Thanksgiving II

Last night, I went to a second Thanksgiving dinner that probably beat the first in terms of company and conversation. I love my family, but there’s nothing better than a five-hour gossip sesh with friends you haven’t seen in months.

A large group of girls from my high school congregated at my friend Julia’s house for Thanksgiving II, a tradition that began last year. Here’s to many more years to come!

Our hostess with the mostest:

It’s safe to say that everyone in my graduating class was a serious foodie, so the spread was no joke.

There was a turkey:

Two trays of stuffing:

Baguette with brie and prosciutto:

Plain ol’ mashed taters:

Mashers with blue cheese:

My contribution, Angela’s sweet potato casserole:

Spinach salad:

As well as several other sides I didn’t snap, including cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, another kind of stuffing, bacon and cider.

Since I’d made myself quite sick with all the pecans, Earth Balance, maple syrup and potatoes I’d ingested while preparing the casserole, I kept my dinner plate light: regular mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce and salad. That was fine by me though, because it left plenty of room for dessert J

There were holiday cookies:

Perfectly decorated sugar cookies:

Pilgrims, look!!

Mini Oreo cheesecakes:

Petit fours:

Dulche de leche atop bread pudding:

And a pecan and pumpkin pie I didn’t catch. I had about four sugar cookies, a mini cheesecake, two petit fours, several spoonfuls of dulche de leche and a few slivers of pecan pie. Guf. Sugar overload, but it tasted sooo good!

While eating, I had the honor of chatting with some of my favorite ladies.

We even brought out Skype to see friends abroad!

My high school was a very special place to me, and will always hold a huge piece of my heart. There were 84 girls in my graduating class, and we had the strange but most amazing connection with one another. Being weird wasn’t weird, it was embraced and only made you a better person. It’s a feeling I know I’ll never be able to replicate exactly with those outside of our class, but I treasure it so much!

Is there a group of people besides your family that you feel "at home" with? I definitely feel most at home with my high school friends, but it's amazing how quickly I've come to feel "at home" with the blogging friends I've made!

Divided We Eat

Has anyone taken a look at the November 29, 2010 issue of Newsweek?

If not, I definitely encourage you to pick up or peruse a copy.

The title article, entitled “Divided We Eat,” takes a look at the tremendous disparity between the diets of the poor and the wealthy. Profiling three Brooklyn families, author Lisa Miller describes the growing difference between the increasingly local, organic diets of the upper classes in comparison with the junk-food-centered meals of many poor people. “The freshest, most nutritious foods have become luxury goods that only some can afford,” she says. “Corpulence used to signify the prosperity of a few but now has become a marker of poverty.”

Miller also put forth some fascinating but frightening statistics:

-       17 percent of Americans (over 50 million people) are food insecure

-       In NYC alone, 1.4 million people are food insecure

-       “[Between 2004 and 2008], food prices overall rose about 25 percent; the most nutritious foods rose 29 percent, while the least nutritious food prices rose just 16 percent.”

-       “[There is] no single time of day when Americans predictably sit together and eat. By contrast, 54 percent of the French dine at 12:30 each day.”

Looking at today’s eats, I see that I am no exception to this rule.

Lunch was a huge salad of romaine, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and Sabra.

As well as a snackplate containing a pear, red grapes and peanut butter on a sandwich thin.

My afternoon snack was a honeycrisp apple with peanut paste made from TJ’s peanut flour.

Would I eat this way if I were struggling to make ends eat? I can’t say for sure, but it’s doubtful. I’m know that I am incredibly fortunate to have financially stable parents who understand my healthy habits and still foot the grocery bill, and I am very grateful because I realize that it’s a luxury that many people do not have. So many people point to “eating too much” as the main culprit of obesity, and while that fact cannot be denied, I think the fact that cheap food generally equals unhealthy food is often overlooked. It’s definitely a huge factor to address as our country battles this obesity epidemic.

What are your thoughts on this logic? Do you think that there is a way for the government to subsidize healthier foods? Which do you think is more important- addressing obesity as a nutrition-based problem, or as an economically-based one?

My Thanksgiving.

Yesterday I…

Did not take any photos.

Made Angela’s “This Ain’t Grandma’s Sweet Potato Casserole” (which I really wish I’d taken a photo of).

Got to see half of my extended family for the first time in months.

Ate two helpings of said sweet potatoes, along with green bean casserole, salad, mashed potatoes, corn, cheesy broccoli and a dinner roll.

Saved room for a massive dessert that included chocolates, apple pie, carrot cake, butter cookies, dough balls, pecan pie and chocolate-covered pretzels.

Gave thanks for the many wonderful family, friends and blends God blesses me with each and every day.

Ate more dessert.

And went to bed with a very large, sweet food baby.

Today I…

Will take photos of my food (starting with this breakfast).

Will make Angela’s sweet potatoes again.

Will hopefully eat more vegetables.

Will get to see many of my high school classmates for the first time in months.

Will continue to give thanks for those wonderful people.

And will probably eat much more dessert at Thanksgiving Part II.

Hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine was!

PS- It’s officially the start of the holiday season!!

What was the highlight of your Thanksgiving?

What are you most looking forward to this holiday season?