Sunday, 10 October 2010

Get your forage on!

Hey folks!

I hope all is well in the land of the interwebs!

Apparently, today is National Seed Gathering Day here in Britain, I was out in the woods nice and early to oversee 10/10/2010 at 10:10am (lame, huh?) and the view was pretty great down at Bridge Wood in Ipswich.

[Insert the picture of the amazing view I forgot to take here]

I decided to do my own bit for the day by biking to Bridge Wood with my mug of coffee, big bag full of smaller bags and the sun blazing away, collecting all manner of seeds including Sweet Chestnut, Maple, Scots Pine, Silver Birch and some I didn't even recognise (I'm new to this kinda stuff!).

I'll be including success (and failure) of my foraging and dumpster diving on this blog including tips on bringing home your own bags of sweet, sweet swag in the near future.

[Insert the picture I would have posted but Bluetooth failed here]

Peace and love,
Jaims

Wednesday, 6 October 2010

Vegetarian Shoes


For most people, including me, going Vegan also means making sure that you don't wear anything that is animal-derived as otherwise you'd be a walking, talking, tofu stalking contradiction!

I recently ordered a pair of radtastic cruelty-free boots (left) from Vegetarian Shoes and I adore them! [Airseal Stable Boot]

These boots were made in the UK in one of our oldest shoe-making factories, est. 1881. I have had these almost a week now and they're holding up well (better than my last crappy pair - which weren't from Vegetarian Shoes) , I wore them in nice and quickly with hunt sabotage the day after they arrived, it was a very muddy out but no problem for these bad boys! Kept the swamp water out good! These boots are both sturdy and flexible, look good (in my opinion) and are ethically sweeteriffic!

I'd definitely recommend shoes from www.vegetarian-shoes.co.uk!

I friend of mine has had boots she purchased from them for over 6 years and they're still going strong with a bit of heel wear and tear being the only trouble

That's all for now, gotta take the cupcakes outta the oven!

Peace and love,
Jaims

Friday, 1 October 2010

1st October - World Vegetarian Day

"To promote joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism."


The above image is the 'Food Not Bombs' logo, which I felt is just as appropriate for promoting World Vegetarian Day. Food Not Bombs offer free vegetarian and vegan meals to the hungry in over 1,000 cities around the world to protest war, poverty and destruction of the environment.

"With over a billion people going hungry every day how can we spend another dollar on war?"

Visit the Food Not Bombs movement website at: www.foodnotbombs.net


Happy World Vegetarian Day to all!

Peace and love,
Jaims

Sunday, 26 September 2010

Sabotage!

Hunting season began a month or so ago, although the Hunting Act 2004 prohibits such immoral and relentless activity- the Fox Hunters are at it! These scumbags are out on horseback, with large packs of mistreated, starving hounds, dressed in their 'traditional' wear and all manner of other hunting gear at their disposal, ready to chase Foxes to exhaustion so they can be ripped apart by the hounds until they are a bloody mess, or worse.

We cannot stand by and watch this monstrosity!
Evil continues to succeed when good men and women do nothing.

The hunt saboteurs are out, with their boots on the ground, stopping this disgusting 'tradition' at the heart of where it happens - out in the fields, hedges and woodland.

The Hunt Saboteurs Association helps to fund the sabotage of these immoral (and illegal) hunts and propagates what goes on behind closed hedges. Quoted from their website (www.huntsabs.org.uk):
"Hunt Saboteurs save thousands of animals every year, despite the efforts of huntsmen, terriermen, police and the courts to stop us. We act because we cannot stand by and allow the torture and killing of animals while politicians and media fudge the issues and delay any hope of legislation. Our actions mean the difference between life and death for hunted animals.

Over the past 35 years, hundreds of Hunt Saboteurs have been attacked at hunts, two killed by huntsmen and a huge number arrested by police in a futile attempt to stop what are proven tactics that save the lives of hunted animals.

Whilst the pro-hunt lobby and most of the mainstream media perpetuate the myth of 'saboteur gangs' armed with 'staves and balaclavas', the reality is, as the police would begrudgingly admit, rather different; Arrests have almost invariably been for 'Breach of the Peace' or more recently 'Aggravated Trespass' - not violence, just the heinous crime of blowing a hunting horn in a field or spraying lemon oil in a wood.

Whereas some campaigners will not overstep boundaries laid down for them by others, Hunt Saboteurs go directly to the source of the debate - and in doing so, see some of what really goes on in the hunting field.

There was no need for an inquiry into the effect of a ban on hunting - the outlawing of badger or bear baiting or dog-fighting were never delayed for the convenience of their participants on the pretext of job preservation or infringement of civil liberties as the current day hunters are managing. All it takes is political courage and honesty, something sadly lacking nowadays."

Nothing feels better than seeing a Fox get away because of the efforts of hunt saboteurs!
Hunt Saboteurs use non-violent techniques ONLY to prevent the hunters from getting their greasy mitts on our wildlife

My friends over at Fizz Monster are currently selling some awesomely cuteriffic, hand made, Fox Pins and donating half of the profits to the Hunt Saboteurs Association - get on it!
Chris and Meech who run Fizz Monster are some of the kindest, most considerate people I've ever met

I'll be posting some more Hunt Sabotage posts in due time (and no, I'm not going to let any of you hunters know where we're going, what time you'll see us, just letting you know - stop hunting the animals and we'll stop hunting you!)

Peace and love,
Jaims

Sunday, 4 July 2010

Music in the park, Ipswich!


Rad booze, rad music, rad people, rad times!
Peace and love,
Jaims!

Tuesday, 22 June 2010

Rawtastic


Hey hey hey!

Been a few days, I was supposed to go on a trip to Kent but I fell ill on the day I was going to leave, very unfortunate!

I decided to spend this week on a raw diet - you may ask, "What in the world is a raw diet, you crazy fool!?" - well I'll tell you:

A raw diet is usually composed of 75% uncooked foods at the least - Food can be heated up to 45 °C (110 °F), a bit more than this can cause a loss of nutrients from your grub.

There's much more to eat on a raw diet than I had originally imagined and there are loads of recipes online, here you'll find a list of basic foods that are good raw - http://www.raw-food-health.net/listofrawfoods.html

As you can imagine, it's very healthy! I feel full of energy already and it's only been a few days - good stuff!

Above is a dish I made late this morning using cucumber, avocado, tomato, basil and Sesame seeds

That's all for now, I'll probably end up posting more photos of some raw grub later.

Love and liberation,
Jaims

Friday, 18 June 2010

I love you and I love peta.


If you want to buy something for the person you love, care about or even appreciate, then this is an amazing buy.
It's so cute!
My boyfriend bought it for me as a surprise and it made me so happy to know he'd thought of me and also something that also helps towards Peta! There are many other items on
http://www.petacatalog.com/index.php?p=home
which i'm sure you can find for a loved one
Love, Kira
xoxo

Recipe: Oatinut Pancakes

Hello world!

I have once again been busy in the kitchen and I came up with this radtastic pancake recipe that'll fill you up and keep you buzzin'!

Ingredients you'll need:
1 Cup Medium Oats
1 Cup Flour
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Desiccated Coconut
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 Cup Soya Milk
1 Tbsp Oil

What to do:
1. Preheat Hob to medium heat and place a frying pan on top, then add half of the oil
2. In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix together the Oats, Flour, Sugar, Desiccated Coconut and Baking Powder
3. Add the Soya Milk and stir together well
4. Grab a whisk and whisk the mixture like you've never whisked before!
5. Pour half of the mixture into the pan and tilt the pan round until the mixture reaches all sides
6. When the mixture begins to bubble lots on the top surface, flip the pancake over to the other side, a wooden spatula helps this process
7. Let the other side fry for 1-2 minutes then remove from the pancake from the pan and place it on a plate, then add the other half of the oil to the pan and allow time for it to heat up
8. Fry the other half of the mix in the same way
9. Serve with lashings of vegan syrup (Maple Syrup & Lyle's Golden Syrup are favourite's of mine)

Enjoy!

That's all for now, catch you guys later!

Peace and love,
Jaims

Thursday, 17 June 2010

Recipe: Gooeylicious Chocolate Brownies

Hello friends!

It's been a few days. I have been quite busy arranging my journey to Americaland, sorting out application form mumbo jumbo and searching for cheap flights!

I thought I'd share with you a crowd pleaser brownie recipe that is easier to make than jogging off the calories you take in scoffing these gooey pleasures down!

and away we go:

Ingredients you'll need:
2 Cups Flour
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Oil (Vegetable, Sunflower, etc.)
1 Cup Water
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F)
2. In a medium sized bowl thoroughly mix all of the dry ingredients together (Flour, Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Baking Powder, Salt)
3. In a seperate bowl mix together all of the wet ingredients (Oil, Water, Vanilla Extract) and then dump into the dry mix
4. Mix it all together until it's a big clump of unbaked brownie and slap it into a grease-proof paper lined 13x9 inch baking tin(doesn't have to be exactly 13x9 inches, the bigger the tin the thinner the brownies and vice-versa).
5. Stick the tin into the oven for 25-35 minutes. For crunchtacular brownies leave them in the oven for an extra 10-15 minutes.
6. Leave the brownies to cool for 10 minutes then remove from tin and cut into rectangles, squares, triangles, stars, politicians or however you want to demolish them. Alternatively, stick your head in the tin and scoff until you can't scoff no more!

I'm off to suffer the effects of hay fever
Peace and love,
Jaims

Sunday, 13 June 2010

Vegan Booze!


So you're going out to the pub and something suddenly hits you, what in the world do they put in our drinks to make them taste the way they do? What are the liqueurs filtered through? What makes the wine so sweet?

Alcoholic drinks are another thing you need to watch out for on a cruelty-free diet, and there's a website dedicated to giving you up-to-date information on such brews!

WWW.BARNIVORE.COM

Alcoholic beverages can contain dairy, honey and other animal derived products depending on the product.

Also during the filtering process companies can use things like gelatin, egg whites, sea shells and isinglass (from fish bladder) among other things.

Currently, over 1000 brands have been checked and double checked by members of the Barnivore community and you can even submit your own entries if they haven't already been listed.

On the subject of booze, I'm currently off my tree.

Peace and love,
Jaims


Thursday, 10 June 2010

Baking - If you're not making a huge mess you're not doing it right



I've been in the kitchen most of today baking a bunch of things to take to a friend's birthday party this weekend, there's cocoa power and icing sugar everywhere!

To the left you'll find:
Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Frosting and Sprinkles
A bunch of Blueberry Muffins
A big pile of Chocolate Brownies


That's all for now! Some more recipes coming soon

Peace and love,
Jaims

Monday, 7 June 2010

Earthlings

Definitely worth a watch, this documentary will change your life.
"EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called "non-human providers." The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby."

Peace and Love,
Jaims

Smile :)

I woke up this morning feeling a little grim, so i thought what better but to make myself pancakes for breakfast! But what better than pancakes, then cutely shaped pancakes! (:
I thought i'd share them for you guys
As you can tell, i'm not to good at carving, but it still put a smile on my face.
Love, Kira xoxo

Brand Spankin' New Layout!

I have updated the layout to a basic, aesthetic layout and we also have a new URL that is less complicated than the Blogspot one.

http://www.veganventures.tk


I thought I'd include this adorable picture that a friend of mine found:



Peace and Love,
Jaims

Sunday, 6 June 2010

Knee Deep In Muffin

Summer time is upon us so I thought I'd start sharing some fruitful recipes with you guys!
I have recently got my hands on a book titled 'Vegan A Go-Go' by Sarah Kramer.
'Vegan A Go-Go' is a recipe book and travel survival manual for Vegans! I have been using this book a lot as of late for allsorts!


Here's one recipe I found to my liking for its flexibility, credit goes to Sarah Kramer of course!
You'll see some of these to the bottom right hand corner of the picture above.
I have tweaked this recipe slightly to help people that haven't had their hands on the book.

Recipe: "Anything Goes" Fruit-Filled Muffins

Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
1/2 Tsp Salt
3 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Sugar
Egg Replacer equal to 2 eggs (I use a medium sized mashed banana)
1/4 Cup Oil
3/4 Cup Sour Soya Milk (Soya Milk + 1 Tsp Vinegar)
1 1/2 Cups of fresh or frozen fruit (any of your liking, I tried chopped up Mango and it was nommilicious!)

What to do:
Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt and baking powder.
Add the sugar, egg replacer, oil, sour soya milk and fruit. Stir until just mixed. Place 8 muffin cases in a muffin tin and scoop mixture evenly into the cases. Bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick or fork comes out clean.


That's all for now, until next time!
Peace and Love,
Jaims

PETA2!


I Love Peta2 merchindises, not only is it totally stylin' but it gets the the message across about helping animals in an attractive way for everyone to see!

Most of you have probably already heard or bought from Peta, but i thought i'd give it an extra mention anyhow, it totally deserves it.

http://www.petacatalog.com/

They have loads of cool stuff, not just tees!
hoodies, stationary, jewelry. I love it and im sure
you will too!
Love, Kira xoxo

Saturday, 5 June 2010

''join the fight for those who can't speak for themselves!''




Audrey Kitching for Peta2!

How did this project come about?
I wanted to do something to raise money and awareness for peta2. So we came up with the idea of me being a superhero!

Where did the idea for your superhero alter ego come from, and how fun was it designing the costume?
I feel the world is always in need of more superheroes, and it's time that peta2 had one. It was a blast designing the costumes and coming up with the concepts for the promo.

Who were your favorite superheroes growing up?
Catwoman

Why did you want to team up with peta2 for this project?
I love animals, and peta2 is one of my favorite nonprofits, so it just made sense.

What do you want your fans to take away from this project?
That in each and every one of us is the ability to be a hero and that people everywhere will join the fight for those who can't speak for themselves!


I love this. I love her!
I saw this on Peta2 and had to post it.
Love, Kira xox

Thursday, 3 June 2010

Food Fest!

Sitting in the sun, in a beautiful park with vegan goodies. What could be better! Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the park was buzzing with people, sunbathing, having picnics. Generally chilling out. I don't blame them! it's not very often we feel the heat in this country. So we all take advantage of it when we finally do have it.

Me and Jaims started with visiting the geese, ducks and ducklings. They were adorable. They were loving the bread Jaims was feeding them. Literally following him around the pond for more! They looked so serene floating around in the pond.

We then went to go sit in the glorious [very rare] sun! Eating our Mango Muffins and chocolate brownies! Followed by some chocolate Alpro soya shakes. SO delicious. Reading our books, laying on the soft grass, it was a beautifully relaxed day. One of those days where you can just sit and think, whilst watching the world go by. Not something we can do all the time, being busy with work or college. But it's very therapeutic, puts you back in the reality of things.
Love, Kira xox





Quack Quack


look at these Cuties!
Me and Jaims had a mini food fest/picnic today and we had the pleasure of seeing these beauties.
More pictures and info of the day will be put up soon (:
Love, Kira xoxo

Wednesday, 2 June 2010

Faux, Not Fur

Theres been a lot of talk recently about celebrities wearing fur. People like Rihanna have been known to be covered in a poor animals skin in sight of fashion. Brooke Sheilds recently revealed as a little girl her dream was to design fur coats. What child dreams of skinning animals to wear? I certainly didn't. If anyone out there is thinking of buying fur. Please think twice. If you're that into it, in all honesty, faux fur looks EXACTLY the same! Plus it's so much cheaper. But, the biggest and best point of all, it's not hurting any poor, innocent animals.

In other news, I was overly pleased to hear today that H&M have pledged to never use exotic skins in their designs, or sell them to other outlets! It's definitely a brave start for fashion. A statement more designers should follow!

Love, Kira xoxo

Tuesday, 1 June 2010

Recipe: Simple Vegan Pancakes

So all vegans eat is Peas and Carrots, eh? Wrong!
Dig deeper and you'll discover a huge variety of mind-blowing options that'll give your taste buds a tingling, and keep your wallet healthy!

Vegan Pancake with a Kiwi filling


Here's a simple recipe for vegan pancakes which will please:

Ingredients you'll need
1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 cup Plain Flour
1 cup Soya Milk
1 Tbsp Raw Sugar
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tbsp Golden/Maple Syrup (optional)
Enough filling to spread on one side (optional)

Equipment you'll need
1 Frying Pan
1 Wooden Spatula
1 Wooden Spoon
1 Mixing Bowl

What to do
1. Set your hob to medium heat
2. Heat half of the oil in the pan
3. While the oil is being heated, mix together the Plain Flour, Soya Milk, Raw Sugar and Baking Powder
4. When the oil starts to bubble pour half of the mix into the pan and tilt the pan round until the mix reaches all of the sides
5. Wait until the mixture starts to harden (you can test this by poking around with the spatula a little) and then shift the pan backwards and forwards to loosen up the pancake from the pan, then thrust the pan upwards to flip the pancake (moment of truth!). Alternatively you can use the spatula to flip the pancake but you don't get the steez points if you don't show your flippin' steez!
6. Keep frying until the pancake is well browned on both sides, then toss onto a plate and put the other half of the oil in the pan and repeat with the other half of the mix
7. Spread your syrup (or whatever else!) on one side of each of the pancakes and add a filling if you want to, then fold the pancakes over so that the fillings are on the inside

Breakfast is served!

More recipes to come
Peace and Love,
Jaims

Isit Lunchtime?


The weather is miserable outside, but the birds are still singing their little lungs out! Me and Kira prepared a radtastic Bean Salad and half a dozen Apple and Banana Muffins about an hour ago and I thought I'd share a picture of some of the turnout. Unfortunately the salad didn't last long, but there's still some muffins up for grabs if you're in the Ipswich area and have a good pair of running shoes!







I'll list the contents of the Bean Salad:

Iceberg Lettuce (torn to pieces)
Grated Carrot
Chopped Spring Onion
Sliced Cucumber
Sliced Mushroom
A tin of Borlotti Beans
Basil, Garlic and Tomato Sauce
(Sauce recipe from Vegan A Go-Go by Sarah Kramer)

OMNOMNOM

Peace and Love,
Jaims

Breakfast Time!

What's a better way to get you out of bed than knowing you can have a plate full of delicious Kiwi (high in Vitamin C) pancakes! They are a tasty way to start the day, and will definitely fill you up until lunch. It goes great with Rooibos tea (full of antioxidants) with a slice of lemon.
Jaims will post the recipe for these simple vegan pancakes!
Love, Kira xox

Monday, 31 May 2010

oh hey there.

Me and Jaims have known each other for five months now. I was veggie, he was vegan. He introduced me to a wide range of ways to adapt my diet to become vegan, which I always thought I'd find hard. But he made the transition for me so easy! Showing me easy recipes and great alternatives. Now we cook food on a regular basis, finding new recipes and adapting old ones. Recipes we will share at some point during the blog.
And that is the intro to us!
Love, Kira. xox