Welliebobs!

Have I ever told you about the night I finally went vegetarian? I swear it's relevant and not just one of my usually sprawling introduction paragraphs that has nothing to do with anything.

For starters it has more than one paragraph. See? Anyway. I was going out with this bloke called Dave, he was (and still is according to google) a games programmer and was the only boyfriend that I've ever had that I didn't meet online. We where both extras in an advert. I remember I was reading Vegan With A Vengeance on set.


Anyway so he dumps me. And I'm thinking that I'm probably going to have to drop out of uni (completely unrelated to the boy), which also means loosing my job and loosing my home so life is already quite crap without this bloke dumping me. So I think I have to do something good tonight. Something for me. Something extra special.

I'd been thinking about it for years, trying out food and slowly getting used to the idea but that night was what finally pushed me to being a vegetarian. Then I went out to to Subway because I was too grumpy to cook after just being dumped.

Of course now I'm with Stephen so I'm never grumpy... shut up... and how all this relates to today is that the boy who dumped me loved Beef Wellington and I promised to cook it for him. But I never did and now I never will make it.

However, and five paragraphs later we get to the point, I made Mini Wellingtons from The Vegan Lunchbox for tea tonight. Served with carrots, chard and broccoli stir-fried with soy sauce and garlic. Very yum just a little dry and, in my northern opinion, could have done with a splash of gravy.

I'll say

We generally make a pilgrimage to Lush every time we are in a city that has one. We enjoy sniffing things, looking at the pretty colours and chatting with the very lovely, very perky staff. We like that they value the handmade, and that they don't value too much packaging. We indulge in a bath bomb and go on our way.

It's a little tradition we take part in whenever we go to civilisation. So hearing about staff being threatened and stores being vandalised made us go a bit... 'you what?!' I mean I know of people who don't like the smell but...

Turns out they are selling a bubble bar until Boxing Day that supports the HSA. Which has made fox hunters more than a little bit angry. A lot of people on the other side of the fence are angry too though. We're angry that even though fox hunting isn't legal it's still happening, that foxes are still being killed. And that the people's champion, David Cameron, would quite like it to be legal again.

Which has lead to all sorts of fun. Like the aforementioned threats and vandalism of Lush shops. And also, I assume, this lovely review on the website:


Now I don't agree with everything done by (and in the name of) the HSA. Much as I don't like everything done by Greenpeace or vegetarians or feminists. However they are doing an important job in regards to fox hunting. Personally I wish the police would do it but it turns out we can't have everything we want.

However my rambling will never amount to more than tip of the iceberg on what is a strange part of British life and politics and I don't intend to pull it apart any more here. But I did buy the bubble bar. And it smells yum.


I used it today, it turned the bath slightly pink and the smell of aniseed and peppermint was rich and luxurious. If you got to buy one make sure to sign the petition urging police to investigate hunts and uphold the law properly.

We've adopted!

So last night it was dropped off on my doorstep. German Friendship Bread starter. Live yeast to which I am to add sugar, flour and milk and keep around my kitchen for ten days.

But hay, I'm always up for an experiment.


Just looking at the instructions though there are a few things that have got me down.

1. It's not vegan and while neither am I (yet!) all my baking has been for the last year or so. And I haven't missed cake with milk and eggs.
2. With all the stuff I have to add I may as well be making a cake from scratch. Especially as it will probably cost as much as two batches of vegan cupcakes.
3. I haven't got anyone to pass on the starter too yet.

But I guess the proof is in the eating. So check back in ten days time to see if I'm still sceptical. Granted I probably still won't do it again but there will be cake at the end of it.

If it can't be roasted I don't want to know...

As Vegan MoFo fades away and I'm left wondering what to do with myself now I don't have to arrange my days around blogging. (I know, I need a job) I'm mainly going through the Vegan Lunchbox archive and over analysing carrot cake.

What to feed myself though, that has an easy answer. I'm continuing in my craving for all things roasted. Such as roast segments of delica squash (possibly the closest you can get to the taste of candy floss in vegetable form), carrots and potatoes. Served with a nut cutlet and a blob of tasty but not photogenic saucy haw ketchup.

I know, try explaining that to your Mum. It's quite innocent though. A ketchup made from foraged haws. You know, the fruit of a hawthorn. I'm digging myself into a hole here aren't I?

Boo

Happy Halloween and the last day of Vegan MoFo. This month we have made 30 posts over 29 days. I missed two days of bloging, one for a morning in A&E the other because I just felt like crap. My Dad visited. MoFo has taught me quite a bit but mostly it's taught me to be adventurous. I've tried new things, like pastry and sweet potato, plantain and -my new favourite! - pumpkin. I've cooked bread dough in three new ways, I'm about to crack the perfect bagel. In my proudest moment I even made the official blog.

I hope the people who have found my blog because of Vegan MoFo stick around but more than that I hope they have enjoyed this month as much as I have.


I'd hoped to finish on a high not but instead all I have to offer is an inedible Chard Frittata from Vegan Brunch. I have to point out that the fact that I couldn't eat it had nothing to do with the recipe or the taste. I've been feeling just a little bit wobbly today, especially my stomach. So I spent half an hour cooking it but couldn't swallow it at all. Sad, because it's a great recipe and had some of my home grown chard in it.

Also for your viewing pleasure: Stephen in his Halloween costume.


And our pumpkin, now donated to a little girl.

Happy Halloween, and I hope you've had a happy Vegan MoFo 2009!

'I'll turn you into a woooooo'

Even though it's gaining a great deal of popularity Halloween just isn't a big deal in the UK. Sure there are events (and anti-events for devout kids) and merchandising but it isn't the great cultural force that it is in America. Which admittedly I've only experienced in a rented house outside Orlando but felt real enough to me.


However it is an excuse for sweets and silliness so I've baked a bunch of cupcakes to take to workmates, volunteermates, and neighbours. They are graveyard dirt chocolate cupcakes with sludgy butter cream frosting and pumpkin goo (inexpertly) piped on top. Stuck in each one is a pumpkin, zombie, blood or... blue coloured lolly pop.

For Stephen's workmates we set them up on a table with our pumpkin, some roasted pumpkin seeds and some Halloween sweets.

Food for free, kitchenwear at Disney World prices.

Now that this weekends foraging scores have been put to use on my hair and in my tummy and store cupboard it's time to report back. I had some of the delicious rosehip syrup on pancakes for lunch today and it was delicious. The taste is slightly spicy, slightly earthy, accompanied by a hell of a lot of sugar. Really, very yummy.