Getting practical

If you were wondering if I already had my baby the answer is not ;-) But I'm not cooking or doing anything special in the last weeks besides trying to get as much rest as I can before the big day and that's why I'm not blogging too.


But today I'd like to share two Redwood products that we'd bought recently and are really good:


Celebration Roast: this is a Cheatin' Turkey Roast with Vegetarian Rashers. Matteo bought it thinking about Christmas but we ended up eating it a few days after and it is really good. Easy to prepare, soft and tasty.

Mixed Meat Free Sausages: this set is great for snacks and part of it was gone during a football (soccer) game last week with my mum here (she's staying 40 days with us). Once again, soft and tasty - and you can also eat with your favourite sauce (we've eaten them just with mayonnaise).

We found both products in The Health Store (located at Dundrum Shopping Centre). One more useful tips for vegans in Dublin.

Yesterday night we had friends coming over for dinner and Matteo prepared his almost famous cotechino servito con polenta e lenticchie (sausage served with polenta and lentils) and pizza and the guys brought chocolate and vanilla Swedish Glace ice cream and chocolates. It was a funny night and it was amazing for me to have friends around before the baby arrives.

Pumpkin pie

Most of my friends (mainly the vegan ones) love to cook and this is great. From time to time we exchange recipes, tips and even products (I enjoy sending food gifts). Cinthia is one of these friends. She lives in Brazil and I sent her a while ago a box that had, between other stuff, nutritional yeast (we can't find it in Brazil). She made a recipe called "Escondidinho de abobora e PVT" (it's really hard to translate this cause "esconder" means "hide" but "escondidinho" has nothing close to it in English as far as I know... but "abobora" means pumpkin and "PVT" is  "TVP", texturized vegetable protein). A few weeks ago Matteo got me a huge pumpking and I really wanted to try some new recipe and I went for this one. It looks like a pie but it also sounds like a potato/pumpkin pure.


Well, let's get down to the recipe so you can figure it out what it is! And thank you Cinthia for it ;)

"Escondidinho de abobora e PVT"

Ingredients:

 

- 1 kg pumpkin

- 2 medium potatoes

- 1 tablespoon vegetal margarine

- water

- 180g of fine texturized vegetable protein (TVP)

- 2 tablespoon olive oil

- 1 small onion

- 1 teaspoon minced garlic

- 340g ready tomato sauce

- Salt, pepper, nutmeg, sweet paprika, fresh basil, fresh oregano to taste.

 Preparation:
 Peel the potatoes and pumpkin and cut into cubes. Cook them separately in water, because they have different cooking times. When they are really soft, remove from heat. Squeeze the potatoes with a masher (or a fork). Try to dry the pumpkin first with your fingers to squeeze out excess water. In a saucepan, combine the potatoes and pumpkin,  add the margarine and salt to taste (and if necessary water). The puree can not be too much soft (got to have a firmer consistency). Keep stirring it constantly until the desired point. Remove from heat and set aside. Meanwhile, soak the soy protein (with warm water). In a heated pan add the olive voil and fry the onion and garlic. Add the TVP. Lower the heat and add the tomato sauce and a cup of water. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, sweet paprika, fresh basil, fresh oregano, and with the pot half-covered, let the sauce ascertain. Once you are done, remove from heat. Take a rectangular bowl. Place a first layer of puree, then the protein with the sauce and, finally, another layer of puree. Sprinkle nutritional yeast on top and bake in the oven temperature to 200 ° C from 20 to 30 minutes.
 PS. I've added a layer of spinach leaves between the sauce and the second puree and it tasted delicious.

Food with family and friends

I can't believe we're back for almost three weeks and I still didn't have time to post my photos here from my hometown. But it's a good sign, it means I'm busy and being busy sounds good for now (have to finish my thesis until the middle of July!).

My dissertation is about food, so you can imagine how much I've be reading and writing about it. And one thing that I really agree is how much food is a social "tool", how is good to prepare and share food with people you love. And I have to say that I had a lot of this amazing sharing - of food and love - in Brazil. After the tour we went to my hometown to spend two weeks with family and friend and I was also in an important "mission": to know and baptize my newly born niece (L)!

In the first week we went to this fancy place with my parents and I didn't know if we would be able to find food to me and Matteo there, but silly me, Brazil has the best fruits and vegetables ever and there's always some options for vegan. So we ate well and had tons of fun:

The place:
built around a river with natural hot water

Tropical breakfast
(the only thing we took was the soy milk)

Lunch time

Dinner time

For the rest of the days I was just eating with my parents at home or with at friends:

One of my favourites: pastel de soja

Dinner with lovely friends:
spicy beans soup/cream (caldo de feijao)

Sfiha night with more lovely friends
(sfihas filled with pumpkin and broccoli)

Last night with friends:
couldn't leave Brazil without having açai
(this one was with mint, so refreshing!)

And on the last Saturday there I had the chance to do something I wanted since before going there: cooking a vegan meal to my family. I'm the only vegetarian in the family and my parents are not into it at all (well, my dad is curious about trying everything but not my mom or my brother). So there was this family lunch on Saturday to celebrate my niece's baptism and they've asked me to cook. Because my mom doesn't like a lot of things, me and Matteo decided to go basic: we'd cook corn risotto (what a surprise, but my sister-in-law loves it and asked me for that, so not my fault this time!) and pasta with two simple sauces - ragu and white sauce. Have to say it was a success and everybody enjoyed the meal and had a great time. I couldn't be happier.

Baby steps into the vegan raw universe

If you're an "old" reader of this blog, you might remember that I'm not too much into salads and that I do an effort to eat more vegetables. But since 2009, when I wrote the blog post about it, I've been eating a lot more vegetables and salads (just salads, not into burgers or with other food to cover the vegetables taste) and I'm happy with it. But I still prefer cooked vegetables than raw ones. Last week I had an amazing experience that made me know a little bit more about the vegan raw universe.

We had a guest at home that has being vegan raw for two years now. When I first realized he's raw I thought that it would be hard to cook to him and to take him out in Dublin because I knew very little about vegan raw options around. But it wasn't that hard (I sound like people that think being vegan is the hardest thing in the world!) and I could learn a lot and discover some new pleasures and options in Dublin.

Cornucopia has always some vegan raw options in their salads. Thumbs up to them! Blazing Salads is another amazing place to find great salads and they also sell the delicious Nakd raw bars (love them). More thumbs up! But our best discover was Natasha's Living Food. I had eaten one of her cakes before and it was amazing but I didn't know nothing about her or her products. I called her to see if she has a store but she doesn't (yet). We were supposed to go to her place, where she produce the stuff but we couldn't make it this time. But her products can be found in a lot of places in Dublin and I found quite a lot of them at Nourish (Wicklow Street). Everything looks delicious. Check it out if you have the chance.


Besides that we got a lot of nuts and for the last night my friend was here we decided to do a dinner party at home with some other friends of the vegan group ALiberation. I decided to cook brazilian vegan feijoada to the non-raw guests and during the day I walked with my friend around Dublin and we got some amazing raw stuff.



First we went to the Dublin Food Co-op. They have great stuff there and the staff is great. I got organic red peppers and zucchini. And we also went to a street market close to South William Street to buy olives and artichokes. Everything was delicious and I had a great night with good friends that share same values: veganism and animal rights. The guys also brought their dogs and the apartment was full of life.



After these days learning more about vegan raw I have to admit that I became very interested in the option and that I'm doing an effort to learn more recipes and to eat more raw food in general.


P.S. Today is the last day to enter the blog giveaway and have a chance to win a copy of The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life, by Melisser Elliott.

All about... 2010

Since I've started the blog I've been doing the "all about... the previous year" post and this year won't be different. I like some rituals and unpredictable since I left Brazil it sounds good to keep the "traditions" that are left ;-P

2008 sounds a thousand years ago right now, but it was an important year. 2009 was a way better, but still with too many downs between some ups. But it was definitely a "building" year. But 2010 was grand and I can't stop thanking life for giving me such a good year.

I won't be able to remember all the good bits (what is a good sign) but I'll let you know my top 10:

1. I started a Master in Journalism and Media Communications
2. We moved to a house, a lovely house
3. Me and Matteo celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and 6 years together (L)
4. I did one more issue of my paper zine, Outspoken, and the first English issue
5. I went to Brazil to see my family and best friends and it was deadly
6. I had an amazing summer, traveling around, visiting friends and my mom came to Europe for the first time
7. I saw 7 Seconds at Ieperfest and a lot of other amazing shows. Hardcore and straight edge will always be my life
8. I started working on MUZU.TV with on-line journalism and music
9. My brother's wife is pregnant and I'll be an aunt soon (L)
10. I still have the best friends in the world, no matter how far they are

And I couldn't leave out the amazing vegan food that I had this year. I didn't cook or bake that much, but still had great experiences in the kitchen. I met new (and amazing) people cause of veganism. I celebrated my 13th vegan anniversary believing more and more that I made the right choice. Berlin is still the TOP 1 vegan-friendly city in my opinion, but I still have to go to the US. Ice cream is still the best thing in the world.

I have no idea about how 2011 will be. I have a good feeling about it but I decided to not plan too much and I have no resolutions for this year. But I'm sure my life will change again. For the best. The word for 2011 is already being "surprise".

Happy 2011

Meu Brasil brasileiro

With some friends at Vegacy - São Paulo

I'm in Brazil to see my family and my friends. The last time that me and Matteo came here was June 2009. One year without coming is a lot to me. But I'm doing the best I can. It's great to be home, to be with people that love me and miss me.

Vegan breakfest in the hotel: bread + strawberry and goiaba jelly

The flights from Dublin to Belo Horizonte, my city, stop in São Paulo, so we decided to stay one day there to see some friends (some of my best friends live there), get tattooed and eat. The best thing is that our tattooer (Teté) is also the owner of the vegan restaurant Vegacy, that we love, and both are in the same street. Couldn't be better. We had an amazing lunch there, went to the studio and came back in the evening to meet some people. I finally finished my arm that I start 4 years ago and now I have the ocean in my skin (L). Everything was perfect. I wish I could stay more days there cause I couldn't see everybody, but we don't have too much time and had to come to Belo Horizonte.

Itubaína: can't believe it was the first time that we drank it, too good.

Vegan lunch

In the end of the night we went to a pizzeria with Teté and his girlfriend and ate two awesome pizzas. Expensive, but very tasty.

There is good vegan food and products in Brazil and I'll try to post here as much as I can in the next few days, I'm taking pictures of everything.

Comfort food + work + sun + friends

Today is St. Patrick's Day. I'm not Irish, I don't work for an Irish company, so it's a regular day for me (and also for Matteo that works for an US company). Last year we went to town to see the parade because it was our first year in Dublin. It was hard to see because of the amount of people but it was OK. I don't think I would be so much into this kind of celebrations anywhere, I wasn't even in Brazil. But there are people that love it and there are people that hate it. And there are tons of people that just use the day to drink. Not my thing at all too. So, I'm at home, working and excited because I'll see one of my best friends tomorrow. She's coming with her boyfriend to spend 4 days and it will be amazing to have her around.

I'm still not cooking much because of the journalist free lance job I'm doing, but me and Matteo are having some good meals. Most of them involving comfort food. It's so good to have things that make you think about good memories, mainly when you are so far from home. Last week I did the vegan omelet with spinach. I remember that when I was young this was the only way my mother found to make me and my brother (and even herself) eat spinach. I wish she could see this! It was so good. And we are cooking many meals with the white rice + beans. And it's cool to see how they became a comfort food also to Matteo. It is his favourite Brazilian combo. I baked the first vegan chocolate birthday cake yesterday for an order and I have some cupcakes order for April already. Hope I will find the time to make everything.



I'm pretty excited about the spring too! Can't wait for the flowers, the picnics and the running in the park.

It's so good to have flowers in the house and to see the sun outside

All about... 2009!

Before starting this post, I decided to read the one I wrote about 2008. It's really good to look back after some time. Remembering things with some distance (in this case, of time) is really good. And I can say that one sentence that I wrote back in January 2nd was 100% true: "I know things will be fine in 2009".

And the word I chose to describe 2009 is "building". I really spent my year building my new life: home, friendship, love, family. It was the year to learn how to keep some relationships with the distance, to make others, close, to deal with my family in the other side of the ocean, to have a new house (two, in fact, because we moved to a bigger apartment last October), to keep things and let others go, to live in Dublin, to love Dublin, to keep my marriage amazing and full of love, to start new things, to close some doors and open new windows.

As you can notice, it was a full and busy year. I could see all the seasons coming and going and have memories for them all. It's really nice when you come from a place that is always hot and always look like summer. I don't know if I would be able to write about everything that was important to me in 2009, but I want to write about some things.

In February, after coming back from our first travel to Berlin to see my lovely friend Clarissa, I decided to start baking vegan cupcakes and cakes. Some people should think that I always did that, but I never thought about it before going to the cupcake shop in Berlin. I like to bake, I was used to bake some cakes (and birthday cakes for friends) but had never done it as a "job" or a "business" before. But the crisis was all around Dublin and I couldn't get a job in my professional area, journalism, so I decided to try. I talked a lot to the owner of Cupcake Berlin and she gave me the most important tips to begin and I started to bake. First for the new friends here, then for selling in the hardcore gigs and, finally, for selling in the Govinda's restaurant and for some orders. And I had a busy year baking my vegan cakes! And everybody loves them ;-) In general, I cooked more too. Being at home made me cook more and it is a good experience that I want to keep.

Matteo and I moved all the HUP (our independent hardcore label) stuff to Dublin, released the Irish band Famine, helped to bring Bane to play Ireland in April ans released their 2 new EPs in Europe and South America; we released the Italian bands To Kill, Locked In and helped the first release of Go Back Home; we went to basically all gigs that happened in the city and to other festivals in Europe during the summer; we made the last Have Heart South America tour and I had the chance to travel with them, Shipwreck and Rise and Fall for a week and see Have Heart last shows in Europe and say goodbye to my favorite band of the new generation. All this was really amazing because I can't live without the hardcore and the straight edge in my life. We saw bands that I never imagine to see, we met amazing people, we had tons of fun.


I started to make some friends around and I could keep the best friends I have in my life, even with the distance. Friendship is really important to me and it's not easy to have true friends around. I think I'm building some new friendships here and I'm sure I'll always have the Brazilian friends in my life, doesn't matter where I am. I saw these friends - and my family - in June in Brazil and it made me happy enough for the rest of the year. I celebrated my birthday in July with my new Irish friends and I think they have no idea about how important it was for me. I spent some amazing days with Matteo's family. It's so great having them around. Barcelona in September was unforgettable! Christmas and New Year were perfect. The first in Dublin and couldn't be better.


I still don't have a job that I'd like, but I'm writing for a magazine from London, I have a column in a Brazilian website to talk about veganism and other things I believe, I have 5 of my vegan recipes published in a German book, I have an article in a new German magazine (and I hope I'll have more), I worked with my ex-boss again in a project and it's always great to keep this relationship with him and the place I worked for almost 4 years in Belo Horizonte.

I really can't complain about 2009. I still have a lot to do to make my life better here but I'm sure I built the bases, solid ones. 2010 will be a better year. It is already being. I have new goals to be achieved and I'm positive about them.


Finally, I just like to say THANK YOU to everybody that was part of my life in 2009 and I hope you're still here.

Vegan Mofo III - Day 13 - Inspiration

One of the best things ever is seeing that what you do can inspire people. I am not talking just about big acts but about small things you do. Yesterday I was happy to see that one of my best friends, from Brazil, baked her first vegan cupcakes inspired of all the baking I am doing here in Dublin.

I sent her the recipe in Portuguese with some tips about the replacement for the stuff she wouldn't find in Brazil and she blogged about her first time here!


I don't know if this sounds silly, but I am really glad when I read all these love messages that arrive to me and when I see my friends trying to make delicious vegan food around the world :)

And for those who don't know, my inspiration to start baking the Sweet vegan cupcakes was Cupcake Berlin! If you're going to Berlin, you must go there!

What remains (is more than words) *

This week was my 34th birthday. My first one in Ireland. My first one far from my friends and family. I was excited and afraid. I didn't know what to expect. I usually don't feel good in my birthday. But I had a great week. I had some of the best moments ever. I got the most amazing message from people that I love and are far. Thanks everybody that made part of this.

My vegan birthday cake (that I baked):

chocolate cake with chantilly and strawberries filling

Acapulco Mexican Restaurant:

where we had my (early) birthday dinner

Vegan burritos: the food in the restaurant is amazing
Two days latter a mexican friend said that burritos is not a mexican food
(even Wikipedia seems to be wrong) and I'm still chocked with the news

After dinner:
"Dublin hardcore means you're never alone"
(You're so right Mac Kell!)

Chilling with my Brazilian friend Lubia and the Mexican guy Ricardo.
They came to visit me and see Dublin and stayed 3 days

And I still have more pics to post!

(* Mouthpiece)

"Brasil, meu Brasil brasileiro"

Since the end of May I'm in Brazil. I'm spending some great days in my hometown, Belo Horizonte, with my family and friends! I'm going to a lot of awesome places and I hope I can update here soon with news and pics ;-)

For now, just one thing: it's so good that I can eat beans again! Love them and love the Brazilian snack "pastel" (need to get a recipe to post here!)

I'll be back!

All about... Berlin

We just spent three days in Berlin but we could see a lot of things and eat at the best vegan places. I was really surprised to see that there are a lot of places for vegan people there. I think Berlin can be the best place, after London, for vegans. I'd like to thank Clarissa for taking us to see the city, we had a perfect time and the best company!

I decided to write in topics about the food places, so here we go:

* Cupcake Berlin: I have to start with the most awaited place of this travel. I didn't know it before, but it's not a vegan place. But it's not a problem at all, they have the best vegan cupcakes ever (vegan options are: Very Vanilla, Brown Sugar, Double Trouble, Perfectly Peanut and Blondie). We went there on Saturday and Sunday and had a great time. Beside the cupcakes, the place is nice and the owners are so kind that you stay there a long time. And the place is pretty famous in Berlin – they cooked cakes for Tom Cruise once. They also have t-shirts, cloth bags and buttons. The only bad thing is that they don't open on Monday and Tuesday.


Address: Krossener Str. 12
Opened hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm to 7pm


* Hans Wurst Bio Vegan Café Restaurant: this place is perfect. We went there on Sunday to the brunch. I love vegan places because you don't need to ask about the food. The brunch is all you can eat and in the end you chose how much you want to pay, between 7 and 12 Euro. The food is awesome and it's a cool place too. We stayed there for 4 hours more or less, eating, drinking and talking.

Brunch at Hans Wurst

Address: Dunckerstr. 2a
Opened everyday 12pm to midnight (on Sunday they open at 11am)

Vegan chicken cheeseburger - Yoyo

* Yoyo Vegetarisches Bistro (Yoyo Foodworld): I think Yoyo is the best place to go and we went there a lot of times. It's a kind of vegetarian/vegan fast-food place and most of their options are vegan. The place is amazing, everybody that works there is cool and the food is delicious. They have snacks, wraps, pizza, burgers, desserts and more. I recommend all the burgers with salad and french fries (so go there as much as you can!), the wraps (they are so big!) and the Salami pizza with fake cheese. It's probably one of the best pizzas we have ever eaten in our lives. And they have good prices too, so it's perfect.

Vegan salami Pizza with cheese - Yoyo

Address: Gärtnerstraße 27
Opened everyday 12am to midnight

* Veni Vidi Vegi: a vegan store. This place is great too. You can buy a lot of vegan stuff to take home, without read the ingredients. 100% vegan. They have a lot of options of pate, chocolate, cheese, biscuits, soy milk and the list goes on. I bought a button there that says 'esst mehr tofu' (eat more tofu).

Address: Pücklerstr. 32
Opened hours: Monday to Friday, 12pm to 19pm – Saturday, 10am to 4pm

These are the places we went to eat. But of course we didn't go out just to eat, we saw a lot of the city. Berlin is an amazing city. Big (with a population of 3.4 million) and beautiful. Every place you look, you see history.

Sowjetisches Ehrenmal (Soviet War Memorial)

We saw the Berlin Wall (yes, it's something intense to see), the Brandenburg Gate (it's more beautiful at night), the Reichstag building (German parliament), the Schloßplatz (a popular square that has a Marx and Engels monument), The Fernsehturm (the famous TV tower) at Alexanderplatz, Karl Marx Avenue and the Sowjetisches Ehrenmal (Soviet War Memorial) in Treptower Park (this was the most impressive place to me, it's not so much famous but I think everybody should go there).

Brandenburg Gate

Me, Matteo, Marx and Engels

Sowjetisches Ehrenmal (Soviet War Memorial)

Berlin Wall

Another thing that's really good about the city is the transportation infrastructure. You can go everywhere using train or tram. The city has two big train systems (U-Bahn and S-Bahn) with more than 20 lines and 300 stations. The tram system has almost 400 stations and also more than 20 lines. And you can chose to walk or to ride a bike too (Berlin is known for its highly developed bike lane system).

If you're planning to come to Europe, you should visit Berlin for sure!