Synopsis...

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1) Ben's Thanksgiving. Where I broke my gluten free experiment (thus ending the first monthly theme). Amazing turkey, vegetables, wine, stuffing, mac and cheese, pies, soup, yams, salads, cranberry sauce, etc... quite a feast, and we were all rolling out of the house on 2x4s.

2) Casey's potluck chez moi. Casey turned 25, and since he lives with his madre, he asked if we could host at our house. Gladly! we thought. It was a great chance to meet some of his local friends, and reconnect with AP friends. Unfortunately, this was the unluckiest potluck I've ever had. Food included: a tray of lasagna that Casey himself made. A cake that Casey's mom made. A cheese platter that Sarah and I put out. That was about it. Now, don't get me wrong. The company was great. We had a great time. Casey got sufficiently intoxicated for his birthday. But let's get a few things straight about potlucks:

- you cannot show up with only wine, unless the host asked, "oh, we're running short on booze, could you actually pick some up?"

- it is good practice to actually prepare something ahead of time. Lacking the resources to do so, at least buy something that could be assembled, so that it is still fresh and with some love in it.

- at the very least, bring something prepared that is still yummy.

Let's be clear, though. All of us have broken this formula at least once. That is ok. That just means you end up with an unlucky potluck.

At our potluck, though, the lasagna was amazing, and Sarah and I melted some brie and enjoyed it with a fresh boule from the co-op, and some fig spread. It was quite decadent. I think its delights were lost on our crowd, unfortunately. However there were no qualms about it. Also, everyone gobbled up the lasagna. And I was told a few times that the chocolate cake was the best cake anyone there had ever had. We then ate gummy bears and I got a stomach ache. Fin.

3) Actual Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite holiday of the year, except for my own / other's birthdays, because those are good excuses to do really fun things. Anyway. The big holiday was at my house this year. Since I flew home on a Thursday, we didn't host until Friday, which is mildly disconcerting if you are used to celebrating on a Thursday every year.

At least I was in the country this year! (Sorry Mom and Dad).

Highlights of this meal included: a deliciously brined turkey. Really. The best one we've ever made. Stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce. I recreated the squash and corn pudding, which I made wayyyy too many. Oops. Leftovers! There was some yummy "wait, that's not gluten-free bread?" bread, which one of my dad's cousins brought, thinking she was being very clever, but it turned out to just be bread. It's the thought that counts, right?

I was recovering from a bad flu/cold at this point, and so at approximately 5 pm I left the table and took a nap on the couch for 45 minutes. Ha! It was the best nap ever.

In terms of communal eating, Thanksgiving was actually fabulous. We had some of the easiest family personalities to work with, and everyone got along great! The main topics of conversation were: my dad's cousin being a new grandpa, (congrats!), jury dury, Twitter, surgery, immigration, and some people asking me about Somalia and if that's where all the pirates are. Oh, geographical separation. I love it.