Tea and Sympatico

The Om Yoga Show was a couple of weekends ago. I went last year on the Saturday and had a great time so when I won a weekend pass for two people I was determined to make the most of it. The show is held in a big modern exhibition centre space and this year entry also got you into a Mind Body and Spirit fair in an adjoining room. Between the two fairs was an amazing vegan food court. Matt is not into yoga but I persuaded him to come along for the food. One especially big draw for us was that Pomodoro E Basilico had a stall. We tried their food a few years ago when they were part of a pop up near the Shard in London on the recommendation of Joey from Flicking The Vs  (thanks Joey). We loved their food so much that we have since ordered Christmas treats (including gorgonzolla cheese!!!) from their Etsy shop which you should definitely check out. I went for this colourful, healthy Buddha box whilst Matt went for the seitan burger. When I went back to the show on the Sund...

Last Saturday I blogged one of my favourite weekend breakfasts and I thought I'd share a new addition to my breakfast arsenal today. Since my long term meds are not compatible with alcohol my lovely collection of cocktail glasses have been gathering dust. Until now that is. Earlier this week I spotted this Mocha Caramel Chia Pudding recipe on twitter and made it immediatley. It was so good I made it again to set me up for visiting the Om Yoga Show yesterday. My biggest marguerita glasses were the perfect receptacle. This takes slightly longer than overnight oats to make but it's well worth the effort. You make the mocha, maple, vanilla chia oats the night before. Then in the morning you prepare and add the next two layers. It's still pretty quick to do and it makes for a very decadent tasting breakfast. The second layer is supposed to be banana nice cream but with my body temperature issues especially in the mornings, eating frozen food at that time of the day is a n...

There's been a lot of sweet treats on the blog in the last few posts so I thought today I'd feature some of the savoury things that we have been enjoying. Back in February we had a weekend in Nottingham. We were there to help a friend celebrate a special birthday and we also were also able to visit Sneinton vegan market which happens once a month. The market is brill but if you're ever planning a visit I would recommend getting there early. A lot of stalls had sold out by the time we arrived but we were so pleased that there was a couple of Vork pies left. These pies are amazing and win awards in pie competitions competing against meaty ones. There's been great excitement in the UK as Quorn have launched vegan fish fingers. Here they are served on a traditional white bread butty with chips. I have to say I wasn't a fan. The breadcrumbs were good but the filling didn't do it for me, I found it a bit mushy. To be fair I never liked actual fish fingers tha...

I know it's mid May and I don't know about anyone else but I am still in my winter coat! I do have rubbish circulation and feel the cold more than most people and a lot of the time I'm still wearing gloves too. I've been trying some new things with food recently. I bought a nut mylk bag and have been making green juices in my blender then straining them through the bag. It's actually really satisfying to do and easy to clean up unlike a juicer. I've been having lots of green smoothies for breakfast too. My favourite combo is banana, pineapple, powdered organic wheatgrass, a tablespoon of chia seeds, a teaspoon of almond butter and plant milk. They are so good and keep me full all morning. However, there are some mornings when I just need a hot breakfast. Enter baked oatmeal. I got into baked oatmeal after borrowing the Deliciously Ella books from the library. I would go so far as to say they were my favourite recipes from them and I've continued to make...

Here's a little round of some sweet treats, both purchased and home made that have been enjoyed recently. The other weekend I was in bed with a horrid chest infection binge watching the last season of project runway and Matt went out to do the weekly shop picking up a little extra treat in the form of blackcurrant cheesecake. This is from the new Tesco free from range and it was pretty good. A minor grumble would be that I like a biscuity base on a cheesecake and this one was sponge. It was gluten free though so thumbs up for producing a tasty treat suitable for glegans. OkoBay produce a coconut based range of frozen products that are SFV. In the last couple of months we've had their coconut water ice pops and also this mango coconut milk dessert. Both were from Heron Foods and total bargains at 69p for 3 pops and 49p for the tub! I braved the crowds at the Manchester Vegan fair last month going early and getting out just as it was getting busy. The crowds a few ye...

Hi readers. I'm afraid I lost my blogging mojo for a while with life stuff and the usual chronic illness/fatigue getting in the way. I don't want to stop blogging though and I have lots of pics of stuff from the last few months. Instead of trying to tackle a backlog though I thought I'd dive in with something current. Yesterday Matt was on All FM radio in the morning. I went with him as I always enjoy visiting there and it also meant I'd get to go to one of my favourite bargain stores as there's a huge B and M Bargains not far from the station. As we were parking up we noticed there was a market on so we decided to pop along after the show as we'd heard good things about it. Oh my goodness, I was not prepared to discover POUTINE! I gained a fondness for poutine in the late 1980's when I spent a year as an exchange student in upstate New York. The nearest big city was Montreal so there were many treks to Canada for nightclubbing and gigs and many bowls of pou...

As I'm sure you know from previous posts I do like a competition and I entered several Veganuary ones. It was Matt who was the winner this time though. He won these ace cookbooks - Defensive Eating With Morrissey and Comfort Eating With Nick Cave in a twitter punning competition where you had to combine food with lyrics from their songs. I thought my Barbecueim Begins At Home entry was pretty good but he pipped me with Girlfriend in a Korma. They've only just arrived so we haven't made anything form them yet but I shall have to report back. I've blogged before about Glossop business The Pie Parlour . It goes from strength to strength and Diane who owns and runs it did herself proud with her Veganuary offerings. We managed to sample quite a range this month! As well as being vegan the following were all gluten free too. First up is a raw cheesecake. This had delightful fresh strawberry flavours and was nice and rich in that way that raw cheesecakes are. O...

The small town of Glossop where I live is pretty good for vegan eats and drinks. There's some great places for coffee that offer plant milks like  Twig and Panaderia . Ayubowan and Pico Lounge have clearly marked vegan items on their menus. The Pie Parlour  bakery specialises in vegan and gluten free pies, breads + cakes and of course there is The Globe pub where famously all the food is vegan. Just before Christmas a branch of Pizza Express opened in a converted mill building and their PR people invited Matt and I along to sample some vegan menu items. We were joined on the night by Jane who writes reviews for the Vegetarian Society and her partner Simon who were sampling vegetarian items on the menu. I'm afraid our food pictures are on the dark side due to the low lighting! Matt and Simon both went for pizzas. Matt opted for the Pianta which is a cheeseless pizza with a spicy tomato sauce, spinach, mushrooms, pine nuts and artichokes. As you can see there was ...