So far, it's been our experience that baked vegan desserts leave a little to be desired. Bread doesn't seem to lose much in translation as often bread recipes do not call for non-vegan ingredients anyway. Most of the baked desserts we've tried however, have paled in comparison to their non-vegan counterparts. So when Jane received The Joy of Vegan Baking for Christmas this year, we were both hopeful. Here was an expert who had a published book on the very topic we were having issues with. An answer had to be in sight!

Jane decided that she would bake at least two recipes a month from this cookbook. So far, we've had the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (twice), the Blueberry Lemon Muffins, Mexican Wedding Cookies, and Peanut Butter Cookies. The Peanut Butter Cookies were made with Almond Butter however as Jane doesn't care for peanuts in almost any form.

The Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins were excellent the first time around, but didn't hold their shape well. In other words, they were falling apart even as Jane removed them from the muffin tin. However, they tasted great. They were amazingly moist and tender and the combination of bananas and chocolate always wins in my book. Jane thought that the muffins may have fallen apart because the bananas we bought were rather large. Since the recipe calls for four mashed bananas, rather than an actual measurement, there is a lot of room for error here.

After such an auspicious start, we had high hopes for the recipes that followed. Next in the cookbook is a recipe for Blueberry Lemon Muffins. They cooked up nicely and I thought they tasted good, but Jane felt they had a metallic taste and was thinking it was the baking soda / vinegar combination which is used as a leavening agent here. So, one for two.

Next were the cookies. We had Mexican Wedding Cookies at a friend's house this year, made with vegan butter in our honor. According to our friend, with that change she had a completely vegan recipe. They were excellent. So we had high expectations here. The cookies looked exactly the same. Unfortunately, these were dense and very doughy, not at all melt-in-your mouth as the recipe claimed. But not every recipe is going to work, so this didn't deter Jane from her next endeavor.

Almond Butter Cookies. These cookies were very good. The batch didn't last two days (it wasn't just us though, we had company and put out the plate of cookies)! Jane made half the batch as described and half with chocolate chips. Surprisingly, the ones without the chocolate chips were better! Both versions of this cookie would have benefited greatly from a glass of cow's milk. But we don't drink that anymore. Regardless, we will certainly be having these again.

And then it was back to the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. This time Jane only used three bananas, and they were slightly smaller than the bananas she'd used the previous time. Also, she forgot to set the timer so they were slightly overcooked. They still had the same great flavor, but they were a tad hard and that definitely detracted from the experience. Alas.

I wonder what she'll make next?

Yesterday, Jane and I went to Whole Foods to stock up on some of the vegan supplies we can't get at our local Trader Joe's.

While we were there we also stopped at the prepared foods counter. We picked up the vegan chicken curry salad and some fresh hand-made tortillas. It was excellent. The tortillas were moist and the vegan chicken curry salad was comparable to "real" chicken curry salad, or at least the "real" chicken curry salad I remember from over six months ago!

We had a little bit of the chicken curry salad, a hand-made tortilla, half a sandwich made with Yves mock meats and a salad. Quite delicious.

Jane and I were at our local Whole Foods today. We thought it might be a little less crowded this week because people are still away for the holidays. It certainly wasn't as insane as the last time we went, but it's still busy.

I must say, their customer service is wonderful. Every where we went there were plenty of staff who offered help, should we need it.

As I've mentioned, this Whole Foods Market is the largest Whole Foods west of the Rockies. I believe they're calling it their flagship store. This time we went for more than just groceries. We decided to get some ready made food. They had a number of vegan selections at the "deli" counter (I'm not sure what they're calling it). We opted for the Vegan Chicken Sonoma Salad. It was superb. It's been a long, long time, but I think it resembles a Waldorf Salad. There were red grapes and celery, pecans, and vegan chicken chunks. I'm not sure what the mock meat was, probably wheat gluten. We brought it home and shared the vegan salad, a vegan sandwich and a nice green salad. All in all, a delicious meal. We were very pleased with the vegan selections they offered and are thinking that we'll most likely use them for the occasional weekend lunch.

Thanksgiving is all about traditions. This was our 10th Thanksgiving together. Our first holiday together was Thanksgiving. For us, it has become a day we recommit to our relationship. As part of our tradition, we have our dinner alone, followed by dessert with our relatives. So this way we have the best of both worlds.

This year we had our first Vegan Thanksgiving. If you've been reading along with us, you've probably heard me whining about not having turkey this year. Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Certainly, we missed the turkey, but the Tofurky was a passable alternative. The dinner was very good. Our menu consisted of the following:

• Tofurky Roast and Gravy
• Stuffing
• Homemade Cranberry Sauce
• Mashed Yams
• Cumin Braised Brussels Sprouts
• Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage
• Salad: Mixed Baby Greens with Kiwi and Cranberry

And for dessert:

• Apple Pie
• Pumpkin Pecan Cranberry Cookies

Our traditional (non-vegan) Thanksgiving was pretty much the same. Obviously we had turkey instead of Tofurky. Also, Jane used to make mashed cauliflower instead of the yams, but since that dish requires copious amounts of butter and cream, Jane opted not to try to "veganize" it. She also skipped the onion pie entirely, as that calls for eggs and milk to bind everything together, and she was concerned that the taste would be "off" if she used one of the available alternatives. The rest of the dishes were all our regulars sans the dairy products.

So how was our Thanksgiving in comparison to the previous years? Our side dishes were stellar. If you didn't know they were "veganized, " it's highly unlikely that you would even notice. The mashed yams were a nice addition to the plate. Jane used a little soy milk and spiced them with garam masala and sea salt. They tasted like Thanksgiving!

Cooking the Tofurky was interesting. Since I usually took care of the bird in the past, Jane suggested I prepare the roast this year. When we took the product out of the box, we were struck by how small it was. And getting it out of the casing it was wrapped in proved to be quite the challenge. Really, they could make that a lot easier! But the preparation was easy enough. You put the Tofurky in a pan with some root vegetables and pour an olive oil sage mix over everything and into the oven it goes. Jane and I joked that I was making a baste-free bird, since you plop it in the oven and don't touch it again until 10 minutes before it's done.

It smelled like turkey. But it didn't taste like turkey, and we both missed our turkey. However, it's certainly edible, and much easier to prepare and clean up after than a roast turkey, and we wound up with about six servings instead of the four they suggest on the box. So, we'll do it again next year. By then our taste buds should have completely acclimated to the vegan life!

For dessert, Jane made the apple pie and pumpkin cookies I mentioned above. Of course they were prepared using vegan recipes. Our hosts also had pumpkin and pecan pies which looked delicious, but weren't vegan. As a side note, when being served my pie, I was offered the option of whipped cream. My response, "no thanks Maria, whipped cream isn't vegan."

And now it's time for some leftovers. Yum!

Whole Foods, an upscale "healthy" grocery store, opened the doors to its largest Whole Foods Market west of the Rockies here in Pasadena. It's a monstrosity of a building at 76,770 square feet.

And it's not just a store -- it has a gigantic food court including a Wine and Tapas Loung, a fresh-squeezed Juice bar, a Seafood bar, Asian Food, Italian Food, a MASSAGE LOUNGE (limited hours), Singles events. Not to mention fancy-schmancy cheeses and chocolates.

Jane and I went on opening day. It was crazy. But, we got this lovely Whole Foods grocery bag for spending over $40. I tried to convince the cashier we should get two since we spent $90, but he wasn't buying that.

Will we go back? Yes. They have ingredients we have difficulty finding elsewhere. Will we go back any time soon? Probably not. This has been an eagerly anticipated opening and the store is waaaay too crowded for us!