Breakfast any time of the day or night

I’ve been having one of those cravings. Not for meat, per say, but for SHONEY’S BREAKFAST BAR. Are there any Shoneys left in the United States these days? I know the one in my hometown is gone. Shoneys was a staple of our college years--they were open late and there was the breakfast bar. It was full of things like fluffy scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, tender biscuits that you could drown in savoury milk gravy. Mmmmmmm.

But now-a-days I believe that that eating food that comes from animals is cruel to the animals as well as unhealthy for the body. The idea of eating the muscles and skin of another living creature really makes me feel ill (as well as the thought that the animal most likely lived a horrible life. Even those who live “happy” lives are still murdered in the end.)  Being a vegan I really don’t want to eat dairy or eggs because their industries are full of violence and unspeakable cruelty such as separating babies from their mothers and raising them for veal whilst stealing the milk intended for baby calves for humans. I don’t know about you, but I stopped breastfeeding ages ago. As for the egg industry, chicks are sexed and male chicks are killed--gassed or ground alive or suffocated as they serve no purpose. No one needs a rooster. And don’t get me started on the misleading definition of “free range”--30,000 birds in an airless unlit shed with one tiny door open at the far end open for a few hours a day that they could conceivably get outside through--provided they can make their way past 29,000 other birds all with the same idea. But anyway. (steps off soapbox)

Sometimes you want good, old- fashioned, down- home cookin’, know what I mean? Sometimes you want the full breakfast bar.

A few nights a go I whipped up some gluten free potato scones using cold mashed potato like you would use butter or shortening. They were not too bad, I must say. We had them with the PPK recipe for tempeh sausage and smothered them in savoury, cheesy, cashew gravy found here http://spidergrrlvstheworld.blogspot.com/2010/09/stick-to-your-ribz.html . Slurp. But picture it over biscuits not with potatoes on the side, yeah?

 

Tonight with the leftover biscuits I cooked up some Amazing Soy Free Fakin’ Bacon that I previously blogged about here. http://spidergrrlvstheworld.blogspot.com/2011/05/are-you-achin-yup-yup-for-some-bacon.html  It tastes nothing like real bacon, I am the first to admit it. But it adds a savoury, smoky crunchy taste to breakfast-y meals. I also made some tofu scramble using the PPK recipe found here. http://www.theppk.com/2008/10/scrambled-tofu/   I cut the tofu amount suggested in half as that would have meant using a second packet (which I didn’t have) but with the onion, pepper and mushrooms there was plenty to eat. 

Here is the crumbled tofu before it has been cooked.

Here is a picture of the onion and mushrooms cooking.

Now here’s a bit of the onion mushroom pan but with the bacon cooking in the back.

Here’s the final product--the tofu scramble. Doesn’t that look yumilicious?

I had never made tofu scramble but it was very good. Not like what I remember scrambled eggs tasting like all those years ago, but completely delicious in its own right.

If you care about the environment, the welfare of animals and your health then vegan is the way to go. Any food you really like as an omnivore can be made in a cruelty free way.

Compassion tastes delicious.

Wonderful, Wonderful, what can I say but Oh Wow

To celebrate World Book Day our school asked all different sorts of people--teachers, teaching assistants, the caretakers, parent volunteers, the sport leaders and even the nice lady vicar who does assemblies for us occasionally--to give a 2 minute talk about their favourite book just to show children that we are all still passionate reader as adults. There was talk of a voting at the end to see which book the children liked most. Well, with that thought in mind I set my sights on winning. Nobody can enthuse on books like me. FACT.

I made the obvious choice and talked about The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Here is a transcription of my speech:

Anyone who knows me knows that my favourite book is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. This book was originally written in 1900 and is currently being printed in comic book format by Marvel Comics.

 

This was my favourite book as a child and it is still my favourite book today. I am an Oz collector and I have about a dozen different illustrated version of this book on my shelves. I even have Oz Barbie dolls! If you look at my water bottle there is a picture from the book.

 

Many of you think you may know the story if you have seen the film. Raise your hand if you have seen the film The Wizard of Oz? (lots of hands go up)

 

If I were to ask you what colour Dorothy’s shoes were you would say….(everyone shouts RED!) and I would reply WAH WAH! (annoying buzzer sound like you get on game shows when you are wrong) because they are only red in the film because red looked better on camera. In the book they are silver.

 

this is from The Wiz

But it is the story of Dorothy Gale who is whisked away by a cyclone and flies over the rainbow to the Land of Oz where her house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East and kills her. She meets a talking scarecrow, a man made out of tin and a cowardly lion and they travel to the Emerald City. And why was the Emerald City green? (produces green 3D glasses) Because everyone in the city had to wear green tinted spectacles to make everything seem green even when it wasn’t. That’s from the book. (puts glasses away)

 

The wizard tells them they have to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Now if you’ve seen the film at this point Dorothy starts to cry. A lot. (does best whingy Dorothy impression)

           

“oh Boo hoo, save me. The witch has locked me in the castle. Help me. Boo hoo hoo.”

 

Well it’s not like that it in the book. For one thing Dorothy is only 7 years old not a teenager like she is portrayed in the film. And she’s not a blubber-box. In the book Dorothy is brave and clever and resourceful--she’s not sitting around waiting for someone to save her--she's out there doing the saving! 

This is a wonderful adventure book for both boys and girls who enjoy fantasy and imaginary worlds with a little bit of danger and scariness thrown in. If you like the book then you’re in luck because the author wrote 13 other books about the Land of Oz. We have the second book, The Marvellous Land of Oz, in audio library--so come see me on Tuesday.

I believe that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the best and most magical book in the world and if you don’t agree then,

“I’ll get you my pretty--and your little dog too!”

Ok, that last bit was a shameless piece of theatrics that is not even found in the book. I just happen to do a mean Margaret Hamilton impersonation. Well, I brought the house down. Out of 200 kids, one or two voted for The Secret Garden, Black Beauty and The Witches and the rest but  about 190 kids voted for me! But really they were voting for the book.

Many children spoke to me afterwards and wanted to know more about the book, the rest of the Oz books or to share something Oz related with me such as the fact that saw the revival of the musical in London. Because the book were written so long ago I believe all of them are in the public domain and can be downloaded for free on your Kindle or other e-reader device and so I am preparing a sheet that explains where to go and what to get for the children who can access that. I also hope to purchase a few copies for the school library--perhaps with some other Oz books like The Tin Woodman of Oz or the Patchwork Girl of Oz (my other 2 favourites)

Happy reading!

I thought love was only true in fairy tales

My first celebrity musical crush has died. Davy Jones of the Monkees has passed away in Florida from a heart attack at aged 66. I was so sad to see this in the papers today as I really loved him as a child and a teenager all over again with the revival of the show on Nick at Nite in the late 80s.




Isn't he adorable? he was really tiny--like 5 foot 3--the same height that I am and so I always felt close to him. Plus he was the only Englishman in the band--the rest were American (and some with a noticible twang. I'm talking about you Mike Nesmith!) But Davy had this cheeky little British accent that made me fall in lurve with him. I think Jack Wild from Puffinstuff and Davy Jones from the Monkees are the reason I became an Anglophile.

Who can forget when he did a crossover onto the Brady Bunch and went to the dance because Marcia had promised (as president of his fan club) that she could get him there?


I really loved the music of the Monkees as well. They did a reunion tour (sans Nesmith) when I was in the 11th grade and my mum took me and a friend to see it in Texas. It was a magical night--I swear Davy looked right at me when he was singing I Wanna Be Free. Really. Seriously. He did.

So Davy--may you rest in peace and know that always--I'm a Believer.

Butterfly Porn

Spiderman took this footage on one of his days volunteering at the London Zoo. It is a good shot of some buterflies mating.

It reminded me of lovebugs. Remember them?

Every Louisiana summer they were flying around, joined up. We used to say they were kissing with their butts.

They weren't kissing.

I am a Cumberbitch

According to urbandictionary.com a Cumberbitch is:
Any woman who has a deep fasination with the wonderful, beautiful, talented English stage and on-screen actor Benedict Cumberbatch.



That would be me. We ordered season one of Sherlock from amazon for Spiderman's birthday and whoa! I was blown away by the show. It is written by Steven Moffat (hereafter known as "the Moffat") who is currently the head writer for Dr Who and one of our other favourite shows Coupling. The Moffat is the man. The series was also dreamt up by Mark Gatiss one of our favourite actors and writers and all around clever sod.

I have always like Sherlock Holmes--we own the complete Jeremy Brett series--and I adore the Mary Russell books by Laurie R King where Holmes was a real person (Conan Doyle his agent) and he has retired in Sussex Downs where Conan Doyle left him raising bees until her meets young Mary Russell who is an intellectual match for him and he trains her and they work together as equals solving crimes. The books are full of history and feminism and Holmes and Russell eventually marry--despite the age gap--and each book is better and better as they enter the early part of the 20th century together. But I digress.

The show Sherlock is an amazing update to modern times--that all works. Watson is just back from Afghanistan (as Conan Doyle wrote him to be) and they make a marvellous team. Watson writes not a journal but a blog of their capers. Holmes' tendency to send telegrams all the time is replaced by texts. But he is the same genius--sometimes cold and unfeeling--matched by Watson's warmth and humanity that make this sing. And it does. The writing is good--the acting is good--the show is thrilling. We immediately ordered season two from amazon. Couldn't wait.

We have the annotated Holmes series of books and we have had a jolly geeky time looking up stories as we watch. I'm all for making a big ole venn diagram of how the books differ from the show--maybe next time we watch. Which will be soon, I have no doubt.

What's white and cold and falls from the sky?

Why it's snow! We lived in Louisiana for 34 years and it only snowed (as in covered the ground in a white blanket/stopped all road traffic/schools etc) TWICE, but it has snowed at least once every year we have lived in England. It started Saturday night and we woke up to this on Sunday morning:

It is so beautiful, but I find snow a bit wearing these days. The first few years I was out in the garden, building snowmen and having fun, but now I am older and want my cold bones to stay warm. I'd rather have a lazy day inside, admiring the view, drinking a hot drink and reading a book.

Besides, because it snowed on the weekend and there was time to grit the roads we still have to go to school. Boo! Hiss! I love my job, but walking on icy breakneck paths to work is not my idea of fun. Nor is giving detentions on the playground for putting snow down some unsuspecting person's back.

My main concern these days has been for the homeless people all over the UK, but particularly Hitchin. We have been having beastly weather--lows at minus 7, highs at minus 1--that sort of thing. Now with snow it must be terrible for them. I have the choice to stay in and have a hot cuppa, but many do not. Pray for them as the weather slowly makes its way to spring.

In the mean time, stay warm.

Let Them Eat Vegan

My favourite cookbook author Dreena Burton has a new cookbook coming out. Look at the cover full of beautiful photographs of food you just can't wait to try. Her food is amazing and the recipes are all "plant powered" meaning they don't ask you for for lots of fakes --like fake meat or cheese or butter--just honest to goodness real delicious food. And all recipes are either wheat free or gluten free which is perfect for me these days.

I've preordered mine and can hardly wait for it to arrive. I know I have to wait--but boy will it be worth it. YUM!