“Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.”

Its been shut down at Gifts from the Pirates HQ this week, the boys were off school/Nursery and i wanted to give them my undivided attention so ive not been on the internet all week, no blogging, no social media and it has been bliss. Now time for all the catching up posts, starting with last weekend. A bank holiday of rain to start with, pretty much what we have come to expect when we've got plans for the beach and fun in the sun. On Friday night after checking the Metoffice and realising that grim weather was looming we decided to head to Bristol for Vegfest. It was a great chance for Mrs M to network and get pics for work and for us boys to binge on vegan cakes.

The drive down was a nightmare, should have taken us 2hrs, took us 3 1/2, by the time we arrived the rain was thrashing down, the only parking space I could find was in a giant puddle and the whole place was looking pretty gloomy. The one bonus though was it was lunch time. The boys were just happy to get out the car and walk about. Its the first time id been to Bristol and despite the rain and the fact that everything seemed so grey it seemed like a really nice place. I wish we had known we were going sooner as i would have loved to have made arrangements to see my friend Jane.

 With Opeie having so many Allergies/intolerances these Vegan festivals are great for picking up things that we can't always get hold of and fantastic for buying things we use daily in bulk. The food is always lush too which is great. I am not vegan myself but i don't eat meat or dairy for health reasons, it can be a pain for us as a family to eat out so these sort of events make days out for us a little easier as we don't have to spend the morning preparing food.

Everywhere smelt of lovely food and the place was full of products we love as a family, It was such a shame that the weather was so awful as it really put a dampener on the day. When you don't have children you can forget about what the weather is doing but you worry more with kids. The boys didn't let the weather get them down, there was cake everywhere and they even managed to flirt with some ladies, the smooth talkers...

We filled our tummies and listened to some really inspirational words while scoffing our grub, the festival gave us a great chance to meet some of the people that Mrs M works with, it was nice to put faces to the names and they all seemed really friendly. There was no holding up for the weather though and because of it the boys didn't really want to be walking around in the rain so eventually we headed back in the direction of the car. We had parked right next to a place that had exhibitions on for children so we made the most of it being indoors and out of the rain.

We had booked a table at a vegan restaurant for tea but just couldn't find the place so after an annoying 40 minutes walking around following our iphone to an incorrect postcode we called it a day on Bristol. On the drive home we decided to swing by Wholefoods in Cheltenham for a quick bite as it was getting on and the troops were getting hungry. Despite the bad weather we had a great time and we're all looking forward to the next day of binge eating vegan festival.

Gifts from the Pirates in Orlando - Eating out and Dinner at Ethos Vegan Kitchen

Eating out in Orlando became increasingly difficult throughout our entire holiday,  for a place thats so huge and boasts insane amounts of eateries i really expected more. Not being a vegan myself or having any food allergies there were plenty of restaurants i would have loved to have eaten at but when 50% of your family are extremely limited to what and where they can eat it kind of throws a spanner in the works. We attempted to eat at a few of the well known restaurants and i got really fed up of hearing the words "we can offer you a salad?". The hard rock cafe couldn't even offer Mrs M and Opeie a Baked potato. What kind of restaurant doesn't have potatoes? Crazy!

Any way because of Mrs M's blog naturalveganecomom.com we spent plenty of time in the supermarkets (mainly wholefoods market) looking for interesting and new things for Mrs M and Opeie to include in the packed lunches we were having to take with us every time we left to go out. On one of the evenings we did get to eat out at a restaurant that Mrs M had heard about through a friend of hers that works at Wholefoods Orlando. 

I'm a meat eater and I've always said that i couldn't be vegan but after eating the meal i had i think it pushed me that one step closer to 'could i walk away from it all'. I chose the 'All American Burger', in any other restaurant in Orlando this would 9 times out of 10 guarantee you a huge slab of juicy meat between two halves of a bun. What i received was a meat free burger like nothing i had tasted before served with blue corn tortilla chips, it was amazing.

It probably sounds crazy to most people but it was so nice to be able to go out and eat a meal together like a normal family, unless you or your family have severe dietary issues then you cant imagine how frustrating it is trying to dine out.

Needless to say i wasn't the only one that thoroughly enjoyed my meal, everyone wolfed down the lot, it was beautiful. The thing that gobsmacked me the most about this very tasty meal, amazing friendly service and upbeat surroundings was the extremely low bill at the end of it all. For four meals and two bottles of natural vanilla cream soda the bill was a mere $31 (£19). 

The best part about the meal was finally seeing Mrs M eating something she wanted to eat with a huge smile on her face. It must be so difficult for her as many of her dietary issues are because of Opeie's breast feeding. She has given up a lot to give our boy the best start he can and i will be forever grateful for that.

To here what Mrs M thought of her lovely meal then CLICK HERE.

If you are interested in visiting Ethos vegan kitchen then here's the menu for you to have a mooch.

Ethos Kitchen Menu

Thanks Ethos for a great meal and fantastic friendly service i can't recommend you enough.

An introduction to Natural Vegan Eco Mom

In our house the food that we eat and products that we use are so important. We're really picky about what we buy when shopping. It wasn't always like this for me though. Taking care of my physical well being definitely took a back seat and going out, partying and generally living a care free life took president. It's amazing though how dramatically things can change. Although I have always been a good eater when it came to fruit and veg, years ago i would (as much as it sickens me to say it now) frequent KFC more than I would have liked (gross I know). 

Back in 2010, Mrs M while pregnant became really ill and it changed our opinions about food and pushed us into making some dramatic lifestyle changes. It wasn't just about what we were eating but also about where it came from and it's life before reaching our mouths. To many it probably sounds insane but with pesticides and other chemicals on the supermarket veg, unnatural sweeteners in food and just the general unnecessary rubbish that is put into food for preservation you've got to eventually start to wonder what it is doing to our bodies. I for one want to live a long and fruitful life and to do that these changes needed to be made.

Our diet isn't to most people's taste, we know that from the reaction we get when it's talked about but it has been the necessary element firstly for our weight loss (which will be in a post I have written and will publish soon) but also for having the best possible lifestyle for us and the boys. Eating this way has given us all the extra energy and motivation that was needed for us to fully take advantage of our time together.

I know that eating healthy can come at a higher financial cost, especially if like us you also eat as much organic produce that is available but there are so many more benefits. With the ridiculous GMO foods scenario looming over us in the UK and the pressure for the country to get on board this seems like it was the best time for us as a family to make this change. This post isn't supposed to be healthy living shoved in your face like many, (not all) of the vegan sites that are out there, promoting how amazing they are as a person for being a vegan. I'm not concerned with what other people eat apart from the people who are closest to me and anyone that asks, But as the blog is written for my boys it's an insight into why sometimes we say 'we would rather you didn't eat those sweets' or we offer the boys a healthy alternative to something that to them seems harmless to eat. They will understand when they are older why we don't allow them to have McDonald's or most processed foods and I think they will appreciate the effort we (especially Mrs M) go to to prepare their daily meals. 

Which brings me to the main reason for this post, i thought that a post about food would be a perfect introduction. If healthy living is something that interests you or like us you or a family member suffer with food allergies then Natural Vegan Eco Mom (written by my beautiful wife to be) is a must read for spicing up what could possibly be a boring diet. I know that without her cooking flair or crazy food prep knowledge I wouldn't have shifted the weight I have. Having a stash of her homemade healthy peanut butter cups has been motivation enough to keep me eating well knowing that there is a chocolatey treat waiting for me as a reward for my healthy eating throughout the day. To have a mooch through some great recipe's Please click on THIS LINK .

Thanks for reading xx

"Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise."

Its always nice to hear the postman knocking on the front door, usually because its a new toy being delivered or just generally something fun that we have purchased online. Its so much more exciting when an intriguing package arrives. This week our friends Chris (http://gingerjamphoto.com/) and Michelle sent us photo's that had been taken at my recent BIRTHDAY SOIREE, but also in the package was a CD that we had been talking about on that very day.

The CD mentioned is Snack Time by BareNaked Ladies and its a treat of an album, Chris informs me that the band members all had children and wanted to make a collection of songs to entertain them. If you are a little bit of a child yourself and have never truly grown up then I'm sure you will find this album as amazing as i did (how could you not with songs about ninja's, allergies, raisins and not liking Salmon). I was drawn in at first by the lyrics "Ribbit, ribbit, a tadpole exhibit, It's a transformation no one can inhibit" genius! 

Every time you listen to this album you hear something new that makes you laugh. The crazy ABC'S song points out that P is for pneumonia, pterodactyl and psychosis, which I'm sure will confuse Seth when he hears it but as Chris said would totally blow his teachers away if he came out with it at school.

So far the CD hasnt left the player (apart from a couple of times when ive had to put Opeie's sleep CD on to get him off to sleep). Its certainly kept me entertained this week and im sure it will continue to do the same in the coming weeks.

                                                       

                                                           Thanks Chris and Michelle. x