Polish Christmas Eve with No Deprivation Whatsoever

On Christmas Eve, Rob the Husband made a lovely little facebook post, plagiarizing sayings from Whole Foods gift cards to wish everyone a Merry Christmas:

A friend then proceeded to comment, wishing him luck with his Merry Christmas, insinuating that it wouldn't be very merry or tasty because us vegans are deprived of eating tasty animals in our Christmas celebrating.

I read this commentary not long after waddling away from the dining room, having just stuffed myself with traditional veganized Polish food and a few new dishes from Chloe's Kitchen that made their way into our Christmas dinner buffet, and I couldn't help but laugh. I really don't know whether our lovely friend was just taking a silly jab at us for the fun of it, or whether she truly believes that Christmas dinner cannot be enjoyed without a carcass on the table. Either way, I was entertained.

I proceeded to finish my apple cake square and lick the titty-milk-free cream cheese icing off my fingers before responding, assuring her that there was no deprivation during our Christmas celebrating. In fact, it turned out to be the kind of delicious excess you feel kinda shitty and embarrassed about, knowing that there are so many people in the world who would be privileged to eat a fraction of what we feasted on that night.

So, just what DO vegans of the Polish persuasion (or Polaks of the vegan persuasion, if you prefer) eat on Christmas Eve?

First, they start with eggnog a la Isa Chandra, and spike it with a crap-ton of Filipino rum (mmmm...Tanduay...). Of course they provide an unleaded version for the kiddies and for those not wishing to partake in the rum-fueled deliciousness. Take note...when the alcoholic version disappears and you wonder what to do with the abundant leftovers of the non-alcoholic version, the solution is simple: add rum.

Next, they pay homage to their Italian brethren by eating crostini. Specifically, Chef Chloe's Artichoke Walnut Pesto Crostini. This is a tangy, bright, vibrant appy, really taken up a notch thanks to an abundance of fresh parsley (of which I am not usually a fan...but it's awesome in this dish).

They also appreciate when their cousin brings a delicious tomato basil crostini appy to add to the crostini awesomeness.

Every good Polak knows that it's not Christmas Eve without the borscht, and you can't have borscht on Christmas Eve without the uszka, and you have no business eating uszka if you don't realize that they are called uszka (which translates into "ears") because they actually look like ears. So before hitting up the buffet in the kitchen, they sit down at the dining room table while the Polish moms come around and ladle out borscht over bowls of uszka. And within seconds the cream colored tablecloth is splattered with splotches of bright red as the first course of beet soup is eagerly consumed, thus signaling the official beginning of Christmas Eve in a Polish household.

And because there are 22 people at the table and this isn't the Royal Palace where each person is served simultaneously by impeccably dressed waiters in white gloves, everybody loads up their plates in the kitchen, where an incredible buffet of Christmas dinner awesomeness awaits.

The vegans are grateful that Polish Christmas Eve is traditionally meat-free, and they attempt to ignore the deceased sea creatures on the table (brought by guests). Instead, they load up on mom's incredible cooking, as well as some incredible Chloe Coscarelli dishes deemed appropriate for this night:

~ Mushroom perogies. Pure happiness. My mom learned how to make egg-less perogy dough last Christmas, and the world has been a brighter place ever since.

~ Meatless cabbage rolls. Mom started making these last Christmas, subbing in lots of delicious, meaty mushrooms for the traditional carcasses that go into cabbage rolls, once again, earning my eternal gratitude.

***I will concede, that if I was unable to partake in perogies and cabbage rolls on Christmas Eve, I would indeed be feeling a bit deprived, as my friend suggested. Alas, this is not the case, because my mom is an awesome veganizer of Polish food :) ***

~ Thyme for Creamy Scalloped Potatoes.

These are simply amazing. Superduper creamy (thanks to a garlicky, thyme-y cashew cream sauce) but with no greasy, nasty butter or pooled oily bits on top of the potatoes. Thyme is an absolutely beautiful seasoning...just don't expect to find it at an Asian or Indian grocery store. I went to both T&T and Fruiticana, asked for the herb thyme, and the produce people at both stores proceeded to pull out their iPhones and tell me the time.

I doubled the sauce because I made a slightly larger batch of potatoes and I like my potatoes extra creamy.

~ Coconut Mashed Yams

These were a real hit. I screwed up and mashed in too much coconut milk, making my yams a bit too mushy, but the flavour was not impacted in any way. These are super sweet and perfectly seasoned for the holidays with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Mixing in the currents is the perfect finishing touch. Absolutely loved these.

~ Garlicky Greens

Hellooo kale! This was a last minute addition to the Christmas Eve menu, just cuz I wanted more green on the table, and it was super simple to prepare. Rob did complain while he was washing and tearing four bunches of kale, claiming it would be wayyyy too much, even though I kept assuring him that it would shrink when cooked. And then he saw how much it shrunk (shrank or shrunk?) when it wilted on the pan and claimed that I was right and he would never question me again (that's how it went down in my mind, anyway).

Nothing too exciting to say about the garlicky kale. It was good. It was kale.

~ Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnuts

Believe it or not, these were the belle of the ball. Who would have thought that friggen BRUSSELS SPROUTS would be the most celebrated dish of the evening?? I was never one of those kids who hated brussels sprouts, but I was also never particularly excited about them. So imagine my surprise when my 11 year old niece (my 11 year old EXTREMELY picky niece) saw them roasting in the oven and was all like, "Awesome! Brussels sprouts!"

At first I thought she was being sarcastic. She wasn't.

I was so impressed that I had to take a pic of her eating the brussels sprouts.

Notice that it was one of only three things that made the cut on her plate. And her facial expression has more to do with how weird I am for taking a picture of her eating brussels sprouts than a reflection of their taste, because she genuinely did love them, as did everyone who tried them. There were only a few stray sprouts left in the casserole dish at the end of the evening. Score!

So even though there were a few seafood dishes (brought by our guests) in our Christmas Eve spread, I had more than enough food to enjoy on Christmas Eve. I should have sent my friend a pic of my plate to assuage her concerns that I was deprived this Christmas.

Clockwise from top: Thyme for Creamy Scalloped Potatoes, green salad with my mom's homemade dressing, mom's sweet carrots, cabbage rolls, Coconut Mashed Yams, cabbage & chickpeas, bigos #1 (cabbage and mushrooms), bigos #2, Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnuts, Garlicky Kale, and perogies in the middle.

I almost finished it all. Almost.

Had to leave room for dessert, after all...

Oh hello Chloe's Iced Apple Cake Squares, Sea Salt Toffee Bars, and Cinnamon Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The apple cake is one of my new fave desserts. It'll definitely be only a once in a while thing, as there is a lot of oil in it (though I might have to try it with applesauce), but oh man is it ever moist and delicious. I changed up the icing from the recipe, and iced it with a cream cheese icing made with Tofutti cream cheese, icing sugar, and vanilla. So decadent. I used the leftover icing to use for dipping strawberries. Holy Yum.

The Sea Salt Toffee Bars are also a once in a while indulgence, and are ridiculously sweet so you can only enjoy them in small doses. But oh man, the salt mixing in with the chocolate and sugary centre of the bar is something to smile about.

The cinnamon espresso chocolate chip cookies were a hit when I brought them to work earlier this year, prompting many a recipe request from my fellow staff members. While I had already been cookied out by this Christmas (having made them several times in the last couple of months), they have earned their place as a staple in my cookie arsenal. I just have to make sure not to overdo them next year so I can still enjoy them by the time Christmas rolls around.

When I first started flirting with the idea of veganism almost two years ago, one of my concerns was what I was going to do over the holidays. I naturally associated Christmas with a big dead bird on the table, and I had a hard time envisioning Christmas without one at the time.

It's amazing how much ones point of view can shift so dramatically in a relatively short period of time. When I now see ads for BC turkey farmers and images of families gathered around the revered turkey carcass on their Christmas table, all I see is unnecessary cruelty, suffering, and death. And apathy.

I was apathetic for most of my life, and now that the blinders have come off, I am fascinated by how fiercely protective and defensive people are over their right to carve into that dead, tortured bird on their Christmas table.

As luck would have it, Polish tradition is a meatless Christmas Eve, which made it pretty easy hosting this year. Yes, the fish on the table was a huge, sad turnoff for me, but I don't want to be a militant vegan bitch, so I dealt with it. But we certainly didn't need it to enjoy an amazing Christmas dinner.

You know what I discovered I really did need to enjoy an amazing Christmas Eve? My two year old goddaughter in a Santa dress looking for the baby Jesus in the manger...

Because while the food element can certainly consume a lot of our time and energy around Christmas, a little girl excited to find the baby Jesus in the manger might be just a bit more relevant.

I Love this Soup...Pumpkins Do Not

A couple of weeks ago I was gifted some pumpkin. Not a pumpkin...some pumpkin, as in chopped up pieces of what I assume was a smiley Hallowe'en pumpkin that brought joy to children before being chopped up and ending up in a big ziplock baggie in the back of my fridge.

The nice thing about any type of squash is that this stuff lasts. Squash is the kind of thing you can totally forget about and find one day behind the Vegenaise and pickles as you're rummaging through the fridge, and you'll be pleasantly surprised to discover it because it's still in perfectly usable condition.

Problem is, I've never cooked with pumpkin before. Pumpkin puree, of course. But actual pumpkin parts that didn't come out of a can, no. Easy fix...internet to the rescue!

I googled vegan pumpkin soup, and sorted through a few recipes unenthusiastically until I came across Curry-Laced Pumpkin and Potato Soup from Lisa's Kitchen.

Oh Lisa, you had me at "Curry-Laced."

I had all the ingredients necessary, and was finally won over when I noticed that it was a pureed soup. I LOVE making pureed soups because you don't actually have to put any effort into nicely dicing anything. You can just roughly chop up everything, boil it up in the pot, and then let the blender take care of the rest.

So I chopped everything up...

...boiled it up in the pot...

...and the blender took care of the rest.

Well holy crap that was stupid easy.

Rob the Husband noticed the curry as soon as he walked into the house.

This is a fragrant, savory soup, very convenient to prepare, and it's high on the awesome flavour scale. The curry really pairs wonderfully with the pumpkin and the potato, which provide a lovely creamy texture. I threw in some croutons because I'm crouton obsessed, but it totally doesn't need them.

I'm not usually comfortable going outside of my beloved cookbooks and venturing into the vast world of online recipes, but in this case the gamble paid off. We both very much enjoyed this soup and will most definitely be repeating the recipe. It's super quick, super easy, and super delicious. I'm a fan.

Rob's rating:
4.5 Happy Tongues

My rating:
4 Happy Tongues

You know who's probably not a fan? The pumpkin :(

*found this gem of an image at TheSpookyVegan*

Thankful for Kind Cupcakes & Pie

The thing about Blogging is that I've discovered I kind of suck at it. Blog posts are supposed to be short & sweet (good reads for people with short attention spans who have a million and twelve other things that they could be looking at on the internet) and frequent (none of these crazy long breaks of several weeks -or in my case months- between posts).

Despite resigning myself to the reality that I suck at it, I find that I really do enjoy it. Kind of like singing. It's totally therapeutic. And having avoided blogging for a few months, I have a greater appreciation for how much I do enjoy it, if for no other reason than because I like talking about kind food, and I like looking at pictures of kind food, and I like preparing kind food, and I like going out and eating kind food and then talking about the kind food I ate. Same goes for kind shoes and kind purses and kind makeup and kind car seats.

Kind stuff is awesome.

Which brings me to my latest kind obsession. For my birthday in September I got a stunning cookbook: Chloe's Kitchen by the incredibly talented and adorable Chloe Coscarelli.

She gained recognition after blowing away the competition on Cupcake Wars with her vegan cupcakes, and has been charming the world with her insanely delicious food and lovable personality ever since. She definitely won me over, as evidenced by my almost daily quality time with her cookbook.

I seriously want to quit my job and just stay home all day and cook and bake stuff out of this book.

Anybody would after trying the recipe that sealed the deal for her on Cupcake Wars...the Ginger Nutmeg Spice Cupcake (Chloe's Kitchen p. 201).

I tried this recipe last month in preparation for Thanksgiving (us crazy Canadians celebrate in October). We spent Thanksgiving with some lovely friends, and I was especially thankful because they were hosting our first totally vegan Thanksgiving :) Not all our friends are vegan of course, but it is especially convenient having Thanksgiving dinner with the ones that are.

I was tasked with bringing dessert, and of course Chloe's cupcakes instantly came to mind as the perfect fall dessert...I mean, how could you go wrong with pumpkin, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, and a Cupcake Wars championship title? Yahhhhh...you really can't.

Unless you're allergic to cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, as is one of my co-workers. Then you could totally go wrong with this recipe. But that's the ONLY time, because this recipe is otherwise seriously perfect in every way imaginable.

The cake itself is moist and the spices come through beautifully, balanced perfectly with the fluffy vanilla bean buttercream. It's super easy to make too...the hardest thing about this recipe is scraping out the vanilla bean. The date caramel is the perfect finishing touch, and is also super easy to make...I just threw all the ingredients in my magic bullet (I did find that the recipe yielded wayyyy more date caramel than I needed). Now I just need to get one of those squeeze bottles for drizzling it on the icing.

I was so thrilled with the results that I gave into my inner fangirl and tweeted the pic to Chef Chloe...and being the sweetheart she is she made my night and re-tweeted me, because she is awesome like that :)

So these cupcakes were definitely a go for Thanksgiving dinner, but to put a festive spin on them I colored my Thanksgiving batch orange (with natural food coloring of course).

And to keep them safe I transported them in my nifty little cupcake transporter, a birthday gift from my bff :)

And because I'm Polish and we're all about overdoing it in the food department, I also made Cosmos Apple Pie from Vegan Pie in the Sky (p. 125) topped with Rad Whip (Vegan Pie in the Sky p. 199) which I paired with Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss Ginger Cookie Caramel ice cream, resulting in the most amazing pie-ice cream combo to ever grace a Thanksgiving table. It was declared (and I quote), "The most incredible apple pie any of us have ever tasted."

Rob's Rating: 
Ginger Nutmeg Spice Cupcakes - 4.5 Happy Tongues
Cosmos Apple Pie - 5 Happy Tongues

My Rating:
Ginger Nutmeg Spice Cupcakes - 5 Happy Tongues
Cosmos Apple Pie - 5 Happy Tongues

Both desserts were absolute perfection in my opinion. I definitely felt the earth shatter and heard the cherubim singing.

It was a pretty perfect end to an incredible kind Thanksgiving dinner of white borscht, millet cakes, breaded Gardein cutlets, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, gnocchi, and veggies.

The table looks so pretty without a big dead bird in the middle.

Indeed, I am thankful for the start of kinder traditions.

And in the spirit of sharing our thankfulness, I'm thankful for my handsome Galahad's first mom, who sent me the above pic, and I'm thankful that she entrusted me with him when she had to find him a new home a few years ago.

And I'm thankful for banned ads, because when something is banned it makes people all the more inclined to watch it.

And I'm thankful for sanctuaries and rescue organizations and wonderful, compassionate people who appreciate the beauty and value and dignity of all sentient beings.

And rainbows. I'm definitely thankful for rainbows.

Viva Las Vegan!

Ahhh Vegas...a land of indulgence and debauchery, where you can forget about reality for a while and lose yourself in a world of entertainment, gambling, eating, shopping, and not have a care in the world.

Until you get the Visa bill.

But let's not bring ourselves down with silly things like the unpleasant reality of financial responsibilities. Rather, let us lose ourselves in a world where vegan fine dining is quickly emerging among the steak and lobster and (nasty) foie gras typically found in the multitude of classy Vegas restaurants.

:)

This year, as we did the year before, we went to Vegas to celebrate my bff's birthday.

It was an extra special trip for her because it was also her babymoon :) Yes indeed, bff Jr. will be making his appearance this December :) Superduper exciting!!

I've been to Vegas a few times, and one of my favourite restaurants is Sensi at Bellagio. The space is very calming, almost spa-like, with beautiful blues and beiges and browns and water features and a glass kitchen in the centre of the restaurant so you can see your food being prepared.

Sadly, in recent years we had stopped eating there because of the nasty Sonoma foie gras on their menu. Last year when our friends ate there they left this helpful suggestion on their receipt...

Given that foie gras sale and production was banned in California on July 1, 2012, I was hopeful that the Sonoma foie gras would be off the Sensi menu this year.

And indeed it was!

I was thrilled, especially since I had heard amazing things about a vegan risotto that was not on the menu, and I was eager to try it. So we made a reso and met the bff and her husband/babydaddy J for a delicious evening of Sensi awesomeness.

Appies to start the evening off...I think yes.

Heirloom tomato melon salad and arugula beet salad (easily veganized)

Light, tasty. Pretty perfect appies, in my opinion, though Rob the Husband was a little bored. 

His boredom was short-lived, however, upon being presented with his sweet corn risotto entree:

This was pretty dang spectacular, and I have no idea why they don't feature it on their regular menu. The sweet corn really makes this risotto something special, lending a fantastic contrasting texture to the typical creaminess of the risotto. Why is this not on the regular menu??? Insanity.

As per our waiter's suggestion, I ordered the Diver Scallops with Asian vegetables and Jasmine rice, except they replaced the scallops with tofu. Meaning, they actually cut the tofu into the shape of scallops and seared it like they would sear scallops. Awesome :)

My tofu looks like scallops :) I love that :) :) :) And I'm a huge fan of Asian veggies and curry any day of the week, especially when there are mushrooms involved, so yah, this dish was absolutely perfect. I love seeing creativity and care go into specialty dishes, and I love when a chef treats a dietary request as an opportunity to get creative in the kitchen, not as an inconvenience.

Seriously great dinner. And you know what goes great with a seriously great dinner? Seriously great dessert.

Now, normally, I don't get too enthused about desserts from non-vegetarian restaurants, since I always end up with the default sorbet. Which is still delicious, don't get me wrong. But because it's literally the ONLY dessert that most restaurants have to offer in the tittymilk-free department, it's just not that exciting.

Unless it's served in an ice sculpture.

Hells yes.

Sensi delivered. Amazing, creative food. Wonderful service. And a badass ice bowl to make a normally ho-hum sorbet dessert something memorable (the coconut sorbet on the bottom left, by the way, was remarkable).

And how better to distract people from their car payment, I mean, dinner bill, than with a light-up receipt pad.

And of course, we had to express our joy at seeing the diseased livers of tortured, force fed ducks and geese off the menu.

My printing looks like that of a 12 year old.

And to let the world know how awesome Sensi was for removing the livers of tortured, force fed ducks and geese from the menu, I tweeted my joy.

And Bellagio responded!

Yes, I got really excited when Bellagio tweeted back at me :) Cuz I'm a fangirl like that.

After seeing Cirque Du Soleil's Elvis show (holy crap what a great time...stacking 4 guys vertically one on top of the other...CRAZY) we ended up gambling back at Bellagio, and since it's Vegas, if you're hungry at 1am, you eat, so we ate.

And even though the latte art on J's tittymilk latte was pretty lame...

...I was actually impressed with the food we were able to order at that hour.

Mushroom tacos and a portobello sandwich? Works for me.

The next day, because my favourite food in the universe is Ethiopian food, and Ethiopian food always has lots of vegan options, we journeyed off the strip in search of an Ethiopian place, and ended up at Mercato.

The equivalent of a samosa stuffed with lentils

The thing about Ethiopian food is that it doesn't look particularly appetizing (I've had friends compare it to vomit at various stages of the digestive process), but it tastes amazing. The spices and flavours are bold, and you can't beat the variety you get in one sitting. My favourite is always anything cabbage (2:00 above).

This meal, which also included a HUGE tomato salad in which we barely made a dent, two of those lentil samosa things, and a Coke (I know...I'm going to hell) cost just under $20. In Vegas. $20. That's like the cost of a cocktail on the strip. Apparently we risked our lives venturing out there, as our cab driver warned us that this wasn't the safest area of town, but it was worth it. A carcass-free meal for $20. How can you go wrong?

The Visa was only relieved temporarily, as later that evening we returned to the strip for dinner at Encore. Any Wynn/Encore restaurant is a given for us, considering the incredible vegan menus they feature since Steve Wynn's vegan conversion. 

Sadly, most of the restaurants at Wynn and Encore still serve foie gras, and as much as I would love to support the vegan incentive at these establishments, the nasty foie gras on the menu overshadows the phenomenal vegan options, and I can't dine there in good conscience. 

Happily, there are a few that do not serve foie gras (or at least didn't have it on the menu when we were there), and among them is the gorgeous, classy Sinatra. 

Here at Sinatra they have a beautiful vegan menu, and a seriously beautiful vegan Caesar Salad. 

Considering how they stack the leaves you could play Jenga with this thing (I am totally dating myself with that reference). But I ate it before any Jenga playing commenced, as the creamy, fragrant dressing was irresistable.  I could have ordered two more of these and called it a night, but then I would have missed out on my Gardein Marsala with forest mushrooms and potato gnocchi.

This was soooo creamy and rich and ridiculously caloric I'm sure, and Wow, was it ever impressive. Gardein never fails to amaze me, and when it's prepared by an executive chef, magic happens. That right there is love on a plate.

Anybody who thinks they could never give up meat needs to try this dish, because you get the best of everything on that plate...incredible, satisfying food with no hormones, no suffering, no death, and no artery-clogging cholesterol. Still a lot of fat, I'm sure, with that decaent marsala sauce, so this would never be a daily indulgence, but at $33 a plate, that's a good thing.

I also got to sample Rob's heirloom tomato soup and agnolotti with asparagus sauce.

Those orange droplets in the soup are basil oil. Seriously stunning soup. The agnolotti was delicious too, but way too small for Rob in terms of portion size. He could have eaten at least twice that, and he was finished before I was even halfway through my entree. We often joke about what we affectionately call "Voila!" portions at fancy shmancy restaurants, but in this case, even though the dish was very rich and carb-laden, it was definitely too small. Either that or Rob was just especially hungry that evening. Usually I'm able to polish off more food than him. 

The benefit of Rob's small entree was that he ordered his own dessert. Usually he just has some of mine cuz we're both too full to order two, but this time it was dessert double duty. 

My frutti di bosco with coconut sorbet came with the cutest candy spring. It would actually spring when you pushed down and released it. I was ridiculously entertained.

And of course I helped myself to Rob's chocolate plate of awesomeness.

Oh look. Vegan desserts that aren't just sorbet. What a concept. Take note restaurants of the universe! Not just for the sake of people with an aversion to the idea of consuming tittymilk, but maybe for like the 60 percent of people with lactose intolerance. And that's a conservative number.

But I digress.

Thumbs up Sinatra for an absolutely stunning carcass-free dinner in the land of indulgence.

And stepping out onto the adorable butterflies on the floor at Encore was pretty sweet too. Such a gorgeous hotel.

We came back to this end of the strip the next day for brunch, to Tableau at Wynn.

My pineapple juice looks so classy with a pineapple juice colored rose beside it.

Blueberry pancakes? Yes please.

Tofu benedict with potato hash? Yes please.

Yet another successful excursion to a Wynn restaurant thanks to their awesome vegan menu.

And no trip to Vegas would be complete without a visit to Wolfgang Puck, who I love not only because his food is yum but especially because he refuses to serve foie gras at any of his restaurants. We have made it a point to try all six of his Vegas restaurants, and with the bff's official b-day dinner at Cut this time around, we now only have two to go.

Cut, you say? Vegans eating at a steak house? Egad! What are we thinking? Granted, when the server brought out the cuts of raw beef for J to select his steak from I was more than a little turned off, but I was still looking forward to a decent meal. 

Butter lettuce with avocado and champagne-herb vinaigrette (they just left out the bleu cheese). It was a good appie, and like the Sinatra Caesar salad, I loved the way it was assembled. 

Unlike Sinatra and Sensi, Cut didn't really have anything to offer in terms of a vegan entree. The best they could do was put together a medley of side dishes, which was still very tasty. 

Clockwise from top left: honey glazed root veggies (honey's a grey area for me), roasted potatoes, wild field mushrooms with Japanese shishito peppers, and a bunch of beans and peas. It was good. The mushrooms were actually very, very good. Everything was tasty, and even though it wasn't really an entree, and considering we were eating in a steak house, I enjoyed it and was grateful for it.

Dessert...surprise surprise.

Still, it was a Wolfgang, I didn't have to worry about foie gras on the menu, and the ambience was very cool...super modern and industrial. A swell way to end our Vegas excursion and a swell place to celebrate the bff's b-day.

All in all, Vegas was an awesome time.

Stellar eats. Stellar gambling.

Stellar Stella McCartney store.

Stellar new Stella McCartney Falabella purse :)

Yahhh :)

But she deserves a blog post all her own.