Searching for RecipesOkay, here's the story: as you probably know, I am working at an animal shelter called The Cat Haven. I LOVE my job and I LOVE the girls that I work with (one in particular!! :-) but what I don't love is that they are among the typical, hypocritical 'animal lovers' who still eat animals. There are a few vegetarians among them but certainly no vegans (and most of them had never heard of a raw foodie until they met me!)
So I am winning them all over with my delicious cooking and un-cooking, showing them how ultra tasty cruelty free food is. My first major experiment was last Sunday when I took a big batch of
Chai Latte Cupcakes (from the ppK) in to share. Instead of the suggested topping I just sprinkled them with icing sugar, then personalised them by using an old stencil to put the first letter of everyone's name on a cupcake in cocoa powder. They looked AWESOME and I so badly wanted to share photos but lo and behold, my camera ran out of batteries. And my camera is really finnicky and only takes Duracell brand batteries, which I of course didn't have any of, so I was going to take pictures on my Dad's camera but my parents went away for the weekend so that was out too, boo :-( The good news, however, is that every single cupcake, including the rejects that spilled out of their liners and turned more into cookies, was devoured. Everyone thought the initialing was cute and funny and the cupcakes went down really well, with most people not knowing they were vegan until they were told (of course!) All in all, a great response.
But what I am after now is suggestions of other recipes I can take in. My only real requirement is that they are vegan: can be cooked or raw, sweet or savoury, whatever. Obviously if I am making a cooked recipe I'm not going to be sampling it, so this is why I want really tried and true recipes, that definitely WON'T fail me. Also, these girls are serious junk food addicts so I don't want anything that tastes too 'healthy,' if you know what I mean. SO, suggestions please!!
Because I didn't have a photo of the cupcakes to show you, I thought I'd share this one instead:
It's the cake from my best friend's engagement party about a month ago now (where is the time going!?!) The lighting was bad but the cake was stunning. Definitely not vegan but vay vay pwetty!!
And here is my gorgeous artsy fartsy photo of it :-)
I leave you now... lots of recipe suggestions please!!
An ode to a fruit that I love...
... PERSIMMONS!! And as you may have guessed from my previous post, I like a certain type of persimmon, the type that not many other people like. I like
astringent persimmons. Sweet persimmons, also called fuyu fruit (I think) are eaten crisp, almost like an apple. To me, they have very little flavour and the texture does not delight. But astringent persimmons...woah. I actually only discovered this joyous fruit last year - i've been missing out for 18 years! - but I plan to make up for that in years to come!
Many people are put off by astringent persimmons because at some point they have tried one that wasn't ripe, which is certainly not a pleasant experience. When eatne under-ripe, they leave the inside of your mouth feeling furry and gross. A truly ripe astringent persimmon is really really squishy and the skin should split if you squeeze it. The inside has a texture very much like jam - the way I eat them is to pull out the flower-like leaf at the top then split the fruit in half and slurp the insides out messily. Yum.
This post is the beginning of my attempt at blogging much more regularly. I think the main reason that I don't post is because I like all my posts to have (good) photos, but because all my blogworthy meals are eaten at night, when the lighting is bad, I have no photos. Hence, no posting. But I am going to try and change all that!
A memeYou know you need to update your blog when your Nanna is telling you to do it, lol :-P
Tonight I bring you a meme, which I spotted at
Walking the Vegan Line. The way it works is that if you do any of the five things, then you are tagged. So here are the options:
1. bite your nails
2. secretly listen to Britney Spears while driving
3. wish you had a pig as a companion animal
4. consider yourself a scientist
5. ate a cupcake this past weekend
So I don't really fit any of these. I did bite my nails for 8 years but I have now actually stopped, yah! I do sometimes listen to a bit of Brit but it's not much of a secret. To be honest I have never really wished this at all, though my Mum does. I used to have a sheep and I looooooooooooved her so much. Number 4 is probably the closest, I don't have any qualifications yet but I will eventually have some kind of science degree. And it's a definite no to number 5.
What were you doing five years ago?
Ummm...2003. That would be my first year at St Peters, the private all-girls school where I did my last 3 years of school. That was a horrible horrible horrible year that I would really rather not remember too much.
What are five things on your to-do list today?
Well as it is now 9.30pm there is not much left for me to do today.
1. Brush my teeth.
2. Feed my darling ratties.
3. Brush my hair
4. Get my bag ready for work tomorrow so I don't have to do it in the morning.
5. Clean up the kitchen.
What are five snacks you enjoy?
My ultimate favourite thing to snack on is simply fruit. So I'll tell you my favourite fruits :-)
1. Grapes (probably the BEST snacking food in the world :-) I like red ones with seeds, lots of different varieties but especially currant grapes
2. Rockmelon
3. Persimmons (astringent ones)
4. Figs
5. Bananas
What are five things you would do if you were a millionare?
1. Give money to all my favourite charities... animals australia, PAWS, the Australian Orangutan Project, Veg-fam, TEAR ... the list goes on.
2. Give some to all my close family and friends.
3. Buy a totally eco-friendly house in the country somewhere.
4. Start a feral cat rehabilitation shelter (my dream!)
5. Publish my own books including raw food books, poetry, fiction...
What are your 5 bad habits?
1. Procrastination
2. Always running late (probably linked to number one :-)
3. Picking my scabs (sorry, TMI)
4. Getting to bed late (also linked to number one)
5. Ummmm... I can't think of another one!!
Where are five places you have lived?
1. Burton, Adelaide, South Australia
2. Elizabeth, Adelaide, South Australia
3. Lobethal, South Australia. The BEST place to grow up on Earth. I will always <3 you Loby!!
4. East Victoria Park, Perth, West Australia
5. Bayswater, Perth, West Australia
What are five jobs you've had?
Hmmm I don't know if I've had that many...
1. I mowed the lawn for a friend of my Grandma
2. Berry picker/packer
3. Giant teddy bear
4. Junk mail deliverer (the worst job going... well not the worst, but pretty bad)
5. and now... Cat Welfare Officer. How i love my job :-)
So now I have to tag some more people. You are officially tagged if you:
1. Sponsor or have sponsored a child or animal of some kind
2. Take cold showers in the summer (or all year round!)
3. Love squishy slurpy astringent persimmons WAAAAAAAAY more than those stupid crunchy ones
4. Share your home with more than one feline friend
5. Have a compost heap
