Martin's

I always enjoy stopping in at Martin's Cafe on my way to work, feeling like I've stolen time (I usually have), slipping round the corner near the clocktower into my carpark out the front of the hydrotherapy centre. It's always cool and quiet and vaguely hippy-feeling...Martin is always beavering away alone trying desperately to get everything ready before the rush.. I love the neatly stacked piles of dhal and rice, bali curry, beetroot curry in the fridge. This morning I stopped to grab one of his vegan salads. I can't remember if I've ever talked about them before but they're a wicked option if you're looking for a healthy lunch. Big chunks of roasted veges (carrot, pumpkin, beetroot), crunchy red capsicum, green olives, hummus, kidney beans, sunflower seeds and lettuce - lots and lots of lettuce, which I'm not so much a fan of cos I reckon it's one of those fluff items that canny retailers use to bulk out salads to make them seem like you're getting a lot when you're not. And occasionally - just occasionally, if you come too late in the week, the lettuce in these salads can be little, how you say, BROWnish around the edges. Martin usually makes them fresh on Monday mornings so they're ready by lunch time, so I reckon getting one on Monday or Tuesday would be your best bet.

Martin's Cafe, Coconut Grove

its been kinda slow lately i know.....

I dunno why is is that it's harder to blog when i'm not inspired than when i am.... which is kind of like the opposite of journal writing which i only write when i'm miserable!!! send me tips for places to check out :-))) leave comments for me down the bottom puhleeze!!!!

in the last 5 days i have been to:
Emilio's italian on mitchell st: good garlic bread, good smell, crappy entree sized gamberi pasta with only 4 PRAWNS!!! oily, with weird sour aftertaste - wouldn't recommend in a hurry :-(
Martins vegetarian in coconut grove - bircher muesli with walnuts and freshly grated green apple - tick, quinoa for brekky - tick, bali curry made with a fresh home made curry base -TICK!
Noodle House on mitchell st - tofu rice and veges - fresh and yummy. not much tofu tho (only 3 pieces). chunks of fresh ginger and i think i got too excited with my cut chilli and soy and threw it over everything... ow ow ow
Darwin's Little India (again) - this time i had Aminah's fish curry, the dhal, potato and roti - tick!

see i'm on a roundabout. someone get me off with some ideas! (not in a sexy way you understand)

:-)))

the adventures of lassi

After dropping the wee kid off to preskool i headed over to martin's (where else) to get something for brekky and not wanting to fall into any kind of routine and being mindful of my neural pathways, i decided to have a mango lassi. Again i suck badly as a food blogger cos i drank it before taking a picture of it, and unless you want a shot of the container we'll just leave it at that. Anyway it was tall, cool, mango-ey, yoghurty and delicious. (Martin should be paying me!) He did tell me this morning that some of his recipes are going to be posted onto http://dysblog.wordpress.com/ i just had a look and that weird-ass but really really good chocolately chickpea cake is up. oh and i did take a picture of my quinoa this time, but you have to ignore the germ-laden chipped bowl it's in :-)

today i ate a lentil

today is the day i start my blog.. *chanting*....today i made my way to martins a geeky nerdy warm vego cafe hidden away in a place called coconut grove. can i just say that finding a vego cafe in darwin is a pretty rare thing ( and something about hens teeth).

Swinging by Martin's has made me late for work twice in the last week.. the dude cooks awesome vego food and is planning on opening up adjacent to the yoga skool there... (so you can eat after all those asanas).. today he made me try a cake made of chickpeas no less. yeah. so far i've eaten his dhal and his quinoa which he stews with fruit and spices and serves up with creamy natural yoghurt and walnuts (i'm loving this in a dirty way alright) and now my workmate wants me to pick her up some too after she spotted me hunched protectively over my bowl at lunch.

hmmmmmmmmm should give you some details i guess, but i dont have them - martins cafe. coconut grove, darwin. if it stays a secret thats ok by me!!! would post a pic of his food but i ate it.