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Monday, December 14, 2009

Preparing for a Very Vegan Christmas

I intended to leave for Dresden on Sunday, but I probably waited a little too long (until today) to find a ride. I'm leaving on Saturday instead. Frosty probably won't get there until Monday, so it'll be like 2 days of quality time with C.Dub (aka die böse Schwiegermama / evil mother-in-law, as she often refers to herself when she leaves messages on my answering machine). This isn't a problem, because C.Dub and I get along quite well. And if we run out of things to talk about (which isn't often) then there's always a backup cache of Frosty-stories.

We're celebrating as a trio this year in Dresden, in part due to last year's "fiasco" in Annerod. Ok, it wasn't quite a fiasco (hence, the quotation marks). Overall, it was a lovely family gathering: Frosty's mom, his grandparents, his 2 uncles and their wives, plus his two adorable little half-German/half-Venezuelan cousins. It was the heaping side of emotional tension that made things difficult. After the big breakfast argument (Frosty and C.Dub vs. The Grandparents) and the big proclamation ("We didn't even want to come here anyway, we wanted to celebrate with Raven in Hamburg!" / "Fine, you should have!"), plans had been made to spend the holidays at my old place in Hamburg. And that plan got chucked out of the window because I moved to a new place, which is just a little smaller.

As much as I <3 C.Dub, I haven't seen Frosty for 2 months and having her sleep in my room on the sofa bed next to our bed...well...that would just be super awkward. So basically the only reason we've relocated the festivities to Dresden is so that I can get my fornication on without supervision. 'Tis the season, indeed.

I don't really know what to expect. It'll be another new experience. Luckily, I'll be celebrating with two of the most low-key, non-traditional people that I've met since Schmiddy and Wonfuzius. The traditional Christmas Taco Massacre/Life of Brian Spectacular has, for the time being, fallen by the wayside. The era of the Very Vegan Christmas has begun. 180 degrees at its finest.

As I've probably mentioned somewhere on here, C.Dub has been a vegetarian for over 30 years and Frosty has overwhelmingly succeeded at being vegan for the past year. I don't care either way as long as delicious food is lining my belly, which means a vegan menu is poised to be the common denominator and I'm prepared to do my part in this soy triumvirate. Provisions have been been ordered from veganwonderland.de and all systems are go. I'm pretty down with it all. I can eat meat or not eat meat as much as I want (or don't want? what?!) .

However, I've had a pretty severe pumpkin pie craving since October (when I saw all those pumpkins at the grocery store around Halloween). Now there are no pumpkins...and I don't know if there's pumpkin pie filling in Germany, mostly because I've never looked for it. So...I guess I'm kind of fucked. Also, pastry crusts have always been my baking weakness.

To wrap all this up (because I'm tired of typing), maybe someone knows where I can get my hands on some pumpkin pie filling and an good/easy (for the dummies) pastry crust recipe (Deliciously flaky, preferrably. I know people who make it look so easy...I can't do this...I'm subtly gazing in your direction EEJ - you magnificient foodie, you). I don't know about growing seasons or anything....I just generally assume that pumpkins are out of season since I haven't seen any since October.

I can live without meat or dairy for Christmas dinner, but the Baby Cheeses might cry if I can't get my hands on some pumpkin pie (ooh that rhymes!).

Note: The pie doesn't have to be vegan. In fact, preferrably not vegan. I will gobble that bad boy down by myself and/or share it with C.Dub.

Autobots, roll out!

4 comments:

Darby O'Shea said...

I'll work on the pie filling problem. Next time give me a little more notice and I'll send you some! I fear it would be too late now. As for the crust, first question would be whether you'll have access to a food processor. If yes, we're in business for making everything look easy.

lebrookski said...

the closest thing to a food processor is one of those hand mixers..."mix-stab" like the kind of thing with which you make milkshakes...

that is not very helpful, oder?

Kelley008 said...

dang it.. if only i had known of this issue last week... (shaking my fist at you)

lebrookski said...

foiled again by my laziness in writing new posts!