VeganMoFO Post #10: "It's Bath-time"

Brighton saw us off with another lovely Breakfast in our room but this time we were overlooking the rain clouds, not the sea, you couldn't even tell the sea was there.

We headed off for Bath and made something of a rookie error with the SatNav, wanting to see the South Coastal area (I have never been down here before) rather than the Motorways we chose a route that looked more or less straightforward but fairly direct. We can now claim to have driven through the middle of most towns in the Southern counties. It took forever but we both happily sung along to a CD of "Big Ballads" and then "Mama Mia" - it's amazing how enthusiastically you can sing when you know you can't be heard!

Eventually arrived, still in the pouring rain, in Bath, checked in to our usual (and lovely) B&B (chosen originally for its proximity to Demuths!) and took advantage of the inclement weather by catching up with our VeganMoFO blog (hence the number of posts today).

We had to pop out to the shops but as this is a Vegan only blog I shall spare you my rant about the decline of M&S (this doesn't apply to family members - they still have to hear it) and got back just in time for a quick change and pop round the corner to Demuths.

Before I begin this review I have to be honest - I love all things "Demuths" - the restaurant, the Cookery School, the people I have met over the years on the courses (this is your mention @realgandy ), the Cookery books plus Rachel and her staff (Jo, Helen,  Jan, Richard etc.) so any review is going, inevitably, to be heavily biased.

We had booked a table but needn't have done as it was fairly empty (I still always would) and we were left to peruse the menu (a little unnecessary as we had already downloaded it from the internet!).

For starters Kate had Summer Squash with pickled carrots, buckwheat, toasted sunflower seeds, leaves & herbs  whilst I had Orange-Glazed Turnip with pak choi, shimeji mushrooms & tamari seeds.  I would never had put the humble turnip (rutagabga for anyone not in the UK) as the most flavoursome vegetable but here is where Richard Buckley (Head Chef) or Jaek his Assistant are so clever, they almost take the turnip (or other vegetable) as a blank canvas and infuse the most delicate and yet substantial flavours into them. This isn't cooking for sustenance its for celebration, taking Vegetarian Cooking way past where any of the "finest" Non Veg chefs can go with their meat and fish dishes let alone the veg ones.

Kate's starter, a little blurred - sorry!

My starter

We both enjoyed the same main course: Curried Cauliflower & Spiced Potato with an almond garlic emulsion, kale & poached apple

The observant amongst you will notice the change in hair style across courses!

How does it stack up Vegan wise? This is primarily a Vegetarian restaurant, therefore a lot of the menu is non Vegan but we have noticed the vegan choices grow and when Richard gave a Vegan Gourmet course earlier this year we did get a hint that he was beginning to see Vegan Gourmet cooking as the next challenge. Wishful thinking? let's hope not! ( www.demuths.co.uk www.vegetariancookeryschool.com )

And now we are back in our room and preparing for tomorrow - there will not be a post tomorrow, or even about it and there is a good reason for this. My son, Patrick, is just completing a four week cookery course at the Grange ( www.cookeryatthegrange.co.uk ) in Somerset designed to prepare students for their "gap year", working at ski resorts etc. On the final day the students prepare a lunch for their families, which is why we have travelled to Bath. In supporting Patrick I wouldn't miss it for the world but an expectation of Vegan cuisine would be misplaced therefore any report of what was on offer is censored for this blog ! Having said that a note at some time on how a Vegan can cope in these situations may be interesting.

Immediately following lunch Katie and I set of for a five hour drive on the next leg of our tour, this time to North Wales where we are attending a Druworldwide Ayurvedic Nutrition & Detox weekend in Snowdonia. It will be a wonderful way to relax, walk (rain permitting) do some yoga and learn how Ayurveda can accommodate, or even embrace, Veganism (with no ghee or yoghurt etc). (www.druworldwide.com)

I go to sleep tonight with a clear conscience for I am up to date on our VeganMoFo blog posts. Yay!

For now, goodnight, back on Saturday.

Carol

xxx

VeganMoFO Post #9: All things Bright"on" Beautiful

What was this big yellow ball in the sky? I seem to remember seeing something like it a long time ago!

Brighton in the sun is amazing - official - so up and off to Iydea for breakfast - it didn't disappoint. ( www.iydea.co.uk )

Completely different atmosphere than at lunchtime, a calm, purposefulness of feeding people breakfast whilst getting on with the main task, preparing for lunchtime. Interesting to experience these two facets of the place.

I had been intrigued by a stir fry item of Avocado  mushroom and tomato (avocado feature a lot on the breakfast menu) so I went for a Vegan option small full breakfast  - you have to pace yourself! - I chose double stir fry instead of eggs  (why would anyone not?!) with another "Beet this" drink because I had like it so much the day before. My first impression was that everything, the beans, sausage, hash brown, stir fry was home made - wow!

Full Vegan Breakfast "Iydea" style

Kate was very bold and chose the Vegan Brunch Muffin consisting of  "Avocado, sausage, balsamic roasted tomato, hummus, spring onion & our own special fruity sauce in a toasted muffin". I think the fact that it arrived in a burger wrapper sealed the deal for our Kate!

Just look at that wrapper!

and within the wrapper ...

With us both feeling replete it was time to walk off some of those calories whilst shopping (we girls know how to multi task!). Kate needed to update her wardrobe and there was so much choice of where to shop, she ended up getting outfits for all her Christmas dinners/parties and the work wardrobe found quite a few new occupants!

We were both still in pursuit of Vegetarian shoes and a trip to a shop of the same name (Vegetarian shoes) plus a return visit to Irregular Choice saw us both happy with quite a number of purchases! - I will post a picture of them all when we get home (well, maybe all of them!).

Lunch was Infinity cafe which is connected to the Infinity shop (obvious really). I have used the internet to buy a number of things from the shop in the past, they have a number of speciality flours and other goods you can struggle for elsewhere. I needed Coconut flour as that is the only ingredient I need ready to try a Parmesan style cheese I've been wanting to make (maybe from "Artisan Vegan cheeses"?) when I get home.  ( www.infinityfoodscafe.co.uk www.infinityfoods.co.uk )

Back to lunch, to be honest neither of us were starving - hungry even - but we had set a task to eat here so in we went, good decision. All the food is freshly made, I had the Houmus, spinach, carrot, beetroot & alfalfa sandwich which had home made wedges and Vegan Mayo as an option (it would have been rude to refuse!), Kate went for the meze. Let's just say that there wasn't very much left at the end!

so what's "optional" about wedges and mayo?

A Meze (stopped short of a pun!)

Full stomachs, full shopping bags it's back to the hotel for a rest and a snooze before dinner

.

It all had to end somewhere, these fantastic meals couldn't go on, surely. They didn't, dinner was a disaster.

We picked Bombay Aloo because it was on a list of Veggie restaurants we had picked up in the shoe shop and wanting to give our business to Veggie establishments we chose this over any other Indian restaurant. They offer an all you can eat buffet for £4.95, for starters there were onion bhajees which were inedible, Pakoras which actualy were nice and poppadums with all the usual garnishes. For main it was boiled rice and a number of pots of curries which we found, without exception to be watery, bland and tasteless. Luckily neither of us were very hungry so we ate a little and felt that at least we hadn't wasted a lot of money.

Walking back to the hotel we "bumped into" my son's really good friend who has just started at Brighton Uni, what are the chances? (please, Kevin, don't work it out!)

What did we think of Brighton? - well, before we left we booked our hotel ready for VegFest in March - nuff said!

Tomorrow we head for Bath.

Vegan MoFO Post #8 "Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside, even when its raining ..."

.... an "Oh, how it rained", typical England c.2012, but it didn't dampen our spirits.

we had both been amused at the information folder in our room telling us, in no uncertain terms, to have breakfast for our "own good" and they were offering a "full" vegan breakfast in the room so we went ahead and ordered it. We were pleasantly surprised and it was a treat to sit looking out over the sea as we tucked in.

Breakfast for 2 overlooking the sea

If I give the impression that these days are organised purely around food that's because they are and lunch was beckoning, in every list I had looked at there was one cafe, Iydea, that was recommended, this was one @efcliz had mentioned too so I definitely wanted to try it. Imagine my disappointment when we left Kambi the night before to see Iydea, with the windows covered, people working inside and a notice saying it would be open by the new year. The cafe, Kate and I were all gutted. We had already had a set back when Terre a Terre had had to close until December because of a kitchen fire, laundry had combusted at night when, thankfully, no one was there. We were now, it appeared, two down so I was delighted on checking the internet to see that this was an additional branch of Iydea being developed and the original was well and truly in tact.

Phew, lunch was saved and how grateful we were, it was delicious. The cafe is in a bustling area of Brighton called North Laines and the bustle continues into the shop, its only small and the queue became long whilst we were there with many people getting take aways. You choose your main dish, 2 salads or veg and 2 sides.

Kate liking the "Iydea" (sorry) of lunch.

I had a Cauliflower and Red Lentil Rasam with roasted cumin carrots, green beans, shredded beetroot and toasted seeds whilst Kate went for a tofu spanakopita pie with the same accompaniments as me, the flavours were so clear and "exquisite" (Kate's word). They make fresh juices so I went for "Beet this" because I juice a lot at home but rarely use beetroot because of the washing up! this had apple carrot and ginger too, very refreshing, Kate tried the homemade Raspberry Lemonade which earned another "exquisite".

They use very small plates and you are served which keeps their portions controlled but, having said that, your plate is piled high and there is plenty to eat but it loses a little on the aesthetics (minor quibble). We obviously loved it as we decided to return tomorrow for breakfast.

We then went shopping for Vegetarian shoes, this is an area we both fall down on with buying Vegan goods and we looked to resolve it so we enterd the crazy, zany world of Irregular choice. Fabulous shoes, not all Vegan but they were happy to point out which were. The Manager gave me short shift when I answered her question with the fact that I was too old for such shoes - Evidently you are NEVER too old - I bought some shoes and how pleased I am.

You are never too old for Irregular Choice shoes!

Quick rest at the hotel and back out, this time to Food for Friends. Proudly boasting being the oldest Vegetarian restaurant in Brighton you can see why it has survived and thrived, beautifully fitted out, attentive staff and food that is cooked to perfection. Too good to be true? If you are Vegetarian, probably yes, but for Vegans the choice was very limited with Tofu repeating more often than we would have liked.

Having said the above our meals were superb,Red lentil, peanut and tomato soup, with bread followed by Spicy Asian tofu salad with rice noodles, crispy mirin marinated tofu, shredded Asian vegetables and a spicy kimchi dressing. Kate had Crispy tofu with sweet chilli dressing followed by Sweet Potato, Aubergine, Tomato and Spinach Curry with papadum, aromatic basmati, spiced yoghurt and cauliflower pakora.

Couldn't fault it.

There's no waiting until after the photo to get started!

Best dish of the day.

Vegan Rose Prosecco too.

A wonderful day, looking forward to tomorrow.

VeganMoFO Post #7: Brighton Bound

a couple of times a year Kate (a.k.a. Female Offspring) and I take ourselves off for a few days to rest, shop and enjoy all things Vegan. We usually end up in London but for some time we have wanted to take a Vegan "pilgrimage" to Brighton, commonly excepted as the "Mecca" of Vegetarian food in the UK (our version of Portland, Orgeon I guess).

We set off from home, later than we had hoped with a box of cupcakes, a pot of homous, pack of Oatcakes and a large bag of crisps. We would have had a couple of the rolls from the day before but my DH had decided to freeze them to last him and youngest daughter, Bean, through the week of culinary abandonment - we let it go!

Journey was straight through with no stops, 180 miles of Motorway plus another 20, Kate slept for much of the journey and I sang along to an early Beatles CD  - it don't get much better than this.

On arrival we realised how tired we were and that we didn't really know Brighton but, thanks to Twitter and @efcliz with a couple of pointers it meant that after a sleep we headed off for Kambis which was, more or less, around the corner.

Kambis is not a fancy restaurant, it doesn't have a licence to serve alcohol but it also doesn't charge you to take your own and there was a family run feel about the place. It is Lebanese and although the menu was for all dietary choices there was a lot of choice for vegans, which proves my theory that a Vegan will never starve in a Middle Eastern restaurant.

Starter we had a Vegan Meze for 1 (advice from the waitress suggested that we had ordered too much with 2 and she was right). It was listed as  Hommos, moutabal, tabbouleh, vine leaves, batatta hara, fatayer, falafel & salad, they substituted the Vine Leaves which was good as it's the one thing I didn't want. No picture - too hungry - but it was good.

For main course Kate had Badmojan, Aubergine in a tomato sauce with onions and spices and I went for Ghormeh Sabsi Vegetarian, Kidney Beans with parsley, leek, fenugreek, onion, rhubarb (what the heck?), herbs and dried lime. Both came with an enormous portion of perfectly cooked fluffy rice but we had a portion of fries between us too.

Kate waiting to "tuck in"

The flavour of all the food was excellent and it was a good first night dinner when you just want feeding and nothing fancy - good choice.

It also taught us that when you go to a place you are not familiar with get the advice from someone who is; thanks Liz

VeganMoFO Post #6: I don't like Mondays; but I love Sundays ...

... absolutely love Sundays because I usually get to  "hang out" in the kitchen, my Iphone goes into the Docking Station to play my music (any Mother of four children will know why the "my" was underlined!). My music, however, does give rise to some amusement, I put all 1,300 songs onto random play and takes what comes, that's okay but with such an eclectic taste it has produced some interesting follow ons - a Georgian chant directly followed by Madonna's "Like a Virgin" was my personal favourite.

This Sunday was a a good day, first things first, and I make a batch of bread, nothing fancy, nothing elaborate just half white, half wholemeal bread with a recipe I can make in my sleep (and often do) the decision comes with 2 loaves, rolls or half and half? Today was a rolls day (it was a loaves day yesterday).

"Run of the Mill" Rolls

Duties done so now onto the fun stuff, I am in the pursuit of the perfect Vegan Sausage and Burger and most weekends I experiment, today was:

50g Pecans, toasted and chopped

1 Onion and 2 cloves of garlic, chopped and fried until soft but not coloured.

1 tin Green Lentils

1 500g pack Mushrooms, sliced

30mg Tomato Paste

10mg Italian Herbs

5mg Tarragon

1/2 cup Oats

15ml Tamari Soya Sauce

I have listed these as if I was very precise, I wasn't but this is roughly what went into them.

After frying the onions and garlic I added the mushroom and cooked until soft then added the tomato paste to take away any bitterness.

I put everything from the frying pan into the Food Processor with all the other ingredients except the Pecans, I processed until almost smooth and then added the Pecans which I stirred in with seasoning (it only needed Pepper).

I formed into 8 burgers and coated with Barley flour, thereby keeping it all Gluten Free, and into the fridge to firm up.

There were some Maris Piper Potatoes in the pantry to use up so I cut into cubes and steamed until almost cooked and then shook (more violently then was absolutely necessary!) to create nice rough edges and then flash fried in a little hot Olive Oil.

Pecan, Mushroom & Lentil Burgers with Sauteed Maris Pipers

It needed a sauce so I went for Chloe's "special" sauce with her Double Drive Burgers. This worked better than the last time I made it as I had bought some "Sweet Relish" from a site I had found www.americansweets.co.uk that sell lots of American products in the UK. (I have even bought some Graham Crackers as I had never worked out what they were!).

Sweet Relish, as it says on the jar.

Add a salad with whatever is in the fridge along with toasted Pumpkin and Sunflower seeds and dried cranberries et voila the perfect Sunday Lunch.

Sunday Salad

An afternoon snooze was obviously in order which left me refreshed and ready for Part 2, a batch of Mulligatawny Soup as a birthday present for a good friend at work who liked this soup when I made some years ago, he said it was similar to his Mother's which is always a killer, so I wanted to make it as nice as he had found it last time, not sure I did - quite - so I'm going for "it's the thought" on this one!

Also made two batches of cupcakes, the ubiquitous Banana with Lemon icing from Chloe Coscarelli made Gluten free and also her Coconut Cupcakes to which I added Pineapple juice to the icing with a slice of Pineapple on top to turn them into Pina Colada - success in a cupcake!

Pina Colada as a cupcake

Lovely, lovely day and now packing my case as tomorrow Kate (Female Offspring, remember her!) are Brighton bound.

Excited!

VeganMoFO Post#5 Coach & Horses, London's first Vegetarian Pub

Good Morning,

Didn't manage a post yesterday I'm afraid as I had to take my youngest daughter for an audition in Convent Garden and then was out last night.

I did, however, manage to cross off another of my London "must dos" which was to eat at the Coach And Horses in Greek Street, Soho.

My dear Hubby was also in London for a meeting yesterday morning and suggested that he join us when he had finished. Before I go any further I must explain a little about him, he is an Omnivore, a Carnivore even, his ideal diet really is red meat, sausages and red wine which is now fundamentally opposite to mine. In fairness to him he has said that he doesn't feel its right that, at home, meat should be cooking whilst I am in the kitchen so he bought himself a gas barbeque (we now call him "Ken" as he is always out the back with Barbie!).

He wasn't, therefore, my ideal lunch companion on the day but the Coach & Horses did hold interest to him as the place well known for the staff at Private Eye (his favorite publication) holding many a liquid lunch at and you could tell it had a history, there was that feel. For any visitors to the UK this would be a great place to go, there is a "hidden" tea room (quintessentially English) upstairs, "hidden" because you access it through the bar. I saved this "treat" for another visit and we stayed in the bar, which had everything you would expect of an English Pub, wonderful to see the character preserved and not "improved (?!) by one of the large chains.

Coach & Horses Bar

I was interested to see how they would put a menu together that catered for meat eaters and expected there to be a number of meat substitutes, Quorn and the like, but it wasn't like that at all more reminiscent of Manna menus (where Head Chef, Lahiri Balloni, worked before) and it sparks an interesting debate of whether you offer an easy decision for meat eaters when your worlds come together or do you go "full on" Veggie: Artichokes, Polenta, Beetroot Tarte Tatin that sort of thing. Another discussion for another post.

Back to our lunch, DH went for cheese and biscuits (safe!), whilst daughter, Bean (that really is what we call her) went for Home made sausages with mash and beans in a tomato sauce. Her verdict was that it was very filling and tasty with the beans tasting quite similar to my home made baked beans which I took as a compliment.

Purely in the interest of research I ordered two dishes (a martyr to the cause), Pate and Sourdough toast followed by Tofush with chips, Peas and Tartar sauce.

Pate was "mushroom-y" with a flavour that wasn't overpowering, nice though, and the Tofush - well now that was interesting: Tofu, wrapped in Nori Seaweed, dipped in Ale batter and deep fried and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful crispy batter, lovely deep flavour from the Nori and although there was more Tofu than I would normally eat in a sitting I didn't leave a scrap. Left the Tartar sauce however because there was a mix up on the deliveries meaning I wasn't sure it was the vegan option I had ordered and was much too hungry to ask!

A note here about the service, we had ordered four dishes and there was only three of us which confused the waitress and she gave my Tofush to a couple at the bar who had also ordered one. We could quite understand how this had happened and it wasn't a big deal but they were full of apologies and gave us all a free drink to apologise. How they handle everyday situations like this says a lot about a place; impressive.

Would I go back? Absolutely but next time I try upstairs, have a feeling that will be a treat!

Here's a link to the menu, most of this was on offer yesterday but not all. http://www.coachandhorsessoho.co.uk/coach_menu.pdf

By the way, I didn't take any photographs (not really into this recording your life frame by frame business yet) so the picture above is from Google and I have gone back to find its originator for acknowledgement but can't find it again - rookie error - sorry!

VeganMoFO Post #4 My name is Carol and I'm a Cookbook'holic

It’s been 2 days since my last purchase (although there are 2 on Pre-order with Amazon :-) )

Okay, I freely admit it’s an addiction BUT, I don’t smoke (last ciggie was June the 23rd, half past 11, 1986), I hardly drink (an absolute lightweight) and I don’t eat out at fancy restaurants (they don’t serve Vegan food) so, all in all, as addictions go, it’s not too bad at all. In fact I think it’s pretty good.

It’s the extent though, all in all I have, literally thousands of cookery books and if you look at  the history of my purchases on Amazon, it’s not the only place I buy from but it’s a good indicator of what’s happening in my life you can see a evolution. First there were lots from the “Celebrity” books and “technique”  genres moving onto Vegetarian, Macrobiotic, Ayurvedic, as I researched the options available to me  and then, eventually, you see the Vegan books move up from a trickle to a crescendo (I appreciate those words don’t really go together but they were the ones that sprung to mind).

I must admit that when I “turned” Vegan I thought,  naively as it turns out, that there couldn’t possibly be many Vegan only cookbooks so I may as well just buy them all  - soon changed my mind on that one!

When I started to prepare for MoFO I took out all of my Vegan only books and put them all together on the piano, thus:

The first 3 piles

and the second 3 piles

Yesterday afternoon I had the most wonderful time, there was a storm outside and there was work to be done for my job but I didn’t want to do it so I sat and catalogued all my Vegan Cookery books (there are 154 including 3 that fell down the back of the piano!). I organised by author, I looked in all of them and reacquainted myself with some old friends. You forget just how many Robin Robertson has written and they are still coming and how Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer spearheaded the concept that Vegan cooking and eating is FUN.Let’s not forget the blogs, good blogs are producing may good cookbooks, my last Amazon purchase was Vegan Crunk by Bianca Phillips where both blog and book prove my point.

My favourite book on the day has to have been “The Voluptuous Vegan”, I love the name it feels nice when you say it, the cover is alive and vibrant  so how could this book possibly be about a way of eating that is “austere”, “deficient” and “unhealthy”?  But, of course, we all know ……………………..

And today’s job? Finding a home to keep all my “friends” together and quickly too as I have nowhere to serve all the food!