It was a treat to have everybody here for Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing Day, three big Canadian holidays. The weather could not have been more soggy and wet, nor more grey. We kept assuring Julia that we really are surrounded by mountains, but none could be seen.
Aaron arrived Tuesday evening, looking fine for having just crossed the continent. On Wednesday, we visited the northern edge of Chinatown to stock up at Sunrise, our favourite green grocer on Gore. The selection and prices are the best in the city, far as I can tell, and their tofu is sold throughout the city. We had a substantial lunch at a new Chinese vegetarian restaurant on Main Street.
Aaron then started cooking in the kitchen in which, decades ago, Janice let him be involved as soon as he was able to reach the counter by standing on a chair unassisted. Here he is making a peanut sauce to go on some pot stickers (though I could be mistaken because by now our many meals are becoming a blur in my memory).
Stephen took Thursday off and Vivian got off work early, so they were here by late afternoon, in time to head off to the new and far larger Chinatown in Richmond, B.C. Each time they visit Vancouver, we have an all-you-can-eat sushi feast, turning the ordering chores over to Steve, who actually recalls some of the Japanese names for fish. There were also ample things for Aaron to eat.
Julia also worked on Thursday, and then headed to the airport for her long flight via Toronto. She arrived much later that evening, more like 2:00 Friday morning. Stephen, Vivian and Aaron wisely stayed up to meet her at the airport. I also intended to go, but wanted a cat nap first, so I set my phone alarm for 1:00 so that I would wake up in plenty of time, but alas, I set it for p.m. rather than a.m. and slept straight through. I only woke up when hearing people returning, so I was able to welcome an exhausted but happy Julia to our home.
Friday (the day of Christmas Eve) began with some stove top espresso coffee (even for Aaron), a whole bodum of decaf for Steve, lots of my home-grown mint tea for Vivian, rolls and breads Steve picked up at his favourite Vancouver French bakery, and fruits to ease the conscience.
Then we headed off to the Granville Island market, an obligatory stop for all tourists and serious cooks. Julia decided to take some B.C. salmon back to her roommates. This is packaged for travel and will satisfy customs in most countries.
One vendor was a great salesman, offering his various hot salsas: tomatillo, pineapple, mango, etc. We enjoyed sampling and figured they would be a nice addition to our growing list of Christmas appetizers.
Then the six of us continued riding in "Ruthie", Steve and Vivian's 1995 (?) Buick, to revisit the Sunrise grocery and vegetable store. It is bewildering to see so many many kinds of tofu (might not eight suffice?), mushrooms, and greens. They had the best selection of crisp apples we have seen this month.
Steve and Vivian kindly made dinner for us on Christmas Eve, featuring creamy polenta with their homemade tomato-mushroom(s)-basil etc topping, some Himalayan lamb sausages, a mushroom-sweet pepper dish, gigantic green salad, olives, fruits, etc.
Then the Scrabble commenced, which is when I usually quietly drift off. Friendly but competitive disputes over words could not possibly be solved by our ancient dictionaries (most of which are in other languages), so Julia turned to her trusty laptop to consult the latest official Scrabble Online dictionary.
I should have taken a better photo of the board but did not want to interrupt the concentration.
Meanwhile, I started making my Christmas Swedish tea ring dough in order to let it rise overnight. I got up a bit early (comparatively), finishing it with brown sugar, soaked raisins, walnuts, cinnamon and melted vegan margarine. I like to do all of this while playing some Christmas CDs quietly with the kitchen doors closed. This is my own time to remember songs from my youth. Steve is invariably the first to rise. He likes to find a Starbucks for his first decaf, and hopefully a newspaper, but Canada takes Christmas very seriously and there were no new newspapers to be found.
Julia picked up several pomegranates at the market and showed us how to extract the seeds without creating a mess. These crunchy seeds offer little explosions of flavour that go well with the tea ring.
Aaron showed Julia two of my photo annuals, another way to introduce her to a bit of his life in France and Vancouver.
I always like to see Vivian take a nap here, it means she is on holiday, relaxing, briefly crashing. Nobody reads newspapers quite like Steve.
For her contribution to Christmas dinner, Janice made each of us a small salade composée with greens from her winter garden.
Our friend Harold joined us for the Christmas feast, which had quite a few non-traditional dishes. I remember Julia's stuffed portobello mushrooms, Aaron's tofu and his dumplings made from scratch with Asian bok choi. The Seattle crew brought various homemade pickles and pickled veggies, and added some fried polenta with mushroom topping. We also had baked yams and apples, peppernata, the 'Mennonite' cranberry/orange/apple relish (though with far less sugar), Vivian's roasted fennel, Aaron's roasted chestnuts, etc. We topped it off with a leisurely sampling of 7 different chocolates selected by Aaron.
The next day, Hans joined us for our Boxing Day feast, but I was a bit under the weather and now see that I neglected to take any pictures. Using Steve's and Vivian's homemade sauerkraut, I made a traditional Alsatian choucroute with smoked pork chops, "Mennonite" sausage, juniper berries, Riesling and bay leaves in the afternoon while the youngsters went hiking and then played some disc golf. Their new way of making and canning sauerkraut is a winner, so I am thinking we may need to pay a visit and can some for ourselves during cabbage season. I also made my tarte tatin.
Boxing Day concluded with another game, Settlers, I believe, but it was my turn to go to bed early. In the photo you can see Steve's decaf, Vivian's sparkling water (they brought and finished off a whole case), and expressions of deep concentration. Janice tells me that she lost each and every game but enjoyed the competitiveness and interactions.
This morning, Steve and Vivian rose early (5:15), had a quick breakfast (which for Vivian was still more choucroute) and drove straight to Seattle and to their respective jobs. The Philadelphia crew then had breakfast with us (oatmeal with lots of nuts, etc., and I juiced the rest of the oranges). We checked flight plans one more time, and were at the airport by 9:15 a.m. Philadelphia just had its first major snowstorm of the season, so there were canceled flights on Boxing Day, surely a peak day for travel. But Aaron and Julia are experienced travelers and young enough to go with the flow.
So now, it's back to two rather lonely-looking place mats . . . .
