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?



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.

 This is my sis modeling her new Boston Terrier socks I got her. Totally got myself a pair too. That always happens when I buy her gifts.


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.




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.


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.

It's a tradition we have in our little two-person family that we celebrate all special occasions, including but most importantly birthdays, with Ethiopian food. Our favorite restaurant is in New Jersey where we used to live, so we make the trek out there every once in a while. Now, to go over two tolled NY State bridges, through the Garden State Parkway, and whatever godforsaken traffic said obstacles may be withholding, that's got to be some damn good food. Believe me -- it is that good. We make a thing of it and get appetizers, eat every last bite on the platter, get Ethiopian coffee, and vegan chocolates. They are also BYOB, so we bring a couple bottles of red wine and yeah, like I said, make a thing of it.


Now, while photographs of Ethiopian food may not be magazine-cover status, the taste of it is way better than anything that has every graced the cover of Bon Appetit. This is especially true at Mesob Restaurant in Montclair, New Jersey. I have eaten at dozens of Ethiopian restaurants in several different states including legendary DC and PA. Mesob still wins. This is the best food. Ever.


We went to Mesob on the weekend before my birthday, which fell on a Tuesday, and the hassle of getting to and from Mesob on a weeknight is pretty impossible. So on my actual birthday, Alex cooked! It's really cute to see this super learned almost doctor get so flustered and confused by tasks that I complete on the reg. It makes me feel powerful. Anyway, he did a great job. He followed the recipe for New England Glam Chowder from Isa Does It, and lucky for him I always make notes in the margins of anything confusing or what I thought worked or suggestions for next time, such as "salt!" or "put nori in the blender," because I could see him literally losing his mind trying to crumble nori by hand. It came out great and we adorned it with handfuls of oyster crackers.


Surprise! He made me cupcakes! Baby's first cupcake! Also the first cupcake I ate that I didn't make or buy! They were perfect. The best birthday cupcakes I could ask for.


We put the cupcakes on the table in lieu of bread or whatever you dip in your glam chowder. Just kidding, we didn't dip our cupcakes in it. That would be gross.


The following weekend I made a meal that we lovingly refer to as "Italian Dinner." The plate is divided into quadrants. It always has meetballs, pasta, greens with beans, and caesar salad. It comes with breadsticks and red wine. As uncustomizable as I have just made it sound, I changed it ever-so-slightly this time, by making the tempeh meetballs from Isa Does It, instead of my usual recipe. I also made the beans with a ton of arugula my Italian customer gave me from his garden. This time I made the sauce how his father makes it. It was on point. I was inducted into this family when I was taught the secret to his success this summer. My Italian food game is at an all-time high.


The day after I made this dinner I got really sick, and decided I am going raw. I always say I'm going raw forever after I get sick. Rt4? Compromise? Who's to say... Oh look! Almond Butter!


KZ Passing out now.