Happy Christmas! I had a wonderful weekend, hanging out with dear friends, being with family, and gobbling up lots of homey eats. On Friday, Chris was hosting a small Christmas appetizer & dessert potluck, so I got busy in the kitchen, preparing the following desserts:
I know pumpkin pie is more traditionally eaten for Thanksgiving, but I actually didn't get any at Thanksgiving dinner this year. Although Kia's pumpkin cheesecake was seriously amazeballs, I still felt a deep longing in my soul for pumpkin pie. A month later, I could no longer ignore the craving, so I decided to make it for Christmas.
I went with the same Veg Web Tofu Pumpkin pie recipe I've used for several years now. However, it didn't turn out so well this time because I had to strain the canned pumpkin puree which was too runny. In the end though, I think I maybe strained it too much! As a result, the filling was thicker/denser than normal, and it also had a 'skin' on the top from being overbaked. Oops.
It still tasted fine, but I might have to appease the perfectionist freak inside me by making another one soon.
Ah, what a fine spread. No one wanted to bother with fancy entree dishes or create a sit-down menu, so we all decided to have an apps & 'serts potluck. No entrees allowed. :)
For my appetizer contribution, I brought two different dips (to be eaten with good ol' nacho chips): tomato-garlic bean dip, and a vegan chickin' salad-style dip made with bamboo shoots. In addition to the pumpkin pie, for dessert, I brought cherry-chocolate chip cookies, mint chocolate wafer cookies, and strawberry thumbprint cookies.
Here are some other treats: traditional Korean snacks.
Chris found some vegan bread at the 'Milk & Honey' bakery section of EMart. Yea, the bakery name is not 'vegan' at all, but apparently, they have some decent animal-free bread. Loved the dark loaf. So chewy-good.
Yunseo's signature ddeokbokki, for spicy deliciousness.
Everyone also brought pressies and stuck them under the Christmas bush. It felt like being with family~ :) Eating good grub, opening up presents, and then watching 'Elf' and eventually falling asleep.
Oh, and during the night, it snowed enough that there was a thin white blanket covering Seoul the next morning. I took Bunny out to admire the snow.
Being the high-maintenance bunny that she is, she wasn't too keen on getting snow in between her toes and quickly scampered off to dry ground. She's such a prissy pot.
Then on Saturday, I headed down to Cheonan to spend the rest of Christmas weekend with the 'rents. Here are some neighborhood shots of the snowfall in Cheonan.
Christmas eve dinner was at my uncle & aunt's house, where we had bibimbab, japchae, miyukgook, and lots of vegan kimchi. I know bibimbab isn't exactly a special holiday meal, but I don't think you can go wrong when there's rice, and a bunch of my favorite Korean banchans all mixed up in one bowl. YUM.
For breakfast on Christmas morning, before rushing back to Seoul, I had homemade dan patjuk (sweet red bean porridge) with rice balls, some toast, and loads of fresh fruit. A perfect brekkie.
Oh, and before I end today's Christmas post, here's Bunny with a bit of Christmas flare. haha. I just took one of those fruit foam wrappers and put it around her neck. I thought she would try to take it off, but I don't think she even realized it was on her.
She just went on her jolly way, doin' her biznaz, etc, while I laughed at her and took pics to show you guys. She entertains me endlessly.
Wellps, that's all I got for tonight. Have a good Christmas!