Thanksgiving is arguably my favorite holiday. And this year I am really, really, really (reallyreallyreally) excited for it. Last year I didn't get to go home, and it was still wonderful since my parents and sister came out to my aunt's and grammy's and most of my extended family was there, and I learned how to make gravy (kinda). This year my extended family will be on one side of the state, and we'll be on the other, but they have promised to make us a video of them singing and other related shenanigans. If I can't sit at the "kids table" (so-called even though we're mostly in our 20s now), at least there will be some hilarious footage of it! So it may be a low-key Thanksgiving, but I get to go home. Home! For the first time since August! (I know, I know, it's not that long. But it's long enough.)
What I like about Thanksgiving is that at its core, it's not about stuff. It's about, well, giving thanks! For my family, this ranges from the silly, to wishing for peace, to lambasting the pilgrim fathers (and a lot of other people) for being so awful to the Native Americans, to listening to "Alice's Restaurant". If we were sensible like the Canadians, we'd celebrate Thanksgiving earlier in the season, so that it could also be more about harvest and bounty, as it should be. It's about cooking and eating with those you love--who don't necessarily have to be your family. I was talking to someone tonight who said she always has a "friendsgiving" instead, and those are equally fun. We had a potluck tonight, and I am full of lovely food. Although, it is the point of the semester when people are stress-cases (yo, included) and occasionally snap at one another (yo, not included). The conversation too soon degenerated into how we are excited that Vasari is now searchable online. I mean, really. I will be excited to not be here for a few days.
Anyway, the real point of this post is how much I love sweet potatoes. You can make them sweet, you can make them savory, mash them, put them in soups, make fries--all genuinely delicious. I had two varieties tonight (mashed with cranberries, and roasted with sage or tarragon or something). Earlier this week I made sweet potato quesadillas (rock on, Moosewood!) which were tasty. My grandmother makes a really good variety with orange juice--sweet, but not cloyingly like the marshmallow ones sometimes are.
Sweet potatoes are versatile and they are amazing in chip form and dipped in honey mustard. I like them with brown sugar. I like them roasted with cumin with black beans and rice on the side (this was my quick Brooklyn dinner sooo many times). I feel the same way about butternut squash, although I usually can't be fussed to cook a whole one of those, and then have to eat it for days. And if you have any favorite sweet potato recipes, pass them along!
I might not have another post before I have to catch a shuttle to the Indianapolis Airport at, ahem, 5 am on Tuesday, so if I don't talk to you before Thanksgiving--I hope you all have a nice day, wherever you may be and whomever you may be with. And in the immortal words of Adam Sandler in his immortal Thanksgiving Song: "Turkey for the girls and turkey for the boys, my favorite kind of pants are corduroys."
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