Culinary Disasters!

Tonight I was left alone in the kitchen and things went kinda wrong! First of all when I got home I decided to use up the rest of the mock pork seitan with a nice salad. I thought frying it with a sprinkling of Chinese Five Spice was going to be good... but it was actually disgusting! I've heard wonderful things about this spice, so I don't know if I've used it incorrectly, but it's meant to be nice on chips and wedges and to flavour stir fries, so I don't know if I just hate it altogether, or if I just used it in the wrong manner. It was WAY to cinnamonny/clovey for me... don't get me wrong, I LOVE cinnamon, but this did NOT go well with the salad at all. I was quite miffed that I actually managed to ruin a perfectly good meal.

Then later on this evening I got inspired by Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar to make their Peanut Butter Blondies. Everything was going swimmingly until I left them unattended, deciding that the full 25 mins at 200C would be fine, seeing as our oven is pretty dire... so as you can see, my blondies are not so much blondies, but more like a brownie! :(  The boy loved them though, they still managed to taste good and soft on the inside. Next time I'll know what to do, to make them more aesthetically pleasing!

Marlay Park Farmers Market

Today the boy and I cycled out to Marlay Park, in Rathfarnham. It was a lovely sunny day for a picnic and a stroll in the woods. Every Saturday there is a Farmers Market here in the courtyard of the main house. While the boy had brought a sandwich and a fruit salad with him straight from work, I had a yummy lettuce and red cabbage salad, 4 falafels and salsa & hummus dips. There were also stalls selling organic fruit jams, bread, cakes, muffins, olives, condiments, fish, pizzas, sausages and pretzels - something for everyone. Blazing Salads have a stall here selling their delicious bread and vegan cookies.

Here's a little photo collage of our afternoon trip. Pictured are some of Blazing Salad's cookies, my Falafel Salad, the Organic Jam stall, and a cute shot of myself and the boy holding hands ;) Click on it to enlarge!

Cat's Aid Vegan Bake Sale

Today I went to a vegan bake sale in Dublin. It was held at Cultivate at The Greenhouse on Andrew's Street as part of the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. The proceeds went to Cat's Aid, a charity based in Ballsbridge, and the food was lovely! I bought quite a few things and was very impressed. I'd love it if these events could be held more often - next time I'll make sure I bring along something to sell! Below are some pictures, courtesy of some of the organizers.

We bought:

- Lemon Slice (tasted like lemon meringue pie, this was my favourite one!)
- Chocolate Nut Cookie
- Peanut Butter Pastry Roll
- Treacle Nut Brownie
- Banana Cookie with Strawberry Icing

Cookies Invade from Outer Space

I bought this book on the weekend, from Waterstones. IT. IS. AMAZING! There are so many pictures, I have no idea what to make first. I'm a sucker for peanut butter and there's so many recipes containing it in this book which will definitely have to be made soon! I'm going to substitute all sugar with xylitol, but probably won't be able to avoid adding a little molasses/agave nectar when it's called for...

Here's a sample of what's inside:

• Peanut Butter Blondies
• Key Lime Shortbread
• Espresso Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Irish Whiskey Cremes
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows
• Classic Gingerbread
• NYC Black & Whites
• Sweet Wine Sesame Biscuits
• Citrus Glitters
• Various Biscotti
• Sweet Potato Blondies
• Fudge Brownies
• Nutty Wedding Cookies
• Pretzel Cookies

Here's a link to the Get Sconed! blog's review of the book... with fantastic pictures!