Sometimes, my friends or family get rather anxious about what I can eat when I go to visit.  Others embrace the challenge and cook me delicious meals which is so very kind and is always appreciated.  I do not expect people to go to any trouble though and am very happy to either take along something I know I can eat or just eat the bits of their meal I know I can have, such as salad, veggies, potatoes etc.

This Saturday I went to visit my Dad and he wasn’t sure what to get so I said I would bring my own. I did, but Harvey ate it in the car!!  So, I arrived with nothing but easily found a very decent  lunch; avocado mashed on to a toasted ciabatta roll.  Simple and perfectly adequate.

We then continued on to Warwickshire to stay with our fab friends and we had a curry for dinner.  Curry is always easy because there are several good options; I had dal, rice and sag aloo (spinach and potato) and it was great.  As was the wine and bubbles we enjoyed afterwards.  And obviously the company.  Very, very good company.

If you have vegans coming for dinner, a curry is a good option although you would need to check they don’t use ghee for cooking but as many Indians are vegetarian or vegan, they tend to respect dietary requirements and are very helpful if you explain what you need.  Another good option is Italian as they always have a simple pasta in tomato sauce and usually a very good range of vegetable and salad dishes.  
We had a very cosy evening in the playroom because half the house has been packed up and is on its way to New Zealand.  So we made the most of all of the facilities 😃
 I will miss these fab friends sooooooo much.  Including the crazy kids.  

Helen falls in to the category of friends who make a supreme effort to accommodate my eating choices for which I am so touched by.  I did also feel guilty because I succumbed and had some cheese with my wine which I feel terrible about but it is the one thing I find so hard to resist.

On Sunday I was given a lovely smoothie for breakfast with loads of fruit and green leaves in it and it was perfect.  For lunch, my dear friend made soup, a chick pea tagine and a pineapple upside cake.  All vegan and all the more remarkable because she had to go out and couldn’t share it with us.  Thank you so much Helen, it was all wonderful.
    
 We popped in to Granny’s on the way back South where the younger ones raced round on scooters.

 The rest of us enjoyed a coffee inside where it was warm and cosy.   

 I don’t know when I will next come back to this part of the world, where I have had so many happy times and so have my children.  Every year of their lives they have been up here and we have enjoyed the delightful company of our fab friends.  We will still have happy times together but will have to just travel further next time.   Back to work today and a simple supper.  I had some rice already cooked and leftover in the fridge which I stir fried with some onion, Savoy cabbage and broccoli.  Topped with some cauliflower I oven roasted with za’tar which was an easy and tasty supper. Seasoned with soy sauce, a splash of hoisin sauce and some pepper sauce.

 Vegans are easy to feed.  We eat most edible foods.  Just no animal products ( apart from moments of weakness).