Happy December! Thank you so much for your sweet words of congratulations on our engagement. It means a lot to us, especially because so much of our relationship has been documented on this blog!
Today, I’m sitting here sipping on my second mug of coffee, nibbling the last of our Thanksgiving sticky buns. It’s the first Monday of the last month of 2013, and I’m feeling good! We had a wonderful long weekend– it actually felt like a mini vacation! Admittedly, I’m feeling a little behind in school, but we needed this weekend to just relax and have fun.
Because it is prime hot cocoa season, my friend Ryan and I kicked off the holiday celebrations with drinking chocolate from Marie Belle. If you haven’t been, it’s definitely worth a trip to this little chocolate boutique in SoHo. The front room is packed with high quality chocolates to buy; in the back is a little cafe with pastries, light bites, and a huge list of different cocoas. Each cup is really rich, so we chose two small- but potent!- flavors: dark chocolate espresso, and white chocolate with nutmeg and cinnamon.
On Thanksgiving morning, B- oops, Brien- and I did a little cooking, then went over to my parents’ apartment to help out with the rest.
Per usual, my mom and I made sticky buns (original recipe – from 1979!-can be found here). This was my first Thanksgiving eating gluten-free, so we decided to try making the buns exactly the same way as we normally do, but swapping in gluten-free flour.
They looked almost exactly the same, but the texture was different- almost like a scone, or a sweet biscuit. I still really liked them, but they were definitely not the yeasty rolls we were used to!
We went over to George and Judy’s for the feast, and feast we did! Lots of delicious vegetable dishes, including mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, roasted squash + onions with tahini (so.good.), kale salad, and Brussels sprouts. (I’d also brought this pie, but it didn’t turn out quite the way I wanted to… Brien and I have been scraping off the nuts and chocolate and eating it on our oatmeal in the morning!)
Anita was missing from our photo this year, but she was certainly not forgotten. She always went above and beyond over the holidays, and it was strange not seeing her face around the Thanksgiving table.
She would have gotten a kick out of Brien’s snazzy new hat!
The morning after Thanksgiving, I was craving a savory breakfast and whipped up this oat-y bowl. I liked it so much I had it the very next day! I cooked steel-cut oats in water with chia seeds and salt, and added a spoonful of miso just as it finished cooking. In a separate pain, I sautéed leeks and tofu in sesame oil, adding a little tamari (aka “gluten-free soy sauce”) at the very end. I combined the oats and tofu mixture in a bowl, topping it with tahini and leftover pecan topping from the kale salad. If you’re making this yourself, I suggest just crumbling pecans or walnuts on top. And make it you should!
We spent the morning relaxing and testing out a new gym, then headed uptown to the Cloisters. My parents and a few of our friends had highly recommended this exhibit, so we thought it would be fun to visit and then walk around Fort Tryon Park. Unfortunately, we didn’t do enough research and got there just as the museum was closing….
But we still caught a beautiful sunset! And just after I took this photo, a couple approached us and asked me to take their picture, because they had gotten engaged just moments before!
My mom had given us two tickets for drinks at the Waldorf, so Brien and I went back downtown to sip in style. We felt very chic at our own little corner of the bar!
We headed further downtown to Indian Row in the East Village, and had an intimate dinner (we were the only customers). We sat in the window, eating saag paneer and shrimp curry, feeling pretty content after an eventful day.
We were pretty full, but Big Gay Ice Cream was right around the corner, and Brien had never experienced a Salty Pimp! We had to fix that.
On Saturday, the highlight of our day was a Chanksgiving/ Thanksgivingkkuh party at my friend Ilena’s house. Because it’ll be another 70,000 years until Thanksgiving and Chanukkah coincide, we had to mark the occasion! We brought mashed cauliflower with sautéed leeks, but forgot to actually set it out at the party.
Lucky for us, that meant we had an almost ready-made meal the next day! We reheated the cauliflower and topped it with mushroom gravy and sautéed kale. One of our favorite easy, hearty cold-weather meals.
Sunday was spent walking around, sipping cocoa, and going to the movies to see The Dallas Buyers Club (loved).
Now, it’s back to work for the final three weeks of the semester! Hope you had a lovely holiday, and are feeling nice and rested and ready to take on December!
