Soo…didn’t mean to cause suspense with that mentioning the ‘gadget’ and then not explaining. I genuinely was too knackered to do it justice. Still a bit blinky eyed this morning, but I’ll give it a go

What happened was, about two months ago, maybe less, I was on the website of one of my favourite cookery book authors, Bryanna Clark Grogan (I have two of her books and they are in almost every day use*). Anyway, a page on her website caught my eye, her recommendations on different products that she uses in her house. You know how it is when you trust someone and you love their food – imagine them telling you, with all their experience and insight, what they think are the best kitchen appliances – that’s the kind of advice that I take to heart (particularly when the photos she includes shows them sitting in her kitchen, I love that, so personal and welcoming). Then I followed the link to her review of it on her blog and well, my wee heart was stolen by a tiny Brick oven.

So I skipped on over to Amazon on the off chance that it might be there, I didn’t hold out much hope because the company in question aren’t that widely known over here.

To my very great surprise they had it, but alas, it cost a fortune – by the time you took the exchange rate and shipping into account it came to €281.24!!! Not a freakin hope I could afford that, let alone be prepared to part with that kind of money for what it is.

So it went on the same list in the back of my head as the Vitamix, the someday, when it’s raining €50 notes list It was tough to resign it to that list though, I was besotted with the idea of a pizza stone oven – our oven (rented house) doesn’t hold it’s temperature (which is a disaster for baking), nor does it get up to the kind of temperature you need for crispy pizza (along with the fact that the elements are in the sides), kind of a must when you have to make your own (how many pizzas have you seen lately that come without dairy cheese?). Also, the idea of a quick heating oven, for my roast veggies, for the baked tofu I use for sandwiches, for the casseroles/quiches/toasted sarnies/ciabattas/rolls – everything – an oven that heats in 4 – 6 minutes instead of at minimum 15 minutes? Fantastic! And you’re only heating a small space, rather than an entire oven, even more fantastic! Well, Bryanna says it all so much better than me, so I’m probably just repeating what she wrote.

So like I said, it went on the someday list, grudgingly.

And then, on Thursday I think it was, me and Gord were talking about roasting asparagus and it came up that he had bought a little toaster oven and it had completely taken over in his house from the big oven – cheaper to run, faster, perfect for pizza…and I just had to dig out the link to the one I wanted and show him. Doing this obviously led to me routing around on the interwebs to see if there actually were any stockists in Ireland (there aren’t), but I did come across a website that had it for a price that literally caused my eyes to bulge. We’re talking pretty much a hundred euros less than the Amazon price – including delivery!!!!!!

Needless to say I still had to do some major soul searching – would it really be more efficient, would it definitely get used, have I saved enough, and well, yes, to everything. There are a number of regular expenses we’ve not had recently along with me getting a pile of money back on Prsi (a type of tax) (I thought I wouldn’t get back) over the past few months (Okay, so we’re only talking circa €100, but that’s a lot to me at the moment!). I showed Benny the reviews and he was all for it, you will remember of course that he’s gotten big into the vegan baking lately.

So on Saturday evening I took the plunge. And I CANNOT WAIT for it to arrive. Seriously. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

So, what’s your favourite kitchen gadget (or top five/top ten/top twenty!)?

*The books I mentioned can be viewed here and here, I also love this one but haven’t gotten down to using it quite as much as the others yet.

so.. bullet points:

I was supposed to have made up a header for the new blog (which actually exists all be it in skeleton format, no writing), but I didn’t.

I spent two or three hours this morning trying to tidy the kitchen after 2.5 hours of baking soda bread and muffins for Benny (don’t ask, I was happy to do it but way underestimated the amount of time it would take).

I had the place to myself, he went home for the night.

I did my cycle – haven’t missed a day of exercise in an age and have been on the bike for a solid week with only one day where I wasn’t but I still walked that evening anyway. This makes me so excited that I sound like a little kid talking about it.

The other thing that makes me so excited is the order I placed yesterday, for the most fantastic kitchen gadget I can think of next to a Vitamix. It’s a …. ah no, I’ll tell yee tomorrow. I can’t do it justice tonight but I am really excited about it and dying for it to arrive.

I had a big shower and have flopped around in jammies all evening. Until I dropped a container filled with water on my foot and had to go change into other jammies.

I had crap sleep last night, dreaming about being trapped in an institution where they were bringing the kids out in groups to shoot them. We found a broken light switch in the wall jammed up with old change and pins that looked like the smiley face from Watchmen – this allowed us to pay someone off to escape. Really dark dream, left a mark all day. The people in charge where such robotic uncaring bastards – there was no reasoning with them. I think I know what stirred it up, but it wasn’t nice.

Yeah, my eyes are closing as I’m typing,

night all, x

..or even just have a passing interest and never quite get the texture right when you try at home, trust me, this recipe works perfectly, I’m in creamy silky smooth hummousy-heaven as I type…

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=18020.0

I was on my late day yesterday and accordingly I got my exercise done in the morning – but forgot to make some time to post. Hey ho as a wise man said (far more than once).

I brought my bike in to get fixed yesterday morning and power walked back out. The sun was blazing, like hot air in your throat/I can feel my skin cooking blazing. This isn’t usual for Ireland. I tried out my new favourite thing to do while exercising, (explanation to follow), with the walking (previously I had only tried it on the bike) and it worked for that too, which made me very happy.

So, before I explain it (it’s pretty simple though), let me explain what I noticed a few weeks ago, when we started all this getting fit/more active/active at all mularky. I was walking up a steep incline after a fast walk on Rosses Point Beach and it was tough, like really tough, where you’re starting to make horrible noises because it’s so much of a strain. I felt so uncomfortable, I really wanted to stop, so I thought, before I do, I’ll just listen to what’s going on in my head. Immediately I realised I was feeling anxious, horribly anxious and there was this horrible stream of unpleasant thoughts that I’d been swatting away like flies, trying to avoid acknowledging them or their emotional source…”you’re going to have a heart attack, you’re so unfit, you fat bastard, why did you get yourself into this state, you’re going to faint, you might fall, you’re going to have a heart attack…” and so on, ad nauseum.

So, instead of fighting the thoughts I recognised them for what they are, old habits, hang ups and wounds from the past, literally the icing on the top of my anxious emotions cake. So I let the anxiety speak, I just let it be. I accepted it rather than rejecting it (fighting with it angrily) and assured myself inwardly that a heart attack was distinctly unlikely and that if I wanted to slow down a little that was fine and for good measure “you can do it, go on, you’re doing really well, you’re nearly there, well done…”. Before I knew it I was done and I felt fine. I wasn’t in half as much pain, I wasn’t breathing so heavily/harshly, I felt fine, relieved, far calmer (and I hadn’t even realised I wasn’t calm!).

Realising this negativity and how it operates when I am exercising is a big deal for me. I have always had problems with exercising and the only times I’ve ever been able to keep to a sustained burst of daily exercise is when it’s an act of self harm (like walking to pumping music until my chest really, really hurts) – which makes sense when you see the way the anxiety and negative thoughts are linked. So, the other day when I was on the bike I decided to say my favourite mantra, Om Tara Tu Tara Ture So Ha. I had no problem cycling, I cycled further than the day before (when I had slipped back into the ‘I can’t do it’ frame of mind). I actually found the process joyous at times, the chant matched with my physical activity, calming my mind, freeing me up to just enjoy the sensations, the view, everything. It made me very happy. I didn’t get as flustered, as overwrought, as angry…nothing like that at all.

Anyway, three cheers for Buddhism

I better go get ready for work. Poor Benny has his migraines back again and he’s dying so my morning has been out of kilter.

Happy Friday all, x

I will answer everyone’s comments from yesterday later – but I need some feedback first.

I’ve finally come up with one I like, as in, it fits the criteria I gave myself and makes me smile. The criteria was that it had to have the word Irish or be obviously recognisable as having something to do with Ireland (because I want it to be googleable to help potential/established Irish vegans, there aren’t many sites in Ireland to help someone who’s thinking about making a change or would like some new recipes/product info/ideas). For the same reason it needed to have vegan in it. It also had to be mildly amusing. So, bearing in mind the fact that I used to live and die for a full Irish breakfast and I’m usually full because I love cooking so much, I give you:

fullirishvegan.com

or (and this is where the poll comes in)

thefullirishvegan.com

Basically – does it need the ‘The’ or not? And you would know what a full Irish is, yes?

Thank you!

*okay, not to slay whatever tiny bit of mirth is in this blog name by overexplaining, but I also find the dark irony of a vegan referencing possibly the least vegan breakfast in the universe kinda funny, the only thing on the plate that isn’t from a pig or hen is the tomato (or possibly mushrooms, if you’re having a fancy one)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_breakfast#Full_Irish_breakfast

I really need to come up with that killer name for the vegan food blog I want to start. Sigh. It will come, soon, soon. And then there will be recipes, and possibly even photos – remember those? I used to take them! Once upon a time.

My new exercise regime goes on unabated, today we did about 3 kms of hilly terrain on the bikes (only our second time out on them, the first time was for a really slow glide into town to get films, yesterday). When we got back we realised we should have stopped for milk for his lordship so we walked back down, slowly. Nice bit of activity though, it certainly came in under the ‘no pain no gain’ category. I am dreadfully unfit, there’s not much more to say about it than that. I must remember to take some ‘before’ pictures, as this is technically our third week of the new ‘go out walking etc. make Nolly thin’ drive, and I have a pretty strong feeling that going from no activity to lots of activity at the same time as stopping eating all dairy & eggs as well as cutting back on the choccy & the fags will probably result in some weight loss, eventually at least.

In other news, Benny is applying to do volunteer work at our local library (the big one I trained in), so that’ll be nice, for a number of reasons that here isn’t the place to get into Also, we’re still waiting to hear about our volunteer work at the animal shelter, so hopefully we’ll know what the story is with that over the next few days

Re recipes from yesterday’s post…they’re a little tough to do right now because they were somewhat off the cuff, but I will do them, in fact that was the reason I was grumping at the top of this post about getting the food blog started, I think they’d make a good starting point Needless to say I didn’t use any measurements for them though, so they’ll have to be tested under stricter supervision (what a chore!).

Right, to the bed, Fred.. night all, x

I thought this was a lovely story and wanted to share. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but, try it anyway

http://peacefulprairie.blogspot.com/2009/06/libby-and-louie-love-story_21.html

* When I was a smalleen child I used to have to have a bedtime story, which for whatever reason was always referred to as a wee stody

Six days of no posting, that wasn’t supposed to happen, but I got busy with the holidaying (well, more of a staycation, I really do love that word, sorry), and got distracted, a lot.

Last week we went to Galway, went for more walks, went to Cavan, had Mraid and her partner up for the weekend and today, we did sfa. Which is what I usually do after a busy few days of entertaining and chatting. I also cooked a lot, as my bestymatey, (a term made up and only applying to me and Mairead since we were in school together), brought me up some Asian store goodies from Dublin that inspired me. Today we had chickenless noodle soup (devine! with beech mushrooms and rice vermicelli), a nearing perfect vegan mayonnaise (fresh silken tofu really does make a hell of a difference, I’m still working on it though, it was slightly milder than Helman’s still, but the flavours were right, yippee!). Yesterday we had a ridiculously lovely herbed veggies over crispy baked potato with a really zingy ‘cheese’ sauce, toasted wraps filled with my own homemade coleslaw (which I’m now addicted to), the meat for which was just some marinaded & baked frozen tofu (the springy texture it gets from freezing allows it to suck up the marinade and gives it a bit more chew, perfect for a little salty namnam in your sarnie). Oh, and I made banana muffins – they are like little moist droplets of spongy heaven. And on Saturday we had a lasagne, (complete with lashings of from-scratch vegan cheese sauce, vegan ricotta etc.), which went down rather well with our guests too.

I did have one failure though, a mock chicken affair with bean curd sheets – I used fresh instead of dried, just chancing my arm because the only type they had in the Asian supermarket was the fresh but the recipe called for dried. The steaming of the sheets only served to make them more rubbery unfortunately, I’m still glad I tried it though, they were too interesting looking to pass up.

Anyway, food heavy post and bed time now. There was lots of other introspection and fun too, perhaps it will leak into the remainder of the weeks posts. Back to work tomorrow, which always feels cruel after two weeks off, no matter how much you love your job

Night all, x

This is a wonderful talk about writing, being a writer, creativity etc. that’s a great insight and inspiration for any writer, and not because it offers tips, it offers a new way of viewing how the creative process works. I really like it, and I really like Elizabeth Gilbert. John, you will particularly enjoy it, I know this for a fact, and Kate-in-Saskatchewan, there’s a transcript on the top right hand side of the page – I believe you’ll enjoy it too (like, without the vid).

It’s twenty minutes, but for anyone creative who’s ever experienced writers block/artists block etc. this offers a new way to look at it all. I’m tiptoeing around saying any more than that because she says it all so much better than I can and I don’t want to ruin the surprise

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

P.S. I think anyone who reads this blog would get a kick out of it, writer or not, just wanted to clarify that

I had a good weekend. Good company and fun food shopping and I kept really calm in the city with my new fangled staying in the present moment trick (too tired to explain it now). I found massive packets of tofu for like, unbelievably cheap (I’m too tired to do maths, but just think of the words bargain and relief and you have the gist). All sorts of different types too – and bean curd sheets for making my own chicken style chunks and ham slices, something like that anyway, what one of my lovely recipe books refers to as Buddhist meat, which suits, frankly. Although you know you don’t have to be vegetarian to be Buddhist, right? People don’t always, so, just in case.

Yeah, no, no brainpower. I’ll try and write something more thorough tomorrow. I’m not a very alive version of myself today, so it’s time to wrap it up in a soft duvet

Night all, x