what does home made baked beans taste/look like?

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture, not yet being a child of the digital age. But basically they look just like regular baked beans except not as shiny and uniformly orange. They are kind of more freestyle and diverse than that - you know, you get some rough looking beans, some I’ve been around the block of the fry pan beans…The sauce is browner than your Heinz variety and generally thicker, and has more and tastier spices and herbs. And you can see the tomato, not just the orange flavour remnants thereof.

Wow. Always wondered how to spot a home made baked bean. I will make sure to use this if I’m ever served a dud ‘these beans are too uniform. Bring me the real stuff’. Hope that Hobart is treating you kindly. We were just reading comparing the weather reports for Brisbane and Hobart (one of the many things that Queenslanders do for entertainment). It went something like ‘overcast, overcast, rainy, stormy, rainy, overcast’. Brisbane is ’sunny, sunny, sunny ad infonitum’. They even have the hide to call this season ‘winter’.

Sounds like a great find. Not surprised that a Melburnian can sniff out the best cafe in town from twelve paces.

I am actually back in Melbourne but have been meaning to post on Machine laundry for a while now. And it was truly serendipitous, finding it in Hobart. Ed had just told me on the phone if I happened upon a cafe called “machine” something, I would be tres happy. I was just wandering along, turning my nose up at the other style-master cafes on the same strip because of their meat-oriented menus, when I finally came to it tucked into the corner of Salamanca square. Hurrah for perserverance and a Melburnian nose for scrambled tofu!

Last year I swam in the ocean in Brisbane in August. Bliss! And last night I was wearing a jumper here in mid-summer. Ah well.

I love my beans looking like they’ve been around the block of the fry pan….

Machine Laundry Cafe is my regular whenever I’m in Hobart. I know it’s not veggie, but they do an awesome bacon/eggs/hollandaise sauce thing. Another place to try next time you’re there is Jackman and McRoss just up the road in Battery Point. It’s a bakery but it’s not the square meat pie kind! They do an incredible array of savoury pastries, breads and deserts.

That bakery sounds great, Kathryn. I often find it difficult to get something hot and savoury and vegetarian from a bakery which does not involve loads of cheese. Next time I am in Hobart then…Also I should mention how picturesque Salamanca and Battery Point are!

I’ll second that vote for the bakery. I found it by chance on a walk one day and had a great mushroom tarty thing with English Breakfast for afternoon tea. Went straight back for a couple of pastry delights and strong coffees the next morning.

That sounds great! I’m going to Hobart in a few weeks so will check it out. I’m curious how if there will be any vegan options anywhere in Hobart.

That’s a really good question. If you find any vegan places let me know!