last night twiddle thumbs went around shopping to get all then ingredients we needed then and another couple hours making some food so that we would not have to make all of the thanksgiving food on thanksgiving. we got up at a decent time this morning and cooked and cooked. we had fun. we used recipes from the native foods cookbook or stuff that twiddle thumbs was being experimental with and conjured up herself. we used a food processor for the first time. things went fast. process, wash, dry, process again! at first we really stuck hard to the recipe and didn't deviate. later we adjusted ingredients to our taste. i should've adjusted the recipe for the mashed potatoes because the consistency was like dough but damnit if i wasn't sticking to the recipe like a hardass because i wanted to taste the vision of the chef who put it together. we made enough food to eat twice plus some extra to give to a friend who was freaking out about what to do for her first vegetarian thanksgiving. after cooking, we barely had time to shower, dress, and arrive at our first dining location! then it was a mad dash to pickup some food we ordered from a vegetarian restaurant (chicken nuggets and spring rolls), drop off part of that plus what we made to our friend, then arrive at our second dining location! we didn't grow the food but pretty much everything except the pie crust and dressing was made from scratch. the store-bought pie crust was the only thing not vegan on the menu. however, everything was vegetarian. naturally, we included a menu that went a little something like this:

las calaveras catering presents a vegan thanksgiving dinner
salad with brown rice and chinese dressing
walnut, jicama, mandarin, and raspberry fruit salad
puff pastry pot pie
roasted garlic mashed potatoes
corn bread
steamed vegetables with gomashio
yam pudding with almonds
chai pumpkin pudding with vanilla creme

it was definitely much better to cook with another person (harmoniously) rather than do it all by myself like i did last year, though i had fun both times. i only like to cook when i have my ingredients ready, a recipe already picked out, and am pumped to do so. otherwise, i just walk around the kitchen, staring at what's available, and usually put together something that doesn't turn out so well. you must cook with a happy heart and mine is usually black. i was really excited over the food and hoped the omnivores would give some things a try and like something but that's not how the day went and it's kind of depressing to me considering how excited i was over what we made. once i have my own place, i'm just gonna do my own feast for veggies who would like to come over. now to think of a vegan christmas feast--our first! (being in new zealand, we skipped it and i think ate some nasty salty soup and crackers.)