A Return to Thanksgiving.

This is the first year i've been in the with family and in the United States for Thanksgiving in three years. As my favorite holiday of the year, it's been a bit rough having to explain Thanksgiving to people in London, trying to explain the history, trying to explain why you need so many different vegetable sides. But the hardest thing of all was not having my mom by my side to ask advice and have someone else to share the cooking with. This year was a return to the norm, and a return to Thanksgiving with family and friends, and my was it wonderful.

Belated Thanksgiving.

So, being here in London as an American, the one thing that really just hasn't felt quite right yet is Thanksgiving. Having shops open the day of, and people not understand why you want to celebrate it the day of the holiday just makes for lots of Thanksgiving feeling confusion. This year instead of cooking myself we went to a friend's house, and i of course was put in charge of making the pies. I made them the night before because i knew i wouldn't have time the next day, and i found myself flitting around the house rolling out pie crust, trying to find something to make holes in the top pie crust that was just the right size, and all the meanwhile, i did my best to talk with all of my friends and family back home. We laughed about Thanksgivings abroad, and in some ways the night before, talking to friends, felt more like Thanksgiving than the next day. There's nothing quite like video chatting with your mom across the Atlantic while you both giggle over how time consuming it is to make four pies.

Did It.

17 Hours Until Game Time

The day before Thanksgiving at my house meant baking more than i had in the past few days. Two pumpkin pies, a pumpkin pie cheesecake with gingersnap crust, an apple galette, a pear almond tart, cranberry lemon crumpets and apple cinnamon syrup later... my day is over.