Once in a lifetime

Thanksgivukkah was a gastronomic mashup of epic proportions and portions.

A dreidel spinning during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade
+ Thanksgiving nametags on menorahs as place settings
+ sweet potato latkes and cranberry applesauce
+ turkey AND brisket
+ pumpkin spice sufganiyot (doughnuts)
+ a cornucopia of gelt and dreidels
= EPIC holiday mashup!

Here are a few "pinteresting" recipes that were among our favorites:

pumpkin spice Rice Krispie treats

cranberry applesauce

Thanksgivukkah may have come and gone, but Chanukah is still here (barely - where is the time going?!) For those of you who celebrate, happy Chanukah!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...Thanksgivukkah!

Never before and never again in this lifetime will there be a holiday mashup quite as awesome as what's in store tomorrow: Thanksgivukkah. The Pilgrims and the Maccabees, both champions of religious freedom, will share a day tomorrow, which they won't do again for another 70,000 years:

"This year, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah will overlap, producing an anomalistic hybrid holiday that’s come to be known as Thanksgivukkah. There are conflicting reports about whether it’s happened before and when it will happen again, but most mathematicians and calendar experts seem to think this is the first occurrence. Although the holidays would’ve overlapped in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln didn’t formally establish the holiday of Thanksgiving until two years later, in 1863, which means that 2013/5774 will mark the first Thanksgivukkah in history. 

Just how rare is this holiday? Some reports say Thanksgivukkah will happen again in 2070; others, like Jewish physicist and calendar expert Jonathan Mizrahi, say it won’t repeat itself until 79811. Either way, it’s safe to say that for most of us, Thanksgivukkah is, indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime event."                     

-ReformJudaism.org

To celebrate, I've put on my "Sweet Genius" hat and am preparing to make hybrid desserts to honor both holidays. I truly don't remember the last time I was this excited to bake. It's a Thanksgivukkah miracle!

Right now, it looks like a bodega threw up on my kitchen counter...

... but tomorrow it will look like culinary crossover creativity. I hope.

Thanksgiving #iPPP recap

Thanksgiving 2011 started as every other has since I was a kid - with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I remember when I thought getting up at 9:00 to see the Broadway numbers was early; now, I find myself kvetching, When is it gonna start? It's getting late! (You know you're old when...)

After the Rockettes finished doing their thang, it was time to pack up for our second annual nontraditional Thanksgiving in Charleston. Mimi heard how much fun we had last year and didn't want to miss out again.

Rae Ray kept me company on the drive there.

After checking in, Hubby and I went to his favorite Irish pub for a pre-Thanksgiving-dinner nosh. 

We toasted the start of our vacation with the obligatory Guinness (and a glass of wine for moi).

The Smithwick's ale cheese dip was so good I may have licked the bowl before letting the waitress take it away.

Who was excited for a seafood Thanksgiving dinner at Hank's? This girl.

You guys, this is seriously the best key lime pie north of Florida.

BLACK FRIDAY! If you're wondering why I'm so excited to see a Tervis store, you obviously have yet to discover the awesomeness of this drinkware and should add it to your Christmas or Chanukah wish list.

There's nothing like a bagel and lox from my favorite bagel shop to fuel me up for more shopping.

Here are our Black Friday spoils. Too bad 3/4 of the bags hold presents for us.

That afternoon we took a stroll through a part of the city we had yet to see. We found a bunch of old cemeteries...

...and several beautiful churches.

Then we enjoyed a late lunch in the lovely garden of 82 Queen.

Butterfly chairs? Yes, please.

Red Lobster's got nothing on these cheddar biscuits!

BBQ shrimp and grits, for the win!

We concluded the day by taking a nighttime murder & mayhem tour, during which we learned that the city was hospitable not only to out-of-town guests, but also to prostitutes and bootleggers, my favorite being Rumpty Rattles Hogan (why do gangsters have the coolest names?). Below is the Big Brick, a brothel made popular for its window shopping convenience.

Saturday morning, we said our goodbyes to Charleston with another trip to The Bagel Shop and a tour of Magnolia Cemetery, where Rumpty is buried along with over 2,000 Civil War veterans and several government officials.

I learned three things on this trip: 1) Our nontraditional Thanksgivings rock, 2) I take more pictures of food than I do people (I'm not sure I want to know what this says about me), and 3) I have a serious addiction to Instagram. How did you spend your Thanksgiving?

Giving thanks

Sometimes I think it's the not-so-great year (I'm looking at you, 2011) that deserves the most gratitude. There are always people and things for which to be grateful...

...for loved ones old and new, near and far
...for loved ones gone but never forgotten
...for health, both physical and mental
...for a roof over our heads and food in our bellies
...for the knowledge that things could always be much worse and faith that they'll get better
...for finally seeing glimpses of myself after spending most of the year not feeling like me at all
...and, of course, for all of you.

image source

I know that I have been MIA much more than I've actually been present in the virtual social stratosphere this year, but you all have been patient, loyal, understanding companions through my fits and starts. All it takes is reading one of your blog posts to remember that I'm in good company in this crazy thing called life. Thanks for being a supportive force in my world. Happy Thanksgiving!