Monday, June 16, 2008

My Dad Rocks!

On Father's Day, the Dutchman (aka the boyfriend) and I went to Arkansas to visit my parents. My mom planned a BBQ meal and invited my Granny and Pa (daddy's parents) and my Me-Maw (my mom's mom). Here's my dad and I standing in the driveway:


I gotta say, I'm pretty sure I have the coolest dad on the planet. He handles everything that I'm too retarded to figure out on my own — like car insurance when I have wrecks, my car when it breaks down, anything in my apartment that needs fixing (last Father's Day, he installed a new air conditioner in my apartment). He just built me a flawless, elaborate computer desk by hand. And he even orders me vegan treats, like Teese, vegan chocolates, and tofu jerky. I love my dad!!!


I also love my mom, who you can see here grilling meat (ick!). But don't worry. She also grilled Tofurkey Kielbasa for me:


She basted the kielbasa in homemade barbecue sauce, and I topped this dog with sauerkraut and mustard. Yum! If you haven't tried these, I highly, highly recommend them!

On the side, she made Paula Deen's Baked Beans:


The recipe calls for bacon, but she took a good-sized portion out for me before adding bacon to the big pot. She also used vegetarian baked beans for the whole dish. These have crushed pineapple and French fried onion in them, and oh my are they delicious!

We also had grilled squash and zucchini, and a salad of marinated tomatoes (from the farmer's market so they're safe from salmonella), cucumbers, and onions:


For dessert, Granny brought over a vegan Sweet Potato Pie:


It's a recipe she's been working on converting for my cookbook, and it was so tasty! She thinks it needs more work though, so she's going to tweak it for the final recipe. It tasted perfect to me!

Then, my mom made ice cream sundaes with homemade vegan hot chocolate and toasted pecans. Everyone else ate dairy ice cream, but she bought me a pint of French Vanilla Soy Dream:


Overall, Father's Day was a huge success! I got my dad a Harley Davidson tee with a skull on it, and a Harley cap with a skull. My dad just bought a Harley last week, and he loves anything with skulls on it. He's kind of a punk rocker like that.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay for awesome dads! I went up to see my dad for Father's Day too, and got to eat lots of awesome food cooked by my mom.

Avery Yale Kamila said...

You're parents rock! What a great father's day feast!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

What a fantastic way to celebrate Father's Day!!

Anonymous said...

Your dad is way cool! Love his bike. =D

Unknown said...

yum your food looks great!
baked beans are probably one of my faves.. and mm with french fried onions in them! hafta try those sometime..
that's so nice of your family to accomodate you so well! :)

jessy said...

your dad's bike is awesome! i'm jealous! :) and that's rock'n of you to get him some fun harley stuff, too! i think it's so cool that your family is vegan friendly! those baked beans look heavenly! i've gotta try those!

Anonymous said...

I thought for a second you said you'd bought your dad a Harley for father's day. I was gonna be all like 'damn, girl!'. Then I realized you bought him a shirt and a cap, which is pretty awesome too.

I am jealous of your parents! When I go to my parents' house, I either have to eat first or take my own food. I think it's so awesome that they embrace your lifestyle when you visit!

Yeah, I totally scored on the purple cauliflower. I want to go back to the farmer's market soon, but I may not make it this weekend because I have a wedding cake on Saturday. If I can get it done early enough though, you just might see me there!

Burek is originally from Turkey, but is popular all over the Balkans. There are a lot of different variations, depending mostly on where you go, from potato filled to cheese filled, even eggplant filled. I made the meat kind because that is the most traditional and popular in Bosnia. I wanted to test out the recipe, then make it for my Bosnian friend (the one I am trying to convert).

I really wanted to go Friday night, but it looks like I'm not going to be able to make it. I will tell you why once I'm sure it's really going to happen :)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Your GRANDMA made a VEGAN pie?!?! Wow that's so cool!

And your parents seem super-cook as well :o)

Alicia said...

You had a pretty perfect BBQ! :-). I specially adore your grandma and her vegan pie, hehe.

Anonymous said...

Dads (and families) rock, especially if they come with vegan pie!!!

Anonymous said...

Girl when did you get your hair re-did? It looks fab on you!

Erin said...

You have an awesome family! Your granny is veganizing a pie for you? So sweet.

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

What a great feast! Can't wait for your Granny's vegan pie recipe when the cookbook comes out!

Anonymous said...

Aww Your Dad IS the best! I need to get one of my parents to buy me Teese...

Your grandma's pie looks really good.

Marisa L. S. said...

Your dad does rock! My dad would never get me any kind of vegan product. Lucky you!

Anonymous said...

Awww! How nice to live close enough to your family to spend special times like that together! All that food looks delicious, and it's so cool how your family made sure that you were accommodated with vegan yumminess!

My dad has a Harley too! All the Harley gear he has could fill up a garage, probably...But, it makes him happy as ever!

thedalyn said...

While my dad often begrudgingly admits that the food is "alright," he can never refrain from saying it needs meat--weird since he doesn't actually eat that much meat. But, yes, I think it's probably a good idea to freeze the teese (ah, poetry). It seemed to bounce back fine...

Jess said...

What a fantastic family you have! All that food looks awesome, and it's so nice to have a family that is supportive!

And, uh, your mom is hot... She looks great!

Sheridan said...

I love all of the pics! You guys are too cute.

Tasty looking food too!

I want lunch. Actually, I found a cool salad place yesterday called ZaZa that I plan to take you to when you...

Come visit! Hahaa...

Ok, I know, it's probably getting old. But, seriously.