Thanksgiving 2010

What an awesome Thanksgiving I had! I attended the Tampa ThanksVegan Feast and met some really wonderful people. Honestly, this event was, for me, more about the people than the food. Above, you can see my plate, which held some pretty yummy foods, but I can barely remember it. I was just having so much fun chatting with so many new people.

(But I know you want to know what's what on that plate, so starting at 12:00, you're looking at: mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, a dollop of shepherd's pie, broccoli "quiche," baked mac & "cheese," roasted veggies (mostly beets), wheat berry "Waldorf" salad, tabouleh salad, curry tempeh salad, a little chunk of Tofurky, a little chunk of Celebration Roast, and a little dollop of cinnamon-cranberry sauce.)

In fact, let's just do a quick roll call on some of the potluck dishes.

To start, there was a Sheese and crackers spread.




It was very popular.

Now on to the dishes.



















Lots of chatting and picture taking caused me to miss out on most of the dessert table. I was able to nab two little pieces of "cheese"cake, one NY style and the other gingerbread, and I added a little strip of Rice Whip, just for funsies. (NY style was my favorite of the two.)


There were a lot of other interesting desserts included in the spread.


What's a vegan potluck without a chocolate tofu pie, amirite?!






There were also piles of So Delicious Neopolitan ice cream sandwiches, chocolate-almond ice cream bars, and cotton candy!
Though this ThanksVegan feast was much larger than last week's potluck, I paced myself very well and didn't overindulge. (However, between this event and the next day's event, I definitely ate more wheat than I ever normally would, so I'm feeling a little out of whack and am ready to get back on my mostly-wheat-free diet.) Since I became the designated picture taker for the day, I was kept busy, trying to make sure I took pictures of as many people as possible (and usually, my focus is on the food, so this was a fun little challenge). I believe the grand total of attendees was 206.

Even a news camera man showed up!


So many great people came together and volunteered their time and talents and made this a really fun event. I can see why it's so popular - this was their 5th annual ThanksVegan!

Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck

I had a busy day yesterday. It was a fun day, but also a long, busy day. Friday was kind of like that, too. I like being busy, though. But this busy weekend prevented me from updating yesterday. When I finally crashed on the couch at 5am this morning, I started to sleepily play back the day in my mind, and I found a few moments where I could have posted, but alas, I didn't. Wishes don't catch fishes, so I apologize for missing the mark for a third time. If I could figure out a way to update from a headset while driving, then I could probably blog a couple times a day. I'm not sure how picture posting would work that way, though...

I attended a vegan Thanksgiving potluck last night. I cooked up a double batch of chocolate coconut rice pudding (based on the recipe for Mexican Chocolate Rice Pudding in Vegan with a Vengeance) and, guess what? I forgot to take pictures of it. Just take my word that it looked pretty good. It smelled phenomenal, but I would not have been able to share that with you via blog anyway.

The potluck was held outdoors on a truly lovely night. Full moon, barely any breeze, and it really doesn't cool down until much, much later in the evening, so the temperature was perfect for dinner. (Although, most of the Floridians in attendance, I noticed, were wearing jackets and long sleeves. Funny to think that I was just like that about 5 years ago.)


It was obviously dark, so a flash was necessary, but I hope these pictures can still give you a decent idea of the deliciousness that was had last night. Here was my plate:

What you're looking at, clockwise from the left, are sweet potato casserole with a delightful nutty topping, Field Roast with mushroom gravy, a peek of a pot-pie-kind-of-veggie casserole, some kind of spinachy phyllo dough business, veggie moussaka, spicy coconut veggie curry with a bit of jasmine rice, fresh raw cranberry dressing, and in the center, a daikon radish and beet salad. Whew! My favorites were the sweet potato casserole, raw cranberry dressing, and the radish-and-beet salad.

When I went up for dessert, I ended up getting little tastes of OTHER dishes that I missed the first time around, so this next plate is part sweet and part savory.

Clockwise from the top: "sea salad" (which featured wakame, dulce, rice, and chickpeas), millet-corn (I liked the texture of the millet), followed by the sweets: chocolate pudding cakes on a graham cracker crust with blackberry and kiwi slices (which made for a cute presentation), carrot cake with a Tofutti cream cheese frosting, and grilled pineapple with cinnamon. Yum!

And I didn't even try everything! I bypassed the salad table because I've been eating a lot of salads lately, but fresh, raw veggies were not in short supply! (This wasn't even half of the salad offerings.)

Seriously, SO MUCH SALAD. What's super awesome is that they sent home baggies of salad with everyone. I love leftovers! I ate some of the salad leftovers tonight (along with leftover cranberry dressing and some kind of couscous salad):


Now I'm off to roast some pumpkin seeds with a friend. I'll have my camera at the ready! Promise!

Also, make sure to check out my Hurraw! Lip Balm giveaway! A winner will be randomly chosen on Tuesday!

More reviews coming this week and hopefully more delicious eats from yours truly.