Month: January 2019

Volunteer Day @ Tower Hill – Jan 2019

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My friends Cathy and John took part in a volunteer day at Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary in Essex. This is another great way to give back to the animals and you get to have lots of cuddles too! It is always helps up refocus and remember what we are fighting for in our activism.

Over to Cathy to hear what her and John got up to.

“Tower Hill Sanctuary is run by Fiona Oakes (distance runner), her partner Martin and mother Meg and is in the process of relocating, today my husband John and I attended a volunteer work party at the new location that at the moment houses horses and cows, eventually when the new place is ready the other animals will come as well.

Today we painted fences, shovelled manure and helped muck out, it was a pleasure to help out for such a great cause. We made friends with the animals especially one beautiful horse that didn’t want me to paint the fence, she wanted me to fuss her and pull up long grass for her to eat, and so I painted with her head on my shoulder.

It’s so nice to spend time with vegan activists and get stuck in. We can’t wait for the next volunteer day.

Cathy x”

If you would like to take part in the next volunteer day check out Tower Hill Stables on Facebook. If you’re not in Essex see where your local sanctuary is and find out what you can do to help out.

Plumes x

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Volunteer Day @ Tower Hill – Jan 2019

A Weekend Of Activism – January 2019

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Veganuary is very food post heavy due to all the new products and menus coming out but it’s also important to highlight the vegan/animal rights activism that is taking place.

On Friday Havering Vegan Action (of which I am part of the admin team) took part in our regular Earthlings Experience event where we show footage from UK farms and slaughterhouses and start conversations with members of the public who stop to watch. We had some productive conversations with many people taking away more information to look into.

On Saturday I took part in the No Whaling March to The Japanese Embassy. Japan have decided to exit the IWC agreement and start commercial whaling again after originally signing the agreement in 1982. You can sign the petition to ask the Japanese Government to reconsider this here.

On Sunday I took part in the CAGED NW (Campaign Against Greyhound Exploitation and Death Nationwide) protest against the GBGB (Greyhound Board of Great Britain) Annual Awards Ceremony at the Park Plaza Hotel at Westminster.

I was charged with handing out leaflets to the public (so I still have my voice!) many of people I spoke to were anti-racing and supported the protest, others were tourists who were interested in the issue as it was something they weren’t aware of. I also spoke to some of the residents who lived opposite the hotel. I encouraged them to ask the hotel to not host these awards I’m future if they were bothered by the noise of the protest.

There were other events this weekend that I couldn’t make it to, there is so much going on!

If you’re a new vegan (or not) and you would like to get more involved in activism look on Facebook for events taking place in your area. If you have any questions reach out to the organisers and they will happily put your mind at ease.

Let me know what activism you have been getting up to in the comments below.

Plumes x

A Weekend Of Activism – January 2019

Frankie and Benny’s – January 2019

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I’ve only visited Frankie and Benny’s once in the 6 years being vegan and that was a couple of months ago when they did an offer on International Chicken Nugget Day with their vegan nuggets as well as their regular chicken ones.

They have really expanded their vegan offerings and one of things I like is that they are spread throughout the main menu in the normal categories not in a separate menu you have to ask for or a little section on the back of the menu.

We started with the cheesy garlic bread. The basic garlic bread is vegan and then you can choose to add mozzarella or the vegan alternative.

My friend Louise chose the beet burger (which is a beetroot and soya patty) it came with all the normal fixings including vegan mayo and she chose to have it with sweet potato fries. Louise isn’t vegan but eats a lot of vegan and vegetarian food and she really enjoyed this.

I chose the “I’m no chicken parmigiana” which is two Fry’s schnitzels covered in tomato sauce and vegan mozzarella with spaghetti, you can then choose salad, green vegetables or fries. I wasn’t in the mood for double carbs so I went for the vegetables.

I think this could have done with some more sauce but other than that I enjoyed it.

There are plenty of other options that I may be heading back for, such as the Mac and cheese and the not dog.

Update I previously said the only vegan desserts they had were sorbet but I have been corrected by my pals on Instagram (thanks Stephen and Liz!) that they offer a chocolate cake as well as sundaes. I must have missed those VG symbols on the menu. Just need to offer some vegan shakes and they’re all there!

Have you tried Frankie and Benny’s new vegan options? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Frankie and Benny’s – January 2019

Harvester – January 2019

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I haven’t been to a Harvester in a while but they have also jumped on the vegan menu bandwagon so we decided to have a Monday night meal there after a visit to the dentist.

If you download the app you’ll also get offers so we had 33% off our mains. The other thing that attracted us (and especially my Husband) was the vegan sundae dessert option.

As always in Harvester you have to head to the salad bar first.

I think this is one of the only chain restaurants that offers vegan spread as standard alongside the butter for your rolls.

I’ve had a lot of burgers recently so I went for the lentil and red pepper tagine with flat bread. It was tasty and nicely spiced.

My Husband went for the Moving Mountains burger which he really enjoyed. We picked up a couple of sauces, smokey ketchup and bourbon and they both clearly stated they were vegan on the bottles.

Ollie obviously went for the sundae for dessert. It just looks like ice cream and sauce but he really enjoyed it.

I chose the chocolate orange slice, which has a brownie base with a chocolate and orange mousse topping. It was nice because it wasn’t too rich.

There were plenty of other options I’d like to try. What would you pick from the menu? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Harvester – January 2019

Yo! Sushi – January 2019

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My Husband and I regularly visit Yo! Sushi when we are travelling back from my in-laws in Kent. There is currently an offer on where 40 dishes are £3 each but unfortunately this only runs Monday to Friday.

This is also the first visit where my Husband has been fully vegan so I was interested to see what he chose and what he thought.

I had this Kombucha to drink which was really subtle and less vinegary than other ones I’ve tried.

My Husband got the deep fried veggie dumplings which we both really enjoyed.

I’m so glad you can now get the tofu katsu on its own without the curry as you’ve been able to do with the pumpkin version as I’m not a big rice person and I like to save space for other goodies.

We both had a mushroom teriyaki bun which I loved. My Husband isn’t fond of cucumber which seems to come in every dish so he’ll order it without next time.

I tried one of their new dishes the mushroom ramen, this was really tasty although I did pick out the big chilli pieces.

The last dish I had which is also a new one, the temaki hand roll which contains tofu, avocado, carrot, cucumber, seaweed and vegan mayo. I love how all the veggie dishes that previously had mayo now have vegan mayo so are automatically vegan.

When we were looking at the vegan menu we thought it’s great how many more dishes they have now then when we first started going.

Have you visited Yo! Sushi recently? How was it? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Yo! Sushi – January 2019

A Vegan Lunch @ All Bar One – Jan 2019

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I regularly go to All Bar One with my friend Matthieu for lunch as it’s pretty quite we get good service and they have lots of vegan options.

For Veganuary they have an even bigger vegan menu and are doing special price 2 or 3 course meals. We both had 2 courses and shared a starter and dessert.

I had to try their cauliflower wings. This was Matthieu’s first time trying this kind of dish and he said he enjoyed it a lot more than he was expecting. It had a Indian twist by being served with mango chutney and a raita that went well.

For my main I chose the miso tofu bowl. This was a lovely tasting bowl filled with goodness. I would have just liked the grains to have been served warm.

Matthieu chose the burger, which used a beyond meat patty. He asked for regular mayo for his chips and we did a taste test. He couldn’t tell the difference between the egg based mayo and the vegan so he went with the vegan version!

For dessert we shared the biscoff bananas. I was disappointed with this dish. I couldn’t see any biscuit crumb, the coconut mousse had an odd texture and tasted like yogurt on the turn to me. Again I think this dish would have been better served warm.

What would you choose from the menu? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

A Vegan Lunch @ All Bar One – Jan 2019

Plant Based Supermarket – Homerton

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I’ve been wanting to visit this place for a long time and this week I took the opportunity.

This little shop near Homerton station is packed with vegan goodies, from healthy organic dried goods to indulgent chocolate treats.

These seaweed crisps are a necessity and I love using them in things like crushed chickpea sandwich fillings in place of larger nori sheets so it’s more tuna like.

Stroop waffles are just amazing and these hazelnut ones are just too moreish!

The guy in the shop gave me this for free as it one day past its sell by date but it was still perfectly fine and a great snack on a cracker. These are artisan products and a bit on the pricey side so maybe reserve for your dinner parties to impress your non-vegan as well as your vegan guests.

I’ve tried a few vegan halloumi but I’m not sure if I’ve had this one. Mum and I are going to try it on lentil stuffed mushrooms (inspired by my friend Stella) next week.

I’d seen people post about these online and wanted to try them out. I didn’t realise these were mint when I bought them and the mousse is really solid inside.

I love a good kombucha and this was a fab flavour.

What are your faves vegan treats? Do you have good stockists nearby? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Plant Based Supermarket – Homerton

A Vegan Lunch @ Leon – Jan 2019

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Leon are great for vegan options and like so many places they have some new options for 2019.

The other great thing is that they list the vegan options first on their menu boards then the veggie options and lastly the meat options, encouraging customers to go for the plantbased meals first.

I chose the Love burger which had a massive poster whereas the two chicken burgers were hidden at the bottom board.

The love burger is a plantbased burger (I know it had beetroot in it) which tasted quite meaty, smoked Gouda vegan cheese, chipotle mayo and salad.

I really enjoyed this burger and was glad it has all the fixings like cheese and mayo not just a burger with all the non-vegan bits removed.

I also ordered the baked fries but they would take over 10 minutes so I got a refund for them which I was glad of as they are £2.45 and not amazing.

I had also seen they had a new vegan cake – the Jaffa cake. This little cake is a tasty little treat. I’m not a fan of marmalade as it’s a bit bitter for me but the sweet cake and chocolate helped balance that out.

There are also some other vegan treats I saw which I haven’t tried yet so I’ll have to make a return soon and with two branches within walking distance of my work it’s not difficult!

Have you been to Leon recently? What did you have? How was it? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

A Vegan Lunch @ Leon – Jan 2019

What I Eat In A Day – Jan 2019

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I haven’t done one of these posts for a while and I thought seeing as it’s Veganuary it might be helpful for new vegans to see what a typical weekend menu looks likes.

I bought this Organ Easy Egg from Ocado. I have used the Follow Your Heart vegan egg before that retails at about £7 whereas this is half the price.

I had had it scrambled but tried making a omlette this time and it quite successful.

I added some black salt to give it more of an eggy flavour and had barbecue sauce with it. A great way to start to the morning!

I had a mid morning snack of these hummus chips from Eat Real I got these in a multipack from Aldi and these are my favourite flavour.

My Husband is newly vegan (yay!) and wanted to make some Southern fried chick’n. We used the Oumph! Thyme and Garlic pieces and this recipe.

It came out really well. We were planning to have it with chips and coleslaw but the chick’n had made the oil really dirty and it was spitting furiously so we decided it wasn’t safe to cook the chips. My Husband had his pieces with barbeque sauce and I went for Follow Your Heart mayo (I use the soy-free one)

For dinner I had a portion left over from what I had made the day before which was a combo of fermented tofu, quinoa and vegetables with a mustard dressing. I was inspired to make this by this video from LDN vegans. I didn’t have the same veg so mine isn’t low FODMAP. I used onions, carrots, peas and cabbage. I love Taifun’s Feto fermented tofu with peppers. It has an additional tang and no pressing involved.

We moved a few weeks ago so I spent most of the day unpacking the last few boxes, sorting stuff out and cleaning. So to treat myself I had some Chunky Monkey ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s. We’ve told ourselves we’re not going to buy any more ice cream from next week. Our Sainsbury’s has started stocking the vegan Magnums and it’s too easy to pick some up on the way home from work!

Have you been eating any new foods or recipes? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

What I Eat In A Day – Jan 2019

Honest Burger – January 2019

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Neither my friend Mitsu or I had visited Honest Burgers before so we thought we’d meet up for lunch to try their vegan offerings.

They currently offer two vegan burgers both using the Beyond Meat burger.

We both chose the Plant which came with rosemary fries for £11.50 which I think was pretty reasonable.

The burger was great and not one of these full of toppings can’t get your mouth round it situations! The rosemary was a nice addition to the chips but they were quite salty.

I’m not sure whether I would run back to Honest as there as so many options these days but it looks like a great place to go with meat-eating friends or if you just really fancy a really good burger.

Have you tried Honest or the Beyond Burger at another place? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Honest Burger – January 2019