If you follow me on Instagram (of course you do, right?), you’ll know that Chadwiko and I spent the weekend in Adelaide. It’s been three-and-a-half years since we moved to Canberra from Adelaide, and while we’re happy here, Adelaide will always be home. We take any opportunity we can get to head back and visit our family, friends and of course, our favourite places to eat. As always, we missed out on seeing a few people and eating a few of our favourite meals, but we still managed to pack a lot into three days.
After a long Friday, we crashed early- but all the better for an early start to catch up with our best friend Laura on Saturday morning. She and her friend Dylan took us out to a new-to-us organic cafe south of the city, in Willunga. The Green Room is a total old-school, hippie vegetarian kind of place. No matter how many fancy vegan options I find popping up, there’s a part of me that still can’t say no to the basics- mushrooms, tomato, baby spinach, avocado and baked beans on really great bread.
The drive down to Willunga is pretty nice in itself- and bonus, on the way back into town we found ourselves passing the winery where our friend Josh works (and who provided us with some rather delicious vegan wine) and Bracegirdles chocolate shop, where we stopped off for some dark chocolate peanut butter soy frappes. These were so delicious and filling that I was only able to express moderate outrage that we spent just over a year living next door to Bracegirdles in Glenelg without anyone letting me know that these things were veganise-able.
Though we were pretty full from almost a full day of unashamed grazing, we still made room for dinner with my parents. We headed out to Mitran Da Dhaba, an all-vegetarian Indian restaurant and a recent family favourite.
Despite over-ordering every time we go here, we still couldn’t help ourselves. But the food is authentic and delicious, meals are cheap, and the staff are super knowledgeable about veganism- we’re happy to keep them in business! I only managed to snap a photo of these pakoras, but everything else was great as always. My dad even finally fell in love with malai kofta (my pregan favourite)- good thing there’s an amazing vegan recipe for them in Isa Does It to keep him happy next time I cook!
On Sunday, Chadwiko and I ventured into the city. In addition to picking up a couple of vegan cookbooks (bookstores are disappearing before our eyes in Canberra, and it’s almost impossible to pick up books on a whim), we stopped for lunch at Zenhouse. Zenhouse specialises in tea, but it’s also a great little vegetarian cafe. The food is generally pretty simple, but it’s one of my favourite places for a quick bite.
I picked up a crazy-good hibiscus iced tea with strawberry and apple pieces (it tasted like strawberry ice cream!) and a tofu satay salad that totally hit the spot.
While Chadwiko went for a southern-fried ‘chicken’ burger…
… and spent the next hour or two wallowing in a state of dramatic and uncomfortable fullness.
I had planned to cook for the family that night, but we had a longer day than intended and I’d spent a lot of time on my dodgy knee. Mum suggested Godzilla pizza- she’s a saint, that woman! A saint who remembers just how much I love being able to order great intentionally-vegan pizza, rather than settling for some modified cheeseless creation. I usually can’t go past Godzilla’s vegan margherita pizza, but a new item on the menu caught my eye- and this roasted butternut pumpkin pizza with artichokes, red onion, baby spinach, walnuts and Cheezly is a new favourite for sure.
Before we flew home yesterday evening, we had the opportunity to catch up with our good friend Nick. Nick has been training to be a pilot for as long as I’ve known him, so we jumped at the chance to finally see him in action as he practiced his scenic flight guiding skills on us. On Monday morning, we drove out to the airfield at Murray Bridge for an hour-long chat as we flew down the river to the coast and back.
(Pertinent information- this headset perfectly matched my skirt.)
This was a super fun way to spend the morning. And just quietly (okay, not so quietly), I was more than a little proud of myself for not getting motion sickness as I am wont to do at inopportune moments. It must have been that pilot, he was pretty okay I guess.
We didn’t have a huge amount of time between getting back on the ground and having to rush off to catch a (decidedly larger) plane back to Canberra. But I wasn’t leaving Adelaide without checking out Everything Vegan- the new all-vegan grocery store run by the awesome folk from Vegan Online and Freedom Hill Sanctuary. Luckily for me, we had just enough time for a quick detour.
I was super impressed with the store. There’s a great range of both local stuff and the kinds of goodies we usually have to order online. Aside from the standard grocery items and treats, there’s also an excellent range of body products and household cleaning gear- the less glamorous, but still important parts of vegan life. But we were here for only the most vital supplies. That is, vegan jerky for Chadwiko and Jokerz and Twilight bars for me. Everything Vegan is vegan heaven in a shopfront, and while I was sad to bid it farewell, my purse and waistline said a quiet thanks.
So Adelaide, thanks for being great as always and for keeping our hearts and bellies full. We miss you! We may not be back until Christmas, but just consider our absence time to prepare for the holiday season feeding frenzy we’re bound to unleash upon the city.
