A Thanksgiving Feast

Better late than never, right? 🙏🏾🍁✨ Since the moment of my accident, I have been focused on, actively practicing, centering on, grounding myself in, and consciously choosing gratitude. It is not always easy to tap into, yet constantly present — and while this year’s Thanksgiving day was rather treacherous health wise (and in most every way), I still had a vision of homecooking mashed and blended versions of classic dishes to honor tradition… and my mother was crazy enough to attempt to make it a reality with my pained self during a rare, fleeting and sadly unreliable “good” moment. Food has long been a centerpiece of my life, making the inability to eat anything but liquids and mush for the past three months an even more dramatic, abnormal and unwelcome shift. I’m now able to handle a bit more flavor (a pinch of salt or sprinkling of spice), so we gave it a creative go in the kitchen… buttery mashed potatoes with extra Miyoko's butter patties on top, because I haven’t had rich creamy mash in years; puréed carrots with thyme, a surprisingly simple yet stellar dish I’ve grown to love; truffle oil polenta with more butter (because why not?!); mushrooms for momma, which we could have pulverized in my go-to Vitamix, if I’d so desired; apple-persimmon sauce that got immersion blender-ed a bit more post-photo in order for me to be able to eat; roasted squash soup with four types of farmers market squash, red pepper, maple syrup and cinnamon, that I topped with hemp seeds, olive oil and dollops of Miyoko’s garlic herb chèvre and sun dried tomato chèvre for extra flavor and creaminess. This is by far the most cooking I’ve done in months, the widest array of flavors I’ve tasted in months, the first photo-worthy meal (smoothies aside) I’ve made in months. Such a meal is nowhere near becoming a regular occurrence, far too taxing and exhausting, but I really do appreciate this moment and harvest spread with seasonal organic fruits and vegetables, as well as fallen autumn leaves and dried wildflowers. Not pictured: the half a jar of organic vegan Nutella I ate with a spoon after dinner, because I somehow wasn’t yet stuffed. The steroid injections seem to be not only helping with pain from my lip mass, but also increasing my appetite somewhat. Now it’s back to my regularly scheduled program of boring food, boring meals and boring life — though I am ever-seeking light and truly grateful when it arrives, especially with the knowledge that all can disappear so quickly and feel utterly inaccessible. Also, I love and thank you all.