Vegan adventures!

I've been vegetarian for nearly 25 years, and very glad I was too. I've seen it become much easier to live as a veggie, espially when it comes to quick-food and also eating out too. I've met many veggie friends, and then began to meet some vegans too. Recently I've met new ingredients and started to create vegan dishes for the family too, which feels really good and healthy. 

I do share my home with a couple of hard-core cheese addicts, and there is always more than one kind of milk in the fridge, but thanks to having our own small flock I never have to worry about where our eggs come from, or what the birds eat and that makes me happy. Nonetheless, we all enjoy vegan food together so I thought I would share some recent food-porn moments from the camera of my phone .....

The first is these rather fab fritters! Made using only three ingredients, diced red onion, grated courgette and a few handfuls of gram flour. Actually I've made these a few times, and the ones bellow also contain marrow which I left the skin on as you might be able to see! I had read about gram flour replacing egg and in this recipie they do just that, soaking up the wet from the vegetables and binding them together firmly once fried. You don't need too much oil to fry them in.

Tonight we had two courses vegan. The first being herb and oat rissoles, served with spinach. The rissoles are made with water, oats, herbs, tomato purree, soy sauce and some date sugar (replacing treacle) with finely chopped onion. After boiling the mixture I let it cool and firm and grilled as burger shapes. Low fat too!

Pudding was chocolate pudding, with strawberries and coconut cream. The pudding I made with a ripe mango blended thouroughly with raw cocoa powder. So not only vegan but RAW POWER and I'm sure you know how cool that is! 

Do you weigh your ingredients? I don't usually, but I did weigh the oats and measure the water for the rissoles. Usually I cook ... by feel! 

A Handsome Black Dog ....

I A friend recently commented on the challenges of drawing black dogs! I've done a few, and a glossy black cat, and here is one I tackled fairly recently. 

This boy is done in coloured pencils, in a painterly sort of way. Have you been successful painting black pets?

Facing Up To It - 14

Just wanted to share how much difference a bit of fine tweeking can make, by first sharing this photo of my teeth on the 28th June this year.

Check out these incisors looking nice and straight in today's snapshot! I've been in braces for 527 days, but as yet, no date for surgery. The hygienist asked me this when I saw her yesterday, and gave me a super sand-blast and polish including my face. Free exfoliation too! 

I've even got a different style of bracket fitted but my dream is to get copper bands (ligatures) or maybe gold? These are supposed to be silver but they look gun-metal-grey to me? 

Facing Up To It - 13 ...

I've compressed two visits into one here, as I've been to DCH today and the photograph below shows me with L on the 28th June. C introduced me to L as she was handing over ready to go on maternity leave. My giant trainers and my controversial nose dominate the picture of L getting to know my mouth before a discussion with C!

I took this picture before I went into the appointment. Claire had given me a leaflet about INTERPROXIMAL REDUCTION to scare myself with, and so I wanted the BEFORE pic for this blog. It does show a rather uneven row of insicors, and indeed Libby decided that the teeth ought to be straighter before this procedure actually be carried out. 

In another gaping mouth shot, you can see that Libby changed one of the bands on my molars for a bracket, and a new fine wire to get the molar into a better position. Then she gave me a longer gap till my next appointment, which was today.

Although I prefer the pop-up tent that P E first used on me, I had my face stretched wide by this evil device today, so that Libby could add new brackets to all my lower front teeth, and also a molar on my lower right this time. My lower lip ended up very numb. 

I chose silver bands this time, and here are my new brackets and another very fine wire. This is definitely a time for much tweeking in order to be surgery ready. 

And finally, although you cannot see it very well, I have my first power chain, as a gap appeared between my crown and the tooth to the left of it. It's clear so if you want to see it, look very closely around the upper wire!

So that's me after 518 days in braces!