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Meals that start from 9 pence per person
Early last month I gave a short talk at Aberdeen Climate Action’s Climate Café where I shared my top tips on how to easily and cheaply reduce your carbon emissions. Taking action on climate change can sometimes feel overwhelming or even impossible. Many solutions are just not practical for the individual like putting solar panels […]
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Apple and butternut soup
It’s Halloween so it seemed apt to have butternut squash soup for dinner tonight (also known as butternut pumpkin in Australia). Lately I’ve been thinking it might be worthwhile to share cheap meal ideas since so many people are struggling with bills right now. It’s not hard to feed a family of four on a […]
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First blackberry crumble of the season
It’s blackberry season – yay! This means lots of blackberry crumble. Ben went foraging and collected a huge container full yesterday, half of which got eaten last night. There are so many wild blackberries all over the place in Aberdeen and the fruit ripens at different times – I guess depending on how sunny a […]
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Eat healthily or fit in?
My average blood pressure for the past few days is 115/73. A few weeks ago I thought I’d never see a reading under 120 but then one day I got one and gradually over the next few weeks it happened more and more often to where this is now the norm and I’m disappointed if […]
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Portlethen and vegan galette with friends
We had a lovely afternoon with friends in Portlethen today. Portlethen is a small village about 7 miles south of Aberdeen. It was originally a fishing village and there’s an old harbour there where the fishing boats used to come and go. Today it is more like a satellite suburb of Aberdeen with lots of […]
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A vegan menu
We had a superb meal at the restaurant in Dunblane last night. We ate at The Kailyard and their vegetarian menu is one of the best I’ve seen and tasted. I had the mushroom and cashew wellington which was delicious. For dessert, I had the chocolate and orange tart which was also superb. We went […]
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Blackberry crumble
Wild blackberries are ripe for the picking all over the place right now. Locally they’re known as brambles. Ben went for a walk yesterday along the river and came home with several cups of them. I turned them into blackberry crumble. This crumble was particularly delicious because I did something different. Crumble is just fruit […]
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Another year, another birthday
It was my birthday yesterday. I’m 46 and edging ever closer to half a century. But I’m in great health, indeed I feel healthier than I’ve ever been, and happier than I’ve ever been. I just got the results of my annual (although it has been two years now) blood tests this week and everything […]
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People who make the world a better place
In his book, Do No Evil, Michael Berumen writes that ethical judgements are universal and apply just as much to business as to any other social venue. He argues that death and suffering are evil or immoral and that this is universal; not subjective. For instance, in his chapter on the environment he says businesses […]
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The wasp and the sticky bun
I had an encounter with the local wildlife on the weekend: a wasp stung me on my lip. It was not a particularly nice experience. I blame the cinnamon bun. I had gone to Bandit Bakery to get some bread. Bandit Bakery is the best artisan bakery on the planet and they make the best […]
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The world needs more Bens
Sometimes I feel sad about the world. I read the things people say online and I feel despair. What hope is there for us? Some people try to do the right thing and reduce their impact on the planet but what good is it when everyone else is more interested in their taste buds than […]
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Covid-busting diet
We had a very healthy meal tonight from the How Not to Diet cookbook by Michael Greger MD. I love Dr Greger’s How Not to Die cookbook and we eat recipes from it regularly. This new book of his is almost too healthy and I’ve had trouble getting inspired by the recipes. I bought some […]
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Meatless Farm and Elizabeth’s biology poster
We had Meatless Farm burgers for dinner last night. I’ve become a Meatless Farm convert: they’re UK-based and much cheaper than the Beyond Burger but with similar ingredients. Both are made with pea protein. They taste delicious too and are good for a quick, easy meal when you don’t feel like cooking. As part of […]
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Insect-based food for cats
As a vegan I have found it difficult owning a cat and buying cat food. Cats are obligate carnivores which means, unlike humans, they must eat animals to survive. If you can thrive without harming others then why wouldn’t you? This is why I’m vegan. But it’s not so simple for cats and my plan […]
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Pastries, broccoli, tartan skirt, and carrot lox
Foodstory Café in Aberdeen have started making sourdough pastry. Their sourdough bread is already well-known in Aberdeen for its deliciousness so we decided to sample the sourdough pastry, strictly for academic purposes. Foodstory is still only open for takeaways but not long now – they’ll be allowed to open fully at the end of this […]
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Milk deliveries, mung beans, and AstraZeneca
We’ve been getting oat milk delivered in glass bottles to our home twice a week for a month now and we love it. The milk is made by Oato, a British business using British-grown oats. This week the glass bottles changed and have a message printed on the side. I find it odd that people […]
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Pancake Sunday
It’s still lockdown here. We’ve been in lockdown since Christmas. I was sure back then that restrictions would be relaxed in January. How wrong was I? We have had to cancel our April holiday. This is the same April holiday we cancelled last year in April – we moved it to this April. Now we’ve […]
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The milkman returns!
When I was a child we had milk delivered in glass bottles to our front door. The milkman would come each morning, collect the empty bottles we left out, and deliver new full bottles of milk. It was a wonderful system that sadly became unpopular when I was still little. Today, for the first time […]
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Burns supper 2021
It was Robert Burns’ birthday on January 25th and Scots celebrate it with a Burns supper. This is fast becoming one of my favourite annual events, perhaps because it doesn’t have the same heavy expectations that come with Christmas. We celebrated it a bit late because the 25th fell on Monday this year and we’re […]
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My awesome bike and veggie Chinese takeaway
The best thing about these dark days is how awesome my bike looks. If you’re looking for a good Christmas present for someone who likes to eat a lot of plants then I recommend The Veggie Chinese Takeaway Cookbook. Who doesn’t like Chinese takeaway? I made the hoisin sauce today then used it in one […]
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