January 04, 2015
Holiday in New England and Other Events
January 04, 2015It's already post-Christmas and New Years and I am behind on my documentation of it. We celebrated Christmas with our families in New...
It's already post-Christmas and New Years and I am behind on my documentation of it. We celebrated Christmas with our families in New England, as usual. I did lots, perhaps too much, cooking in preparation for Wigilia on Christmas Eve and for our meal on Christmas day. I got lazy and only took a few pictures, but at least I remembered to take some. Enjoy this photo montage of all the stuff I made.
These are golabkis, little Polish burritos, with a cabbage tortilla and lentil filling.
After you roll them up, you cover them in a tomato sauce and bake them. They were pretty easy to make. They were the first thing I made, so maybe I just had more steam and they felt easy. Who's to say.
Every year for the past several, my mom and I have been making our own pierogis to bring with us to Wilgilia. My dad took a few action shots for us demonstrating the process.
I wish I had taken pictures of the final ones. We had a ton. Also my crimping skills are on point.
I made my mother-in-law these gluten-free carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting! I am no expert at gluten-free baking and I definitely had some trouble with these cupcakes, but she still enjoyed them anyway. I will perfect my recipe for next time. Anybody have a solid gluten-free carrot cake recipe they swear by?
My mom requested my pumpkin and cranberry risotto this year. I love making risotto but I feel like I never make it anymore. I have a special designated risotto pan and it's in a hard-to-grab spot in my kitchen. Perhaps this is the reason. Anyhow, this was my favorite risotto I've made yet with lots of pumpkin, cranberries and fresh rosemary. I also added a lot of fresh sage and thyme. It's always Alex's job to pick the thyme leaves off the stem. It's backbreaking but it's necessary.
This is my plate at Wigilia. Pierogis, potato pancakes, risotto, golabkis, roasted veggies, and this really good kale salad my cousin Sarah made. Oh, and Wisniowka. I threw a few of those back quick. I had been cooking for 40 hours, so I figured it was in order.
I made some stuffing for Christmas Day, along with some mashed potatoes and gravy. Also some chickpea cutlets and roasted veggies, all unfortunately not pictured.
Last, I made this cake. It's an "eggnog" cake, but I always use silk nog and it tastes great and no one has any clue or cares that it's vegan because it's so good. It's also so easy.
Our Christmas morning spread: leftover eggnog cake (I made 3...) gingerbread cookies, chopped pineapple and assorted pears. Pears are key.
A couple days after Christmas we drove back to New York with Alex's dad and his girlfriend. They usually visit annually so it was nice to walk around with them. His Dad likes to visit the Times Square Area, especially after or around the holidays. Most New Yorkers would never be caught dead there, and I am inclined to agree with them, but in the spirit of the holidays and for the sake of my family wanting to see it all, we stepped slowly in a mob of people waiting to see the tree and ice rink.
There it is -- the quintessential Ice Skating Rink that is the reason so many people come to visit this city at all. But if only they knew about Roberta's Pizza...
Come on, you're not going to go all the way out there and take baby steps in foot traffic for 5 hours and NOT take any pictures. Here's us being cute without privacy.
The next day we got Roberta's with our friend Lauren from Cake Thieves and enjoyed life once more.
After pizza, we stopped at Dr. Cow and picked up some fancy cheese. I have been meaning to try their cheese for a while now, and I'm glad I did because it is great.
The kind I picked was cashew, kale, chili and tomato flavored. I chose this wedge from the case after painstakingly staring at all of the cheeses desperate for a decision. I impulsively landed on this one once it was my turn to order. There were smaller wedges and many different flavors but I had a gift card, and what better way to spend it than splurge on vegan fancy cheese?
It's not that I need to be having wine and cheese parties -- It's that I can. I shared this cheese with my lovely vegan friends and would love to try some other kinds too, though this one was great. When I one day host a vegan wine and cheese party I will find that sommelier who told me I "just could never understand the finer things in life" and tell him he's particularly not invited to my special party with artisan cheese. And wine from the corner store. Because I can't understand the finer things in life.
