I heart being vegan

Forgive me - I have sinned - it's been tooooo long since I last blogged. But better late than never.

I guess I haven't felt inspired by anything for a while...

However, my new vegan diet has been a revelation. I love, love, love it. It's been 10 years since I decided to become a vegetarian and I've spent the last three knowing I wanted to be vegan (driven by the painfully thin images of dairy cows I've seen ).

But frankly I was scared....

What would I eat? How would I cope without eggs - they're in everything! And cheese, wonderful cheesy-cheese. Apparently the only food you can be physically addicted to...

I should have just faced the fear, because I'm enjoying food more than ever before.

Most recipes can be updated and made vegan by using alternative ingredients that don't necessarily have to be chemical-based replacements. I made peanut butter cups this week and took some to work. I did warn the guys that they were vegan and could kill them, but they were full of praise. One colleague even said they were "better than Reese's" go me, go me, go me, yeah!!!

I've been cooking up biryanis, burritos and burgers together with the odd savoury scone, well I am English after all. Previously I hated cooking and was too lazy to prepare anything from scratch, but now that I need to know what's in my meals I'm really enjoying preparing healthy food and seeing people's reactions when I tell them it's all vegan.

Above all I am constantly astounded by the number of foods that are produced using animal bi-products such as alcohol, for the record Moet, Corona and most vodka is vegan, Sol is not! And white sugar is refined using charred animal bones. Eeek! Walkers crisps are okay to eat if they're BBQ rib flavoured, but I can't go near the salt and vinegar ones. Go figure.

I'm only three weeks in so it's early days - I'll be back shortly with an update. Promise x

People Watching vs. Rear Window

It's a fine line when you're at a party and one person says "I like to people watch" and then later that same night, someone else says "I like to watch people". Why does one sound very cosmopolitan, very chic, and the other sound very sly, very criminal?

I'm more on the former than the latter I would say, but I do also like to observe people's actions, behaviours and mannerisms. Which can take more than a few seconds. So maybe that's a bit of the latter.

One person who uses his watchful eye to great effect is a guy named Scott Schuman. He has turned his interest and passion into a career. If you haven't seen his site, GO NOW. It is like being transported to another city in the world without all the travel and liquid gel sacrifice at Heathrow. In an instant. Impressive.

Went out with Fin tonight, clearly an update on my foreign booty call in order, but also to put the world to rights... I think we did we did a good job - as usual (but we missed Tristan's dry take on things - no hint there then T!) - although without any clearly defined answers and only skirting round some of the true issues "status anxiety" played a big part in the conversation and lord does that get you thinking!

However, and this is clearly more related to my booty call than status anxiety, I read a piece in the Metro on the train on the way home - in between earwigging on all the future Engerland managers (!!) - : Cameron Diaz quote - "bonk me over the head, throw me over your shoulder. You man, me woman." This is my kind of girl, although I'd forgoe the "over the head" bit and just have the "bonk"!

AnnaK xx

Steve Madden and a New York address

It pays to know about both of these things for a happier life.

Just sorted out all the important women in my life almost on one site - Steve Madden's. I happened to meet the man a few years back in NY during the days when I was connected to rich Jewish people - alas now it is just pikey Anglicans - and was impressed by his take on how he saw himself and his fashions plugging into the needs of the New Yorker. It's less about pretending to be something you're not, or even something you want to be, and more about finding that person who was always inside your own skin. Or something like that. The champagne and roe was flowing at the time so coupling that with time, forgive me if the paraphrasing is a little out.

And having a NY postal address on hand makes online shopping that much easier. US Postal Service are generally happy to assist once you get a starting point of having a NY address...for this, leverage all your contacts possible at work etc to find branch offices, subsidiaries of branches, even quangos of government to make this happen. NYU students are often willing to provide a post restante service of sorts, for a little extra pocket money on the side.

Mwaaaah ha ha

Well, I've taken the plunge and have booked flights for a booty call in foreign climes!!

As a single girl that hasn't really been "about town" very much at all over recent times, I'm thinking this is a good thing! I could go into all sorts of justifying reasons and so actually, here are 10 to mull over:

1. I know him
2. I like him - but don't love him Tristan!
3. I get to go to a country I've never been to before
4. And therefore get to see sights I've never seen before
5. There will be cool wildlife to see - and I don't just mean the man in question
6. I get to be a spectator at a major world sporting event
7. I get to have lots of sex (I hope) - which I haven't had for quite some time
8. No. 7 above may involve No. 4 above! Nice!
9. It's a BIG birthday year!
10. And finally, but perhaps most importantly, life is just too [swear word beginning with F] short to let opportunities pass us by!

So there!

AnnaK xx

Ailiu Eanai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f5PrqP-ezQ

Perhaps AnnaK knows the words??

Great song - first discovered when I was 15*. I was writing for a radio show and had introduced two Irish characters. Found at one of those nerd record fairs. Secrets revealed...

* no, I was not 15 when this song was first released.

Eat to the Beat

Ate at a newish restaurant today for lunch - in the same building as the (old?) Shoreditch Town Hall. They have a different menu every day (around five mains, three sides and two desserts) and right now a £10 deal which includes a main, a side and any drink.

Good menu, good facilities (incl. baby change as Little Miss Van was in tow - though no high chairs which meant I had to eat my spicy salad with one arm, with chopsticks...) and worth a go. Seemed a bit quiet for a Sunday if I am honest (the other Vietnamese/Indochinese places were more busy around the same time...) so not sure how long they will be around. Therefore, get there while you can!

http://www.monsieurm.co.uk/