A Thankful Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving is one of the most amazing one that I have ever had. Jim and I ran for the Sacramento "run to feed the hungry" race on Thanksgiving morning, entertained our friends over the weekend, and spend some quality time with one another to celebrate our 4th anniversary.

It has been five years since I last saw Andrew. He drove up from LA on Thanksgiving day to visit and spend the long weekend with us. After the morning race, Jim and I rushed home to prepare the Thanksgiving meal for our only guest. The dinner included a citrus rosemary salted turkey, sauteed beans seasoned with garlic, good old mashed potatoes and the August West pinot noir and D cubed zinfandel. The food was very traditional but the conversations were exceptional. The boys talked about the financial market, recent regulations, European and Asian history, real estate, politics, race and gender, and the most important topic - the food and the wines. I have always enjoyed talking to Andrew and Jim, but listening to their conversations was even better! At the end of the evening, we finished two bottles of wine, a Cuban cigar, and almost completely devoured the 14 pound turkey!

We woke up in the middle of the night to take Andrew to the Folsom outlet mall for his first mid-night black Friday shopping excursion and slept in until the afternoon on Friday. Before we hit the pillows again, we had more conversations, more drinks, and tons more food. Andrew woke up the next morning completely stuffed for the entire weekend.

Saturday was our 4th anniversary. I picked John up from the train station as he arrived from San Francisco. John and I got tons of groceries as John prepared to cook for our 4th anniversary dinner with friends! The cooking process was long but the food turned out to be extraordinary!!! We had two appetizers, a salad, an entree, a bottle of Richard Perry syrah, and topped off by the best desert ever! We talked, shared, listened, ate, drank, laughed, and ate some more... The evening ended with more talking, sharing, laughters and many cups of organic coffee!

Andrew and John left on Sunday morning to return to their cities. Jim and I said our goodbyes and spent the rest of the day by ourselves. Jim and I both felt that this was one of the most intimate Thanksgivings that we have had in Sacramento because of the generosity, openness, and love that our friends shared with us. This Thanksgiving was definitely one of the most memorable. For this, we are truly grateful!