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As you people out there reading may have picked up on, I have a little bit of an addiction to farmers markets.

It all started when I switched to a vegetarian diet.  When the focus of a meal changes from meat over to the other stuff, namely vegetables, all of a sudden you notice how crummy the quality is of the supermarket variety.  Add that to the fact that part of the switch was an effort to reduce my impact on the environment, getting the freshest, most local produce I could made a bunch of sense.

At my first foray into the land of local produce, I ventured out to the markets held at Collingwood Childrens Farm in Melbourne (Australia).  Apart from being in a gorgeous country setting - I'm talking chickens, ducks, cows, goats and even a pig or three all ridiculously fat and happy looking - in the middle of a bustling city, there was an amazing range of food stuffs available above an beyond the seasonal fruit and veggies I had expected.

I came home will bags full of falafel's (sold in kilo bags and a perfect afternoon snack), a range of bakery stalls specialising in everything from sourdough to sweets, turkish breads and wraps, a lady that made dips (and inspired me to give my own hummus a go) chocolatiers, cordials, jams and a guy that sold chilli in every way imaginable, spices, dried fruit and nuts, even tempeh! Soon enough the only thing I was buying from the supermarket was toilet paper (okay, and maybe some other stuff, but 90% of food was taken care of).

The point of all this rambling is that, even though I haven't found Vancouver's farmers markets to be quite as extensive - though I am having fun trying out different varieties of veggies they have here - I have found vegan cinnamon rolls, and have decided that, if forced, I could probably eat them in place of anything that might be missing. :)

Note: The lovely Christine from Blackberry Hill Gourmet Goodies is the maker of said cinnamon rolls, unfortunately she doesn't have a website I can send you to, and I have no photo's as they get inhaled as soon as I get my hands on them, so if you are in Vancouver you will just have to turn up and check them out for yourself!

With VeganMofo coming quickly to an end, rather than feeling completely burnt out like I was half expecting to, I'm feeling kind of sad that it is nearly over.  It's been  wonderful motivation being part of it and getting to see so many other vegans out there coming together from all over the world for a good blogging, thought sharing and recipe spreading session. Gives me the warm fuzzies.

So as a perfectly suitable way to end such a vegan oriented month, on the weekend Josh and I are heading our way down to Seattle (and possibly Portland) to, amongst other things, pick up a bucket load of Coconut Bliss.

We were first introduced to this amazing orgasmically delicious dessert when we were travelling through San Francisco earlier this year and noticed it in one of the grocery stores close to where we were staying. With a microwave and a bar-fridge being our entire kitchen in the whacky little hotel we stayed at, we made the most of it by heating up vegan brownies (also from wonderful local grocery store) and dolloping on big spoonfuls of dark chocolate Coconut Bliss. Heavenly.  And a good way to counteract all that healthy walking around we were doing while exploring the area each day :)

Anyway, the point is, that when Josh, having searched all the supermarkets in Vancouver to no avail, discovered that Luna & Larry - the makers of this lovely treat - were running a competition to host 'A Night of Bliss' in which winners were to be supplied with enough ice-cream to consider possibly sharing it with others, he put his clever hat on and whipped up this cool little online voting site for Coconut Bliss lovers.

A few emails back and forth (and some not so subtle hints that Canadians would probably appreciate some coconut love), and a promise to travel to the USA if needed he was selected along with 50 other lucky people as a winner! Yay!!!

So on the weekend, as VeganMofo comes to an end, we are going on an expedition to pick up some Coconut Bliss and spread some vegan love through sharing of ice-cream.

Sometimes Josh cooks stuff, usually something involving chocolate.  After a bit of a mission to find a copha replacement, he got busy and now we have a fridge full of chocolate crackles!

These little mounds of chocolate covered rice bubbles make me feel like a little kid, which every now and then is delightful :)

Yesterday I continued my experiments in vegan cooking and yet again attempted pancakes a once well loved, easy breakfast (or dinner) option in our household of two.

My last attempts have been depressing failures.  The first tasted so strongly of baking soda (even though a recipe was followed and measuring spoons used!), that after the second bite - mostly because I could not believe what my taste buds were screaming at me after the first one - was declared completely inedible and, against all my food scavenging, not wanting to waste a drop nature, dumped in the bin.

The second lot, attempted a week later after working up the nerve to tackle this seemingly simple dish again after such a major disaster (I'm pretty sure I have never cooked anything so inedible before), I got through at least two of the resulting pancakes by drowning them in maple syrup before again ditching them in disgust.

So last night I took a different approach and instead of going for the standard plain sugary variety, I decided to experiment with making savory veggie pancakes like the sort my Dad used to whip up in an effort to fill the bellies of my brother and sister and I on nights Mum was on strike.  Yup. Not only had I decided to cook from memory with no hint of a recipe, but I had to convert a milk, egg and cheese filled dish into one that would work without. Inviting disaster much?

I figured that if I used extra veggie puree it would provide plenty of moisture, and the flour and oil would somehow hold everything together.  I mixed the batter, into a greenish/organgy slop (zucchinis and pumpkin), and was beginning to feeling confident, after all, Dads were never great lookers, depending on the veggies at hand they would turn out green, orange, red or on one memorable occasion bright pink.  Come to think of if, I entirely blame Dad for my experimental cooking style.

Anyway, I mixed, I poured, I prodded and flipped, and the results looked pretty darn good:

I dished myself up a plateful and took a bite.  The taste? Fried soup.
I ended up having peanut butter on toast for dinner a little after midnight.

Today has been a day of study aided by my study essentials of lots of strong cups of tea and fudgy rich brownie. 

Over the past few months I have been playing around with a few different vegan brownie recipes and I have finally hit on one that meets up to my ridiculously chocolaty requirements. 

The method is based on the one over at PPK but I have tweaked the ingredients to make it, well, more how I like my brownie to taste :P

So here tis, just incase other people like super chocolaty, super rich, fudgy good stuff!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup cold water
12 oz (340g) silken tofu
1 cup choc chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp bicarb
1 cup chopped hazel nuts
1 cup choc chips (yeah another one, you mix it in right at the end so that there are awesome little spots of melty chocolate all through it when it's done)

Start by blending the tofu, 1/3 cup flour and 2/3 cup cold water until smooth. Pour it into a post and stir over low heat for about 10 minutes or until it starts plopping. 

Next, into the mixture, stir in 1 cup choc chips, 2 cups brown sugar, 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp vanilla and keep stirring until it is all dissolved into delicious dark brown slop, then leave it to cool (you can stick it in the fridge if you are in a rush).

Once cool, stir in the 1/2 cup canola oil and preheat the your oven to 350°F. In a separate bowl, mix together all the other ingredients, making sure that the extra choc chips and chopped hazel nuts get a nice coat of flour, then fold it all in to the wet mix in batches, pour it into a baking dish and pop it in the oven.

Let it cook for about 20 minutes, it is done when a knife comes out dry.

I know this sounds awfully unhealthy but having a batch of brownie in the house stops me going out for junk that is probably way worse, plus, this recipe is so rich that I find half a piece is plenty!  Look at it again, I dare you! :)