Another calm cold day, cloudy this morning but with the potential for brightening up later. The snow on the railing melted off, but there’s still lots of it weighing the trees down. Mr Fixit was outside yesterday while I cooked Christmas dinner – on the right of this photo, behind the railing, you’ll see a large pile of wood that he cut off the lilac. Some of it broke with the heavy snow.
Much of my day was spent in the kitchen yesterday, and I am always grateful for this view: the mountains, the lake, the trees. I am grateful to live in a safe place, with light and warmth and abundant food. I am grateful that my family is around me and we are well. I am grateful for the ability to talk to my mum and sister via the internet, because they are a long way away.
Our Christmas dinner, traditionally for us eaten on Christmas Eve, was a Greek feast this year. Vegan pastitsio (pasta layered with a mushroom walnut tomato sauce and Bechamel sauce), lemon roasted potatoes, Greek salad (with tofu “feta”), olive rosemary bread, three new recipes (which can often be a recipe for disaster 😛 but in this case worked out great) followed by apple crumble and mince pies with whipped coconut cream. Oh yes, and apple cider and vegan nog too.
Everyone enjoyed the food, we played Mexican Train Dominoes after dinner while the food digested, and then the men finished cleaning up the kitchen.
Links to the recipes I used are here:
I tweaked the recipes to my preferences (no garlic and onions) and when it came time to baking the olive bread I just used a baking sheet rather than a Dutch oven and baked it like I would focaccia.
Have a wonderful Solstice/Christmas/Yule time. May you have a calm and peaceful turn-of-the-year and an optimistic attitude to carry you into 2021.
NICOLA KNITS 