happy 2009!

So far, this year has been good.  Seriously, I laid in bed this morning wide awake thinking about getting up when I decided that my first act of the new year had to be a special one.  I didn't want to start out this year just the same as any old day from last year.  I became obsessed!  What would I do first?  After awhile, it became obvious that I would need to make eating my first act of 2009.  But...what would I eat?  Not cereal, booooring.  Oh, wait!  I had leftovers (it foggily came back to me eventually) from this:

!!!

Oh yes.  That was my new years spread.  I was a busy bee last night, indeed.  Let me detail for you just what was on that fabulous table.  In the back there's chips and salsa and storebought hummus.  Blah blah blah.  Next to that you'll see some cocktail grapefruit that I got on sale because apparently no one around here cares about them (the same display doesn't seem to have moved for over 2 weeks).   Then there's this!

homemade wontons and eggrolls

Like, completely homemade.  I made the wrappers myself because eggless ones do not exist in my town.  I got the recipe here.  I told Michael, as they were deep frying away, 'You know it's a special occasion when I deep fry!'  Oh, and it was totally worth it.  They were a giant hit and monstrously delicious.  The little wontons are filled with tofutti cream cheese into which I mixed grated ginger and sliced scallions.  They tasted just like crab rangoons!  I was telling Michael just the other day how I sort of missed crab rangoons...just because they are so...I don't know.  Delicious?  Anyway, I knew I was successful when our friend Chase ate one and goes, 'Hey, is this a crab rangoon?'  Ha!  This guy was great, by the way.  He is one of those poor souls that lives off of fast food for every meal of his life and was so grateful to be eating real food.  He was not phased for a moment that it was all vegan.  Fake cheese?  No problem for this dude.  It was pretty amazing, actually.  I love it when people come over and eat my food and enjoy it.  I mean, cooking for Michael and myself is rewarding in and of itself, but it's a joy to spread the love to others.  Especially those who eat like crap normally.  

Anyway, the 'egg'rolls contain shredded cabbage and carrots that I cooked in some sesame oil and hoisin sauce.  I'm seriously in shock over how nicely the wrappers bubbled up, too.  They look just like real eggrolls!  That sauce in the background is one inspired by a recipe in Vegan Planet (which my granny got me for xmas).  It's tamari, sesame oil, sliced scallions, chili garlic sriracha, rice vinegar, lime zest, and lime juice.  Yummm!  We have leftover cream cheese and sauce and cabbage filling and I want to pile them onto a bagel so bad.  No bagels here though.  Anyway, if you can't tell, I'm super proud of myself for making those and the fact that they turned out fucking awesome.  It wasn't that hard, either.  You should try it.

pizza bites

These were a big hit as well.  I should have made more.  In fact, I just made a bunch for Michael for lunch because there weren't enough last night.  This is just a sliced baguette with some pizza sauce, a slice of FYH mozzarella, and some spicy pizza topping that rules.  Baked at 400F until I forgot about them and heard them sizzling.  Melty awesomeness.  Chase popped one in his mouth before I could warn him about the fake cheese, but it didn't matter.  He ate like...almost all of them haha...

bruschetta and sweet potato fries

I wanted to make bruschetta really bad, but after going to two stores and finding no basil at either one, I was at a bit of a loss.  However, with my knowledge that mint and dill go mysteriously perfect together, I just used those herbs instead.  It was good!  My crostinis got a little overdone, but that's ok.  Oh, and those sweet potato fries were baked with smoked paprika and garlic powder.  Also a hit.  I just wanted a large variety of food, you know?  Lots of munchies for us to eat while we drank.  Thing is, I thought more people were going to be there for some reason.  Between the three of us, the only leftovers we have are:  a tiny bit of bruschetta mix (gone now), some crostinis (also gone), chips and salsa, hummus, and grapefruit.  Those boys crushed it!  I mean, I was eating too, but I was more concerned with drinking.  

And now a gratuitous fried yumminess picture, because I am overly proud:

nom!

I have one more thing to show you that's especially exciting, but Blogger won't let me upload any more photos for some reason, so I suppose it will have to wait.  Bummer!  I guess it's back to watching my Looney Toons marathon (yes yes yes!) and doing that thing that I'm excited to show you but can't.  I'm in total bliss because I somehow have tomorrow off work as well and there's nothing better than watching Pepe le Pew, Sylvester, Bugs Bunny, Wiley Coyote, and Daffy Duck do a bunch of stupid shit while I relax myself into oblivion.  Enjoy yourselves today, and have a happy, happy new year!