Breakfast of Champions

After my Café Bar Deli dessert experience (well, not so much my own experience, but the stealing-off-my-friends experience!) I decided to concoct my own breakfast recipe. I went to the doctor's this morning, so feeling sorry for myself I went to the supermarket and bought myself two tantilising punnets of fresh Irish strawberries with the intention of marinading them in balsamic vinegar. I looked up a few recipes online and saw them served with such things as yoghurt, cream cheese, jelly, chocolate mousse, etc. so decided to make my own variation and serve it with Alpro raspberry and vanilla soya yoghurt and mixed pumpkin & sunflower seeds.

I marinaded 6 halved strawberries in 2 dessert spoons of balsamic, drained the excess vinegar off and then sprinkled a heaped teaspoon of xylitol (healthy and all-natural sugar substitute) over the top of the strawberries and stirred it in. I then put the yoghurt and seeds in a glass and garnished it with the strawberries. Admittedly I was lacking a decent glass for serving, so the strawberries ended up poking out of the top, but it was still out-of-this-world delicious and worked very well together. It would be even nicer with a few shavings of dark chocolate, or a sprinkling of some dessicated coconut and a sprig of mint..... feel free to experiment! This is definitely going to be my breakfast for the next 3 days, and my hamster LOVES the taste of Alpro soya so I always scoop a small amount onto my finger after I've finished and let him lick it off! ^_^

In other news, I have been suffering from dermatitis recently. My face has become dry, itchy and bumpy. It's not very noticeable but at times it has really been bothering me. I'm not sure why this is, as I've never had a problem with it before, although my mother did suffer from ecsema and skin allergies so I know I have to be extremely careful. I am currently on antibiotics for this condition for 3 months, and I am relieved that I am able to do something about it, but also not sure if my medication is vegan. I hate the thought that my meds may have been tested on animals. Seeing animals suffering for humans breaks my heart. I have chosen not to Google the companies' names in fear that I discover something I don't like. I know this is literally turning a blind eye, but what am I to do? I either have to put up with this infuriating and irritating condition on my face in hope that one day it will magically disappear, or I have to do something about it. I have been using Dream Cream from Lush which is vegan and really helps to moisturise my skin, as well as Calamine Lotion to stop it itching, but they can only soothe the dermatitis, not completely cure it. I wonder what other vegans do in my situation? This is a totally new aspect of veganism that I have come across, something like this really hasn't been an issue for me in the past but now I'm beginning to realise how difficult things can be.

BUBBLES!

Who doesn't love bubbles? Bubbles in the bath, bubbly champagne, bubbling jacuzzis, bubbles that you blow around you in the wind while pretending to be a fairy... *ahem*

This is my first go at making a bubble drink. The "bubbles" are tapioca balls that I got from the asian market, and are exactly the same ones as I found on this blog.

There are so many different recipes for bubble drinks. You can put them in smoothies, have them with iced coffee, iced tea, cold green tea / fruit tea, soya milk, rice milk, etc. The possibilities are endless! I have an awesome idea in my head for a white russian alcoholic bubble drink!

I made mine with rice milk and a dash of vanilla essence, as I'm pretty new to this and wanted to keep it simple. The packet of tapioca balls I got said to boil them for 5 minutes and then mix them into a sugary solution (I used xylitol). I should technically have a massive oversized straw to suck the tapioca through as I drink, but I have no idea where to get a straw that big! I might get smaller tapioca balls next time.

For more information on bubble drinks have a look at the Wikipedia page!