This time of year, we try to remind ourselves of the things that we are thankful for: family, friends, our financial planners, and wonderful Thanksgiving food. And while I consider myself lucky to have all these important things, I felt as though I had neglected the friends’ part for a period of time. Life gets busy and you have to learn to make time for the people you care about. So, I called up all my boys that I’ve got to know from preschool to high school and we coordinated our very first Friendsgiving. Friendsgiving has become much more popular these days and I can see why. It’s hard get so many people together as you get older, but it was absolutely worth it.
Now, as this was on such short notice (about 2 weeks for 8 people), we wanted to keep it simple. We agreed that everyone would bring food or booze, we would meet at my buddy’s house in Dedham, and we would eat, drink, and watch football on Sunday. We split up food duties, so we had a bit of everything. When we got there the appetizers were great. We had buffalo chicken dip, antipasto (by yours truly), bread, and our Egyptian friend made some traditional tsumbusik and kibbeh. Imagine fried meat pockets wrapped in white and dark pastry – they are as good as they sound. After we had stuffed ourselves to the point of pain, we decided we needed a break and sat down and watched some football. The Patriots had a bye this week, so I requested the Giants game, because I am a secret New Yorker at heart. Between both teams I haven’t had much fun this year, but I am a fan of Tommy Devito now.
After the game we sat back down for the main course which consisted of meatballs in a pot of red sauce (again yours truly), cheesy mashed potatoes, lasagna, and stuffing. There was a noticeable lack of turkey, which I didn’t mind, as turkey is the most overrated Thanksgiving food. Sue me I don’t care! It is usually dry, bland, and needs a mountain of gravy to choke down, there I said it. The rest was absolutely fantastic. For dessert, pumpkin whoopie pies, cannoli, cookies, and brownies. As per usual we all at way too much and left in pain…. Totally worth it.
While this was not a traditional Thanksgiving to be sure, it was one of my most memorable times with my friends and we are going to make it a tradition going forward.
I hope you all have just as good a time with your families this holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!
