Lots of Goodies!

I went to the Vegan Summer Fete organised by Vegan Campaigns on Saturday in Holborn and met up with some members of the London Vegan Meetup Group.
There were lots of food stalls, but they were mainly cakes and chocolates and I think it could have done with a bit more savoury and complete meal offerings. I had a lovely salad from Rainforest Creations and some delicious Bessant & Drury`s chocolate ice cream. I was also very interested in Inspiral`s products but I had already purchased four cupcakes from Ms Cupcake to take home and I am going to Camden next Sunday, so will check out their shop while I`m up there. I think they should have had some clothing lines there especially shoes as vegan`s often struggle to find affordable footwear.
After the fete Mother and I ventured north to Vegan Cross through the pouring rain. I bought some crisps, a twilight bar, (like a mars bar) a chickenish pasty, some Hickory Smoked Tofurky deli slices, some Topastofu paté and a bottle of Fritz cola. I really enjoyed it all but thought the twilight bar was quite expensive for what it was.
I visited some friends in Brighton on Sunday and had a vegan hot dog and some veggie kebabs with them. Glad to find out that Sainsburys love soya sausages are now egg free and vegan-friendly although it wasn't clearly advertised on the packet.
Fellow blogger Fat Gay Vegan has started a campaign to get Fry's into Sainsburys - I hope it succeeds as I think their products are great but rarely eat them as it involves a trek to Holland and Barrett. http://fatgayvegan.com/2012/08/25/petition-time/

Next time I will be including a review of a vegetarian restaurant in the Lake District once I have the comments from my friend.

Laters Veg heads!

Vgirl Xx

Faking it!

I've been invited to a themed vegan barbecue "If you were an animal what would you be?" and it got me thinking about fur/animal skins etc. Also I recently saw an article about Lady Gaga condoning fur saying it was "fun". Now most people I know don't agree with the use of fur and agree it looks better on the animal, but is the use of fake fur still wrong as it perpetuates the belief that fur looks good and is trendy/fashionable? If it is obviously fake as in lime green, does that make it OK?

I have a pet corn snake, Popcorn, who is 7 years old and I have a fondness for snake print as I think the pattern is very beautiful. (whole other post about vegans keeping pets will come in the future) I recently bought some snakeprint canvas/microfibre sandals, but I would not buy something like a faux snakeskin handbag as I think that looks too real and a bit wrong. But I still feel a bit guilty buying anything animal print.

In food matters, three of my colleagues have signed up to my fitness pal. So hopefully we will have a healthier happier team - could even increase productivity if we're lucky! I had a lovely mushroom and leek risotto last night made by the omni boyf. Tonight I was quite lazy and had Linda McCartney sausages, McCain smiles, beans and dried fried mushrooms. I couldn't go to Zumba tonight as my sister-in-law is going away tomorrow so the boyf and I did two laps of our local park and down to the shop and back, took us about an hour. Got some BBQ Llama's which were very tasty, would highly recommend. We saw lots of dog walkers and joggers out so hopefully everyone is in a fitness mood. Can't wait until the Paralympics begin and hope the coverage is as good as it was for the Olympics!

I was very pleased to see Paul O'Grady has spoken out about his vegetarianism in the Sun http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4495506/Paul-OGrady-talks-about-his-love-of-animals-and-hatred-of-cruelty.html some of the comments from readers show some people's ignorance, but the more people who speak out the more mainstream the cause becomes. It is also the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) 32nd Birthday today, here are just a few of the amazing things they have done over the years http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2012/08/21/20-rescues-we-will-never-forget.aspx

Take care!

Vgirl xx

Getting Started!

Right! I've been wanting to start a blog for a while and decided today was the day!

It's 7 weeks until my Goddaughter's christening and naturally I want to look fabulous! I have lost 1 stone 4 pounds since May, my current weight it 11st 4lbs and my target is around 10st I'm only 5'4" so this is a healthy weight for me. In the past I have managed to lose over 3 stone but always put it back on. so my mission is to get the weight off and keep it off! I have been vegetarian since December 2009 and was vegan for the first nine months and then fell ill and found it difficult to keep up with so fell into a routine of vegetarianism since May I've gradually crossed back over to veganism and this has aided my weight loss I have also been using myfitnesspal.com to to track my calories and exercise. I have a feq friends and relatives on there so we spur eachother on. I'm also swimming once a week with my Mum and going to a Zumba class with my sister-in-law.

I share ideas and recipes on vegan and veg life UK on facebook and attend events with the London Vegan meetup group as well as following other bloggers including fat gay vegan, the happy herbivore and the vegan option.

My other mission at the moment is to pass my Insurance Law exam on 16th Oct in order to obtain my Diploma in Insurance, I know thrilling stuff!

So I'll be updating both missions here and any more I start!

Today I tried the Jus-Rol pain au chocolat which are vegan and delicious! I will also try to post a pic once I know how! I also had aome vegusto smoked sausage which I really enjoyed. That smokey flavour is something I have missed since turning vegan.


Well I think that's enough for a first post!

Vgirl xx