vegan.in.brighton

I'm currently feeling super excited that I get to watch the seasons change from autumn to winter. This time last year I was in Thailand and I definitely missed all things autumn and winter; from bonfire night to drinking glasses of mulled winter punch on cold nights at home. The leaves are falling from the trees and the nights are drawing in and I'm loving spending evenings snuggled under a blanket reading by the fire at my sister in law's place.

When I've managed to pull myself out of my blanket cocoon I've been spending days in central London getting reunited with my old favourite food joints (and checking out some new ones), interviewing for the Christmas temp job of my dreams (cross your fingers for me friends!), and having a tonne of fun hanging out and eating with friends. Last week Randi and I made pizzas with the Miyoko's kitchen mozzarella I brought back from New York and whilst I didn't take any decent pictures you can trust me when I say that they were delicious. My favourite combo was pesto, potatoes, rosemary and mozzarella. So. Damn. Good.

My cooking adventures didn't stop there though, I hung out with Sal from Alien on Toast last weekend and we made both lasagne and lemon meringue pie. Two of my favourite foods ever. The lasagne was a true lazy person effort involving jarred béchamel, two blocks of Sainsbury's vegan cheese, and a homemade tomato sauce with sneaky hidden carrots and courgette. It was super good and I hope that we make it again someday. I didn't take a decent picture so here's a photo of my breakfast the next day. Yes, I am basically a genius!

The lemon meringue pie recipe we settled on was this one from the blog Seitan Beats your Meat, we chose it because you can always trust Kelly not to put a shitty recipe out there in the world. I'm kind of a renegade so of course I didn't read the recipe directions before I shopped for ingredients or before we started throwing things together in the kitchen so the 2 1/2 hour cooking time came as a bit of a shock especially as this was after "cooking" the pie crust (um, warming store bought pastry. Thanks Jus-rol!) and suddenly our lemon meringue pie dreams seemed doomed.

Thankfully Sal figured that we could just make marshmallow fluff and then whack it under the grill it to crisp up the peaks which was a genius idea. As soon as we were done with our lasagne and garlic bread feast we headed into the kitchen to start whipping the juice from a can of chickpeas with sugar, vanilla extract, and a little cream of tartar. We followed this recipe but because Sal doesn't have a stand mixer we used an electric hand mixer instead. Now I know that I am way behind on the aquafaba trend but holy wow, this stuff really does work. We were a little dubious at first but it whipped up into proper stiff peaks - I could even hold the bowl upside down over my head like they do on the telly! So cool.

Our slightly tart and perfectly sweet lemon meringue pie was freaking fantastic!

As you can see I just spooned the mallow fluff onto the top of the pie rather than getting involved with a piping bag but it still looks pretty great and honestly, I was kinda amazed at just how lemon meringue pie like our pie was given that we skipped a step and improvised a little, but I can't fault it at all. Writing this has made me want to make another one immediately and I can't wait to have some more fun with aquafaba soon.

Do you have a favourite aquafaba recipe? Link it in the comments!

If you've been paying attention you'll have noticed that I'm currently taking a pause from travelling. I'm not at home though - I'm not even in Brighton because my house is still rented out so I'm in a weird in-between place both physically as well as mentally.

Towards the end of my travels in Asia this summer I hit a bit of a wall. I still loved travel but I was really craving the sense of community that you get from staying in one place. I've always dreamt of having a close knit group of friends who want to arrange bake sales, host potlucks, watch movies, cook dinners, and go to protests together but I never really had that in Brighton. It might sound strange but I have it online and I kinda have it in Austin but I can't live there so it's something that I get to partake in for fleeting moments here and there and then I spend more time missing it than I did enjoying it! I know that I want to feel settled somewhere and to build the community I've always wanted but equally I don't feel 100% done with travel. That wanderlust just won't die! I was a little fed up of rotating through the same four outfits and pulling clothes out of my hand luggage sized backpack every day but maybe that just means that it's time for a different style of travel?

I just got the seasonal temp job I applied for at Lush's flagship Oxford Street store, I start Monday and I am more than a little excited about it. I've always wanted to work for Lush, a company whose ethics align almost exactly with my own, and working in London over Christmas is sure to feel pretty magical. I'm excited for the opportunity to work there but I'm also really happy that I now have a solid reason to pause for a while.

I feel like it's so good to stop and think about what the future might hold, to research adventures you'd like to take, and to try to visualise where you'd like to be in five years. Not everyone gets the chance to do that and I feel lucky to be able to choose what I want to do with my life rather than life just being a series of events that just happen to me. Right now I'm dreaming of the Northern Lights, gazing at pictures of New Zealand, contemplating another stint volunteering with Help Refugees, and chatting to people in the know about living in Canada.

With my five year goals in mind I want to figure out how to connect with people whilst disconnecting from the time suck that is social media. I'm not talking quitting Twitter or Instagram but my iPhone doesn't need to be surgically attached to my hand 50% of the time! I want to keep fighting for the causes that I believe in and to fight louder and more often. I want to spend more time learning Japanese and less time watching Netflix. I want to remember that staying active, whether that's protesting or hitting the gym, is good for my mental health as well as my physical health.

I want to continue writing but I need to decide what to do with my blog. As you can see my posts have become a little less frequent in recent months and that's partly because of the indecisive place I'm in right now - I've been chatting to friends about changing the name of my blog because I don't see myself ending up back in Brighton. I've also been thinking about moving to a self hosted site but I'm definitely worried about ruining my SEO rankings and losing most, if not all, of my followers - so, just the little things! What do you think? I'd love to hear some input whether you're a long term reader, an SEO expert, or a first time visitor to my site.

Last winter I made a promise to myself to break out of old habits, to stop impulse purchasing things, and to try harder to support awesome businesses and people with my money. I have to say that I've been nailing it! I've been buying more stuff from charity shops, thinking about my purchases for longer, and I can't remember the last time I had anything from Amazon delivered to my house. I kept these things in mind when I put my gift guide together and I hope that you'd also like to give people things that they'll love, use, learn from, or treasure forever. Supporting both small businesses and vegan businesses is the best so over half of my gift suggestions come from vegan artists, chefs, and small biz owners who are doing really cool stuff with their time. I hope that you love these suggestions for your Christmas, Festivus, Hanukkah, Pancha Ganapati, or Yule shopping as much as I loved putting them together!

Lush Christmas Candy Box This sweet gift is stuffed with four gorgeous sweetie scented products including Snow Fairy Shower Gel, Rock Star Soap, the Luxury Lush Pud bath bomb, and the Candy Mountain bubble bar which really does make mountains of soft candy scented bubbles. £17.95 from your closest Lush store.
Adopt Don't Shop Tote This totes adorbz tote (yeah I went there) from vegan owned and operated store All Glamour No Guts is the perfect gift for the fashionable animal lover in your life. The classic black and white colour way goes with anything and it was designed by vegan artist Veronica Kolinska. Totes are £10 and 10% of that goes straight to the animals living at Hillside Animal Sanctuary.
Superfun Times Holiday Cookbook You can't go wrong with a cookbook penned by superstar chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz and this one is perfect for the holidays. Hardback and packed full of recipes for every occasion from Chinese New Year to Hannukah and many more in-between, your giftee will be cooking up a storm in no time. Purchase a copy from Foyles for £23.99
Crazy Rumours Peppermint Twist Lip Balm It took me way, way too long to decide which Crazy Rumours lip balm to include in my gift guide! Festive flavours range from Orange Clove to Cinnamon Bun so you're definitely going to want to pop at least two into your basket. £3.50 each.
Sea Salt and Almond Caramel Truffles These truffles are made by one of my favourite ethical Chocolate companies Booja Booja. They're a year round fave' for me but they also make the perfect host / hostess gift during the festive season. Bonus points for buying something Food Empowerment Project certified! These are available from all good health food stores including Planet Organic and Infinity Foods for around £3.99
Hex Your Ex Nail Polish You can pick up Unicorn Polish's holographic ice blue and lilac hued nail varnish from indie beauty shop Make Up Without Malice for £6.95 from December 1st.
Hand Painted Birch Wood Sloth Tree Ornament This cute as hell ornament is hand painted by vegan artist My Zoetrope and it would make the cutest addition to any tree. The range also features a bear and a cat just in case you want to go all out! £16.50 each from MyZoetrope on Etsy.
Teapigs Pick 'n Mix Sample Pack This is the perfect gift for the tea loving friend, relative, or co-worker in your life. Hand pick 12 teas from Teapigs range of Rainforest Alliance certified whole leaf teas. Pick up your sample pack for £13.99 from the Teapigs website.
The Good Immigrant This is on my wishlist and it should be on yours too! It brings together the voices of 21 black, Asian, and minority ethnic people in Britain today and explores why immigrants come to the UK, why they stay, and the challenges they face. It's the perfect challenge to the racist trash your mum / cousin / nephew reads in the right wing media. Purchase a copy from Foyles for £14.99

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Whilst it was the gorgeous packaging that first drew me towards the Loving Earth stall at the Just V show earlier this year I was further sucked in by their ridiculously delicious chocolate bars - raw food has no business being this good! Their flavours range from the super dark 85% Dark bar all the way through to the Creamy bar which is made from 47% cacao and 23% coconut.

My veganism has always been driven by my love for animals first but my love for the environment comes in a close second. I know, I know, I fly a lot but I also pay to recycle all of the plastics, try to buy products in recycled packaging or, even better, with no packaging, I travel by train or bus whenever time allows, and I've never owned a car. What I'm saying is that whilst I was originally sucked in by the taste of these coconuty chocolate treats I've become a loyal customer because it turns out that Loving Earth really do love the earth.

Their whole philosophy is based upon respect for the environment and sustainability plays a big part in that. Loving Earth's bars come in 80g and 30g packs and all of their packaging is sustainable, the 80g boxes are made from post-consumer fibres and printed with vegetable inks and the 30g packs are compostable and made from cellulose from sustainably managed trees. Even the clear film the chocolate itself is wrapped in is made from a 100% renewable and compostable vegetable source.

The other totally radical thing about Loving Earth is that they believe in treating people fairly too. This shouldn't be radical but sadly in these days of mass inequality and out of control capitalism caring for people who are less well off than you is a radical act. Loving Earth's chocolate bars are Food Empowerment Project certified which means that they don't source any of their cocoa from areas where child slavery is rife. If this is an issue that you care about I would strongly suggest not only downloading The Food Empowerment Project's handy free app but also e-mailing the companies you buy from, or have bought from in the past, who are on their not recommended list. It's so important to let these companies know that you won't purchase their chocolate until they make 100% sure that child labour and slavery were not a part of their supply chain.

Flavour wise the Loving Earth range is made up of eleven coconut nectar sweetened bars and flavours range from the fruity, Raspberry, Lemon, and Mandarin, to creamy bars like Hazelnut, Salted Caramel, Mylk, Creamy, and Caramel, all the way through to the more intense dark chocolate in the Dark, 85% Dark, and Mint bars. I like them all but I've fallen head over heels for a few of the flavours. I'm totally in love with the creamy, rich, 42% cocoa butter, Hazelnut bar which includes 30% raw creamed hazelnuts. It's a totally dreamy bar of chocolate and one that I will be buying over and over.

Superfat Crop Top Girl Gang colouring book from rachelecateyes on Etsy.

Next on my favourites list is the very lightly salted Salted Caramel bar closely followed by the straight up Caramel bar. Both have a cacao content of 36% making them delightfully creamy. I'm also really digging the Mylk and Creamy bars and, when I want something totally different, the 85% Dark bar is intensely rich and I often find that one or two squares is enough to satisfy my chocolate cravings.

If these bars sound like something that you need to get your hands on asap then you can get your Loving Earth fix from Planet Organic in London, Brighton's Infinity Foods, and Surbiton Natural Health Centre among others. Let me know if you've seen Loving Earth bars at an independent health food store near you so that I can update this list!

Because it seemed totally unfair to tell you all about these delicious chocolate bars and not let you get in on some of the creamy cocoa based action yourself, and because it's nearly Christmas, myself and the wonderful people at Loving Earth have put together a little giveaway for Vegan in Brighton readers.

Three lucky winners will win three Loving Earth bars each, one bar of Salted Caramel, one bar of 85% Dark, and one bar of Hazelnut. The giveaway is open to residents of the UK and all that you need to do to enter is leave me a comment telling me who you'd share your chocolate bars with as well as your contact details - Twitter, Instagram, and e-mail are all a-ok. The competition closes at 23:59 on Friday 16th December and the winners will be notified on Saturday 17th December. Good luck!

This post was sponsored by Loving Earth but as always all opinions are both totally unbiased and 100% my own.

Well 2016 has definitely been a mixed bag food wise, I spent two months volunteering at Japan Cat Network, a cat shelter in Inawashiro almost 100 miles from the nearest vegan friendly restaurant, and I got food poisoning in Taiwan, but I also discovered a new-to-me cuisine, ate some of the best food of my life, and had some amazing culinary adventures. I'm looking into 2017 with a whole lot of uncertainty and anxiety, obviously the current political climate terrifies me, but on a more personal level I have literally no idea where the next year is going to take me. I don't think I've ever gone into a year with no solid plans at all, I have no idea where I'm going to be living, travelling, or working, but I'm excited about the possibilities ahead and as always I'm feeling lucky that I have choices to make.

Without further ado here are my Top 10 Eats of 2016. These are in the order that I ate them because ranking this short list would basically be impossible. The list also discounts anything I've eaten in previous years hence why Lagusta's chocolates, Vinnie's pizza, and the ramen from T's Tan Tan aren't on the list.

1 - Vegan Heaven in Taipei

I usually insist on picking one standout dish from each place for this list but every single thing I ate at Veggie Heaven was a delight. I can't choose. Don't make me! From the delicate coffee hazelnut macarons to the apple caramel cream cakes I didn't find a single thing that needed improvement. The owner and baker Li is also without a shadow of a doubt one of the nicest people I've ever met. Visit Taipei immediately. Order one of everything. You won't be disappointed!

Vegan Heaven, Lane 473, Guangfu South Road, Xinyi District, Taipei

2 - Vege Creek in Taipei

This simple restaurant concept is one that needs to be rolled out in every city in the word. Vege Creek sell noodle soup bowls but they're super customisable which means that everyone gets the perfect dish for them. You choose your greens, veggies, proteins, and noodles, specify your preferred spice level, and then everything is braised in an aromatic spice and soy sauce flavoured stock. This traditional cooking technique infuses everything in the bowl with a depth of flavour that can't be beaten.

Vege Creek, 2 Lane 129, Yanji Street, Da-an District, Taipei

3 - Night Market Eats in Keelung

My night market adventure guided by Taipei based blogger Stephie and her partner James is a highlight not only from the last year but from my 18 months of travel. This is not a tourist night market, you won't find any signs in English, but Stephie and James were able to guide our group towards an amazing array of vegan eats ranging from plates piled high with mock meats and tofu, towards delicious herby soups, bao burgers, and more. I even tried my first bubble tea during our excursion.

Keelung Miaoku Night Market, Rensan Road, Ren'ai District, Keelung City

4 - Pork Ramen from FuShiWu in Taichung

Yes, another spot in Taiwan but this time the food is Japanese. This was actually the best vegan ramen I've eaten in my entire life. This is a real standout dish, no question about it. The incredibly flavourful broth and the texture of the faux pork set it apart from any other ramen I've tried. It's well worth visiting Taichung just for this!

FuShiWu, 447 Zhongmei St, West District, Taichung

5 - Dim Sum at Pure Veggie House in Hong Kong

Hong Kong wasn't my favourite place in the world but I would go back there just to eat dim sum right now. Pure Veggie House is a higher end spot filled with ladies who lunch, I definitely felt a little out of place, but it was totally worth it because the food was mind blowing. The steamed buns and flaky pastries were a delight and the gyoza and shumai were the best I've ever tasted. My only regret is deciding not to break the bank and order even more food!

Pure Veggie House, 3/F Coda Plaza, 51 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

6 - Soy Meat Plate from Cori Vegan Food Stand in Tokyo

This light but perfectly balanced plate of food made it into the top ten because every single element was perfect. From the soy meat nuggets and scrambled tofu to the crisp lettuce and sautéed mushrooms everything was spot on and the sweet teriyaki sauce that tied it all together really made the meal. The only downside to Cori Vegan Food Stand is that I only got to eat there once - one of my wishes for 2017 is that businesses learn to use social media properly to let people know when they'll be closed!

Cori Vegan Foodstand, 3 Chome-13, Minamiaoyama Minato (at commune 246), Tokyo

7 - Doria from T's Restaurant in Tokyo

This vegan spin on Doria, a French rice based casserole, isn't something I expected to be on my must eat list in Japan but I'm oh so glad that I ordered it. Doria is a popular dish in Japan but as far as I know this is the only pace to eat a vegan version of the dish, it's creamy, flavourful, comforting, and filling and writing this has reminded me that I need to try to make this at home ASAP. Order the teriyaki soy chicken on the side to elevate this to best meal ever status!

T's Restaurant, LUZ Jiyugaoka building 1F, Jiyugaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo

8 - Bibimbap from Maji in Seoul

As a vegan with a chilli allergy I found travelling and eating my way around Korea to be a huge challenge. I ate a lot of modified meals from Plant whilst I was in Seoul and chowed down on more kimbap at nationwide chain Robot Sushi that I can count but Maji was the standout meal for me. This simple soy bean bibimbap with a range of tasty sides (including sweet battered and fried pumpkin slices) was 100% delicious, 100% authentic (no weird modifications necessary), and totally chilli free. This place made me happy after some tough travel days and I'll never forget it.

Maji, near Nabbing station, Seoul,

9 - Mini Maccaritos from The Flying Duck in Glasgow

This is my kinda food. Carbs wrapped in carbs and covered in cheese. This beige on beige delight was one of many amazing meals I ate in Glasgow and I'm already dying to go back. The Flying Duck also excels on many other levels, it's got that slightly scuzzy underground pub vibe, there are games to play, and you can get a can of Irn Bru with your meal. Perfection.

The Flying Duck, 147 Renfield Street, Glasgow

10 - Mac and Shews from Modern Love in Brooklyn

This is no ordinary mac and cheese. The creamy cashew based sauce was of course a total standout but the pecan cornmeal crusted tofu, BBQ cauliflower, and even the sautéed kale elevated this dish to standout status. I'd probably put everything I ate at Modern Love onto the list, the appleberry pie was the best I've ever eaten, Isa's homemade vanilla ice cream blew my mind, the mushroom blintz was off the hook, and the atmosphere is beyond perfect. I ate here three times in three weeks and I would be more than happy to go back tomorrow.

Modern Love, 317 Union Avenue, Brooklyn

And the honourable mention goes to... Kols Staem & Eséé Ché Blueberries & Lavender Creme Chèvre

Every year a pick one non-restaurant food to make it onto the list and this year it's a totally spectacular cheese. Nothing comes up when you google them but add "vegan cheese" onto the end and their Instagram account pops up. Why a company making the best vegan cheese I've ever eaten only has 400 followers and no website is beyond me (well maybe that unpronounceable name isn't helping) but they are well worth hunting down. You can find their cheeses at Riverdel in Brooklyn as well as at pop up's like the Vegan Shop Up.

As another year draws to a close I want to give a shout out to Happy Cow for making my life easier and more delicious. Update your cities peeps, it makes vegan travel so much easier for everyone. Have you eaten at any of these restaurants? What were your standout meals of 2016? Let me know in the comments and maybe your favourite will make it onto my 2017 Top 10 list!

Hi friends! I thought it was about time for a little life update. I'm still working at Lush - they offered me a permanent position after my temporary contract ended and I had to say yes. I have no idea how long we're going to be in this part of the world for but earning some money and seeing one of my favourite ethical brands from the other side seems like a good thing to do with my time. Unfortunately the major downsides are the commute into London - I spend around 3 hours a day getting to and from work - and, it turns out that I'm super allergic to Lush! This doesn't surprise me, I'm allergic to everything from dust to chilli and from cats to pineapple but finding the right meds that work and don't make me drowsy has taken a while and a lot of my days off have been spent in bed dealing with hideous sinus pain. Stupid body! The major bonus, and I mean major, is that my work is only a ten minute walk from Yorica!

This Soho vegan ice cream spot just gets better and better, I can confirm that the crepes are blooming excellent and I will be going back for more soon.

I still feel a little like my life is on hold but Nick and I are making travel plans, I can't tell you where I'm headed yet or for how long but if it all plans out it's going to be a super exciting adventure. Talking of adventures I recently applied for my provisional driving licence! When most of my peers were learning to drive I was drifting around the place in a drug and alcohol induced haze - I couldn't even get through the day without my trusty bottle of vodka so I knew that getting behind the wheel of a car wasn't an option. My life is considerably more sober these days and with one eye on living somewhere rural in the not too distant future I'm biting the bullet and hoping that my epic spacial awareness skills are helpful. Wish me luck!

I've been reading a lot recently, possibly even more than usual. The library around the corner from me finally re-opened (after three months!) so I'm all over that. I also got some excellent books for Christmas including Peter Singer's The Most Good You Can Do which made me have a look at which charities I donate to and why as well as working out how I can be a more effective donor.

I just finished Roxane Gay's latest book Difficult Women which I would highly recommend. It's pretty heavy going but well worth the read. I read some of Marian Keyes'non fiction alongside it to give myself space to process Roxane's writing and to make sure that I could sleep at night.

I've also been doing a little writing elsewhere. If you'd like my amazing (if I do say so myself) Yorkshire pudding recipe then check out my recipe post on the Infinity Foods website. I use the Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg and this is one of my favourite uses for this cool new product.

I also wrote a piece for Infinity with some of my top tips for going and staying vegan to tie in with Veganuary. If you haven't taken the plunge yet, are a vegan newbie, or are unsure if you're going to be in it for the long haul then have a gander.

Nick and I have also been spending a bit of time with some lovely veggie friends of ours who live just around the corner, they mentioned that they were heading towards veganism so I thought I'd give them a helping hand. So far I've cooked them tofu scramble (which they loved) and taken round a selection of vegan cheeses from Nutcrafter Creamery and Vegusto (which they also loved) so hopefully I've made veganism seem both easier and more delicious than they'd expected. Now I just need to work out what to make next time!

I'm always happy to return to Brighton but never more so than when a new vegan place opens its doors to the public. 100% vegan sushi spot Happy Maki has been on my radar for a while now and I finally made it to their new brick & mortar spot last week. Based in Pool Valley within a stones throw of the pier and practically next door to Boho Gelato they've picked a great spot to open a vegan business. Concept wise the peeps behind Happy Maki want to show people what sustainable sushi can look like - totally fish free, zero cruelty, leave the oceans alone please and thank you.

The menu is small but varied, there's something for everyone here, from the mock meat fan to your vegetable loving pal. Nick and I ordered the Fully Loaded roll and the Thai Sweet Potato roll to share and grabbed a side of inari tofu too because nobody should see inari pockets on a menu and take a pass.

The rolls are basically a sushi burrito (sushirito?!) and I fell in love at first bite. The sweet potato in the Thai roll was perfectly seasoned and the Fully Loaded had a generous amount of chicken. They also had no problem leaving out the red peppers as everything is rolled to order just as it should be. We were pleased that we opted for the ginger and wasabi option on both rolls as there was the perfect amount of each and the only thing I would change next time would be to request more coriander in my Thai Sweet Potato roll because I'm a coriander fiend who can basically never get enough.

The inari pockets were ridiculously good, I'm already an inari super fan (tattoo coming soon to prove it!) and honestly most inari is good in my books but these were possibly the best ever. They were grilled so that edges of the pockets had this slightly crisp thing going on which added both a different flavour and texture into the mix. Why is nobody else doing this to their inari? The Happy Maki peeps are basically geniuses!

Next time I visit I'm going to try the Hoisin Duck roll but if you don't have any ridiculous allergies to contend with I'd suggest trying the Beet & Basil Satay roll too. Happy Maki has an adorable seating area downstairs for those days when eating outside on the beach or in Pavillion Gardens isn't an option. The staff were super friendly too and, and this is a major plus for me, a filling meal for two was only £15! That's pretty hard to come by these days. Nick and I recently spent £50 on a much less inspiring meal at an over hyped (in my opinion) Brighton restaurant so if you're visiting the city make sure that Happy Maki is on your must eat list.

So as you may have noticed 2017 has been a little light on the blogging front. Sure, I've been working a lot which has meant less time for adventures, and I've been living somewhere that isn't really conducive to cooking projects or food photography, but I've also been trying to work out where on earth this life of mine is going. Back in January I told y'all I was taking a job at Lush in central London but I knew that that wasn't where I wanted to be long term. Nick and I came back from our travels with an idea in our heads, we learnt a lot of about ourselves whilst we were away and we decided that what we want to do with our lives is hang out together, spend more time in nature, work with animals, and promote a compassionate vegan lifestyle. Simple. Kinda. We had our hearts set on moving to Scotland with dreams of a farm sanctuary at the forefront of our minds but for a whole host of complicated reasons, most of which are totally beyond our control, now is just not the right time so we had a little rethink and have decided to re-pack our backpacks and head out into the world again.

With our #lifegoals in mind we've decided to spend the next year or so embracing our freedom (I have a sneaking suspicion that running our own farm sanctuary will put an end to travel for quite some time) and getting experience working with farmed animals. This seems like the perfect combo and I am pretty freaking excited to tell you all that we're heading to Australia!!

I actually bought my first Australia guide book in 1999 and now, almost 20 years later, I'm finally embarking on an adventure down under. Nick and I talked about Australia back when we first thought about our travel plans but we needed to find voluntary work there to make it financially feasible. Australia is expensive! We're going to be volunteering at Farm Animal Rescue in Dayboro, Queensland - that's near Brisbane for those of you unfamiliar with Aussie geography, and on the way there we'll be spending a month in China and around 10 days in Melbourne! Wowza!

To say that I'm excited about visiting China would be a massive understatement, I read Peter Hessler's River Town a while back when I went through a phase of being obsessed with the idea of visiting China and it was definitely an inspiration for my journey. It took me a little while to convince Nick that he wanted to join me but we're doing it. I've mapped out a route that takes in a lot of different aspects of China but that isn't trying to cram too much into a month - I like to travel slowly and I've learnt that I need downtime from intense travel experiences in the same way that I need a day off when I'm working so I've added in some extra days here and there for eating, reading, and chilling.

We only made a firm decision about "The Plan" a week ago and our flights have only been booked for a few days so we have a lot to do before we leave on March 21st. Visas are something we need to get on with ASAP and I was intrigued to learn that I need to remove all of my piercings for the visa photos. I'll be retaking them tomorrow! Our itinerary is mapped out and our trains and accommodation are booked because you need all of that in place to get your Chinese visa. We're going to start in Beijing where we plan to hit up all of the main cultural sights, explore the historic hutongs, eat a lot, and take a hike or two along the Great Wall, before moving on to Pingyao which is apparently China's best preserved ancient walled town. After that we take a night train to Xi'an where we'll use the city as a jumping off point to see the Terracotta Warriors before heading south to take a cruise along the Yangtze river. I've never been on a cruise and I'm a little apprehensive, it all seems very organised and I get super motion sick (even on those little piers waiting for the Thames Clipper!) but I'm pretty sure that this once in a lifetime opportunity will be worth stepping out of the box for. After our cruise we're heading further south to spend some time getting to know the countryside, we'll be visiting Guilin, taking an overnight trip to the dragon's backbone rice terraces, and spending time riding bikes alongside, and hopefully kayaking on, the Li River in Yangshuo. After that we'll end our adventure with another overnight train followed by a weekend in Shanghai before hopping onto a plane headed for Melbourne.

I would love to hear from anyone who's visited China, what were your favourite places and experiences? If you don't speak Mandarin were you able to get by - I'm trying, I really am, but those tones! Damn. I just can't get it! Is a chilli allergy going to make eating anything other than steamed white rice impossible? What were your favourite street foods or convenience store foods? How did you cope without social media?! So far I've been reading Alys' recent posts on her blog The Wild Life and refreshing my brain with Emil from Hasta La Vegan's adventures in Beijing from 2015 but any info on being vegan in China will be greatly appreciated.

As for Melbourne, my to-eat list is huge, off of the top of my head I know I need to eat at Matcha Mylkbar, Smith & Daughters, Smith & Deli, Doughnut Time, Lord of The Fries, Red Sparrow Pizza, Girls and Boys, and Mister Nice Guys. Whew! That seems like a lot and it's pretty dessert heavy but I can't afford to eat every meal out and the Air B&B we booked has a little kitchen so I'll be sure to swing by The Cruelty Free Shop to stock up on Aussie essentials. If you have any hot Melbourne (or even just Australia in general!) tips leave me a comment. Maybe we can even meet up whilst I'm there!

I'm not going to be able to blog whilst I'm in China but I'll be setting some posts to publish whilst I'm gone, what do you want to read about? Would anyone be interested in a Lush favourites post from an insider? Is there anywhere in Brighton or London that you'd like to see a review of before I go? I also have about 20 copies of my European Vegan zine left. I'd love to be able to make a donation to The Food Empowerment Project before I leave so if you have any European adventures on your horizons in the next year then grab a copy from my Big Cartel shop by the 19th.

I'm so excited to get back on the road - maybe this is exactly what I'm meant to be doing with my life?

I was meant to spend yesterday eating my way around Brick Lane with my buddy Jenny but an unfortunately timed sinusitis flare up combined with some suspiciously flu like symptoms meant that I decided to spend the day at home with a nasal spray and some sub par painkillers rather than risk flying to China whilst sick! Brick Lane is definitely one of my favourite places to hang out at the weekend, the vibe's pretty great, it's fun to scope out the market stalls, the vegan food options are plentiful, and there are lots of places to sit and chat.

One of my very favourite spots is new kid on the block Vida Bakery who recently opened a pop up on Cheshire Street. It seems to be going well for them so far if the amount of love I see directed their way on social media is anything to go by. The space itself is the perfect size with plenty of seating and it's seriously so cute inside.

As well as cupcakes Vida Bakery offer layer cakes, including (if you're there at the right time like I was!) freaking rainbow cake. RAINBOW CAKE! That's basically my dream cake.

It was just as amazing as you'd imagine and I enjoyed every single colourful bite. I actually didn't realise until afterwards that it was gluten free because the sponge itself was really light and it was spot on for the style of cake. Vida Bakery also offer afternoon tea and whilst I haven't had the chance to head there for that yet (maybe next time I'm back in the UK?) I did sit next to some people partaking in the afternoon tea last time I visited and it looked epic. It includes cheeses from both Essential Vegan and Pomodoro E Basilico as well as Vida's own delectable savouries and desserts. Yum town!

Pomodoro E Basilico is my go-to for a proper meal in the area. Located inside the Boiler House Food Hall in the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane (Google maps will lead you there - it's surprisingly easy to miss if you're just wandering around the area) this stall punches way above it's weight offering not only burgers but bowls, fries, deep fried cheese sticks, and plenty of regular and raw desserts. That would all be pretty impressive but you need to go prepared to have your mind blown because Sara makes everything herself - from the buns to the mayo and everything in-between. There are no store bought meat and cheese subs here. I first tried The Bad Burger at Veg Fest in London and I thought about it almost daily until I was able to get hold of another one, the chicken style seitan schnitzel comes on a charcoal bun with mushroom sauce and apple mustard sauerkraut. Perfection.

The cheese fingers come in regular or spicy and are an absolute delight. They really do make the perfect side dish!

Dessert wise Sal and I struggled to make a decision but settled on a Matcha Twix bar and a slice of Banana PB Kale Cake.

The Twix was a little different than I'd expected - I thought that it would have a traditional crunchy biscuit base rather than a softer coconut cookie-style crust and honestly I don't love coconut. I find that it overpowers most other flavours and I couldnt really taste the matcha here at all. The Banana PB Kale Cake on the other hand totally exceeded all of my expectations, kale in cake would usually be pretty off putting for me but my love of banana bread and anything to do with PB won out and it tasted as good as it looked - better even. The PB was clumped together in gooey chunky sections and the crunchy banana pieces in the icing added some great bite to the cake. I was so glad that I tried this and I'm pretty gutted that I wont be able to eat it again before I leave the country.

Peanut Butter Bakery are another stall that pops up at Boiler House, unlike Pomodoro e Basilico they aren't there every weekend so check their Instagram or Facebook pages for details before making the trip. I was impressed with the selection and chose a Blueberry Cheesecake doughnut and an Oreo Cookie doughnut.

The were both seriously good but I think that the Oreo doughnut was the winner for me. The blueberry doughnut could have pipped it to the post if the filling had been inside the doughnut as well as on top but it was a little hollow which wasn't quite what I was dreaming of. I ate two and a half Oreo doughnuts though so this place is definitely worth saving some space for!

Outside on Brick Lane itself is a stall called Benny Buttons Tea. The name seemed a little misrepresentative of the stalls offerings as this is mainly a pancake spot! I was stuffed when I wandered past so I've never eaten there but the pictures on Instagram are pretty mouthwatering and if I'd known about it I would've saved some space. You have been warned! They also have a daily stall at Camden Market and pop up at Broadway Market in Hackney on a Saturday.

Mooshies is another often talked about Brick Lane vegan eatery but does it live up to the hype? My experiences there have been a little varied but I still think that it's well worth a visit especially as they're still fairly new.

I ordered the Fillet Om Fish burger both times and the first time I got a super thick slab of battered aubergine that was texturally very reminiscent of a fish burger, the second time around the aubergine fillet was smaller and more thinly sliced which I felt made it lose some of it's fishiness. I would definitely go back but I hope that with time their offerings get a little more consistent. If faux fish isn't your thing the Pulled Mooshie, their take on a jackfruit burger (pictured below), and the self explanatory Brick Lane Bahji are absolutely worth checking out.

Also in the area are Cook Daily and Home, I've eaten at both of these spots once but my allergies make it really difficult to try any of the most raved about dishes. I only ever hear good things about their food though and the atmosphere at Boxpark is pretty fun so give them a whirl if you're in the area.

Beigel Bake is my final Brick Lane rec, open since 1977 and with a cult following that means there's almost always a line this place is worth a visit if you're craving a properly made bagel rather than a bagel shaped bread roll. I wouldn't necessarily suggest eating here as the only vegan topping is Peanut Butter but they are basically the only bagels worth eating in the UK so grab a bag of six and a tub of cream cheese from Holland and Barett, return to your sofa, pop on some Netflix, and crack on.

Have you been to Brick Lane on a vegan food quest? Where were your favourite spots? Have I missed anywhere that you love?

I'm heading to China tomorrow which means that I'll probably be taking a little break from social media due to that whole firewall thing! Don't worry though I have some great posts coming up over the next four weeks and I'll be back with my Vegan in China diaries as soon as my feet touch down on Aussie soil.

Having lived just one street away from The Coffee Counter's location for almost ten years I've seen a huge number of businesses open and close in this spot. The difference I can see here is that The Coffee Counter is warm, inviting, and moving with the times with their vegetarian and vegan menus so hopefully they'll be a permanent addition to the area.

The vegan menu is pretty substantial and offeres vegan versions of most of the things I'd be interested in eating on the meaty menu.

You get to choose your bread and I went with sourdough because it's the best bread. I also obviously ordered a reuben because it's the best sandwich.

I grabbed a grilled cheese too because that's a classic and because Nick and I were sharing and I wasn't 100% sure he'd be down with sauerkraut and gherkins.

As you can see I was so excited by the reuben that I didn't even switch my camera from square to photo!

Both sandwiches were good but the reuben was on a whole 'nother level. As Nick said "this is better than the sandwiches we ate at Orchard Grocer" and y'know what? He wasn't wrong! Those were damn good sandwiches but this reuben is a step up even from there which is kinda mind blowing because the UK's sandwich game isn't usually so great. If you haven't tried The Coffee Counter's reuben yet get down there asap, I promise you wont be disappointed.

Larder is the most recent addition to Gardner Street's impressive roster of vegan and vegan friendly eateries. They went vegan for vegnuary and due to the popularity of the dishes decided to stay that way for good. SO COOL!

I visited on a Saturday afternoon and they were steadily busy with all sorts of people, vegans and non vegans, looking to try out their plant based fare. I was waiting for a friend so I had a little time to peruse the menu before she arrived and I enjoyed a can of Cawston Press whilst I was waiting. The rhubarb is my favourite but cloudy apple comes a close second.

I'd basically decided on a toasted sandwich with avocado, beets, coriander, and red onion chutney when I realised that they had mac and cheese balls on the menu! I think I'd ignored the Mac and Peas balls assuming that I'd be allergic to the BBQ sauce (correct!) but as it comes on the side I was able to switch it for mayo.

These were pretty epic and could only be improved by the addition of a little extra cheese inside the balls which would give them more of a melty gooey centre. I would also suggest sharing them alongside your proper meal because despite the fact that they're deep fried and calorie full they aren't really a substantial meal. My friend Justine's baked potato on the other hand? That's a proper meal! They do sweet or regular potatoes and she chose the vegan chilli and mayo as her topping. Other toppings include BBQ Beans, dhal, and hummus and the side salad was a little fancy with some fresh herbs and a nice dressing which I like.

I'd say that the toasted sandwiches and jacket potatoes are some of the best value eats in the North Laine area, they're filling and flavourful as well as being healthy and vege-full. This is the perfect place to eat if you're over Brighton's more mock meaty options and want to get back to good old veggies, beans, and grains.

I spotted this Speculoos cake on Larder's instagram and I knew that I'd need to grab a slice as soon as I arrived. What if it sold out?!

Not only was this slice of cake totally delicious but it also had the perfect cake to frosting ratio and it was the perfect size for someone who was planning to eat multiple desserts that day and let's be honest, isn't every vegan visiting Brighton planning to do this?

I would highly recommend visiting Larder as soon as you get the chance, anywhere that switches from regular cafe to vegan business deserves your support and with food this good there's no reason not to go. If you'd like to share this on social media to spread the word about Larder's vegan switch that'd be delightful. Thanks friends!

I'd been contemplating a visit to Mae Deli for a while but when a reader from Taiwan got in touch to let me know that she'd love to see a review before her trip to London I headed there as soon as me and Randi could make our schedules line up. The Mae Deli is definitely a healthy spot and I was surprised to discover that it isn't entirely vegan or even vegetarian. I was under the impression that the whole Deliciously Ella brand was plant based but they serve chicken and fish at both Mae Deli locations. That being said they are sides and everything else was vegan when I visited. I was also under the impression that Ella was all about clean eating (insert rage emoji here) but the staff said that they try to avoid that term preferring to call the food honest and healthy which are two things that I can get behind; as someone with allergies it was so nice that the staff were able to tell me exactly what was in each dish as soon as I asked - that definitely doesn't happen everywhere!

Lunch and dinner are set up canteen style and you make your plate by choosing four of the options on display. The choices are all healthy fare ranging from veg dishes like Asian Broccoli and Bok Choy to leafy green salads, and from grain filled options like the Olive and Sundried Tomato Quinoa to the Courgette and Sweet Potato Stew that comes with brown rice.

I went for a plate made up of roasted sweet potatoes with coriander tahini, a quinoa salad that was full of crunchy corn and flavourful herbs, a generous serving of roasted carrot and cumin hummus, and a filling and protein heavy lentil stew with brown rice. The bowls come in at £9.75 which I think is super reasonable especially considering that you're in a swankier part of London and my plate of food was one of the more delicious things I've eaten recently. When I compare it to Tibits (which I love by the way) it's definitely better value for money. The coriander tahini sweet potato dish was a particular standout, I'm a pretty big coriander fan and this was next level delicious.

Regular readers of the blog will know that this isn't how I normally eat - I'm all about huge burgers overflowing with mock meats and mayo, pastry topped pies, fried mac and cheese and white rice but I would probably cook and eat like this occasionally if I had more time / an actual house with a kitchen and cupboards full of seasonings / some delicious recipes to follow! Eating here has definitely made me think that I'd like to add one of Ella's books to my shelves when I stop travelling and finally settle down. Maybe they gave me a lobotomy whilst I was digging into my delicious bowl of food?!

The only improvements I'd suggest are that if Mae Deli aren't going to ditch the animal products that they add a vegan option to the "top up your bowl" section of the menu - Obviously seitan is out and I'm guessing tofu is too as there's no soy on the menu currently but maybe there are some other great options out there? I don't know, I'm not a chef! I also have to be 100% honest about the desserts. To me they weren't really a dessert and they just made me feel a little sad. I like the energy balls for sure, but the actual desserts I tried left a lot to be desired and are an area that I felt needed quite a lot of work to bring them up to the high standard of the savoury food. Lastly as there are only two toilets in the building I would love to see them re-labelled as gender neutral. Having a womens and a mens is super shitty for trans people, and, when there's no actual difference between the two (I used both), totally unnecessary especially somewhere where the clientele seems to be 80% female anyway.

Despite the #dessertfail I actually enjoyed dining at Mae Deli so much that I decided to head back there for breakfast the next morning where the lovely staff were happy to make me the technically no longer on the menu banana chocolate peanut butter pancakes I'd seen on their Instagram to go with my matcha coconut latte. I actually can't drink hot soy milk anymore so I was very pleased to have a range of non-soy vegan milks to choose from. My latte was pretty enjoyable, despite it being less sugary than I'm used to the matcha wasn't at all bitter and I'd definitely order one again.

I think that the pancakes were either a little on the healthy side for me or they weren't cooked fresh to order. I'm not sure if that's because breakfast time was almost over when I ordered and these had been sitting around for a while or if it's just that gluten and refined sugar free pancakes are just a little harder and drier than their sugary gluten full counterparts but I suspect the former (I've eaten great gluten and sugar free pancakes before!) and these weren't my fave'. I'd try them again because maybe this was just an off day and for £5.50 they're worth another go. I'd also like to try some of their other breakfast options which range from healthy breakfast bowls to avocado toast.

What are your feelings on healthy spots like Mae Deli? Would you visit during a trip to London? Is it already one of your regular haunts? Who wants to grab breakfast there with me when I'm back?

I was so stoked when I first heard about Green Kitchen, totally vegan cafes aren't the easiest to come by - most of Brighton's best brekkie spots are veggie with vegan leanings - but what makes this spot stand out even more is it's location. You'll find Green Kitchen just beyond Preston Circus on Preston Road which is a first for a veggie eatery let alone a completely vegan one.

I visited on a Saturday morning and the place was busy with an eclectic clientele and a frankily mind boggling amount of Deliveroo orders which was only annoying due to the fact that the drivers kept leaving the front door wide open ruining the cosy atmosphere and letting in the chilly March air.

I love that you can now get pancakes and a full English delivered to your house / flat / hotel though - that's pretty cool and something I'm sure I would've taken advantage of when I lived in the city full time.

The menu at Green Kitchen is pretty vast but I knew that I wanted to start my day with pancakes. Unfortunately for me but fortunately for everyone else the bacon that Green Kitchen use is from Sgaia Foods, Scotland's most epic mock meat company. They make amazing artisan mock meats but they're pretty heavy on the paprika so I had to skip the bacon and go for bananas and maple syrup as my topping. I also arrived just as they were making a beetroot, carrot, apple and ginger juice so I got a glass of that too.

The pancakes were excellent, flavourful and cinnamon spiced with just the right amount of syrup. I would definitely order these again but I'd also be tempted by their French toast or the full English with added black pudding - a first for Brighton! I wasn't in any kid of hurry after breakfast so I decided to add a savoury chaser and order one of their cheese scones with margarine and cream cheese and chives.

The scone arrived warm and although it was a little on the small side it was so delicious that I didn't even mind. This is up there with the best scones I've ever eaten and I used to have a friend who made seriously epic vegan cheese scones so it had some tough competition!

I didn't get a chance to fit in a slice of cake as I had serious dessert plans for the rest of the afternoon but the gluten free Rhubarb and Custard cake looked pretty temping and I was pleased that it was a more reasonably priced slice than at places elsewhere in the city. Hopefully that means that people will be dropping their pennies into the Raystede collection box on the counter!

Green Kitchen made a really nice change from my usual breakfast haunts, it's a little quieter due to the location (there are less tourists around Preston Park) and they open at 9 on a Saturday and 10 on a Sunday meaning you can fit in a proper breakfast before getting on with your day. I'd definitely return to try one of their burgers, the golden peach, rosemary and cinnamon burger from supplier Sgaia has been on my must eat list for a while now, and I'd love to try some of their sandwichs - with options ranging from cheese and apple, to vegan egg mayo with cress, and even chicken and sweetcorn I feel like they've veganised all of the sandwiches I would have ordered pre-vegan!

Where's your go-to breakfast spot? Do you prefer to cook something up at home in your PJ's or make yourself a little presentable to go and read the papers elsewhere? Have you been to Green Kitchen? What did you think?

My fascination with China started way back in 2009 when I read Peter Hessler's book River Town; from there I delved into all sorts of China related non-fiction from Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang to Liao Yiwu's The Corpse Walker and getting myself (and, more challengingly, Nick) to China became kind of an obsession. I couldn't wait to see everywhere I'd read about with my own eyes so as soon as we needed to choose somewhere to spend a month before heading to Australia I started to campaign pretty hard for China. As you can see I won! A month seemed about right for what I knew would be a challenging country and whilst we could have hit up a few more spots our itinerary was pretty perfect for us. Over time I've learnt that I like to travel slowly - I like to have the mental energy to digest my experiences as well as making sure that I have time for the odd chilled day.

Beijing was our first stop and I'm so glad that we decided to start there. Familiarising yourself with a new country in a city with good train and bus links is a smart plan and we were also able to give our China Mobile Hong Kong sim card a whirl to test that it worked before we ended up staying in places without wifi. I can't recommend that sim card enough, we got the data only package which works out at about £2 a day but being able to use Happy Cow on the go, whip out Google translate whenever we needed it, and to use Apple Maps and their surprisingly excellent transit info made everything so much easier than it would have been otherwise. If you're travelling to China via Hong Kong you can pick up one of these sim cards at the airport but if not you'll have to order it online. You wont be able to buy it in China!

Beijing has some iconic landmarks and Tiananmen Square was one of our very first stops.
We headed there on our first evening to watch the flag lowering ceremony and then we were there again the next day to check out the area in daylight. One thing that I hadn't realised about the square (and about China in general) is the high level of security you have to go through to get in there. Whenever you go onto the subway or into a train station anywhere in China you need to scan your bags through an airport style scanner and entering Tiananmen Square is no different. Local people need to show ID cards and everyone needs to get their bags scanned. I also received a bit of a pat down by security. Obviously this level of security means that there are lines and it would seem that certain entrances to the square will be closed, when we went there were only two open entrances so lines were long and you just kinda need to go with the flow but expect there to be a queue.

Obviously I needed snacks to fuel my explorations so after Tiananmen one of my very first stops in the city was Beijing Zheng Long Zhai Vegetarian which was listed on Happy Cow as a vegetarian store. There were no photos and just a couple of short reviews so I had no idea what to expect but given that I wasn't sure whether we'd be able to find exciting snack foods anywhere else I decided that it'd be worth the subway journey.

It turned out to be a little shop chock full of products. There are freezers running all around the store and then above those are gluten products, soy products, and noodles. In the centre of the store are more noodles, a fun (and so cheap!) pick 'n mix area full of individually wrapped gluten and tofu snacks, and some baked goods.

Because Nick and I had no way of cooking anything until we got to Xi'an (our third stop where we were booked into a Citadines aparthotel) we skipped the frozen stuff and focussed on things that'd last well and be portable. We were super lucky when we visited because another shopper noticed us scanning ingredients with the Google translate app and overheard us discussing which things were likely to be vegan and came over to speak to us. She was from Beijing and had been vegan for over 22 years, we had a great chat about veganism and she helped us choose what to buy. It turns out that everything in the store is vegan but there's one brand of mock meats that her and her family avoid because, as she put it, they maybe aren't as kind as they say they are. I remembered that there was a scandal with a mock meat company a while back because it turned out that their faux meat wasn't as faux as they were claiming so I figured that maybe this was the company. I decided to listen to her advice and swapped out a couple of the things in my basket so here's the brand and logo to look out for if you want to do the same.

I did some googling and honestly can't find anything to back up what she told me online but I'm not searching in Chinese so maybe that's why? Here's our haul from our first shop...

My favourite things were the cuttlefish noodles in the blue pack, the vegetarian teriyaki duck (which made an epic snack on a 15 mile hike later on in our trip), and the little individually wrapped soy meat snacks which we returned and bought a lot more of. I also liked the different bean paste buns and the little cakes made an excellent breakfast. When we went back we also bought little packs of crackers, a couple of different types of gluten, and some meat floss buns which were super weird but in a good way.

The little pouches of soy / gluteney goodness were so great. So often it's the savoury stuff that's hard to find when travelling. Biscuits and fruit are almost always easy to come by but so often I want to snack on something that isn't sugary and that preferably has some protein. I stuffed my backpack with these before we set off to explore China and it was a super smart plan! I would even recommend going there before spending time exploring The Forbidden City - this place is more enormous than you can imagine and as far as I could tell no vegan food was sold inside. We spent a half day exploring the imperial palace grounds and I don't think that photos can give you a proper sense of scale!

Obviously we were starving by the time we were done there so we headed out of the North Gate and towards the nearest spot on Happy Cow. We tried to take a bus there but despite me being ready with my mosh pit elbows there was no way we were getting on that bus - someone tried to climb up me to get past and onto the bus. It was like a rugby scrum! We decided to walk. We had plenty of other successful bus trips within Beijing after this failed attempt but this is such a touristy area and we were there at such a busy time of day that it didn't seem worth waiting for the next one!

The restaurant we had our sights set on was the Fu Hui Ci Yuan Vegetarian Cultural Restaurant, it was about 4 in the afternoon by the time we were ready to eat so we were pretty pleased to find them open and happy to serve us despite a lot of the lights being off. We were given a menu with pictures and English translations which was super helpful and we ordered a five spice tofu dish, some steamed buns, a fried Chinese toon pancake, and some steamed white rice to share.

I'm a notorious over-orderer but this was pretty spot on - portions in China can be huge because people like to eat family style in large groups and share food. The tofu dish and the toon pancake were my faves from this meal, I discovered a love for toon when I was travelling in Taiwan and now whenever I see it on a menu I get excited and must order it - it's a little spring onion like in flavour but maybe a little saltier and with more depth. Love! The steamed buns weren't great because they were stuffed with greens rather than what I'm always hoping for, mock pork. I never did find any mock pork buns in China, they always has greens, greens and chilli, or greens and mushrooms which aren't really my faves. I actually prefer a straight up plain steamed bun to any of those but again, those weren't the easiest to come by. I'd definitely recommend a visit to Fu Hui Ci Yuan, it's easy to find and in the perfect spot to grab a meal after a long day of exploring central Beijing.

That's all for now folks, I'll be back soon with my favourite Beijing vegan spots and photos from my trip to The Great Wall. Have you been to China? Would you like to go? Where's top of your must-travel list? China's been at the top of mine for so long now that I'm not even sure what my answer to that question is at the moment!

When Nick and I were trying to choose where to stay in Beijing we decided to pick somewhere within the second ring road close to a Line 2 Subway station. Beijing is huge and Line 2 runs in a loop around the central section of the city. There are also loads of connections to the other subway lines from line 2 so it's super convenient. It stops at Quianmen (an easy walk to Tiananmen Square), Beijing Railway Station, and Yonghegong where the Lama Temple is located. This was one of my favourite spots in the city, it was touristy of course but it was being used as a temple by local people as well and it had a lovely atmosphere.

We also visited the nearby Confucius Temple which we enjoyed but if you only have time for one then the Lama Temple would be my choice. After exploring the temples we'd planned to go to a restaurant called Fairy Su which was / is located just around the corner but when we arrived it appeared to have sustained some serious fire damage.

So sad but totally unsurprising - I feel like things like this happen to me and Nick all the time on our travels! Later on in our China trip we arrived at a well reviewed vegan restaurant to find that it had shut down so recently that they were just giving away their pots, pans, and plates to passers by! I think that they were rebuilding Fairy Su so if you're passing by check it out and update Happy Cow. The closest affordable spot for a bite to eat was the 100% vegan restaurant The Veggie Table which is located down a cute street a short walk from the temple.

I wasn't super hungry and I kinda wanted to save my appetite for some Chinese food later on so I just ordered a bowl of pumpkin soup and the vegetable pate which came with pitta bread for dipping. Nick had a pesto pasta dish that looked yummy and filling. Whilst we ate we perused the guidebook and decided where to check out next.

The food here was actually really good and I think later on in the trip when I was craving more western flavours I would've appreciated it even more. It had a cosy and friendly atmosphere too which is always welcome. After a whole bunch of walking around the local area and taking a look at both the drum tower and the bell tower we decided that it was time for dinner and headed to Vegetarian Dumpling where we ordered a few dishes to share including the chive dumplings, veggie dumplings, and a gluten dish.

Most ordering in China is done by pointing at pictures on a menu. I loved this because it meant that I could get a look at the food to see if it looked super spicy before ordering. When you can't really speak the language to explain your allergies this is super useful! It also means that I don't really know the names of the dishes I ordered. As you can see the gluten really was just a huge plate of delicious gluten with a few veggies thrown in which was exactly what we wanted. We also ordered steamed rice - this isn't always on the menu so you need to either learn the word for rice or have a screen shot ready on your phone if the pronunciation is too tricky. The chunky fried chive dumplings were probably the highlight of the meal for me, I'm a huge dumping fan but in China I found that the steamed dough was often a little thick which wasn't to my taste, I'm more of a gyoza / wonton / shumai girl, but it was great to get to try a vegan versions of local dishes all the same.

The next day we headed out to the 798 Art District. We took the bus which was pretty simple thanks to Apple Maps - I'm not kidding, Apple Maps is actually useful in China! I first heard about The 798 on Emil's blog and he was totally right, it's a great place to spend the day popping into galleries, checking out the street art, and exploring the little art stores. I wont bombard you with photos but here are some of my faves.

There's one veg restaurant in the art district which wasn't our favourite ever because it had a little bit of a fancy atmosphere that didn't really fit with the vibe of the area but it was definitely the best place to grab some lunch in the 798. We had a really fun day and the whole area is well worth a visit. I think that the art changes pretty regularly too which is super cool.

After a long day of exploring a big meal was in order so we headed over to vegan spot Cloud Kitchen for burgers, pizzas, and dessert.

We ordered a little nut cheese plate to share to start off with. These little almondey bites were delicious and we devoured them and their accompanying sauces and fruits in about 10 seconds.

We also got some nuggets to share and then I ordered the burger, I can't resist a charcoal bun, and Nick got the Hawaiian pizza.

Nick's ordering was spot on here, the Hawaiian pizza was super good and my burger was a little mediocre - the chips were a little undercooked and the whole burger was kinda cold, I think the bun and the salad had maybe been refrigerated just before adding the burger patty which cooled the whole thing down pretty fast. Dessert wise Cloud Kitchen do muffins, raw desserts, and cookies and we decided to go for a chocolate muffin which was an excellent choice. We also grabbed some cookies to go for our Great Wall adventure the next day but more about that next time! I'd definitely recommend visiting CK if you get the chance, the staff were super friendly and the food was good value.

If you missed it you'll find my first post about Beijing here and next time I'll be posting about my trip to The Great Wall and my very favourite vegan spot in the city.

I still have a bunch of posts about China to finish and I'm right in the middle of putting together some great round ups of Melbourne's epic vegan scene but I was having a think yesterday morning and I really felt like writing about where I am and what I'm doing right now. I always feel weird when my blog stops being in chronological order so I did a little Twitter poll & it turns out that nobody else really cares about that - y'all just wanted to see where I'm at so here we are!

Just in case you haven't been following me on social media I'm in Australia, Queensland to be precise. Nick and I have wanted to visit Australia for ages, since the very beginning of our travels in fact, but making it affordable was a real sticking point. We also desperately wanted to get more experience volunteering with farmed animals (#lifegoals) and felt a little unsure about whether we should be travelling more right now or focussing on the future - thankfully I came up with a cunning plan to combine the two when I discovered Farm Animal Rescue in Dayboro, and here we are, exploring Australia and spending time with these beautiful animals, learning how to care for them, and getting an in depth look at how the sanctuary works.

We arrived from Brisbane on Wednesday so I've only worked three full days so far but I'm loving it. My work day starts at dawn and ends at dusk and I really thought that I might struggle with the early starts (I set my alarm for 5:40am and am outside working by 6:15am) but it's a tiring job so I hit the hay pretty early and I'm waking up before my alarm most days. I love being more in touch with nature and dawn has always been one of my favourite times of day. I'm not usually awake for it but I have some wonderful dawn related travel memories - exploring NYC hunting for bagels, watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat, waking up with the birds and the call to prayer on my first morning in Thailand... the list goes on!

Luckily yesterday there was an open day at the sanctuary so I tagged along on a tour to learn a little bit more about each of the animals living here. As a long term vegan and animal rights activist so many of their stories are familiar - pigs being bred to be so large that they can't hold up their own weight, babies being stolen from their mothers, hens arriving featherless and weak, sheep with horrible infections from muelsing and having too much skin. It's so sad and a really great reminder of why I'm doing what I'm doing with my life.

The animals here have wonderful lives now, there's so much space for them to roam around and they can basically go wherever they please on the sanctuary's 55 acres. Watching the pigs roll around in these ponds is the best and I love it whenever I go outside and see a goat up in a tree.

The area by the red barn at the bottom of the hill is one of my favourite parts of the sanctuary, when I'm working I come down here multiple times a day to feed the pigs and it's a really beautiful, peaceful spot.

One of my favourite things about volunteering here so far is just how well organised it is, at Japan Cat Network we were there to manage the volunteers at the shelter so putting the organisational structure in place was our job and often I find that the places I've volunteered aren't super streamlined in their processes. This is a whole different ballgame, the schedule for the day changes depending on the needs of the animals and there are daily and weekly tasks (just like we implemented at JCN), the processes for cleaning everything are also super specific which is a challenge because everything is new and there's a lot to learn but it's great because it just goes to show how well thought out everything is.

One thing that I'm super pleased to have had the foresight to arrange before coming over here was getting hold of some decent boots to wear. I travel with sneakers that work well for walking around cities and hitting the gym but they wouldn't be right for the kind of work I'm doing here. A lot of my day involves walking up and down hills and over rocky slopes to get to wherever the animals are chilling out and when I'm scrubbing and cleaning the barns or the hen house I need sturdy waterproof shoes. I did a whole bunch of research into boots and decided on the Vegetarian Shoes Approach Mid Boots which have soles with great traction - perfect for this kind of environment.

I've always like Vegetarian Shoes boots, I've had a pair of their 20 eye steel toe capped boots for over ten years now and they're in amazing condition and super comfy unlike the vegan DM's that I bought and then re-sold on Ebay after two weeks of constant pain and blisters. Sadly they're just that little bit too big and heavy to be a great travel boot so the lightweight Approach Mid was the perfect choice. They're actually so comfortable that I didn't even need to break them in properly, I wore them around the house a few times but the first time I went out in them properly was to walk The Great Wall and when paired with some thick bamboo socks there wasn't a blister in sight. They're also super breathable which is important if you're going to be wearing your boots all day. I love having the padded ankle support because I'm a little clumsy and without that I think I'd have twisted my ankle once or twice since being here. They also look really nice, I've been wearing them with dresses to go out exploring and on travel days with a stretchy skirt and leggings and they don't look clunky or silly. I love that they're ethically made and that when you buy from Vegetarian Shoes you're supporting a totally vegan company. The soles of the Approach boot are made in Italy and the rest of the shoe is made in Portugal so you can be sure that everyone involved it earning a fair wage. If you'd like to pick up your own pair of Approach boots then they're £99.95 and you can pick up a pair online or at their store at 12 Gardner Street in Brighton.

The volunteer accommodation is right in the middle of the sanctuary which is fantastic. Portia the pig sleeps outside our kitchen window and multiple hens, a few roosters, and a duck live right outside the back door.

There are also wild turkeys here and I've been woken up by them running about on the roof more than once. I'm getting quite good at making mine and Nick's space at shelters and sanctuaries cosy and I think I've done a good job here! We re-hung some curtains that'd fallen down, gave everything a mega clean and unpacked our backpacks. I'd like to stick up a couple of pictures and some art a friend drew for me but I don't have any blue tack or anything and there isn't really a good spot for them. I also found the cosiest blanket for my lower bunk because it does get chilly in Australia despite what Neighbours led me to believe! My handbag is acting as my bedside table so I've got all of my necessities like moisturiser, lip balm, and a head torch shoved in there and I'm using my travel pillow as an extra pillow for reading and Netflixing in bed. Sleeping in bunk beds isn't my favourite, it feels weird not to be able to snuggle up next to Nick, but it's worth it to be surrounded by animals.

The kitchen in the volunteer house is pretty great, it's a totally vegan house which is super awesome, getting into shared house situations is weird for me after living on my own / just with Nick for so long but living with two totally awesome vegans makes it way easier. The kitchen's pretty well equipped, there's a blender and an oven that actually works so I've been whizzing up my favourite crock cheez recipe from The Uncheese Cookbook, baking banana bread, marinating tofu, and making simple lunches like jacket potatoes and pasta with tomato sauce. I just made the cheesy sauce from Veganomicon and ate that on pasta with peas and I need to make the epic tofu scramble recipe from the Taco Cleanse cookbook soon. I also bought stuff for a rice noodle, tofu, and veggie stir fry from the local supermarket yesterday so I'll be firing up the wok this week too.

The only challenge thus far is that our scheduled days off together have been on Sundays when there aren't any busses so the only place we can get to is Dayboro. There's a cafe there with vegan options as well as a pizza place with a vegan pizza on the menu but the only supermarket is an IGA which is a little pricy and they don't seem to have vegan margarine or fancy tofu products like the supermarkets in the cities had - I even spotted the vegan egg at a supermarket in Brisbane which is super cool! I've been hearing rumours of a good local fruit and veg market though so hopefully we can catch a lift there soon and we're definitely contemplating placing an iHerb order for essentials like nooch, chocolate, Clif bars and green tea!

If you couldn't already tell I'm basically super stoked on this volunteer gig, we're here until the end of June and I can't wait to learn more and to feel more confident around the larger residents at the sanctuary. If you'd like to help support Farm Animal Rescue from afar then you can donate, join the supporters club, or sponsor one of the animals and if you're nearby you should come along to an open day sometime.

This post was sponsored in part by Vegetarian Shoes. All opinions are both unbiased and 100% my own.

Two of my very favourite things about Beijing were walking along The Great Wall on one of the most beautiful days of our whole trip and eating delicious vegan food at SUHU Vegetarian Tiger. Visiting The Great Wall had been on my travel wish list for quite some time and I was super excited to plan our day trip out there. We really did choose an amazing day, the sky was blue, there was no smog hanging around, and it wasn't too hot. It was basically perfect and I'll tell you more about it right after I show you the delicious eats from Suhu Vegetarian Tiger!

Nick and I ate at Suhu quite a few times during our stay in the city and I would highly recommend it. The menu is large and varied, the front section of the menu is where the larger more expensive dishes are to be found but if you're travellers on a budget like us you'll want to flip towards the back of the menu where the staple dishes are located.

The staple dishes have smaller portions, remember that Chinese people often eat family style, but are still plenty large enough if you add a side to share. They are also on the simpler end of the spectrum. This was particularly great for me because there seemed to be less Szechuan food in that section and when you have a chilli allergy Szechuan is definitely a no-go. The other great thing about Suhu's menu is that it's full of pictures meaning that it was actually very easy for me to avoid chilli.

One of my most ordered dishes was the wonton soup which is a delicate, flavourful, filling, and cheap option - all plusses in my book. The main flavours were toon and coriander which are two of my absolute favourite ways to season a soup.

I first tried toon in Taiwan at Veggie Creek and it always brings memories of one of my favourite places flooding back. Another great soup option for those of us who don't love / can't do chilli is the Shezu Style Noodle Soup which is another filling, flavourful, and spice free option.

Moving on from soups to tasty fried foods hat cake is one of my new favourite things ever. It's a large crispy, pancakey, doughy delight probably meant for sharing with your family but Nick and I would nail half of it and then get the rest to go because it totally worked cold and we were always struggling to find breakfast. Oh and I didn't actually wear it like a hat because I'm a grown up and Suhu is a classy place but I can assure you that it is genuinely hat sized.

Now onto our absolute favourite dish the sweet 'n sour pork. Now I'm super fussy about sweet 'n sour - it really has to be spot on for me to enjoy it and I'm here to tell you that in my opinion this is the best ever sweet 'n sour faux pork in the world. It wasn't too sweet, the sauce was nice and sticky and the faux meat was filling without being too heavy. This dish makes a great leftovers sandwich when paired with hat cake if you can bear to leave any on the plate.

Dessert is an area in which a lot of Beijing restaurants are lacking but not Suhu, here we were able to choose between egg custard tarts, pineapple cake, and tiramisu. All great options and all delicious but I'd say that the tarts and the pineapple cakes were the true standouts. The egg custard tarts have little pieces of papaya inside and are freshly cooked to order so expect to wait around 25 minutes for them to arrive and another 5 for them to be cool enough to eat. The pineapple cakes weren't as amazing as the ones we ate at Vegan Heaven in Taipei but like toon they were another flavour that brought memories of that trip flooding back.

Top tip - Order your desserts at the same time as your other food. At restaurants in China it may be hard to get someone's attention to get the menu a second time if you don't speak the language.

As you can see Suhu Vegetarian Tiger is a must eat in Beijing. They have two locations, one in the Fullink Plaza mall on the east of the city which is easy to get to on the subway (take line 2 or line 5) and one in the northwest corner of the city in the University District. We went there on the bus from the Summer Palace which was pretty easy using Apple Maps to guide us and the Summer Palace is definitely somewhere I'd recommend checking out if you like quieter parks or messing around in pedal boats.

I would highly recommend packing a picnic if you're going to be heading out to The Great Wall, if you're doing it right it's going to take the whole day so pack some takeout from Suhu, some snacks from Beijing's vegetarian shop, and some crisps and biscuits from 7/Eleven. There are a few options available if you're planning on heading to The Great Wall from Beijing. Some are easy to get to but crowded (Badaling for example) and some are super remote and peaceful but very challenging to get to often requiring an overnight stay like Jiànkòu. We didn't have a tonne of time so we decided to go to Mùtiányù which falls somewhere in the middle. To get there you need to get up early and head to Dongzhimen bus station where you'll catch the the 916 Fast bus towards Huáiróu. You'll want to find the Chinese character for fast online (see this wikitravel page) because otherwise you might end up on a slower bus. You hop off at Mingzhu Guangchang (you'll need to know this in Chinese too), cross the road, and catch the H23 or H24 bus to the wall. You'll spend a lot of time dodging touts who'll tell you that there are no busses, that the bus you want is cancelled and that really you need to take their taxi / minibus. This is all a lie but it would be easy to be fooled especially as they've removed all of the signage for bus number H23 / H24 from the bus stop! You will also need to ignore the tout that gets on the first bus (apparently often dressed as a bus driver) at Nanhua Shichang bus stop and tried to convince you to get onto an expensive minibus. We decided to wait it out at the bus stop with some other local and western tourists and it took around 45 minutes but the H23 finally arrived and it was well worth the wait as the public bus costs 4RMB / 45p / 58¢ as opposed to the mini busses that cost 50RMB / £5.65 / $7.25.

Once you're at the wall site you need to purchase tickets and walk through an area full of shops and restaurants until you reach a bus stop that'll take you to the bottom of the wall. From there you need to decide whether to take the cable car up to turret number 14 or to walk up to turret number 10.

We decided to walk because it's free and I was feeling energetic. I also really like to take advantage of days when I don't have any joint pain that would make that kind of walk impossible. I remember when I was at my most sick before my Colitis and allergy diagnoses - I couldn't walk around San Francisco at all, Nick and I had to take busses and trams everywhere, remembering that helps me to push myself out of my comfort zone now that I'm (mostly) better so we walked the 4000 steps.

Before leaving the UK I got a pair of Vegetarian Shoes Approach Mid Boots and aside from getting to and from the airport this was the first time that I'd worn them properly. I decided to get some boots for hiking in China and for volunteering at the farm sanctuary in Australia and I chose these partly because they're lightweight, breathable, and waterproof, and partly because they're made in Europe by a small, local, ethical vegan business.

When I tried them on in the store I was sure that they were the boots for me because they felt super comfortable despite not being a style of shoe that I'm used to and after basically breaking them in on The Great Wall I can say that they are indeed ridiculously comfy - there wasn't a blister in sight at the end of the day and I was more than happy to wear them again the next morning. If you'd like to read more about the boots check out my previous blog post about my time volunteering at Farm Animal Rescue in Queensland, Australia.

As you can see from my pictures The Great Wall is ridiculously epic and I use that in the truest sense of the word rather than in my usual hyperbolic way. The view from the top is well worth the effort of the hike. I was truly blown away and would recommend this section of the wall to anyone wanting to get quieter Great Wall experience.

Lastly, because I love them and am currently in some kinda cat desert, here's a picture of the lovely fluffy kitty I spent some time stroking on my way back down from the wall. There are some stray cats and dogs living near the top end of the cable car, just near the toilets by turret 15, so if you swing by make sure to take some time to show them some love.

This post was sponsored in part by Vegetarian Shoes. All opinions are both unbiased and 100% my own.

Vegans everywhere will have heard of Smith & Daughters, their cookbook is available at all good independent book retailers (Foyles and Herbivore are two of my faves), and their super instagrammable merch can be seen decorating vegan denim jackets across the globe. I'm more into quick, delicious, filling eats than fancy sit down dining so their sister spot Smith & Deli was my favoured stop during my visit to Melbourne. I'm not kidding when I say that I ate here almost every single day they were open during my 10 day visit so I was able to try a fair amount of their seriously epic menu.

Taking up two whole blackboards epic is really the only appropriate word to describe the sandwich menu here and they range from simple grilled cheeses all the way through to ridiculous seitan and cheese stuffed masterpieces. They have an impressive range of sides and snacks to choose from including pies and sausage rolls and their specials seem to change almost daily. The other rad thing about Smith & Deli is that it's also a store, whilst you're in line waiting to order you can browse fridges, freezers, and shelves full of vegan deliciousness from local vegan cheeses to imported faux fish.

Don't forget to grab a bar of delicious Food Empowerment Project certified chocolate from Seed and Bean, the Sicilian Hazelnut bar is particularly amazing if you're craving something creamy.

My very first choice from the menu was the Free Willy 2, a tuna mayo and melted cheese sammie on lightly toasted sourdough. This was one of my very favourite sandwiches pre-vegan and I've never had a vegan version this good despite having made it myself multiple times with faux tunas, chickpea tunas and, once, a nut and red onion based tuna.

The sandwich was a freaking delight but the best thing about my first visit to Smith & Deli was the service. It was off the charts amazing and I kinda wanted to hug the ladies serving me! As I've mentioned here a few times I have an allergy to all things pepper related (no bell peppers, no capsicum, no chilli, no paprika) and people in restaurants and cafes across the world seem to find it a struggle to deal with. I've been given blank stares and head shakes, I've been told that it isn't a real allergy, and, most annoyingly, I've been given food that very clearly contains those ingredients.

I don't mind when I'm in a country where I can't speak the language, that's on me for not learning to communicate properly, but when the person I'm dealing with can clearly understand the words coming out of my mouth it's pretty annoying. At Smith & Deli they listened to what I was saying, checked the seasonings in everything that went into the sandwich, made a super helpful switch from their usual paprika containing cheddar cheese to a homemade mozzarella and they didn't even seem to be thinking that I was the worlds most annoying human despite the fact that there was a fairly substantial line. This combo of amazing food and amazing service is what got me coming back to Smith & Deli again and again.

Desserts weren't my focus at Smith & Deli, I'm honestly more of a savoury girl, but Nick and I couldn't resist trying one of their salted caramel popcorn doughnuts and a brownie.

The doughnut was wonderful, I'm pretty sure we tried another flavour later on in our trip which is saying something given that the amazing Doughnut Time isn't far away. The caramel wasn't too sweet and I loved the fun addition of popcorn. The brownie on the other hand wasn't my fave, I suspect that it was gluten free because it was a little crumbly and it was way more cake like than a brownie should be. Give it a miss and grab a doughnut instead.

Obviously there were a lot of sandwiches that I couldn't try because the chilli / bell peppers / paprika were a key feature (although I'm sure they would have modified some of them if I'd really wanted them to!) but there was plenty to keep me happy. The Eggs-Orcist was my second choice and boy was it a good one, egg salad piled high with crunchy iceberg lettuce on sourdough, you can't really go wrong with that combo.

I also gave the Nobody Calls Me Chicken Salad a whirl and it was another hit as was the Free Willy, a non-toasted and cheese free version of the Free Willy 2. If you forced me to rate these sandwiches I'd probably put the tuna in first place followed by the egg salad with the chicken salad coming in last but really they're all amazing and I would just recommend getting three sandwiches!

Nick's favourites were the sadly non photogenic Home Alone which came with turkey, stuffing, roasted brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy on a roll. It was impossible to eat in public but perfect for a messy Air B&B lunch. His other true love was the Hail Seitan which was toasted and stuffed full of salami, ham, turkey, pineapple, BBQ sauce and cheddar cheese. He ate this in the car because he's classy!

The one sandwich that took me a week to get my paws on was the Egg Mc Martinez. It was always sold out by the time we rocked up so on our final weekend in the city we got up early to beat the crowds and the sandwich was finally mine! This riff on an Egg McMuffin consists of an English muffin stuffed with their mind blowingly tasty tofu egg, vegan bacon, cheddar (which they happily switched to their homemade mozzarella), and your choice of sauce. I went for the aioli because why would you not?

This turned out to be my absolute favourite sandwich, it's only $7 which is a total bargain (you can have two!), and it contains so many of my favourite things. Saturday is also croissant day at Smith and Deli and the trick to getting both a croissant and an Egg McMartinez is to arrive early but not too early! 9:30am seemed to be the sweet spot. Sadly the ham and cheese croissant sammie that I'd had my eye on since before leaving the UK is pre baked so there was no way to switch the cheese to something I wasn't allergic to but the combination of an Egg McMartinez plus an almond croissant kinda made up for it.

This thing of beauty was an excellent way to start the day and I will definitely be repeating this breakfast next time I'm in Melbourne for the weekend.

As you can tell I am a huge Smith & Deli fan girl! Nick and I often make ourselves choose three restaurants / cafes / food trucks from around the word that we would pick up and transport to wherever we happen to be living and Smith and Deli is definitely in my top three. Wanna play the game? Tell me where you'd pick in the comments!

There's no doubt about it, Australia is an expensive place to visit. It's not the most expensive country I've ever explored (I think Finland might take that crown) but it's far away from almost everywhere so getting here is going to cost you a fair chunk of change and neither accommodation nor food are cheap. Whilst Nick and I were in Melbourne we rented an Air B&B in Collingwood. Collingwood is situated right next to Fitzroy, the alternative area in Melbourne, where the majority of the cities vegan food spots are located. There are a lot of benefits to Air B&Bing but my favourite is that you have access to a kitchen. Being able to grab some crumpets, cereal, and soy milk from the local supermarket cuts down your breakfast expenditure to a few dollars a day and the Air B&B we chose was within walking distance of a Cole's and a Woolworths. Brunswick Street is like a vegan playground with multiple options on almost every menu; fully vegan spots are located just a few store fronts apart, there are many different cuisines to choose from, and the dessert options are ridiculous. You can even get a vegan friendly tattoo from a vegan artist!

Vietnamese food abounds in both Fitzroy and Collingwood but Trang Bakery and their signature Bahn Mi's stand out from the crowd.

Trang Bakery aren't 100% vegan but they have four exceptional vegan options; vegan chicken, vegan duck, vegan pork, and lemongrass marinated tofu.

The jury's out on which one of these is the best (every bloggers opinion differs!) but I'd say that my fave' was the duck. They sometimes have an aubergine option too but I didn't get to try that. This bahn mi is, as they should always be, huge and jam packed with deliciousness. I had to leave off their sauce as well as the handful of chilli that usually gets thrown on top but I was left with lettuce, carrots, cucumber, coriander, red onion, and crunchy peanuts to go with my faux meat so I was more than happy.

If you're that way inclined they have brown rolls as well as white and they actually reached for brown when making my sandwich so make sure you're paying attention! This filling sandwich comes in at $6 (cheaper than their meaty option) which is a total bargain.

My second recommendation for cheap eats in the Fitzroy area is Trippy Taco and excitingly they even have a second location in St Kilda just in case you're reading this after having booked a place to stay down south. This place is seriously good value. Most of the menu can be made vegan and you can get tacos, burritos, tamales, nachos, quesadillas, and taquitos. I'll be honest it isn't ideal if you can't eat chilli as even the vegan cheese is spice packed but Nick enjoyed a huge bean and cheese burrito with vegan cheese for just $11.

Next up is Bimbo Deluxe which wasn't even on my radar until my lovely tattoo artist Shell and I got onto the subject of pizza about 10 minutes in to my tattoo appointment. Bimbo's, as it's known locally, is an enormous bar located smack bang in the middle of Brunswick Street with a pizza menu that includes many veganisable options. Anything in the vegetarian section can be veganised with a simple and, more importantly, free, cheese switch as can a few pizzas from the breakfast section and the 4 Stagoni (remove the meat, switch the cheese) from the meat section. Nick and I tried two pizzas at Bimbo's, the Margherita and the Organico.

The Margherita was kept simple with a decent amount of tomato sauce, a healthy amount of cheese and a sprinkling of basil, whilst the organico had a roasted butternut squash layer topped with cheese, pine nuts, and, the reason that I had to order this one, rosemary oil. I love everything about rosemary, it tastes amazing, it smells great, it goes with almost everything. You can put it with choc chips or potatoes and it just works. Love! I don't get the chance to cook anything elaborate these days (Air B&B, hostel, and volunteer house kitchens are great but not the place for a masterpiece) so when restaurants make these fancy additions to their menu's I'm always happy. Never more than when the pizza's cost $4 which is exactly what they cost between 12 and 4 on weekdays, from 7 - 11 Monday - Thursday, from 7 - 9 Friday and Saturday, and all day on a Sunday. The other awesome thing about Bimbo's is that they do tots! Known in Australia as potato gems these little bites of deep fried deliciousness always make me happy and with $4 pizzas you can probably afford to splurge on a side.

Last but by no means least vegetarian bakery La Panella is another strong budget friendly dining option. They're located in Preston which is in the north of the city but it's easily accessible by bus. La Panella specialise in Aussie treats like custard and caramel slices, jam doughnuts, pies, sausage rolls, and more.

We visited with Shelley one of the owners of Red Sparrow Pizza (blog post on their amazing eats coming soon!) so she was able to give us some ordering tips. Not everything is vegan but they have a huge range, oddly the coconut croissants were vegan but the chocolate and regular croissants were not. I'm not sure why but I'm not the biggest coconut fan so I gave those a miss. Jam doughnuts are a long time favourite of mine, I loved trying to eat them without licking any of the sugar off of my lips as a kid and whilst I don't play that game any more I'm still partial to some deep fried jam filled dough.

Jam doughnuts are actually something that I take for granted in the UK (big up the co-op!) but since I've been travelling they've moved to the top of my OMG GIMME THAT list! La Panella's version definitely wasn't a disappointment and I left wishing that I'd had space for a second. Next up were these mini doughnuts, these were 50 or 60 cents each and you could get 4 for about $1.60! Madness. I obviously bought 8. The bite sized chocolate covered and (not pictured) pink icing covered doughnuts were my favourites and Nick loved the mini cinnamon sugar rings.

We were heading out of Melbourne to visit the penguins on Phillip Island the next day so we grabbed some extra treats for the journey. This caramel slice was very reminiscent of a millionaire's shortbread but just with an extra creamy caramel layer above the smooth caramel beneath. It was freaking delightful and again I wished that I'd ordered more than one.

Finally I also picked up a lemon tart which I ate for breakfast the morning after our penguin adventure. I popped it inside one of those zip seal food bags and it lasted really well. I always travel with those! I'm kind of a food hoarder so I always over buy and then need somewhere to stash my leftovers to keep 'em fresh.

I picked this because I love lemon desserts and was assured that it was super lemony. In my opinion a citrus dessert that doesn't have that sour kick to it is always a disappointment. Thankfully this tart lived up to expectations and it made a most excellent breakfast treat. La Panella is pretty great for cheap eats, I think a huge carrier bag of desserts and sausage rolls for both me and Nick cost around $20 but some of it lasted two or three days so it still worked out to be pretty cheap.

Writing this has definitely made me miss Melbourne and their fantastic vegan food scene. Do you have any other tips on cheap places to eat vegan food in Australia? Or is there an amazingly cheap vegan spot near where you live? I'm always on the look out for a bargain so let me know. I might just have to visit!

After spending seven nights in Beijing Nick and I took the train to Pingyao, spent a couple of days exploring the ancient walled town, and then travelled onwards by train to Xi'an. I'd say that one night in Pingyao would have been enough, it's got enough to keep you occupied for a full day's worth of sightseeing but after that there's very little else to keep you amused. The area is very touristy during the day - the roads are crammed full of Chinese tour groups, but at night the roads are quieter and, in my opinion, more of a real reflection of what the town is like. Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province, was on my mist visit list because it's the home of the famous Terracotta Warriors but after reading Alys from The Wild Life's posts about the amazing food in Xi'an I was almost more excited about getting some serious eating done. The city is pretty stunning, surrounded by an enormous city wall (apparently the biggest in the world) and with bell and drum towers that are beautifully lit at night it's a joy to explore.

On our first day in the city we decided to head out to see the Terracotta Warriors which was surprisingly easy but the site is large and 20km from the city so be prepared for a long day.

We took the 914 bus which was only 8¥ / 90p / $1.20 which is more than reasonable for a journey that takes almost an hour and a half. When you get off of the bus you'll need to cross the parking area before buying tickets and then walking for another 10 minutes or so to reach the actual site. I'll be honest, the site was not what I expected, there are three pits located in airplane hangar style buildings and you're actually quite far away from the warriors themselves. The pits haven't all been excavated which seemed strange to me and that kinda made it a little like visiting an unfinished building site. I'm glad that I went to see them but the combination of all of those things meant that I wasn't as wowed as I expected to be.

If you're a history buff this is still well worth the visit but take a packed lunch and remember to manage your expectations. Not everything is as it seems when you only see bloggers' and travel writers' perfectly zoomed in photos! When it comes to Xi'an's vegan food you can get as excited as you want - I promise that you wont be disappointed. Located in the Muslim Quarter the street stalls and pavement cafes are intensely busy all the time but it's worth pushing your way through throngs of people to get your paws on great vegan street food. First up, delicious fried potatoes. There were many, many versions of these being sold from stalls and carts lining the streets and they tend to be topped with chilli, spring onions, herbs, and sometimes sesame seeds.

One of the biggest differences between street food in Xi'an's Muslim Quarter versus the rest of China is that no lard will be used in the cooking. This cuts out one of the many questions you need to ask to try to get vegan food in China. Thankfully Alys speaks Mandarin so I was able to use her guide to lead me towards foods that are vegan as well as asking a few questions via my google translate app.

This spicy tofu is another fantastic vegan option, Nick went to town at these stalls once we were sure that no fish or chicken powder was used in the topping. Loaded with chilli and spring onions these tofu slabs are chopped into bite sized pieces and served up in a paper cup making them another great street snack.

My favourite time to explore these streets was at night, the air was cooler and more breathable, and I found that the crowds thinned out a little in the side streets the later it got. My very favourite spot was this simple noodle stand and restaurant that I'm 99% sure was located on Dapiyuan, one of the central streets. The thick handmade rice noodles were topped with tahini sauce, an intense garlic sauce, and, if you're not me, some spicy chilli sauce.

I was more than happy with these noodles, in fact I'd go as far as to say that they were my favourite of all of the things I ate in China. I love it when simple food is just so freaking good that you have to go back and eat it again and again!

As well as feasting on carbs I enjoyed some amazing fresh pomegranate juice, marvelled at the different dried fruits on sale, and took time to pause away from the crowds at the beautiful Grand Mosque. Nick and I also rented bikes to cycle around the city walls for a couple of hours. It was a great way to get a bird's eye view of the city and to really understand the scale of the wall itself, highly recommended.

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Vegan in Beijing: Part I

Vegan in Beijing: Part II

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Vegan in Beijing: Part III

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Cheap Eats in Melbourne

Vegan Adventures in Xi'an