Two Foodies and a Baby - Eating our way around Melbourne.

Wow! It has been a long while between posts- sorry!!
I've been very busy with two kiddies at home (Pip's day carer has been unwell), and finding the time to sit down to post has been too difficult.
So this morning "The ABC4"  is being my babysitter for an hour so I can pump out this post about my foodie adventure last weekend in Melbourne with my lovely friend Jodie aka "One Nourished Life"
Jodie is a well seasoned foodie, and knows all the best spots in Melbourne to fill your belly with delicious, nourishing foods. She had her book launch in Melbourne at the Lululemon store on the Saturday, and kindly invited me along to help, so we decided to make a weekend of it and eat our way around Melbourne.
We tagged our pics on Instagram #twofoodiesandababy #foodieadventures, you can follow me @a_cacao_life
So off we went, Jimmy included, on a foodie adventure, and a quest to expand our food knowledge, and hopefully not our waistline....

First stop on our adventure was to Geelong's "The Sprout and Bean" -we took the long way to Melbourne ;) - for a lunch of organic quinoa and roast veggie salad. The toasted nuts on the top of this really added a delicious crunch. A great way to add that finishing touch and a bit of extra taste to a simple salad.

Then off we headed to Melbourne for dinner at Yong Green Foods (Brunswick st Fitzroy) - a delicious vegetarian restaurant, with lots of raw, vegan and gluten free dishes on the menu. 

Here I had my first experience of Kombucha- a delicious and slightly fizzy fermented tea (this one was lime and mint flavour)- brewed over 7-10 days it is full of probiotics so it is great for gut and skin health. So good that I have just got my 'Scoby' in the mail to brew my own (a scoby is a yeast lump that ferments the kombucha, creating all the probiotic goodies). I will post more about Kombucha in the future when I get my own brewing!

Our starter was the buckwheat crepes with braised shitake mushrooms, veggies and wasabi mayo. DELICIOUS!! Then onto our mains- Rawsagna (raw lasagne if you didn't figure); layered zucchini, mushroom and avocado with cashew cheese and raw walnut Bolognese.

Then another raw creation- the Nutty Burger; Burger patty made with carrot, walnuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, veggies and herbs, served with raw tomato sauce and cashew cheese.

We couldn't resist and had to try the raw nachos- chia chips with cashew cheese, guacamole,and sun fried seeds sauce.

Jimmy doing his best Matt Preston impersonation. Cravat and all ;)

We took dessert home to eat since we were so full! They were delicious, and raw (of course)! 

Raw tiramisu

Raw Pecan Pie (Nomnomnom)

Up bright and early for a big day- we are off to Tall Timber (Commercial st Prahran) for a big GREEN breakfast of sautéed kale, asparagus, beans with poached eggs, almonds and goats curd on a quinoa loaf. We got marinated mushrooms and avocado extra too... oink oink.

awww cuddles

Very cool outdoor crate wall

More crates ;)

I loved the feel of this place!

Breakfast for lunch (it is Saturday) at Silo by Joost (Hardware st CBD)- an amazing no waste cafe, using seasonal, sustainable produce and that also recycles everything they use, have their own kitchen garden and is fitted out entirely with recycled / recyclable furniture. They have a food waste dehydrator in the back alley which transforms their food scraps and paper napkins into fertiliser, which in turn is given back to the farmer who supply them.

We had coddled eggs and shared a big plate of greens and weeds, kimchi, avocado and German Bacon (the best bacon I've ever had!!)

Jodie and her goodies from her book  "One Nourished Life"

Off to the launch at Lululemon where lucky customers and passers-by got to taste some of Jodie's wonderful recipes- raw cheesecake, spicy seed crackers with tahini. 

Beautiful day at the Remembrance Day Park

And then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the park

We had a dinner date at Monk Bodhi Dharma (Carlisle st Balaclava) and their Jamaican night- 5 course vegan special. We sat outside and enjoyed a balmy Melbourne evening. 

The van had cushions and a table in it.

Dinner started with Trinidadian callaloo (soup), Rasta salad cleanser, Caribbean Jambalaya (spicy lentil curry), Jamaican sweet potato pudding with coconut cream and last but not least the BEST raw cake I have ever eaten; the Jamaican Redemption Cake- 3 layers of raspberry, pineapple and lime on a pecan crumble, rum choc smear, coconut ice-cream and a peace tuille.

Breakfast at Trumans Cafe (Montague st Albert Park) was smashed pumpkin, leek, grilled haloumi, poached eggs and kale pesto. A 'Jane Fonda' Juice (how cute is the little yellow deer?) and long black (standard staple for me!). The cafe was filled with families and early Sunday morning risers, people fresh from their morning walks/rides and lots of dogs out the front with complimentarily water bowls. It was lovely that the cafe was so accommodating to prams, dogs and screaming children!

 After breakfast we trekked around the South Melbourne Markets and bought some goodies and organic produce from the wonderful suppliers there.

Then we headed off to Shokuiku (High st Northcote) (raw, organic menu) for lunch with a very special young lady- Ellie Paxton-Hall- who was a contestant on Master Chef that made it to the top 5 finalists.
Lunch was delicious salads with a side of sauerkraut, chia chips, and a raw passionfruit, white chocolate Irish cream cake.

Jimmy was wonderful all the time, talking/squealing at anyone who would smile at him, generally being his charming cheeky self.

Then we headed off to Terra Madre (also High street Northcote)- the best health store in Melbourne- full of organic produce and everything you could possibly want to nourish your body! They had the most amazing array of self-serve goodies from chia seeds to nutritional yeast and raw chocolate chunks. The place was so busy! It was wonderful to see some of our local produce from Mt Zero stocked there too!

Foodie Heaven!

How cute are the 'shopping trolleys?!"

And then we headed home! 

What an amazing adventure we had- full of delicious, nourishing foods, wonderful inspiring menu's and food creations. I was very happy to see Brendan and Miss Pippa, I think she missed Jimmy more than me though!!