66 Days Married : Food Glorious Food!

Being a vegan & a vegetarian it was important for us to have wedding meal that didn't contradict our values so we chose to have a completely vegan day.  All the food and drink served at the wedding was vegan.

After the ceremony our guests enjoyed tortilla chips and salsa accompanied by Apple and Elderflower Collins cocktails.

We asked the venue to stock vegan beer from a local brewery, Farmageddon, a co-op that our friend is involved with, and not to serve the beers that didn't contain or use animal products in the production (they ended up serving these anyway, unfortunately - nearly a vegan wedding then...).  

The wine served with dinner was Oxford Landing Sauvignon Blanc and Yellow Tail Shiraz.  This, along with the prosecco for toasts were also vegan - you'd be surprised how many bottles of wine we've come across that contain egg or milk!

Our wedding meal was so delicious.  After a morning of being busy and not really eating a lot it was just what I needed.  While the speeches took places guests enjoyed a vegan mezze.  This is my favourite starter/snack.  I love nibbling lots of different bits and pieces. 

 
Our main course to follow was vegan sausage and mash.  We had huge portions smothered with an amazing onion gravy. Dessert was almost too much for my tummy to handle! Vegan cupcakes, chocolate ice cream and mixed berries.  I missed out on getting a cupcake as Jim and I were chatting with friends and family but I'm pretty sure I couldn't have squeezed one in anyway!

Our vegan cake, as I've mentioned before,was baked, iced and decorated by my extremely talented bridesmaid and new sister-in-law Fiona.  It looked gorgeous and tasted amazing!  It had three layers - lemon and poppyseed, Victoria sponge and chocolate.  Fiona made her own coconut butter to make the frosting then decorated it with roses and rosemary from her mum's garden. It looked perfect and was exactly what we'd described to her.

During our evening reception the guests enjoyed rustic chip butties on artisan breads.  We had normal and sweet potato chips.  I LOVE sweet potato chips! Chips are exactly what I crave after a couple of drinks and hopefully our guests felt the same way!

Having a vegan wedding was important to us and our guests were so supportive.  We saw lots of empty plates heading back to the kitchen and even friends with the largest of appetites said they were very much satiated. 

Amy
x

 

42 Days : Paris Pre-wedding Moon #2

Paris Je t’aime! 

At the end of February Jim and I went to Paris.  This was my Christmas present to Jim as he'd never been before. We had the most fabulous time despite the chilly and rather grey weather. We were there over the anniversary of our engagement and that day we climbed la Tour Eiffel.

Pretty good view despite the clouds!

We were pleasantly surprised to find Paris had several vegan restaurants and so managed to try a different place every meal.  If you're vegan and visiting Paris we'd recommend Le Potager du Marais  (Jim had a lovely Seitan Bourguignon), Saveurs Végét’Halles (I had a yummy mushroom rosti).  One of my favourites was MOB Burger.  The burgers are made of mushrooms, tomatoes and rice, which are all finely chopped and smoked - It was really tasty!! They were all kind of expensive but I think that's just because Paris generally is pretty expensive.

There was also a great falafel take away near the Pompidou Centre which unfortunately we only discovered on our last day - great cheap on-the-go food and vegan!

As well as lots of eating and drinking we also trekked the length and breadth of Paris being tourists!

Pont de l'Archevêche

Notre Dame & a grumpy looking Jim

Sacré-Cœur

I was a bit disappointed when we arrived at the Moulin Rouge.  Baz Lurhman’s film had me ready for a spectacular building with lots of lights and colour, Nicole Kidman hanging from a trapeze in a corset and a giant elephant, and instead it was a pretty grimly painted red windmill on top of a building in a neighbourhood of sex shops. I am reliably informed that the shows at the Moulin Rouge are spectacular but a set of fairy lights wouldn't have gone a miss!!

We were pleasantly surprised to find that a few of the museums have free entry on the first Sunday of the month so we managed a trip to The Louvre and the Pompidou Centre (where we experienced some very bizarre live art about dance.) before grabbing a quick bite in a pure veggie Indian restaurant near the station, and boarding the Eurostar to head back to old Blighty.

 

Amy
x

Vegan Cupcake Bake-Off - Chocolate Avocado Frosting

The first proper cupcake I tasted was in New York in 2006 on our last family holiday.  I had dragged my brother, Richard, on the Sex and the City tour and as part of the tour they took us to Carrie’s stoop which is close the very famous Magnolia Bakery.  We had a classic vanilla cupcake in a park close to the bakery and I was hooked! I’d baked fairy cakes and ‘lost cherry’ buns with my Grandma when I was little, decorating them with lots of multi coloured icing (the water & icing sugar kind). They were great but these cupcakes tasted different; light and fluffy with the perfect amount of gorgeous buttercream frosting! Since then I’ve been a little bit cupcake crazy and am constantly on the hunt for cupcakes that taste as good as that very first vanilla cupcake.

Cupcakes & Cava Birthday Party '10

There was never any doubt in my mind about cupcakes for our wedding and the so the hunt began for a vegan cupcake recipe.  I was doubtful I’d find a recipe that would match up to a non-vegan cupcake, as I’m a big fan of both buttercream and cream cheese frosting but the challenge was set.

First up is a vegan frosting suggestion from Fiona (Jim's sister).  She’d recommended trying avocado in the icing. I was a bit skeptical   We love avocados as guacamole but I wasn't sure how this frosting would taste but I  found some great recipes on some of my favourite websites and gave it a go last night.

Click below to see how I go on.