Not all heroes wear capes; mine beat cancer

LA, July 2013

Today is World Cancer Day. It’s an international day to raise awareness of cancer and encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. Since it’s such an important day, I wanted to share the story of my hero who bravely battled cancer when he was just 11 years old.

It’s been 10 years now, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. The smell of the ward, the broken parents, and the sick children clinging onto life with all their strength.

My brother had been unwell for a while before he was admitted to hospital in Glasgow. My parents had taken him to the GP, and because he was short of breath, he was handed an inhaler and sent on his way.

At first, we had no reason at all to question it. Why would we? The doctor said he had asthma so we assumed that was the correct diagnosis. It wasn’t until a few days before he was taken into hospital that we knew something was really wrong. I remember him being really upset because he didn’t feel well, but he couldn’t explain what was actually wrong. 

A few days after that we were told he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Not only did he have cancer, but he had a tumour the size of a large grapefruit in his chest. The shortness of breath that the GP thought was asthma was a tumour that had been pushing against his lungs for months. 

This was the moment our whole world fell apart. I can’t put into words how it felt when we were given his diagnosis. It was the worst day of my entire life, and nothing has come close that feeling since.

I remember meeting my dad outside the hospital so he could take me up to my brother’s ward. He gave me a hug and broke down. It was the first time I had ever seen him cry and it was heartbreaking. Once we got up to his ward, it took me over an hour to stop crying before I was able to pull myself together enough to be able to go into his room. 

The next 12 months went by in a blur. That’s right; he was in hospital for a full year. Despite the size of his tumour, the cancer wasn’t terminal and it didn’t spread. I guess you could say we were lucky, if it’s possible to ever be lucky in that situation. That doesn’t mean it was an easy ride though. Chemotherapy is horrible, and I can’t explain what it’s like to watch your little brother go through it. 

My brother had all the usual side effects, but there were some I wasn’t prepared for. He was unable to eat so had to be fed through a tube in his nose, and soon became unable to walk which meant he spent a year doing physiotherapy when he left hospital so he could learn to walk again.

The toughest time came about eight months into his treatment when he spent a few weeks on a ventilator in intensive care due to an infection. There was a staff member at his beside the entire time while he was hooked up to every machine possible. All we could do was sit at his bedside and hold his hand hoping that his body would be able to fight the infection enough for him to wake up.

Despite all the bad days, we did have a few good ones too. I remember seeing him smile for the first time in weeks when some Stormtroopers came into his ward, and on another occasion when we convinced TGI Friday’s to give us a takeaway of his favourite meal because he wasn’t able to leave the hospital. My 22nd birthday also fell between his courses of chemotherapy so he was feeling well enough to come home for a few days which was the best birthday present I could ever have asked for. 

I still get asked how I coped a lot. The truth is, I didn’t really cope at all. I would pull myself together whenever I was at the hospital using every last bit of energy to fight back to tears, just so he wouldn’t see me cry. Then I would go home and cry myself to sleep night after night. 

As horrible as it was for me, it was nothing compared to what he went through. I can’t even begin to imagine how I would cope with cancer now at the age of 31, let alone with I was an 11 year old child. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to put into words just how much he went through, and how brave he was. It’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t even wish on my worst enemy, so just imagine how hard it is to watch someone you love go through it.  

One thing I struggled with a lot was feeling guilty. I was the big sister and it was my job to protect him from the big bad world outside. I was 21 years old and completely healthy, and I would have swapped places with him in a heartbeat if I could have. 

It might have seemed like we were stuck in a never-ending nightmare at times, but I’m pleased to tell you that this story has a happy ending. After a year in hospital, he went back to school and this summer he will be graduating from university!!! I don’t think any of my family will ever quite get over what happened, but seeing how far my brother has come definitely helps us all to move on. 

So this World Cancer Day I want to pay tribute to my amazing brother. It’s true what they say, not all heroes wear capes. Mine beat cancer and he’s the only hero I need. 

Vegan food in Iceland

It's the land of dried fish, sheep head, and shark, so it's safe to say I had my reservations about how much vegan food I would actually find in Iceland. As it turns out, there are lots of great options.

In a bid to save some cash (because Iceland is VERY expensive) we did eat quite a few meals in our apartment. I took oats with me for porridge and found some strawberries and syrup at the local shop, and we made a giant pot of veggie pasta which lasted us two nights. However, when I did eat out I discovered some really tasty food.

The first place I found was Kaffi Vinyl which is a completely vegan bar/café and record store right in the centre of Reykjavik. There were lots of options on the menu including salads, sandwiches, pasta, and a burger. They also had cocktails and a selection of delicious looking cakes on the counter.

I had the Mile High Club sandwich which was filled with tomato, portobello bacon, avocado, lettuce, garlic aioli, dijon mustard, crispy fried onions, melted cheese and the biggest pile of crisps I've ever seen. It was really tasty, even if I couldn't quite manage to finish all the crisps on the plate.

The second place I tried was a fast food restaurant called Aktu Taktu which I had read about online. It's like McDonalds but a lot better. They have a selection of burgers on the menu including a vegan one which consists of a soya patty with cheese, salad and sauce.

I've never had an actual meat burger before, so it was a strange experience to even order a burger in a fast food restaurant, but I really enjoyed it. I also saw another girl come in after me and order the vegan burger too.It would be nice if there was another option on the menu, but it was much pretty than you would get in similar places in the UK.

So that was my vegan experience in Iceland. Have you ever been? I'd love to know your recommendations as I'm planning to go back sometime soon.

Birthday Celebrations

So that's it, I am officially 31 (and still completely in denial about it).

This week, I celebrated another birthday and while I don't look any older (well, that's what I'm telling myself) I have now reached the grand old age of 31.

I took the day off work like I have done every year of my adult life (well apart from one year when an old boss made me work) so my mum came through to Edinburgh so we could spend the day together.

Ever since I was born, my mum has made my birthday cakes and they always taste a million times better than any shop bought cake. This year, she made me a vegan chocolate dinosaur cake and it was amazing!! She even used Biscoff spread (!!!) between the layers. I've been eating it every day this week, and luckily there's still some left to snack on today.

We spent the afternoon at Holyrood Palace and the Queen's Gallery, which we've both been wanting to go to for a while, especially since I've become obsessed with The Crown. You're not allowed to take any photos inside, but here's one of me in my favourite Gryffindor scarf standing in the remains of Holyrood Abbey.

After that, we took a way up the Royal Mile for my birthday lunch at Paradise Palms. It's a great veggie/vegan bar and restaurant in town which is decorated with neon lights and palm trees. I had nachos topped with 3 bean chili, kiwi salsa verde, guacamole, blackbean dip, pickled chillies and vegan cheese. We also had a portion of the buffalo cauliflower, but it was a little too spicy for both of us.

I was back in work on Wednesday and of my colleagues made me a vegan chocolate cake which the office all enjoyed. I also caught up with some friends, went for pizza, played pinball, and then spent some time with the rest of my family as my brother turned 21 this week too.

I guess turning 31 wasn't too bad after all!

**Happy Veganniversary**

Happy Veganniversary to me!! That's right, today is officially my veganniversary. I'm sure to some people it's a pointless day that doesn't mean anything, but to me it marks a completely new chapter of my life filled with compassion, love, good health and great friends. Plus, I'm not married or anything so right now this is the only real anniversary I have to celebrate, so I am taking it.

If I'm completely honest, until about a week ago I was convinced that I had been vegan for five years but as it turns out it's only been four years. My journey to veganism was pretty easy. I stopped eating meat when I was around 12 or 13 years old (fun fact: no one can remember exactly when I gave up meat, just that my mum made my eat the rest of the chicken in our freezer before I could stop eating it),  and I have never drank cow's milk or really eaten eggs. I occasionally ate scrambled eggs and I guess I consumed eggs in cakes, but I've never had a fried/boiled/poached egg. I've also never eaten a steak, a burger, bucket of chicken, or any kind of meat joint. I guess you could say I was always destined to become vegan at some point.

It wasn't until late 2013 that I actually became aware of how terrible the dairy industry is. I always thought that dairy cows were better off because they aren't being slaughtered in the same way that meat cows are, but actually they have a horrific time. Their life revolves around being artificially inseminated over and over again, while their young are taken from them as soon as they're born. I discovered this at the end of 2013, did veganuary in 2014, and I have never looked back.

I still can't quite believe how much veganism has grown in the past few years. The Fish & Chip shop in my hometown of Polmont now has a vegan night (Polmont is a tiny village so this is AMAZING - check it out here), most chain restaurants have vegan options including Pizza Hut which now does vegan cheese, and Ben & Jerry's even brought out some non-dairy ice-cream last year. If you're worried that veganism may be restrictive, then just check out some of the food I ate in the last twelves months.

If you're thinking about transitioning to a lifestyle free of animal products then you can sign up to veganuary here. It's a great way to get a taster of veganism without having to commit to it for life, although I do think once you tried it you'll never look back.

Hello 2018

I can't believe it's 2018 already. It feels like the last twelve months just flew by in the blink of an eye, and now we're back at the beginning of a brand new year.

Personally, 2017 was a pretty great year. I turned 30 which I might not have liked much at the time, but I feel a lot more settled in my thirties now, even if I'm still in denial about it. Other highlights of the year include:

• Making some great new friends (A special shout out goes to Nicole who has become my best vegan hillwalking buddy).
• Climbing more Munros, some of which gave me sunburn and others were so windy I could barely stand at the top.
• Visiting Copenhagen for the second time and getting to watch Bon Iver live despite getting caught in the worst rain of the year at the festival.
• Writing, Writing, Writing! I started reviewing theatre shows for All Edinburgh Theatre which gave me the opportunity to immerse myself in the Fringe for the first time in years. I also wrote blogs for work and Huffington Post.
• And finally, I met someone in the summer who unexpectedly turned the later half of this year into the best yet. 

My plan for 2018 is to make more time for the things I love which for me is all about friends, family, travel, writing, reading, hillwalking and eating all vegan food.

Here's to making 2018 the best year yet!

Vegan Christmas Meet Up - Herbivore Kitchen

Last night, I had the pleasure of going out for a three course Christmas dinner with some lovely vegan bloggers at The Herbivore Kitchen in Edinburgh. I got to put faces of people I've followed online for a while, and made some new friends in the process. 

If you're used to being the only vegan on a night out then your options can often be limited. I've been to many events and nights out over the years where I've been served fruit salad on a plate for a starter and the same fruit salad in a glass for dessert. Luckily, last night we were treated to a wonderful menu that had multiple vegan options on offer for each course! 

To begin with I had roast butternut round, sweet potato gnocchi and sage cashew cream. It was so delicious that I'm pretty sure I cleared my plate in about 2 minute flat. 

For my main course, I went for wintry beetroot risotto which was also delicious. Most people picked the nut roast, but I wasn't 100% sure I would like it, so I thought this was a safer bet. It was really filling so I ended up leaving a bit of it, but I would happily eat it again for dinner tonight if I could.

My favourite course of the night was always going to be pudding which was a chocolate yule arctic roll. It tastes just like a Terry's chocolate orange which I have eaten for almost five years, so it was hard for it not to be my favourite of the three courses. However, everything I ate at the meal was really tasty and I would happily eat it all again.

We also got a surprise goodie bag filled with lots of vegan treats including cakes, chocolate and shower gel which I will do a separate post on next week when I start tasting everything that was in it.

It was a great dinner with some genuinely lovely people, and I can't wait for the next time we all get together for more tasty vegan food.

Edinburgh's newest supper club

Supper clubs seem to be the thing of the moment, and Edinburgh's newest one certainly doesn't disappoint.

Last night, I went to Century General's first ever supper club with a group of colleagues and friends from OneKind. We've become regulars at Century General over the past few months thanks to their coffee (I'm still not a coffee drinker, but I hear it's very good) and giant vegan cinnamon buns. So when we heard the first Century General Supper was going to be vegan, we knew we had to go.

For the first course, we had a delicious beremeal bannock with white bean and roast garlic puree. If you're not familiar with a beremeal bannock (which I wasn't), it's bread made using an ancient grain from Shetland. It's something I've never had before, but I'd definitely recommend it if you ever come across it because it's really tasty.

The next course was salt baked vegetables, salsa verde and candied hazelnuts. I'm not really a fan of nuts, so I did pass on the candied hazelnuts, but the rest of the dish was really good. Judging by all the empty plates around me, it seems like everyone else really enjoyed it too.

After that, we had my favourite course savoury course of the night which was braised lentils, neep gnocchi, leeks and jus. I've never had gnocchi made with anything other than potato before, but this neep gnocchi was delicious.

It wouldn't be any kind of supper without dessert and for this course we had chocolate tart, coconut ice cream, apples and pears. I pretty much inhaled this dish the minute it was put down in front of me, and I could have easily had seconds. It was the perfect finish to a fantastic evening of food. We also had bowls of cabbage on the table for us all to share which complimented the dish really well too.

To go with each course, we were given beers from Tempest Brewery. I've never been the biggest beer fan but I would definitely have two of the four beers again, especially the Mango Berlinner which turned out to be one of the best beers I've ever tasted. 

We were also given a couple of samples from Fife based natural company called Bodylushious to try. I got rose and lavender soap and jasmine body butter. They smell so good, so I'll do a full review once I've had a chance to try them out.

I think it's pretty safe to say that the first ever Century General Supper went really well, and I can't wait to see if they do another vegan one in the future.

(photo credit: Century General)

Dear I’m A Celebrity… It’s Time To Stop Abusing Animals

It’s that time of year again when we all huddle around our television to watch some celebrities we’ve probably never heard of tucking into a kangaroo penis or swimming through a tank with a crocodile that’s had its mouth taped shut.

For the millions of people who tune into I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! every night, it’s just a harmless entertainment show. After all, what could Ant and Dec possibly do wrong? However, now that the 17th series of the show has started on TV, isn’t it time that we thought about the animal abuse the features so heavily in the show?

If you’ve never seen I’m a Celebrity before they you might not be familiar with what a Bushtucker Trial actually is, so let me paint a picture for you. Almost every day, the public votes for the celebrity they would most like to do that particular trial. The challenges are different each day, but usually each series will include things like: people putting their body in an enclosure full of insects, rodents or birds, crawling into a tunnel full of rats, holding live animals in their mouths, and eating live insects or animal parts.

If you were to ask anyone on the street what they think about using animals for entertainment then most would be appalled. Yet on I’m a Celebrity, it has become perfectly acceptable to take a crocodile from its natural habitat, tape up its mouth, and put it in a tank of water so that Wayne Bridge can swim through it to a win a trial. In another particularly shocking task a few years ago, Ferne McCann ate a live water spider by swirling it in glass before chewing it.

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Just last week, people in the UK were outraged when the majority of MPs at Westminster voted that animals do not have feelings. Yet somewhere along the line we’ve decided that animals in Australia don’t have any feelings otherwise we wouldn’t be using them in this completely unacceptable way.

The latest series of the show has only been on air for a few days, but last night two celebrities tucked into a dinner consisting of fish eyes, a sheep anus, a pig brain, cockroaches, an ostrich foot, meal worms, and even a huntsman spider. We don’t know what will be in store for the other poor animals involved in this series, but if it’s anything like the previous ones then we do know that hundreds of animals will be hurt, crushed, or eaten alive.

It’s not only time that I’m a Celebrity stopped this animal abuse, but it’s also time we all started to rethink our attitudes on how much animals should suffer just for our entertainment.

You can also read this blog on the Huffington Post here. 

Vegan Club Sandwiches

A couple of weekends ago, I found myself at The Caffeine Drip in Edinburgh for the first time. I'd heard lots of great things about this South African café and bakery, but for some reason I've just never found myself at that part of town, even though isn't really that far away from my flat.

It isn't a vegan café, but they have so many different vegan options that you wouldn't be disappointed. I was there around 1.30pm so I was unable to order of the breakfast menu but if you go early enough you can pick from vegan French toast or a tofu scramble with added sides of vegan bacon or haggis.

On the recommendation of my friend, I ordered the vegan club sandwich which came with grilled vegetables, caramelised onion hummus, tomatoes, avocado and spinach. I also had it with rustic fries because I'm never going to turn down the chance to have chips. I think I'd have to put it up there in my top 5 favourite sandwiches of all time (that's right, I have a list) but it hasn't taken the top spot with goes to Meatless Mike sandwich from Ike's in San Francisco.

They also have a variety of vegan burgers, sandwiches and wraps and the most incredible vegan hot chocolate I have ever tasted. One thing to keep in mind is that it can be really busy so you might not get a table straight away, but it's definitely worth waiting on one if it's crowded.

You can check out the full menu on their website here.

SugarDaddy's Bakery

Are these not the best cookie sandwiches you've ever seen?

They're from a cute little bakery called SugarDaddy's in Edinburgh. Despite only living about a 20 minute walk from the shop, I only actually went in for the first time this weekend.

It's not a vegan bakery, but they have lots of different vegan options available and everything is gluten free. I obviously picked up one of the caramel apple cookie sandwiches which tasted incredible, and it was only £1.95! That's a bargain in terms of vegan cakes because they're usually at least twice as much if you're after cakes at a vegan festival.

They also do doughnuts, cupcakes, brownies and cookies, so there are more than enough options to keep you going back time after time. I fee like it's going to be hard not to end up there every day working my way through all the different cakes. Although that probably won't be good for my waistline even if my taste buds will enjoy it an awful lot.

If you're in Edinburgh and looking for vegan cakes then I can't recommend SugarDady's enough. Trust me, you'll love it!

Zero Waste Shopping

I've been using reusable shopper bags like this one for years, long before I had even knew what zero waste meant.

In Scotland, there's been a 5p charge on single-use plastic carrier bags since 2014, but even before then I carried around one of these shoppers. I've had a fair few over the years but this green one is my current favourite. I picked it up from Chiaralascura at a vegan festival last year. It's really thick material and has a clasp on it to keep it closed. I would estimate that I probably carry this bag around pretty much every single day without fail. It's always in the bottom of whatever bag I'm using just in case I need to pick up some shopping.

If you're trying to cut down on plastic or take some steps to becoming zero waste then this is probably one of the easiest things you can do. Plus, if you like in the UK then it's going to save you money in the long run if you keep having to purchase single use carrier bags.