When I went to make the Italian Sausages from Skye Micheal Conroy’s Seitan And Beyond I’d already made a few recipients from the book. I’d even made a few different versions of hand rolled, steamed sausages. I thought it was going to be easy. Even after I read the introduction that said they where going to be extremely wet. I thought I knew what to expect.

Yeah okay, it all went wrong. The theme of today’s post is flops after all. It was wetter than wet. I don’t know if it was my vital wheat gluten or the extremely humid weather. It definitely wasn’t my fault, I’m never wrong. But I still managed to scoop some of the really gross, wet dough up and pop it on a square of foil. Then I started to roll. And I guess I took my frustration out on the rolling process. It exploded a little.

Okay, so I ended up with seitan dough on the other side of the room. On the radiator, on the wall, in the carpet. All over the kitchen counters too. By the time I rolled the wet dough into six fat sausages and sat them in the steamer the splatters had already dried like concrete onto everything. Thank god the sausages were delicious.

They taste amazing. I wanted something a bit like the Tofurkey Italian Sausages only without chilli because Kate complains about spice. They hit the spot. They’re fantastic on pizza or chopped up on pasta when you need a low effort meal. I just follow my instincts now when it comes to hydration levels.

So I had a great very detailed post planned today. Unfortunately it was on tomorrow’s theme. I mixed up the order. And then I was busy today. I’m starting a craft group at work and then I had work in the afternoon. Basically it all went wrong. But I did have a great time knitting and drinking a green smoothie.

Life on the vegan internet in the last twelve months has been all ‘impossible’ this and ‘no bull’ that it’s just not that easy to feel deprived. I work at a vegan coffee shop but as far as we can work it out (we don’t quiz anyone or anything) most of our customers aren’t vegan. Most of them will stop short of ordering the facon (fake bacon, naturally) but they’re happy with the oat milk coffees and even the melted mozzarella-style Violife. Especially since we’ve switched to the gorgeous, silky, and fabulously foamable Minor Figures. (I remain awful at latte art.)

In my personal life there is one person who is the ultimate litmus test for the mainstream acceptance of vegan food. My Dad has typical northern working class taste buds. Pie, full English breakfast, and roast dinner on a Sunday. Last year though when we were on holiday Kate was too full to finish her Taifun hot dog. My Dad looked at it, put a puzzled expression on his face, and bit into it. “That’s just like a hot dog.”

So this one is dedicated to my Dad. One vegan Tofu Weiner, on a baguette with chilli and a sprinkle of Violife.