Pub Food & Pokies

Last night James and I headed to the local pub across the street to have some dinner. I had the hummus & bread appetizer as my main. James had chicken schnitzel w/ chips which he eats for almost all of his meals.

Then we played the pokies (slot machines) & drank some beer (I had Stella my favorite).

By the end of the night I had won $20 bucks : ) I was really happy since I never play the pokies & only do 20 cent hits when I do, never expecting to win. That hummus appetizer was not enough for dinner so James & I gave into our cravings & ordered a bowl of chips. It was enormous! We almost split the whole thing though because we are such piglets. French fries are my one of my biggest vices.

This morning James went into the city and brought me back a Starbucks. I was soo stoked, I have been craving an ice coffee like no other. I think they have switched the Australian sizes around though because there was no way that this was a venti, and they didn't have sugar free hazelnut either. Tsk tsk Australia, you should know us Americans need ridiculous amount of coffee to get through the day.

With my coffee I had a big hunk of fruit bread from a loaf that our friend who works at a bakery gave us the other day. Mmm there is nothing like fresh bread, I have been slowly working on this loaf. Of course I topped mine with lots of vegemite.

We studied all day at the UNSW library & went to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. Their cafeteria is so much better than the one at my University. There are so many more options. I decided on a vegetable wrap w/ spinach, grilled capiscum (bell pepper), pumpkin, and eggplant.

I needed some more caffeine to get my through the day so I had a soy latte a bit later.

For dinner I finally ate at home for once, can you believe it? I have been eating out for every meal since I have arrived. I heated up some organic pumpkin soup w/ ginger....

& more fruit bread. I finished off the rest of the loaf after I finished the soup. How could I resist that carbage?

Wannabe Australian Bada**

Now I'm not really sure what the protocol is on bringing food into different countries. I'm pretty sure that it's okay to bring packaged foods with you, but I still felt like I was smuggling these Luna Bars into Australia. How could I go without my lemon zest? Sometimes being a bada** comes down to the little things. I had one for a small lunch while studying yesterday.

We took a break to get an early dinner, & went to this sketchy Japanese place at the recommendation of James' friend Joel. While the combo of a vegetable sushi roll & veggie udon noodle soup was cheap ($10 AU), I was a little irked by the sight of some floating hot-pink-dyed pieces of gelatin in my soup.

Don't worry that's not fish eggs on top, just some weird sauce.

Dinner was a bit funky but it kept me full for a long time. I munched on some chili limi cashews before bed. These were not the Trader Joe's kind but almost as good.

This morning I woke up bright & early and walked down the street to go to my daily coffee provider- The Paddington Grind. I had a soy latte w/ 2 equal & some Vegemite on turkish bread.
Yes there was butter on that bread. Yes I ate it. Bada** I know.

Like a true wannabe Australian bada**, I put some more vegemite on that turkish bread when I got home.

Afterwards, I put on my wettie (wetsuit), headed down to Maroubra beach w/ the Bra Boys, and jumped in the surf.

No way! I am not that big of a bada**. I watched James & his friends surf for a while until it started drizzling & headed to a nearby cafe to enjoy my new Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged and a soy chai latte. This chai latte was $5.40 AU can you believe it? redonkulous.

By the time the boys got out of the surf it was lunchtime so James & I headed to Nando's in Maroubra. I had the veg pita w/ no mayo, and hot peri-peri sauce. The little flag says "for the adventurous heat seeker".... guess that's me.

Close up

Look at all of the sauces that ended up on our table! I'm such a bada** that I'm sure you can guess that I dipped my pita in the extra, extra hot peri-peri sauce. My mouth was on fire afterwards!

Vegemite Cures All

As usual I started my day out w/ a cup of coffee, didn't include a pic though because they kept coming out so ugly (we're having dishwasher issues that leave water marks on everything soo annoying). I had some more banana bread for breakfast. Delicious as usual.

Open wide! (take note of the tacky purple chipping nail polish)

Afterwards I made myself lunch to sustain me through a busy day of studying and class. Included was a sandwich w/ Tofutti soy cheese slices, sprouts, 1/2 small avocado, & vegenaise on Ezekiel bread. Also I packed snacks including les petit carrots w/ hummus to dip them in & the last of my pineapple slices.

By the end of class I was exhausted and needed a caffeine buzz before I started studying. I stopped by Starbucks and picked up a venti soy ice coffee w/ sugar free hazelnut for me & the same for my friend, Cami, but w/ sugar free vanilla. They spelled my name right too!

Cami got spoiled twice today- coffee & then dinner. Having a blog now has been inspiring me to cook more & she has been my guinea pig, I don't think she minds too much. I used this black bean and quinoa recipe that I found, but I substituted the black beans w/ 3/4 can of garbonzo beans and a cup of frozen peas, my recipe also didn't include cilantro porque no lo tengo.

This was super easy to make and really flavorful.

The recipe made quite a large portion. I practiced a bit of self control and only let myself have 2 cups. Measuring out my food helps me from stuffing my face (sometimes).

(Notice that my previous chipping nail polish has slowly deteriorated throughout the day.Chipped nailpolish is a big pet peeve for me. I hate not having my nails painted).

I added lots of this to my meal.....

I could put sriracha on almost anything. I love all things spicy, and sriracha is quite powerful when it comes to spiciness.

After dinner though my stomach was killing me! Not sure exactly what it was. Coincidentally, I consumed a lot of things that I had purchased in Australia, first beginning with antiacid medicine. Then I drank a cup of ginger Yogi tea in this cute cup from Sydney w/ the opera house on it.

While I was waiting to see if the tea would help my cause, Ratatat helped me write a paper on Perestroika for Humanities. He is so studious.

The tea was not working so I had to turn to the ultimate Australian classic- Vegemite, I had a big spoonful on it's own. I have grown to really enjoy Vegemite and I even crave it sometimes, let me warn you though it is an acquired taste so If you want to try it just have a tini bit on toast. It is great for stomaches though and it made my stomach feel 100% better.