The Vegan Butcher

Since I moved to London in October I have lived in the predominately Pakistani East End neighbourhood of Upton Park, or, as my friends and I lovingly refer to it, Upton Parkistan. I live in a house share with Indian and Pakistani housemates and have learned a lot of new things since being here. I’m going to share one of those things with you now.

This is the rough recipe for Pakistani Cauliflower Curry, as taught to me by my lovely former housemate, Hana. (more…)

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…)

My fack, I love bread. So, so, so much. And Dr. Atkins can kiss my carb-filled ass, because I ain’t givin’ it up anytime soon.

Today was a bit out of hand, though. I had toast for breakfast (as I ran to my Tube station), a peanut butter sandwich for lunch (at my new job!) and when I got home I made a big ol’ pan of bruschetta. The Bruschetta Experience involved using a gas oven for the first time. Did I blow up the house?!? Only one way to find out… (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 was sitting at home one evening after work last month when an unknown number came up on my cell phone. I normally don’t answer numbers I don’t recognise, but something compelled me to do otherwise that night.

“Hello?”

“Is this Tracy?”

“Sure is!” I answered, not knowing who it was, but thinking it could possibly be my friend Jana.

“Do you like vegetables?”

“You know it! What have you got?”

“This is Annik.”

Well, then. (more…)

As I sit here writing the fifth post in our “Into the Woods” series, my dear readers, I am listening to the soundtrack of another wicked Stephen Sondheim musical, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”. While it’s an amazing musical and I love it more than most people love cake, I cannot see it inspiring a blog series anytime soon (unless anyone has any ideas for finding a vegan substitute for human flesh). No, for now I think we’ll stick to the slightly happier and definitely more vegan-friendly Sondheim musical, “Into the Woods”.

So far in this series we have discovered Cinderella, Little Red, Jack, and Milky White. In this post we are going to learn more about the villain of this tale, the witch who lives next door to the baker and his wife. (more…)

Welcome to the first and (I would say with almost definite certainty) not the last “Drunk Vegan Cooking with Tracy” post!

Since I work seven days a week and all holidays I have very few opportunities to get good ‘n’ drunk nowadays. There have been so few in the last year, in fact, that if you wanted I would be able to name the specific dates and occasions. It’s sad, really.

Anyway, since it’s almost time for me to blow this popsicle stand and move across the pond to Londontown, Jerri and I decided to each book a vacation day and get hammered on a school night. Drunk Tracy and Sober Tracy are similar in that they both love to cook. Where they differ is in their judgment calls and ability to make good choices. This post chronicles that night and those choices. (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…)

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…)