend

Inspired by the adelaide vegan festival, refreshed by the completion of exam marking we drove to Melbourne for a weekend of vegan eats. First stop, Keith’s landrover on a pole. Next stop, the rather ugly giant koala. First eatery on the list after being stuck in Melbourne traffic for the better part of an hour, Las Vegan bakery/cafe. Second lunch was down the street at Soul Cafe. Next, after a little drive, was Lord of the Fries where we ate at a 20% discount fries, mini-burger and fried v-chicken pieces. Needing a rest after 3 meals, we waited until dinner and ate an amazing whole v-fish at Vegie Mum. The waiter was hilarious and not true to his word “bad service, great food”; the service was fantastic as was the food. Feeling hungry again the next morning we ventured round to the very atmospheric Monk Bodhi Dharma for some great coffee, chai, french toast and banana bread with lemon tofu ricotta. The waiter had a “black coffee” tattoo on the back of his calf and eating was done on a large shared table. Lunch was at the famous Box Hill Vegie Hut for more Asian cusine including mock duck, pork and chicken and a Sunday-only dim sum menu that included 4 seasons buns and grilled dumplings. I think my stomach is still reeling from the overload of too much good food.

Retro Benno with the ugly Giant Koala that has red lights in its eyes and bizarre ear hair.

Golden Age veg store – a great place to stock up on instant noodles.

Highlights of 5am: Landrover on a pole.

Lord of the Fries – fries handcut with love.

Lord of the Fries veg-chicken pieces with Aussie sauce.

Fries with gravy and vegan cheese.

Don’t walk past, go in and try Lord of the Fries.

Original Mini-burger at Lord of the Fries

Breakfast at Monk Bodhi Dharma in St Kilda included Banana Bread with Lemon Ricotta (made from tofu cream cheese)

Decadent vegan french toast with a spiced pear at Monk Bodhi Dharma

The water jugs were old bottle, the sugar was in glass jars with cork lids making Monk Bodhi Dharma feel a bit like an old apothecary.

Down a lane behind a supermarket, Monk Bodhi Dharma was worth finding.

Santa try outs.

Vegie Hut’s 4 Seasons Buns

Mock with black bean sauce at Vegie Hut

Complementary congee for ordering 2 items off the dim sum Sunday menu.

Vegie Hut grilled dumplings

Vegie Hut noodles where the mock was made out of something like potato.

Vegie Hut v-pork.

Vegie Hut on Whitehorse Road, Box Hill.

Vegie mum free dessert of watermelon and fruit jellies.

Vegie Mum front of shop

Vegie Mum waiter – fashion designer by day, waiter by night, and after midnight, gigolo.

Vegie mum entree of skewers with peanut satay sauce

Vegie Mum special dish that took a whole day to make – whole v-fish.