Things I am thankful for

A couple years ago I posted a blog of things I was thankful for on Thanksgiving that was inspired by the “I Believe” piece by Neil Gaiman. Last year I felt like I couldn’t top that, but this year, I thought I would at least try.  You never know what you can do unless you try.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for Google doodles, rainy days, and ridiculous movies.  I am thankful for holiday mashups, two days off of work, and being able to share two holidays with my family at once. I am thankful that my father can drink whiskey and still speak intelligently about climate change, and for watching people dance in the kitchen. I am thankful for family hikes, babbling brooks, and sunlight through sycamore leaves.  I am thankful for midnight drunk dials from my brother, and hot cocoa, and a purring kitten to lull me to sleep on the couch before my bedtime.  I am thankful for love, and family, and friends, and for opportunities to help the people I care about.  I’m thankful to have people in my life I can trust, and want to help without reservation.  I’m thankful for bartenders, designated drivers, good wine, and vitamin water for the morning after.  I’m thankful for colored pencils, gel pens, watercolor paints, for better living through chemistry, and people I can count on(especially wives).  I am thankful for sunsets, and moonrises, and stars, and loneliness, and pain, and that feeling when you realize the pain and loneliness are gone.  I am thankful for thankfulness, and for the love I have been trusted with, and yes, even for the things I was trusted with, and broke.  I am thankful for forgiveness, and oddly thankful for pop music and Youtube.  I am thankful for green tea, dark chocolate, people as geeky as I am, and bros so that I can appreciate the geeks better.  I am thankful for health insurance, and that good ache after a workout.  I am thankful I got to be a maid of honor this year, and thankful for the sense of female companionship I’ve come to know through that.  I am thankful for libraries, and conventions, and good books, and blockbuster movies made from those books.  I am thankful for adventures, and for the people who invite me to join them in their adventures, and for the misadventures that turn out mostly all right in the end.  I am thankful for new beginnings, and the internet, and good health, and all the stuff I was thankful for last year and the year before.  And most of all, I’m thankful.
I hope you have things to be thankful for too.

Five colored vegetables to avoid weight gain…

So I’m doing this “no weight gain” challenge at work for the holidays.  I’m usually pretty good about not gaining weight over the holidays, or at least, not for long, but this is the first time I’ve officially participated in the contest.  The first week’s healthy eating challenge is to eat 5 different color fruit and vegetables, so I’m posting a version of a South Beach diet recipe my parents like.  It’s an easy way to get a lot of different colored vegetables into one meal.

Look at all those pretty colored veggies!

Ingredients:
2 zucchini, sliced
1 eggplant, cubed
2 or three onions, chopped into large chunks
1 red pepper, chopped
Half a bag of baby carrots
4-8 Tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop the vegetables and toss them in a roasting pan with the olive oil and salt.  Sometimes I throw in a few tablespoons of water to keep things a little more moist if I want to cut down on the oil.  Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes, or until all the veggies are good and roasted.  Remove from oven, and eat as a side dish, combine with cheese and pasta, or wrap them up in flat bread with some fancy melted goat cheese.  The end, that’s it. Simple, no? Nom Nom

Finished roasted veggies

 

Oh, oh, and also, THIS!  Vegetarian Turkeys!