A belated happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We spent the day at my brother John’s house along with his wife and six kids; my sister Evy and her husband and three kids; and my mom and sister Francesca. My brother Bernie and his wife and their kids had dinner at their house along with her sister and her sister’s family.
It was a lively time to say the least. Francesca cooked a 48-pound turkey from my cousin’s flock that she raises at her home in New Hampshire. The thing was massive. I brought some homemade Parker House rolls, homemade pecan and pumpkin pies, and a couple bottle of wines, including a really nice Argentinian Malbec that with its spicy taste and fruity cherry flavors and smell of leather went really well with the bird. (If I recall correctly now it was a 2004 El Portillo Malbec from the Mendoza region.) The other wine was a South Australian unoaked Chardonnay with very citrusy notes and a fresh, clean finish.
After dinner, we watched “Madagascar,” which was hilarious, although we spent a lot of the time, shushing kids and asking them not to stand in front of the TV. Did I mention that there were 9 kids under the age of 13 there, all hopped up on sugar and excitement?
Once the movie was done, three of my brother’s boys—Peter, 13; Joseph, 10; and JohnPaul, 8—convinced me to play poker with them. I guess they’re very much into poker now. We had three colors of chips and as Peter handed them to me he told me that the blue ones are worth 10 “dollars”, the white 25 “dollars”, and the red 100. I said, “Let’s make them 10 thousands, 24 thousand, 100 thousands.” They oohed and aahed at the audacity of it all. Kids are so fun. Of course, I didn’t realize they meant it literally and I now owe my nephews about $200 grand.
Sounds like you guys had an awesome day!
“Madagascar”—love those lemurs!!
I’d love to hear which Podcasts you listen to. Mark Shea has a great one but he has temporarily suspended it while he gets his radio show(?) up and running.