Things I like today

Ridiculously cute

Wouldn't this look amazing on a apartment building entry?

Such a cool necklace
This mug is seriously stunning

Great promo poster

Great tutorial

And I'm coming to Sydney early next month for a bunch of workshops on a range of topics including DIY Green Cleaning, How to have a sustainable festive season and Love leftovers, reduce waste. Would love to see some of you there!

News from the warren...

-Finished my 'day' job on friday...great feeling!

-Off to Hobart on the weekend to guest speak at Treading Lightly Enviro Fest this weekend for Green Renters. From there we'll be spending a few days in Sydney presenting workshops to various local municipalities.

-Recovering from a rotten cold

-Involved in a super, secret charity project!

-New gloves stocked at Little Shop of Handmade and Blackbird Corner

- Will be launching some new Polka Dot Rabbit products upon my return, haven't had time to photograph yet!

Review of the Great Aduki Vegan Bake Off!

With much excitement and anticipation and a fair amount of nervousness we rocked up to Naked Expresso/Basil Pizza in Newtown last Sunday to set up the vegan bake off. We'd been told that Sydney vegans were a disparate lot with a lack of connectedness and a fair amount of antipathy. To top things off, it was raining. We waited nervously. What if no one turned up? What if no one turned up with food and only wanted to eat? We considered the merits of a visit to the pub....

I sat anxiously at the registration table waiting for entries with some Aduki goodies to sell included our range of vegan badges to be launched on the site very soon. Here's me looking rather blurry...



The cafe was ready for baked goodies and we were excited...


Then some amazing goodies started arriving! Biscuits, cupcakes and whole cakes were especially popular!







Everyone was having fun and hanging out, watching the rain outside...



Our judges Steve Kilby, Lisa Dempster and Helen Fraser were hard at work, testing all 18 entries....




A nervous wait ensued as I tried to remember my year ten maths and add up the scores accordingly....



We had two 'best in show' winners with the highest points awarded by Judges. This wonderful cherry ripe cake by Stacey ( I didn't get a chance to try it, but the judges comment sheets announced it amazing)

and Mandee's amazing Mars/Twilight Bar cookies which looked simply melt in the mouth!.

Our winners!

Stacey and Mandee won a free lunch/dinner from Naked Expresso/Basil Pizza!



There were of course, loads of other winners in other categories, too many to list in this simple blog account to enable me to give them all justice. As far as I was concerned, all entrants were winners in their enthusiasm and creativity and we loved meeting you all. Huge thanks of course to our fabulous judges and Naked Expresso/Basil Pizza for having us!

I have to say the Sydney vegan community surpassed earlier concerns being friendly, enthusiastic and passionate! It also lacked the 'cliquishness' which Melbourne is often accused of. It was so excited to see such a diverse range of people, talking about food, eating and having fun!

The Melbourne Vegan Bake off is coming very soon...March 27th, to be held in Brunswick St Fitzory. We're streamlining some of the categories as only one person entered a pie and there was a lack of savoury dishes which surprised us as anecdotally it harnessed the most interest amongst people we spoke to. We'll also make the judging results a little quicker to add up at the end...

Funky Pies, Bondi Sydney

Since we were in Sydney we decided to pop along to Funky Pies last week. I've enjoyed their pies from Radical Grocery here in Brunswick and I was surprised to see the premises. I was assuming it would be a big factory with a little cafe but no, the pies were actually all made in the cafe, just a few streets away from the beach! The chef had a row of pie pots waiting to be filled whilst we ordered.





I liked the stools made out of recycled flour bags:


Chris and I both decided to try the Eezy Chick n Cheezy served with mint peas, mash and gravy for a very respectable $9 per serve. The peas were suitably minty, the mash was creamy and the gravy was flavoursome.




The pie itself had a lovely flaky pastry. The filling contained chunks of 'chicken' which I actually found really disconcerting as the colour, look and texture was so similar to real chicken. The 'cheeze' sauce was a little bland but the broccoli was a welcome addition.


We cleaned our plates, had an organic soft drink each and wandered off to explore Bondi. A lovely brunch and a restaurant and enterprise we definitely support!

News and updates

I'm proud to have Polka Dot Rabbit goodies now stocked online at Leeloo . I've not had any sales yet but fingers crossed! Have a look, it's a fab online shop!

Visit to Sydney:

We're in Sydney from Friday for a week for some family stuff and the following:
Green Renters Workshops:


With Green Renters we run workshops for sustainable living in rental property.

We take a room by room tour through the average rental property looking at simple and cost effective ideas that can be implemented in a short amount of time that will help make your property more energy efficient, sustainable and save you money.

We also look at general lifestyle changes, ideas and advice for greening your life.
The workshops are practical and friendly in nature with plenty of visual examples, discussion and samples. They generally run for two hours.

Here’s the line up…

13/02/10 Carrington Centre, 2 Carrington Sq, Campsie, NSW 10.00 – 14.00 Yolande Presland
(02) 9789 9485 (02) 9789 9485
yolandep@canterbury.nsw.gov.au

15/02/10 Stanton Library, 234 Miller Street, North Sydney 2060 18.30 – 20.00 Anne Miller
Anne.Miller@northsydney.nsw.gov.au

16/02/10 Eastern Hotel, Bondi Junction, NSW 18.30 – 20.30 Erin Gibson
(02) 9369 8045 (02) 9369 8045
ering@waverley.nsw.gov.au

17/02/10 High Street Community Library, Strathfield 18.30 – 20.30 Bernadette Murray
(02) 9748 9982 (02) 9748 9982
bernadette.murray@strathfield.nsw.gov.au

The Great Vegan Bake Off:

Since we're in Sydney we also have scheduled The Great Vegan Bake Off!

14th February
2pm
The Naked Express0/Basil Pizza
126 King St, Newtown

Doors open at 2pm, entries accepted until 2.45pm, judging from 2.50 to 3.20pm and winners are announced at 3.30pm, with entries consumed until 4pm, finishing up at 4.30pm!

Competition Categories :
Cupcakes
Savoury
Vegan Pie (savoury)
Vegan Pie (sweet)
Raw dessert
Gluten Free

Our judges are Steve Kilby (musican and artist), Lisa Dempster (Author), Helen Falzon (5 year old Vegan).

If you want to get involved, email me: cate@aduki.net.au. You don't have to be vegan per se, just keen to bake some vegan goodies!

At any rate we'd love to catch up with some Sydney readers!