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!

Pumpkin to talk about

A friend has just returned from the States. I have looked after the family rabbit whilst they were away and she popped around with a thank you gift - a bouquet of gourds! Inspired by the New York stoops adorned with pumpkins and fairy lights, she knew I would like them for decoration. Hovering over the basket, however, I am tempted to see which ones are edible.

I love pumpkin flavoured everything. They are fantastic roasted, mashed, stuffed, baked in cakes, blended in soups, made into gnocchi, pasta and pasties. They are best friends with strong cheeses, nuts, herbs and spices and their seeds can be roasted for soups, salads and snacks.

On holiday last week in Palma I had the best dish ever - pumpkin gnocchi at a little place in the wall near the cathedral called Cafe Murada.

Last year I became addicted to the special edition Pumpkin Spice Baileys and this year my daughter has bought me Beanies Pumpkin Spice Coffee Granules which is rich and flavoursome without the sweetness of syrup added to coffee.

Taking the Biscuit

An autumn break in Palma Majorca revealed dappled sunshine beneath the palm trees, a wind tossed yacht loosened from its moorings and the blackest clouds chasing us along the boulevard. It was a week of sun cream with ice cream one day and brollies and steaming cafe con leche the next.

I have a kind of love affair with Palma and, despite the changing sky, it did not disappoint. The food for both my carnivore husband and my veggie self was exceptional. Eating out in Spain used to be a nightmare for me but, wow, things have changed. On every menu there were vegetarian and vegan choices. Not only that but most of the menus had numbers against the dishes with a key showing what was within. Great for those with allergies, intolerances and dislikes.

One ingredient which came up a couple of times, even in English, was speculoos. It appeared in both sweet and savoury dishes and I was curious enough to ask what it was. It turns out to be a crispy biscuit, like the ones given free with cups of coffee (Lotus Biscoff call them a saucer side biscuit). It has a caramelised almost cinnamon taste and so accompanies ice cream dishes as well as the pumpkin dish I enjoyed on holiday.

Baked pumpkin with speculoos on carrot cream with hazelnuts

The Future's bright, the present is Orange

The season is Autumn, the colour is orange. From the changing leaves and low sunshine outdoors to the flames in the fireplace indoors, the orange season, in all its glory, has arrived.

The food on our plates has also turned orange which is good news as the brighter the food, the more nutrients are on offer. We can eat seasonal sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins and squash as well as oranges, tangerines, clementines, persimmons and physalis. 

Physalis peruviana, (aka golden berries, cape gooseberries, ground cherries) has a papery green husk containing a small orange berry. Part of the nightshade family, it closely resembles a tiny tomato. Plucked from the husk it can be eaten and used in the same way as a tomato with its pop in the mouth explosion of sweet and sour.

Have them in the fruit bowl for a fun and easy to eat burst of protein, vitamin A and antioxidants to help fight infection.