Blogs, books and busyness

I know I have neglected this blog a bit recently but also know that it happens and hey the world hasn't ended!  And if you're reading this dear reader, you are still with me and I thank you for that!

I've been cracking on with my book on Machu Picchu - now getting to the exciting stage where I can talk about it and show people and ask for feedback (while only slightly feeling panicked/ hiding under blanket/ screaming eeeek). More about that in good time...

I have also been busy setting up something I have been thinking about for a while - a blog focused on being mostly vegan. I decided to try being vegan last year and have stuck to it although not always 100%!
I've been wanting to write about it more and was spurred on by taking part in a recipe swap in March thanks to Twitter (see I don't waste my time on there - it is valuable research and contact building!) I'll be trying out recipes, reviewing restaurants and other things, charting the ups and downs and musings on being, wel,l as the name suggests, virtually vegan!

Like most other people who write, I don't just write. I have a full time job, which is temporary so I need to try to keep my hand in with freelance work too as that's what I'll be likely returning to doing when the contract ends.  I have my little family of teenage son, cat and dog to look after, sort out and have fun with. Oh and the fish - I can't forget the fish. I am single so solely responsible for things like doing the hoovering, shopping, putting the bins out and, this weekend's surprise task, sorting out a workman to fix the garage roof. I have friends I would like to see more of and do more with. I haven't seen my brother since Christmas and he only lives in Yorkshire. Then there's social media...

I have never had and always thought I should have a routine, a definite time, schedule or window in the diary for writing. I still think I should have. But do I need to? I'm not sure.
Does it help to have a fixed routine or is it just more stressful if you can't stick to it or find you don't always feel at your writing best in your scheduled time slot?
I am still working out what's best for me.  I know I am a night own and could happily start about 8pm and write all through the night. But realistically I can't do this and carry on with the rest of my life. I thought I should try getting up an hour earlier to at least write something - but I also find that about 30-45 minutes into writing I am flowing and don't want to stop. Plus it means setting the alarm for 5am...

Have you found anything that works well for you?

Home again home again jiggedy jig...

Back safe and sound after our French fun. Taking forever to catch up with things! Will be back blogging soon but in the meantime here's an article my fave foodie mag Appetite published about my continuing vegan ventures :)
And if you want to keep up to date with those specific shennanigans you can like the Facebook page www.facebook.com/aveganvirgin

So how was it for me?

My trial month of being vegan is over - I committed to one month in June because it sounded like a do-able time scale and I honestly didn't know if at the end of it I'd be reaching for the cheesy scrambled egg with extra mayo.

The fact that I'm not and have no desire to three days after the official end of the 'trial', even though I could if I wanted and justify it to myself, says something.

What has been fascinating is focusing on food and realising how distant our normal relationship with it is. I was surprised on my first vegan trip round the supermarket to realise, after an unfeasible amount of time label gazing, how much seemingly unnecessary stuff goes into what we eat. Even usual things I'd buy as a vegetarian mostly contained some kind of dairy product added in some guise. Veggie sausages, falafel, quorn, pesto - all out.  It's also been a revelation just how much diary as a vegetarian I must have been eating, it does become not only a meat substitute but often the only thing people can think of to offer you.

Making meals at home hasn't changed much - much of what I'd make anyway would be relatively vegan, or easily made into vegan by say leaving the parmesan out. I can actually say I haven't missed cheese which is surprising (until my brother turned up and his partner hadn't known and had brought me a bag full of gorgeous looking cheeses as a present... I sulked and son scoffed them!) The only think I do think about occasionally is scrambled eggs on a weekend for brunch - I haven't tried the tofu version of them yet, I know it won't be the same.  Meals round friends houses have been great, they've wanted to try new recipes and it's been fab hearing other non vegans exhort how delicious (and easy) vegan food can be.

Eating out however is a whole different experience. Restaurants have to be picked carefully or given a pre-warning phone call - it's like the olden days where you wore a bell around your neck that signalled you were 'unclean'.  Eating out on a lunchtime is the trickiest thing - the usual grab something in a cafe like a normal person means at best I am lucky to get some fruit or a salad and a packet of (plain) crisps. Of all the things this has been the most difficult. Apart from train travel - which was a similar barren experience and actually meant I was hungrier longer as had a long journey.

It means that you have to be a little more organised and prepared ,which quite frankly I'm not - yet.

I decided to try vegan because of the potential health benefits - so have I noticed any? It's hard to say given I had an operation 12 days in which meant hardly eating for a few days after, then a week later suffered from a stomach infection which meant surviving a few more days on soup and bread. But, given that I am at the end of quite a stressful few months (April - trekking in Peru and suffering altitude sickness, May - having a hysterectomy, June - having plastic surgery done) I am feeling surprisingly well and what I do know is the days when I have eaten well and slept well I've felt very well. And it has 'cured' me of picking and snacking (one of the downsides of working at home) and of my sweet tooth - no longer can I just have a couple of biscuits or piece of cake with a cuppa.

So, partly because I have had the blip in the middle which blighted the experience a bit, partly because it is starting to feel like the 'norm' and partly because I'm still fascinated as I have only just scratched the surface and have loads more to try and to look into, I am not going to end my vegan experience with the end of June. Oh no, I am carrying on being that awkward one, that one who has to explain what they can and can't eat, that one who just says 'it's fine I'll just have the salad then - no dressing' for at least a while longer yet...  

And if you want to follow my vegan ups and downs, recipes, good (and bad) places to go you can like my Vegan Virgin FaceBook page  

The Good, the Bad and the Ugli

It's one week into my vegan venture and it is certainly proving an interesting and enlightening experience. There's been good days, bad days and some in between and I'm learning lots including:

• how rubbish labelling is on many products and in many supermarkets
• how many odd and unnecessary ingredients are put into food
• how having to read the labels doubles the time it take to go shopping
• how it can save you money if you get fed up, give up and vow not to go shopping there again
• how something labelled vegetarian, organic or dairy free is not necessarily vegan friendly
• how going out may mean you can't eat a lot but can still drink a lot - bad combo
• how fab it is to stay with friends who are vegetarian, and used to be vegan, who cook something wonderful without you feeling like you've been awkward
• how Bill Clinton and Michelle Pfeiffer are now vegans
• how you can find some lovely cafes in unexpected places.

And so far I haven't really missed the cheese!

If you want follow my vegan venture, the good, the bad and the ugli fruit I have a facebook page here to like if you like!
https://www.facebook.com/aveganvirgin

Like a (Vegan) Virgin…

… as Madonna almost sang.

 Does being vegan still conjure up a sandal wearing, lentil loving, bearded hippy dippy image? If so - that'll be me in a few days time as for the month of June I'm going to become vegan. I've been mainly vegetarian since I was 16 - a *few* years ago - with the occasional foray into fish (yes I know that doesn't make me an always vegetarian but I have a weakness albeit only occasional when it comes to sea food).  I love cheese, cream and butter although careful about what kind and how often I eat these. Generally I have a healthy diet, with little processed food, but a fondness for cake balances the scales the other way as it were.

So - why am I saying adieu to some of my favourite indulgences?  Mainly for health reasons and out of curiosity.

Over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in health related issues, pretty standard after being diagnosed with cancer I guess, and in particular how nutrition can affect things. Of course there are many arguments raging among medical/ health/ therapy communities and statistics, surveys, research and evidence of specifics thrown around like sprinklings of sunflower seeds. All I can say is I know I feel better if I eat better.  I have cut back on dairy before and was an 'almost vegan' during cancer treatment which I believe (but of course will never know for sure) helped me get through it.

I'm putting my body through quite a bit at the moment having recently been trekking at high altitude, had a hysterectomy and have another operation coming up soon, so I reckon it'll  help get me through all this and keep well by putting good stuff in.

I'm also a bit of a foodie, I do like my grub and cooking up new things, so this is a great chance to discover some more recipes and different things to eat.

I’m approaching it in a positive frame of mind - mostly. There are some things I'm not looking forward to as much such as:

·      feeling like the guest from hell - this weekend is the start of giving someone advance warning that 'erm sorry but I'm only eating vegan now' as I'm going to a garden party. The host has already planned for vegetarians but mostly things I won't be able to eat as a vegan (but it is an educational opportunity as this lovely host looked on a website and found some vegan recipes she wants to make because SHE wants to try!)

·      going hungry - this weekend I'm also going to a county show and a gala, where the norm would be take your pick from the vegetarian selection on offer at food stalls (usually quite a range but again often not vegan) and help yourself in the beer tent (uh oh - some beers aren't vegan). I will have to pack my own sandwiches and stick to the Pimms (it's vegan - yippee!)

·      being surrounded by 'temptation' - much as my son is a committed vegetarian he definitely isn't willing to live without his beloved cheese and cake - so we will still have these in the house (he is however keen to try whatever I make and anything vegan that I buy in...)

·      feeling deprived - I think this is only going to happen if I go to a restaurant or cafe and find there's not a lot on the menu I can have (this will feel like a return to my early days as a veggie when a cheese omelette or salad were often the only options!) There are already a couple of places I love that do great vegetarian dishes but studying the menus when I was last in realised they wouldn't be suitable for a vegan. Finding and going to new places that DO do good vegan fare is the answer I guess.

I'm committing myself just to the month of June to give it a go and I'll decide after that if it's for me or for life... (and since I started this wondering about the image of veganism I've realised the only two people I knowingly know of who are absolute vegans are the very gorgeous Spanish young man who taught me to scuba dive in Greece, and Simon Amstell - also young, hip and very funny)

If you want to follow my foraging in the world of vegan you can join me by liking my Facebook page below

https://www.facebook.com/aveganvirgin

(and yes I had a cheese sandwich for lunch today!)