Or what passes for normal around here. I managed not to gain any weight over Thanksgiving, by dint of obsessively exercising every single day, no matter how desperately I wanted to be having tea and scones with clotted cream instead. Hot damn, what is it about cream that makes it so delicious, no matter what you do with it? Boil it into a thick sauce for chicken (which is what I did for dinner tonight), or clot it up with sugar and spread it with jam on scones, I love it. You know what Julia Child always said: "If you're afraid of butter, use cream."

ANYway, normal. Sort of. What's really happening is the big ramp up to Christmas, which for me, begins the instant the sun goes down on Thanksgiving. I have a strict moratorium on Christmas pre-Turkey Day; I'm as annoyed as anyone when Santa shows up at the Walgreens just after Halloween. But once we get through Thanksgiving, it's all about Rudolph and Frosty.

My parents and younger sister are coming up to Ohio this year, which is nice for us, since we've been traveling almost nonstop for months. Our dog, Hunter, is especially pleased. He's already envisioning the spillage opportunities on the proposed dinner we're thinking about for Christmas Eve. A traditional English feast! Standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, something green I haven't decided on yet (and really only for color diversity), and our favorite sticky toffee pudding for desert. We first had sticky toffee pudding on our honeymoon, at Rule, the oldest restaurant in London. It changed my life. Who knew that pureed dates mixed with a strange British concoction called Lyle's Golden Syrup made such a delicious dish? But it does.

And ok, if I keep thinking about this sort of thing, I won't be making it through the rest of the holidays with the same stellar numbers I managed on Thanksgiving.

I'm going to be exercising for at least an hour a day for the rest of my life, but it'll be worth it. Anybody got any good green side dish recipes to suggest?

Posted by Louisa Edwards at 5:51 PM