Emperor Lounge

I like to think of myself as a well seasoned traveller, as in my role as an event manager I fly between cities frequently. The majority of my family also live in Australia, while I live in Auckland, New Zealand meaning I am back and forth across the ditch often.

And I hate the airport. Don’t get me wrong, travelling on a biometric passport has made all the difference in streamlining the customs process, but the whole palava of getting your bags checked in, filling out declaration forms, validating your identity with customs officers…it’s a whole mess that stresses me out to no end.

While doing a tonne of research for both our trip and subsequently this blog, I found the LoungeBuddy app, which allows users to view, book and access some of the most luxurious lounges airports around the world have to offer. While Auckland International Airport aren’t registered on LoungeBuddy, they do offer travellers the option to purchase access to their Emperor Lounge.

After completing our bag drop, hugging and kissing mum goodbye several times and completing security clearance through customs, we made our way through the Mecca of duty free stores directly to the Lounge, where we intended to unwind and relax before our 8 hour flight to Honolulu.

The Emperor Lounge is located on the first floor after security, to the right of the Benefit & MAC counters. It boasts a sleek entrance and is relatively easy to find as the lounges are all signposted.

Upon arrival, we confirmed our reservation with the concierge and were asked to present our boarding passes as forms of identification. I looked up my booking reference using the wonderful TripIt app and once registered within the booking system, we were directed through to the lounge.

The lounge was relatively busy at the time of evening we arrived (5:30pm) so we seated ourselves in the dining area where there was a free table.

You are provided with the wifi login details upon arrival and encouraged to help yourself to meals and beverages.

The selection of hot items is small, and a little lacklustre. The soup option was a creamy kumara concoction that looked pale and underwhelming, so I elected to move directly to Malaysian chicken curry on offer, accompanied with either mashed potatoes or jasmine rice. There was also a tomato based vegetarian curry, laden with carrot and tofu. Christian tried this fare and declared it to taste similar to “watered down ketchup”. I told him I’d pass.

Despite the options being far from numerous, I can tell you that the chicken curry was to die for. I had two helpings!

There is also a relatively well stocked bar, offering sparkling and still wines (both red and white), hard liquor and a selection of New Zealand beers, mixers and fruit juices. I poured a double Chivas Regal 12 year old over ice for Christian, and helped myself to a very strong gin and tonic, in the hope it would put me to sleep on the plane.

The buffet also includes a salad bar, complete with dressings, cheeses, club sandwiches, seasonal fruit and sushi.

These petit fours were delicious, and we found ourselves returning for more several times.

I did note that while the buffet was small, the staff were vigilantly replacing items quickly and efficiently, to ensure that the fridges were never without bottled water, non-alcoholic beverages, mixers and beer & wine as well as replenishing the hot buffet items and pastries often.

After chowing down on the chicken curry and pouring myself a second G&T, I setup my laptop to respond to some emails, and check up on Facebook. The last time I was at the airport for an extended period of time, I ended up paying $20 NZD in internet access fees, as Auckland Airport has some of the worst wifi pricing in the land. At Christchurch and Wellington airports, service is free and unrestricted in the terminal whilst in Auckland your first ~500MB is free if you register your email (read: sign up to be spammed for eternity).

The several drinks we consumed over the 2.5hrs we were in the lounge would have easily been priced at one of the flight side bars at well over $60 NZD.

Once we’d eaten more than our fill, I noticed that the lounge had freed up a bit and some armchairs had become free. We settled ourselves in and dug into some petit fours, plugging our phones in to charge in the conveniently located outlets in the wall beside the armchairs. There are quite a number of outlets in the lounge for recharging devices, as well as several desktop PCs setup to provide internet access to travellers without laptops or those who choose the convenience of using a desktop that has been setup and connected to high speed internet.

Christian had a cup of green tea (yes, self tea and coffee service is available for your convenience) to accompany his dessert. We chatted and watched the departure screen above our heads, denoting when travellers should think about being on the move toward their gate. At just before 8:30pm, we strolled leisurely toward Gate 10 for boarding. I stopped in for a cigarette in the terminals’ smoking lounge before making my way down the ramp to the gate as we had plenty of time to board. I usually wait towards the end of queues to board anyway after the attendant makes his or her announcements, as I see no sense in rushing to be on the plane first. Ultimately, the pilot isn’t going to take off until the plane doors are securely fastened and all registered passengers are on the flight, so running to get to my seat never made much sense to me.

Before we departed the lounge, I packed a few of the water bottles on offer in the lounge into my carry on luggage for each of us, so that we wouldn’t have to purchase it after we left to board. Plane cabins always leave me super dehydrated no matter the length of flight, so I did appreciate having easy access to water without having to turn on my call light for the attendant while the plane was in flight and all the passengers around me were dozing in the dark.

So, in all – would I recommend the Emperor Lounge in terms of cost versus benefit? Absolutely. If you run out of time to shower, no problem! Take one there.

Want to get blotto without having to fork out $13 for a tap beer? Done!

Want to avoid eating airport fast food? Done!

Need internet access to pay that utility bill you forgot about? Too easy!

Pricing starts at $49 NZD per adult for 3 hours access. Children under the age of 12 are priced at $24.50 for the same duration, however you can elect to purchase a longer stay (8 hours access) at a slightly higher cost.

Charli x

Clever is Cool.

I recently purchased an iPhone 7+ which has twice the memory capacity of my old iPhone 5S.

Since purchasing the device I have spent a lot more time researching useful apps, with specific interest in travel; this considering that my family and I are travelling to the United States for nearly a month and I am heading into unfamiliar territory.

TripIt

One of the best apps I’ve come across whilst browsing the store is the TripIt app. The app allows you to create an online itinerary keeping note of all of your reservations, flight details, addresses, important information like passport details and emergency contacts organising all of your itineraries and confirmations in one incredibly easy to use dashboard. I initially purchased the app to create a basic itinerary that could be shared with our families, so that they would know where we were at any given time considering the sometimes astronomical expense to make international calls back home from abroad.

To be completely fair, I don’t think our mums are so concerned with our whereabouts but moreso our 11 year old son.

One of the coolest things about the app, is that you can forward all of your confirmation emails from your registered email address to the email plans@tripit.com were all of the data will be collated, aggregated, and a master itinerary will be created within the application itself.

TripIt is free, however you can choose pay for advanced features in the Pro version of the app.

SeatGuru

Although I didn’t find this app until after we’d booked all of our flights, the SeatGuru app gives you insights into the layout of an aircraft, allowing you to be make a more conscientious decision when selecting your seats.

Although most economy seats are created equal, there are usually a dozen or so seats on an aircraft that have misaligned windows, are wayyyy too close to the bathrooms for comfort or don’t have access to power for charging small handheld devices making them even less desirable than other standard cattle class seats.

Use SeatGuru to help you choose the best seat so that you can travel in a little more comfort than you might without the insider knowledge!

Rome2Rio

Rome2Rio is an app that allows you to plan your travel from a to b, in over 158 countries worldwide. You can enter any town, address or landmark as your destination and Rome2Rio will instantly display flight, train, bus, ferry and driving options with estimated travel times and fares based on aggregated and ranked information sourced from multiple APIs and published within its platform . The travel search engine contains route information from over 4,800 transport operators, however has been criticised by travellers in European locations as omitting a lot of the low cost aircraft operators from their flight results.

Users of the app have commented on their appreciation of it’s simplistic format making it incredibly user friendly, with others advising that the financial results provided by Rome2Rio should be used as a guide only.

LoungeBuddy

Unfortunately for my husband, son and I, I’m not fancy enough to have a lounge membership with any airliner, nor do I have a frequent flyer pass that allows me to travel in style. I traverse the stark, tiled floors of airports just like any other schlep! The good news is however, Auckland International Airport allows limited lounge access to its Emperor Lounge for travellers at a small price of $49 NZD for 3 hours. You can pay a fraction more if you’re a long haul traveller in need of a nice, hot shower as towels are provided and if necessary staff can arrange hotel reservations for you.

The lounge has an assortment of local and international food on offer to its visitors, as well as non-alcoholic beverages and a stocked bar. The website indicates that there are desk spaces setup for you to connect and charge your hand held devices and laptop equipment, and children chaperoned have access to a small play area.

For 2 adults and a child under the age of 12, I paid $122.50 for 3 hours of access. We plan to arrive to complete our bag drops via the Air New Zealand kiosks early and head into the lounge after customs for some well needed R&R.

Lounge Buddy isn’t partnered with the Auckland International Airport, however did display results for Honolulu and JFK airports.

There are two lounges located in Honolulu Airport, both very reasonable priced. User reviews indicated that the IASS lounge didn’t offer much aside from tea, coffee and soft drinks and much of the commentary maligned the dated cheap motelesque decor.
On this basis, we elected to opt for the much more extravagant Lufthansa Business Lounge in New York’s JFK Airport. With our flight back to the island being a non-stop 11 hours, I figure we will need the preparatory relaxation.

The Lufthansa Business Lounge offers a tonne of amenities, including premium buffet, beer & wine, spirits & liquor, snacks, TVs, high speed wifi and supplied internet terminals. Prices at $84 NZD per person, you get full access to all of these amenities.

These are only some of the clever apps I found to make your travel much less anxiety ridden. As a person who can be highly strung in stressful or unknown situations, I feel like any support system your smartphone can offer is a godsend.

Better living everyone!

Charli x

Friday Night Wingin’

These days, I don’t go out much.
I have a small group of friends who understand that about me, so know that if they ask me what I’m doing on a Friday night and I’m free, an invitation to hang out will usually constitute sitting out on my porch listening to music from my Blaupunkt, chain smoking and listening to anecdotal stories about life in general.

When I got home on Friday night, the sun will still very much high in the sky and the weather was nothing short of stellar.
Whether it was dumb luck or sheer foresight, I’d picked up a bottle of Matavino Dolcetto earlier in the week, which the vegan society confirm is an appropriate option for me.

In some instances, although wine is made from grapes, may have been made using animal-derived products. During the winemaking process, the liquid is filtered through substances called “fining agents.” This process is used to remove protein, yeast, cloudiness, “off” flavors and colorings, and other organic particles. Popular animal-derived fining agents used in the production of wine include blood and bone marrow, casein (milk protein), chitin (fiber from crustacean shells), egg albumen (derived from egg whites), fish oil, gelatin (protein from boiling animal parts), and isinglass (gelatin from fish bladder membranes).

I figured I would take full advantage of the weather and positioned myself on our front stoop, drinking in the summer sun with a glass of this gorgeous wine.
My good friends Amy & Fraser stopped by, with beers in tow to join in the merriment.
Eventually the conversation turned to my pre-married role of being Amy’s wingman in gay clubs – she said I was never good at it, and if I’m honest, well? She’s right. I’m a terrible wingman. I would usually end up dancing the night away with gay men instead of helping my friend meet a potential significant other.
We’ve laughed about this throughout the years, as we’ve shared many hilarious stories of our nights out with friends, that began with so much hope and promise, and ended with us all at home, alone, talking about all the people we could’ve gone home with…but obviously, chose not to. Realistically, hindsight tells us that the reason we went home alone so regularly was because we were and are a special breed of super awkward humans, but it was easier on our egos and better for our self esteem to pretend otherwise.

As the drinks flowed, Amy tried to convince me that as I hadn’t been out in a while, it was my duty to take her out dancing that evening. You know, as repayment for all those years as an absolute rubbish wingman. After drinking an entire bottle of red, I started to think it was a good idea too. I heralded the alarm by way of facebook and recruited another couple of girls to join our party.

My trusty friend Dave arrived and we piled into his car, thanking him for assuming the role of sober driving dad. He dropped our gaggle of giddy, intoxicated girls on K’Road and we headed into Family Downunder to cut some serious rugs.

Family Bar is a longstanding institution on K’Rd, outliving most of the LGBTQIA venues that used to litter the strip.
The upstairs bar boasts a mezzanine floor and stage area which is often crammed with gyrating, half naked men, women and drag queens strutting their stuff to EDM. In the downstairs bar, the DJ’s musical repertoire borrows more from pop & hip hop genres with, to my dismay, a preference for Taylor Swift. Ugh.

It’s a strange thing, being awake and out socially at 4am especially when you’re struggling to remain coherent and awake after consuming what seems like your weight in wine and vodka. Usually, I would say nothing good happens at this time, but you know what? That’s not true on K’Rd. Falafel & Shisha are available in abundance!

The Little Turkish Cafe has been a part of the K’Rd scene since I was a teen. I haven’t eaten here by choice since the ERA determined in favour of former employee Zahra Barzegari, after her claims of unfair dismissal, withholding pay and holidays were found to be with merit. She was awarded $10, 000 in back pay in the employment courts; the company challenged the Employment Relations Authority’s findings in 2011 and the two parties settled out of court, an undisclosed sum which is not a matter for public record.
In any case, I’m ashamed to say that my ethics got the better of me at this time in the morning and I hastily ordered a falafel kebab before jumping in a cab and heading home to Mt Albert.

Falafel is made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both. Falafel is a traditional Middle Eastern food, commonly served in a pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flatbread known as lafa; The Turkish Cafe is one of the few places in Auckland that serves their kebabs that way.
And it’s good!

Word to the wise though? Maybe don’t drink wine like it’s going out of fashion as a vegan. The hangover is brutal.

Love,

Charli xx

Peach Pit

How on earth more people don’t know about this place is beyond me.
This innocuous little eatery is located halfway down Auckland’s infamous K(arangahape) Rd, a stones throw away from the sex shops and titty-bars that the strip is synonymous for.

Owned and operated by Luckrecya Craw, Peach Pit‘s menu much like its nearby neighbour Coco’s Cantina is sustainable, meaning that the dishes are ever changing based on available ingredients.

2015/01/img_0264.jpg — Peach Pit, Auckland Central, NZ. Photo courtesy of Peach Pit (Facebook.com).

It was Tuesday night when my friend Carl and I visited for dinner.
A bevy of young, alt types sat outside in the dying sunlight sampling craft beers, paying us no mind as we reviewed the most current menu displayed in the restaurant’s window. After agreeing that there were items on the menu that piqued both our interest, we strolled on in.

I was warmly greeted by Luckrecya & the chef as we entered, taking the opportunity to grab a booth in the virtually empty dining room. Like lightning, iced lemon water was brought to our table by the owner herself, along with a pair of handwritten, photocopied menus. I’ve eaten at the Peach Pit before, and found this to be a charming touch – almost like wandering into a friend’s home who’d decided to host a dinner party and as a cute gesture, provide their guests with an insight into what they would or could choose to experience that evening.

Considering the humidity in the city at the moment, the large jug was sorely appreciated. Too often I eat in restaurants where bottles of water aren’t presented to the table for guests to self pour, owners opting instead to have their wait staff dutifully refill glasses during busy service. Personally I find this style intrusive, so appreciated that we were being given an opportunity to sit & review our options, whilst catching up on each others’ work, family and home lives – not being interrupted by a stranger hovering during a potentially private discussion about embarrassing bodily functions brought on by a diet high in fibre. I digress.

Carl noted that the jug & matching tumblers were reminiscent of some similar glassware that his grandmother owned once upon a time when he was a child, and we talked some on how design has evolved since the fifties, sixties & seventies, amber glass rarely being used in more recent offerings. The glassware appeared to be replica (not amber like Carls g’mas), emulating a vintage style that has become so hugely popular in modern day decor.

Luckrecya returned to the table to let us know that the sweet & sour tofu salad I had spied in the window display on the way in was unavailable, however had been replaced on the menu with a salt & pepper tofu option. This made the selection easy for me and I opted to accompany my main with a cabbage side salad.

Carl ordered a bulgogi beef burger, accompanied by barbecued corn & miso.
Luckrecya mentioned that the burger came with both a large, homemade pattie & sliced beef, and recommended that the beef be cooked medium rare as the chef intended, however did indicate that she would be happy enough to let the kitchen know the beef could be cooked to Carl’s liking, if he chose a different temperature.

As anyone who eats out frequently knows (or has had a friend or spouse who was/is a chef), if the chef recommends an item be cooked a certain way, this is how you should order it – as the overall flavour of the dish will taste as it was designed and intended by someone who knows food well. Carl agreed that the burger should be served as recommended.

Whilst we waited for our meals to arrive, James Blake’s ‘Overgrown‘ played in the background, followed by Wale’s ‘Bad‘, which made for an interesting but appreciated dinner soundtrack. Carl & I work for the same group of companies however he recently took a position in an office closer to home, meaning that we don’t often see one another – when we do, there’s the usual chatter you would expect from two people who previously worked in the same building catching up on office gossip. As the conversationalist (read, ‘blabbermouth’) of this duo, I spent the majority of the time excitedly talking over my own new job and my experiences documenting my new life as a vegan.
He listened intently, as he always does when I’m on a tangent or rant (of which I am famous for), and interspersed the conversation with a terrible joke, of which he is famous for.

2015/01/img_0898.jpg — Bulgogi Beef Burger – Peach Pit – Auckland Central, NZ.

Carl’s burger arrived first and it was…well, impressive.
My tofu was delivered soon after and it appeared to be firm, the coating crispy (not sitting in a pool of grease), and was served with a thin sauce which tasted of chilli, coriander seeds, malt vinegar & sugar. I dipped the first piece of tofu gingerly into the sauce and took a mouthful, making sure it was sufficiently coated.

2015/01/img_0902.jpg — Salt & Pepper Tofu – Peach Pit, Auckland Central, NZ.

Holy shit. This is vegan’s ambrosia. I don’t think the English language has enough adjectives in it to describe how incredible my first salt & pepper tofu experience was. Carl asked me how it was, but it was so good, I couldn’t speak. I fumbled in my knapsack for my mobile phone and called my Octo-Lacto buddy, Kenny.
It took a while for him to answer and as I found out later, was because he was halfway up One Tree Hill on his road bike. I told him I was out for dinner and had just had the most amazing animal-free protein experience of my entire life. He laughed because it was that good, I had to call somebody and tell them, even though Carl was sitting less than a half a metre away across the table.

Carl didn’t say much during dinner, aside from asking me whether I was going to offer to share (which I eventually did, begrudgingly) but did struggle to finish his burger. Luckrecya cleared the table and was genuinely impressed he’d managed to finish it in it’s entirety, claiming to only be able to palate about a third of the meal herself before being stuffed.

The long and short of my second Peach Pit experience, but my first as a vegan, is that everyone must eat here.

Just like Wu Tang, Peach Pit is for the children.
The service is friendly & efficient, the dining room clean and orderly without being sterile or clinical and the meals on offer are ridiculously cheap, especially for a central city based restaurant. I freaked out when she handed me the bill, totalling a mere $47 (including taxes) for 2 mains, 2 sides & 2 soft drinks.

Overall, the best part of this restaurant is that all of the staff know about the food they are serving. They know what flavours will compliment one another and will let you in on these secrets without being condescending, pushy or making you feel uncomfortable about choosing an alternative, should their opinions on flavour differ from yours. A meal at the Peach Pit is an experience, not just ‘food’ haphazardly served on a stark, white plate. They give a shit about their menu, they’re clearly passionate about the food they serve and hip hop is on the restaurant’s playlist.

Why wouldn’t you go?

Love,

Charli x

Cruelty Free NZ!

Today I visited the The Cruelty Free Shop, conveniently located in St Kevin’s Arcade with my gorgeous friend Courtney, and got chatting to the wonderful woman behind the shop counter. In my excitement in the hunt for vegan goodies, I didn’t catch her name but did explain the purpose of my visit. I suppose I expected some kind of negative reaction, being that in a sense I’ve jumped on a bandwagon – the ‘vegan’ lifestyle becoming like the new wave of gluten free obsessives – but she was so charming and helpful, even offering to post about my blog on their social media pages…they’re on twitter if you didn’t know already!

After my friend Kenny, who is also traversing this journey with me as an octo-lacto vegetarian explained to me the previous evening that Il Buco offer a vegan pizza topped with vegan chorizo (main ingredient being wheat protein), and that this chorizo was available for retail purchase at The Cruelty Free Shop, I had to check it out.

I spent a long time discussing my confusion about these pseudo-meat products with the staff, hovering over the refrigerated goods. It’s confusing to me as someone who is both uninitiated and uneducated about veganism that a person who had made the decision not to consume our furry friends, would want to eat proteins designed to simulate the taste and texture of flesh or dairy. She explained to me that she often referred to these types of products as ‘transitional foods’, mainly designed for people who were making the change to a plant based diet. And that totally made sense – in essence, these products were designed for people like me.

With her guidance, I pored over the plethora of vegan, organic, sustainable products on offer, quickly finding the Gran Chorizo that I can come in search of.

This vegan sausage is produced by Wheaty, a company that offers a unique range of products based on wheat gluten, or its more commonly used macrobiotic name, seitan. Seitan is derived from the protein portion of wheat and is an excellent source of protein for vegans, being that gluten has a low sodium and extremely low fat content.

Whilst chatting, I apologised repeatedly and profusely for my ignorance as a carnivore. I asked what I thought were most likely questions frequent visitors to the shop would think were completely stupid about each of the products that piqued my interest, and she more than happily obliged by explaining the origin of each product, whether they were made locally, what particular items would be used for and how they would be best prepared.

I also grabbed a box of Fry’s Family’s Meat Free Chicken Style Strips, because I thought they would appeal to my son, Ethan.

I’ve yet to try them myself, but I hear from an excellent source that they taste just like chicken!

As I was checking out, she suggested that I might be interested in attending a Vegan 101 class, held by the Vegan Society of Aotearoa. After reviewing their website, I noted that the last event was held in December, so I plan to keep a dutiful eye out and head along to the next one!

Visiting the Cruelty Free Shop definitely made me a lot more excited about this journey. A lot of the vegans that I have been exposed to in my life have been almost, for want of a better description, elitists; almost as if their dietary choices made them members of a secret society that I could never be a part of – so this experience was uplifting and made me all the more curious and left me feeling inspired about the challenge.
Check out their website or better yet head on into the store on K’Rd and grab a meat analogue or ice cream sandwich!

Love,

Charli x

The Beginning of All Things To Come

I am a religious morning coffee drinker.
I would say that I’m a connoisseur, but someone who drinks mochas could hardly claim to be that. I don’t do espresso, short or long blacks but I do like a good, strong flat white.

I love Kokako beans the most, but regularly find myself drinking Sierra’s blend, mainly because their cafe is all too easily located on the first floor of the building I work in.

In short? It’s pretty obvious I love milky coffee. An obvious substitute for dairy as a vegan, soy from my understanding has always been a popular choice based on its accessibility.
I’ve never shied away from soy, being a fan of it’s naturally malt-reminiscent flavour, so the switch from traditional trim cows milk wasn’t and isn’t a huge stretch.

I ordered a syrup flavoured soy caramel latte this morning – and was disappointed. As I get older, the acrid taste of artificial sugars and flavours becomes more difficult to stomach. The sheer sweetness of the syrup, combined with the malt of the soy did nothing for me, except leave a bizarre taste in my mouth that remained for several hours, despite chewing gum and drinking a litre of water. 0/10 – don’t recommend.

Speaking of dairy, I came across a new term the other day, an expression I’d never heard before…’bovine secretion’.
This was a term used by popular YouTube vlogger Freelee the Banana Girl in a video her mother shot of her, during a visit to a farmers market, on the hunt for blueberries. A stall holder attempted to sell her some cheese, to which she responded, “No, we don’t need any of your bovine secretion, you can keep it”.

Here’s the thing – I think veganism is like religion. It appears to have its zealots and it’s hypocrites…like, an acquaintance I have that will happily smear a MAC lipstick across their mouths for a selfie, but then scream bloody murder at the guy on their Facebook feed enjoying a roast pork – that’s hypocrisy, much like Christians who preach ‘love thy neighbour’ – then vilify all of Islam for the acts of extremists in public forums.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is an American manufacturer and the parent company of MAC. A Google search will tell you that their public stance on animal testing is that they do not test their products or ingredients on animals, or ask others to test on their behalf, except where required by law. So, essentially all EL products imported to China must be tested on animals under legislation.

If you want to spread a message of positivity to convince people that your way of life is the truth, the only way? Maybe don’t tell them they lack morals and scruples because their dietary choices aren’t the same as yours.
Make the choice accessible to all! Don’t preach, it’s tiring. Enough.

I ate breakfast just before 10am, sharing the raisin & cinnamon bagels I picked up at the Avondale Sunday Market yesterday with my friend Fraser. I bought a four pack for $3, and whilst they’re not Ugly Bagels, for those of us who are committed to actually having savings accounts that don’t have a deficit, that’s pretty good buying.

Usually, I would smother a fruit bagel in butter or cream cheese and greedily lick it off of my fingers as it drizzled down my hands – but seeing as dairy isn’t an option, we substituted the butter with Loving Earth’s Coconut Chocolate Butter…don’t let the name fool you, the product itself contains only raw and organic ingredients – no dairy here whatsoever!

Very similar in flavour to coconut rough, this chocolatey Nutella-esque spread went down a treat! It was actually a gift imported by my aunt who lives in Queensland. Loving Earth is an Australian company, meaning their products are obviously far more easily accessible there. As a breakfast option, this I can highly recommend. It would be a delight over soy ice cream too, or as an alternative to ganache on an almond meal/raw cake.

To keep hunger at bay throughout the day, I chose to snack on Californian red grapes today, referring to them to everyone in the office who I offered them to as either ‘natures’ or ‘vegan’ candy!
Disappointingly, I noted on the packaging that they weren’t spray free or organic, however after a good hand wash in cold water felt better about eating them.

Also at the market yesterday morning, I came across an older Chinese woman selling tomatoes by the box load. At $3 for a 3 kilo box, I jumped at the chance to buy them and swooped in. Admittedly, it was pretty clear that the majority of the toms were on their last legs, but I figured I could turn the whole lot into some kind of low sodium pasta sauce, using oregano, cracked black pepper, Himalayan sea salt and loads of New Zealand garlic to pack in flavour, mushrooms, eggplant, onions and spinach.

I spent a couple of hours on Sunday night hovering over the stove in sweltering heat, chopping, sautéing, mixing and stirring – pasta sauce from scratch! What a treat! After it cooled, I bottled it for future use. I’d say I’m going to get my money’s worth out of that box of tomatoes.

I made fettuccine using this sauce last night as an accompaniment to dinner with my husband, and made sure to make a little extra for myself for lunch. I’m not ashamed to say, the pasta sauce the night after was delicious!

After work, I made Ethan the same pasta dish my husband and I had eaten the night before, again using the sauce – a dream for frugal folks like myself – which he devoured. After Ethan hit the hay, I popped out to Circus Circus cafe for – you guessed it – a soy latte.

The one thing I will miss wholeheartedly during this experiment is the carrot cake they serve at Circus Circus – I’ve eaten a whole tonne of places in this town and I swear black and blue – it’s the best damn carrot cake money can buy. Octo-lacto friends, you should check it out!

So goes my entire dietary consumption on the first day of my life as a vegan.

On a final note, for those of you curious about what cosmetic brands there are available to you that are cruelty free, vegan and not owned by a parent company that does perform animal testing of its products, check out the following links:

http://www.rovie.co.nz
http://inika.com.au
http://www.kesterblack.com
http://www.coverfx.com/ (LipFX treatment contains carmine and beeswax and Bronze FX contains carmine. All other products are vegan).
http://www.limecrime.com

Love,

Charli x

Preparation for D-Day

So, I started the weekend very well intended.

I was going to sit down and write out a concise meal plan for the upcoming fortnight in preparation for the beginning of the Vegan Challenge.

I was going to spend Saturday afternoon committed to household chores that I’ve been putting off for the last month.

I want to preface the story of what I actually did with the word ‘unfortunately’, however I feel like that would take the sheen off of what was an incredbily fulfilling weekend, despite the fact I did zero of any of the things I had planned to, being so very well intended.

It will be of no surprise to anyone that knows me well that the meal plan didn’t come to fruition. Instead, I spent Friday evening sitting on my porch with a group of my closest friends talking about – well, nothing – and eating barbecue.

For some reason, I’d convinced myself in the lead up to the Challenge that I was going to need to consume nothing but beef, chicken and pork over the weekend.

To be perfectly honest? The barbecue was underwhelming. I turned my meal into a sandwich and ate a sirloin steak stuffed bread roll whilst picking at a chicken kebab. I would go into great detail about the flavour, taste and texture – but seriously, it was nothing to write about.

The following day, we visited our friend Tucker at the Mount Albert Market. Tucker the Butcher is a larger than life character, a Welshman who pushes his Neat Meat wares of grass fed, free range, organic meats in a variety of cuts every Saturday at our local market, come rain or shine.

One of the many discussions my husband and I have had since we got married (3 months yesterday!), was around the commitment we have to building the foundations of our familial unit. Ethan, Christian & I have been a unit for six years, however in the last 12 months my primary focus shifted to organising, planning and funding our wedding. This unfortunately meant that our relationship as partners became more about business, financial transactions and managing timetables than about two people who were building a life together based on love, trust and friendship.

Anyone who has planned a wedding on a shoestring knows how all-consuming this can be, and the hangover that occurs in the months after the actual event has taken place. My ‘hangover’ has been huge, meaning that the pursuit for happiness is something that I’ve had a serious focus on over the last 3 months. What that looks like? Fulfilment? Contentment? I have no idea, but I’ll be sure to share it with you in the event that I do unlock this wellkept secret.

We decided that in 2015, we would renew our commitment to our family unit and create rituals that would solidify our relationships with one another. One of these rituals is visiting the local market in our neighbourhood every Saturday morning together, to sample cheeses, drink coffee and hot chocolates and really and most importantly – just to speak to one another, without any outside influences. What this does is remind us all of how much we value one another. Christian is constantly surprising me with tidbits of knowledge and is a constant source of hilarity (but don’t tell him, I’ve got him and everyone else convinced I’m the funny one).

One of the rituals that exists for us and always has is sharing a meal together at the end of the day – I am a firm believer that this simple act is a surefire way to ensure a great relationship with your children or spouse. It has always been hugely important to me, however again something that fell by the wayside last year during wedding planning.

After stocking up on goodies from Tucker, Christian dropped Ethan & I at L’oeuf, our local cafe. I love living in the suburbs and feel like we are incredibly spoilt for choice in terms of palatable restaurants, cafes and eateries in Auckland – L’oeuf was named as one of Metro Magazines’ Top 50 Cafés in Auckland for 2014, no mean feat considering these guys have barely been open for an entire year but seem to have easily developed a borderline cult following with their very small bespoke, Vietnamese fusion inspired menu.
With a focus on fresh ingredients and turning their nose up at the kiwi cafe traditional Eggs Benedict, my absolute favourite L’oeuf dish is ‘The Hunter’, their own take on mushrooms on toast. Delicious! The menu option is I believe vegan, however can be ordered (which is often encouraged by the wait staff) with a soft poached egg and chorizo.

After a short wait for a takeout coffee, we ambled back through the neighbourhood, talking on life and all such things through the eyes of a nine year old boy (which isn’t as naive as one might assume).

My weekend was spent enjoying my family.
My weekend was spent enjoying the company of my closest friends.
My weekend was spent in the spirit of laughter, community and consciousness.
My weekend was spent being embraced by the ocean.

So, unfortunately?
No, there wasn’t an unfortunate thing about it. In the immortal words of Jill Scott, I’m living my life like it’s golden.

Blessed!

Love, Charli

Let the tofu onslaught begin!

After making the incredibly limiting decision to forgo my usual decaf latte during a late night visit to a cafe and drink a 20oz Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks instead, I lay listlessly awake at 1am and had a crazy idea.

It’s not a new idea, as a quick Google search will indeed tell you, but friends – it was new to me.

As a prolific and avid user of social media and with friends in various communities throughout the internet, I am constantly being bombarded by horrific images and statistics explaining the detrimental effects that the meat processing industry has on our eco-system, the disgusting practices of mass pork production, the horrors of caged hen farming – usually this information comes in the form of an article shared directly on my Facebook feed, coupled with a video or image of this poor practice – reddit is a huge source for statistical information and BuzzFeed is sure to give you a quickfire education.

I am acquainted with a large number of people who proclaim to be either vegan or octo-lacto vegetarians. Mostly, they’re passionate people who are concerned for the well being of animals. And, that is totally cool.

But sometimes, it gets a bit preachy. I suppose that is why I take a lackadaisical approach to explaining my decisions to consume meat, poultry and animal byproducts. There isn’t a reason as to why I eat meat; I choose to because I think it is delicious. I am a huge fan of beef. I’m the guy cooking an entire eye fillet on the barbecue in the Summertime.

I do try to alleviate my guilt as a meat eater though as an apologist for the mass production of meat for my consumption, by purchasing meat, eggs & poultry from ethical farmers, local businesses to help booster the economy…but, I digress.

This intrusive thought I had a 1am? Well, I thought it would be a great idea to accept the Animal Liberation’s challenge to commit to a vegan diet for a 30 day period.

I know, I know. The general consensus is that I’m crazy. Most people have not been able to understand my motivation or reasoning for deciding to take on this challenge. To be perfectly honest, I’m not even sure why I want to do it, other than to be able to view the world for a short period of time through the eyes of my animal activist friends.

A concern that was highlighted to me over the past week also after socialising the idea with a few colleagues was that I would starve. I will make it implicitly clear that I am for all intents and purposes overweight currently, so there are some significant and positive health benefits that could also be realised through this experiment.

I think that there is this huge misconception about vegans, with people who are not acquainted with this ‘fringe’ of society (if you will), that they’re are this glum group of folks who subsist merely on flavourless tofu, almond milk and lentils. Funnily, during my search for meal plan inspiration I came across some amazing foodie blogs written by vegans, which shows that they are as passionate about dining as we carnivores are about a cut of beef actually being served rested, medium rare – if not more so.

I’m excited to be sharing my experiences through this process with you all. As a meat eater, obviously I am not trying to sway anyone in any direction – however as a curious person, I figured I would do some research on why choosing a vegan diet is a positive change. Check out the infographic below sourced from PETA.org – it makes for some pretty compelling reading!

Peace, Love & Chicken Grease,

Charli x