TG cooking has commenced

Carrots are being chopped, Brussels sprouts trimmed, pie plates set out... Are you getting ready? What are your favorite TG meal traditions? I've never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving; it always seems like a race- to travel, eat, sleep, visit, return. Here's hoping this one is a slower-paced holiday. The best part of TG is that it ushers in the real winter holiday season. I'm an enormous fan of the merriment and pomp of Christmas. It takes everything I have not to buy my tree the day after Thanksgiving. I love the decorations, the food, the treats, the carols. Cheers!!

Forgot the sunchokes, USPS tip

Friends, are you sending out holiday cards? I am and love to do so but find waiting in line at the post office to speak to someone who is surely(!) going to be surly and who may or may not have the stamps I actually want really takes away from the whole joyful season spirit of the card process. This year, thusly, I ordered my stamps from the USPS directly. Do you know about this? You get exactly what you want for $1. It would cost me more than $1 in both gas and peace-of-mind to get to any of our local post offices, and while I am hugely in support of the USPS and think real mail is really an underrated gift and social art that is getting left behind, I do draw the line at voluntarily getting the stink eye from a disgruntled worker. You might wonder: why does the freaking post office charge to deliver mail when a) that's their job, and b) they're already coming to your house? Valid question, but they're already broke as get-out and someone has to go get all those stamps together and address an envelope to you. So pay your $1 and enjoy it! The sunchokes...I got so caught up in the onion confit that I forgot about the sunchokes. As you might have surmised from my obsessive pursuit of these puppies yesterday morning, I love them. I eagerly await the advent of sunchoke season and miss them terribly when it's over. Usually I do a simple roast, sometimes a mash of potatoes and celeriac with sunchoke "croutons" on top, sometimes I fry them into paper-thin chips. Tonight I'm going to roast them and make a hazelnut gremolata (hazelnuts, lemon, garlic, parsley) to go on top, a recipe I came across on food52 which sounded terribly promising.

Will let you know, but I gotta go get the confit off the stove now.

Stubborn as a mule

I pride myself on trying to beflexible, reasonable and chill. Does this always work you ask? Certainly not, but still.

The latest of such failed attempts in my life demonstrated and thus underscored to me the magnitude of just how darn stubborn and determined -like a mule!- I really can be.

I had a slight surgical procedure last Friday, and then napped away the day with my dog, despite having tried to ignore and soldier on through an unwelcome anesthetic fog.

The next afternoon, I congratulated myself- eight hours more spent reading and lazing. But by last night, Em-i-lis could take it no more, agnolotti, pies and goodies were waiting.

To be made and devoured, but wait that's not all; wasn't the next morning the farmers' market too? Yes indeed, and at 9:00 today I was eagerly  immersed, in sunchokes, potatoes and carrots of all hues.

Thrilled with my purchases but feeling a tad weak, I headed home aware of the error of my ways. Like a dog with its tail hanging contritely between his legs, my stubbornness left me feeling like an ass in a haze.

So at present I'm prostrate in bed taking it slow, chastened but still frustrated to the nines. I guess we really do have to slow down on occasion, and now is one of those times.