skinny girls & mayonnaise

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. In addition to being the only holiday that is really ALL about food, it incorporates two of my favorite concepts into its title: thanks and giving.

If I were limited to only two values I could instill my children, it might be those two. To be thankful. And to be giving.

One of the most valuable things I can give is my time. And often I do that by cooking. When friends or loved ones come for a meal, they are not merely chewing and swallowing. They are being honored, served and cherished. And they are sharing in my small effort to make the world a more slow, thoughtful, beautiful place — one meal at a time.

People can taste love and time in your food. Don’t skimp.

Every year at this time, there are many food-related things I am thankful for. Here are some of what I feel grateful for this particular season:

• Teeth. My father has no teeth left. He eats a lot of soup.

• Salt. I ate an unsalted vegetarian “harvest soup” at a biodynamic farm recently. Enough said.

• Autumn. Warm soups, red wine by the fireplace, duck confit, wild mushrooms.

• Sonoma. How lucky to have a mother who lives in Sonoma, where we get to spend every other Thanksgiving.

• Refrigeration. I like salt cod, potatoes and canned preserves. But I wouldn’t want to have to eat them all winter long.

• Friends. We eat. We drink. We laugh. We share.

• Wine. I wish I could hug that first guy who squashed a grape into a glass and then forgot about it for awhile.