Charlie Brown

I don't have time for much right now. Work is keeping me busy. However, last night we did decorate our tree since it was the Winter Solstice, and we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. I love this cartoon. This year I got db the dvd because...yes it's true...we only had a rough VHS copy from years ago when db had taped it from tv. It was so nice to watch the dvd copy!

Christmas (cat themed) photos

Some people say that Christmas is for the kids, but here in whoville it is for the cats.

We had a little snow Christmas day. db and I went for a walk around dusk and headed further up the hill so we'd have a little more snow. The higher elevation makes just a little difference and up higher the snow was less slushy. We have several cat decorations on the tree. I like this one in particular because Gigi has a very similar basket that she sleeps in.

Svetlana marked the top of the tree. We've done this in the past, but this year it seemed all the more appropriate that she should be with us at Christmas in this way.
Prima amongst the snowflake garland.
Gigi attacks the snowflake garland. She's been doing this since I pulled it out of the box. I picked her up and she brought the garland with her, continuing her attack.

I taped the Newcastle/Derby game. Gigi watched some of it with me.
Then she got involved in the game.

what does a vegan do for Christmas?

...well I eat of course. We vegans are just like everybody else stuffing ourselves silly.

here is what I've been up to:

• Christmas eve day I worked part of the day and then was let off early (woohoo!).
• Christmas eve we had friends to dinner. They brought a very rare bottle of a Super Tuscan wine we've never had (db help me out with the details of it). db and I served (well db gets most of the credit since I was at work while he cooked): mushroom, basil & pinenut bruschetta, homemade squash and mushroom lemon pepper ravioli with tomato sauce, mixed green salad with pomegranate mustard vinaigrette, and noel nog/kahlua truffles for dessert. It was our best ravioli ever.
  
• Christmas day. I slept in. We had more of a brunch than breakfast with a tall noel nog latte, bagels and Sheese (i'll explain Sheese later), biscotti, fresh pineapple, and panforte (too much sugar probably but it's Christmas!).
• Later that day...I lounged and knit while watching Miracle on 34th street.
  
• Still later...we prepped dinner by marinating mushrooms and veg for our completely raw Christmas feast of carrot and parsnip fettucine with pumpkin seed and chile pesto served with Portabello carpaccio and mushroom ceviche (we really like mushrooms). With this we had a simple salad with asparagus and a light creamy dill dressing. db served a Chateauneuf du Pape (oh my gravy it was good!). More truffles were eaten later that evening while watching It's a Wonderful Life.
  
• Boxing Day! No shopping! Yay! We ferried over to Nanaimo to see my step-dad who gave us our gift:

This is the ultimate text on identifying mushrooms. Being a beautiful sunny day, we went for a walk in a nearby park and ended up poking around the forest floor digging up various mushrooms. I had no idea there was such a variety. We froze our fingers carrying these things back to pw's car. It was worth it. In no time I was searching for mushroom characteristics and getting pretty good at identifying with much guidance from pw. As he said "I have no excuse now" to keep me from going out and foraging for my own chanterelles.

I guess there was a bit of a mushroom theme to Christmas. They are divine aren't they.?

I'm back to work but let's not go there now and ruin the fun I've had.

it's here!

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm a little late I know but I do hope everyone had a nice holiday.

Yes it's here. The ultimate vegan cookbook (hey that's part of the title!) arrived under the tree (yes, we did say "no gifts". db and I did hold up the bargain, but we both know each other just that well to know that the other would buy one thing). Here it is. I will sing it's praises only after I've tried some recipes, but I've read through a good chunk of it and I have to start singing praises now because it is an entertaining read as well. If you've ever ventured over to the post punk kitchen blog you'll know what I mean.
For now you can see some pictures if you click here.

More later.

Christmas wish

True, my family doesn't really buy gifts for each other at Christmas. We sort of stopped that a while ago. We do make gifts for each other though or we do something like give the gift of a wine press so that we can make something in the future. There's been donations and adopt-a-chimp gifts and I think all of us have made each other something at some point (I apologize to family members for my early knitted socks before I knew how to really make them).

Nonetheless I'm taking the pledge because there is a gift here and there that I might buy (if I can't make it in time) and with Circle Craft coming up I may find a little something there for sis or whoever. I guess the point is if you have to buy, buy handmade.