LABL Fair Liverpool

There seems to be a great vegan scene developing in Liverpool and I've spent so many hours looking longingly at posts about all the great vegan and vegan friendly places popping up in Liverpool.  So I was really looking forward to visiting the Liverpool LABL Fair in April.

Unfortunately, it also happened to be on the same weekend of the Grand National, but we've found that the cheapest way to get to Liverpool from Bolton is via Wigan so missed most of the chaos.  

Our train dropped us off at Liverpool Central Station, and our journey to the Black E, the venue for the fair this year took us down Bold Street.  I could have happy spent the day wondering down this street, it was kind of like Manchester's Northern Quarter but less rough (not that the Northern Quarter is rough, it just looks more dodgy than it is!) and on the way back we spent a while browsing in the shops.

When we reached the venue, I was blown away, I love old architecture and the Black E is just WOW! And the best thing was, the fair took over the entire building it was so big. Which meant we got to enjoy looking round an impressive building as well.

After sussing each floor out, we started on the ground floor and worked our way up.  first stop was Vegan Tuck Box and I was looking for a Jokerz bar, which is kinda like a vegan snickers. Unfortunately they didn't have any in, however I spotted that they had some Sarelle bars, I'd heard about these on some of the vegan Facebook groups and word is they taste like Ferrero Rocher, so I snapped one up. I've not eaten it yet, as I'm saving it for a special occasion when I've got some vegan wine to go with it!

Next stop was Teen VGN, I first saw these at the North West Vegan Fair in Blackpool last year and had entered their raffle, won and then was unable to collect my prize because I was already on my train home (lesson- if you enter a raffle at a fair, make sure you stay to collect it!).  Last time I was eyeing up one of their T Shirts as it was purple (my favourite colour) and the message was not too controversial but I think I'd ran out of money by that time.  So this time, I wasn't going to let that happen!

Apart from those two things, lunch and dessert (of course) I was pretty good as far as spending goes. The only other stall that I HAD to buy something from was Ananda Foods, where I bought a Round Up, which is a like a posh vegan wagon wheel. I never liked wagon wheels as I thought they just tasted cheap and nasty, but these taste so good that it didn't even make it back to Bolton! I did exercise some restraint as they had a deal on, you could buy a certain number of them (can't remember how many) and get a free Round Up mug. I wanted that mug so much!

The food hall was located on the basement floor (I think?) and I was a little disappointed by the lack of choice as not many of the options really grabbed me, but I think part of me was hoping that the Vegan Grindhouse would be there. However, one stall, St Best, selling Caribbean cuisine did catch my eye, especially when I saw you could get a thali. I went for chickpea, sweet potato and pumpkin curry, veggie chucks in a St Best Island Sauce and rice and peas.

As you can see I got a HUGE portion and I thought I was going to burst I was that full but  couldn't stop eating it as it was so delicious. My only criticism is that it was suppose to come with fried plantain (which taste nothing like banana!) but there was a bit queue for it so he gave me some callalou instead. Which I liked, but I was really looking forward to some plantain!

After all that, I somehow managed to squeeze in some cake from Cake Mamas, a Liverpool based cupcake shop that sells gluten, wheat, dairy and egg free cakes. They did mint slices, and I just cant resist mint chocolate desserts so I made a beeline for it. By this point I'd lost all the will to make an effort to take photos, so you'll just have to use your imagination. It was good cake, and some of the other cakes looked amazing and if I wasn't so stuffed I would have perhaps taken some more home. But at that point in time I just couldn't imagine being able to eat ever again.

After stuffing ourselves with food, we started to make our way back to the station and stopped in a few shops on Bold Street on the way.  First stop was somewhere I eyed up on the way to the fair, Central Perk, which is a chain of Friends themed coffee shops.  As a massive Friends fan, who is probably able to quote far too many lines off by heart, I was uber excited by this and insisted we go in for a drink. I was also very impressed to see it also sold Ten Acre crisps, unfortunately it didn't have the elusive chicken flavour ones, but I did manage to buy a pack of their popcorn, which I didn't even know existed.

After a quick drink whilst watching an episode of Friends, we headed to News From Nowhere, a awesome alternative bookshop that sells other bits and bobs. Including some interesting badges, I really wanted one but  I just couldn't pick one!

Last stop was Forbidden Planet to embrace my amateur geek side. I spent a while admiring the Iron Man figurines and Tim Burton miniatures.  I also saw a book on Tim Burton art, that was cruelly stored up on a high shelf clearly made to taunt midgets like me. So much want.

After a major mess up that ended up with an hour wait at a changeover station in the middle of nowhere (our error) we finally made it back to Wigan and used the opportunity to pop into one of my favourite vegan shops, Nooch.  I love Nooch, its like an Aladdin's cave full of vegan wonder and beautiful crafty items. I couldn't help treating myself (again!) to my favourite vegan mayonnaise- Really! Not Dairy Roast Garlic mayonnaise (visiting CAT bar in Barcelona reminded me how much I love garlic mayo even if I'm not that fussed about normal mayo), a mint mini moo and a vivani white nougat crisp bar. They also had a little reduced table and they were giving away free hazelnuts and Ananda raspberry flavoured marshmallows because they had gone past their sell by date. I really love this idea, it's better that letting perfectly good food good to waste. 

Here is my haul at the end of the day (minus the Round Up!), which I was very happy with, and looking forward to more festivals over the next few months.  If you want to visit the next LABL fair in Liverpool, they have already announced a date- its a little earlier next year on Saturday 19th March 2016 in St Georges Hall. From the photos I'm already excited about having the chance to visit another stunning building! You can see more details here.

Tropic Skincare Lash Extension Kit

I really don't bother with fake eyelashes, partly because I'm too low maintenance for all that hassle and partly because some of them just look like you super glued two dead spiders on your face!

However, I got given Tropic's lash extension kit as part of my starter kit.  This kit doesn't involve spending ages in front of the mirror try to stick a pair of ridiculous fake lashes on, instead it simply consists of a fixing gel and extension fibres.

You start with a coat of the fixing gel, which can be used on it's own as an every day mascara, followed immediately with a coat of the lash extension fibres.  Leave for 20 seconds and then finish with a coat of the fixing gel. And that's it, done!

And if you want SUPER long lashes, you can repeat the cycle as many times as you like to get the desired result.

The great thing is, that despite it not being a waterproof mascara it doesn't run.  But comes off easily at night when you actually want to take it off, so no more panda eyes!

The results look really natural, I've used it both with just the fixing gel and with the extension fibres and it's become my everyday mascara.  A lot better than my old Body Shop waterproof one that just use to run anyway and then STILL left me with panda eyes the next morning!

It's pricier than other mascaras, but since you get an every day mascara PLUS something more dramatic for fancier occasions it's worth the price. And all Tropic products are vegan society and BUAV approved with no nasty chemicals.

You can buy Tropic's Lash Extension Kit on my online shop: https://www.tropicskincare.co.uk/shop/amycox

The Lowry Food and Drink Festival

I love a good food and drink festival, however being vegan now takes some of the joy out of it as I'm usually stuck with a falafel stall and some chutney and that's it.  And I'm not even that fond of chutney.

Discovering the Lowry Food and Drink Festival in Salford last year changed all that, and this year was no exception!

Fun Fact- You can get married at The Lowry Theatre and it has amazing views of the quays (which would look even more stunning at night). However it's super pricey!

After figuring out what's what and borrowing £10 of The Boy when I discovered my £20 wouldn't buy me all the things I wanted I headed straight for the Chaat Cart for some lunch.

Everything at this place is vegan, I had a lovely chat with one of the stall holders and found out they are opening a unit in Manchester Spinning Fields this month.  I ended up with a masala dosa, which is an Indian lentil crepe filled with a potato filling and served with two dips (I don't know what they were!) and it was delicious.  Sorry for the lack of photo, it was hard to hold it AND take a picture at the same time. Sometimes I wish I had more arms.

Next, it was time for dessert. Yes, I had the option of a dessert at a non-vegan festival! It came in the form of churros from the awesome people at Churtopia, who were also at Bolton's Food and Drink Festival last year. The chocolate sauce that comes with the churros isn't vegan but I was happy with cinnamon and sugar coating.

After being fed, I headed out to grab some things to take away, and it didn't involve just chutneys or curry sauces!  First place I headed to was an Indian stall, which is there for any kind of festival or market held at the Lowry. This stall is the reason I didn't starve at the Christmas Market when the Chaat Cart wasn't there, as they do several vegan samosas. Unfortunately, by the time I came to buy my samosas they had sold out of every flavour apart from their bombay aloo. Usually I get one of each flavour.  I think the spicy soya might be a new one too!

Next I went to the nut stall and bought a pack of cashew and pecan nuts coated in vanilla and cinnamon. It's great to have the option of nuts at a festival that haven't been coated in honey and I had nuts from this stall at the Christmas Market (Churtopia wasn't at the Christmas Market either- so disappointing!) and they're really moreish. They also do coated almonds but I wasn't too keen on them as I'm not a massive almond fan.

Next stop was a stall that I'd not seen before, which is great to see- as much as I love seeing the same companies return to a festival year after year, it's good to see newcomers too. It's proof that the Festival is growing in popularity and adds a bit of excitement. Orchard House Pate sells two vegan pates as well as more traditional pates-  three mushroom and sundried tomato, lentil and cashew. I was going to go for just one of each, but when I saw for just £2 more I could get a third one I got a second of the tomato and lentil one as it was my favorite out of the two. Whilst the stall holder was packing my order she told me that the day before she hadn't brought any of the tomato and lentil pate and some of her customers had "shouted" at her and she had to go home and make some up!  This shows two things- one, I picked well ordering two of them and two, either more people are choosing to avoid meat or at least cutting down on it.  They will also be at the brand new Castlefield Food Festival on the 15-17 May. I'm gutted that it clashes with my holiday and the Manchester Vegan Fair, as I definitely would have paid a visit.

Later on in the evening, I was feeling a bit peckish so I had some of the tomato and lentil pate with some tomato and linseed oat cakes I got as a Christmas present and hadn't got round to eating.  It was so good that I polished off half a pack of the oat cakes with the pate! The good thing about the pates is each pot is around 200 calories so you don't need to feel too guilty if you polish it off in one sitting and they can also be frozen.

There was also a falafel stall that looked like it could be vegan friendly and also sold sweet potato fries topped with hummus and pine nuts. I was put off it due to the HUGE queue and also, falafels at festivals is kinda tired.  It was also great to see Camp Cooks at the festival again, basically drag artists cooking and serving food with a bit of dancing thrown in. I don't know if any of their food is suitable for vegans, or if they could adapt anything but I still love them. In the picture below they're dancing to Around The Old Campfire.

I definitely recommend visiting this festival next year, and hopefully they'll be some more exciting stalls selling vegan goodies!

Tropic ABC Skincare Set and Refresh Herbal Roll On

For the past 29 years my daily skincare regime has mostly consisted of washing my face with either soap or a face wash and that's about it. I've dabbled with different things, but I'm lucky to have pretty good skin so I generally don't have a need to do anything different.

However, when I signed up to Tropic, my starter kit included their Deluxe Skincare collection, which includes amongst other things their Smoothing Cleanser (with free bamboo cloth), Vitamin Toner Refreshing Spritz, Skin Revive Nourishing Cream Concentrate and Refresh Herbal Roll On.  As Ambassadors are encouraged to try the products themselves and I'd ran out of face wash I thought I'd give it a go and I've been using it ever since!

Although they costs more than what I usually spend on face wash, a little bit goes a long way and the pumps on the bottles ensure that you don't accidentally pour out more than you need (a problem I often face). I generally use two to three pumps of cleanser and toner and just one pump of the nourishing cream because it's so concentrated.  The bamboo cloth is surprisingly soft and I found it really good at taking makeup off at night. All the products in the ABC skincare kits smell divine and the cucumber extract in the toner makes it really refreshing, perfect for early mornings. The great thing about Tropic products as well is that you can recognise ALL the ingredients in them and there are no long worded chemicals with unpronounceable names!

Although my skin is pretty good, one thing that I do feel self conscious about are the dark circles I have under my eyes.  However, using the Refresh Herbal Roll On twice a day under my eyes has really improved it and I now feel confident going without my concealer. Here's a picture I took this morning, with no concealer, I am however wearing Tropic's lash extension mascara which I will write about another time!

You can buy them all separately or you an get the ABC Skincare Kit either with the Refresh Herbal Roll On or with the Face Smooth Brightening Polish (great for people with dry skin).  Or if you really want to treat yourself the Deluxe Skincare Collection comes with the roll on and the polish PLUS Organic Elixir Oil (again great for dry skin) and a Tropic headband.

You can buy Tropic Skincare products from my website here: https://www.tropicskincare.co.uk/shop/amycox/products/dynamic.html

Tropic Skincare

Just over a week ago I started a new job, however in order to have a better work-life balance I had to take a pay cut and in addition the experience of being made redundant has made realise that it's good to have a back up plan. Like most people, I've always dreamed of being my own boss and having the opportunity to work from home, but setting a business up from scratch takes a level of creativeness, motivation and drive which I don't necessarily have.

Tropic Skincare is a company developed by Susan Ma, who was an Apprentice candidate. Although Susan didn't win the Apprentice Alan Sugar was so impressed with Susan's idea that he invested anyway!  Their products are completely natural and lack the long complicated chemicals that you often find in other cosmetics and in addition, they are both BUAV and Vegan Society approved.

After doing some research myself and testing some of their products I decided to sign up, and earlier this week I received my starter pack.

Ambassadors are encouraged to try the products in the starter kits themselves, which I did and I'm now in love with their products.  Over the next few weeks I'll be doing a few posts reviewing some of the products. But for now, you can check out my Ambassador website.

Vegan in Gran Canaria- Part 3

If I was to go back to Gran Canaria, I would go self catering because the supermarkets in Las Palmas were amazing for vegan grub!

Supermarkets abroad are a bit of a hobby, The Boy and family always tend to get a bit carried away and buy way too much stuff! And as a vegan, if you arm yourself with a list of non-vegan e-numbers and some basic spanish phrases for non-vegan ingredients (see Vegan in Brighton's post for a list) you can pick up some amazing things too!

First thing I wanted to pick up was a packet of palmeritas as I'd heard so much about them. They're kind of a like a pasty usually covered in a sticky syrup and are sold almost everywhere. Most brands are vegan but still check as I found one brand that contained egg. Here's a picture of me eating my way through a pack whilst watching a cruise ship set off!

El Corte Ingles is a Spanish department store chain, it's kinda like a Spanish John Lewis but has a food hall like M&S. The one in Las Palmas is GINORMOUS, and has stores on both sides of the road, one with 7 floors and the other has 8 floors. We ended up visiting the food hall for interesting Spanish foods quite a lot and this one had a sizable free from section and included things like Cheezly Edam (I was tempted to buy some for breakfast!) and vegan white chocolate. I didn't take any pictures of the selection but it's worth a visit even if it's a bit pricey. They also have a souvenir department and I managed to find tubs of Peanut Butter & Co white chocolate peanut butter. I'm not a fan of white chocolate and find it way too sweet, however even I was gutted that I we were travelling hand luggage only and couldn't bring a tub back.

The other large supermarket we visited was Carrefour, which are a must visit in Spain if you're doing self catering and are pretty reasonable with pricing. The one in Las Palmas again had a large free from section and sold things like vegan Spanish tortillas and empanadas.

It also had a sushi stall and when I see sushi I can't help checking if it's vegan.  I was excited to see that they had vegan friendly avocado and cucumber maki.

I wasn't too keen on the cucumber maki, as I found it a bit bitter somehow (I didn't use any of the condiments that came with it in case they weren't vegan) but the avocado one was amazing and had large creamy chunks of avocado.

I was also surprised to see this vegan cookbook on sale in Carrefour, and its a positive sign that veganism is starting to gain ground in Spain. The Boy and I like to get each other little souvenirs when we go away and he actually bought me this. It's a reason to get my butt into gear and start learning Spanish so that I can understand the delicious recipes!

I really enjoyed my time in Gran Canaria, even if it was pretty windy and I think choosing Las Palmas as our base was a good idea- I can see if we had gone with a package holiday in the tourist region we would have spent most days travelling to Las Palmas to avoid the tourists!

People complain at how hard it is to be vegan in Spanish countries, and yes, the first time I went to Spain as I vegan I had a few disasters. But if you do a bit of research beforehand it helps.

Vegan in Gran Canaria- Part 2

After a few days of wandering about Las Palmas, we became restless and yearned for adventure, so we decided to visit the Tourist Information Office to see what else there was to do. We picked up a leaflet for coach tours and were quickly put off by the fact that nearly every tour was 47 Euros!

That's when Gran Canaria's public bus service came to the rescue, we discovered that we could get a return to Mas Palomas which is the touristy area at the other end of the island for just over 12 Euros!

Apparently 'Palomas' means pigeons and 'Mas' means more, or many, therefore Mas Palomas translates to more/many pigeons. On finding this out, I was highly amused that therefore the singer Paloma Faith translates to Pigeon Faith in Spanish. Simple things!

Anyway, Mas Palomas is very much what you expect of a English resort, unlike Las Palmas which is much more Spanish. The area is know for it's massive sand dunes, which were impressive, and also very hard to climb up.  The view at the top was worth the effort but for some reason I don't have any impressive pictures of the view at the top, so here is a picture of me on the top of the sand dune.  The hat was purchased on the third day (from Primark of all places) after getting a sun burnt scalp- ouch!

After our hike up the sand dune and walk down the beach (I later found out if we had walked further down we would have found ourselves on a nudist beach!) we went in search of food and stumbled on a Japanese restaurant called Asia House in the retail park.  I ordered the avocado maki after checking that it didn't contain egg or mayonnaise and we shared some crispy seaweed.

The maki was super tasty and contained large chunks of creamy avocado, so much nicer than the usual stuff you get at Yo Sushi (ordered without the mayo of course!) and the seaweed was so different to the stuff we get from the Chinese at home.  The Boy's mum had ordered veggie rice, which I assumed would contain egg, I was kicking myself when it turned out to be egg free!

Back in Las Palmas, The Boy was on a mission to find another vegan friendly restaurant that I had found on Happy Cow called Rahimo16.  After a couple of failed attempts, we managed to track it down.  Although not exclusively veggie or vegan, this place is dedicated to sustainable food and caters for both vegetarians and vegans.

We went during the day when we could only order off the day menu which was 9.90 Euros. For starters there was the option of watercress soup or a lentil dish that came with yogurt.  After speaking to our waitress, I was lead to believe that only the soup was vegan and not being a huge fan of both watercress and soup, I decided to skip the starter and go straight to the main, which was cous cous served with stuffed mushrooms.

The dish was really nice, especially the stuffed mushrooms which I think was just stuffed with some super tasty hummus! However when everyone else's starters arrived I realised the lentil dish was just a lentil salad with a side of yogurt, and when everyone else started saying how nice it was I checked again with the waitress if the lentil salad would be vegan if they just left out the yogurt on the side. When she confirmed it would be, I ordered the starter as a main- and I swear that because I didn't have the yogurt they gave me extra lentils!  It was totally yummy, and I was completely stuffed by the end of it! The lentils dish was made better due to the fact that The Boy's olive hating vegetarian twin brother gave me all his olives from his stuffed mushroom main :-)

The day menu also included dessert, and we were lucky that they were celebrating their first birthday and were offering chocolate cake and glasses of cava in addition to their regular desserts. Unfortunately the chocolate cake wasn't vegan and the only vegan dessert was a fruit salad, however as Spanish cava is refined in the bottle and is therefore vegan I wasn't feeling too left out.

I usually hate fruit salads as a dessert (it's NOT a dessert), but having eating a filling starter and main course, I was quite glad of a light dessert and the fruit was so refreshing. I still jealous of everyone's chocolate cake though.

I was also surprised at the amount of vegan stuff in supermarkets too, especially given that I've heard so many people moan about how hard it is to be vegan in Spanish countries. More on that next time!