Tea and Sympatico

There's been quite a lot of excitement recently with new brands of vegan ice cream appearing in the shops. They're not always that easy to find though and I've got no chance of getting something home from Manchester to Glossop without it melting. So, when I saw this book for £2 in The Works the other week I snapped it up. I was drawn to it as Ginger's Comfort Emporium is a local Manchester based company and I've sampled one of their delicious sorbet pops at a street fair. There are actually a few vegan recipes in the book but there are also plenty that can be veganised by subbing coconut milk. I couldn't wait to get started and as soon I got home I veganised this Salted Caramel Peanut Butter icecream. I don't have an icecream maker but this worked fine without one. You make the mixture in a pan then after it's cooled put it in the freezer taking it out every half hour to give it a stir (do this about four times and then leave it overnight). ...

A few weeks ago Matt and I both managed to have a Friday off work. We decided to use it to go somewhere we'd been meaning to try for a while. The Teatime Collective is one of Manchester's newest vegan eateries and we'd heard nothing but good reviews from friends who'd visited. It's situated over in Hulme which is just South of the city centre. The cafe doesn't have many seats but they've recently also aquired a shipping container next to it which they've turned into a lovely cosy area which has given them about 3 times more space. We decided for our first visit to check out their big breakfast and were impressed to get tofu scramble, beans, tomatoes, sausages, hash browns, mushrooms, black pudding, toast and a potato cake. They also do things like club sandwiches, burgers and pizzas, basically all homemade comfort food and of course vegan cake. In addition there's a nice range of fairtrade tea...