Vegan Banana Ice-Cream

Time for another skip tip! If you go skipping/ dumpster-diving a lot, you're bound to find lots of bananas. I love bananas. They're great in cereal and smoothies. Sometimes they can be brown and squishy and some people don't like that. But, don't throw them out! They're perfect and sweet like this for ice-cream!

Peel them and put them in a container, then place them in the freezer. And the next time you feel like some vegan ice-cream, simply put them in a blender with a few spoons of soy milk and blend it all up until it's smooth. You can also add some cinnamon, and even cocoa powder to make chocolate banana ice-cream, if you like!

- Dara

Skipping in Galway / Tips for New Skippers

I went skipping in Galway (Ireland) recently. I had lived there for years before I ever did any skipping, so it was nice to go back in my current mode and SKIP IT. I was there visiting a friend, so I brought him along and it was fun. We had no luck at first, even after scaling a wall into a supermarket back yard (normally this much effort is not necessary). However, upon hopping back over the wall to freedom, we ended up finding a whole plastic-bound package of milk cartons, in date. Presumably thrown over the supermarket wall by some kids or adults or just people. A strange happening, but my friend wanted milk for his tea so it worked out nicely. Though he got a little more than he bargained for (about 8 litres), and after some recent dairy-heavy skip hauls, I wasn't in the mood to help him out with its consumption.

We thought we'd have to be content with our milky lot, but decided to check out the back of one more shopping centre. After discovering several bags of raw meat, I realised I was probably in the wrong bin. 'This must be the butcher's bin,' I thought. More bags of meat. 'Yes, this is most certainly The Butcher's Bin.' I guess the people of Galway don't buy much meat, because it wall all in The Butcher's Bin. Anyway, after this deathly, fleshy encounter, I spied some lovely, clean supermarket bins - but in a cage, as often happens. Luckily, this one was bound with a loose chain & lock rather than a tight bolt & lock. So with some serious team work (arm-stretching from the front to pull the bin near us, and minor finger-pushing from behind through the small cage holes) we managed to gradually wheel it over to the gap between the cage doors. Because of the awkward positioning of the bin, and the small gap between the doors, I could only reach the stuff on top - which proved to be more than we could carry anyway. I foolishly brought some weak bin bags with me (you know, those white ones - good for nothing), which promptly broke and tore and spilled everywhere as soon as we filled them and reminded me of my own film, Hannah, in some kind of joke the universe was playing on me (I even had flowers to add to the coincidence, and dare-I-say irony, of it all - you'll see in the film). It was funny though, and the universe must be a sport because it all worked out and we managed to get home and of course it made the whole thing funnier and more enjoyable. Below is the haul we brought back. I made some delicious buns from the fruit, which you can read about in my next post.

  

If you haven't been skipping before and are considering it (great!) then I would recommend the following:

- Bring sturdy bags for skipping. Ideally an old backpack or gearbag. Bin bags are very unreliable and do not make for a stealthy getaway. (Fittingly, I just found a beautiful new backpack in a skip in Limerick, so that will be my regular from now on!)

- Bring a torch, pretty essential for night-time skipping (though I've used my phone in the past - not ideal)

- Keep looking. If you don't have luck at the first skip don't give up, there are plenty more skips in the sea, or city even. The right one for you is just around the corner.

- Always leave the bin as you found it. If you make a mess then it's likely they'll lock them up or hide them away next time. If you like being a spy then you can always pretend you're a spy on some kind of bin-related mission.

If you have any skipping questions, or would like to share some skipping locations and tips it would be cool to hear from you. Leave a comment with your email or just drop me a line here:

dara [at] fakedogfilms.com

- Dara

Soy Milk & Soy Bread

I've never been a big fan of soy milk. In fact I never tried it until last year. And when I tried it I thought, 'I was right. This is horrible and sweet and fake.' Then I read the ingredients. Horrible. I hate rubbish ingredients. Then, another time after that time, I saw some soy beans in an Indian shop. I decided to buy them. I realised, yes, I am going to make my own soy milk. And make it not-so-sweet or full of rubbish. Turns out, it's really easy.

Wash the soy beans and soak them overnight. The next day, give them a rinse and a drain. There is no need to cook them, we're going straight into the blender (yes, you need a blender for this one - apologies to the blender-deprived). So, what you do is blend up the soy beans with water - start with a 3:1 ratio of water:soy beans. Then strain off the liquid (with a sieve or some kind of filter paper if you're really posh - or a tea towel, that might work) into a pot. It should look white, like soy milk. Keep the solid soy bean mush left in the sieve/ paper/ tea towel/ whatever,  and pop it back in the blender for a second go. This time use maybe a 2:1 ratio. Repeat the straining, and go once again with a smaller bit of water, like 1:1. That's what I found to be a nice consistency. If you like it with a strong soy taste, use less water, or just use the first filtration.

Add some syrup (or sugar) to the pot of strained soy milk, depending on your preference. I find just a small bit of sweetener sets it off, but not too much. You can add salt if you like, but I don't like salt. Bring the mixture to the boil to pasteurise it (or something) and that's it! Give it a last strain if you like, when pouring it into a container, and keep it in the fridge. Delicious and refreshing. Now I can have cereal again!

But ah, what of that left-over soy mush? Well, that's what I was thinking. So I thought, what can I do with it? And I heard bread. Bread? Yes, bread. Put the soy mush in a bowl, add plenty brown flour (till you get a nice dough consistency), a dash or two of cider vinegar, yeast (follow the instruction on the packet), and a few glugs of oil. Also, I find adding some nutritional yeast flakes and bouillon to be quite nice. Or salt, if you like. Coat a baking dish with oil and then place the dough into it. Cover it (perhaps with a plate? A tea towel maybe?) and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, or as long as you can wait. I find the latter normally takes precedent. Then, place it into a pre-heated oven, at some kind of hot temperature. Cook it till it's done (stick a skewer in and see if it comes out clear) and then you're done.

And that's it. Some delicious, protein-rich soy bread to have with your soy milk! Nothing goes to waste. Sure isn't that better than rubbish soy milk in silvery box packets? The milk holds for about 3 - 5 days in the fridge, from my experience. And the bread, as long as you can hold off eating it.

- Dara