Day 31 ... SH day 5

The food at Butlins sank to a new low this morning when I went for my breakfast. I arrived and let the kitchen staffs know that had arrived. No less than 3 minutes later I was presented with some barely cooked row mushrooms and almost splattered tomatoes.

The mushroom looked visibly uncooked and I asked the waiter “seriously, would you eat this? Can you not see that this isn’t cooked?”  And I asked him if he could at least ask the chef to cook all into some oil with garlic and black pepper? The waiter took away the plate and when he reappeared, I had better looking tomatoes and healthier looking cooked mushrooms…

Frankly how these people remain in business is beyond me. I don’t know. Is it because we are Christians and are not meant to complain? By not complaining, these people think it is ok to serve us this rubbish and in our “Meekness” we accept mediocrity.

A the end my breakfast look like this with some sundried tomato and marinated aubergines

 At lunch time there was no surprises… you’ve guessed it OVERBOILED broccoli and cauliflower. I didn’t manage to have my lunch at lunch time as we were so busy on the stand. So, my lunch was eaten cold at 6.30 pm.

At break time, I went to Morrison’s in search of new flavours and came back with some Tahini, olive and garlic in olive oil and some sugar-free Dijon mustard. I also discovered that 99% of mustards jars I could find on the shelves had sugar in their composition... Wow!.

So, for dinner my concoction was made of he following: Ready-to-eat chestnuts, tahini and mustard, potatoes, over killed broccoli and cauliflowers, olives, sundried tomatoes… my dinner companion was a  very  hungry  seagull who watched all my movements.

It tasted really good. Tahini on its own isn’t that good, but with a bit of mustard it is just great. Tahini is the equivalent of peanut butted, but it is made of sesames seeds. Next, I will try it on a peace of cracker … it should be interesting.

Day 30… SH day 4

Today I decided to skip the resorts’ breakfast again. I wonder if anyone has spoken to them about the quality of their food here. It is amazing that, having traded for over 20 years, no one has taken them to task about their food; the vegetables are always over boiled, the fruits are bruised and at times you can find some starting to spoil… oh boy. I think I would have cried if I was paying for this with my own cash.

 So, skipped the resto’s breakfast, had a lie in and had some of my oatbran cakes with some tomato, fruit and redbush tea.

For lunch I had a plate of over boiled broccoli too ugly to be shown here.

And for dinner, I had some grated carrots collected from the restaurant at lunch time. To that, I added some grilled aubergine, sundried tomato and pickled beetroot eaten with a rice cake and a drizzle of flavoured sunflower oil from the aubergine jar.It tasted nice, but , I am starting to get tired of these unplanned mixes… just two days before I can go home and plan my meals properly. Can’t wait!

Only 10 days to go now before the end of this no meat, no caffeine, no sugar, no refined food, no deep fried food, no flour, no rice, no pasta extreme vegan lent.

The last days of anything can be a challenge and I hope that I won’t fall for anything until the end.

See you tomorrow.

Day 29… SH day 3

Today I decided not to go to the breakfast but instead had a lie in… I wanted to have a break from the tomato and mushrooms morning combo.

So waking up after 10 am I just had some fruits and redbush tea.

Having worked a bit on the stand this morning, I thought it was time I got out of the “compound”, go checkout the Morrison’s shop next door and get some supply, for the next few days. In so doing, I wasted too much time reading the labels and kind of missed my lunch break. With 10 minutes left, I just flew in the restaurant, collected a roasted potato and cauliflower, dumped it in my chalet, flew to the exhibition stand to liberate my colleagues who were on shift since this morning.

So, I had my lunch at 6.30 pm, which meant I didn’t have to worry about dinner.

For lunch/dinner which you can see here, I had baked potato, boiled cauliflower, topped up with roasted (jarred)  roasted aubergine and (jarred) Sundried tomato plus some olives and a little drizzle of sunflower oil from roasted aubergine jar.

Loved my concoction and it looked much tastier that what was served in the restaurant. I ate it cold but I didn’t have any choice and rather eat cold and tasty than… well what was on offer.

Something that I have notice is that I am really struggling to fit in my prayer breaks. Yesterday and today I was too busy when the prayer alarm sounded mid-morning and mid-afternoon… tut-tut

Day 28... SH day 2

Sunrise on Easter Sunday

Today is Resurrection Day… and Spring Harvest first celebration service was at 7am. I didn’t want to go, but my colleague convinced me to. She thought it was going to take place on the beach with people being baptized like previous years.  It turned out; the beach celebration of the resurrection was cancelled because it was high tide. Then, we couldn’t have communion because the seagulls behaved like vultures at times. I was aware of none of that until I followed the sound of singing which, led to a green… I was disappointed that the service wasn’t on the beach, but happy that I went to the service… in my jammies… lol

It tasted as it looks

Today our good friend Jozef the waiter and the chef kept their word. Within five mutes after I sat down for my breakfast, I receive from the kitchen my tomatoes and mushrooms; still bland… unfortunately I don’t trust them to provide me with something else as they might add in un-prescribed ingredients. My trusted friend the chunky tomato was there too. But, I suspect that if I am still on this diet after day 3 I might lose the will to live… getting bore of it now.

For lunch I had some boiled-to-death green beans, carrots and baked potato with fried onions…

My dinner

The tea time offers no alternative for me and for any possible vegan working on the events team. So I collected the tea and passed it on to whoever wanted it; sandwich, flapjack, chocolate cake and fruits. All I kept from my tea was the clementines and banana.

At lunch time I managed to sneak away some fresh salad that I could use for dinner. So, for dinner, I had a multi coloured salad with sweet corn and the flavoured oil from my chunky tomato sauce accompanied with my oat bran savoury biscuit.

One thing I am noticing now is that my digestive system has gotten used to these vegan meals and is functioning semi-correctly without help. Which is great! I think from time to time, I will take leave from my normal egg-caffeine-cream-butter-sugar rich diet. 30 days of veganism will help me to cleanse and restore my digestive system…

Happy Easter!

Day 27… Spring Harvest day 1

The breakfast was a bit of a challenge today. Given that most full English breakfast includes Tomato and mushroom, I assumed that I would only have mushroom and tomato. But, to my surprise, there was eggs meat and more meat in various forms, then, all the breakfast fruit or salads where bathing in sugar… After my first walk in the buffet area, all I could eat was citruses and my own fruit tea.

Then I decide to ask the team of waiters if there was some thing they could do for me as I was vegan, they said no and seem quiet unhelpful… I asked If the were at least some tomato they could fry for me. The first chef came out and said in broken English “no no we don’t have zat”! the whole team was Polish… So I let go. At this point in that room, I was the only black woman and I was making a fuss… 2 or 3 people were staring at my fruits plate with that “how dare she be different? I didn’t care. All my meal were paid for and I needed o eat.

Then the kindness looking waiter walked pass by, I spoke to him. This other waiter spoke a better English, he understood my predicament and got me an even more helpful  chef who, promised me that for the next week he will be cooking my breakfast and keeping it in the back for me. Result!

Ten minutes after the conversation appeared a plate of tomatoes and mushrooms… seasoning less and saltless. Thank goodness once again I had my Jar of tomato chutney. At the end I enjoyed this!

My dinner

I was a bit more apprehensive for lunch. The room was fuller with people and I really didn’t want to make the same thing I did this morning… I was so glad when I saw, baked potatoes, steamed red cabbage, boiled-to-death leek.

I couldn’t use any of the sauces provided as I had no access to the ingredients. I just took my plate as it was and added some fried onions… bob’s your uncle.

Tea time was the same as yesterday; sandwich, crisps, fruits. Gave away mine and instead ate this great salad that I had from Marks and Spencer’s. It constitute on Endamame soy beans, sugar snaps peas, green beans & coriander.

uuuhmmm.

Day 26… Good Friday - Spring Harvest.

Today is 29 March and is Good Friday. I had a great big breakfast with a great bowl of mixt fruits & red berries tea, an apple and oat bran cookie…

When I got to church, there was communion. I hesitated to take the bread and wine, but if there was a day to eat t and drink, it would be today. So, I took the communion. For the last 28 days, I had managed to skip few of these. Right after the service I was travelling to spring harvest in Minehead on the south coast.

The charity I work for has a stand at Spring Harvest this year and I had to go set up and spend a week there. Spring harvest is a Christian festival organised in Butlins sites for 3 weeks between March and April every year. This year I am spending week one in Minehead.

When I learnt that I was going to Minehead half way in my lent, I was a bit worried. I came here last year and I don’t think vegans would have much to eat here. What hope is there for an extreme vegan? For my lent, I excluded all products of animal origin included honey, excluded refined food items, rice pasta, bread, crisps, all sort of sugars. So, it is going to be really difficult to eat what Is on offer while I am here.  All my meals were paid for in advance, but I don’t think and going to make much of my vouchers.

Thank God that I had planned tuff to eat at least for the first day.  I packed a jar of my chunky tomato sauce and a jar of fried onions and thyme. Those two can make everything better. Ion my way I stopped at Marks and spencer’s to get their fuller for longer salads… most of them had either sugar, soy sauce (which contains sugar), honey, cheese or mayonnaise (which contains eggs). But I found a beautiful nuts and pulses salad with Quinoa, black eye peas, carots, broccoli, peas, green beans, peanuts almonds, pumpkin seeds, pistachio nuts, poppy seeds. It was fitting only if I didn’t have it with the included vinaigrette.

Thank God I had my jar of fried onion with me. Not only did the onions enhanced the taste of the salad, the flavoured oil brought the much needed vinaigrette.

To seal all that, I had prepared for the journey a tub of strawberries. I did really felt full.

When we arrived it was time for tea; Sandwich, yogurts fruit, chocolate bar, crisps tea and coffee… The only thing I can have from that beautiful buffet was… fruits. When I asked to have more fruit as I couldn’t take anything else, I was told no. I resorted to trade my sandwich, yogurt and chocolate bar with another volunteer in exchange of bananas.

For dinner after checking what was available, I resorted to just eat a full bag of roasted salted mixed nuts and one banana.

Let’s see what surprises await us for breakfast in the morning…  better take my jar of tomato chutney to the restaurant just in case.

Happy Easter.

Day 26… Good Friday

I have decided to steer clear of the blog for few days. I am leaving you to reflect on this song by Third Day. The song is called “offering”. I love Third Day because ALL their songs make me want to stop and just worship taking in every single word while they sing.

The name Third Day is a reference to the fact the Jesus rose on the third day after his death on the cross. The “offering” song is one of my most loved prayers… Enjoy

If you want to copy the lyrics, click here

Happy Easter.

Day 25… Grace to you

Earlier this year, someone dear to me got saved… I was in floods of tears when he told me that he went to church and something happened… Praise God in deed!

When I look back at how this brother used to mock me every time I said something about church or that he should pray about some of his trials. When I used to say that I am going to church mid week, he would say “again?”… Yup, the same guy got saved. Yesterday he called for a chat and was telling me how it is all going at his church and how he is discovering what it really means to be Christian…

If you can imagine a child who has been in a sweet shop for the first time, at their return, you ask them how it was. The enthusiasm in their voice and the imagery they conjure describing the shop is just… well, just a real picture. This guy tells me that he sang in the male choir in front of 300 person (he’s been saved less than 6 months)… He wouldn’t have been seen dead going in a church willingly. I guess that is salvation and the grace of God for you.

Now conversation flow much easier without me worrying that he might make fun of what I am saying. I had prayed so much for this brother. All he needed at the end was a little nudge from another person that the Lord had placed at the right place at the right time. Now I am so amazed to see this brother in Christ so enthusiastic… just like a new born… Isn’t God great? His grace, his grace, his grace is just… indescribable… This brother, being in the Kingdom today is just a miracle and my joy is just so… don’t know how to describe my happiness right now. I wouldn’t be so surprised if I find him preaching on the pulpit one day because of the way he is and the protester he was until now… God uses the most improbable people in his Kingdom… I can wait to see where this guy will end up… Lord you are AMAZING!

Often we pray for people and we are never quiet sure if it is all going somewhere because we cannot see changes in their behaviour or their belief. If you are praying for your dear friend, your child, your brother, your neighbour, your parents, do not give up because in good time, God will hear you and that person will come through. Keep praying, keep knocking, keep interceding…  No pray goes unanswered.

To encourage you I have found this song from Candy Staton, it is the only one I could think of at the time of writing this post. The song is titled “I thought you’d Like to know”

The lyric say:

I thought you’d like to know, All those night your paced the floor

Praying I would make it home alright. Believing God that He would some day save my soul,

Well He did, just thought you’d like to know.

Then I thought you’d like to know all those prayers you prayed for me, never one fell to the ground. I know sometimes it looked like I was a million miles from grace. But He answered your prayers and I thought you’d like to know.

O [mama] I want you to know I love you. Please forgive me for all the times I broke your heart

Every tear you cried for me, drew me closer to being free. I just want to thank you and I thought you’d like to know.

Keep prayin’!  Happy Easter!

Day 24… Waste not!

Well it is the end of the month; I have now ran out of most things. My best friend this week is the bottom draw of my fridge.

Last night, when I looked at it I found some lettuce, beetroots, carrots and few other vegetables mostly limp.

I hate throwing away food even when I do have cash. I think that fact contributed to my creativity in the kitchen too. When I’ve got tired fruits, I make compotes, Jams or coulis to top up natural yogurts.

When it comes to vegetables, you can make soups, salads or stir-frys depending on the level of

My herbs & seeds collecton

limpness of your vegetables. It is also always good to have dry herbs in the house like, herbes de Provence, oregano, thyme, garlic granules, white pepper and black pepper. If you can have Brazil nuts, hazel nut, almond, sesame seeds and poppy seeds. With a selection of those on your kitchen shelf, you will never go hungry.

If you are not sure what to do? Google your ingredients and see what others have done with it. Just try… it is my idea of fun obviously.

So, the biggest thing in my fridge today and on the menu was lettuce. I had it as salad for lunch and on the evening a made a lettuce and spinach soup accompanied with roasted parsnips for chewing.

To make the salad, I used some chopped lettuce, diced tomatoes and the last two beetroots, fiverandom black olives, two pieces of roasted potato and topped with roasted almond.  It looked beautiful, tasted as good.

For the spinach and lettuce soup, I had mainly lettuce. I only added Spinach because I wanted a very green soup. So in hot oil, fry onions, in goes your chopped lettuce, spring onions, celery, frozen spinach leaves, stock cube. Cook for 20 minutes, blend! Bish bash bosh, as Jamie would say. Job done.

Spinash & lettuce soup

For the roasted parsnips: Peel, spay oil, salt. Place in the oven at 180C for 20 minutes.

It is all ready. Simple & delicious.

Note: this soup can be served topped up with cream or coconut milk and eaten preferably with bread (baguette of course).

For the salad, just add shreds of roasted chicken or turkey. There are so many different flavours here, do not use a heavy vinaigrette. A squeeze of lemon, a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil should do.

C ya!

Day 23… Outspoken

Last Saturday, I was invited to the opening of this new church’s building. At the end of the service the Pastor thanks all for coming and for supporting the church in their journey so far. I have known the church for the 3 years now. It has been a journey and they now finally have a Home. When it came to me, he described me as “…a person who says what she thinks. Anyone who give her a microphone should know that that and be ready…”.!, WHAT?! How do you know that?! I thought.

I wasn’t shocked by what he said, but more by how he knew it. When he then called me to the microphone, I discretely turned him down. See? I’ve got a really expressive face and it says what I think before I even opened my mouth. I couldn’t go up there all confused.

Those who work with me have to deal with this straight talk thing daily. If it doesn’t feel right, or half baked, I react there and then (unfortunate or fortunately). You see, I think that people spend too much time thinking about how to walk around the eggs shell on the floor. Me, I either walk on them, sweep them or carefully place them where they might be safe. I do no have the time or energy to avoid them at every single step, which works well for “British-ness”. Good! I am not Brit anyways.

My full African Name spells "revolution" and I think some of that is found in who I am… mainly about breaking unspoken, undefined, unclear rules. Besides I am French African. English not being my first language, it can be really difficult during an argument to find softer words to express my point of views. Seeing me in full flow once, Stuart Briscoe renamed me Battle Axe. Well, if that get things done, so be it.

Warning: If your are going to be one, own it. But know that you will not always have the backing of others who might agree with you secretly. If you are going to be outspoken, learn to think on yer feet. Not an easy road. Learn to walk it alone… Learn to back down when you get it wrong too and never say “I told you so!"... Tell your face not to be so reactive...

Since starting this journey, I m learning a lot of thing about me and about life in general… interesting road. 17 days to go.

On to happier subject… Food!

The best meal of the day was the ratatouille I had for lunch with a dry browned couscous.

Ratatouille are great to get rid of tied vegetables especially which is what I did. It is the end of the month, l am skint and had a collection of wrinkly vegetable and herbs in the fridge.

So, for my ratatouille the ingredient I found were: green, yellow, red peppers, leak, celery, Spring onions, revived carrots*, dying fresh tomatoes, 1 tin of tomato, chickpeas ,lame sage and thyme.

*to revive slightly dry carrots, just put them in water for 20-30 minutes and you will have new plump carrots.

Chop everything as you can see on this picture, them cook in your preferred order. Only add the tin tomato after all the rest has softened slightly. Do not cook the tomato in the way that there is still a bit of sweetness to it. For the rest, just be creative. You can always DM me for full recipe.

As for the couscous, I don’t like it plain. So, I roast mine in a bit of oil until brown first. It gives it very nutty flavour which I like. Once browned, just add boiling water, bit of salt then cover for 10 minutes. Separate the grains with a fork just before serving. Voila! :-)

Ratatouille & couscous