December 27, 2013
Holiday Mashup
December 27, 2013Alex and I grew up in the same city, so we go back together for Christmas every year. I'm super Polish, as you may know, and so the Chr...
Alex and I grew up in the same city, so we go back together for Christmas every year. I'm super Polish, as you may know, and so the Christmas Eve celebration is called Wigelia, and this year it was my family's turn to host. That means I got to cook mostly everything. We've started a tradition of making our own pierogis, golabkis, and potato latkes. My mom and I tackle them together, but for the past couple years, we've had Jessica to help too! She always keeps the process interesting and light. Plus making pierogis for 20-something people is kind of a 3-person job anyways. My dad made us soynog cocktails while we stuffed and pinched our pierogis, so it was a family affair.
The traditional filling is Kapusta, a polish fermented sauerkraut sautéed with onion, garlic, mushrooms, and spices. This is a favorite, but we make mashed potato-filled pierogis too, and they are pretty popular. So the jury is still out. Winning pierogi, TBA.
Pierogi warriors, hard at work.
Doing it live.
My mom handling the potato latke flipping station
The day after Christmas, we drove out to Providence, RI, primarily for pizza. We gathered all the vegans we knew and busted through the doors demanding the spiciest, craziest, out-of-control vegan pizza they could make us.
Quaint.
YUP.
We got a buffalo/BBQ swirl pizza with vegan chicken strips. We also loved the cheese, which wasn't daiya or any shredded mix, it seemed like a housemade spread sort of cheese. It wasn't too tangy, but the perfect backdrop to pizza -- what your average vegan pizza lacks.
We meandered the streets of Providence, perused many record stores, and scanned shelves of used book stores. We got back to the car, snow-covered and flush with vinyl and used books. We stopped in Pawtucket on our way out of town at Wildflour bakery, an all-vegan bakery and juice bar. I loved it so much I bought 4 things for myself. I shared a little. But not that much. This mexican hot chocolate cupcake was the first thing to catch my eye. I really love when you get a mexican hot chocolate-flavored thing and you can actually taste the chile. I HATE it when you want some spicy ass chocolate and you bite into it, and wait for the heat. And nothing comes. COME ON people, give me some heat. I would not have ordered mexican hot chocolate anything if I didn't want any heat. So anyways, this cupcake did not lack in heat. The heat was brought. Good job.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie. Enough has been said. In fact, too much.
Alex and I grabbed brunch at our favorite spot in Northampton, the Green Bean, on our last day in town. Alex picked his coffee mug wisely. I chose a Minnie Mouse one, but really should have gotten one with a message about threatening someone who is messing with you before you've had your coffee, or something to that effect.
On my last night in town, the girls and I made Ethiopian food together, per Jessica's request. It was perfect. I miss them<33
The second I was back in NYC, I made ravioli using the new pan I got for Christmas. These are stuffed with a pumpkin-roasted garlic-roasted cauliflower filling. They came out pretty awesome.
I made a sauce using caramelized onions, garlic, white wine and nooch. I sprinkled it with toasted pine nuts and some extra roasted cauliflower. It came out perfect!
I was thinking about leaving you with the recipe, but really, who is reading this that is not my mom? Mom, you're not going to make your own pasta dough. Plus, I kind of just threw all this together. And if you do want the recipe, comment and I'll post it. Or if you're savvy, you can wing it and it will be awesome.
