My Trip to Melbourne Marathon – Day 2

After such an energising breakfast, I went to the Seven Seeds Specialty Coffee. Many of my friends told me that this cafe serves the best coffee in Melbourne. I ordered a cup of long black as usual, and bought two bags of coffee beans back to Hong Kong for my aeropress coffee. The girl working there was so nice that she asked my habit and preferred aroma when it comes to coffee. Then, she recommended me to take the Kasheen Kikelion Kenya and Sidamo Oromia Ethiopia. Also, I appreciate the way that they serve coffee with a cup of sparkling water, which is quite rare to see in Hong Kong.

After having such a nice coffee to brighten my day, I’m now officially ready for my adventure ahead! I headed to the Green Press for their acai bowl and had one of their green juice called Kaling Me Softly, which is made with kale, spinach, silverbeet, celey, apple, lime and mint.

They have three kinds of acai bowl available, including the Berry Popeye acai bowl, peanut butter boom acai bowl and tropic thunder acai bowl, which made me hard to make my decision. In the end, I decided to choose the Popeye one, which is made of spinach, almond milk, mixed berries, acai, banana, goji berries, homemade granola and dates. This acai bowl is definitely the best one I’ve ever had in my life! Everything was well balanced here, the homemade granola does not only balance the sweetness, it also adds the crunchy texture to the acai bowl.

They also served a number of grab-to-go salads, proteins balls and healthy donuts (they call it Krispy Klean). I went back on the last day of my trip and tried all their salads 😛

After that, I head back to the Flinders Street Station to meet one of my friend from Hong Kong, who is currently working in Melbourne. She turned trash into treasure by making some very beautiful accessories by using some recycled papers (click here for more information).  Then, we went to the Serotonin Dealer for lunch after taking several wrong trains and walking a few miles. We ordered the golden latte (which is basically a warmed almond milk with turmeric, cinnamon and some other spices). My friend had the cacao coconut latte. I also ordered the Nutrition Bomb with hummus, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, fermented veggies, sprouts, tomatoes, baby spinach and broccoli, basically everything I LOVE. My friend had the Positive Pancake which was extremely photogenic. Unfortunately it wasn’t vegan, so I didn’t have the chance to taste it. But I did take some good shots of it 😃

This wasn’t the end of our meeting though. We then went to Pana Chocolate (yes again!) for dessert 😛 I tried the raw matcha & berry cake and a raw lamington. The raw lamington is definitely THE BEST THING ever! It tastes exactly like the ordinary lamington. And did I tell you that lamington used to be my favorite dessert when I was a kid? I used to have it like 3 to 4 times a week. However, since I turned vegan, I didn’t have the chance to enjoy it for at least 4 years . So I nearly burst out crying upon my first bite (no exaggeration).

After such a lovely lunch meeting with my friend from Hong Kong, I went back to my favorite cafe in Melbourne -Tall Timber to meet an adorable superwoman Cinzia from Nutrition Darling. Cinzia know me through Instagram after Sofie from Naked Seeds tagged me in her photo yesterday. We quickly arranged a meeting the other day and I totally regret of not discovering her earlier. She is just AMAZING in any ways, including her perspective on life; Her passion, as well as her character and creativity. She founded Smoothie Bombs, which some of you might already have seen this as I used them quite a lot in my smoothie bowls after being back from Melbourne.

These Superfood smoothie bombs are a super fast way to make your smoothie. It’s the best way to make a nutritious smoothie, as it’s already packed with all the nutrients you need! You can either pop it into a smoothie, crumble them on top or even eat them alone. I especially love the package of the tubes. It is a very clever design to me. You can easily bring them with you without having the possibility of squashing them, and it also resembles the packaging of my favorite candy from my childhood memory.

Cinzia shared a lot of things with me, including how she started her business and how she balanced her family life and work. After know her a bit more, I find it not surprising though. As she has an extremely effective mindset that enables her to manage so many things, no wonder that her daughters are so smart as they can learn from this role model. I also shared my vegan story and my running experience with her. She is such an inspirational person that makes me become more determined towards pursuing my dream and goals.

I was also very jealous (in a positive way) of the health scene in Melbourne. Entrepreneurs are willing to collaborate with each other, instead of just focusing on competition and comparisons. What’s more, I love how they appreciate each other’s products and willing to promote other’s’ products. They are not doing these because they signed an agreement or contract. They do it out of pure appreciation and want their customer to enjoy the best ingredients. This is what we should learn from them, how the society should work and what we called sustainability. 

Our nice conversation was accompanied by some excellent dishes from Tall Timber, I had the Green Goodness Tartine. It is basically sourdough with smashed snow peas, zucchini, kale, pesto sauce, topped with portobello. They also served it with some roasted cauliflower florets and pan-fried potatoes that look like scallops 😛 The whole combination is just so wonderful. Yet they are kind enough to replace the poached egg with lots of portobello when  I told them I’m vegan. Who doesn’t love portobello?

After such a hectic but awesome day by visiting so many places and having so many delicious food to nourish my body, I start to head back to my apartment. But first let me grab some food for dinner. Then, I went to the Greene Street Juice, grabbed two juices and a raw cookie from ACE Cookies and Milk. The ProPlenish juice is made with ProPlenish Marine Collagen, Coconut Water, Wild Mixed Berries, Acai, Coconut Flesh, Pure Madagascar Vanilla Extract. And it tastes exactly like having an acai coconut yogurt! Not only is it good for your hair, skin, nails, it’s also beneficial for muscle tone and repair.

Apart from the juices, I also bought a raw pad thai from the Nutrition Bar and made some avocado toast for myself. So, my carb-loading dinner looks like this.