It’s no doubt that we spend a significant amount of time slaving away in the kitchen to prepare a fanciful Thanksgiving meal. Many of us spend ample time coming up with new ideas (or stealing them off of Pinterest), shopping for ingredients, doing the all-intensive prep work and then cooking the night away. Part of the reason we put so much effort and love into our ingredients is because we are proud, humble and grateful for being able to spend it with friends, family and loved ones. Throughout the year, it may be difficult to carve out time to spend with family. It’s easy to check up on them using email or social media, and give yourself a nod that they are doing well. That’s the easy way out and I am guilty of it. While Thanksgiving shouldn’t be an excuse, it is a way for us to come together as a family, focus on each other and sit around the dinner table to enjoy turkey and good company. For that, I am thankful for having my family near and in good health.

As head of the household and big brother to his family, my Dad takes on the big turkey which means the oven is occupied for most of the day so I have to do most of my cooking at home before going to my parents’ house. Along with others, I am a side dish kind of gal and traditionally, I make the candied pecan yams and the brussel sprouts while others bring potato salad, green beans, sticky rice and dumplings (we’re Chinese, so Asian fusion). And of course, my two cousins make the BEST desserts: pumpkin pie, pecan pie and apple pie. You, of course, need a bite of each to really put yourself in a food coma.

Aside from the feast, my sister and I like to come up with something fun and creative. This year, we decided to add in some acorn accents to accompany the baked turkey and the chocolate turkeys. We made one kind of candied acorn with Nilla Wafers and the other was acorns made of donut holes and pretzels. I’m not sure if more of the contents went into our bellies than on the table, but we did manage to get a good handful on each plate. Both were colorful, festive and fun, and brightened up the dinner table — although the red table cloth already did a good job of that!

As our guest arrived, the table got full. Standing around the table with our hands held, we bowed our heads, said a prayer and gave thanks for each other and this feast. From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!!

OK, now dig in!