The last day of the month and I have to say that this months blogging has been much more successful than previous months. Almost too much as it appears to be descending into random chaos. I think a little straightening up and tidying up is needed here but as that is also required in the house and hasn't happened in reality yet I wouldn't hold my breath for me to do it virtually either. So on with shopping!

I got my gorgeous package from Bourgeois Boheme yesterday and I have spent the last 2 days with my Big Buddha bag strapped to my arm testing its limits. It holds quite a huge amount and can take quite bulky items including my work clothes, shampoo and 4 rubber ducks. What I haven't adjusted to is the increase in length as well as depth and have misjudged spaces while walking in town and have walloped many a passer-by. Usually they are trying to barge past me during rush hour so it makes a pleasant change to be the one making impact. I'll try ot get a photo showing exactly what the bag is capable of holding but I think that I have found the perfect clinic bag! Finally. It will hold all my notes and the full kit. Excellent!

On a food note I made some experimental smoked aubergine and mushroom burgers which were amazingly good. I am going to post up the recipe next month on a seperate recipe page as I think to have it all in the blog is just a bit much. SO here are some photo's until then. x

27th June 2006

Woo Hoo!!! My gorgeous package from Duprey arrived today and to make it all more exciting the gorgeous guys sent me a free lipslick!! xx I have fought the urge to start applying it ALL and have contented myself with taking photos of it all instead.

Afer the excitement of new make-up and the fun of paying bills and transfering money (pay day after all) and realising that the new month has not yet begun and there is still as little money in the bank account as there was the day before payday, I thought I would cheer myself up with more cake. Hooray!So todays cake is Sticky pear. It's from a great book catchely titled 'Good Housekeeping Complete Book of Vegetarian Cookery' I don't think I changed the recipe enough to post it up but once I make a pear and sticky chocolate cake with chocolate sauce then i'll post it. The only reason I made this cake was to use up some overly ripe (rotten!) pears. Exceptionally pleased I had rotten pears to use now. Picture one: Cake right out the oven. Picture two: Cake 30 minutes later.

As you may have noticed I quite like food. I just haven't posted much about it before due to a previously tiny and despicable kitchen and lack of free time. I plan to make up for this. If I am completely honest gorgeous vegan food is well above shoes, bags and make up, therefore to continue on the theme of food (and my newly aquired knowledge of resizing pictures) here is the continuation of my shop from the Chinese supermarket.

In order: 1)Tub of Lychee Jellies. Individual pots of lychee loveliness. Jellied with seaweed so no gelatine in sight! Beer not mine! 2) Frozen edamame and some sort of frozen pastry that needs to be deep fried and eaten for breakfast. 3)Fermented tofu. Bought to make a 'cheesy' recipe in the Artful Vegan. Have no idea how else to use it. 4)Instant Ching Poo Luong. Really don't know about this one. It comes with a spoon in the lid so I guess it is supposed to be eaten straight out the can. It's mainly rice, beans and yam. If anybody knows what it is can they let me know!?

25th June 2006

It has been a few days since I posted and in the most part the last few days have been frugal. I have drank cocktails at the expense of work, done a little fundraising (I'll post a picture of that tomorrow) and spent a considerable amount of time cooking and eating. In the true spirit of blogging I have been taking photo's of (almost) everything. So, in no particular order:

Falafel, smoked baba ganoush, tsaziki, leaf and carrots in a pomegranate syrup and mint marinade on Lavash bread. Unbelievably delicious.

Chocolate truffle cake with fresh raspberries. It is a little bit decadent as the filling and topping are very similar to an easy chocolate truffle recipe.

Honey Mangoes!! I have been eating as many of these as possible as the season is short. As you can see one is gone already and another went shortly after the photo.

I have to appologise as I have actually been eating Thai feasts for the last two days and have NO photos to show for this except some Holy basil (on the left) and fresh lime leaves (on the right). These were just part of the frenzied purchases I made at a huge Chinese supermarket yesterday. I almost started hyperventilating with excitement when I got there. So last night I made a red curry paste which I then made mung bean fritters with also sweetcorn fritters and I also made baked and marinated tofu skewers with satay sauce. Everyone was full by this point so I didn't get to make my thai vegetable curry and hot chilli aubergine stir fry with basil. I made them today instead! :)

Also if anyone is vaguely interested I have updated my About section. It now has a photo as people like that sort of thing apparently!

20th June 2006

The final slice of the cake has been eaten. It is a sad day indeed. My thoughts on the cake are: if you have the time and/or extremely organised then make the frosting the day before you make the cake. It needs that time to really firm up. However, I think I will have to make it again 'just to check' that the recipe works. mmmmmmmm...

Gorgeous things bought today include Victory for the Comic Muse by Divine Comedy . There is something hugely dramatic about Neil Hannon's music and voice. It is a most enjoyable accompaniment to the purchase of the pointy green shoes from Bourgeois boheme. Have I mentioned how much I love this company? Yes? No? Well I do. They are totally gorgeous vegans. I think that was the total of my days shopping. Not too shabby considering I spent most of today at work. Tomorrow will be a frugal day. No purchasing of gorgeous goods allowed and only organisation of the flat before it all gets completely out of hand and the boxes take over the place.

18th June 2006

Firstly sorry about the slow download time of the pictures. I usually edit my own photos on another computer which is still boxed up at the moment so I can't resize them. It's a bit of a mare I know but I'll get it sorted. So for today no shopping (except 4 lemon balm , 2 borage and 2 marsh marigold plants and 2 cans coconut milk) but a delicious cake instead.

One mango cake with coconut frosting

Coconut frosting
2 Cans coconut milk
4 heaped (and I mean fairly heaped) teaspoons cornflour
1/2 cup caster sugar
50-75g finely dessicated coconut (plus more for sprinkling all over)
1/4 cup coconut oil. yes. Lovely saturated coconut oil. sit the bottle in boiling water to melt it.

*Mix a little of the coconut milk in with the cornflour to make a smooth paste.
*Put the rest of the coconut milk in a pan with the sugar and stir in the cornflour mix. Bring to the boil stirring constantly (otherwise you will get a lumpy mix). When the mixture is smooth, thick and creamy take off the heat and stir in the dessicated coconut.
* Put to one side to cool. (at this point I made the cake as the mix takes a while to cool down).
*When cool whisk in the melted coconut oil and chill.

Slice of mango cake

Mango Cake

Heat oven to 180C. Grease a deep 8" cake tin.

150g caster sugar
100g self raising flour
200g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150ml sunflower oil
200ml soya milk
Approx 2 large honey mangoes. I wouldn't really bother with those big green and red mangoes. You want the golden honey mangoes which smell SO sweet.

*Sieve all the dry ingredients into a bowl (or a food mixer).
* Put the soya milk in a measuring jug and add slices of mango until it reaches approximately 400ml. I went a bit over. Blend this with a hand blender or put in a food processor until smooth.
* To this mix add the sunflower oil.
* Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix.
Pour into your prepared cake tin and put it in your oven for about 45 minutes. It might need an hour and I found that I needed to put tin foil over the top to stop it browning too much.
* Its ready when a skewer comes out clean. But you know this.
* Cool (the cake)

Slice cake horizontally. Spread coconut frosting inside and put a layer of thinly sliced mango in there too. You might be able to see it in the photo. Top with other bit of cake, more frosting and more dessicated coconut. Eat.

You can probably see from the photos that the frosting was not quite thick enough and this is because I didn't heap my cornflour. Still tastes amazing but doesn't quite hold together. I should also appologise for my appalling mix of all sorts of measurements but as I usually dont bother measuring anything a mix of international measurements will have to do. Enjoy!

15th June 2006

My beautiful skirt is now covered in snotters after an afternoon of mad running around with children and being attacked by large, inflatable, rounded swords. Great fun though. Still you would think I would learn not to wear new clothes for such days as these. I also decided that cleaning the washing machine out with a bit of bleach was required while in my new skirt... I think I have got away with it. Am I the only person who has to do a bleach wash? For some reason mould starts growing in the washing machine (where all the liquids go in) and eventually it starts making the washing smell funny. The only way round it at the moment seems to be bleach.

I love the idea of knitting but when it comes down to it I am fairy talentless. Maybe, just maybe though I will be able to knit this!! As simple as I could probably get and I get a fabulous block of knitted tofu! Hurrah!

14th June 2006

So I did end up shopping today as I just 'happened' to pass by Marks and Spencers. Funny that. I tried on the bow skirt that I had been so keen on yesterday but was disapointed that not only did they not have my size in stock but it wasn't made in my size at all! To make matters worse it was NOT designed for a wee shorty like me but for some sort of 7 foot Amazonian. Don't get me wrong, it was gorgeous, but on me it made me look stumpy. :( Quite depressing. STILL good old Marks and Sparks has something for everyone and I noticed another pretty little skirt designed with short legged people in mind (I am 5'3"-longer on the body and shorter on the legs). So I bought it instead. The pain of paying £45 for it was lessened by lovely gift vouchers given to me so I really only paid £25! Hooray!

Now the problem is that I have gorgeous skirts and currently only scabby t-shirts or black tops to go with them. I have been told that I wear too much black which i disagree with as I wear it because I suit it and not at all because I am stuck in some colour rut compounded by the fact that I am only allowed to wear black to work. Well...no more!! Firstly as I am determined to prove that I can see and pick up other colours of the racks and also as I have quit my job and am starting anew. ha! Ahem...so I am on a quest for some sort of gorgeous top, shirt or blouse (! I don't think i have worn a 'blouse' since I was about 7). Any help greatly appreciated. I know its a pain as I don't have comments available but really I am an approachable person.

13th June 2006

A most successful day so far beginning with the meeting a friend for lunch who is very glam (although would never admit it)...you know the kind of person: effortlessly puts an outfit together with style, coordination and perfect accessories. I'm hoping this rubs off on me.

It started with a trip to Marks and Spencers for the bargain purchase of 2 packets of 5 pairs of knickers for £10 and a gorgeous pencil skirt for £15!!I had seen the skirt online last night and thought I would see today if it was too good to be true but it fits beautifully. A bit figure hugging so if you are a bit self-conscious then perhaps this skirt isn't for you. The other skirt I wanted was the bow skirt (on the left) but I couldn't find it in the branch I looked in. Will be beside another branch tomorrow so will sneak in and have a look.

Food was also amazing today: Vegan nicoise salad and lemon cheesecake (so smooth and creamy) although I have to say that after tasting the sticky toffee and date pudding I wish I had ordered that. As if the day can't get any better I have found these! Mmmmmm! Fab green shoes (pictured left) that will stay on my feet. I love heels but have this problem with them staying on my foot and end up walking in a bizzare manner by scrunching up my toes to get them to stay on. As these tie on round the ankle I'm assuming they will stay on. From Bourgeois boheme. Am going to wait until the 15th to order them as it is 10% off when you enter the world cup widow code. That style of shoe also comes in silver.

Finally, or at least for the moment, I had my order to Duprey Cosmetics confirmed so I am hugely, hugely excited. Part of the collection can be ordered through the Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation in the UK and Moo shoes in the US. They don't have the full range though and Duprey will ship pretty much anywhere. Will review them when they arrive but to read previous notes of adoration go to my April blog and look under the 15th April.

And the day isn't even done yet!!

9th June 2006

As I am patently aware today is the start of the World cup. Bourgeois boheme would like to know if you, like me, are a World Cup widow. If you are then you can get money off on certain match days by entering the codes. Starts with tomorrows date and I'm quite upset about that as I will be nowhere near a computer tomorrow!!

In general though today was not an internet or shopping day as it was glorious. In fact today was a day of generous freebies. What I thought was going to be an expensive day due to the need to buy gardening equipment (hmm...i guess I was intending to shop today) turned up a free spade, hoe, rake, fork, lots of herbs and some wonderful material (flannelette, starched and treated cotton) . Oh and a piano stool! So my fruit bushes got planted and my piano got tinkered at. So todays pictures are of plants and nature and are a celebration of all things free and not the usual material goods. Materialism will resume again tomorrow as normal!

6th June 2006

What happened to May!!? What a sensational lack of blogging. Still exams are over and the move is complete and most importantly incompetent BT have reconnected me to the internet. I have had so little time to shop...well that isn't strictly true. I have bought many gorgeous things for the flat and a bridesmaids dress all of which I will show at some point. Honest. Big changes are coming this way and I promise plenty of photo's too. But for today...no links and no photos. Sorry.