Irish-German Vegan Exchange

I don't really know very many vegans in Ireland. I know a couple of vegetarians who occasionally dabble in veganism and raw food, and people who eat healthy organic food, but nobody who is a dedicated vegan. This is why I decided to suggest to my friend in Bremen that we do a little vegan exchange by post, for fun!  I've been to Germany a few times, but I wasn't the most healthy person back then, and I can remember living off takeaway food (pretty much just pointing at something on a chip shop or Chinese menu), bread, and anything basic like beans or pasta that I could buy from local store and cook up at the hostel. So as a result, I've never really had any proper German-specific vegan food.

The package I sent him included a couple of Nakd raw food bars (only really available in the UK and Ireland - I guess I'm to blame for his addiction to them now... sorry about that, man! I'll send you some more if you're good!), a coconut sesame snap bar, a Doves apple and walnut cereal bar, some raspberry liquorice, Nakd cherry flavoured raisins, a minestrone cuppa soup from Lidl, and a cute little strawberry shopping bag from the Asian Market in Dublin.

Now on to the package I received in return. My parcel I sent out seemed VERY inferior in comparison, as the other morning I was awoken by the postman with a HUGE box, with drawings all over the outside, and my treats were all individually wrapped in gift paper and tied up with cute gold ribbons!! Very unexpected, and very cool! It made me feel guilty I hadn't gone to such a huge effort with presentation!

















He sent me 12 lovely vegan treats:

- 2 packets of Coconut Sesame Snaps
- some Energy Balls
- Marzipan
- 2 packets of Soup (Lentil Dhal & Vegetable Pasta)
- Toffee Laces from Ikea
- Dark Chocolate with Praline in the middle
- Hazelnut & White Chocolate Marbled Spread
- a Vanilla & Almond fruit bar
- a Coconut fruit bar
- some Strawberry Lollipops

WOW! That's a lot of stuff! Here are some pictures (yes I opened them in bed, is that such a crime?!):

As you can imagine, I was very excited and wanted to try everything and had NO idea where to begin, as there was so much to choose from! I started with the marzipan balls because I ripped through the packet by accident as I was unwrapping them (that's a good enough reason right?!)... they were delicious, but then I'm addicted to marzipan in a serious way, so that was a sure-fire win! I can't wait til Christmas, so I can get to eat marzipan fruits by the bucketload!

I've also tried the soups. The first, lentil dhal, was really nice. They are very quick to make soups, sort of like a cuppa soup that takes a bit more boiling. You basically pour in 500ml of water over the mixture and bring it to a boil in the pan for a few minutes. The dhal soup had lots of tumeric, curry powder, cumin and coriander in it, so it was really nice. The red lentils made it quite mushy and filling as well. The vegetable pasta soup was fun to eat because the pasta pieces were in the shapes of tiny letters of the alphabet ^_^ I felt like a little kid eating them, but it was so yum! The only thing I'd say about these soups is that they are quite salty (sea salt is listed on the ingredients) so they wouldn't be something to have on too regular a basis. I love salt though, so that's fine by me!

I tried the praline chocolate as well, it was nice and smooth and creamy. I've never come across anything like this before, as we don't seem to have a very exotic choice of vegan chocolate here in Ireland. I love hazelnuts so the filling of this chocolate was right up my street and I had to take a rein check to make sure I didn't devour the whole 100g bar in one sitting!

So being a huge fan of hazelnut chocolate you can bet the chocolate spread went down well too! My friend said that my "tastebuds will explode" when I try it, and they pretty much did! I was only just saying last week how it was disappointing that we can't get a vegan white and hazelnut chocolate spread, I really never knew it existed, so it was a nice surprise to unwrap this treat. I'd also just run out of chocolate spread, so you can imagine how greatful I was to receive it! I had it on a bagel this morning and it was extremely difficult to put it back into the cupboard, because I just wanted more and more... I'm going to try to make it last as long as possible, but I doubt it will even last a week in my house! When it's finished I'm going to take the empty jar to a few health food shops in Dublin and see if they can stock it. The company is from the Netherlands and I'm sure it can't be that difficult to import?

I still have to work my way through quite a few of the products. I'm looking forward to the coconut, date, and nut "Energy Balls" and the other fruity bar. I tried the vanilla and almond one (pictured below) and it was quite dense and naturally sweet like a Nakd bar. I loved it!  We definitely have to do another exchange soon, maybe in a few months' time, nearer Christmas... it was just so amazing to get to try out what other vegans from different parts of the world eat for snacks on a daily basis. So thank you, my lovely friend, for making my tummy very happy these last couple of days! ^_^

Germany is so vegan friendly, especially Berlin, from all the posts I've been reading about the city over at the Vegan Backpacker, and I'd really like to go there next summer for a vacation. However I think I'd have to stay about 3 months to get around to trying out all the lovely cafés and restaurants in the city!

And last but not least, here's a photo of me putting my feet up, relaxing while eating my snacks... I got these shoes yesterday for €4 at a charity shop. They are vegan and are exactly like these Converse boots. THEY ARE AWESOME! I've been wanting a pair like this for so long, so they were a great find :)

Thai Yellow Curry

I just made a lovely Thai yellow curry, using curry paste from Tesco and some coconut milk, mixed stir fry vegetables (baby carrots, baby corn, beansprouts, bamboo shoots, broccoli & onions), the green chillies my friend gave me from her garden, and some fresh coriander... it was delicious and SO quick to make, served with tasty, soft & fluffy wholegrain rice. It was so good I want to make it again tomorrow - I love spicy, fragrant Thai food. Tesco's yellow, green and red Thai curry pastes are all vegan. I think I've come across a Massaman curry paste there before as well which I discovered was not vegan. I used to love Massaman and was quite surprised to find that their paste contained anchovies - I'm not sure if this is the norm??

It's been raining like crazy these past few days, the Autumn has really kicked in over in Ireland - torrential rain, interrupted with brief, warm, sunny spells (actually that pretty much sounds like Ireland all year round!) with the leaves falling from all the trees. I'm sad that the summer is finally over, but also looking forward to darker days, wrapping up warm in my cosy Winter clothes, and cycling my bike down cold, deserted streets...

I bought this cute fake fur hat today, ready for the cold weather. I look like a little lepoardy-bear in it :)

Redress Yourself

I've been browsing the Re-dress website tonight.

Re-dress is a non-profit fashion organisation that educates and engages members of industry and society in sustainable consumption and production practices through networking, mentoring, consultancy and scheduled events. 

If you'd like to read more about environmentally friendly fashion, recycling your clothes, reducing your carbon footprint, and learn about ethical impacts certain fabrics have on this planet and its inhabitants then this is the website for you.

THIS page on the site, in particular, is interesting as it lists the companies which are taking part in the 'fashion evolution'.

I've tried to access their page on animal materials but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment...

Weekend Wanderings

I've had a fantastic weekend! On Saturday I met up with a very good friend and we went to the Hugh Lane Gallery. On the way we picked up a soya latte from Insomnia and some sushi and a curry from Kokoro, to eat in the Gardens of Rememberance opposite the Gallery. Kokoro didn't seem to have all its veggie and vegan sushi on the shelves, so all I got was the avocado, cucumber and sweet tofu rolls with a ginger soy sauce dip. My vegetarian friend got their tofu curry and we totally forgot to ask if it was vegan for the purpose of the blog! She said it didn't taste like it had any dairy in it though. The sauce tasted like a much better version of chip shop curry sauce, and the squash, cauliflower, peppers, onion and courgette were tenderly cooked. At just over €6.00 she was really impressed as it was a very decent, filling portion. My sushi cost €5.95 for 10 pieces and the dip, although when all the vegan sushi is available it usually comes to around €8.00 for a fuller bento with more pieces. I would have been so much happier if they'd had the oshinko and kampyo rolls available, as I find cucumber sushi quite boring...

We passed by the Nutz stall in the Ilac shopping centre. I am not sure how I managed to resist buying bags and bags of their treats, but I did! I love their dark chocolate brazils, peanuts and pieces of ginger. They also sell Japanese rice crackers, dried fruit and roasted / coated nuts.

After visiting the Hugh Lane - having a good nose around Sir Francis Bacon's studio and having fun deciphering the strange artwork of Ronnie Hughes - we went to the Live Food Market in Temple Bar. I love this place! My friend got a raw vegan cocoa & coconut energy bar from Natasha's Living Food stall to take home with her - I'll have to find out how she liked it. I remember getting it when my father was over and I really liked it, although I must admit that I can make nicer and cheaper ones at home from my Rawvolution book, and at the time I was really jealous of the blueberry cashew raw "cheese" cake that my father got! The fake cheesecakes and tarts were melting in the sun, which is why my friend opted for the more solid looking bar - but I guess that's not usually a problem in Dublin! I had to content myself with trying a few samples of their raw vegan flaxseed crackers and kale crispies, as I'm not rich enough to justify buying such decadent treats. Their salads and burgers always look so appealing though, so I'm determined to try these in the near future.

I decided to get some Indian snacks from the vegetarian Indian stall at the market, but as we were there quite late in the day most of their food had gone, which demonstrates just how good it is! I managed to nab the last Spicy Kofta, which they confirmed was vegan, as well as a vegan potato savoury. I think their samosas are also vegan (as most samosas are), and all their ingredients are listed on the labels. My friend bought a block of traditional Indian fudge, made from condensed milk. I used to love fudge and find vegan fudge rather expensive, so I just have it as a birthday or Christmas treat... I'm sure my teeth thank me for that!

We went for dinner at the famous Dublin vegetarian and vegan restaurant Cornucopia. I cannot emphasise enough how amazing this place is! If you ever come to Dublin, this is the place to go. I was still quite full from lunch (and my breakfast of BBQ baked beans on toast) so I asked for a small salad. I wasn't really expecting much for €4.50, but I ended up with a HUGE bowl of sprouted bean salad and a rice salad with tofu and mixed vegetables! The dressing on the sprouted bean salad was heavenly (lemon and ginger from what my tastebuds could determine?) but I wish I'd chosen a different salad to the rice one as it was nowhere near as nice as the sprouted beans and was rather heavy. My friend got the Lentil Dhal (for around €12.00), which came with brown rice and a choice of two salads. She struggled to finish it, so luckily for her I was on hand to help! We were both busting at the seams after this so we didn't get a chance to try dessert this time. I love their tofu cheesecakes. In fact I love ALL their vegan cakes! I think next time I go there I'll just go for a coffee and a cake :)

We visited the Secret Book and Record Store, a very well hidden little shop just down the road from Cornucopia which also houses Freebird Records, and I managed to pick up a virtually brand new copy of How it All Vegan for €6.00. I love this book and can't wait to try it out! Not only does it have the usual food recipes, but it also tells you how to make vegan toothpaste, lip balm, cleansers, cleaning products, face masks, scrubs, baby oil, sunburn lotion, perfume, bug repellant, mouthwash and treats for your pets, amongst loads of other really cool things! We stopped into Lush as well and my friend bought some of their solid Karma perfume and some Vanilla soap. We love Lush, there are so many vegan friendly products there that it's impossible to choose what to get!

Sunday was another good day. I had the Marks & Spencers Vegetable Curry  for lunch, that I purchased last week, along with the Kofta I got in the market the day before. It was really good! The Kofta was really crispy on the outside and tasted quite like an onion bhaji, but the inside was soft and full of mashed carrots, sweet potato and laden with the usual lovely Indian spices.

 
I was going to cycle out to Ikea this afternoon, but when I met the boy from work I was already dripping in sweat from the mostly downhill cycle, so we decided it was WAAAY too hot to cycle all the way out there. Instead we moseyed into town to do a bit of clothes shopping. Look at the lovely stuff I got below, from H&M, Top Shop, Pull'n'Bear and Awear - and it was all vegan, even the knitted hat (made from acrylic fibres).   We grabbed a quick bite to eat from M&S and had a picnic in the sun - I had falafels with a hummus dip, some oven baked crisps, and an orange and raspberry smoothie. The boyfriend had a brie, cranberry and grape salad sandwich (a vegetarian option - I'm so impressed with him!!), some of their vegan onion bhaji crisps, and a vanilla yoghurt drink (booooo!). I liked the falafels, I've had them before, but I was NOT impressed at all with their baked crisps. They tasted like cardboard, no lie! They also didn't taste very vinegary, so I was very disappointed. I hijacked the boyfriend's onion bhaji crisps instead and they were really good, I wish I'd got those instead!

I'm spending this evening sitting in the garden with a couple of cold Scotch whiskeys and some coke... this weather is just too damn good to be true! I wish we could have predicted it and had a barbecue! :) Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend.

A good point of Converse-ation?

So, I got some new shoes! Vegan shoes ^_^ I love Converse but haven't had a pair in years. I've had canvas Addidas ones for ages and I loved them but there are holes in them now because I've worn them so much. I still have a few pairs of leather shoes (Nikes, Golas, Adios) and I do feel a bit of a hypocrite when I wear them. But just because I'm vegan am I going to throw away all my old shoes and belts? In a way, to me, that would be even worse, like an animal had died in vain. I know a vegan who has her favourite pair of shoes (leather) re-heeled, she has had these shoes for years, and I think this is a good and considerate thing to do. This also raises the question that if I found a really nice pair of shoes in a charity shop, would I buy them if they had some leather on them? I think I would, because I don't really see how recycling someone else's cast-offs can be so bad. Just like I wouldn't mind buying a jumper or a hat made from wool if I came across a second hand item somewhere and the profit went to a charitable organisation. Of course, I would totally draw the line at an old item made from fur, sheepskin, etc. even if it was handed to me for free! Some things just *aren't right*.

It's hard to know where to draw the line when you're a vegan, especially when I only really started out being a dietary vegan for health reasons... but the longer you're a vegan the more you begin to realise that there is no end to the evil in this world, and no matter how hard you try to buy totally cruelty free, there are going to be mistakes you make without even realising it :(