Solomon's Cafe, Highgate

I have been seeing a lot of food posts lately of people eating at Solomon's Cafe on Beaufort st. All of the posts were of very healthy meals and drinks. When I jumped on the net at had a look at the Urbanspoon website, it turned out that Solomon's has a completely gluten and dairy-free menu. Win!

If there are specific vegan items on a menu, then I am there! My friend Keenan and I went to Solomon's for dinner tonight. He is also the talented person who made the Reez's Gap Year banner at the top of the blog :) 

There was so much to choose from. I will be back again for sure. I ended up getting the black bean patty sliders with a side of slaw and Keenan got the quinoa, brown rice and mushroom dish with a side of beetroot chips. For drinks I got the vegan mango lassi. 

Firstly I will start by saying that the serving size of the Keenan's rice dish was huge. It was actually a mountain-sized portion. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I ate pretty much all of my meal, and then proceeded to eat half of the rice too. The food was just really tasty and I really like to eat :P

The beetroot chips were cool too. They came with two orange wedges and some salt. The waitress told us to squeeze some of the orange on top and sprinkle it with salt to season it. I would have never thought to eat them this way but it was a great flavour combination. 

Not only was the food good but the cafe itself was so lovely. There were tables in the front and out the back too. As you walked along the narrow hallway/corridor to get to the back area, you actually walk past the kitchen. As we were leaving the chef gave us a friendly "thank you". 

I had such a great dining experience here tonight. The only thing that would have made the night better is if I had of left room for dessert. There were vegan cheesecakes on the dessert menu, but for once I just could not fit it in. However, I have learnt from this and I will be chowing down on some vegan cheesecake soon enough :)

The vegan mango lassi

The side of slaw salad

Solomon's salad of organic mushrooms, quinoa, brown rice, broccoli, almonds and seeds, with fresh Asian inspired herbs and spices :)

Solomon's sliders - purple carrot and black bean patties, with an avocado salsa, on home-made quinoa bread

The Living Water Christian gift bookstore & cafe

I really love accidentally finding wonderful places in unexpected locations. For instance, today when I was heading back from the Licensing Centre, I came across a cute little Christian bookstore/coffee shop opposite the centre, kind of hidden behind a busy restaurant. When I first walked past it, I though that the entrance to the store was just the side door of the restaurant. What caught my attention was the sign that said had the words "bookstore" and "cake" on it. When I saw the word cake, I was automatically drawn in to have a closer look (even though most places don't sell vegan cakes). When I got closer to the shop windows, I saw lovely gifts for sale and two large posters which had passages from scripture written on them. 

The store is called The Living Water. I though it was so random to have a little Christian gift/bookstore on such a busy street like Boas ave. I must say though, it is such a lovely place. It's neat and tidy, with lots of pastel colours and shades of cream. When you first walk in, you have all the gifts on display. There's pretty much something for every occasion from baptisms and  confirmations to weddings and birthdays. The next section had shelves with books for sale, and at the end of the shop is a dainty little coffee counter with a play room for kids and tables for you to sit and enjoy your cake and coffee. 

I think it was so convenient that I found this place because I'm headed out to a baptism on Sunday and so I picked up a card while I was there :)

The Living Water has a lot to offer so if this is your kind of thing, then I totally recommend checking out the store, or their online website www.thelivingwatershop.com.

What I also really liked about this place was the lady who served me. She was so friendly and bubbly. Exactly what I'd expect to find in a Christian shop. We got talking and she told me that the shop had been there for 4 years. Good on them! It is such a refreshing store. When I walked in I felt as though I had left the rest of my busy life outside. It was peaceful in there. I got all kinds of good vibes. Here's to another 4+ years of such a lovely shop. 

I thought this was cute. It's a plastic loaf of bread with little cards that have short Bible passages on them! Very creative.

Surprises

When was the last time you did something nice for someone? Today I surprised my friend who took me to Sydney, with a flower arrangement. She once told me that a lot of the women in her workplace had flowers delivered to them and that it would be nice if that happened to her one day. So I planned for flowers to be delivered to her. Unfortunately when I arrived at her work place I found out that my friend had gone home sick, so I ended up bringing the flowers to her place. Not only did it make her happy, but it felt so nice to do something nice without any conditions. Pay attention to the little things that people say because sometimes you can use that to make their day :)

Another new thing that I tried today was check out a little cafe called Santi's. The decor is lovely, I paid a great price for a giant teapot of English breakfast, and best of all, they have a vegan lunch option! I will return to try it for sure. And, the place is also close to uni :)

The last thing I want to say about my day is that my dad and I were having a little D&M & he said to me "God helps you, together with your efforts". This really stuck in my head. What he was saying was that God guides us and points us in the right direction, but we need to be willing to go and do some proportion of the work. We won't get anywhere by just sitting around and waiting for the universe to work its magic.

Tuck Shop

My attempt to try something new each day brought my friend and I to a nice little cafe called Tuck Shop on Newcastle street in Northbridge. I've seen heaps of people post up pictures of their food from Tuck Shop on Instagram and so that's how I first came to hear of it. They even have a review for it on yelp (which is big in America)!.

Our visit to Tuck Shop was a little treat after doing Jacob's Ladder again. By the end of the meal, we were so glad we went. The service was great. Our waitress was so friendly and she helped me pick out a meal that the chef could 'veganise'. I got bruchetta, avocado, tomato, mushroom and basil salad. It tasted so good that my meat lover carnivore of a friend loved it too and even preferred it over her poached eggs and toast. The presentation was lovely also. 

The only fault that we found was that it took ages for the food to come. But hey, I'm not one to dwell on the negatives, so something like that won't stop me from going back; plus I think it just seemed like a long time for the food to come because we were starving. Nine out of ten for you Tuck Shop!