Happy Thanksgiving

For the first time in over ten years, we will be spending Thanksgiving elsewhere. I cannot stress how good it feels to be responsible only for a side dish or treat for the day's meal instead of the whole enchilada. For the first time in years, I'm actually watching the Thanksgiving Day parade, or parts of it anyway. For the first time in years, I'm speculating what candy to bring, will it be the patchouli'd pralines or the sandalwood white chocolate brickle? Or both? Perhaps. But I have time to think on it. To mull the possibilities. To be creative in an unhurried manner. I was so stressed yesterday doing the pre-Thanksgiving dinner (which ALL the children attended and loved as a 22 lb turkey is gone and no one took home a plate or bags of food), that I burned an entire sheet of homemade rolls. It was the second in the oven, so we had at least the first yummy sheet, but I never burn the rolls. Well, until now.

So, I'm giving thanks that I'm off the hook for the real event; giving thanks that I am at liberty to whip up something lush and decadent with perfumery to feed the uninitiated; I am giving a big, big thanks that today is a day free from stress, and giving thanks that my children and their families and a few friends were able to attend a dinner with us, all together. Wonderful.

Bon Appetit!