Our family holiday to Australia - Part 2: Sydney

...So, after two weeks in Victoria, we travelled to New South Wales with Virgin Australia.

I can only imagine how beautiful the bays of Sydney and the surrounding area must have been for James Cook to have (re)named it after Wales. There are very few similarities now, unless you head out of the city. The botanic gardens and beaches are beautiful and the Sydney opera house and bridge make stunning landmarks, but it's not until you travel for over an hour outside the city, that you get any idea of what Australia might have one looked like.

During our stay in Oz, we've learned about the indigenous aboriginal people, culture, art and traditions ...something the British history books and classes seem to miss out. We've seen some amazing indigenous art in the Art Gallery of NSW and an interesting exhibition on aboriginal culture in the Australian Museum. It was uncomfortable at times to read the stories of stolen land and children taken from their families, but something I feel I must mention.

Anyway, back to the review...we stayed in the suburb of Rozelle; around a 20 minute bus-ride from the centre, and within easy reach of a selection of bars, cafes and restaurants, in neighbouring Balmain. Getting around Sydney was easy enough on the buses and ferries. Like Melbourne, you need to buy a travel pass, called an Opal (based on London's Oyster Card apparently). Of course, we had to visit the harbour bridge and opera house, which are in the heart of the city, near the beautiful botanic gardens. I was surprised to find they were so close together, as they don't appear that way on TV. I had hoped to be in awe of these fantastic structures, as so many of my friends and family have been, but alas, they looked like a pointy building and a big, metal bridge to me!

Food-wise, Sydney was pretty similar to Melbourne, except there seemed to be more European/Middle-Eastern influences and slightly less Asian. Vegetarian and vegan food was plentiful in both restaurants and shops, so we had no shortage of good food to eat. Lunches in cafes and restaurants were full-on meals with ubiquitous avocados and salad, not light snacks and sandwiches, so we often look a picnic out with us, which saved money too. We found that Greek and Middle-Eastern restaurants were the best bet for a vegetarian light lunch or dinner, but these were out in the suburbs, not in the city .

On an Aussie Masterchef theme again, we ate at the trendy Wilhemina's restaurant (fronted by last years' forth-placed contestant Jamie Fleming) and tried some delicious cake and pastries from guest chef, Adriano Zumbo's patisserie.
Towards the end of our holiday, we were craving a good (British-Indian) curry and luckily both the Indian Palace and Manjits in Balmain delivered on taste and price. The only thing lacking was a good naan (maybe they don't have tandoor ovens in Australia), as the naans in both places were small, round, pale affairs, not the big, puffy pillows of bread we get in the UK! They also had puny pappadoms...no idea why that is!

As a city, we found Sydney to be big, brash and busy, so a highlight for us all was the tranquil, and small but perfectly formed, Chinese Garden of Friendship in China Town. You really wouldn't believe you were in the city centre, unless you looked up to see the skyscrapers surrounding it. Another must-do was the stunning coastal walk from Coogee beach to Bondi, which took us around and hour and a half with plenty of photo opportunities. Unfortunately, there were no Bondi Rescue life guards on duty when we got there! Talking of beaches, we also took the ferry from Circular Quay to visit Manly and Watson's Bay. Even in the winter, it was warm enough to have a paddle and a picnic on the beach, which was lovely. It was also well worth travelling out to the vast Blue Mountains to get a taste of real, rural Australia.

After four busy weeks down-under, it was time for another mammoth flight back to the UK with Cathay Pacific. I don't know when or if we''ll ever travel back to Oz, but this was a holiday we'll never forgot. Pin It

Our family holiday to Australia - Part 1: Melbourne

If I was an organised blogger, I would have had a couple of posts up my sleeve, scheduled them to publish whilst I was away, and you'd have been none the wiser. As I'm not, I thought I'd better explain where I am ! I don't post many personal anecdotes, so if you're looking for a recipe, feel free to ignore my holiday ramblings ...

My long time followers, if there are any, may remember my rather self-indulgent post about my friend and her family emigrating to Australia. My brother and sister-in-law also emigrated a few years earlier (you see a pattern emerging here?!) so it's been a mission for us to save up enough money for us to visit them all, before the girls left home. As Miss Ony took her GCSEs this year, we thought this summer would be a good time to go; luckily, Mr O's boss was agreeable to him taking an extended holiday.

As we're tied to school holidays, flight prices were never going to be cheap. By initially using flight price-checking websites and then comparing fares for individual airlines, I eventually found suitable, affordable flights with Cathay Pacific - the cheapest were with Malaysian Airlines! Cathay Pacific were great to fly with and had pretty comfortable seats, but it's a long flight no matter how far the seats recline and we were all very happy to finally land in Australia after 27 hours.

So far, we've spent 2 weeks in Melbourne. Despite the chilly winter weather (yes it's winter here - which seemed to come as a shock to some of my friends!!), we've had a great time seeing my friend and her family, plus of course, the sights of Melbourne. We've also eaten some great food...see, this is a kind of a foodie post after all!

We initially stayed at the Pegasus Apart'Hotel at the edge of the CBD for our first week, We decided on this accommodation, partly for the location and price (I got a discount by booking through Expedia), plus they offered free WiFi and had an indoor, heated  pool - great for the teenagers. The apartments were near Queen Victoria Market, which had an amazing deli hall and fruit/veg market, where we bought most of our food for our self-catered breakfasts and lunches. We found out that in winter, there's also a weekly night market every Wednesday - with street food, drink, craft stalls and live entertainment - we wrapped up warmly and enjoyed an evening there.

Luckily, the exchange rates were in our favour! Restaurants in the city varied widely from cafes, budget restaurants (mainly East Asian) and pubs, to expensive steak and hotel/casino restaurants. There were plenty of vegetarian and vegan options available, including several exclusively vegetarian places, but basically, the more expensive the restaurant, the less veggie food was on the menu! We mainly stuck to the budget end of the market and ate some delicious food, including a yummy eggplant parma at the famous Mrs Parmas, but we did splash out one night and ate some beautifully presented, and very tasty Greek-inspired food at Gazi (one of Aussie Masterchef presenter George Calombaris' restaurants).

The public transport system was very easy to navigate, cheap and efficient. All the trams in the CBD are free, which is amazing. If venturing further afield, you need to purchase a MYKI card, which you then top up as needed - like an Oyster card, I'm told.

We've done plenty of the usual touristy things, including visiting the brilliant Melbourne Museum, the beautiful Botanic Gardens, seeing some amazing art by indigenous artists at the National Gallery of Victoria (Australia), a Yarra Valley wine tour and of course we've seen some of the unique, native Australian wildlife including koalas, wombats and kangaroos. 

After a week in the city, we moved out to the seaside resort of St Kilda at the Quest St. Kilda Bayside Apartments, again, we chose these apartments for their price and location (5 minutes walk from the beach and central St Kilda). Unfortunately, their free WiFi, was limited to 250mb per day, which basically equated to a few minutes checking social media - the girls were not impressed, so we ended up purchasing unlimited WiFi.

In the summer, St Kilda must be bustling with tourists and back packers, but in winter it was pretty quiet, although almost all of the restaurants, bars and shops were open. None-the-less, we enjoyed visiting the traditional European cake and chocolate shops, Luna Park, going on beach-side walks and seeing the wild colony of fairy penguins at the end of the pier. Our favourite eating place in St Kilda was the tiny 40 Thieves & Co Middle-Eastern restaurant - great food and friendly service. 

I'm not sure if it's on in the UK yet, but we've been watching Restaurant Revolution (one of the few Australian programmes on free-to-air TV). Some of the contestants have been running a pop-up restaurant in St Kilda, and we've enjoyed watching the queues build each day!

I can't believe how fast our first two weeks have gone. We're now packing for our next adventure in Sydney...

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Fragrant Heart: A Tale of Love, Life and Food in South-East Asia - A review

Food and travel are two of my favourite things, so when Miranda Emmerson, author of Fragrant Heart, asked me to take a look at her latest book (a memoir about...you guessed it...food and travel!), I was very happy to do so. I received my copy just a few days before going on holiday to Portugal, so I read the book lying under the Portuguese sun. A perfect combination!

Fragrant Heart tells of Miranda and partner Chris's travels through China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia during a 'gap year' which they decide to take before settling down to start a family (they've since had two children). Miranda, a  regular contributor to BBC Radio 4, interweaves her exotic travelogue with tales of her family background, her relationship with Chris and her worries of renting her house out, back home in Wales. 

The book takes the reader on an adventurous journey through S.E Asia, painting a picture not only of the sights of interest, but also of the culture, history, art, politics and cuisine of each region. Some parts of the book are touching, some fascinating and some are laugh-out-loud funny. 

Miranda, a long time vegetarian, struggles to find 'safe' food in countries which regard meat and fish an essential part of any meal...

"Are you a vegetarian? Want some advice? Don't go to China. No. Wait. Scrub that. Do go to China. Just don't try to be a vegetarian once you're there."

Detailed descriptions of the foods they discover on their travels are so vivid that you can almost smell the food cooking and taste the flavours as you read...

"Bolou fan is a sweet and sticky and imparts a feeling of childish decadence to any meal. A whole pineapple is served to the table stuffed with berry-black, steamed short rice. Lifting the spiky lid you uncover a pirate's chest of delight. Candied peel curls in little crystalline caterpillars on top of glistening, sugary delight."

Although not a cookbook, each chapter ends with one or two recipes from the region with both a meat-based and a vegetarian version of each recipe. I tried out the rather confusingly named fish-fragrant aubergine, which contains no fish at all! Fish-fragrant apparently describes the combination of seasonings which would traditionally be served with fish, but work equally well with vegetarian and vegan dishes:

Yuxiang Qiezi or Fish-Fragrant Aubergine (Vegan)

Sichuan cuisine is full of different preparations, ways of cooking things and sauces to cook them in. Fish-fragrant is a description given to this particular sharp and sour sauce classically served over aubergine. There are no fish products used in it. It is very spicy, so cautious first-time cooks might want to halve or even quarter the amount of chilli bean sauce they put in. Served over boiled rice with a handful of chopped spring onions and maybe some nuts on top, I think it makes the perfect winter lunch.

Serves 2 
Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes

• 5 Sichuan peppercorns 
• 2 small aubergines 
• 2 tbsp groundnut oil 
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped 
• 2-cm piece of ginger, finely chopped

Sauce:

• 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine 
• 2 tbsp Chinkiang black rice vinegar (available from most Asian grocers)
• 2 tsp sugar 
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce 
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce 
• 2 tbsp chilli bean paste (this can be found in Asian grocery stores and some supermarkets, under the Lee Kum Kee brand) 
• 3 tbsp vegetable stock 
• 1 tsp cornflour

Garnish:

• 3 spring onions, sliced

Toast Sichuan peppercorns in a dry frying pan for a minute and then crush. Set aside.
Make the sauce by mixing the rice wine, vinegar, sugar, soy sauces, chilli bean paste, stock and cornflour together in a small bowl.
Cut aubergine into bite-sized cubes.
Heat the groundnut oil in a wok over a medium to high heat. Add the aubergine and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until the outsides have browned. Add the garlic, ginger and reserved ground peppercorns and stir-fry for another 30 seconds. Pour the sauce over the aubergine mixture and cook on a medium heat for 4 minutes, until the sauce has started to thicken.
Remove from heat and serve with spring onions sprinkled over.

I couldn't find rice wine, so left this out. The resulting dish was amazing, if a little on the spicy side, as I used the full 2 tbsp of chilli bean sauce; I made 2 versions: one as above and one with Quorn and mushrooms, which were equally tasty. Miranda recommend using different combinations of vegetables depending on which you prefer.

Fragrant Heart: A Tale of Life, Love and Food in Asia by Miranda Emmerson is published by Summersdale and is available from Amazon  and all major bookstores. 

I have a paperback copy of the book to give away. Just enter the Rafflecopter below by Midnight on 22nd May:

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Foxholes Castle campsite in Shropshire - a review

We spent a fabulous few days at Foxholes Castle Campsite, in sunny Shropshire, over half term. Yes, the sun actually shined on us for practically the whole weekend, which hasn't happened to us for about three years! I did, of course, pack the precautionary wellies and waterproof coats, but luckily we didn't need them at all.

Foxholes is located just outside the pretty village town of Bishop's Castle. While the site caters for caravans, camper-vans and tents (plus two on-site statics and a bunk house), there are no electric hook ups and most of the fields are gently sloping, so tenters were actually in a majority, which was a pleasant surprise.

Facility-wise, the site has a recently built toilet block with solar powered showers and rain-water/well-water flushed loos; these were clean and spider-free and impressively, the solar powered showers were hot too! There is also a covered washing-up area, campers' freezer, fridge and phone re-charging point and extensive waste recycling facilities. Most importantly for us though, was the availability of fire pits for hire (£3 per stay) and fire logs (£3 per bag).

One thing I must have a little gripe about though, is their charge for teenagers. While I have no desire to share a site with hoards of rampaging teens, I equally feel that parents sharing a pitch with responsible teens should not be penalised. Our stay per night with a 12 and 14 year old was £24, but this will go up to £28 per night next year as both girls will be classed as adults. However, if we had two children under 12, the cost would have been a very reasonable £20 per night. I really don't see how 13 year olds can be classed as adults when sharing a tent with their parents, especially on such and isolated, rural site, which really isn't going to appeal to those who want to wreak havoc and disturb other campers!

On a plus point, we booked our pitch as a last minute getaway after seeing the good weather forecast. On arrival, the friendly owner offered us a choice of  'pitches' which, as there is no electric hook ups or hard standing, basically meant we could find a space anywhere we liked! We chose a spot on the gently sloping and very spacious main tent field. The outlook over the beautiful Shropshire countryside was amazing.

If you enjoy walking, the Stiperstones, the Long Mynd and the Shropshire Way are all within easy reach of Bishop's Castle; we also visited Mitchell's Fold stone circle and Powis Castle. I must just mention the Stiperstones Inn, where we received a warm welcome and had a lovely lunch after a walk across the Stiperstones ridge. This traditional pub serves a good range of clearly marked vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free snacks, sandwiches and meals (plus meat-based meals, of course!) and can prepare other dishes on request, depending on your dietary requirements.

Evening entertainment for us consisted of of stroll through fields along the Shropshire Way into Bishop's Castle for a drink in the local micro brewery, the Three Tuns, followed by a slightly slower stroll back to the campsite and dinner around the campfire. We smelt like smoked kippers, but we had a great time!

I would thoroughly recommend Foxholes to anyone who enjoys 'real' camping, and we certainly hope to return in the not to distant future. 

Integrity Statement
This holiday was taken at my own expense. I did not receive payment or any incentives from any of the businesses/websites mentioned. 

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Vegetarian dining in Albufeira, Portugal

As always, I did a bit of foodie research before my recent trip to Portugal, to see what sort of choice we would have when eating out. I found a very helpful website called Algarve Uncovered which has loads of useful information including shopping tips and useful phrases for vegetarians and vegans.

As expected, on our first evening out, we found that meat and fish featured heavily on the Portuguese menus and traditional vegetarian dishes seemed non-existent, in the bustling tourist resort of Albufeira. The ubiquitous chicken piri piri seemed to be the most popular dish - it's a shame that vegetable or mushroom piri piri weren't available! 

Having said that, there were so many different cuisines on offer that vegetarians were fairly well catered for and vegans wouldn't go hungry. Vegetarian pizza and pasta seemed to be on many menus, but if you fancied something more exotic, you could find veggie options in the many Chinese, Indian, British and even Mexican restaurants in the area.

For our first meal out we thought we'd play it safe and try a restaurant with a decent veggie selection on its menu. The girls went for pizza, I ordered spaghetti with Algarve sauce (after checking that the sauce was 'safe'), and Mr O plumped for chicken piri piri, of course.

When my dish arrived, it looked decidedly meaty...yes, you guessed it, they'd put chicken in my pasta sauce! I sent it back, but was rather suspicious about the returning plate minus chicken! Needless to say we didn't leave a tip and didn't return there!

One restaurant that deserves a special mention is Eurasia, which is a mainly vegetarian/vegan buffet restaurant just off the main Albufeira strip.  For E6.50 you could choose from a wide range of starters, salads, main courses and a soup of the day. The menu seems to change daily and updates are posted on their Facebook page.  They also offer one meat and one fish dish each day, to attract the hardened carnivores; These dishes were kept separate and covered, so it really didn't have an impact on the veggie-vibe of the place!

The lady who runs the restaurant asked Miss Kahonie if she was vegetarian, and when she confirmed that she was, the lady told her that she would grow up to be more beautiful than the girls who eat meat! I thought that was really sweet, as the girls don't often hear positive comments about being veggie.

We definitely prefer Greece for the range of fresh vegetable-based veggie food available on almost every menu, but Albufeira, Portugal really wasn't too bad! Pin It

Vegetarian camping food for kids

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I've been asked a few times for food specifically suitable for kids' camping trips. While I'm a big believer in feeding my children the same as we eat, I realise there is a time and place for giving the kids what they will eat...especially when time, money and tired, hungry children are involved. 

The following meal ideas rely quite heavily on convenience foods, but they are still pretty healthy and filling. A good pinch of mixed herbs, some mild chilli powder, curry powder and/or some garlic paste could be added to most of these dishes to make them more tasty. These recipes might also go down well with students and festival-goers as they are cheap and quick and easy to prepare.

• Hot dog stew: Heat sliced or mini vegetarian hot dogs in a pan, along with a tin of baked beans, a drained tin of ready-cooked small potatoes and drained tin of sweet corn. 
• Veggie sausages, hot dogs or burgers in buns: Cook on the barbecue and serve with ketchup, salad, vegetable sticks, or corn on the cob.
• Pasta in sauce/pesto: Cook some fresh pasta, until al dente. Drain, and add in a tub of your preferred ready-made sauce or vegetarian pesto. Heat through until piping hot. 
• Quick and easy mild chilli with tortilla chips: Mix a tin of beans in mild chilli sauce with a tin of ratatouille. Heat until the vegetables have softened. Serve with a sprinkling of grated cheese and tortilla chips to scoop.
• Soup and bread: Heat a carton/tin of ready-made soup and serve with some fresh, crusty bread.
• Omelette or frittatta: Heat a drop of oil in a frying pan and some chopped veggie sausage or veggie bacon (and some finely chopped vegetables such as bell peppers, mushrooms etc. if your kids like these). When cooked, add 1-2 beaten eggs (per child) and cook until set. Serve with baked beans and crusty bread.
• Vegetarian corned-beef hash: Boil some peeled, diced potato and sweet potato in a pan (you could add other root vegetables too). Drain. Heat a drop of oil in a pan and fry some finely diced onion and some chopped up veggie burgers (the brown, meaty-looking ones) until cooked. Add the cooked potatoes and heat through.
• Veggie kebabs: Cut veggie sausages or burgers into chunks. Thread onto skewers alternated with chunks of whatever veg your children like (bell peppers, courgette, mushrooms etc.) Brush with oil and barbecue. Serve in pitta breads or wraps.
• Dips and dippers: Buy a selection of ready made dips and pitta bread, naan bread or bread sticks (or a combination of breads). Cut (or buy prepared) carrot, cucumber and bell pepper crudités. 
• Sweetcorn fritters: Make up a pancake/batter mix a little thicker than for pancakes. Add a drained tin of sweetcorn and mix into the batter. Fry in batches.

Find more camp-site meal ideas on my vegetarian and vegan camping recipes post.

If you have any other suggestions to add to the list, please add them in a comment below.

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Family-friendly festival guide

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The festival season is fast approaching, so I thought I'd put together a guide to surviving (and enjoying) family-friendly festivals with kids.

Mr O and I have been going to music festivals since we were 18 (and that's a long time ago!). Once Miss Ony came along, we decided that festival camping with a baby was a step too far, but we still went for a day at the V festival when she was about 6 months old - we even got featured in the local paper, as she was one of the youngest festival goers there. We had a bit of a break from 'proper' festivals for a few years after we had Miss Kahonie, as the thought of taking a baby and a toddler to a festival (and all the stuff they needed) seemed just a bit too much effort.

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Once Miss Kahonie was toilet trained and dry at night, we started festival-ing again.The girls love going to festivals now and delight in assembling their festival outfits and accessories before we go each year. One of their favourite festival activities is crazy dancing, which believe me, raises a smile from even the most hardened festival goers!

We always choose family-friendly festivals, generally within a couple of hours' drive. I do a bit of research beforehand to make sure that they have decent toilet facilities, showers and kids' activities. If you can, try and arrive reasonably early to get a decent pitch in the family-camping area (if there is one). We've found to our cost that trudging around a festival site with a tent and two kids, is no fun when you can't find a space to pitch.

My top tips are: 
Take a bucket and some loo rolls for night time situations! You can empty the bucket down the loo (or down the chemical disposal point if there is one, in the morning). A bucket with a lid such as a nappy bucket is best! 
If you take a light fleece blanket for each child, you can roll them up and take them out in the evenings to wrap the kids up in if they are tired (and use as an extra layer over their sleeping bags at night). A waterproof picnic mat is also useful as a make-shift bed for your little ones to lay or sleep on if they're tired in the evening...it's amazing how they can sleep through the music, noise and flashing lights! 

You might want to invest in a pair of ear protectors for young or noise-sensitive children (including those on the autistic spectrum). I can recommend Peltor Kids Ear Defenders which come in a very funky bright pink and lime green. I bought a pair of them for Miss Kahonie when she was little, as she was sensitive to loud noises. She used to get loads of compliments when she wore them (which she couldn't hear of course!). 

Essential equipment

• A tent - make sure you're able to put it up before you go!
• A fold up trolley/wheelbarrow etc to transport stuff and/or some big IKEA type bags 
• Air beds/sleeping mats/campbeds - with battery powered pump if needed
• Sleeping bags
• Fleece blankets
• Pillows (we always take one proper pillow each, as inflatable pillows just aren't the same!)
• Waterproof picnic mats and/or fold up chairs
• A battery powered light and a torch, plus extra batteries
• Basic first aid kit with kids' paracetamol, plasters, anti-septic wipes, bite-cream etc.
• A pack of baby wipes (always useful no matter how old your kids are).
• Toiletries - small bottles/tubes of shampoo, anti-bacterial handwash, washing up liquid, tooth paste, tooth brushes, sun cream etc.
• Light-weight towels
• Toilet bucket and toilet rolls
• Washing up sponge scourer/cloth
• A few pegs, to peg out damp towels on the guy ropes
• Fully-charged mobile phones

Clothes

• Good warm PJs and a vest/thermals each
• Clothes which can be layered up, as even on hot, sunny days, it can get really cold at night.
• Warm fleece jacket or hoodie each
• Wellies/walking boots, plus some light shoes (pumps, sandals or trainers)
• Waterproof jacket each
• Festival wear (optional!) - colourful clothes, fluorescent leg warmers, socks, tutus, laces and, of course, a festival hat.
• Dressing up clothes for the whole family -  check if there's a dressing up theme for one of the days.

Festival catering

Most festivals cater well for vegetarian and vegan guests. Festival food is generally very tasty, but it does tend to be pretty expensive, so you might want to think about taking some of your own food, especially if your kids eat non-stop. Chill or freeze all perishable items and pack into the coolbox just before you leave. My vegetarian and vegan camping food and kids' camping food pages will give you an idea of simple meal ideas...

Equipment

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• Coolbox (no ice packs- freeze any milk/juice cartons/water bottles you're taking and use them as ice packs). 
• A refillable water bottle each
• Camping stove plus gas canisters
• Camping kettle and small frying pan/saucepan
• Spatula or spoon
• Small fold up camping table.
• Paper or plastic plates and cups 
• Plastic cutlery

Food and drink

• Small cartons of juice
• Portable but filling snacks - biscuits, crackers, cereal bars, dried fruit etc.
• Breakfast foods - bread, cereal, eggs, veggie bacon/sausages, pain au chocolat etc.
• Tinned foods such as soup, baked beans and spaghetti with ring-pull lids.
• Packet foods such as dried veggie burger/sausage mix, rice, noodles etc.
• Small bottle of vegetable oil.
• Alcoholic drinks in plastic bottles or cans (optional!) - most festivals don't allow glass bottles onto their sites.
• Basic ingredients for simple meals: camping recipes.

Fun extras

• Glo-sticks (pound shop)
• Light-up balls/toys (pound shop again)
• Temporary tattoos
• Spray in hair-colour
• Drawing/colouring books and pens/pencils/crayons
• Top trumps cards
• Walkie talkies
• Solar fairy lights and a flag to decorate your tent!

If you have any further festival tips or recommendations, please add them in a comment below. Try sites such as Festival Kidz, eFestivals and Virtual Festivals to find festival dates and information.

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Don't tell my children what to eat!

It's been a while, but it's time once again for me to have a little rant, so please excuse me!

13 Year old Miss Ony, has been on a healthy eating regime since the start of the year. At first, I was OK with her taking control of her own food intake and reducing the amount of fat and sugar she ate (although being veggie, I'm sure her intake was far lower than the average child anyway) but she started getting more strict and cut out snacks, sweets and chocolate altogether.

She also started exercising more than usual, looking at the calorie contents of the foods she was eating and being very self critical of the way she looked. All quite normal things for a teenage girl to do, maybe? But it was making her unhappy and snappy.

Anyway, everything came to a head and we had a heart to heart chat about what was going on...it turns out that one of her teachers had been spouting on about how bad it was to eat chocolate and fatty foods, and how everyone should exercise more. As a teacher of teenage children, I think she should have known better and realised how influential her pep talks about healthy eating could be, especially to sensitive and intelligent young women like Miss Ony. 

Yes, most of us parents want our children to eat healthily and know about the nutritional value of different foods. There is obviously a time and place for schools to teach children about such things during the appropriate lessons; But please don't tell my children that any food is bad. Salad may be healthy, but we can't live on salad alone - we need a combination of carbohydrate, protein, fats, sugars and God forbid, even some salt!

The lovely Gok Wan's new TV series Gok's Teens: The Naked Truth addresses some of the issues that Miss Ony is going though at the moment, so we'll be watching the programmes with interest and discussing the subjects raised. We're all big Gok fans, so it was really good timing to see the first programme this week. 

Miss Ony is now allowing herself to eat a little bit of chocolate when she fancies it, which is making us all a little happier! Oh and by the way, if you're reading this Miss Ony, you are beautiful just the way you are! Pin It

The Midlands vegan festival - a review

I didn't think there were many vegans, or even that many vegetarians in the West Midlands, but by today's turn out at the Midlands Vegan Festival, I must be wrong - the Wolverhampton Civic Hall was packed with people of all ages. There were all sorts of stalls including various animal-welfare and environmental-type charities, cruelty-free products and best of all, lots of folks offering tasters and selling oodles of yummy vegan foods.

There were talks, music, cooking demonstrations, kids activities, a vegan cupcake competition and even vegan speed-dating on offer (I declined visiting the latter!) and it only cost £1 for adult entry - what a bargain!

I visited with Miss Ony, and we spent a pleasant couple of hours at the festival. We both particularly enjoyed Lizzy Hughes' cooking demos and tasting quinoa for the first time.
I hadn't been to the vegan festival before, as I wasn't sure how family-friendly it would be, but I'll certainly go again next year. Pin It

Bookhams vegetarian 'Parmesan' - tastes as good as the real thing

Chances are that if you're reading this, you'll already know that real Parmesan cheese isn't vegetarian as it contains rennet extracted from calves stomachs. The Vegetarian Society recently ran a campaign to highlight this, but many restaurants still mark dishes containing Parmesan as vegetarian.

Bookham Fine Foods have come up with the ideal solution to this issue, by developing their own vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese wittily called 'Not Just A Pasta Cheese' as they weren't allowed to call it vegetarian Parmesan!

My family have been putting some of Bookhams products to the taste test, including Not Just A Pasta Cheese (which we had with pasta!) We also tried their pasta sauce, penne pasta, Sussex Charmer cheese and butter.

"At Bookhams, we're real people who eat real food, just like you do. Our philosophy is 'for taste', inspired by Italian Cuisine, achieved through the use of sensitively sourced, British & traceable natural ingredients. All our products have now been approved by the Vegetarian Society. What's more, our Dried Pasta and Pasta Sauces are great for Vegans too"

Not Just A Pasta Cheese is a fantastic substitute for Parmesan - it has very similar texture, grates well and has a good strong, almost nutty taste. It went really well over a bowl full of Bookhams penne pasta and their spicy tomato sauce. Although I don't usually buy ready-made sauces, this one really tasted home made, and would make a good alternative for a quick family meal, when you don't have time to make your own pasta sauce.

Their Sussex Charmer cheese also went down well with my cheese-loving family. It's a farmhouse-style cheese with a lovely mature but not over-powering flavour. We tried it with fresh home made bread spread with Bookhams South Downs butter - which made a lovely combination.

As a family, we were all impressed with the Bookhams products we tried and would happily purchase them ourselves.

Integrity Statement
I received various products from Bookhams to review and a discount code to share on my blog. I did not receive payment, and the views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family. Pin It

Tweet and Eat with Innocent

I'm a bag fan of Innocent's fruity smoothies and juices, especially as they're a great way of getting some extra 5-a-days into my kids during the autumn and winter, when their favourite soft fruits become really expensive.

I didn't realise that Innocent had expanded their range to include veg pots though. Veg pots are all vegetarian (and most are vegan too) and contain "3 portions of veg, wholegrains, or pulses and tasty sauce, with herbs and spices..." so they sound ideal for a quick lunch at work.

The good news is that Innocent are giving away loads of discounts and offers for veg pots over the next few weeks, in an original and interactive way called tweet and eat; The clue's in the name...the more people that tweet #tweetandeat, the cheaper you eat! As the number of people who tweet increases, the discounts will too - so you might be able to buy veg pots for a pound, half price, or even completely free.

Collective buying power is where it’s at. So get all of your friends, family and followers tweeting loudly to push up the Tweet-O-Meter and get more discounts.

Review:

My family and I tried two Innocent veg pot varieties: Mexican sweet potato chilli and Thai curry. My children shared most of the chilli, as a filling for wraps. It was mild but tasty with nice bite-sized chunks of vegetables and lots of different beans. They really enjoyed it and said they'd happily eat it again. Mr Ony and I shared the Thai curry with some extra rice. . It was packed full of pulses and vegetables and had a really nice texture. It was strongly flavoured with lemon grass and other Thai spices, which we love...but it might be a bit over-powering for those who prefer milder flavours.

The pots are a generous size for one person, and would make a healthy filling lunch or dinner. I particularly liked the idea on the packet, they they would make good camping meals.

I wouldn't pay full price for the pots, as I think they're a bit expensive, but would happily buy them if they were reduced or using the half price #tweetandeat vouchers.

Integrity Statement
I received 5 veg pot vouchers. I used 2 for this review and will be giving the other 3 away soon.  

Image courtesy of Innocent. Pin It

Vegetarian dining in Disney World - part 3

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Well done if you've made it through parts one and two of my Disney dining guide. Here's part three...which is kind of a review, plus a few more tips...

Making Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs)

If you book your table service (TS) meals in advance, you can place a dietary restriction on your restaurant reservations, but as vegetarian and vegan aren't options on the online booking form (for some strange reason), I went for a shellfish allergy! This strategy seemed to work well. All restaurants we had booked for, except Wolfgang Puck Cafe, confirmed details of my 'allergy' when we arrived and all seemed relieved, when I said that my daughters and I were vegetarian and not allergic to anything!

If you're vegan or have any genuine food allergies, I would suggest that you email your requests once you've booked your ADRs, to: SpecialDiets@DisneyWorld.com. State your reservation numbers, where you will be eating each day and what you can/can't eat (one recommendation on Disboards says that it might be a better option to state that you are vegetarian with an egg and dairy allergy, rather than vegan). We didn't do this, as I was confident that we would be able to find something vegetarian that we would all eat in the restaurants I had booked at.

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The waiting staff were generally knowledgeable about the menus, and asked the appropriate questions about whether we ate eggs and dairy. In the buffet restaurants, they offered to ask the chef to give us the tour of the buffet, to let us know what was suitable, which we accepted each time (surely it would be easier to label foods with a V for vegetarian though!)

Several non-buffet restaurants were able to vegetarianise meals by leaving the meat/fish part out, but the vast majority of our meals contained some cheese or dairy, so vegans would need to check whether this could be left out of their meals. 

If you want to take a gamble, try to find out where Chef TJ is working and book a meal there (apparently he doesn't work in the same restaurant each night). Chef TJ has reputation for cooking great vegetarian food - just Google him to find out more.


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Luckily, we found him working at 1900 Park Fare the night we ate there, and instead of the buffet on offer, which had quite a limited vegetarian selection, we were treated to a freshly cooked selection of starters and a main course for the same price. The characters there also made this a fabulous night out, as the ugly sisters, Cinderella and Prince Charming all gave a good performance as they went around the tables.

Our favourite places to eat in Disney World were:

Table Service

• Tusker House, Animal Kingdom - African/Asian buffet with lots of salads, rice, vegetable samosas, fresh fruit etc.
• Boma, Animal Kingdom Lodge - African buffet with lots of hot and cold vegetarian options. Dishes are generally sweet in taste with cinnamon, mild spices and dried fruits.
• Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Downtown Disney - Italian/American with several vegetarian pasta options, plus the offer of making omitting meat from a couple of other dishes. 
• Raglan Road, Downtown Disney - Irish pub food which serves real chips (not fries!) and fabulous desserts.
• Sanaa, Animal Kingdom Villas - South Asian/Indian food with a good choice for vegetarians and vegans. Dishes are quite spicy, so might not appeal to children.
• Hacienda, Epcot - Mexican with a separate vegetarian menu including 4 main courses (you need to ask for this as it's not on display).
• Cape May, Boardwalk/Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom character breakfasts - Similar foods available at both with plenty of delicious pastries, breads, waffles and fresh fruits.
• Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom lunch/dinner - Lots of tasty salads, fruits, pasta and desserts. Limited vegetarian hot food.
• 1900 Park Fare, Grand Floridian  - Great for characters and to sneak a peak at the Grand Floridian Hotel, but generally quite limited vegetarian options (pasta, salads, fruit and vegetarian sushi). Fantastic food if chef TJ is working there.

Counter Service

We weren't particularly impressed with the quick service options available, as the vegetarian options were often limited to one choice. We were very glad that we only got one counter service (CS) meal each day on our dining plan. The quick service dining plan (QSDP) includes 2 CS meals plus 2 snacks per day, which really wouldn't have suited us.

Our favourite CS locations were:

• Earl of Sandwich, Downtown Disney - Sandwiches, wraps and salads with a few vegetarian options.
• Wolfgang Puck Express, Downtown Disney - Vegetarian pasta and flat breads/pizza available.
• Restaurantosaurus, Animal Kingdom - only one vegetarian option (veggie sub with sweet potato fries) but it tasted good and there was a toppings bar available.
• Boulangerie Patisserie, Epcot (cheese tartine) / Main Street Bakery, Magic Kingdom (mozzerella and tomato focaccia roll) - again limited vegetarian savoury options but great pastries!
• La Cantina de San Angel, Epcot - one vegetarian option (cheese empanadas) but it was tasty and filling.

Snacks

There are plenty of snacks and drinks available if you are peckish or thirsty between meals. The best place to find out what counts as a snack on the dining plans is back on Disboards, where you'll find a snack credit thread which is updated each year. Frankly we didn't use many of our snack credits during our holiday, as we just didn't need any more food! We did enjoy the odd ice cream and frozen lemonade though, and we sometimes used them to buy pastries to eat for breakfast the next day. Snack credits can also be 'spent' on sweets and treats to take home  as presents.

To summarise, we were all pleasantly surprised at how good the food was in Disney generally, as we'd expected to see fries with everything. It's perfectly possible to find good quality, tasty vegetarian food, but be prepared to do your research before you go!

If you have any tips or recommendations to add, please feel free to add them in a comment below. Pin It

Vegetarian dining in Disney World - part 2

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If you haven't read part 1 of  vegetarian dining in Disney, I'll recap...my best advice is to plan your dining options in advance. If you like to be spontaneous and choose where to eat on the spur of the moment, don't! Firstly, you may find that the most popular table service restaurants are fully booked, especially during peak season. Secondly, you may find that there are no veggie options available on the menu (yes, really, not even one!)

The way around both of these issues, is to plan where to eat, book table service (sit-down/waiter-service meals) in advance and know where you can find the best veggie counter service and snack options. This might sound like a lot of fuss and bother, but in my opinion, it's worth it.

When planning your food options, your first stop should be AllEars.Net. This website is amazing - it lists up-to-date menus, vegetarian dining strategies  plus recommendations for vegetarian and vegan counter service (fast food) and table service dining locations.

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If you want to ask for recommendations or see picture of veggie meals available at Disney World, try the food forums on Disboards, in particular, the vegan/vegetarian dining help thread, or check out The Disney Food Blog.

There are various Disney Dining Plans available which can either save you money, or may be 'free' as part of your holiday package. We got the free, regular Dining Plan (DDP), which entitled us to one table service meal, one counter service meal and one snack each per day, which was more than enough food!


Veggie kids on the DDP
My kids are 10 and 12, so in Disney terms, that makes them adults! I wasn't impressed with paying adult prices for them, but with hindsight, I'm glad they were able to eat from the adults' menu at no extra cost, purely for the better selection this gave them - even though the portions were far too big for them most of the time. For lunch, the children generally shared a counter service meal.

If you have younger veggie children, I would suggest either paying extra to upgrade them as adults, eating mainly at buffet restaurants, or making sure in advance that the table service restaurants you want to eat at will be able to provide small portions from the adults' menu but at a the cost of a child's meal/DDP credit. If not, your children will be stuck with a very limited choice consisting of mainly pizza and macaroni cheese.  

Part 3 here... Pin It

How to cook an Indian meal in 30 minutes

You may remember my previous review about Bipin's Masala curry pastes. Well, I was so impressed with my free sample, that I ordered some more to try out. I decided on a pack of 3 different pastes: Surti Masala, Jeera Masala, and Garam Masala and I was pleasantly surprised to find an extra complimentary pot of Bipin's new Royal Korma paste in my package (which arrived within 3 days of ordering).

I popped all 4 pots into the freezer as directed, until I was ready to use them. This week I tried out the Jeera Masala and the Royal Korma pastes in two different curries:

In one pan, I added the following chopped fresh vegetables: 1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 green pepper, some butternut squash and half a pack of paneer cheese. I gently fried these with 1 tbsp of Royal Korma paste and a drop of extra oil. I then added half a carton of passata and 100ml of water and allowed to simmer for about 30 minutes. Before serving, I stirred through 25g of creamed coconut.

In the other pan, I heated 1 tbsp sunflower oil and added  a chopped aubergine. I cooked this until soft and then added a chopped onion, a drained tin of chickpeas, 100g of mushrooms, 1 tbsp of Jeera Masala paste, and about 50ml of water. I allowed this to simmer for around 20 minutes.
I made up some naan dough in the bread maker, and cooked them under the grill while the curries were cooking.

Both curries were completely different in taste. The Royal Korma, despite being mild, was packed full of aromatic flavours and went down really well with my children. The Jerra Masala complemented the aubergine and mushroom well, and had a distinct taste of cumin with a good chilli kick.

The pastes were really quick and easy to use, and allowed me to produce a restaurant quality meal in 30 minutes - not bad, eh?

Bipin's Masala can only be bought online at a cost of £10 for 3 pastes (plus p&p). Each curry paste pot serves 4+ people and is suitable for freezing.

Integrity Statement
I bought 3 pots of Bipin's Masala and received 1 free sample of  Bipin's Royal Korma to review. I did not receive payment, and the views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family.

Image 2 courtesy of Bipin's Masala © Pin It