merry christmas, baby ♥

christmas is my favorite holiday! hot chocolate, family, friends, presents, starbucks holiday drinks, food, spiked hot chocolate, carols, christmas movies, spiked cider, and encouragement of fashion faux pas such as ugly christmas sweaters and red & green in the same outfit. i am that girl who will sing along to mariah carey’s “all i want for christmas is you” in the store while browsing through dresses. and then sing it again when i hear it in the neighboring shop.

poster children for christmas

every year, i have a favorite carol.. the honor for this year goes to: baby, it’s cold outside. glee’s version here. YES I STARTED WATCHING GLEE. i had to give the show a chance since it was created by ryan murphy who produced popular. well i don’t know about you guys but popular was one of my favorite tv shows when i was younger. top five, hands down. in the ranks of buffy the vampire slayer. here’s a review of popular on robwillreview.com (we all love creative URLs). popular showed late at night in singapore and i would force myself to stay up to watch it. that was my dedication to the kooky show. like many great shows, it was canceled. other shows i love that were canceled include pushing daisies and arrested development. WHY?!?!?!  i have digressed..

ok, so i celebrated with secret santa exchanges, holiday parties, family time and a nightmare before christmas night. the secret santa exchanges were filled with ridiculous but somehow awesome gifts. examples include a boobs-shaped ice luge, a deformed monster baby (it was fucking freaky), a disco ball, an appropriate “nice jewish guys” calendar, an even more appropriate “i’m a terrible designated driver” t-shirt, an inappropriate set of penis lollipops, an inappropriate but probably useful set of matching couple candy underwear, and the most inappropriate justin bieber CD that most appropriately ended up being pete’s gift (running joke but also accurate description that pete, or at least his hairstyle, closely resembles justin bieber).

christmas love

yep we wore matching nightmare before christmas footie pajamas

i baked and made nothing this year for christmas.. shame on me. we did whip up some patties from vegetarian crumbles and i also spent unnecessary money at whole foods because of my number one ailment, laziness. i was too lazy to even buy a damn tofurkey and roast it. i will strive to have a more martha stewart (vegan) christmas this year.

requisite asian pose for a merry photo

 

i am a greedy girl

i have been eating enough for a family of five generations. i really need to stop before i explode.

tomato basil cream pasta

the recipe is from veganyumyum but i modified it a little, it still turned out super yummy! below is the original ingredient list with my modifications at the end, and the instructions are pretty much the same but it’s how i did it and not the exact original.

tomato basil cream pasta

ingredients:

1 large, ripe tomato (2 cups roughly chopped, 1 1/2 cups blended)
1/2 cup raw cashews (i used trader joe’s thai lime & chili cashews)
1 tbsp tomato paste (i used 2 tbsp)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil (i used 1 tbsp)
2-4 cloves garlic, minced, optional (i used 4)
6 ounces whole wheat spaghetti (i used about 2 1/2 cups uncooked fusilli)
1 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp wine or water, optional (i didn’t use any)
1-2 tsp freshly cracked, coarse black pepper
1 large handful fresh basil leaves, chopped (i used a lot of dried basil as i am too cheap to buy fresh ones)

instructions:

1.boil enough water for the pasta, then cook pasta till desired tenderness.

2. chop and grind cashews in blender. roughly chop tomato, and add all of the tomato to blender together with tomato paste and water. blend until very smooth.

3. add olive oil to large saute pan over medium-high heat. add garlic and saute until golden. pour sauce from blender and bring to a simmer. add salt and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. add wine/water to thin out the sauce if desired. taste and season more if necessary. let simmer until pasta is finished cooking. once pasta is cooked, drain. add pasta to pan with black pepper and basil leaves. toss to coat. serve immediately, garnishing with more pepper and basil.

ok honestly, i did steps 4 and 5 wrong. i put my cooked pasta in the pan first, stirred it around, and then added the sauce. i JUST realized this as i typed out the instructions.

it’s ok. mine still turned out yummy, i swear.

well.. speaking of greediness, i am going to put up a little wishlist i have for christmas! jackie and i are so excited for abc family’s 25 days of christmas. i loveee christmas and christmas carols and christmas movies and christmas treats and christmas everything : ) we are just gonna camp out on the couch, watching tv, and pretending to study woo!

christmas wishlist

★ money for college
★ a recipe book (to write recipes in, such as those from paperchase)
★ an apron (such as this, this, or this)
★ camera cables for the canon ixus i picked up two years ago (or a new camera)
★ lomography cameras
★ warm clothes that will protect me from the cold (e.g. jackets, jeans)
★ ability to cook and bake amazingly, and to make my amazing-tasting food look equally amazing with amazing phototaking skills
★ books (novels, classics, cookbooks, anything interesting)
★ for more people to be green and vegan and love animals even when they jump on your bed with dirty paws 1047183913 times (aka sprinkles)
★ a great winter break
★ and many other things, but i want to go sleep now xoxo