What…? But You Said You Were Vegan…

Yep… I BBQ too…

Why is it that people think that when you’re vegan, you don’t BBQ? Obviously from this blog, it’s evident that I absolutely love BBQ-ing! So, tonight, what did we have for dinner? Yup BBQ. 🙂

What was on the menu tonight? Oh my goodness gracious me, it was super yummy! Ooops I digress… mouth was having a quick flash-back to dinner… 

Ooops… Was so hungry I almost forgot to take a photo for you all!

Acorn squash, round zucchini, onion wedges, sweet corn on the cob, potatoes (lightly spiced and cooked in aluminium foil with a bit of vegan butter), and vegan burgers. I flavoured the acorn squash with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder with butter and started off with cooking it in the aluminium foil – but the foil kept opening so thought “sod this” and took them out the foil and put them direct on the grill – best thing about that was the butter had almost all melted so poured it over the squash ummmm. I did pretty much the same with everything else (spice-wise) except adding paprika to the potatoes, onions and zucchini with the addition of smoked paprika to the onions. With the burgers, I did the same spice (omitting the smoked paprika) and then added chipotle BBQ sauce over top. Oh yaah… 

But alas… what would our blog post be without at least one “issue”? Today we picked up a bag of charcoal and Ben doused the coals in lighter fluid, but not everything took! So it took another good dousing before we had a good fireball and the coals finally took. Even Jack had a chuckle as I explained the “issues” we’ve been having with this BBQ! BUT… it finally caught and we got to cooking – although Ben was fretful that we’d not be having dinner tonight. 

One of the highlights was when I came out the vardo and spotted Billy the goat up round our neighbour Ron’s rig and said “Hello Billy” and he came trotting over to me at rather high speed. First thought “Oh shit! Is he going to attack?!!” With a picnic table and BBQ between us, I had a quick thought of backtracking at a relative high speed back up the steps into the vardo. But no, he was just happy to see me and eager to come for his scratch. I guess I’ve felt a bit comforted having a natter with them all while they’re in their pens with a fence between us. But a goat on the loose high trotting it over for a visit…

Vegan candy being sold at Walmart – and only $1!!!

He’s a damn smart cookie though as he realised that he was not able to get round to me with a table and BBQ in between us, so I told him to walk round the table and BBQ and he totally listened to me! Came for a quick scratch behind the ears and then proceeded to munch on the Nopales cactus right behind the picnic table.  Jack came over for a quick visit with Cleo (who I’d been erroneously Chloe) and I told him about Billy’s rushing over to visit and he told me that he only does that with people he knows and likes. Yep… I beamed. Billy the goat likes me! 😀

Even says “VEGAN” right there on the packet! It’s kind of like Starburst candy, but not quite.

Popped up to Anthem today to hit-up Walmart and while we’re checking out, Ben picks up a packet of sweets and gets all excited and exclaims “WOW! These are vegan – even say’s it right there on the packet…!” That’s a pretty big thing for Walmart! Noticed it first with the new packet of Earth Balance (butter), but it’s still a novelty.

If I thought simply wearing hijab to Walmart out here brought out people staring, wearing full abaya (long dress) and hijab brings people to a literal mouth-gaping-open standstill… C’mon, I wore my nicest abaya today and all – they must have been mesmerized by the beautiful designs over it… 😉

It was a rather uneventful day all-in-all other than getting up to “the big smoke”, an incredibly delicious BBQ dinner, and Billy the goat near making me pee my pants with momentary thoughts of being mauled by a goat… But while I love it out here, and Billy the goat is a huge anchor (ha!), I’ve been feeling my feet itching… Ready to move on to the next destination and adventure… Could be the heat getting to me or has the wind changed direction and it’s calling deep within my soul…?