Goose Egg Fairy Cakes

My friend G lives in a beautiful house in the New Forest and has chicken and geese in her back garden, very idyllic! When I went round on Sunday she offered me a goose egg, but I couldn't really think of what to do with it. Then on Monday I thought I remembered Nigella or someone saying they were really good for cakes, so decided to make some good old fashioned fairy cakes and G brought me a freshly laid one!

So Simone and I got baking, we counted the goose egg as two chickens eggs and used the traditional fairy cake recipe (100g flour, 100g butter, 100g sugar and 1 goose egg). Annie had to crack it for me, because G once told me a horrific story that coincidentally is why I don't like eating eggs on their own.

The shell was so thick and it took ages to crack, and it had the biggest yolk I've ever seen (well apart from an ostrich)
When we mixed it all up it, the mixture was an amazing vibrant yellow colour. We added some cherrys because in the spirit of making good old fashioned fairy cakes, these were the ones I used to make with my nan when I was younger.

Once they we're baked they were still lovely and yellow and we decided to make butterfly cakes because we hadn't made them since we were young. Although we couldn't remember how to do the wings which is why they all look different!

They definitely tasted different or 'goosey' as Simone put it. They were a lot richer and full of flavour!

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Eating Animals

Just before I started my vegan week I finished reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, which is all about factory farming and whether its right to eat meat. Like most people I distance myself from what actually happens to animals and factory farming, so was a bit hard to read at times. But I don't want to dwell on that, as the main point I took away from the book was about how important food is and how it evokes certain memories. I love his style of writing, the first book I read of his was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which completely draws you in and shows a different way of thinking (I urge anyone reading this to read it!). Even though this book was more factual, he still manages to bring you in to the story by talking about his Jewish family and their food. If you've ever watched any of Heston Blumenthal's shows you'll see that he really tries to evoke memories with his food using sound, smell and taste. I read a review of his tasting menu from The Fat Duck and as the reviewer was presented with the Sounds of the Sea dish he was taken back to an old memory 'Suddenly my mouth was full of the flavour of the sea and I was transported back to the Leigh Cockle Sheds where I used to go with my parents and grandparents when I was a young boy about 35 years or more ago. It was amazing, and a lump came to my throat as the memories came flooding back. I have never had a reaction like that to any food before – it was quite unexpected'. There are so many foods for me that bring back memories foe me, pizza makes me think of using my nan's wooden stairs like tables with my brothers, vegetable pie reminds me of sleep overs with Emma and Phoebe, toad in the hole reminds me of the first meal my boyfriend and I cooked together and most importantly my mums vegetable bake and my dads bean soup make me feel at home! It made me really think about why I love food so much, and happy that I have so many nice memories attached to the foods I still eat.

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Day 8 Dairyfest

...well not really. I started my day right with a Artisan Du Chocolat Banana Salted Caramel, but after that I had a vegan breakfast as I didn't have any non vegan food in my cupboard! Then I had Yo! Sushi for lunch which obviously isn't very dairy ridden. So I saved all the cheesy goodness for dinner. The clear choice for a cheese filled dinner had to be fondue, and as I've done swiss fondue to death I decided to try cheddar and cider. I found the recipe on this amazing blog, but in my excitement over buying cheese I picked up red leicester instead of double gloucester.

The fondue was good despite being a bit overpowered by the red leicester, but Simone, G and I definitely enjoyed it. We even had the apple wedges that the blog suggested, because we're all professional like. Also I know this looks a bit romantic (minus the paper plates and cider in mugs), but subject to what G and Simone think, I wasn't trying to seduce them! None of our lights work.

As a side note, I did feel a bit gross about eating cheese after a week of no dairy, but I've obviously managed to get over it!

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Veganism Days 6 & 7

Day 6 and 7 haven't been very eventful food wise, I've managed the whole week without dairy though, so I'm very happy. That is unless I cave in between now and bedtime! I missed cheese a bit on saturday and spent loads of time looking at a cheese blog, which probably wasn't the best idea! I also went to Burger King with my boyfriend and really, really wanted chili cheese bites. Other than that though the last two days have been fine, although my PIC Laura caved (see below)

After failing to find my favourite super duper health and hummus salad (which also happens to be vegan) in Pret, I came home and used the leftover pastry from fridays pie to make and tomato and broccoli tart. I found some vegan parmesan cheese in my cupboard that I brought ages ago and sprinkled that on, which made the cheese cravings a bit easier.

Today I had a meal in prezzo, I checked the internet and luckily they had a full list of vegans meals. I had penne arrabiata and surprisingly wasn't tempted by the pizza. Then this evening, my good friend G held an evening of chocolate as part of her chocolate diploma (yes, that actually exists!) and she made me some vegan hot chocolate, which was really thick and creamy. If I had treats like that all the time it would make it a lot easier to be vegan.

This week has been fun, but I don't think I could ever be vegan full time because It's just too restrictive for me. I want to eat cheese and non-vegan cakes, but I've definitely discovered a new love for tofu and an addiction to potato waffles! I'm glad I did this week though because it's taught me that I can try new meals, and don't have to have cheese with everything. I think I'll add more vegan meals to my diet and if people can be 'flexitarian' then I don't see any reason why I can't be a flexivegan and have a few days a week eating vegan meals.

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