It's a Wine-derful Life

Only one more door to open on the advent calendar and still a lot to do. Busy socialising, wrapping, making and baking, it's time to take a break, crack open the Quality Streets and enjoy a glass of mulled wine.

I used to work with a lady who insisted on calling it muled wine. Clearly she'd drunk plenty and was confusing Mary's mode of transport or Joseph's choice of footwear!

You can make your own mulled wine - there are plenty of recipes to choose from - adding everything from oranges to cinnamon sticks, brandy to sloe gin, nutmeg to bay leaves. Alternatively you can buy a sachet of mulled wine mix to add to red wine or buy a bottle of ready made mulled wine which you can pimp yourself.

So raise a glass and a Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel. It is, after all, 

The most wine-derful time of the year!

PS received the best Christmas gift this week - over 20,000 reads since I began writing this blog - many thanks for reading.

Baubles, Birthdays and Brownies

Double celebrations today - obviously it's countdown to Christmas and the decorations are up. Also it's my daughter's 21st birthday this week which called for a family roast dinner followed by Bailey's tiramisu and birthday brownies.

It was a new recipe and worked a treat so whether you're celebrating Christmas, birthdays or just feel in the mood for a sweet treat, give them a go.

- Melt 185g butter & 185g dark chocolate together

- Separately whisk 3 eggs with 270g caster sugar until light & fluffy

- Whisk both mixtures together

- Sieve 85g plain flour & 50g Cocoa powder into the above mixture 

- Pour into a tray & sprinkle with 100g milk chocolate pieces

- Bake at 170 oC for approximately half an hour

- Leave to cool before cutting, sprinkling with sieved icing sugar (or sparkly golden stars!)

Stollen a piece of my heart

Today is the start of Advent, a Christian season of expectation and preparation as the church prepares to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is also Hanukkah, celebrating the Jewish festival of light. Judging by the current frenzie in the shops and supermarkets, it's also a time to stock up on the Christmas essentials.

It can be a marmite moment but personally I love Christmas Pudding, Christmas Cake and Mince Pies (check they are vegetarian as some contain non-vegetarian suet).

An Italian treat is Panettone; a sweet bread loaf containing some fruit. Although delicious, it is fairly dry. Many people prefer to eat it toasted or throw it into a trifle or tiramisu. If eaten as it is it should have a sweet wine to accompany.  It appears in the shops well before Christmas and has a long shelf life so ideal to buy in advance.

One of my favourites is German Stollen; a fruit bread of almonds, spices and dried or candied fruit with a marzipan centre and covered in sieved icing sugar or icing.

So whether celebrating Advent or Hanukkah, the proof of the pudding is definitely in the preparation. Whether baking your own or joining a queue at the checkout, like any good scout, be prepared.

Kitsch Christmas Cocktails

Trip to London✅ Girls Only✅ Black Friday✅ Nearly Christmas✅ Cocktails✅

All of the above and more. We didn't have to search for Christmas Spirit. London was illuminated in glorious twinkling fairy lights whilst fake snow sprinkled the shoppers and chestnut stalls did brisk trade.

My veggie food highlights were meals at The Ivy and Dishoom; both in Covent Garden. Whilst in the area, we visited the pop up bar Miracle in the Henrietta Hotel and Restaurant, currently a Christmas winter wonderland.

Cheesy festive music✅ Fake snow✅ Staff wearing Christmas jumpers✅ Twinkly lights and decorations✅ Fabulous menu of Seasonal cocktails served in kitsch glasses and mugs✅

Oh YESSS!

Feeling Festive✅

Christmas Countdown

Only thirty six days to Christmas and there's a lot to do; trimming the house inside and out, preparing some lovely seasonal vegetarian dishes and, of course, food and gift shopping.

Here are a few present ideas for your vegetarian and vegan friends.

Stocking fillers

- Trio of vegetables key ring £7 White Stuff

- Vegan friendly Shea butter soap £4.95 Nuddy

Gifts

- Vegan and vegetarian cookbooks

- Vegan and vegetarian hampers/gift boxes (Those containing V chocolate,sweets and cheese are great or a beauty one would be good)

- Vegan clothing or accessories such as Veja trainers or a Matt and Nat bag

- Membership of the Vegan or Vegetarian Society 

- Subscription to a vegetarian or vegan magazine

Fingers crossed I receive a few of these myself!

An Army Marches On Its Stomach

Today marks the one hundred year anniversary of the end of World War I and we give thanks and remember all those who gave their lives. Those who have died in conflicts since then are also honoured and remembered.

A hundred years ago those soldiers would have eaten rations provided by Maconochie consisting of tinned sliced vegetables (mostly turnips and carrots) with a thin soup/gravy. Bully beef (like corned beef) and hard biscuits would also be served.

By WW2 they would still have had the tinned meat and biscuits but also packets of mints and some chocolate for morale. Matches and tin openers were provided, doubling up as spoons.

Nowadays our forces are given food for breakfast, lunch and dinner with extra snacks and a calorie count of at least 4,000 calories a day, high in carbohydrates for a slow and constant energy release.

A couple of years ago I saw a photographic exhibition by David Bailey. He had served in the infantry during WW2 and done National Service in 1956/57 in Singapore, where he bought his first camera. The photographs were fabulous but I was struck by some of his personal effects on show. His sick report had a handwritten note dated 1957 which read:-

"This airman is a vegetarian and should not be forced to eat meat."

These days we would assume that all diets are taken into consideration and that our forces are fed a nutritious diet, whatever their preference.

Venturesome Vegan

November is World Vegan Month. Vegans around the world celebrate and promote their lifestyle, health and environmental benefits and hope to get more people to join them on the vegan vehicle.

Whilst not a vegan myself, I am interested in finding out more, swapping some meals to vegan and learning about more sustainable substitutes. I gave up meat and fish 28 years ago, basically because I did not enjoy eating them. Since then, it has become more about the wider issues. I do eat dairy. I do wear leather shoes. I don't always check that products I use are vegan. 

I think my way forward is to make subtle changes so here is my Veg Pledge:-

- to try substituting dairy for animal-free products

- to look into animal-free and sustainable clothing

- to check labels on beauty and cleaning products

- to question ingredients on medicines and foods

- to stop eating jelly sweets (my very guilty secret) which contain gelatin

I'll let you know how I get on. In the meantime I am ordering a copy of Lucy Watson's Feed Me Vegan. Oh, and some Veja trainers; made from organic cotton, rubber from the Amazon, vegetable-tanned leather and recycled plastic bottles. Stylish, on-trend and Eco-friendly. 

 

Baby steps!