Workday Autumny Warmers

Here are some new lovely Winter (Autumn!) Warmer discoveries for you. I went to a local Gourmet shop today in Terenure and picked up some Carrot & Coriander soup by Suma, and some Moroccan Chickpea and Shrilankan Lentil & Coconut soup by The Really Interesting Food Co. All soups state that they are suitable for vegans on the labels, and are ideal organic lunches for me to have quickly at work. Really tasty and quite a bargain at just over €1.50 each. The Suma soup was oddly watery, I'm more of a fan of a stodgy carrot and coriander soup, but it was still tasty and is fine soaked up with some brown bread.

I'm really slacking in my updates recently due to trying to save money and eating quite cheaply and unadventurously. I haven't really made anything new and interesting to blog about, just sticking to my old staple favourites. I didn't even do anything on Hallowe'en to warrant an update - horrific in itself, I know! I did see quite a few bonfires and fireworks, played with sparklers with my boyfriend's nieces, stole their sweets and watched The Evil Dead, but we didn't go to a party this year and I mostly stayed in and made sure Gerry wasn't scared. He actually didn't mind the fireworks one bit... probably because he's used to us being noisy most of the time, and our doorbell miraculously ceased to function for one night only, so I don't know if we got any Trick or Treaters! My cute little pumpkin is still sitting in the kitchen waiting to be hollowed out, carved, and turned into a delicious soup. I won't get around to it til the weekend, but I'm still going to do it! I'll have to think of a different design to carve on my lantern, as it's a bit late for something frightening...

Below are my last two years' Hallowe'en costumes. A Flight of the Conchords Style Robot and Old Gregg from the Mighty Boosh. I love dressing up so much and put all my effort into my costumes. I just adore rifling through charity shops to find everything I need, it's such a challenge and I enjoy anything creative so wherever possible I try to make what I wear.

Gerrywise, I do not have much news on his diet. I still have not managed to swap him onto fully vegan food. I think it is going to take more time than I anticipated, because at the moment I am still trying to determine what is causing the rash on his belly and mouth. The DSPCA vet thought it may be mange, and gave him an injection, but it doesn't seem to have cleared it up, so I am convinced that it's an allergy of some sort. I am giving him some Piriton allergy tablets and keeping him away from long grass. I don't know whether it's an environmental allergy or a food allergy, so I've swapped him to the best food I can find locally at the moment, with the purest and simplest Irish ingredients available. This food is Connolly's Red Mills Leader Junior, which is much better than the Bakers' Puppy food that he was raised on, as it has no sugar, salt, artificial colourings, flavourings or preservatives. The fewer ingredients in his kibble the better, so as to reduce the risk of allergies. He seems very happy and healthy on it so far. I am going to see how he copes on this food for a while, and continue to research the best vegan / vegetarian kibble to buy him. It's extremely hard to get hold of here in Ireland, and what you can get hold of (Yarrah or Wafcol) is quite expensive. So at the moment the best I can do is to feed him organic meat kibble of the simplest and healthiest ingredients, supplemented with fresh rice and veg, with some special vegan treats from the Veggie Pets website now and again.