Taking A Break

I'm taking a little holiday from here for a couple of weeks. We're going away to somewhere with no internet and I'm actually looking forward to it. Living with a chronic health condition can be both mentally and physically tiring and I am really in need of a break. I try to keep cheerful but there are days when I feel like my body is fighting me. There's been lots of those days recently and I've also been feeling regrets for jobs I can't do anymore and how it limits my stamina so I don't have the same social life I once had. Anyway I don't want to sound all doom and gloom, I know a change of scene will perk me up and bring me back feeling more positive. There will be stuff appearing on here as I've prepped some stuff in advance for Mofo. I'm not expecting to manage the whole month this year but I'll do what I can and enjoy it and come mid November I'll be catching up on everyone's Mofo posts once I'm back. In preparation for our break I've been stockpiling a few new things to try whilst we are away. Do you remember in my last post that I'd won an organic food competition where the prize also included a wheel barrow? Well I sold the wheel barrow and used the proceeds to buy this little lot amongst a few other things.

I'd seen this Primrose Kitchen muesli on the internet and thought it sounded interesting. Matt's not so sure but I am intrigued by the thought of beetroot in a muesli! Another breakfast item I picked up were these Pumpkin Tree pouches which were 39p in Home Bargains. I've not seen these before and they seem to be American. I'm thinking that they might be nice to squeeze into overnight oats - US readers can you advise? Have you tried them?

This Chi Caffe Latte is another new to me drink. It was also another 39p bargain this time from Heron Foods. I haven't tried this yet but we did try the chocolate version that they also had. The drinks have a coconut milk base and I found that a bit like the Rebel Kitchen drinks you did get clumps in them despite lots of shaking. It was really tasty though. I'm going to try giving them a whizz in the blender before I try the next one.

If you read my Chocolate Week post you'll know that I am a massive fan of the Raw Chocolate Company. I had a trip over to Chorlton to see a friend last week and we popped into Unicorn where I was delighted to pick up this new addition to their range. I am so looking forward to trying this!

In my pre-vegan days I used to love Horlicks especially the chocolate version so I had high hopes for this Choc O Malt drink I found in Unicorn. Whilst it didn't really recreate the Horlicks flavour when I tried some in some vanilla rice milk it was lovely and I will be experimenting trying it in different plant milks. For those not in the know, Unicorn is an awesome vegan supermarket. For years I lived minutes walk from it and I do miss it.

Still on the chocolate theme, here's a few finds from Marks and Spencer. I recently signed up for a Sparks card. It's a bit different from a normal loyalty card in that you don't collect points or get money back vouchers but you get different discount offers. My opening offer was money off food and drink so I had to try a few new items in their range such as this hot chocolate which is flakes of chocolate flavoured with vanilla.

I was excited to spot this liquorice and blackcurrant chocolate. We found some amazing hand made salted liquorice chocolate when we were on holiday a few years ago in Suffolk but I've never seen any liquorice chocolate anywhere since.

And finally as we're going further North and we're well and truely into Autumn I had to pick up a carton of this mulled winter warmer. It's made from cloudy apple juice, cranberry juice, elderberry juice and cinnamon and a hot mug of this sounds just the ticket to follow a brisk afternoon walk.

See you all soon x