I ate so much plant food today and I feel great about it.

Breakfast was a huge bowl of fruit.  Nothing more.  Just pure, sweet, juicy fruit: black grapes, blueberries, persimmon and pineapple.I treated myself to a lunch at Dishoom, the amazing Bombay Cafe style restaurant near the office.  I came here with my colleagues around Christmas time and have tried to come back several times since but it is usually full but we were lucky today.  The menu is completely different to your usual Indian which makes such a refreshing change.
This was a disappointment.  This is the ‘Far Far’ which is described as “a sort of carnival of snackery, half way between crisp and cracker.  Colourful, lemony, salty.” Well, you can’t deny the description but it was like a crazily coloured Quaver.  Not my thing. This was totally my thing – okra fries.  Total and utter okra perfection.  Salty and crispy, rather then gelatinous and sloppy like they often are, I ate them as if I had not eaten for months.  I popped those little green fingers in as quickly as I could because they were so delicious.  I need to eat these again. I also had the black house daal and roomali roti (the bready thing) washed down with a pot of Darjeeling.Every mouthful was amazing but the daal is very creamy and I suspect it contained dairy cream and ghee (clarified butter) so not good on a vegan lifestyle.  So I really enjoyed it but probably won’t have it again but I can’t promise though because the flavours are sensational and the spicing is perfect.  It makes your mouth jangle but not burn.  Genius.
I wasn’t very hungry in the evening so made a supper of veggies.  I stir fried an onion, carrot, leek and yellow pepper.  I was asked how I use my coconut oil – the answer is like this.  It is a saturated fat and behaves like butter i.e. it is solid at room temperature and melts very easily when heated.  It is completely colourless but does taste and smell of coconut.  I always use it when frying anything.

Coconut oil has many reputed benefits which are easy to find on line, as are articles denying those claims.  But I like the taste and don’t use huge amounts so I enjoy it when I do use it. The stir fried veggies had nothing added other then salt and pepper and the oil. I served them with a large portion of guacamole I made with an avocado, a very large tomato, the juice of half a lime and salt and pepper.  Simple but delicious and full of lovely nutrients.

I didn’t manage to be vegan all day but I did eat loads of plants so I am happy with that.