Jul 2019 – ROOTING ABOOT: Voyage to Veganism

The Cake Fridge & Tea Room, Roadside, East Burrafirth, Shetland Islands

https://www.facebook.com/The-Cake-Fridge-Shetland-1930633410580496/

On a pleasant green hillside with wild flowers blooming all around, there resides The Cake Fridge & Tea Room on the west coast of the Shetland mainland. Newly opened, it’s an old croft house sympathetically converted into a beautiful tearoom that has VEGAN FOOD AND CAKES. Just thought I’d highlight that important point.

In the tearoom they offer freshly made vegan cheese sandwiches, a good selection of quality teas and their own ground coffee served in cafetieres so you get more than one cup’s worth – my kind of place. We opted to sample some of the vegan cakes made daily on the premises. Both chocolate and toffee cake looked so good we wanted a taste of each as demonstrated in the photo. These cakes satisfied my sweet tooth no end.

They also have a 24-hour cake fridge outside the tearoom. People passing by can stop and pick up some homemade cakes on their way home and leave the money in an honesty box – the beauty of island life. I guess you’re beginning to understand that Shetlanders love their fancies.

Nearby is the waterfall at the Burn of Lunklet (well worth a visit).

Watch out for trowes (Shetland trolls): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trow_(folklore)

In a little field, just by the tearoom, are two bonny little goats so stop and say hello. But be warned, the sweetie pie below is the friendly one. The other goat is a grumpy so-and-so.

‘Rub a bit more behind the ear if you don’t mind.’

Beach Clean at Mavis Grind, Northmavine, Shetland Islands

Since I was encouraging everyone else to try the 2Minute Beach Clean, I thought I’d better do one myself. And what better place than Shetland? Shetlanders are already pretty good at this type of thing. Every year, about April time, they hold Da Voar Redd Up that sees over 20% of the population do a gargantuan litter pick around the beaches, coastline and roadsides. No mean feat.

https://www.shetlandamenity.org/da-voar-redd-up

The litter here was mainly plastic rope and bottle tops.

We picked a pebbled beach at Mavis Grind (which translates as ‘the gate on the narrow isthmus’) situated in the north mainland. This is where the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea are but a stone’s throw away from each other. It was used as a shortcut up until the 1950s when men would drag their boats from one side to the other.

https://www.shetland.org/plan/areas/north-mainland

I have a confession to make. The 2Minute Beach Clean turned into twenty odd minutes because we became like magpies and couldn’t stop. Like true Shetlanders we rewarded our hard work with a well-brewed flask of tea and the infamous big biscuits sourced from a local bakery.

2Minute Beach Clean

https://www.beachclean.net

If you like to stroll along the beach with the wind in your hair, can I interest you in the #2minuteBeachClean?

With summer here (allegedly), it’s great to smell the salty ocean and feel the sand in between your toes without having to navigate through piles of plastic rubbish.

Don’t get angry about it, use that valuable energy to get active and constructive. Just take a bag and pick up for two minutes. If every beach visitor did this, can you imagine the impact?

This has become a global movement and it can make such a difference. Check out their Instagram account here and post the fruits of your labour for the world to see:

https://www.instagram.com/2minutebeachclean/

Rooting Aboot’s Banana Bread

How can you bake without eggs? Pretty easily as it turns out. This banana bread is smashing with a cup of tea. Add some nuts or chocolate chips to this recipe. Go on. Knock yourself out.

2 very ripe, soft mushy bananas

75g Pure Dairy Free Sunflower Spread

100g brown sugar

225g Self-Raising flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

Heat the oven to 200ºC / Gas Mark 6 / 400F

Grease an 18cm x 7cm metal loaf tin and put some greaseproof paper in the base of it.
In a bowl, mash the bananas up until they are runny.
Melt the sunflower spread gently in a pan and add the brown sugar. Let the sugar completely dissolve.
Pour this sugary sunflower spread into the bowl with the bananas and give it a good stir.
Then add sifted self-raising flour and baking powder.
Combine well, but don’t overdo – it should have a thick consistency.
Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin evenly.
Bake in the centre of the oven for twenty minutes solid. Then take it out and cover the top with tinfoil and bake for another ten to twenty minutes until it’s cooked (depending on your oven). Keep checking every ten minutes.
Test with a skewer at all the above stages. If the skewer comes out clean then it’s baked properly.

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