Christmas...? & Behind the Apron

I really need to get my blogging act together, but I just realized that I don't want January to end without a post about Christmas! To add to the hurry, I only have a few more minutes before the deadline for the "Behind the Apron" Round-up hosted by Fiber over at 28 Cooks.

We spend Christmas with Daiku's family in St. Louis. We asked both our families not to buy us gifts this Christmas, and for the most part, they were really good about it.

Daiku's brother L. decided to wow us with a vegan chili as our present. We were so thrilled when we saw the smoky chipotle and mushroom chili he cooked for us, a recipe he found on the Vegan Chef website. This was some serious chili! Those members of the family adventurous enough to try it thought so too. Now this is my idea of a present!

Here was our contribution to the holiday meal:

A big salad of mixed greens, carrots, radishes, red onion, oranges, and toasted pecans with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Here is someone who really got into the festive mood: Daiku's cutie niece, G.

During our stay in St. Louis, we stopped by Calvary cemetary, one of the oldest cemetaries in the city, where notable people are buried going back to the 18th century. It was a warm, peaceful day, and we enjoyed seeing the antique headstones and reading each person's personal story. The above headstone is from the childrens section of the cemetary, and it was touching to see the love that these families showed for their lost children, which was constant through the decades.

We visited Daiku's sister, who lives in the hip city neighborhood of Soulard. Above you can see just one of the examples of the unique architecture that sets this neighborhood apart, and which residents work hard to preserve and maintain.

Daiku's sister, L., was kind enough to take us out to lunch in the neighborhood. We went to Tanner B's, a small neighborhood restaurant/sports bar, with a surprising amount of vegetarian options to choose from. We started off with this hummus appetizer. It was really fresh, and the warm soft pitas didn't last long between the three of us!

Both Daiku and I ordered the California burger, a chickpea patty topped with sprouts and avocados and served with a mustard sauce and corn/pea salad. I love whe veggie burgers are filled with veggies instead of being a scary brown! And these were freshly made, too.

So there you have the last installment of my holiday posts- I promise! We enjoyed spending time with both of our families and sharing some good food and good times (and some freakishly warm weather).

Onto Behind the Apron. As I'm sure most of you know, this is the event where we are invited to come out from behind our aprons and share a little bit about ourselves besides our food. (Although I'm no stranger to posting photos of ourselves on this blog!) Click here to see the original post at 28 Cooks.

Most of the food you see on this blog comes to you courtesy of Daiku (left) and me, Bazu (right). On our first date, 9 years ago this month, Daiku wowed me with a vegan curry. A boy that can cook? I was hooked! Between then and now, I fell off the vegan bandwagon, only to hop back on about 3 years ago. Daiku is not a vegan, though he can cook and eat vegan like the best of them and for the most part, that is how we eat at home together. We live with our 2 old cats, Bijou and Marble.

Daiku: is a professor of philosophy, loves old airplanes, used to own an art gallery in St. Louis.

Bazu: is a Ph.D. student, lover of trashy t.v., and votes Green.

Both of us: are eagerly awaiting the revolution!

Christmas...? & Behind the Apron