In the City

We spent a day in the Big City earlier this month for a special occasion.  We stopped off at a local toy store (a kid's dream--next year I hope to shop there for J) and then had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant.  J had the Kids Elvis Toast, which is peanut butter, banana, and cinnamon on whole wheat toast.  He loved it and practically inhaled it.

Mr. GV had the Buffalo Salad and I had my usual Reuben.  I mean seriously, I never try anything else because I just love the tempeh reuben so much!  

And then:  dessert.  J and I shared a slice of chocolate banana cake.  

Mr. GV had a slice of some sort of cheesecake.  Pumpkin I think.

And we got two cupcakes to go for later, when we met up with family at another restaurant and had no vegan dessert options presented to us.  

J enjoyed the cake quite a bit of course.  At one point he decided I had eaten enough and divided what was left. Hilarious.  

December Decorating at Our House

After decorating at Mom's house, we brought J home with us to help decorate our tree.  When my sisters were young and still at home, they would help decorate my house, so it was nice to have a "young'un" to help out after many years of it being the two of us.  I like spending time just with Mr. GV of course, but Christmas is just so much more fun with there's a child around.

I thought this picture was kind of cool with the trails that the lights left behind.

I'm not sure what made J pose like this, with his hands together.  Such a sweet picture, though!

J and I decorating

J and Mr. GV placing the angel.

Group portrait!  Well, all except for Gabby, who could not take being that close to Milo.....or J.

Here is Gabby in her box.  Doesn't she look like she is thinking "I will cut you."  lol

December decorating at Mom's house

Whew, have been away for a while!  I could blame it on the busy days of Christmas, but that's not entirely true.  I've just been feeling uninspired.  I figured I could at least come on and put some December pictures on though!  

Here are pictures from when we decorated Mom's tree:

Macy

Macy, Milo, Casper and Mr. GV

Milo and Casper have the *best* time together!  Here Milo is biding his time until he can steal the toy.

J and I decorating.

J and his NaNa

J chose S to help him put the angel on top! Poor S was so sick at the time, but she rallied and came in to visit anyway.

S and her boyfriend, striking a pose.

Almost all of us!

A Sesame Street Kind of Day

Recently J and I were able to attend Sesame Street Live:  Elmo Makes Music.  It was a complete surprise for J, and it was a good one

J posing with Elmo and showing off his new toy.  

Most of the gang

J sorta entranced.  lol 

Cool glow-in-the-dark number.

The letter of the day was "J."  So perfect!

And the number of the day was 8, which is a special number for J too!

Happy boy after the show with his light-up toy and Elmo balloon.  

A Vegan Tayst

I wanted to surprise Mr. GV with a little something different in November.  And thankfully I found it at Tayst in Nashville.  Tayst is Nashville's only green-certified restaurant.  While it is not a vegetarian restaurant, the chef knows his vegan stuff and offers up vegan dishes on his menu.  

Mr. GV and I made an overnight of it, and I'm glad we did. 

The meal consisted of 5 courses with optional wine pairings.  Note:  I was the only one out of the entire  gathering who opted for no wine.  lol 

The First Tayst was Turnip and Caraway Soup, described as roasted turnips, rice croutons, smoked vinegar gastrique.  I admit, I was skeptical when I saw that it was turnip soup, because I'm not a huge fan.  But it was delicious!  And the rice croutons were so good.  The gastrique was yummy as well.  (I promise, the pictures are better after this.  I was self-conscious about firing the flash on my camera at first.  And then I got over it.)

Our Second Tayst was a Kale Salad--shaved pumpkin, spiced pumpkin seeds, "bacon" vinaigrette.  Yep, I'm not a huge fan of kale either.  I know, the vegan world is crazy over it.  Greens just don't do it for me, because they normally taste bitter.  But this kale salad was delicious, and the shaved pumpkin and pumpkin seeds were lovely.  The vegan bacon vinaigrette did indeed taste bacon-like.

The Third Tayst was Seared "Scallops" with "oyster" dressing, apple butter, and apple relish.  This was our least favorite dish (which isn't saying that it was bad, because everything was delicious, just not as good as the rest) because we just didn't love the scallops.  The dressing, apple butter, and apple relish were divine though.

Our Fourth Tayst was Tofurkey, which was seitan and tofu stuffed with sage stuffing, maple sweet potatoes, orange scented gravy, orange candy.  This was a masterpiece.  I never thought an orange scented gravy would be appealing, but it was very good.  There was just a hint of orange.  As the menu said--it was more 'scented' than a big ol' taste of orange.  The stuffing was great, and the orange candy was such a treat!  

Our last Tayst, the Sweet Tayst, was Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with spiced pecans, salted caramel, and ice cream.  Well, yum.  What more can I say about this?  It was a perfect ending to a perfectly delicious meal.  

We had our waiter snap a picture of us after our meal.  It was a satisfying 2 1/2 hours, and one I will never forget.  

Unfortunately, Tayst is closing at the end of the year.  From articles I have read, I gather that the chef/owner wants to concentrate more on his sandwich shop, Sloco, which also has vegan items on the menu, and spend more time with his family.  I'm so glad we were able to be a part of Tayst's "The Last Vegan Supper."  

Visiting Santa

Santa came to my town the day after Thanksgiving.  He rode in on the front bumper of a fire truck no less, along with his elves and Rudolph.  

There was quite a bit of waiting in line involved.

J heard "The Polar Express" along with his cousin, and they were gifted train whistles, seeing as the story involves a train and the building the story was being read in was the old train depot.  Here J is listening for the next cue in his job as bell ringer for the story.  

Even Santa has to keep to a schedule.....

The visit with Santa and Rudolph!

Excitement.

Train time!

Animal petting/learning time!

Craft time!

This was the cutest thing.  I don't have a picture of the finished craft, but when you put the painted handprint on the paper it looks like Santa's hat and beard.

Cousins.

More Thanksgiving

It worked out that Mr. GV was off work this Thanksgiving, and we were able to eat our meal at his brother's house.  

We took servings of our dressing and potatoes, plus the green bean casserole and pumpkin pie to share. There were rolls we could eat AND my mother-in-law made bean salad with Veganaise and tofu (instead of hardboiled egg!!!)  This is HUGE.  My mother-in-law always says she can't cook for us anymore, and I know that bothers her.  I have mentioned that my mom cooks for us but I don't think it gets through to her exactly what I mean.  

J came by for a while with my mom and sister, and made a quick friend!

Love this picture of Mr. GV and the little one.  

Babies all over the place!