Oh, hey.

How's it goin'? I disappeared from Blogger for a while. That was fun. Or something.

The holidays got a little crazy. I took Fred to Springfield for the first time. He met the entire extended family. That was interesting. Despite the giant spread they always have, nothing is vegan. Fred and I made an entire dinner for me. In hindsight, we should've made something much, much simpler, but we did a seitan en croute, mashed potatoes with Vcon mushroom gravy, stuffing with cranberries and pecans, and the VWAV gingerbread apple pie. My sister was awesome enough to make a three sisters chili which was pretty delicious.

Fred finally got to meet my brother. He also had his first horseshoe, this local dish that's something of an abomination to a vegan. Traditionally, it's texas toast open face with some ground beef, layered with french fries and covered with cheese sauce. It's intense. One of these days, I'll veganize it. I've been thinking about it for a while.

Christmas was strange, but only because it was the first time I didn't go home ever. Some awesome friends from work took Fred and me in for Christmas dinner. Our hosts made some awesome bruschetta, some amazing bread, and two cassoulets, one vegan for me, and one with pork for everyone else. The other couple brought a cheese plate and bottle after bottle of amazing wine. Fred and I made Vcon moussaka to bring along with the VWAV raspberry blackout cake. Everything was incredibly delicious.

Just before Christmas, my shoulder started feeling a lot better, so much better that I called my orthopaedist and moved up my appointment. I had a feeling that I could get back to work before the new year. He said I was improving a lot faster than he'd anticipated, so I was cleared for work. Yay! I started back on December 29. Thankfully, since I went back when I did, I didn't have to deal with all the insurance mumbo-jumbo of starting the new year/new month without working.

Prior to heading back to work, I ordered Appetite for Reduction and have been cooking the shittake out of it. There have been few non-AFR recipes around here lately. So many reasons why this book is so timely. Since I've gone back to work, my schedule is a little crazy. Most of the recipes are pretty quick, so I don't have to spend all day in the kitchen. I gained some weight during my leave, and AFR is all about making super-tasty healthy food. I'd also been thinking of incorporating more veggies in my diet, both in quantity and the types I buy. I started off exploring cauliflower and broccoli, two ingredients I've shied away from in the past. AFR is really showing how much I really do love vegetables. My 16 year old self would be totally freaked out by everything I'm eating these days.

I'm definitely glad to be back at work, but I had to step down from my position. Now I'm just a regular team member. I've been struggling to figure out what my place is there now. It's pretty clear that I'm well suited for more responsibility than most of my fellow TMs, but my TLs don't really have a plan for me yet. We've all been talking about it in the last week or so. Hopefully we'll get it figured out.

I hate when blogs say 'oh, hey, I'm back', and then they never post again. I'm fairly certain that won't happen, but I'm not making any promises. There's a cookbook challenge on the PPK starting tomorrow, so I'll try to blog about all of that. Here's hoping it goes better than MoFo.

MoFo Day 16! Party recap and three kinds of cupcakes

Last night was the 'We Miss You, KK' party. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of last night's festivities. I was having too much fun to drag my camera out of my bag. I do have some really, really terrible pictures of the cupcakes I made. Don't say I didn't warn you. Ugh. I don't know what was going on with the light in my living room last night, but it was gross. I promise they looked way, way better in person.

I made three different cupcakes: strawberry, cookies and cream, and gingerbread. All the recipes came from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. For the strawberry, I used the vanilla cake recipe and added extra strawberry flavoring. The frosting is the Raspberry Buttercream recipe, but I used replaced the raspberry syrup and extract with strawberry. I thought the icing looked too thick, so I added extra strawberry syrup. Unfortunately, I had a heavy hand, and it started to run. The cookies and cream use the variation of the chocolate cupcakes that's listed in the book. The gingerbread have Lemon Buttercream on top. Oh! Fred did most of the decoration. I had PT last night, and I didn't have time to make the icing and decorate and get ready when I got home. He's awesome. I love him!

The gingerbread were definitely my favorite. I was pleasantly surprised because I haven't been the biggest fan of gingerbread over the years. These were nice and mellow and include crystalized ginger. Yum! Also, I really love lemon-flavored anything.

The party was a lot of fun, and the food was great. And it was all vegan! I'm gonna do some bullet points, so the awesomeness doesn't get lost in one giant paragraph.

• The hosts, Matt and Kim (no, they don't like the band), made some awesome guacamole, and Matt grilled up a ton of yummy vegetables--mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus, potatoes, onions, etc.
• Jodi made a squash salad with roasted kabocha and buttercup squash, pomegranate, pepitas and arugula with an apple cider dressing. It was really delicious.
• Randi made oatmeal cookies. They fell apart a little, but tasted great. Sadly, Randi couldn't stay, because her dog was sick last night. I hope he's okay!
• Dave, one of our wine vendors, brought a bunch of wine for everyone to share (the hangover I've had all day tells me that I definitely partook in his generosity).
• Chris and Mandy made a seven layer taco dip with vegan sour cream and Daiya.
• Our friend Freddie, who quit months ago even showed up with a veggie tray.
• Kojak, aka Whiskers (seriously epic facial hair), made what we all dubbed 'Banana Dicks'. He drenched banana halves in an aged rum and brown sugar sauce, grilled them up and served them with vanilla ice cream for the omnis and coconut sorbet for me.
• One of my favorite dishes of the night was this shepherd's pie that Richard, my team leader, made. He used Uptown's seitan, Gimme Lean chorizo, cheddar Daiya, spinach, mushrooms and potatoes, of course. He likes to give me shit for being vegan, so I so stoked that he made that. Richard worked in a ton of kitchens over the years before he came to Whole Foods. I wasn't surprised it was delicious, but I didn't expect him to go all out with the substitutions like that.

Everyone seemed to have a great time. It made me miss work, if only for the company. I got to see so many people I haven't seen in a while, and it was so nice to catch up with everyone. I love everyone I work with, and I missed the people who couldn't make it. My friend Julie even showed up. She had my position before me, but transferred to another store to be closer to home. I was super excited to see her, because she's truly one of the most awesome people I know, and I've missed her ever since she transferred.

So, a lot of thanks and love to everyone who came! And thanks for such awesome vegan food! I love you guys!

Unrelated to MoFo, but still awesome and vegan...

So I've been out of work for over 2 months. I had surgery and am now dealing with some complications that have extended my recovery leave. Sucks.

The other day, my friend Kim posted something on my Facebook wall. "Hey KK. What's new? Hit me up sometime. I was thinking we could have a lil' fall potluck/bbq or somethin for you before the weather is too awful to be outside. Miss you sweets!"

I read it, simply excited to hear from her. I've really been missing work and all of my friends there, and Kim is one of my favorites. I go in to buy groceries and talk to our PBS and stuff, but it's not the same.

It wasn't until I'd already responded that I noticed she said "for you". What!? For me? Whoa. I wasn't expecting that.

Yesterday, I went in to drop off some paperwork, and I saw Kim. We caught up and she mentioned the potluck again. And again, she said it was for me. It'll be at her house, and all the food will be vegan. We settled on Monday night.

So, at least one of my MoFo posts will be about the food at the potluck. Squee! I'm excited!