Sally is in New York, Nell is in Paris, Rob and Nat are in New Jersey—so we were reduced to the kitchen table and the sideboard for Thanksgiving. But in many ways it was lovely: no guests to entertain for the rest of the weekend, low pressure preparation, and a chance to enjoy the meal and the guests. Normally I enter a buzz zone after we have sat down, and come out half an hour later wondering what the food tasted like. This time it was really delicious: I took the turkey off soon enough (2 hours on the Weber for a brined 14lb turkey), Vanda did delicious baby vegetables from A.J.’s, very garlicky mashed potatoes, and the usual lemon celery stuffing.
Speaking of which, Amy had sent the recipe for that to Nell so that she could cook it for her Irish, German, American-Iranian, and American-Indian Thanksgiving, and left off the lemons from the ingredients list. At 10am I got a text message from Nell, shouldn’t there be lemons? I texted the details back for her.
It rained on Sally’s Macy’s parade, but their one-minute performance was smart and crisp. She called us later, utterly exhausted from cold and lack of sleep, but happy.

next >