The Vegan Butcher

I have lost my vegan fest virginity! …In Wolverhampton. How utterly unromantic.

On Saturday I got up before the crack of dawn and hopped a train northwards. After a couple of hours of sheep and countryside I arrived in the quaint midwestern town of Wolverhampton. (Not John Wayne midwestern, though. West Midlands midwestern.) (more…)

My friend Rachelle is in town and is staying with me this weekend. She met me at my new workplace and we headed to Soho for some din. When I told a vegan friend that I needed someplace blog-worthy to eat tonight, she recommended we check out Mildred’s. I’m glad we listened. (more…)

I can’t stay away from Loving Hut. Before Kaleigh and Jimmy left to return to Canada we hit up the completely vegan fast food joint in Camden Town again. They serve non-fast food too, but we’re not talking about that right now.

The first time we went we had our socks blown off. This time was no different. If anything, this time the shoes went too. (more…)

If you ever find yourself on Kensington High Street and you realise you’re overdue for a meal, never fear! Not only is there a Whole Foods with ample vegan selections, but one floor above is SAF Restaurant Kensington.

I thought “SAF” was a stupid name until I got there and discovered that it stands for “Simply Authentic Food”. That makes sense, I suppose. (more…)

I went over to my darling bestie Jerri’s house the other day. The days are getting shorter, the nights chillier, and the summer is clearly dying. Before it gives its final death rattle we wanted to have one last BBQ hurrah. Jerr Bear had a supply of mini hamburgers and mini buns and was going to make mini sliders.

NEEDLESS TO SAY (but you know I’m gonna say it anyway), I got very jealous. I wanted to have mini burgers too! As I sat there grumping Jerri and I came up with a plan: mushroom sliders! If we couldn’t find vegan mini buns we would make our own with cookie cutters and bread! IT WAS ON! (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…)

Dolly Parton very nearly ruined my dinner last week. This post chronicles that evening.

Let me begin by stating my undying, unconditional, lifelong love for Dolly Parton. She is a musical genius and has a brilliant mind for business. And she’s funny as hell. What it comes down to is that she has never done nor will she ever do anything I don’t absolutely love. I think during the next holiday season I’m going to have to devote a post to how much I love her and Kenny Rogers’s Once Upon a Christmas album. But that is not this post. This post is about Dolly Parton and vegan hamburgers. (more…)

quinoa |ˈkēnwä|

noun

a goosefoot found in the Andes, where it was widely cultivated for its edible starchy seeds before the introduction of Old World grains. • Chenopodium quinoa, family Chenopodiaceae.

• the grainlike seeds of this plant, used as food and in the production of alcoholic drinks.

ORIGIN early 17th cent.: Spanish spelling of Quechua kinua, kinoa. (more…)

Welcome to your May post of The Vegan Slacker! You know what? I’m not even going to apologise for not posting more often. In 4 months I will not be working two jobs anymore (hopefully) and I will be posting so much you will long for the good old days when I left you alone and didn’t harass your RSS feed or however you good folks find me. We’re almost out of the woods, friends. Then we’ll get some content up on this sizzite!

Exactly one month ago (Jeez Louise, I am slack, aren’t I?)* I was in Toronto at the Skydome watching the Blue Jays play the greatest baseball team in the history of the world (hereafter referred to as “The Yankees”). I flew to YYZ to see my brother and his wife one last time before my big move to the UK and while I was there we took in some good baseball and even better vegan food. This post chronicles my multiple visits to my favourite restaurant in the T-Dot: Fresh. (more…)

I landed at JFK at 7:55am local time, and the adventure has begun!

I had the most directionally-challenged cabbie bring me to my friend Alex’s place in Brooklyn (after getting lost about 6 times), where we stayed for a while, both trying to recover from the early morning.

We took the train over to the city, where I got hooked up with a sweet apartment in the East Village (another friend [Rey] took off for Europe today, so I’ve got his place for the week–just call me Lady Luck!).

We did the most New Yorker thing possible and went to brunch…at Curly’s Vegetarian Lunch! (more…)