Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm somebody who loves food and especially loves all the rituals and traditions associated with it. So obviously I am all about Thanksgiving. I think that the very end of this sums up why.

Ours started a week ago, on Saturday, when some friends came over for our Mock Thanksgiving (a tradition started years ago and abandoned, but picked back up this year). It's just a bunch of friends, having Thanksgiving dinner like they do on sitcoms (because on the Thanksgiving specials, nobody seems to go home?). A night when we don't have to worry about rushing from one set of in-laws to the other and we don't have to travel and we can just relax. Everbody brought something, so it was a mish-mash of the dishes everyone likes best that their mom makes and Cooper fried a turkey ("casian" fusion - cajun seasoning on the outside, teriyaki marinade on the inside).

Plus, since nobody's favorite mom food involves vegetables, I made some awesome roasted brussels sprouts with a cranberry brown butter and green beans with a mustard butter - both from Food and Wine and also both experimental enough that our friend Mike said, as he was forcing everyone to try them, it was obvious that I was the one who made them.

At any rate, it was fun and delicious and great overall.

Last night, we had dinner at my parents (just a regular dinner) and we hung out there today with my brother and sister and grandmother and uncle, then we went to dinner at Cooper's parents house, which included a million of his relatives and about five outrageously good pies (Cooper's dad is an incredible baker).

Right now I am tired and still stuffed, though I ate hours ago, and feeling generally satisfied and content. And I hope you are, too.