Passover and Easter Festivities Abound

This was another of those whirlwind, interfaith, holiday weekends of fun, frolic, and- let's face it, snacking for me and 89.

In advance of the holidays, I secured some Gone Pie goodies for myself and my co-workers. Behold the elusive peanut butter caramel bunny: resplendent in its vegan, gluten-free, fair-trade glory...complete with a whole peanut in each ear!

Karma rewarded me for my generosity; I received a holiday package that contained a bonus bunny...

 

and my new favorite Gone Pie item: the cookie cup (not to be confused with Nosy Miss Cookie), which is one of their famous tahini cookies encased in thick, luscious, dark chocolate.

As if I wasn't already off to a great start, a cup of Vegan Treats' incredible speculoos soft serve was delivered to my door: generously coated with chocolate chips.

 

It may or may not have been (hint: it was) accompanied by one of their soft-baked speculoos cookies: partially coated in speculoos and dipped in chocolate. 

And then the holidays were upon us.
Passover came first this year.

89 got her own seat at the table, of course. But, while she did partake in matzoh balls* & carrots, it was not at the table.

The festive meal consisted of roasted brussels sprouts, potatoes and onions with horseradish, and the last piece of my Celebration Roast*.

On the first night, I helped 89 find the afikomen. We made a great team because she was much more interested in the matzoh than the money!

Check out these non-vegan macaroons I found at my parents' house trying to be cute. Sorry, macaroons; consuming animal products is NOT cute!

 

Sweet and Sara's cruelty-free, toasted coconut marshmallows, on the other hand, are extremely cute and delicious. They're a staple at our sedars.

 

And then we shifted gears for Easter.
89 received a basket full of fruits and vegetables!

Nothing terribly special for breakfast, but 89 expertly handled the pre-rinse of the cream cheese spreader per usual.

This was shortly before she demonstrated why chicks don't make good Easter "gifts;" good thing this one was faux.

A carbstrong Italian meal for Easter dinner.

More Easter-themed presents for 89 bunny.

More Easter-themed presents for me! Vegan Treats candy haul including the coveted betterfinger bar, speculoos bunnys, twin cookie sticks, and chocolate bunny lollipops.

And then 89 decided she was over it all.

Except for her flowery mini-89.

Until next holiday!

* not Kosher for Passover!

Eating All the Things: Holiday Highlight Reel

Happy New Year! It seems fitting (or perhaps masochistic) to be recounting some of my best eats from the long, holiday season on the first day that I'm attempting to get back into an eating routine that doesn't include some variation of dessert for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Unlike last year, this year Hanukkah fell right where I like it: beginning mid-December and running almost exactly through Christmas Eve. This meant that the holiday celebrations kind of volleyed back and forth with little distinction other than the color of the wrapping.

We took 89 to see Santa.

She behaved very well on line.

 

But was still happiest when it was over.

She even seemed to like how her picture came out.

Then we went to get our tree.

This is always one of 89's favorite things.

 We hung our stockings and displayed our admittedly disproportionate menorah.

 

Even 89's Hedgie got in on the action.

 

The tree at Pine Box was quite a bit grander than our own.

I also don't have these at home: Fairy Tale of New York- stoli Razberi, creme de cacao & peppermint schnapps shaken with grenadine & almond milk; served up with a candy cane.

followed by more...

89's Hanukkah presents seemed to err on the Christmassy side this year.

Then she stole one of mine- a hedgehog ornament, off the tree.

We visited another Santa. 89 still isn't convinced.

 
Finally! A new Hanukkah shirt (that I bought on Halloween).

 

 
Despite the sinful amount of sweets that was about to befall me, for some reason I felt it necessary to make VCIYCJ pignoli cookies.

Had Vegan Treats' soft serve delivered: vanilla with chocolate chips.

Also some Vegan Treats' donuts: smores, Boston Creme, and 2 jellies!

There were more than a few visits to The Bean for drinks with rotating holiday wishes.

And one of many holiday Vegan Shop-ups.

Here's the Gone Pie table looking particularly exquisite:

My new favorite: their take on Mexican wedding cookies. Shortly after inhaling my first of seven (not consecutive), I watched as another customer purchased one to try, then bought the entire remainder of the plate; my kind of lady!

Beautiful mini fruitcakes for my dad.

 And their famous pecan pie.

Having worked my way through the Pine Box Rock Shop holiday menu the week prior, I went with a Red Moco Cooler (or two) this visit.

You already know how I feel about Sweet Maresa's Italian rainbow cookies, also at the shop-up.

 

Blogposts about individual, holiday dinners coming soon...
On this day, dessert was a chocolate shake from TBICSITU.

89 tried to steal the Hanukkah gift for her friend, Ennis.

She suffered through more Hanukkah-wear...

and received a mini reindeer to seasonally adorn her placemat.

A bunch of Sweet & Sara goodies for gifts: rocky road bark, rice crispy treat, mini smores, three-bite smores, and peppermint bark (if you haven't tried this yet, it's a MUST).

The arrival of my annual Vegan Treats cookies! 

Still more Hanukkah gifts for 89.

Christmas prep in the Bean house.

 

89 deciding all gifts must be hers (most are; this one was).

Cinnamon toast!

Christmas posing.

VM's eggplant rollatini.

Again, with pasta.

Copious amounts of So Delicious Mint Chocolate coconut milk with even more mini-Dandies.

Santa arranged 89's gifts under the tree to save wrapping (and unwrapping) time.

Yet the first thing she did was to unceremoniously pull out a pair of wrapped, Xmas pjs from the grandparents.

Once she realized the bounty that awaited her, she steamrolled right through it.

 Her first choice: the smallest toy, a Santa-hatted hedgehog.

 
Up next: the biggest, a winter-hatted snowman that she took down like a lion would a gazelle.

89 got her own blueberry pancakes on Christmas morning.

But, she still chose to ogle my cookies anyway (maybe a little more than ogle).

The best gift of the day: a personalized blanket!

The goofiest:

For dessert, more from Vegan Treats.

Chocolate cake with...vanilla (?) cream filling:

Red velvet cake with cannoli (?) cream filling:

Oh, who can remember? They all looked incredible and tasted even better.

89 sitting atop my own best gift prior to unwrapping: a snowblower!

I decided, yet again, to add to the fray with cowboy cookies from VCIYCJ.

More Christmas-wear and a walk: 60 degrees!

And then an involuntary nap that caught 89 off-guard, practically mid-bark.

More of this snazzy concoction:

And then it was New Years' Eve.

Despite all of her new toys, 89 started off the year contentedly playing with her favorite: a toilet paper roll.

New Years Day is also VM's birthday, for which I made VWAV chocolate, chocolate chip pancakes with Dandies marshmallows and So Delicious Coco Whip.

You really can't blame her.

Interior:

And, for VM's birthday dessert: a donut sundae in homage to those from Vegan Treats.

Chocolate-encased angel-food donut topped with So Delicious Coco whip, and fresh raspberries.

It was only fitting that, as I undressed the Christmas tree, 89 once again stole the hedgehog ornament.

I hope your holidays were merry and bright, and that 2015 brings you more reasons to be peaceful and compassionate!