The Vegan Butcher

This meal contained enough garlic and onions to keep even that creepy, boundary-overstepping pedophile Edward Cullen at bay. Twihards, calm down. I too am a fan (read my “About Me” page if you doubt me) of the vampire-preys-on-young-girl-themed Twilight series, but you’ve got to admit that’s a good intro for this garlic mayo and onion ring spread.

While we had the deep fryer fired up for vegan Fish & Chips, I decided to break in my shiny new book Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson. I bought it just last week and, like Bella, am already deeply and madly in love (although I have only known it for a unrealistically short amount of time). Seriously, this book has anything you could want from a vegan greasy spoon: burgers, malt shakes, doughnuts, salads and slaws, sandwiches, roasts, and desserts. Oh, the desserts! Yes, even having only cooked from it once, this is a definitely a book I recommend you check out, dear readers. (more…)

Ahoy, mateys! Disclaimer: I plan to make pirate references throughout this entire post (as this will most likely be one of my few voyages to the sea and I plan to take full advantage of it, read on to see why).

Even before I went vegan I was never a fan of seafood. Growing up on Cape Breton Island (a.k.a. God’s Country, The Most Beautiful Place on Earth, or Down Home) I was often seen as a bit off for not joining in on lobster boils and fish fries and other such seaside rites of passage. The idea and especially the smell of fish have always disgusted me.

My first mate Jimmy and I were parleying the other day about how whenever someone points out something smelling of fish it is never in a positive context. You never hear anyone say, “Mmmmmm! What smells like fish!?!” It’s always, “Uggghhh….is that….is that fish? Do you smell that? What smells like fish?!?” That is because it’s disgusting. Straight up. No sharp, tiny, hidden bones about it.

Now, with all that said, I hypocritically would only ever want or eat fish one way, and at that only about every 2 to 3 years. Every few years I would get a hankering for fish and chips. I would head down to the Halifax waterfront (or if I were down home, one of the countless seafood restaurants on the island), get fish and chips, and be done with it for another 2 to 3 years. Well, it’s been probably 4 or 5 years since I’ve last eaten fish and chips, so I was long overdue. (more…)