Incommunicada

"Bueller? Anyone? Bueller?"

Evidently, it was an ad lib when Ferris Bueller uttered the immortal line, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. "

I've spent a lot of time doing a lot of "stopping and looking around" the past month or so. I have been doing a lot of cooking, and a lot of organizing that needed to be done. (There's still a lot more to go!) As well as filling in at work.  That's the amazing thing: I used to be the one who was sick all the time. So it's a welcome change to not be down with the flu or some gruesome cough this time of year: Such is the lot of the kindergarten teacher.

The other potentially amazing thing: my hubby has volunteered to start taking pictures of the food I cook and the places we go together. This is a big deal, as my iPhone photos are handy, but not particularly eye-candy material, and I thought that a collaboration between my writing and his talent at taking photos might be a fun enterprise. He took the photo of the cookie tower below- see what I mean?

The bottom tier was the first to go!

So I have a huge backlog of stuff, but the subject at hand tomorrow will be Thanksgiving. I snuck a copy of The Primal Blueprint onto the end table at my parents' vacation place. They can see first-hand the improvements in my appearance and demeanor. But I think the best emissary of all was the treats I whipped up. My brother was in charge of the (deep fried) turkey, and Dad made stuffing, but I pretty much did the rest, with some help from Mom (who got some help from the Armenian deli down the street!)

It's the first time I've ever done the bulk of the Thanksgiving cooking, and even though some items were just off-limits for LG and I, I made sure that there were lots of Primal treats for everyone to enjoy- as well as old favorites that I "Primal-ized" a little bit. I am happy to report that the chocolate chip cookies I made were the first thing to disappear, and the whipped sweet potato recipe I used was raved over (and I notice, squabbled over the most when it came time to divvy up leftovers.)

The most telling event: My mom makes pilaf without fail. Any major occasion, pilaf is there- we're Armenian, after all. This year, after she made sure I wouldn't eat it, she looked at the huge feast we were already preparing, and said, "You know, I don't think that we'll miss it!"  Not only was it not even mentioned, but I noticed that the only person who even needed to go back for seconds was my Dad. (And what did he get? Stuffing! I think he was the only one who ate it.)  The second most telling event? More than once, my family said that it was the best meal we had ever had, and commented on how beautiful and colorful everything was. I guess the key is feeding them into submission!