I know it's a little late now, but Happy Thanksgiving!! I had a pretty unbeatable thanksgiving dinner this year. I was determined to have a vegan (yet still traditional) celebration, so I spent quite a good amount of time scouring my recipe books and the internet for ideas on what to do. And since this would be my first time actually cooking many of these dishes (ie, stuffing, vegan gravy...), I even tested a few dishes out the week before, just so I wouldn't have a disaster on D-Day. So anyway, this Saturday, I invited a few of my favorite people in Korea over to my tiny studio apartment, to partake in celebrating another year of vegan bounty and friendship.
For appetizers, we had baba ganoush served with crackers. Super yummy~~
Here is the entire dinner spread. From top left to bottom right: Abi's spicy mixed veggies, mashed potatoes, walnut-cranberry bread, mushroom gravy, chickpea cutlets, stuffing, and sauteed spinach.
2 friends bought the loaf of bread at the Shinsaegae department store, and it was confirmed to be vegan. :) It was sooo good! Since we didn't have any cranberry sauce (impossible to find fresh cranberries in Korea), it was nice that at least the bread had a little bit of cranberries in it.
The chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon. I sort of changed the recipe a bit by adding chickpea flour instead of bread crumbs. They were really good with gravy, and even just with ketchup.
I took this photo of my plate before I realized that I had forgotten to get some stuffing.
Chris made some accidental ketchup art! We called it 'Napoleon'.
For dessert, we had some delicious fresh fruit that Yunseo brought, which included bananas, melons, and mangoes!!! Eating mangoes in Korea is definitely a luxury because they are super expensive, so it was indeed a special night. I was thankful for those mangoes.
Beautifully sliced bananas
And ofcourse, no Thanksgiving meal is complete without pumpkin pie! Especially when it's topped with delicious cashew cream. Everyone enjoyed the pie~~ I didn't tell them that there was tofu in it until after they had taken their first bite and confirmed its deliciousness. hehe. Surprise! That didn't stop them from getting seconds. :)
Finger-lickin' good~
Even Bunny got some Thanksgiving love- mainly in the form of banana peels. :)
In the end, we were so completely stuffed to the brim, we all kind of just spaced out on my floor. Just the way all Thanksgiving feasts should end, no? :) It was a delightful evening and I'm sooo happy to have been able to share my very first vegan Thanksgiving meal with some special friends. This past year, I have so many things to be thankful for: my health, loving family, friends both old and new, my job, and ofcourse, the joys that come with vegan-living, to name a few. Oh, and also, I'm thankful for this blog and the opportunity to share a part of my life with you, whoever you are. :) Happy Thanksgiving!!!
*PS. Photos are courtesy of Chris and his awesome DSLR.