Dr Wall's diary

Post 800 from me.

A day off of politics cooking with my kids and watching 'The Golden Compass' distracted by the fact that one of the characters seemed to be played by Toby Abse.

Fuel protest does not seem to have had an impact, in Essex, another protest consisted of a single pensioner. Well OK last week I went on a biofuel protest with three other people but the fuel blockade gets a bit more tabloid support than most of my projects.

Cooking the vegan Christmas Pudding by the way, revisionist that I am I suspect the cake may have an egg in it, well readers here is a challenge mail me with your vegan recipes and I will test them.

Vegan Christmas Pud, its the high brandy content that matters....recipe here...use it every year.

You get a good flame with a bit of vodka poured on top when it comes to the day...

Here is the recipe I have open sourced from, although I go for something higher proof than sherry:

Christmas Pud (Vegan Family Recipe)

12oz/350g sultanas

4oz/120g glace cherries, halved

10z/300g ground almonds

4oz/120g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp mixed spice

8oz/230g dark brown molasses sugar

4oz/120gsoft, fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs

8oz/230g vegetable suet

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp black treacle

4 floz/125ml/half a cup soya milk

sherry

soak the sultanas in plenty sherry

Grease a 2 pint pudding basin. Put the soaked fruit, cherries and ground almonds into a large bowl. Add the flour, salt, spices, sugar, breadcrumbs, suet, lemon zest and juice, treacle, soya milk and 4 tbsp sherry. Mix well to make a soft mixture. Spoon into the basin, cover with two layers of greased foil and tie down. Steam for 4 hours. Cool. Cover with a circle of greaseproof paper and two layers of tinfoil. To reheat steam for three hours as before. (I have to say that when I make it I prick the pudding and feed some more sherry or brandy into it...) and don't forget that after it is reheated pour MORE brandy over it and set it on fire.

More VEGAN PORN for you to lust over here

So why the name Vegan Porn? The site creators are trying to become the number one Google hit for "porn", and thus expose millions of porn seeking web surfers to veganism and animal rights. it is said.



By the way you should have made both the cake and pud a couple of weeks ago...you do need to be feeding them with more alcohol.

My excuse is da Greens who keep me busy with the Principal Speaker stuff.

Tofurky site is here on Turtle Island, cool! Wonder whether you can buy it in the UK!

They say


Turtle Island Foods has been providing premium quality soy products at affordable prices since 1980.

From our home on the banks of the Columbia River we manufacture Tofurky, Tempeh and other innovative soy products.

Our goal is to produce alternatives to meat products of uncompromising taste and texture that are made from traditional soy foods like Tofu and Tempeh, not solvent extracted soy powders, isolates and concentrates. We are certified organic processors (by Oregon Tilth) and Kosher Approved (by KSA).



Wonder whether there is a low air mile version for those of us in Kent and Berkshire.