'Tis the season....

...for folks to play 'Surprise the Vegan'. Or so it seems to me.

On Friday, my department (a small one of 6 people) held our pre-Christmas party. Like plenty of companies out there, our employer has scaled back the official festivities - 'given the economy' - and so it fell to us to amuse ourselves. Which we did by way of a potluck.

Now, of course, I am the only vegan in the group and, as such expect, to be overlooked and disregarded. I have learned that it's vital to bring waaaaaaaay more food to such events because inevitably everyone will **love** the vegan food, won't be able to believe that it's vegan, will nonetheless scarf it all up PDQ and your plate - and hence tummy - will be left woefully empty. And so it was simply astonishing to me when I was faced with the following:

- My boss brought in a massive crockpot of vegan 3-bean chilli.
- His boss brought in some homemade hummus, pita bread and red onions.
- One coworker's husband had made a massive tray - a veritable fieldful - of roasted root vegetables with rosemary.
- Another coworker got up super-early (we start work at 8am) to bake stuffed mushrooms.
- And there was also plenty of homemade salsa, chutney and sundries.

All vegan.
All wicked delicious.

Now I know that I said of the last group of people that I worked with that they were fantastic and I couldn't have found a better crowd, but I think my current coworkers - and friends - are just about the most accommodating people I have ever had the privilege to work with.

So C'pak people - you know who you are - I think you guys are awesome!

:)

Oh, and if you are wondering what I brought to the event:

Chocolate-Stout cupcakes with peppermint 'buttercream' frosting (from VCTOW)
Super-fudgy brownies (from JVB)
Almond cake topped mincepies (from my own special recipe)

I also baked up some of Isa's Rumnog Pecan Ball Cookies and some Snickerdoodles, from VeganYumYum, as presents for the gang.

Despite the snow storm which initially dumped about 12 inches of snow on us and is **still** snowing even today (almost 2 days later) a good time was had by all!

Am starting to feel all kinds of festive. Bring on Christmas Eve!

:)

Oh, and stay vegan, Friends!