Thanksgiving Flambe

This picture is not from Thanksgiving. It is from the lovely birthday party Amy threw for me and Jamie last weekend. (Happy birthday Jamie!) She made us a yummy, healthy chocolate zucchini cake and I can assure you that candles were the only thing on the cake that were on fire. (Thank you Amy!) Normally, this picture would probably have rated a post of its very own, but since it was the only recent picture of fire that we had handy, it seemed like a good way to kick off our Thanksgiving post. Because I managed to set not one, not two, but THREE separate dishes on fire for Thanksgiving this year.
This was pretty much the first holiday that we've spent with my family in the 20 years that Patrick and I have been together. I was VERY excited to see my two sisters, my aunt and uncle and my cousin Sebastian, as well as all our other guests. Bell and Zod and I look calm, cool and collected here, right? In truth, I'd already set a cake on fire earlier that morning. Normally, I think I'm a pretty decent cook, but I somehow failed to notice that a burner was still turned on on the stove and I set the cake pan down on top of it and well, the cake is history.

We were all feeling a little nostalgic, so my sisters asked for a traditional mid-western thanksgiving just like my grandma used to make for us, which included sweet potato souffle - with marshmallows. The mini-marshmallows instantly caught on fire, which then promptly spread to the green beans. I managed to put out the fires quickly without causing much damage to the casseroles and I rememebered my Mom's sage advice in times of cooking crisis...scoop off the top (put on more mini marshmallows) and serve dinner in candlelight. (Mom, I would just like to note that this strategy is more effective when half the people who will soon be eating the dinner aren't in the kitchen with you holding boxes of baking soda, just in case.)

Everything turned out just fine. We all had a good laugh and a nice meal and Patrick exercised tremendous self-restraint by not taking a picture of me with half my dinner in flames.

One of many good laughs.

Sweet boys, all three of them! We were very happy to have some of Patrick's family with us, as well. It was half a Monahan thanksgiving and half a Los Feliz Village Thanksgiving, including Amy and Jamie and Felix and our neighbors Veevak and Kristin, as well as a late night visit by Julie and Scarlett.

Three pirates! It almost looks like they actually ate a little dinner.

Happy...

Thanksgiving!!!

What family gathering would be complete without some squishy time with Aunt Bell? Even sweet shy Felix got in on the action.

Ah-ha! Sneak attack! 3 against one...

Who-ho! Revenge is sweet. Love to everyone!!! And apparently green bean casserole is better after it's been set on fire. Either that, or my family is very, very kind. Either way, we're very thankful for all of you.