We started out with a drive down the highway towards the Gold Coast. My mother is an academic, and her field is Japanese Language Studies. She's actually one of the world experts in this field, if I can have a little moment of awesome Mother pride! One of her friends and former colleagues has opened a little Japanese gallery in the midst of beautiful surroundings, complete with a tea house! So our destination was Gallery Tokonoma in the gorgeous Gold Coast hinterland at Mudgeeraba. This was a great surprise for Mum, who hadn't been there for a few years but had often mentioned she was meaning to get down there again!
First stop was morning tea in the cafe out on the balcony.
A balcony surrounded by beautiful hills and even a gorgeous clear stream down below.
I had called ahead to see if there were any vegan options for me, and was happy to find out there were some yummy sweets to put in my belly!
Ohagi - Delicious sweet rice balls! One was a red bean centre with rice around it and then sesame seeds, and the other was an inside out one with rice surrounded by red bean paste!
Dango - Glutinous rice and tofu balls on a stick and covered in an amazing sweet soy sauce. Nom!
Iced Matcha Supreme - Delicious iced matcha with lemon myrtle. This was so yummy. You can see down the bottom there is some sweet syrup to mix in, but I almost like it better without the extra sugar hit!
After morning tea, we had a wander through the gallery itself.
And I bought this - how cute is it! Unfortunately I couldn't get a decent photo without a reflection in the glass. I am still waiting to have it hung in my room. The second I saw it, I knew it had to be mine! Mum also bought a screen print as well.
After the gallery, we were going to have lunch at One World Love Cafe, only to find that it had closed down! Instead we drove down to Burleigh for lunch at The Magic Apple, a great vegan and vegetarian cafe. Sadly I forgot to take any photos! But I did have an amazing tofu burger and great juice.
After lunch we headed on home to relax. I didn't remember what happened for dinner, but according to my mother and her diary she actually cooked dinner!
Some vermicelli with some tomato sauce and lots of vegetables. Easy, quick and tasty! After this, I convinced everyone that the best way to spend the night would be with a trip to see the Star Trek movie. Which is one of the best movies EVER! If you didn't see it in the cinemas, you missed out! I can't wait to get the DVD. So brilliant!
The following day, Sunday, was the official Mother's Day. And I had decided to make brunch.
My mother loves baked beans, so I made some Brilliant Baked Beans from How It All Vegan. She loved them even more than the ones from Vcon!
And what would brunch be without some Tempeh Bacon, this recipe was from Vegan Vittles. Yum! I think that tempeh bacon is far superior to the mock bacons, don't you?
And finally a big bowl of Skillet Vegetable Hash from Vegan Planet - red onion, zucchini, potatoes and peas all fried up! The recipe also calls from capsicum, but as always I left it out.
All up a nomtastic brunch! What followed was much lazing about until dinner time, when I made one of my mum's favourite things ever!
Aunt Bonnie's Lively Lentil Stew from How It All Vegan. This is a seriously great stew, it is full of flavour and is so great on a cold night!
So there ends Mother's Day for 2009!
Cute Cat Photo of the Post
Oh yeah, it is my beautiful girl Gizmo! Looking adorable... with a toy mousie! OK, I admit I may have placed the mouse there. Hee!
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