Vegan chocolate birthday cake

Made this for my vegan man's birthday on Thursday. Vegan cupcake recipe from 'Vegan cupcakes take over the world' (but with chocolate soy milk instead of soy milk for extra depth), topped with vegan chocolate ganache.

Yummy!

Appetite for reduction

I just got a copy of Appetite for Reduction: 100 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes by Isa Chandra Moskowitz - her new low fat, vegan friendly cookbook.

The recipes look great, I can't wait to start cooking them! Off to Real Foods on a supply hunt tomorrow.

Vegan 'victory' cakes

Homemade vegan, gluten free, 'Victory' cakes for a Wartime tea party.

Served with vegan cucumber sandwiches and lashings of earl grey tea.

Vegan carrot cake cupcakes

Made from a recipe in "Vegan cupcakes take over the world" - worked really well.

Edinburgh Festivals, 2009

My fair city will once again play host to a variety of festivals in the coming weeks, so I thought I would dedicate a few blog posts to places of interest, particularly for vegetarians and vegans.

To kick things off, here's a list of the festivals which will be running - if I've missed any out, let me know. *

July 31 – Aug 9, 2009 Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival
I've never been to the jazz festival, shame on me. Some good stuff on this year, I should try to go to something.

Aug 7-31, 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The all-singing, all-dancing city wide bit of madness. I love the Fringe - you can often pick up free tickets to events if you just wander around the Royal Mile or Old Town, and venues range from eclectic and tiny to the massive Conference Centre.

Aug 5 – Sept 5, 2009 Edinburgh Art Festival
Art galleries around Edinburgh play host to this festival, which aims to showcase visual arts. A mix of old and new, painting, sketches, sculptures and the like. Some nice little venues here - 50 in total.

Aug 7–9, 2009 Edinburgh Mela
The Mela aims to promote Scotland as a culturally diverse nation, and it's a lovely mix of acts from around the globe, world cooking, fashions, shops, and crafts. I went last year and had to resist the urge to buy masses of fabric and bindis (I could have spent a fortune).

Aug 7–29, 2009 Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Marching bands, bagpipes, and all that jazz. I went when I was a child and enjoyed this, although it holds little appeal now. However, the queues for this are always amazingly long, and people seem to love it still.

Aug 13-16, 2009 Edinburgh West Port Book Festival
A fairly new, alternative book festival - see my other blog for details.

Aug 13-14, 2009 Edinburgh Interactive Festival
The main events are for delegates, but this incorporates the Dare Protoplay event which is free and great fun - you get to play demo games made over the summer by students.

Aug 14 – Sept 6, 2009 Edinburgh International Festival
Theatre, Opera, Arts etc - the high brow big sister of the Festivals.

Aug 15–31, 2009 Edinburgh International Book Festival
My favourite! Events on books, authors, illustrators, current affairs, etc, with lovely bookshops and a fantastic atmosphere.

Aug 28-30, 2009 Edinburgh International Television Festival
Another one mainly for delegates, and pricey at that. Great if you're in the business though.


To be continued...

*I've deliberately left out festivals running at different times of the year, for obvious reasons.

Strawberry millefeuille

Well, sort of. I had puff pastry and strawberries so looked up recipes which might use them. This recipe for a strawberry millefeuille took my fancy, and after adapting it to be vegan and adding a few pistachios to the mix we had a lovely dessert.

Too much red meat?

Saw this article on the BBC news website today and thought it might be of interest.

"Scientists have produced new evidence suggesting eating lots of red and processed meat damages health."

"The researchers, from The US National Cancer Institute, found those whose diet contained the highest proportion of red or processed meat had a higher overall risk of death, and specifically a higher risk of cancer and heart disease than those who ate the least. People eating the most meat were eating about 160g of red or processed meat per day - approximately a 6oz steak."

Read the full article here: the drastically titled "Death link to too much red meat."