Sunday, 11 April 2010

Good nom nom

In secret I have been papping some of my baked vegan delights, in the hope that I'd make a lovely little post about each, as they so rightfully deserve, but unfortunately it has come to this. A food porn post. So, here we go!


Wonderful little polenta pizzas.
The polenta chunxx were massive, but tasty nonetheless.
Think next time I'll make my own polenta though...



Date, cranberry and nut bar.
I make a load and hoik one out of the freezer
if I can't be bothered to make something
..

Right, because these are soo delish and delightful and easy, I'm going to do my first recipe!
Delectable date and nut bar

This recipe is pretty haphazard, add as much of whatever or take out/add what you like. It's just important that it has enough sticky stuff to set nicely and not fall apart. You'll see what I mean...

Ingredients:
  • 3/4 cup walnuts
  • 2/3 cup chopped dates (chop them yourself!)
  • 1/2 cup brazil nuts
  • 1/4 cup almonds
  • 1/8 cup pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds and sunflower seeds (all mixed together)
  • 1/4 cup porridge oats
  • 1/4 cup cranberries
  • 1/3 cup vegan margerine
  • 1 and half tbs cocoa powder
  • 2 tbs sugar or a healthy squeeze of agave nectar
  • Clingfilm, or something similar, to wrap them in
Method:
  • Throw everything except the margerine, cocoa powder, sugar/agave and... clingfilm into a food processor (if you're lazy) or chop them by hand. You only want to break them up into little-ish bits, not paste them!
  • Melt the butter in a relatively large saucepan, and add the cocoa powder and sugar or agave until all liquid-y
  • Take the pan off the heat and throw the busted nuts and fruits. Mix until well combined.
  • Pull out some clingfilm onto your counter top and put enough mixture in to make a nice-sized bar. Make them into nice packages, it's better if you compact them with your hands as you go, it makes them easier to eat after.
Store these bad guys in the freezer right up until the desire to demolish one takes you!

And finally, my most lovely little creations that made me weep with pride and taste-sensation, my very own vegan bakewell tarts! And an almond and cranberry loaf for good measure!!



For a day or so I'd bee craving almonds, maybe I needed some vitamin E or whatever almonds are good for. So to totally thwart the goodness my body wanted, I had the bright idea of making these sugary little sods. I did use ground almond in the cake mix, and the almond loaf had loads of whole almonds in. They were really fun to make, I'll definitely make them again. I didn't realise how easy pastry is to make!

I made some almond milk too, to wash the three I claimed down with. Can't quite get the milk right though, it's tasty but not quite enough. I add some cinnamon and some agave nectar, but it's a little too watery so all the taste goes to the bottom, even if you mix it. I'm sure I'll get it right one day though.

Saturday, 10 April 2010

Thiz iz mah time to shine

So, yet again, it has been a while. Blog, I am a terrible mother.

Anyway. It's half one in the night time. I have handed my notice in at my awesome job in the nut shop to go back to coffee heaven. Fuck. Money is a killer. Doing things you don't want to do so you can just... Well. Get money. Yep. I'm going to be a supervisor. How the fuck do I know how to tell people what to do? I don't. Shiiit. It's going to be a tough one. But I'll only be there for a while... Ehhh.

The recent sun and recent discovery of Tinariwen have made me want to live in the desert and/or get myself a bad-ass turban. Shiiit. Iive added Africa to the list of places I want to go. The Sahara, Moroccan bazzars. Spices, tea and sun. I want endless sunnn.

I hope it's sunny on my two days off. I've been craving sun and fruit and berries like a mother-f. All winter I've wanted carbs and nuts. Oh how the tables have turned. Oh ho hoooo.

Yeah. Definitely need a turban.

Friday, 26 March 2010

Abandoned Hospital and Chilli.

Broke into an abandoned hospital the other night, here are photos:









Wonderful.


Also, made amazing chilli for dinner tonight. With delicious spicy millet and some wholemeal flatbreads that I lovingly squished flat with my own hands, in the absence of a rolling pin. So delish it deserves it's own photo:

Saturday, 20 March 2010

Information overload at the Brighton vegan fair....

Really nearly didn't go to the fair today. Going with just me myself and I like a loser was daunting, it was piddling it down with rain, missed the train by two seconds so I had an hour wait and got kind of lost, somehow. But I made it and it was well worth it!

The thing I noticed first about the place? The smell of nutritional yeast. Wow. Love that smell! And the smell of wonderful spiced veg and grains, lovely! No carcass here, thanks!

The lone ranger thing kind of sucked for the first ten minutes, wandering around like some lost lamb, but I got over my douche-ness and started talking to people. The first guy I spoke to was an incredible guy from the Vegan Organic Network who grew all his vegetables and plants without manure or chemical fertilisers, just other plants and legumes! Mind. Blown. So, even the vegetables I eat have something to do with animals! They're grown in their poo! Especially if they're organic! And the vegetables take up the antibiotics and nonsese that the farm animals are fed, because obviously it all comes out in their poo. Food for thought there! Yuck! Atleast I/we are trying though... If only I had a working vegetable patch!

Spent alot of time talking to a girl from Sea Shepherd, really cool. Bought a badass canvas bag, and I'll look into volunteering. Also spoke to some hunt saboteurs, who I'll definitely volunteer for, there have been a few hunts around here recently and I don't want to let them get away with it.
It was truly bizarre to talk to people about veganism and the state of the world. Every person I spoke to had the same views as me! It was like I'd died and gone to heaven! I spoke to the guy from The Healthy Vegan who had been vegan for 15 years. We spoke about the health benefits and just how crazy meat eaters are... This might seem like I got total cheap thrills over this, but I just don't have any people I know who think as I do, so it was so so so weird to talk to people who thought the same!

I spoke to alot of other stalls, all of which were super interesting and opened my mind even more about animal rights, Sussex Action For Animals being one I will get involved in when I live there! But now I'll talk about foooood.
Food glorious food. Tried an apple crumble cupcake from the ladies from To Happy Vegans, really delicious, but it had a slightly chemically aftertaste! Sorry guys!

There was a crazy family stall downstairs at the back, I didn't get a leaflet to see who they were, but the mum bakes loaf upon loaf upon loaf of totally delicious moist dense vegan fruit cake bread stuff! She sells at markets around London, and I would so go all the way up there to buy another one! I bought an apple, plum and oat cake and some peanut, seaweed, almond and soy milk. Oh my god, it tastes like angels. It's really thick and sweet and wonderful. Made me feel SUPER after just a mouthful! I could feel it making my insides happy. I'm going to try making some. Not my own, sicko! Lamenting the thought of running out of that milk and cake though. Serious rationing with those!



One last thing before I finish what I started on the train back home. Yes, I fell asleep, mouth wide open, catching flies, BY MYSELF, on the train home. And my brain is screaming for sweet slumber. But I cannot sleep until I let you know about Aunty Jee. Holy mother of fuck. I can safely say that I fucking love curry, I've had a few too many in my day. Hers is the best I have ever tried. I had some Soy madras and some aubergine curry as tasters, nearly cried into her daughter's arms about how good it is, and then had to buy a curry wrap about it. Seriously delightful. They don't use preservatives, flavours or cream or ghee or any nonsense at all whatsoever and you can really taste it. I am going to dream about that curry tonight. They only sell it in health stores with freezers, I think. There's a store locator on the sight anyway. I honestly suggest you go out right now and get some. Your life isn't complete without!

Ah, I wanted to write a better blog about how awesome today was, but I didn't realise I'd be so tired when I got in! Hooo! Hopefully you got the gist though. I'll post more links at a later date, mate.

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

BOOOM chug chuga chug chuggaaaa TSSS


H'ooh, it's been an alrighttt weeekkkk. Went to Sussex Uni on Saturday for the admissions day. As always, me and mum were late and mum was an anti social bint (bless her). Really looking forward to going there, the lecturers are really quirky and awesome (one has a total thing for bats) and most of the students are total hippies. Yesss. Ohh, one awesome thing! When they did lunch, which was a massive table of sandwiches, none of which I could eat, I asked someone if there was any vegan stuff and he ran off and got me a MASSIVE plate of DELICIOUS mushroom risotto, and was totally pleased with himself about it. 100000000 brownie points, sir. I think he was a lecturer also, ahaha. Awesome stuff!

Monday night we went to see A Day To Remember, which was the nutz. I've not been to a kind of hardcore gig before, most of the bands I've seen are crazy in their own way, but not in a hardcore way. Either way, it was too much fucking fun for me to handle. BASS RELEASE?! IN R.L.? Holy mother of diddly. What a sound! My nose still hurts from where I'm pretty sure it came close to being broken, but oh well. Awesome night nonetheless!

Saw my bad man friend Ben last night, who is the only person I know who can cook tofu properly! What a man.

The weather has been lovely recently, really sunny and warm and a little taster of the summer, I hope. Shit's still pretty weak here, no money, need a new job, but atleast I'm happy. If it all goes tits up, all I've got to do it wade through until October 1st, where I will flee to sunny Brighton.

Made some pretty shit-hot-swish food recently, too. I'll do a massive food porn-photo-dump later if time lets me. Ciao for niao

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

Yet another new beginning

Okay okay, I've got a bit of explaining to do, guys!

Basically the last few weeks have been shit. I've been bottling my prob-lames up, which were pretty big, to no avail, only bullshit, and it's dragged me and a couple of others down too. But it's cool! I have hopefully learnt not to sweep shit under the carpet and tell everyone the issues-for-tissues when they arise. Who wants to guess what the problems were to do with? Go on?...

MONEY!!!

Hooray, 100 points and a pat on the back! And a lollypop for behaving so nicely!

It's really gotten me down, "civilisation" has done me in, all the baggage, all the cruelty, all the violence, all the "I'm more important than you, so you can suffer" ethic which spreads thickly like a fucking "foi gras" pate across our lovely planet. People exploit animals and people exploit people, and not many people do much to stop it. War, speciesism, racism, sexism mannerism... When does it end? I've felt alot of negativity, not alot of positivity over the past couple of weeks. But through it all, the amazing weather and the beauty of the "little things" have helped me. We may be in a shit situation, but guys, we're in it together. It's the little things that really make things great if stuff is bleak.

I was in the field a few days ago and the sunshine was so lovely that I fell asleep in the grass! Even though it was freezing cold and a bit wet! I woke up feeling alive! The other night, when I took Herbs out so he could have his routine late-night shit, I thought the starry sky was full of windows, windows to amazing places, but it was the way my cold breath and the light played in it. I came back to earth exhilarated! We've got a lot of things to be grateful for. We've got plants and flowers to smell and see, we've got animals to love, people to smile about, the sun on our skin, the wind in our hair... I could go on but I'll spare you the details, you know where I'm going!

Thank fuck for the little things. Without a (sometimes accute) awareness of them, I would still be in the doldrums, being an a-hole and seeing an a-hole in everything. But I got through! Even though I have my last few pounds to last me the month, I feel like, again, I have woken up. What the deuce, I keep falling asleep! But the winter will be over, and there will be more little things to smile about.

So, the details for you. I am going to spend less time pissing my life away on the internet, I am going to make things and sell things, I am going to get involved in vegan groups so I can have vegan friends to shoot the shit with (if I can find vegan friends!), I am going to make vegan cupcakes and hopefully find someone to supply them to, I am going to try my darndest with this blog because I really enjoy rambling, and hopefully I am going to get a full time job, to make that fucking stupid thing that I need to get off this island! Money! Shit, how did such apparently intelligent beings get into this state? Giving our only thing we have in this life, our time for an object?! Money! Jeeeeezzz!

So, watch out. Watch out for more vegan "rants", more vegan cupcakes and more vegan insights. Veganism is love and all you need is just that.... Love. LOL.



Monday, 1 March 2010

right, that's it.
i am done with humanity and all it's bullshit
i am going to live in a tree.