Yes, I'm still here. Happy Forking Thanksgiving. I ate tons of carbs and only about 3 bites of turkey. I'm leading the backlash. Our weekend was fantastic -- no drama (well, Grandma was a butt but we won't get into that) and lots of fun people and good food. I made gumbo and cornbread for Wednesday night dinner -- I think this was my best batch yet. Thursday I helped a little and for dinner we went to BG and Curt's new house. It's not done yet but it was done enough for a big group to enjoy dinner. There was way too much food, especially pies. Mom made a pumpkin cheesecake but had a water bath disaster so when word got out, everyone else baked back up stuff. Then Erin rescued the cheesecake by flipping it over, scraping off the crust and reapplying fresh crust in the form of a topping -- turned out excellent!

I'm suffering unreasonable panic about my holiday shopping. I'm already done with most of it since we brought the family gifts to Orleans this weekend. Bob and I aren't exchanging gifts since we're going on a trip and want to spend our money there. But I have a few odds and ends to pick up and I want to get it over with NOW. My aim is to not leave the house on the weekends in December -- or as much as realistic.

We went to Jax last night and for dessert tried the pomegranate mission fig gelato. Sounds crazy but it was delicious -- I'm still thinking about it.

Don't forget OPUS is back.

And if you're going to New York, plan your nightlife here.