Three Beautiful Things 11-23-2023: Fixing the Appetizer, An Hour or So at The Lounge, Family Time and Thanksgiving Dinner

1. I'll let the cat out of the bag right away.

We had a calm, satisfying, and delicious Thanksgiving Day.

Carol made the food assignments. She gave me an easy task: Loaded Sweet Potato Bites. 

Well, I used yams! 

All I had to do was peel the yams and slice them. I put the slices in a bowl and poured olive oil, chili powder, garlic powder, and cinnamon over them, and tossed them.

I put the pieces on cooking sheets, baked them for ten minutes, flipped them, and baked them another ten minutes.

I finished by putting a dab of Frank's RedHot Sauce on each slice, sprinkling grated cheese over the slices, and then adding finely sliced green onion and a dab of sour cream on each one. 

Presto! 

We had a Thanksgiving appetizer.

2. Annually, on both Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, Cas and Tracy host a buffet dinner at the Inland Lounge. Debbie and I dropped in before the dinner started, enjoyed Bloody Marys and had great conversations with both Cas and Tracy before other people started to arrive. 

3. We arrived at Carol and Paul's about the same time Christy did and we joined Molly, Zoe, Carol, and Paul in the house. We all settled into the living room and Paul served us each smoky cocktail, a mix of Mezcal and apple cider -- and I can't remember what else. We munched on the vegetables arranged by Molly and Zoe on a platter to look like a turkey, with the word  THANKFUL  spelled out with carrot sticks along the top.

We had a superb discussion of the play Arsenic and Old Lace. We'd all seen it. We'd had time to think about it. Paul had a great stuff to say about directing the play. It was really fun to have a sustained family discussion about something we were all involved in, having all either seen the play or been a part of its production.

Before long, we took our places at the table, sang a verse of "We Gather Together" (a favorite hymn of Mom's) for grace, and enjoyed turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, cranberries, and rolls for dinner -- with wine.  

We returned to the living room for pies -- pumpkin, pecan, and/or a salted coffee shoofly pie.

Six straight hours of social interaction, a few cocktails, and a delicious dinner wiped me out! 

I went to bed earlier tonight, almost immediately upon arriving home, than I have in ages. 

Copper and Luna probably wish I would get wiped out like this more often! They were very happy to have my company so early in the evening.