A vegan in London

First night

On my first evening in London I didn’t plan to do much other that look around the area near the hotel. Walking around Chelsea/Kensington I was delighted to discover a vegetarian vegan restaurant a few minutes walk away! I wasn’t particularly hungry but knew I had to check the menu out and at least get a starter.

This was 222 veggie vegan cafe and I adored the menu as there wasn’t a fake meat dish in site! I was very impressed by the extra allergen/preference symbols of gluten free/raw/organic etc. My starter and desert as pictured above was roasted lentil stuffed tomatoes and pitta with dips (Including pimento) I couldn’t face a main but couldn’t resist the apricot and almond cake which was incredible. I need to find out what the decoration fruit was as the wings were so intricate and beautiful. (Help?)

Day 2: Camden 

I fell in love with Camden within seconds of stepping out of the train station with the alternative vibe apparent I couldn’t wait to explore. With InSpiral lounge in sights and Immediately purchasing several tee’s displaying the likes of Kurt Cobain, Harry Potter logo’s and the joker I knew this was going to be my favorite day. Originally planning on returning to Leicester square that evening I knew I would want to spend more time here so I decided to free the afternoon for the markets and spend the evening in InSpiral. After exploring the indoor markets full of art, clothes, jewelry, sugar skull candles, tea and much more I headed to the lock to walk over the bridge. On my way I discovered Rupert’s street van parked on the cobbles and purchased a sweet potato burger for lunch.

The chef pointed me back indoors for a place to sit out of the rain. When I went in the chairs happened to be located in front of Cookies and Scream: A punkish bakery and coffee stand, Oh my! I knew I would be having desert even if I was full. Peanut butter cookie and almond milk macchiato soon followed with zero regrets.

InSpiral lounge.

This restaurant was incredible! Lovely menu, Wonderful atmosphere, scenic location and of course CAKES. There were just too many mains to choose from so I opted for a platter like plate with curry, potato and salad. Despite having triple the recommended daily allowance of sugar after lunch  I just had to try the hazelnut cake partnered with another almond milk macchiato and yes, it was divine.

Day 3

Today I did the touristy thing of going on the London eye and wondering round Leicester square/London soho.

I went to Mildred’s for lunch which was, as expected, a wonderful little restaurant. You can probably see a pattern forming of me overindulging and treating myself to wonderful meals and desert. Today was no different selecting a chickpea curry and pecan pie slice which I still can’t believe the deliciousness of!

In conclusion I am very impressed at the amount of veggie friendly places in London and was not once disappointed at the quality of food and drink. If I returned I wouldn’t leave Camden to be honest and would spend a few days there drinking different flavored tea’s, here is a picture of me enjoying black chai and being impressed at the dispenser.

 

Manchester vegan guide

Restaurants/Cafés

Vegan/Vegetarian

Teatime collective

This cafe is just on the outskirts of town off oxford rd (Through Hulme park) and is incredible! They also will be taking evening reservations/group bookings from 10/09/14.

Eighth day

The basement of this shop is a café, I prefer the menu here as it is not fake meat heavy. You can also get sandwiches, salads and coffee’s etc to take away.

Earth

Located in the heart of manchester’s Northern Quarter below the buddhist centre, this is a lovely tranquil place to enjoy lunch. I always opt for the platter as the mains are frequently changed so you always get a varied meal. The cafe also offers an extensive range of smoothies, coffee’s and deserts.

V Revolution

Also located in Manchester’s Northern quarter, V revolution is for the junk food and punk music lovers! If you are craving grilled cheese, a burger bigger than your face or a milkshake then this is the place! At the shop you can purchase snacks, chilled fake meats and cheeses to cook at home!

Bistro 1847

A very experimental restaurant with a vast menu, Ideal for a swanky meal before continuing onto the theatres/art galleries around the area.

Fuel

This is my personal favourite place, I guess because it combines comedy (Including my good friend’s comedysportz troop) and music with amazing food….It also helps they have a bar. Mines a double bourbon please 🙂 

Go falafel 

Seriously the tastiest falafel ever! Just off piccadilly gardens or the curry mile. Compliment the food with one of their many freshly made fruit juices. 

Vegan Friendly

Oklahoma

An adorable quirky shop full of gadgets and novelty gifts, their latte’s are amazing! 

Nexus Art Café

This cafe have the comfiest chairs EVER. The Garden is also beautiful, with converted piano’s and other various flower decorations. However this is undergoing a new project from the 5th september and will be an alcohol free night out. Let’s hope the umbrella cafe also has soya milk, eh? Midnight cappuccinos guys….?!

Teahive

Across the road from unicorn, this cafe offers vegan lunch options, vegan cakes and tea’s coffee’s with soya milk…. just incase buying all that amazing food from unicorn was too tiring 😛 

Dough

VEGAN.PIZZA. I don’t think I need anymore words. 

Wagamamas

Admittedly I didn’t realise this restaurant had vegan options until I stumbled across this Blog post. 

Tampopo

Whether you’re visiting the centre of manchester or the lovely trafford centre, you can always indulge in a meal here… even if you have your meat eating friends with you! An impressive range of middle eastern dishes. 

Supermarkets

eighth day 

Everything from animal free cosmetics and toiletries to take away sandwiches and cakes. 

Unicorn

Eco friendly, fair trade and vegan this supermarket is the closest you’ll get to being completely cruelty free. 

Blogs and Social networking groups 

Manchester vegan society 

Work out Wednesday

So I kind of abandoned this blog…. again, I have been so busy with a new job and becoming a crossover skater in my league that I’m barely at home!

This is supposed to be a weekly post that states what exorcises/fitness I have been up too and the good food i’ve eaten.

So I’m feeling physically good at the moment considering the cold weather ‘I’ll just sit here , drink tea and eat soup and netflix all day’ binge. I have been accepted as a crossover skater with the A team after two years with my league (including being vice captain for 8 months for our wonderful furies) , this makes me very happy and has been a goal for a while now. We have also been doing some off skates sessions, both of which I surprisingly REALLY enjoyed. The sessions were quite high intensity, consisting of exorcises such as Burpee’s

Spider man push up’s

And my favourite (that I am going to try and do a few times a week)…. Skaters

I want to continue with my core work as before, which consisted of three exorcises using my exorcise ball – Jack knives, plank roll outs and sit ups. They made me so much more stable and take like 10-15 minutes.

As well as working on physical fitness I have also been working on my mentality and approach to the sport, I usually opt for a a zen and focused mindset for sessions as I feel I need to learn control. I often get overly excited when the adrenaline and endorphins kick in which is when I perform my best and feel most confident but often have trouble focusing the energy, which I am currently improving on.

The weather is getting better already and i’m so excited for this year already, in particular more outdoor running including more park runs! I also want to replace my bicycle that I used once before it was stolen as I find cycling a useful and joyful experience that makes getting from A to B quicker just a bonus.

FOOOOOOOOD!! I love food, it’s no secret that if I’m not eating then i’m probably thinking about food and recipes.

This week I discovered Clif bars, they are pretty much the tastiest protein bars ever and the best post practice reward so far I’ve had the peanut butter and macadamia ones and plan on bulk buying these beauties. Another favourite to take to practice is this little salad with any variation/addition: Spinach as base (Could be kale etc), sweetcorn, pomegranate, walnuts (Or any nuts) , avocado, lemon juice and cherry tomatoes: I feel this covers  essential oils, fats and protein.

I’ve been thinking about cravings a lot, Sometimes it’s good and i don’t mind such as when I fancy an entire tin of sweetcorn but sometimes I’ll really crave sugar, specifically full fat fizzy drinks. I spotted this chart  Unfortunately it isn’t vegan specific but the ‘what you need’ section is certainly a vital starting point.

I’ll be back next week (I promise) Hopefuly still as positive and with news of my first A team game against the Hellfire Harlots !! This is pretty much the best month ever as MRD’s female B team will also be bouting on the 29th against North wales roller derby, Come along if you can!

Skatanico.

Don’t you forget about me – Rachel’s Legacy.

I would like to start this daily prompt post with an American horror story quote that I found fascinating: “They say when a parent dies, a child feels his own mortality, but when A child dies, it’s immortality that a parent loses” It seems to be common for people who have regrets to attempt to live a different life through an offspring, probably picturing themselves on their deathbed looking into the face of what they wanted to be at that age and passing with a smile on their face feeling they succeeded at last. How much is really passed on though? A surname and maybe a passing resemblance? How would you know you hadn’t passed on the same regrets by controlling their life?

I don’t want children and I can’t have them. Wherever my soul drifts off too when I leave my flesh earth home I will have things that mattered to me inked on my skin – The Vegan sunflower, maybe pawprints of my cats, some Amanda Palmer lyrics and my favorite films dotted around a film projection reel and no, I won’t regret them even when they are wrinkly. I would be also love to leave stories in items: A couple of silly books i’d written for my Niece, a beautiful child who I have no influence over yet shares my fascination of animals and the world, some recipes i’d created that highlight my passion for animal free nutrition, A pair of battered skates to show my addiction to a sport that bettered me as a person and a journal of places i’d visited in the world hopefully complete with decent pictures that showed I attempted photography, Some bout programs, shirts from gigs,  maybe even my last status “Well that was fun KTHXBAI” to show my sense of humor and how I usually talked through social networking because of my crippling social awkwardness. I imagine people looking through the box with tear stained cheeks puffed out from a smile as they remember what my items meant to me and I live on through the stories that may not even be 100% accurate, but I live on in memories of people I love.

This was written as I am 26 years of age, still young but starting to get a feel of the person I am and the things I want to do. I know I don’t want to influence people, As we should all discover our love of things for ourselves but inspiration can be a beautiful thing. Someone asks you about something you’re passionate about, you tell them the truth of why it’s important to you and they try it for themselves and share the love, well it can be beautiful to pass something like that on 🙂 Kindred spirits all the places.

KTHXBAI ❤

Rachel/Nico.

 

Food Friday #2!

Selection of lunches:
Falafel and avocado salad, Mushroom Pie from 8th day, ‘Beef’ and gerkin sandwich from V revolution and a street food salad with some of the nicest hummus I have tried from Kukoo’s.

And some of the dinners I have indulged in:

And I baked some peanut butter blondies, They were SO AMAZING.

Popcorn Activism – A Fun Way to Help Animals!

Honk If You're Vegan

If I were rich, I’d pay to show the movie Vegucated (a documentary that follows three New Yorker’s who agree to go vegan for six weeks to learn what it’s all about) in theaters so people could see it for free on the big screen. I’d show it in Hollywood with vegan stars, like Ellen and Glee’s Lea Michele, there to cause a commotion. After this hyped showing, it would catch on and other vegans would organize similar viewings all over the world.

I’d call it Popcorn Activism and it would become “a thing.” As it caught on in movie theatres, it would also catch on in people’s homes. Vegans and vegetarians everywhere would get involved by inviting friends and neighbors over for veggie movie nights.

Thousands of people would be moved by compassion and go veggie. Factory farms would close left and right and millions of animals would be saved. Okay…

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Sharing saturday and Food Friday

I forgot to publish my food Friday post again! So I am including it in my sharing Saturday (A general blog about discoveries I have made and things I have learnt this past week)
Let’s start with my favourite… food. Here are some of the meals and deserts I have had this past month!

Home made lentil soup with crusty bread, pitta and home made hummus with olives. That cake was peanut butter! OMG. I can’t tell you how much coffee and cake can turn a day around ❤ I am currently eating vegan black forest gateau bakewell as I write this. I also really love fruit with yoghurt or coconut milk 🙂 You’ll also see my hummus trio (roasted red pepper, roasted parsnip and plain) Japanese tofu filet wrap with spinach and sweet potato fries with tofu sausages from unicorn and chestnut mushrooms ( I love sweet potato I either make it into mash, fries or a jacket potato).

So other than teaching myself Spanish with the intention of doing a course soon and planning to re-join jujitsu – Most of my discoveries this week are food related, the first one being that I seriously love oat milk to the point where I not only prefer it in coffee but will drink 200ml glasses of the stuff. I was searching for a soya replacement as I was informed it messes with your hormone levels and causes all sorts of environmental issues (Such as deforestation) so I am very happy (I do hope it’s a little healthy also).

I would like to share my list of vegan shops and places to eat for other vegans that live in Manchester:

shops:
Unicorn grocery (Where I purchased the Dijon salad below), Eighth day, V revolution

Cafes:
Eighth day, V revolution, Earth. (Where I ordered the AMAZING vegan tiramisu below)

There are also some vegan friendly places such as Oklahoma, kukoo’s (Where I always get a falafel wrap or street food salad below) and there’s always options in the Arndale food market (Where I often order my favourite mexican dish, tostada’s, pictured with a passion fruit smoothie)

I have also discovered the benefits of smoothies (They are ideal for a training protein and slow releasing energy boost without making you feel bloated or full) and have been working my way through the healthy happy life list, I will leave you with my green tea smoothie that tasted and made me feel amazing.

Work out wednesday #1 – 25.09.2013

veganmayniac

Hello Followers,

My apologies for recently abandoning my blog, I have been very busy recently, Anyway as promised here is my weekly work out blog stating what i’ve done, learnt and achieved 🙂

This week I got an exercise ball and yoga matt I love them….  a lot.
I requested people send me core work outs and stretch circuits (They feel SO GOOD) I have been doing sit ups, Roll out planks and jack knives

I have been doing various yoga for relaxation but also to improve my balance, stability and flexibility. (I find some useful ones on various websites: Toe stand and I have subscribed to some youtube channels)

This week I also downloaded an app called runkeeper which records various workouts and will document your distance, pace and time of your runs via GPS. I discovered that I can manage 3km in 15 minutes (My best kilometer was 4…

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Work out wednesday #1 – 25.09.2013

Hello Followers,

My apologies for recently abandoning my blog, I have been very busy recently, Anyway as promised here is my weekly work out blog stating what i’ve done, learnt and achieved 🙂

This week I got an exercise ball and yoga matt I love them….  a lot.
I requested people send me core work outs and stretch circuits (They feel SO GOOD) I have been doing sit ups, Roll out planks and jack knives

I have been doing various yoga for relaxation but also to improve my balance, stability and flexibility. (I find some useful ones on various websites: Toe stand and I have subscribed to some youtube channels)

This week I also downloaded an app called runkeeper which records various workouts and will document your distance, pace and time of your runs via GPS. I discovered that I can manage 3km in 15 minutes (My best kilometer was 4 minutes) which, considering my goal is 5km in 30 minutes made me happy !

In addition to my newly found workouts I have been trying to tone up my arms (Which I really hate) with bicep curls (Using just 8k dumbells) and press-ups; if you know of any other ways to de-flab the upper arms please do send suggestions!

So as I already mentioned in previous posts I also play roller derby and Wednesday is my team practice where we learn various skills on skates from 20:00-22:00. Roller derby focuses on various muscles including gastrocnemius (Backwards skating), thigh (Squatting/getting low), and core muscles (Laterals leading with back leg/blocking with the chest) and is also a good cardiovascular exercise with it being a fast paced sport 🙂

Next workout post on wednesday 2nd october, but if you’re also interested in healthy food or veganism my food friday post will be published on the 27th september.

Organising my blog :)

This is a very short post to explain that I have come up with a plan to organise my blog from the general post. I will have:
Workout Wednesday
This is my team practice day so it’s fitting that I post up exorcises that I have done and learnt over the previous week.

Food Friday
Ah Friday! The start of the weekend and the end of most people’s working week. The pressure is off and i will usually be found in the kitchen so this is the day I will be posting all the food I have made the previous week, sometimes including recipes and reviews.

First post will be the exercise one tomorrow 4/9/2013 but it may be sparse as I’ve been lacking a little in going to the gym!

Thanks for visiting and please feel free to offer tips on both xx