This is Victoria, my new lemon tree! Isn’t she beautiful? She also smells amazing!!
I’ve wanted a lemon tree for ages and picked this little beauty up at Rice Road Greenhouse in Niagara. The plan is to keep her on the deck in the summer and then winter her inside. I understand she needs lots of sunshine and lots of water, but other than that I’m still learning what makes a happy, healthy lemon tree. Anyone have any tips?
I was recently told about Jo Stepaniak’s “Uncheese” book by a local artist and graduate of our program. (Hi Leanne!) After the sad realization that I won’t be getting my hands on any more Vegusto unless I head back across the Atlantic Ocean on a regular basis (which would be lovely, but financially unrealistic) I decided to order this book and give some of these “uncheese” recipes a try. First up was the “Swiss Cheese” recipe and I’ll tell you, it was hard to decide where to start – all of the recipes in this book look quite yummy. I started with the “Swiss Cheese” simply because I had all the ingredients on hand. The base of the cheese is agar flakes so it solidified nicely, with a similar consistency to a block of dairy cheese. I’ve sliced a few pieces off the block and, while I like the taste and texture, I will admit that I am still warming up to it – mostly thinking of how I’d like to use this in recipes. Today for lunch I grated some of it over pasta and that worked really well. It even got soft and “melty” – very exciting!
My adventures in “uncheese” will undoubtedly continue so look here for updates. (I also want to try some of the “uncheese” recipes in Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen, but haven’t had a chance to do so yet)
We just got back from a trip to Britain. I was over doing research at the British Library and at various other smaller archives. This post is about the vegan deliciousness we found in Britain, so I’ll not write about the research here. I will say, however, that I will never, ever get tired of going to the British Library. It is truly one of my favourite places on earth!
Anyhow, on to the vegan goodness…
This was my first visit to Britain as a vegan. On previous trips to the UK I was impressed not only by the vegetarian options but also by the convenient labelling of veggie options at pubs, grocery stores and the like. We are moving quite a bit further down this road in Canada, but have quite a ways to go on this front. Anyhow, because of these previous experiences I figured that the UK would be pretty good for vegan options and labelling as well, and this certainly did turn out to be the case. As we were sitting at Gatwick waiting for our flight home, for instance, we popped in to a pub and not only got a delicious cask ale but also noted the how many times the word “vegan” appeared on the menu. If anyone can point me to a Canadian airport that has this kind of awesomeness I’ll bake you a batch of your favourite vegan cookies.
Research conducted before we left for the UK pointed us in the direction of Vx (pronounced “V-Cross”) on our first day out in London. Vx is the headquarters for the “Secret Society of Vegans” and is also a shop that offers so many wonderful vegan products, including packaged sandwiches and other convenience options.
This made a lovely picnic to take over to the British Library as Vx is just a short walk from King’s Cross Station.
Picnic from Vx
Among the many items we bought at Vx (t-shirts, tote bags, sandwiches, biscuits, etc…) was the best darn vegan “cheese” I have ever tasted. I’d read about the launch of Vegusto prior to leaving Canada and hoped I’d find some in London, but wasn’t getting my hopes up. I’m so glad that Vx had some. This is, quite simply, the best vegan “cheese” on the planet. I like Daiya and Dr. Cow, but Vegusto is miles better than either of these wonderful products. It is, in fact, so like “real” cheese that the only complaint I’ve heard about it is that it is eerily too close to cow’s milk cheese for some people’s comfort level. I’ve been enjoying “Ploughman’s lunches” with the Vegusto and am looking forward to making a “cheese” and chutney sandwich with it. I just wish it were available in North America. I brought home 3 packages of it, and am quite seriously planning my next trip to the UK around the availability of Vegusto.
Another shop we found was Alara in Bloomsbury. This was a combination health food store/cafe and also had many fabulous vegan treats.
Vegan treats from Vx and Alara.
Further research (and advice from some lovely folks) pointed us in the direction of two London restaurants – Mildred’s in Soho and Manna in Primrose Hill. We’d heard great things about both places but we’d also heard that it was tough to get a table in either of these fine establishments. Mildred’s doesn’t take reservations, so we simply lucked out in getting a table on a Friday night. We were able to make a reservation for Manna and it was good we did – it was completely booked solid by the time we dined there on Sunday night.
Mildred’s is a tiny little place with nearly frenetic energy and is cozy and fun! The staff is very friendly and the food was spectacular. I opted for the mushroom and ale pie (vegan of course!) which came served with a side of mushy peas. I was in British vegan heaven! My only disappointment was that I didn’t save room for dessert as it looked like there were some pretty lovely vegan puddings on the menu.
Dinner at Mildred's
Manna was more of a “fine dining” experience and was the kind of place you want to linger in for hours. After the disappointment of not being able to eat dessert at Mildred’s, we planned appropriately and deliberately didn’t eat much leading up to dinner at Manna. We enjoyed starters: hummus (one of my lovely dining companions judges a restaurant by the quality of the hummus and was most impressed in this instance!) and also a plate of nachos served with a vegan cashew-based cheese. I will admit that I was curious to order this primarily to check out the faux cheese – as you can tell from this post I’m on a bit of a mission when it comes to the vegan “cheeses” these days. Anyhow, in this case it was a soft “cheese,” sort of like a cross between ricotta and sour cream – perfect for nachos!
Nachos, Manna style.
For the main course I ordered the spaghetti, described on the menu as a house specialty and I can see why. It was delicious!
We didn’t miss out on pudding this time and ordered the vegan tiramisu cheesecake and the vegan crumble (complete with vegan custard) to share. They were fabulous! Simply put, the desserts at Manna are worth the price of a plane ticket to London!
In short, both restaurants were delicious and well worth checking out. It was such a treat to be able to order so much off the menus – I am so used to getting the one vegan (or veganizable) option that I was a little overwhelmed when it came time to make decisions about what to order. This is a good problem to have, in my opinion!
We took a couple of day trips – the first one to Brighton where we briskly walked over to Vegetarian Shoes as soon as we got off the train. I have ordered from Vegetarian Shoes online before, but was so excited to check out the store first-hand. We managed to restrict ourselves to 2 pairs of shoes each, but this had everything to do with the lack of space in our luggage and nothing at all to do with the selection of cute shoes in the store. So many pairs to pick from!
There are a staggering number of restaurants, pubs and cafes in Brighton that cater to vegans. I think next time I’ll stay a few nights just to check them all out! This time we made our way to The Prince George Pub where we had some pints and split an order of vegan sausage (made with carrot and coriander). Dessert (or pudding) was a vegan ice cream sundae and I was especially tickled when it came served in a pint glass. (seriously, why don’t I live in this country?!)
Our next day trip was to Cambridge where, in addition to punting on the river, oogling the gorgeous old buildings and having a lovely visit with a former student who is now finishing up a PhD at Cambridge, we made two visits to the Rainbow Cafe – vegan lunch AND dinner!
This was a wonderful trip for so many reasons, and it was especially fun to track down all these fabulous vegan-friendly businesses. I can’t wait until my next trip to the UK!
I took my new red shoes from Vegetarian Shoes out on the River Cam.
