Spaghetti pizza with a friend and Thanksgiving feasting

Luckily, there’s no calorie-counting in blogs posted during Thanksgiving week because this 7 Quick Takes post is packed with treats.

~1~

Our wonderful local used bookstore, Ukazoo, is closing. My friend Annie and I have shopped Ukazoo together before, and it seemed fitting that we would go together one last time—and even more fitting if we found some spaghetti pizza to enjoy together on our way.

Spaghetti pizza is part of our shared college memories, and Annie and I have been known to chase some down as we reminisce about our Franklin & Marshall College days. When we were college students, there was a little pizza place just off-campus that we called My Place. I think the restaurant is still there, and it served spaghetti pizza, which I had never experienced anywhere else.

Have you had spaghetti pizza? It’s an exquisite blend of baked pasta and pizza that is hard to describe. This version came with a large bowl of marinara sauce, which only enhanced the experience.

Annie and I had such a fun lunch and book shopping outing, though it was sad to see Ukazoo for the last time.

~2~

How was your Thanksgiving? We had dinner just as a family of four, and it was relaxing and wonderful. It reminded me a little of the year we were waiting to travel to China to meet our older son. We were so busy packing to leave that we opted out of extended family Thanksgiving dinners and just spent the day packing.

We carried in a dinner to heat up from Bluestone, which we did last year, too. I made a few dishes to supplement, which meant we ended up with way more food than any family needs. But we had to have jellied cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sauerkraut, and my mother’s pumpkin pie. I drove to my parents’ house to trade some of our sauerkraut for my mother’s pie, her carrot and onion casserole, and some rutabaga—a nod to my grandmother’s New England roots.

It was a year for giving and receiving sauerkraut, as it turned out. My friends Jill and Ryan shared some sauerkraut made by a friend of theirs, and it was excellent. So, we had double the sauerkraut, double the Thanksgiving luck.

~3~

I never know what to do about lunch on Thanksgiving Day, especially since I like to serve our meal at dinnertime.

This year I cut up some veggies and served those with dip and cheese and crackers.

That way I had an excuse to make a veggie tray in the shape of a turkey.

Of course, you never need an excuse to dabble in a little artistic food fun.

~4~

My mother’s pumpkin pie should be its own post, perhaps in poetry form, or maybe even set to music. It’s just so delicious. She claims it’s the recipe and nothing special that she does, but I have never had pumpkin pie that tastes as good as hers.

She uses a little brandy in it, and that somehow adds just the right tones to a delectable dessert. In fact, I told her that all I really want for Christmas is the pumpkin pie recipe and a bottle of brandy. We will see if she remembers.

I hope you had some delicious Thanksgiving treats, too.

~5~

Our boys don’t like pumpkin pie, and I think everyone should have a yummy dessert for Thanksgiving, so I made a pan of brownies. When I went to look at the pan at the end of the night, I saw that the boys had eaten their favorite corner pieces and left the rest.

I’m the only one in the family who prefers the middle pieces.

This might be the Christmas where someone gets one of those all-edge brownie pans as a gift.

~6~

Do Christmas card photo shoots get easier as children get older? Or are they just difficult because you assume it will be easier? Asking for a friend who very much wants to send Christmas cards this year and is trying not to be bitter that her younger brother’s card arrived with a gorgeous family photo on Thanksgiving Eve. But, of course, life is not a race, and neither is sending Christmas cards.

~7~

Advent starts Sunday, and I’m so looking forward to it. I have nothing special planned, other than watching my children eat chocolate out of their Advent calendars every day and lighting our Advent wreath. But I feel such a yearning for Christmas this year. It’s so cold, and there’s a bleakness creeping in. We need the light and joy of the Christmas season—and Advent offers a time to wait with hope.

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