The Icing on my Cake

I wrote a love song over half a decade ago called “The Icing on my Cake”. It’s a sweet little ditty (pardon the pun!!) that doesn’t fit for MC Pony and also isn’t ‘commercial’ enough to use for pitching to other artists. But I still wanted to share it somehow, and with today being Valentine’s Day it seemed appropriate timing to release this particular track into the world.

The lyrical theme references a lot of different sweet treats, and I thought that a video featuring delicious vegan desserts from around the world would be a great way to add visuals to the song. I approached Kristin Lajeunesse of Will Travel for Vegan Food to see if she could provide footage from some of her escapades and I’m so grateful to say that she not only did she agree straight away but she was also available to compile and edit the video as well! Enormous thanks to Kristin on the stellar job she has done – I’m so thrilled with it!

Here it is, “The Icing on my Cake”:

The above link is from my YouTube channel, and the video is also available at facebook.com/veganthused

You might be wondering, given it’s not an MC Pony track, whose beautiful vocals are included on the recording – well, a dear friend has recorded it as a favour to me but has requested anonymity as it’s not in her usual style as an artist! However, you are certainly allowed to know where all the wonderful food is from – here is an alphabetical list of all the establishments. If no location is identified then it’s based here in Sydney, Australia. Also, some of the venues appear more than once in the video.

• Back to Eden Bakery (Portland, Oregon)
• Brammibul’s Donuts (Berlin, Germany)
• Bunny Cups
• Cafe Mu (Istanbul, Turkey)
• Cafe Vux (Berlin, Germany)
• Gelato Blue
• Giapo (Auckland, NZ)
• Glazed Coffee (Brighton, UK)
• Ice Queen Gelato (Athens, Greece)
• Infinity Kitchen (Brighton, UK)
• Juicebaby (London, UK)
• Koffie ende Koek (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• La Stella Nera (Berlin, Germany)
• Lalele Organic (Auckland, NZ)
• Little Bird Organics & The Unbakery (Auckland, NZ)
• LN Fortunate Coffee (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
• Love Raw (Tauranga, NZ)
• MAKER/My Little Panda Kitchen
• MAKER/Rhubarb Bakes
• MAKER/That Vegan Lady
• MAKER/Treat Dreams
• Marwood Coffee Shop (Brighton, UK)
• MC Pony’s Parlour 😉
• Meatless District (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• “Milk Bar” (Aegina Island, Greece)
• Moment Cafe (Prague, Czech Republic)
• MyRaw (Prague, Czech Republic)
• Rootcandi (Brighton, UK)
• Signor Verde (Cologne, Germany)
• Tart Bakery (Auckland, NZ)
• The Plant Room (Brighton, UK)
• Vantra (London, UK)
• Vege Pizza (Poznań, Poland)
• Vietnamese street food
• Voodoo Doughnut (Portland, Oregon)
• Wild One Whole Foods Eatery (Mt. Maunganui, NZ)

Full credits for the video:

• Icing on my Cake written by Elizabeth Usher
• Vocals – A talented friend!
• Programming & guitar – Andrew Covell
• Song produced by Andrew Covell and Elizabeth Usher
• Mastering by Kathy Naunton, dB Mastering
• Video filmed and edited by Kristin Lajeunesse (wtfveganfood.com)
• Additional footage supplied by Elizabeth Usher
• © Veganthused 2017 All Rights Reserved

A word about love and Valentine’s Day

It’s important to acknowledge that there are a lot of negatives associated with Valentine’s Day… for example, it is clearly an over-commercialised event and it also can be a depressing or uncomfortable day for someone who is perhaps not single by choice, feels trapped in a relationship they would rather leave, or whose relationship/s in some way don’t fit expectations placed upon them by society/family/acquaintances.

I’m quite lucky/privileged in the respect that I don’t ever have to fear that someone might react negatively to finding out that I’m in a long-term, monogamous, heterosexual relationship. Really, the only uncomfortable responses TGO & I have ever had to deal with over the years have been from people who seemed to feel it was their duty to urge us to get married and/or have children together!

However, many friends and extended-family members sadly even in 2017 are at risk of facing negative reactions and indeed open hostility or aggression simply for how they conduct their personal (consensual) relationships – or even because they’re deliberately not in a ‘significant other’ type relationship.
For anyone looking for support in this area, this ReachOut list of services is aimed at young people but does include links to national services open for all ages: http://au.reachout.com/lgbtiq-support-services

A sweet tooth who’s off sugar

Somewhat ironically, for someone who not only has a major ‘sweet tooth’ but is also putting out a video centred around vegan desserts, I have been basically ‘off sugar’ since the start of October last year. I was taking it a month at a time for a while, but come New Year’s I made a resolution to stick with it for all of 2017, and so far I’ve held surprisingly firm. So, I am feasting with only my eyes on these wonderful treats – would you care to join me?