Amy's Breakfast Burritos

These burritos are amazing. They are filled with a delicious mix of tiny tofu cubes, beans, and yummy, not too spicy sauce. You just pop them in the microwave for 2 minutes and viola! Instant dinner. They're around $3.00 a burrito, and are very filling. I suggest eating them with some Sour Supreme.

Grandmothers

My grandmother is crazy. When I got married she had a hard time with a few of the details. First, she couldn't quite get over the fact that the ceremony not only was not in a church, but was not officiated by someone with any religious affiliation. Then, she couldn't understand that I kept my name (I didn't even both trying to explain that I go by Ms.). To that end, she has addressed every card she has sent to me since my marriage to "Mrs. Giancarlo Lastname." I can't tell if it's a passive agressive attempt at forcing my conformity or if she just truly does not understand. I've spoken to her about it several times, but she just looks at me with a blank stare. It's kind of ridiculous.

Anyway, I think that it's utterly ridiculous that women are expected to change their entire identity when they get married. I just can't get behind that.

Vegetable Pancakes

Pier made vegetable pancakes for dinner. She chopped peppers, onions, potatoes, celery, and carrots and then added a small amount of flour and fried them up. They're very similar to potato pancakes or latkes, but with a variety of vegetables. Needless to say they are delicious!

Silly Pictures

My friend Matt lives in LA but was home to visit over Thanksgiving. There was a lot of hanging out. Here are some silly pictures:

Matt and Tom bond over pecan pie from Vegan Treats

Pier, Gian, and Matt are silly.

Pier and I are concerned.

Pier and George Get Giggy

Pier and George have a love-hate relationship. Pier takes George's misbehavior as a personal affront so at times they do not get along since George is often misbehaving. I captured these photos as proof that she really does love him!

Weird Al - White and Nerdy

I know that this has been out a while, but I just figured out how to link it to my blog. It is so funny. My favorite parts: Seth Green pointing out his "cherry action figures" and the framed portraits of Captain Kirk and Captain Picard above his bed. Also, Weird Al is totally vegan.

George checks his email and logs on to Living Vegan to read all of the updates!

Random Holiday Shots

Gian sacked out after dinner.
I needed four hands to cook all of the food!
George tries so hard!

Thanksgiving Food Pics

Roasted Autumn Veggies (squash, brussel sprouts, carrots, etc.)
My new favorite dish: Butternut squash with craisins, red onions, and wilted spinach. Yum!
Broccoli, couliflower, and roasted pine nuts
Gian's plate
My plate
We had so many desserts, this is a dessert we had the day after Thanksgiving, it's a pumpkin pie from Vegan Treats. My mom made a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but I ate it before having a chance to take a picture.
And of course, Root Beer Floats. When trying to fit all of the left-overs in the fridge, we realized that there wasn't any more room for a bottle of root beer, so we made some floats using Soy Delicious vanilla ice cream and Soya Too whipped topping. Yum.

Post-Tofurkey Day Relaxation

After Thanksgiving we all just hung out and chatted.


We had to make sure that George didn't eat the bagels!! Our friend Matt equated it to what you need to do to keep your food sack from the bears when camping!

George is relegated to the dining room while we had dessert!

George and Good Girl decided to chase each other around the living room for a while.

Gian gets serious.

Pier and Matt - Matt is wearing a shirt that says, "Vegan Express" - it's the name of a restaurant in LA but it makes for a funny shirt here on the East Coast.

Good Girl begs for people food.

George is five-second fading!

A second attempt at begging, again unsuccessful.

Recent Movies

Casino Royale
Gian convinced me to go see this. It's based on the first James Bond book and is very different from other Bond movies. It's a bit darker and the action is not merely gratuitous testosterone-driven filler but an important part of the story line. There isn't any CG in the movie, making the stunts and action more believable and interesting. I was surprisingly captivated by the storyline and acting.

Borat
I saw this movie the opening weekend and could barely breathe I laughed so hard.

Tofurkey-Day

Here's my obligatory T-day post:

I have Thanksgiving Dinner at my house; my parents, my aunt and uncle, my brother, my sister, Gian's mom, and usually about a half dozen friends come over for dinner. Obviously it's all vegan. I always cook a Tofurkey because I don't know where to buy anything else!

Here's how I make my Tofurkey:

Recipe:
Tofurkey Roasted Veggies

1 Tofurkey Roast
3 Stalks of Celery
1 Bag Baby Carrots
1.5-lb Bag of 1"Maximum Baby Red Potatoes (small red potatoes)
1 Red Onion
1 Yam
1 Jar Dry Whole Chestnuts (imported from France by Haddon House foods, in the International section of the grocery store)

Baste:
3 Tb Olive Oil
2 Tbs Braggs Amino Acids (or soy sauce)
1/2 Cup Orange Juice
(That's right, I mix the two options on the Tofurkey box!)

Chop all of the vegetables into similarly-sized pieces. Unwrap the thawed roast and place in a roasting pan brused with olive oil. Arrange all veggies and chestnuts around it. Pour sauce over the roast. cover with foil and roast in 350-degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Double basting recipe and reapply as necessary. Ignore jokes about what you're making and serve!

Thanksgiving Book

This is one of my favorite books. It's by Dav Pilkey. Famed author of the Captain Underpants series. He also wrote Dogzilla and Kat Kong.

Anyway, 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving is a cute story about a group of school children who take a field trip to a local farm on the day before Thanksgiving. They see all of the turkeys running around and decide to smuggle them out. They take the turkeys home and have them as guests of honor at their Thanksgiving dinners (sans turkey, of course!). It's written as a poem reminiscent of 'Twas the "Night Before Christmas.

Kids love it and it has a fantastic veggie theme!