the autumn that was eaten by time

I suppose I owe an update. I started a new job in late August at Seattle's Crisis Clinic. I like my job, especially the folks I work with, but it has me plastered to a computer and telephone most days. As such, I'm not much for coming home and spending my free time in front of a screen. Rest assured, I have been cooking and baking and, yes, I have been eating. The holidays rushed by and we made batches and batches of cookies, cake, and appetizers. Of course, I have no pictures to show, save one. But while I may not have documented just what we made, ate, and gave away, I'd still like to touch on a few events that stood out for me in the last few months of 2007 (naturally, all food related.)

the greatest cookbook of all time

Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero made this world a better place with the unveiling of Veganomicon. It's as if Vegan With a Vengeance and the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook had a beautiful, fuss-free baby. Thus far, I can highly recommend the Caesar Salad with Roasted Garlic Croutons, the Black Bean Burgers (even better after a spell in the freezer--how many recipes can you say that about?!), Roasted Eggplant and Spinach Muffuletta Sandwich, Black Bean Vegetable Soup, Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe with Rotelle, and the Pumpkin Crumb Cake. Absolutely amazing. So far, I've also given away two copies as gifts. If you knew what was good for you, you'd get yourself this book too.

I don't have pictures because I was too damn busy cooking, but Thanksgiving was, to put it lightly, an event. My parents in their first holiday season as vegans, were slated to cook Thanksgiving Dinner for 35 people. Chris and I were put to work. We were like a well-oiled machine. A very messy, flustered well-oiled machine with 35 guests milling around us while we put the finishing touches on a huge feast. It wasn't, unfortunately, entirely vegan or even vegetarian. There was a turkey or two and a few potluck dishes here and there that made their way to the buffet. Some of my aunts and uncles pitched in with herbivore dishes, but mostly we banged out a pretty, pretty, pretty good selection of dishes: 2 sorts of stuffing--one with Gimme Lean and the usual mix of veggies, one with herbed croutons, dried cranberries, dried blueberries and pistachios, pumpkin seed crusted tempeh, fresh cranberry relish, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, homemade rolls, green bean casserole, cheesecake with raspberry sauce, pumpkin pie with candied pecans, and peanut butter silk pie. And probably some other things that I'm forgetting. It was a helluva lot of food and people. But by now, feeding a crowd is second nature to us (almost.)

The day after Thanksgiving, my grandma, Corriene, turned 85. She is partially responsible for the onslaught of relatives that my holidays become--she has six children and countless grandchildren (and, for that matter, 12 stepchildren and more countless grandchildren.) She is an incredible lady whom I've mentioned once or twice before. She raised lots of kids, fed them well, made their clothing, and taught them to be stand-up people. But that's what you can expect from my grandmother.

Here's my dad blowing out the candles on a cake that my grandma undoubtedly made for his birthday. Like most large families, food was always a focal point at gatherings. Her 85th was no disappointment; we converged after having eaten our guts out the day before and rose to the challenge of doing it one more time, just for grandma. My dad put together a slide show of old pictures (like the one above) and it ran in the background while everyone ate, drank, and sat a little too close together.

Here are her first five children all lined up for a holiday snapshot. I didn't make it home for Christmas this year, spending it instead with the in-laws. A small, quiet day for the most part--a nice change of pace from dozens of relatives, though I did miss being at home with my folks. Chris and I, as is the norm, baked up a crazy mess of treats to shuttle around to our friends, mail to other states, and take piles in to our respective jobs. We made chocolate chip cookies, pistachio baklava, soft molasses cookies, oatmeal jam thumbprints, fig bars, and sugar cookies. We ate more than our share of sweets and still had leftovers!

You may be thinking this is all heresy. Flimsy claims to have made all this food with no photos to back them up. Well, then. I was able to snap a photo of a dessert made for some lovely friends' "Boozy After-Holiday Extravaganza." We were subjected to lots of delicious vegan desserts, lots of, you guessed it, booze, and lots of friends. It was a fine evening. My contribution was a tiramisu, procured from the pages of the Candle Cafe cookbook and tweaked to suit my own tastes.


Layers of sponge cake drenched in coffee and rum, vegan mascarpone, cocoa powder and chocolate curls for good measure. And it sat perfectly on a lovely tray that was a gift from my bestest gal.

Now, don't expect much from this small gesture of a post--moving apartments is in the works for the next few days and being in transit doesn't make for very elaborate dinners or desserts. We'll only be moving a few blocks away and one of the most exciting bits of our new apartment: a full-size oven. Take that, tiny little stove! Unfortunately, this will be my first apartment without a bit of space on a deck where I can grow some greenery. In homage to my garden and in commemoration of the oncoming shorter days and (bit by bit) warmer weather, I'll give you one more photo of my last little heirloom tomatoes (two of just a few that made it out alive) from this summer.


(For a couple 2007 recaps that are a little more thought out than the previous, see Democracy Now! and Feministing. Happy 2008!)