Adelaide

It's official. Adelaide is my favourite Australian city. I wish I could have lived here

Also, I ate way too much.

Breakfast (provided by the hostel):

Pancakes w/banana slices

(I added the banana.)

Snack from the Bush Tucker Ice Cream stand in Adelaide Farmers' Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Illawarra plum ice cream, quandong ice cream (+sample of mountain pepperberry)

(Really liked all the flavours! Not typical, but they were all really refreshing and the ice cream was pretty light. The Illawarra plum (rich plum with a pine nut flavour) tasted like a plum apple blend, but I couldn't taste the pine nut flavour. It reminds me of those palate cleanser foods. The quandong (iconic rhubarb and apricot with a peach aroma) tasted kind of like a cranberry peach ice cream, but I still liked it. There was no flavour description for the pepperberry, except that it was super fruity. I thought it just tasted like a light mixed berry apple ice cream.)

Snack from the gluten-free bakery stand in Adelaide Farmers' Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Gluten- free donuts

(I scraped off most of the sugar and squeezed out all the oil I could. Really liked the soft, chewy texture of these donuts. They were more starchy than typical donuts, which was expected.)

Sample from the prepared veggie stand in Adelaide Farmers' Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Marinated eggplant

(I wasn't a fan of the marinade. Tasted like a weird soy sauce.)

Snack from the lavender stand in Adelaide Farmers' Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Lavender fudge, lavender brownie

(The lavender fudge was extremely lavender-y while the brownie was more chocolate than lavender. Both took me awhile to finish because of how rich and chocolately they were.)

Snack from the gluten-free bakery stand in Adelaide Farmers' Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Banana bread sample, olive loaf sample, multi-seed sample

(They were all alright, but I wasn't a big fan.)

Sample from a nut and dried fruit stand in Adelaide Farmers' Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Pistachio, sultana

Snack from St. Louis, Adelaide, Australia:

Waffle basket w/apple crumble ice cream, honey apricot & almond yogurt and Bailey's chocolate-covered almonds ice cream (+sample of St.Louis: honeycomb vanilla ice cream)

(Really liked each individual flavour and they complemented each other well. Potent flavours that tasted exactly like their names with a very rich and creamy texture. Too rich actually. I think I'm becoming more lactose intolerant because I ended up puking after this. MY LIFE IS IN SHAMBLES! Actually, I just need to stop eating ice cream.)

Snack from Dumpling King, Chinatown, Adelaide, Australia:

Vegetarian dumplings, tea

(I forgot that Asian vegetarian food usually involves mushrooms. I hate mushrooms!!! And there was a lot in here, because I could smell and taste the shiitakes. I didn't want to waste my money or the food though, so I ate them. They weren't so bad after awhile, but I really wish there had been less mushrooms. Man, I still want some dumplings (writing this a day after), but I don't know if I like dumplings that much to eat more mushrooms.)

Close-up of the filling

Snack from --- Food Truck at a Splash Adelaide event, Adelaide, Australia:

Green smoothe (spinach, banana, avocado & chocolate brown rice protein powder)

(I love my green smoothies! But I really need my blender because I have yet to find a place that sells my favourite combination.)

Sample from the Woolworths stand at a Splash Adelaide event, Adelaide, Australia:

Passionfruit cake

(Too sweet, but expected.)

Snack from a South American food stand at a Splash Adelaide event, Adelaide, Australia:

Spinach & ricotta empanada w/guacada (?) sauce

(I don't know how to spell this green sauce because the guy said it way too fast, but it has a "guac" in it and isn't guacamole. Tasted kind of like avocado-based pesto.)

Sample from the Woolworths stand at a Splash Adelaide event, Adelaide, Australia:

Carrot cake

Snack from Australia Pizza House, Adelaide, Australia:

Pineapple pizza

(Half of the store looked at me weirdly when I ordered the Hawaiian without ham. Pineapple pizza is delicious! Missed pizza and celebrated Pineapple Pizza Day (it's a small thing between some of my friends).)

Happy birthday Peter!

Early morning flight to Adelaide! Super excited because this is one of the cities I've been wanting to visit in Australia for a long time.

I got a bit too excited at the Central Market...

Early pre-flight breakfast:

Rest of the Charlie's smoothie

(It's five in the morning and I'm chugging the rest of this bottle down before I head through security. Not a good mix.)

Breakfast in Melbourne Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne, Australia:

Rest of the dried apricots

Breakfast from Providore in Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide, Australia:

German apple cheesecake

(I liked the apple walnut topping but wasn't fond of the whipped cream. The richness wasn't too bad, compared to the other Australian cheesecakes I've had.)

Chocolate almond croissant

(Not very good. It was more like a dinner roll covered in lots of chocolate and topped with almonds. The chocolate was very good though (they also make chocolates apparently), and I ended up dunking most of the pastry part into the coffee.)

Chocolate chip cookie

(I like my cookies warm and soft if I buy them from a bakery and crisp otherwise. This was crisp so I wasn't a huge fan but it was loaded with chocolate. I think this bakery compensates by adding a lot of chocolate.)

Snack from The Perfect Cup in Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Cappuccino

(Much, much needed.)

Samples from Wild Loaf in Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Chia & quinoa sourdough, fig & walnut sourdough

(The chia & quinoa one had a nutty flavour and gritty texture. Would have been a great sandwich/soup bread. I really liked the fig & walnut one though. Tasted like a healthier version of a fruit bun or something. I would have gotten a loaf if I could have finished it before flying to Sydney (lack of storage and weight restrictions).)

Sample from Say Cheese in Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Cheddar cheese of some sort

(It was very rich and on the bitter side. I'm not a big cheese person and the richer the cheese, the more ill I usually feel. I think I'm becoming lactose intolerant! Major problem here.)

 Sample from some fruit stand in Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Mango

Snack from Wild Loaf in Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Almond croissant

(Now this is a real almond croissant! Mmmm, light and buttery with a good flakey crust. Not too sweet and filled with almond paste. Yum.)

Snack from The Yogurt Shop in Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide, Australia:

Unsweetened yogurt topped w/blueberries and passionfruit

(Thick and ultra creamy. Yogurt's the only dairy product that I can consume quite a bit of without feeling sick. I really liked the texture of this yogurt, if it had been a little colder, it would have been passable as frozen yogurt. And frozen yogurt is sometime even better than ice cream.)

Snack from the Vietnamese food stall in Adelaide Central Food Plaza, Adelaide, Australia:

Vegetarian egg roll

(I asked the lady about something in English but she didn't understand me very well so I ended up speaking to her in Vietnamese. She was really nice to me after that. So amusing.)

Snack from Genuine Taiwan Pearl Bubble Milk Tea, Chinatown, Adelaide, Australia:

Black seasame milk tea (w/o sugar) w/red beans

(Mmm. Creamy and nutty with a good amount of sweetness from the red beans. I wanted taro or green tea, but the green tea cost $2 more and they didnt't have the kind I wanted while the taro looked suspicious (saw the people in front of me get their drink).)

St. Helens to Launceston

Bussing today, so the ride went by so much quicker!

Breakfast:

Macadamia cookie (not pictured), lots of dried apricots

(Basically ate the apricots throughout the day.)

 Snack at Koreana BBQ, Launceston, Tasmania:

Spicy seafood udon

(Was feeling ill and Kelly mentioned making udon, so I felt like some. Yeah I don't know if it was the spice or my stomach, but I ended up puking.)

Snack at Fresh on Charles, Launceston, Tasmania:

Green smoothie (spinach, tofu, celery, ginger, banana)

(Ginger and spinach always helps me! Never fails.)

Snack:

Charlie's green smoothie

(Extra precaution. Basically drank this throughout the day.)

Snack:

Banana carrot 'pudding' w/apricots

Snack at StarBar, Launceston, Tasmania:

Slice of arugula & Parmesan pizza from Gautham (picked off the prosciutto)

(Not bad. I liked how the bitterness of the Parmesan and arugula contested with the sweet tomato sauce.)

Late night chilling:

White wine from Hanna and Gautham

(I don't really know my wine, but it was sweet.)

Bicheno to St. Helens

My last day of biking in Tasmania and it is storming. I woke up really early in hopes of avoiding the storm but got caught in it anyway. I stopped at this farm cafe about 20km away from my destination to wait it out. It took me ten mins to take off my helmet because I was so numb, and when I looked in a mirror, my skin was either purple or blue. If I wasn't so close to getting hypothermia, I would have thought I looked pretty awesome.

Breakfast:

Banana 'pudding' 

(Microwaved a mashed banana with a grated carrot, crumbled granola bar, pb, slice of bread and some water. Looks like baby food, but it's actually very good! Also, baby food is very nutritious. I still have a thing for toddler gummies and biscuits.)

Snack at Eureka Farm, Scamander, Tasmania:

Cappuccino, apple & berry pie w/apricot ice cream

(Got the coffee solely to hold because my fingers were scarily blue. But I forgot that caffeine makes my metabolism go nuts, and since I've also been biking, my metabolism was already on the high side. That would normally be a good thing, but I get very cold when I digest too quickly, so I was like one of those vibrating stuffed animals in the mall. The woman running the farm got worried and offerred to call the bike company guy to pick me up. Anyway, the pie was delicious. One of the best pies I've tasted; the filling was fruity, chunky and perfectly sweetened while the crust was buttery and akin to a shortbread biscuit rather than the traditional flakey crust. I loved how Anne (one of the farm's owners) allowed the apple and berry chunks to speak for themselves, rather than coating them in sugar and I really enjoyed the shortbread-esque crust. That added a whole new level of textural depth and complemented the chunks of fruit perfectly. And the ice cream! Homemade, with apricots from the farm- I seriously felt like it was just a finely blended combination of apricots and cream. Ultra rich and extremely apricotty. Mmmm.)

Hot chocolate, rhubarb & ginger cake w/strawberry ice cream

(Still trying to warm up. Anne is so kind; I'd go get something from here every week if I could. The hot chocolate helped me warm up a bit, but it's the basic instant kind. The cake and ice cream however, oh man, were delectable. Potent in flavour, each element complemented the others perfectly, yielding a soul-warming dish. I loved how there were huge chunks of rhubarb and bits of ginger inside the cake, and the slightly caramelised edges provided a great texture contrast. This was probably the best strawberry ice cream I've ever had, but it's only for those who like strawberries. Similar to the apricot, the ice cream tasted like it was solely comprised of strawberries and milk. So so good.)

Snack:

Jelly bean (2) from Gautham

Dinner from the Captain's Catch, St. Helens, Tasmania:

Fish & chips

(Finally had a "Tasmanian" dish! Well, Aussie dish in general.)

Snack:

Starburst-flavoured gummy worm from Gautham

(This is genius man. I'm going to buy a ton to bring back. Normally I only like gummy worms if they're sour, because the regular ones just taste like artificial sugar. But these actually have some sort of flavour!)

Bicheno

Rest day! So glad because it's pouring outside. I just hope it dries up tomorrow!

Breakfast in bed:

Cadbury white chocolate

(I hate white chocolate but was craving sugar so badly. This probably means that I need to stop eating sugar for several weeks.)

Cadbury milk chocolate

Cadbury peppermint chocolate

Cadbury caramel chocolate

Breakfast at Blue Edge Bakery, Bicheno, Tasmania:

Lemon cheesecake

(Very creamy and too sweet. Ended up eating it with my muesli.)

Toasted muesli w/yogurt & a teensy bit of milk

(Realised that I could actually have a sit-down, relaxing breakfast so I milked it. Would have been better if I had some fresh fruits but whatever.)

Flat white 

(Coffee helps with soreness for me; I don't know why, but I'm not going to question it.)

Snack:

Banana chocolate pb 'pudding'

(Essentially microwaved a mashed banana, Cadbury chocolate bar, pb and some water together. The result was delicious. Making this again very soon, but I really wish I had some spices.)

Snack:

Carrots (4)

(Jake, one of the night managers, was kind of amazed at how I kept on munching on carrots. I seriously love carrots. Also, my throat really hurts. I don't know if it's because of too much sugar or if I'm getting sick. I really hope it's not the latter because it takes me months to get better.)