Out and about in London #3: Vegan eating at Tibits and 222 Veggie Vegan

Tibits and 222 Veggie Vegan are frequently reviewed online, so this post isn't exactly novel. Nonetheless, I thought I'd share my experiences with these well known London veggie hot spots.

Outside at Tibits
(taken in summer, when evenings were light!)

I first visited Tibits in August last year, and will forever link it with my mother visiting from Australia. We went at the start of her visit, and given that all three of us liked it (Mr Bite, my Mum and me), we went again before she returned home. It is a great place to go if you want to cater to varying tastes, and unlike some vegetarian places, I think it would easily cater to meat eaters too. It is set in a large building in central London, with indoor and outdoor seating and attractive decor (albeit dark for photography purposes). You only need to book if you have more than 8 people.

Tibits food boat buffet

Tibits' business model is that you pay for what you select: there is a buffet of hot and cold dishes, all vegetarian and mostly vegan, which range from raw salads to vegetarian versions of classic meat dishes (think sausages and potatoes). After selecting your food, you take your plate to be weighed and pay by the weight of what you've selected (£2.60 per 100g at dinner and £2.30 per 100g at lunch). The same principal applies for desserts. This means you can try a little of lots of things, which I like a lot.

A modest dinner plate - Tibits visit #1

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Orange-mustard stir fry with tofu and Asian greens, and a new blog header

First, thanks so much for your enthusiasm regarding my marathon plans! It is lovely to have encouragement from around the globe and I look forward to sharing progress as April draws nearer. I managed to trip over and fall flat on the concrete on this morning's run (fortunately no major injuries) so I am hoping that gets my uncoordinated streak out of the way...

On other topics, you may have noticed a new header on my blog this week. I seem to change my headers around this time of year, and whilst I wasn't really tired of the old one yet, I thought a fresh image would be nice. I hope you like it (if you don't, feedback is always welcome). The new one ties in with my Facebook page header without being exactly the same.

Bite-sized thoughts over the years (2011 and 2012 along the top, and 2013 and 2014 along the bottom)

In terms of today's recipe, I have been on a bit of an orange kick lately - something that is reflected in this post coming straight after my orange coconut ice. I actually have a few other orange recipes too, but I won't bring them all out at once. Keep an eye out over coming months, as I'll share them in spaced out doses!

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London Marathon plans and swoon-worthy, vegan, refined sugar free, orange coconut ice

When I posted my recap of 2014, I didn't share goals for 2015. The reason is that I have relatively few, but those I do have are relatively large. We want to look into moving somewhere bigger than our current 1-bedroom apartment, most likely in the commuter zone just outside of London. We may get a car to accompany that move. And...I have a charity place in the London Marathon.

Orange coconut ice

Running the London Marathon has been a goal for a while, but I didn't really think it would happen this year. I completely missed the ballot (it opens and shuts almost a year before the run) and when I applied for a charity place, I did so knowing there were more applicants than positions available. When I heard that I had a place, my reaction was equal parts amazement, excitement and apprehension. I am acutely aware that a marathon is twice as long as my longest runs to date.

Of course, the apprehension doesn't detract from my overall excitement at being able to participate in the race. My charity place is with Beat, which is the UK eating disorder charity. I'm usually quite cagey about personal information, but have previously mentioned my PhD in psychology and my work in the health and medical arena. To open up a little more, most of my work centres around eating disorders. It is an area where the statistics can be quite depressing: one in seven women are likely to experience an eating disorder in their life (and one in 35 men) and around 30% of those affected will never recover. Up to 10% will die. We need to do much more to help those affected by the conditions, and Beat works hard to do that.

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Vegetable stock and soup from scratch

One of the minor benefits of moving house and/or countries is that you get to start over with filling up your fridge and freezer. Our freezer situation in Australia was a little challenging last year, because the freezer section of our combined fridge/freezer stopped cooling effectively. We were fortunate to be able to borrow a full-sized, rather old (but effective!) freezer from my parents, which gave heaps of space but needed to live in the garage and thus required a trip outside to access. As our move was on the horizon, I also refrained from stocking it too full.

Vegetable scraps post stock making.

All of this means that when we reached London, I was pleased to have a functioning fridge/freezer and the opportunity to stock it up. In particular, I wanted to use my new freezer to store vegetable scraps that could. in time, turn into vegetable stock.

Stock

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Berry citrus blitz smoothie, from Emily's 100 Best Juices, Smoothies and Health Snacks

Those of you who enjoy raw vegan desserts will probably be familiar with This Rawsome Vegan Life, which is run by Emily von Euw. Emily's raw vegan carrot cake provided inspiration for my version of the same, and I regularly admire her fresh, beautiful creations. She's not all about desserts either - drinks, savoury snacks and meals also grace her blog pages.

Berry citrus blitz smoothie

I am thus  pleased to provide a review of Emily's new book, 100 Best Juices, Smoothies and Healthy Snacks.  The book is delightfully diverse, with recipes such as carrot, apple and lime juice, chocolate mylk, power bar snacks, and the berry citrus blitz smoothie that I chose to test out. What is more, you don't need a juicer to make use of the book. Most of the recipes are made in a blender, whilst the snack items use a food processor.

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In my kitchen - January 2015

I am linking this in to Celia's monthly In My Kitchen event at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

2015. It really does feel amazing to write that. Happily, I'm beginning the year with plenty of good food and (as this post will show!) rather a lot of chocolate. With my birthday and Christmas both falling in December, this In My Kitchen post benefits from food treats galore.

First up, my Christmas chocolate, beautifully selected by Mr Bite. I have chocolate for all occasions, with a 55% cocoa 'luxury dark chocolate' block, an 85% cocoa Marks & Spencer's dark chocolate block, and some milkier and sweeter dairy free chocolate caramels. They are all excellent.

To complement the chocolate, I have two new packets of tea - a mixed assortment and a gorgeously fragrant aniseed, fennel and liquorice pack.

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