Yesterday marked my first Thanksgiving without family. It may sound bad but I was actually looking forward to this new circumstance. My family holidays have been tolerable the last few years, but a sense of stress still remains every year. I did hold on to my tradition of pie making, and created one of the most perfect looking pecan pies ever (and forgot to take a picture).

I spent the afternoon at Cerra’s, near Haight & Ashbury, where she was working on her first turkey. Her theory was to keep putting stuff on it and something would have to make it turn out okay. It worked. There wasn’t a dry piece of meat in that turkey…not sure if we should attribute it to the apples stuffed inside, the applewood bacon covering the whole bird, the butter-drenched cloth, or the constant basting with butter & seasonings :) It was not a healthy turkey by any means.

I think my favorite moment was when we pulled up 2 chairs on each side of a paper bag and started peeling potatoes. All we were missing was the porch heh. So I made mashed potatoes, noodles, and a cheese spread. Note to self for next year’s noodles, chop the noodles in to smaller pieces…they were impossible to dip out hah.

The swedes brought swedish meatballs, which was great. It was their first thanksgiving celebration, and so of course, they filmed the whole thing. Others pitched in garden medley mashed potatoes, veggie-injected stuffing, green beans, salad, pumpkin pie, and ruffles (the joke of the night…“why didn’t anyone eat my ruffles??”).

It was a great day…so casual. It was a lot of fun just sort of taking it easy through preparing the meal til people arrived. And Cerra had a great mix going…some songs I hadn’t heard in ages. She got a lot of “feedback” about it once others showed up haha. But yeah, we had 2 Swedes, a Norwegian, and a Canadian at our thanksgiving. Pretty awesome. We watched “You Got Served” after dinner, which we later explained to the foreigners, was not a regular part of the tradition—to watch a horrible dance movie. It was so bad, ultimately proving street dialogue should never be scripted. They may as well have had a bunch of suburban white kids reading the lines…it would have felt more legit.

It was followed by some beer pong (which I still can’t seem to embrace) and fun conversations. It was a really nice day. I left early though because I was exhausted and had to drive home (and getting in my parking space takes some delicate maneuvering).

It was all I could have hoped for from a Thanksgiving with friends. And I found it a bit cool to be celebrating such a traditional day on the street where so many social revolutions had gotten their start.

Anyway, I just got my new TV so I’m going to enjoy finally being able to play some Wii. It’s also taking my Hulu experience to an entirely higher level :) No need for cable, my friends. And my sofa will arrive next Friday! I’ll be able to invite people over at long last.