This weekend was fun. Like actually fun, fun that other people might recognize as fun.
Sydney’s birthday falls on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so I told him I was taking him out to his favorite Thai restaurant the Saturday before to celebrate. What I didn’t tell him was that a whole bunch of philosophy students would be meeting us there and then following us home for dessert. Hey, he’s turning 30; I had to do something special! Good food and good conversation: I thought it sounded like a Sydney kind of celebration.
Saturday morning was filled with choir rehearsal and then grocery shopping in three different places (hey, we like food). Unwittingly, Sydney was helping to shop for food for his own party. 🙂 When we came home I spent the afternoon dipping strawberries and orange slices in chocolate, ostensibly for a Thanksgiving dinner the following day. I also made a fruit compote to go over ice cream.
The dinner was great. Sydney said he didn’t know our dinner would be for 12, rather than 2, but he didn’t register the surprise in his expression at all. Yeah, yeah, I know: I should get used to that. The food was really good, and there were usually three or four interesting conversations going on at once throughout the meal.
After dinner, half-a-dozen friends followed us home for tea, ice cream with compote, chocolate-dipped fruit, and, of course, more conversation. I’d managed to do some furtive cleaning while Sydney was engrossed in his work that afternoon, and had mugs set out and ready to go, so we were ready for company.
The following day, we got up for church, then went to a theology reading group (which met for the first time and was really interesting), and then to a friend’s Thanksgiving dinner. Her turkey was great, there were lots of dishes to try (it was a potluck, so much food was had by all), our squash dish went over well, and there were even philosophy friends for Sydney to talk with (he was a little worried about being stuck with English grad students all evening).
After all that fun, I was refreshed and ready to face my students’ anxieties about their final papers (which I’m collecting, a few at a time), and begin my grading. This week, though, is only two real days before Thanksgiving break, during which we’ll be doing a lot more cooking and tons of eating. This past weekend was just a warm up for the food extravaganzas to come!
Erin