Sun 9th Nov.

Why do one’s teenage children never tell you when they’ve used the last of something? Words fail to describe the disappointment I feel when I come to mix maple syrup into this morning’s quinoa flake porridge with chopped dates, only to find that Sally has left only a pathetic dribble. I have to use sugar instead. It’s not the same. Actually, it’s still very nice and I get over it quite quickly.

We head for the Remembrance Day parade in town, as Nick is a Scout. After dropping him at the scout hut, I go and wait in a cafe for the parade to start. Once again, to my delight, I don’t need to use my own soya milk in coffee as it is cheerfully provided. Thank you, Tea and Times of Whitstable. It’s starting to feel almost too easy, this Vegan lark. I’d thought that expecting any kind of decent catering on leaving the house was just too fanciful, but so far it’s been fine. Mind you, I haven’t tried to eat out yet, apart from the Chinese takeaway. With such thoughts in mind, I do ring home to advise Sally to make herself some sandwiches before going out for most of the day to the cinema and rehearsals. I know she’ll just eat chips otherwise.

I nip into Somerfield while I’m in town to get Bourbons for Sally and posh biscuits (which I won’t be able to eat) for coffee morning at my house tomorrow.

My lunch consists of the Beanfeast pate on toast and raw carrot. Yes, I know, I do eat a lot of raw carrots. I may be wrong, but I’m convinced they have magical cold-staving-off properties. This is based on the fact that when Nick was pre-school age, he and I used to eat them most days at lunchtime and we hardly ever got colds whilst Paul and Sally did. Hardly scientific research, but I’m unwavering in my conviction. Luckily, we’ve never turned orange either. Anyway, the pate is good. Sally liked it too the other day, so I’ll be getting more of that, despite the expense. I did notice from the label though that it contains soya protein. Is there no escape from the ubiquitous soya?

We don’t really go in for a big traditional Sunday meal. My reasoning is that as I cook proper meals all week, it’s nice to have a break at the weekend and prepare something easier. This often means something like Quorn burger and oven chips. However, we have a busy week of dashing about to technical and dress rehearsals, not to mention actual performances, next week, so I want to save the easy meals for then. I decide, therefore, to give the vegetables in satay sauce (inspired by the Animal Aid website) a whirl tonight. It’s very simple and doesn’t take long. We have it with (egg-free) noodles. Well, I enjoy it. Sally eats it all but declares it “a bit too creamy”; and Nick positively dislikes it, on the - not unreasonable - grounds that he isn’t all that keen on peanuts. Oh well, at least it was a soya-free zone.

On to tomorrow’s lunchboxes. If it’s Monday it must be Marmite. Sorted.