The Vegan Butcher

As I announced on Twitter and Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I now work at the only fully vegan bakery in all of big, bad London, Ms Cupcake! About once a week I’ll get sent to deliver a special order of cakes and treats to Vx, the fully vegan shop near King’s Cross.

“What?!” you’re probably thinking. “Getting paid to visit a vegan shop?!?” Trust me, it’s nothing but trouble. Every time I go there I find something new to buy and I’m spending far too much money. Though, I’m sure the owner is not complaining. (more…)

It’s not always easy being vegan in a non-vegan world. In this post I will not cry you a river about never being able to eat in social situations, blah blah. This post is about the amazing and heartwarming times you find omnivorous restaurants that are willing to go out of their way to ensure you get a delicious vegan meal in their non-vegan setting. Here are some stories about places like that. (more…)

This post is in honour of the home city of my heart, Halifax. Just this evening it was announced that our Halifax shipyard has been awarded a $25 Billion contract to build new ships for the Canadian military. I can only imagine the parties that are springing up across the city right now. And across the whole country, really. (We have a lot of boys that had to go away to find work. Maybe we can get some of you home now, eh?) I wish I could be there with you tonight, my friends. The only thing I can do from here is drink with you in spirit (check) and blog about my last lunch EVER in Halifax. I know, a touching tribute.

My very last day in Nova Scotia (as in, I was flying out that night) saw me packing, running my friends out to the airport for their flight ahead of mine, and tracking down rogue vegan foods/ingredients that I feared (correctly) I wouldn’t be able to find over in the UK.

We were out at Pete’s Frootique (ironically, a British grocer) and I found my sought-after ingredients and I bought a couple things to make one last honkin’ sandwich before flying away. Here’s what went down. (more…)

I am having a full-blown love affair with the cookbooks of Joni Marie Newman and I don’t care who knows it! She’s absolutely genius. This post chronicles the first meal I made from her new book with Celine Steen, Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites.

As the title clearly states, this book includes nothing but recipes for substantial, filling food. You’re not going to find recipes for dainty salads in here, I’ll tell you that much for free.

I cracked open this cookbook on a hot, humid, Halifax summer weekend. My friends Jimmy and Kaleigh were coming over to visit that afternoon. I didn’t want to go to the grocery store and I wanted to cook outside. Those were my parameters while I flipped through for a recipe.

I found a recipe for the Ultimate Patty Melt topped with Smoky Pub Cheese, a burger served on sourdough bread.  I sounded delicious and it fit the bill. I was happy. (more…)

Today I’m going to tell you about one of my favourite little spots in Halifax: the Heartwood Bakery & Café. (more…)

Get ready for the most exciting blog post of your life in which I make a sandwich from the leftovers in my fridge! I can tell you’re all pretty jacked up about this–perhaps we should all calm down.

The other night I was cooking for a post that didn’t involve a main dish. I didn’t have anything on the go to eat for supper, so I rooted around in the fridge and found leftover seitan and garlic mayo from this meal, and dug in the freezer to find leftover batter coating from this meal. We were in business! (more…)

In honour of passing 666 followers on Twitter, here is a post on seitan. (Ahahahaha. Oh, SO CLEVER, Tracy!) Big up to my 666th follower, @nubiandread!

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I have a vegan buddy in England who wants me to teach him some new kitchen skills when I move there this fall.

“I can totally do that!” I thought to myself as we chatted, feeling confident in my skills, “Just as long as he doesn’t request lessons in making seit—“

“…especially if I can learn to cook seitan!”

Melonfarmer. (For those of you joining this programming in progress, that is the curse I use instead of “motherfacker”. It’s friendlier for my Mama, whom I know reads this blog.) (more…)

I’m back, melonfarmers! I was away from the kitchen and the internet pretty hardcore for about three weeks as I finished rehearsals and then began performances for the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo. Yeah, that’s right. I’m IN it. Hear the highest, highest, high notes that the 1st Sopranos in the adult choir sing? Hear that one person squawking them out? That’s right! This fackin’ guy.

So now that I am no longer living at the Metro Centre I have returned to the kitchen. And man oh man, how I have missed it. (more…)

My last post was about the meals we ate at the restaurant Fresh while I was on vacation in Toronto. This post is about all the other meals from that vacation, both in Toronto and back in my brother’s city of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. (more…)

As I have previously bitched blogged about, in preparation for my move to London in 6 months, I am working two jobs. By day I sell group health & life insurance. By night (and weekend) I work in a tollbooth at a hospital parking lot. As far as second jobs go, it’s pretty sweet. For example, I am writing this blog post in my booth right now. I have tonnes of downtime, it’s not strenuous or stressful in the slightest, and I just cooked a grill cheese sandwich while on the clock. If I have to spend an extra 33 hours of my week working, this is a pretty good place to do it. (more…)