glucksschweine

it's been a birthday extravaganza around here the past few days - first m's this weekend, and then mine yesterday. thanks to facebook, i got about a million happy birthday wishes (as well as phone calls from my sweet family members). m and i got a german birthday package from bean (she says there's another one on the way, too!). i tried to make the black licorice last, but it was so good. i am one glucksschweine!



















we celebrated m's birthday with cinnamon swirl toast and lattes at the newly opened arabica:
























arabica's looking good:



















we strongarmed boo into a walk on mackworth island, too. i love governor baxter's pet cemetery. here lies jerry roan, "a kind friend:"
























boo and m couldn't resist making a fairy house:
























minnow came, too -- he gallumphed like an elephant amidst the fairy houses, but strolled delicately along the path:
























that night, paul cooked for us and even presented m with a scrumptious birthday cake.


as for my birthday, i celebrated by taking artemis for her driver's test (which she passed, thanks to my good birthday karma), plus i got taken out to dinner at green elephant. it was yummmmmy. everything's vegetarian (most is vegan, in fact), even this "duck" that boo ordered:
























the soy nugget appetizer was so delicious:
























and m had some kind of spicy stirfried vegetable dish with brown rice, also delicious:
























my entree was just as tasty, but not as photogenic (it involved wide rice noodles and tofu). dessert, however...



















beautiful. vegan chocolate-orange mousse pie. because it's not a real birthday without some chocolate.

thankful

for my mom and dad and their comfy pied a terre in cambridge (and their cute dog, lulu, despite her very occasional habit of gnawing on books when they're left on the sofabed). thanks to them, we had a really lovely thanksgiving, our first post-casco bay books. for the last several years, our thanksgiving ritual has involved hanging out at the (closed for the holiday) store, getting carry-out indian food, and skateboarding/scootering in the deserted hallway of 151 middle street (sometimes also a midnight trip to l.l. bean, and once finding a $100 bill on the ground at one a.m.). it was really nice to travel out of portland, and we are lucky to have relatives whose idea of a perfect thanksgiving feast is the same as ours -- a huge indian spread, cooked by someone else!



















mom and dad (boo in the background) in mom's "special spot" on the harvard campus.






















bean in her new birthday t-shirt (eat like you give a damn), with her mustard-yellow birthday bag!






















we played lots of rummy k, and drank many cups of tea. we took dog walks, went to book stores, ate great food, and i even got an amazingly luxurious hot stone massage from my very favorite massage therapist! i hope your thanksgiving was as restful and sweet as mine was.

me, too

yeah, i want an iphone too, just like everybody else. in fact, i'd love to be the first in my technologically savvy family to have one. then, when we all meet up at the jersey shore in a couple of weeks, i'd get a friend to call me so i could just casually pull my phone out and be like, "oh, this? it's just my iphone."

more realistically, maybe someone could make me an iphone cake like this one!

cupcake mishap

i attempted the world-famous orange cupcakes filled with orange pudding, topped with dark chocolate ganache, which i've made successfully at least once in the past. this time i made the orange filling with tapioca flour (i must have used cornstarch or arrowroot last time), and it ended up the strangest consistency. it reminded me of a cross between the flubber boo used to make from time to time at his funky preschool, and that liquid/solid science experiment you can do with cornstarch.

















see what i mean?















ewww. not suitable for selling, in my opinion. HOWEVER, when topped with extra-huge blobs of ganache, they tasted just dandy, and i watched bean, boo, m, artemis, and crazy girl all happily consume them. and i could've watched myself do the same, had i been looking in a mirror while i ate mine.

not-hostess vegan cupcakes

yesterday i broke into several of my christmas presents, which i got from my secret santa, including double strength vanilla extract and the elusive black cocoa!


observe, below: this cocoa is black as dirt. it looks like very nice, rich potting soil, actually. it isn't supposed to be used full strength in a recipe, but added for extra deep, dark richness.



















yet again, i made the fauxstess cupcakes from vegan with a vengeance. they've always come out delicious and dangerous, but this is the first time i've done them right, with the magical black cocoa, and hoo boy.


i made two dozen yesterday. one dozen went to cbb this morning, and two traveled to school with bean and boo. that leaves...ten? and the cupcake below is one of just three in my fridge tonight.



















m thinks my cupcake business could explode if i were to perfect shipping them, so that i could sell them mail order. can you imagine my ad in the back of veg news, perhaps? i have to settle on a name for my bakery. bean's vote is sugar on my tongue. any other ideas, dear readers?

another question, and a test to see how carefully you're reading. who will volunteer to be a taste tester, so that i can try overnighting a couple of cupcakes to you, and you can give me a full report on the state of the cupcakes on arrival, as well as the taste..? any volunteers out there?

rabbit, rabbit

sad, empty stockings. fifteen of 'em.




















even sadder, a naked christmas tree. see tragic hans christian andersen story, the fir tree, which traumatized bean as a very small child.

but now for the happy news: it's a new year! i give 2006 extremely mixed reviews, and i'm hoping for much better in 2007. to celebrate this possibility, the four of us left these sad reminders of holidays past and spent new year's eve in boston with mom and dad, viewing ice sculptures:




















and watching a really amazing, wonderful, odd parade:




















(sidenote: behind the happy year of the pig float, observe the department store whose name i interpreted for most of my childhood as "lloyd and floyd.")



















the chinese new year was exuberantly celebrated just a little bit early, with many-peopled dragons and a year of the pig float. there were crazy little ragtime brass bands and giant puppets and happy people skipping along, sticking shiny silver stickers to the faces of parade-goers. after the parade, we went back to mom and dad's and played games, ate rippled salt and pepper chips and vegan onion dip (and lots and lots of other things), and fell into a sleepy pile watching "waiting for guffman." only bean, boo, and i made it to the end, but even we crashed before the stroke of midnight.

first words this morning: rabbit rabbit. solemn vow and resolution: don't ever eat so many chips and so much onion dip ever again. ever.

all six of us went to grasshopper in allston for lunch, where we discovered that it was closed for a private party. we were sad, plus we were standing in the rain. we were cold and hungry. and did i mention, wet? m boldly knocked on the door and asked if we could come in and join the private party. the president of the boston vegetarian society said yes, we could! she quickly explained how the menu worked (we paid no attention, we were so surprised and happy to be inside a warm, dry, delicious-smelling establishment). the wait staff proceeded to bring enough food for twenty or twenty-five very hungry people to our table. and i'm not exaggerating a bit. it was scrumptious, savory vegan vietnamese food, so delicious, and there were plates propped upon each other, and every time we thought they were done bringing us food, there'd be two more huge platters of sauteed veggies and seitan and sauce or sweet-and-sour gluten with broccoli, or wonton soup, or veggie tempura... at the end, they presented us with many carry out boxes, and i think we'll be pretty much set for food for a few days.

so happy happy 2007, she said optimistically!