a year of vegan eats @umeko_chan 0
London & The Dreaded Diet 1
Picture by Simon Matthews 2015 Hi, my name is Ivy and I live with my husband Leo (@ktchn_nrchst) and our cat Jiji in Edinburgh, Scotland. As of the 1 st of January 2016 Leo will also be vegan. Exciting! In September 2015 I went from being a picky meat eater to a vegan overnight. It wasn t difficult for me as I didn t eat much meat to begin with. My plan was to be vegan until the end of the year so I could lose some weight. I love to cook and I m always experimenting so cooking without animal products came pretty easily to me. Then something happened. In October 2015 my beloved cat Brody died suddenly. I m not a child person so she was as close to a child as I would ever have, she was my world. Seeing her so scared and in pain even though it all happened very quickly will stay with me forever. I don t want to be the cause of such fear and hurt to another being. From that point onwards being vegan turned from an unimportant fad to loose some weight to a new way of life and it has been one of the easiest and most exciting changes I have ever made in my life. A whole new world of food has opened up to me and as such no weight has been lost as I m too busy eating all the new things. Damn. 2
Part Three March London and the dreaded diet In this 12 part e-book I m going to explore being vegan in a variety of situations. I have plans to travel, weddings to attend, an entire months of being absolutely skint and some special occasions to celebrate in a different way. Some might be easier than others but we ll find that out as we go. I m still very new to this and 2016 will be my first full year as a vegan so there will be a lot to learn as the year goes on. This month it s all about shedding some chub. I first went vegan to lose weight but instead I ve piled it on because I want to try everything I can lay my hands on. We ve also just come back from Paris and London which was filled with fried food and all things bad for us. In April 2015 I got a really bad bout of tonsillitis and since then it just won t go away. After months of arguing with Dr s they have finally agreed to take them out however it s an operation done under general aesthetic. The dose is calculated based on your weight and I m on the cusp of being heavy enough for complications to arise. I don t have a date for the operation yet but I want to loose weight before I get there and get back into some healthy habits. So what s the plan? Get back into swimming. Everyone has an exercise they enjoy (seriously) and for me it s swimming. Last year I got back into it so that I could do a mile swim in Loch Lomond but since then I just fell out of practice. Making a conscious effort to swim a mile a week will make a huge difference. Walking to/from work (weather permitting). It s a 2 mile walk from my hose to the office which is about a 50 minute wander or a 40 minute scoot on my micro scooter. Its another form of exercise 4 days times a week and it saves me 3 bus fare a day. Eat lots of lovely fruit and vegetables. Trying out vegan cheese and meat alternatives has been fun and tasty but it needs to be reserved for a treat. It s highly processed and full of fat and salt so I need to get back to basics. Weigh in once a week (Tuesday first thing) so that I can keep a track of what s happening. It might not always be good but its better to know so that I can make changes. Bulk out meals with low calorie vegetables such as mushrooms, cabbage, courgette and carrot. Substitute sweet things for fruit. I ve always been terrible at this but my tastes have changed recently so I no enjoy fruit. Hopefully this will make eating fruit instead of cake a lot easier. 3
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London We ve made it to London and as we re getting the train home we ve been able to pick up a small fruit knife so that we can have grapefruit for breakfast in our hotel room. I couldn t stomach fruit for so long, I just didn t like it, but since the whole raw challenge I ve been getting into it more and more. Going vegan really does change your taste in food. Grapefruit is one of those tastes that I really didn t like but I love them for breakfast. They are beautifully self contained and are a fresh way to start the day and also a healthy way to start the day. We ve got a day to ourselves to potter around so the first thing I want to do is take Leo to Camden. He s never been and we re that end of town so it s the perfect opportunity to show him somewhere new and to take him to a couple of vegan places on the way. Inspiral, the people who make kale chips and coconut pecks have a restaurant next to the bridge, that s lunch sorted! Over the road is Cookies and Scream, that s dessert sorted. Well that was the plan anyway. Insprial closed for good at the beginning of the year which is such a shame. I went back in October 2015 with a friend and had their chia crust quiche, filled with cashew cream and vegetables, my friend had their herby raw tart. Both were delicious. Disappointed we headed over to Cookies and Scream for a cookie instwad only to find that they were closed too (just for the day). A lovely lady who was also wanting to grab some cookies recommended My Village Café for vegan food guess what. Not open yet or for another hour. It s clearly not our day. After a wander round Camden we decided to walk to Oxford Street. We re meeting friends in Soho later on in the day and have nowhere to be quick so it was nice to have a wander and see some places that we otherwise wouldn t see. Also it means that I get to walk Leo past the part of London I stayed in last year. This is where we found some lunch at Wrap It Up and damn it was good. From there just a few roads down is a hidden coffee shop called Attendant. Finally things are looking up. After a brief wander round Soho and a visit to the Algerian Coffee Shop we parked ourselves in the pub for the rest of the evening. It s always lovely being down in London so that we can catch up with friends. 5
Recipe List Page 21 Page 32 Page 34 Page 40 Page 44 Page 46 Creamy Spinach Sauce - What a Lovely Colour Leo s Focaccia The Patient Baker Earl Grey and Blueberry tray bake More Fruit than Cake Courgette, Pea and Spinach Summer Bowl Every Shade of Green Tea Soaked Cranberry and Orange Hot Cross-less Buns Spicy Cheesy Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce Thank you! A big, huge thank you for buying this little e-book. I really appreciate your support and I hope that you have found these hints, tips and recipes useful (and tasty). You can find out more (or come say hello) on - Twitter/ Instagram - @umeko_chan www.year-of-vegan-eats.tumblr.com www.facebook.com/yearofveganeats Now on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/ucz5wknvsir9152033qv7nqa 6