Tea and Sympatico

I've been enjoying Jammie Dodgers recently since discovering that 3 of the 4 flavours are vegan friendly (jammy, choccie and lemon) and of course with my love of monkeys I think the adverts are fab. Check out the Dodger Monkeys You Tube channel to see even more films of them partying and how the ads were made. I've also discovered these cereal bars in a local bargain shop - B&M Bargains. I've googled all the ingredients and these are vegan friendly too and most excitingly taste like marshmallow crispie bars!

If you've read the blog before you may know that we have a work Come Dine With Me club. You can view some of the past nights here and here and here . I'm still signed off work but my lovely friends brought a mini-Come Dine over to my flat last night! Jenny made the nicest vegan cheesecake I have ever tasted. She watched this video to get the basic idea and then put together her own recipe with a gingernut base and a cheesecake made from silken tofu, icing sugar and lemon juice as the main ingredients. This picture is after we have consumed the entire cheesecake and a bottle of cava, look at that cheesecake happiness in our eyes! They also brought the desk monkeys to visit. These ones with magnets in their hands made good wine glass markers! They also came bearing other gifts of Frys chocolate, a plant and a relaxing facemask and the ultimate in get well gifts - a Japanese everlasting monkey balloon! I'm pleased to say I'm starting to feel a lot better and I'm lo...

It's Cake Liberation Front meet-up time again tomorrow . I've been busy all day baking in preparation. My contribution to the feast is Absinthe and Cardamom cupcakes. I asked a friend to bring me some miniatures back from Prague recently. The cake batter contains a whole miniature of absinthe. I decided there was enough absinthe flavour in the sponge so I didn't put any in the icing as well and I've saved the other bottle for another batch of cakes. My icing is just icing sugar, sunflower margarine, soya milk and a few drops of green food colouring. I whipped some batches of cookies too. These Ginger Flamingos are from the Parsley Soup Gingerbread Men recipe . There's also 2 boxes of Cowboy Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and Cherry and Chocolate Cookies from 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes .

I love sushi but haven't had any for ages. This post by How Not To Be A Skinny Vegan inspired me to get my bamboo mat out again. If you've never made sushi before I can assure you that it is easy to make these nori rolls. It takes a bit of time to prepare the rice but you can go off and do other things whilst it's soaking, steaming, then resting. I went for a simple of filling this time of radish and avocado. My favourite filling is the sweet potato one from Post Punk Kitchen. There's lots of video around to show you how to make sushi including the original first episode of the PPK where Isa and Terri make sushi and cupcakes. I like to make double the amount so there's enough for lunch the next day to take to work with my chopsticks in their little box!

I've had some baby tea cosies languishing in my knitting bag waiting to be sewn up for months. I've finally got round to sewing them up and putting them in my Folksy shop . Available in black, blue and purple they are just £4 each and fit a small teapot - the type that holds 2 mugs of liquid or 4 small teacups.

I don't live anywhere near an Asda but my friend Deb does and got me some of this meat free sausage mix to try. It was easy to make up, you just add cold water and leave for 10 minutes before rolling into sausage shapes and then grilling or frying. It makes 8 sausages and they held together really well whilst I fried them. I thought the texture was really good but the taste of them on their own was a little bland. Next time I think I would try adding stock instead of just cold water and maybe some chopped mushrooms. As they are 'pork style' I pepped them up on a ciabatta with mustard, fried onions and apple sauce - yum! I see that they also do a meat free burger and a falafel mix, has anyone tried any of these?

So, I'm still signed off work and waiting to see a neurologist Some days I feel almost normal, others I'm so tired you would think I'd been out all night clubbing not that I'd just had 10 hours sleep! I started thinking about juices as something that might help. Only problem was that I freecycled my juicer a few months ago! It worked but I'd not used it for ages and it was one of the things that went in an effort to maximise space in my tiny kitchen. I bought it in the early 90's from an advert in the Radio Times! I'd started going to Dublin and to one of the first juice bars, Juice on South Great Georges Street and fell in love with juices and found them very restorative after late nights! To my delight I found a much more efficient juicer for a tenner in a charity shop last week and some nice vintage glasses for my collection too. So, whilst I have all this time on my hands I'm going to try to get into the habit of juicing. My sister has lent me some ...

My favourite animals are monkeys and as soon as the new Jammy Dodger adverts came on tv a friend contacted me to ask if I'd seen them. They're great, I especially love the one where the chocolate dodger monkey is on the tannoy! Further good news is that with the exception of the toffee flavour the other 3 (jammy, chocolate and lemon) are all vegan friendly too!

A post by Accidentally Vegan on Facebook this morning reminded how much I love Gianduitto also known as Gianduiotti. They were commenting on how good the ones that Waitrose sell are. Isn't the packaging lovely too! They are £5.10 for a 150g box, definitely one to let friends and families know about when they're wondering what to buy vegans for presents! Hotel Chocolat also sell them but at £14 for a 300g box! Gianduiotto is is a Piedmontese chocolate whose shape is similar to an upturned boat. Gianduiotti are individually wrapped in a tinfoil cover, usually gold or silver-colored. It is the speciality of Turin, and takes its name from Gianduja , a mask in commedia dell'arte . My usual place to buy them is from the counter in Cafe Nero where they are 25p each! They are one of those chocolates that tastes more like a milk chocolate as they have a rich creamy taste from the combination of sugar, cocoa and ground hazelnuts. If anyone has found them anywhere else please leav...