Katie's blog
SAFE now have an online store! Visit http://www.choosecrueltyfree.org.nz to buy snacks such as vegan marshmellows or vegan white chocolate! They stock the same range of items as they do in their St Kevins Arcade store, such as books, clothing, shoes, and skin and body care, but I am mainly excited about the snack food! As usual with them, every thing they stock is vegan : )
I had lunch at Raw Power today with Justine. I'd never had the tofu burger before since they don't have gluten free bread options, but it is both Fiona and Justine's favourite meal at Raw Power and Justine talked me into it. I'm a huge fan of tofu scramble, which is on their breakfast menu, so I usually get that, but I am pleased that I finally tried the famous tofu burger. And it was great! Quite a large serving, but I managed to eat it all. Every time I go to Raw Power I get really excited about the juice, so today had apple & beetroot, so yum! It was $17.95 for the burger and juice, so while it's a little expensive for lunch, it was worth it.
My camera is currently broken, so no photos, sorry!
Other great meals lately include pumpkin soup and brocolli soup. Both times, Fiona blended a can of canellini beans with some lemon juice, garlic and olive oil, similar to how hummus is made. Put a few spoonfuls of it in your soup, or spread it on toast that you dip into the soup. Try it, it is really delicious!
My favourite weekend breakfasts at the moment are hash browns (just the frozen ones from the supermarket -- it seems as though more and more brands are using oil instead of animal fat or tallow these days) and chilli beans (from a can) with plenty of tabasco sauce, or pancakes (using the gluten free mix from the supermarket and No Egg egg replacer) with cooked banana, tamarillo and plenty of proper maple syrup. Yum!
I also finally went to the Mexican Cafe on Thursday, with Fiona and a friend from overseas, Joel. I looked at their menu online before I went and was pleased to see that they say they can do vegan and gluten free meals. I had the bean chimichangas, made vegan (although it wasn't gluten free...) which was a huge meal and I couldn't eat it all! Although that could have been due to the vodka I had beforehand, or the Corona I had while eating...The reason I ordered something that wasn't gluten free was because most gluten free meals seemed pretty standard for Mexican food (i.e. tacos, nachos etc.) or didn't seem like they'd make a good vegan meal. We also had a pitcher of margarita, which was quite small (but I guess it is common for them to be) but good. It was $100 for the three of us which wasn't too bad considering we did have a drink each and the margarita. While we had a great night, I felt the food wasn't the best, and this is coming from the girl who loves Mexicali, which is basically Subway for Mexican food. I love Mexicali because you can kind of put your meal together, and because they have chilli beer and cheap(ish) margaritas (from a slushy machine...), but mainly because it's a great place for meeting with a few friends as you don't need a reservation and people can come and go as they please. However, I have discovered the Mexican & Maya place at the Ponsonby food court, which is the most authentic Mexican food I've had so far. I'm pretty sure they don't do tacos or nachos! (If I wanted nachos or tacos, I'd stay at home and make them myself!) And they are very friendly and accommodating, and it's definitely not fast food, you know how some places in food courts have your food ready in three minutes. Plus you get a pyramid of rice!
So, I'd recommend the Mexican Cafe or Mexicali for a good night out, but if you're looking for great Mexican food, please, try the food court!
I came home the other day to find a block of this sitting on my doorstep! What a great surprise! It turned out it was from my friend Kat -- thank you!So I can now confirm that it is all I hoped it would be, which is super delicious. I am so excited! You can get it in Auckland from the SAFE store in St Kevins Arcade, along with a whole bunch of other vegan stuff. If you haven't been there before, I highly recommend it!
