The Dog's Dinner

Chinese New Year 2018 - the year of the Dog. We celebrated with an M&S £10 dine-in meal for 2. Choose 2 mains and 2 sides it said. Well, out of the 15 mains, there was ONE vegetarian option. Luckily I like aubergine and it was a good dish cooked in garlic, ginger and chilli Sichuan sauce with rice. But really? Fourteen dishes containing fish or meat? One vegetarian? Shame on you M&S. The sides had better odds; out of eleven, four were vegetarian. 

Luckily I had also stocked up on Tsingtao Beer. "Ganbei" (cheers/bottoms up).

Veg Pledge

Such an exciting week ahead. First there's Shrove Tuesday with pancakes galore, then Valentines Day with the prospect of Chocolate goodies, all finished off with Chinese New Year on Friday and a plateful of oriental delights. The only blot on the landscape is Ash Wednesday when we should give something up for Lent.

Over the years I've tried cutting out all the bad things; pop and sweets and crisps and buns.Oh, and chocolate. I've had a couple of successful years but mostly I have succumbed at some point during Lent.

I'm beginning to think there's a conspiracy to convert me from Vegetarianism to Veganism. In the last 10 days I have received four emails relating to vegan products:-

John Lewis - Vegan beauty ranges

The Botanist - All new vegan menu

Apple News - Secrets every vegan already knows

Tesco- our favourite vegan recipes to inspire your menu at home

I had better give something up because it would seem Big Brother is definitely watching.

Voting Vegetarian

6th February this week marks the 100 year anniversary of men and women over the age of 30 being eligible, for the first time, to vote.

This has relevance, for me, from several angles. Firstly, as a woman, I am indebted to the suffragettes who paved the way and fought for freedom and equality for women.

Secondly, I am from Leeds and one of the staunch freedom fighters and associate of Emmeline Pankhurst was Leonora Cohen, also from Leeds. She was known as "The Tower Suffragette" who threw a crow bar at the case surrounding the Crown Jewels in an attack on the establishment. She fought for equality for women throughout her life and in 1928 all women over 21 were given the right to vote.

Thirdly, Leonora Cohen was a vegetarian from the age of 5. Whether this was a conscious decision or whether it was because meat was hard to come by, we don't know. She even used food as a weapon during her stay at His Majesty's Pleasure in 1913 and went on hunger strike, depriving herself not only of food but water too. After that she and her husband moved to Harrogate and opened a Vegetarian Boarding House. During the meat rationing of 1917/1918 the Government used prominent figures such as Leonora to spread propaganda for meat-less meals.

Even in the 1970s, with a resurgence of feminism, she was interviewed about her years of activism as a freedom fighter. Coincidentally this was the hippy-age decade when whole food shops increased, meat and dairy consumption were low and people ate more wholegrains and vegetables. It is interesting to note that the increased use of freezers brought women a different kind of freedom at this time with frozen food shops opening and working women cooking food in batches and freezing to save time. 

Many papers have been written posing the question of vegetarianism being linked to militant and feminist behaviours. It is believed that vegetarianism and the women's movement are complimentary ways of creating an ideal world.

It may also be worth noting that this valiant vegetarian lived to be 105 years old.

Burns Breakfast

Just spent a few nights in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. So many places to revisit and things to see from the Georgian new town to the Medieval old town, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and the Scottish National and Portrait Galleries to name but a few.

This would be writer spent a little time in The Elephant House cafe where J.K. Rowling apparently wrote Harry Potter whilst eating their delicious cakes and coffees. My mocha with salted caramel brownie was delicious but inspiration did not flow and, if anything, I just felt rather conspicuous!

Our last morning in Edinburgh was Thursday (January 25th), the day when the folk of Scotland celebrate the birth of their poet Robbie Burns. Had we stayed until night-time I may have indulged in some vegetarian haggis, neeps and tatties (swede and potatoes) with a wee dram of whisky on the side. As it was, we were homeward bound on the 1pm train from Waverley Station so brunch was the order of the day.

I can highly recommend Urban Angel cafe on Hanover Street, ranked 2nd on Trip Advisor. So much so in fact that we went twice! The first day I tried a Peanut Butter & Maca Bowl and the second day the Acai Bowl. We also had Eggs Benedict and French Toast with berries, aniseed sugar and orange. A nice touch was the little egg timer showing me when it was time to pour my tea.

We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld Lang syne.

The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating

Hosting a Friday supper for 6 and a mixture of carnivores and vegetarians I opted for two lasagnes with salad on the side. Very time consuming and faffy but at least the prep was done in advance so bish, bash, bosh - sorted!

On to pudding and with temperatures dropping outside, comfort food was required. I plumped for sticky toffee pudding but remembered that one friend did not like it made with dates. To the drawing board and googling a recipe I came upon good old Mary Berry with her dateless sticky toffee pudding. As is the norm with Mary's recipes, it came out perfectly and the accompanying sauce was equally good. She must like big portions as the recipe said 6-8 whereas ours made twelve! Having said that, I referred to the other Queen of Cooking, Nigella, and made salted caramel ice cream to serve with it.

Now the above saying was definitely relevant. It was delicious. If it had been bread and butter pudding made with home-made bread then the proof would have definitely been in the pudding. 

Soup and a soupçon

The temperatures have dropped, my waistline has expanded and the diets and gym memberships have risen. Lots of people are channeling their inner resolutions to do Dry January and Veganuary. Personally I like the sound of Ginuary (trying a new gin combo every day of the month); certainly it might be an antidote for tomorrow's Blue Monday when we supposedly hate the weather, our post Christmas debt and the fact that we haven't stuck to our resolutions.

So, a combination of comfort yet healthy vegetarian food, minus alcohol and without too many calories on a cold January day. What to have?

The Answer? Soup of the day. Soup every day. Super soup.

   Roasted tomato soup with creme fraiche and basil

    Roasted pumpkin soup with yogurt and pumpkin seeds

There are so many recipes for soup using a myriad of ingredients; you could probably have a different one every day of the month. And if that doesn't blow your mind, you can add a different topping every day too. There are no limits.

Below are a few ideas, just compliment the flavours:-

Oil - a drizzle of your favourite (ie truffle) or just good old extra virgin olive oil

Condiments - mustard, soy sauce, hot sauce, Hendersons ...

Seeds - toasted pumpkin, sunflower ...

Cream - creme fraiche or yogurt if you're watching your waistline, or coconut milk

Herbs - fresh, lightly fried or dried

Spices - for a warm kick

Fruit and Veg - grated in to compliment the soup - carrot, beetroot, apple ...

Dried onions - for a slight crunch

Nuts - chopped and sprinkled

Cheese - dabs of goats cheese or a Parmesan equivalent (Gran Moravia)

Croutons - any size or shape with any flavouring to float on top

Puff pastry - ditto

Cheese straws - ditto

Popcorn - plain or salted

Go on - make it a souper day.

Living Life on the Veg

My last meal of 2017 was prepared at a friend's dinner party by a private chef! Way to go! My vegetarian menu consisted of:-

Chestnut, watercress and whole grain croquette with beetroot puree, mulled poached pear & pomegranate salad - festive flavours and very tasty.

Sweet potato, red onion and feta pithivier with tomato provincial and toasted pine nuts - delicious.

Frozen chocolate marquise with berry compote and coulis and chocolate soil - lovely and rich.

Well sadly that hasn't set a precedent and during 2018 I will be cooking my own meals. However, my husband has volunteered to go vegetarian midweek in order to eat healthily and be supportive. That's great as it will hopefully make me up my game a bit. Can't imagine he will be happy with jacket potato, cheese and beans for his main meal of the day!

So, we might not be doing Veganuary but it's certainly a step in the right direction.