Thank(FULL) AF

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Typically I post blogs on Monday but this week has been crazy. Work has really been picking up again, which is great, but at the same time I’m so tired! I feel like I need a 12 week vacation lmao. Anyway, I wanted to recap my thoughts on Thanksgiving and the holidays.

So the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, my mom and grandparents went to Texas, which is where we always spend Thanksgiving. It’s a nice halfway point for all of us as my mom, my uncle and I are kind of spread out across the states and my grandparents and other uncle are in Mexico. Leading up to this week, I was just really going about my (new) normal life and I was “fine” but like at the same time bummed obviously that I wouldn’t get to see any of them. I had pretty great plans as I got to spend it with three of my closest friends, but on the day of my mom’s flight, I texted her safe travels and then it really started to set in that we weren’t going to see each other.

I don’t generally make decisions lightly without really thinking about it and given the spike in cases, I really just did not feel comfortable traveling. Actually, as more time passes, it’s become very clear to me that COVID has really impacted me in so many ways that I wasn’t aware of until recently. My best friend lives in Manhattan and I live in Queens. It’s really just like a 30 minute cab ride (with light traffic ofc) so it’s like not THAT bad, right? Well growing up I’ve always gotten super nauseous in cars and with the NYC Uber drivers, forget about it! On top of that, wearing the mask and if God forbid, the windows are not rolled down… oof! So I went to meet up with her and some other friends for dinner and there was a little traffic, not much at all and I was literally so nauseous and having a panic attack in the Uber. So now, I don’t really leave the 1 mile radius around my apartment. Which sounds horrible, but at the beginning of all of this, I didn’t even leave my apartment building for like 60 days.

I don’t really know why it’s so serious for me and not for others. I think that even if we all don’t agree on every little thing right now, we can agree that it has truly affected people differently and the best we can do is respect each other.

Anyway, I did not feel comfortable traveling but my family did. And I’m not typing this to throw shade at them. I respect their decision and know that they understand the risks. The reason I say this is because it’s okay to think differently than your family. I mean to be fair, we do see eye-to-eye on most things but not always. And I think that’s okay. I think it’s just normal to not agree on everything and it wasn’t until now that I realized how lucky I am to have a family that accepts me for everything that I believe in, even if it’s not always what they grew up believing. (Mom— if you’re reading this, Hi! I miss you.)

Anyway, they went and got to see each other and on the day of their flight I was so happy, sad, jealous, upset, I don’t even know. I was happy that they would get to see each other, but I was so upset that I wasn’t going to. And even though I was the one that made the decision, I was really overwhelmed with sadness and honestly, jealousy. I wish I was more carefree. I wish I could let go more. I wish I was more like them sometimes. It killed me to not be there, but I still feel like if I could go back in time and do it again, I would make the same choice. But nothing made me happier than to know they were together and happy. And for that, I’m thankful.

Even though I didn’t get to see my family, I got to spend it with another part of my family. Isn’t it crazy how close you can be with some people? Like it just feels like you’ve known them your whole life. Anyway, I was lucky enough that me and 3 of my close friends could spend a couple of hours together. There was only 4 of us and we were pretty spread out. Now that I think of it, I don’t remember feeling cramped or anything. We had my air filter and fans on and even the windows opened because it was pretty warm for a November day.

Okay, okay… you get it. I know. I’m thankful for this, thankful for that, but what people really care about is the food. This is HangryMarn after all. Let me just tell you that we ate and drank like queens. It was raining a bit in the morning but we each managed to squeeze in tennis or paddle before dinner so that we wouldn’t feel as guilty about pigging out later.

Steph went through like an allergic reaction around this time last year when she was in HK and her diet has been different ever since so I wanted to make sure that she could eat as much of the Thanksgiving food as possible. I decided to make as many things as I could, plant based. That’s right, a vegan-ish thanksgiving.

You know I had to make a menu and be extra. For inspiration, I went to Pintrest, ofc.

cranberry dip 7.5/10

The appetizer was kind of a last minute thought on my part but I had seen it on Pintrest over and over so I figured I could make it “Steph-friendly” if I could get my. hands on some vegan cream cheese. Which I did! When my other friends were eating it, Steph was just eating the crackers until I told her it was vegan and my other friends were like “wait what!?” They would have never known had I not told them.

turkey 2/10

Who really even cares about the turkey? Like it was fine, but it’s def not the star of the show. We all know that. I just put a shit ton of vegan butter with all types of herbs- rosemary, thyme, idek. Plopped that turkey over carrots, leeks, potatoes and put it in the over for 4 hours. Obviously, this was the only non vegan item.

turkey rice 11/10

With like an hour left on the turkey, I cooked some brown rice with all those herbs and some turkey broth and water until it was just a little underdone. Like not al dente more like too crunchy to eat. And then I put it in the turkey, around the turkey, everywhere. There was rice literally everywhere. All worth it because this was the star of the show.

purple Mashed Potatoes 9/10

There are very few things that are better than mashed potatoes. They’re like my second or third favorite food. Anyway, I like getting purple potatoes because they’re fancy. No, just kidding, I really only do it so they will stand out in the picture and because they are unique, you know? How many of you had purple mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving? Exactly. Memorable af.

They’re suuuuuuuper easy to make. I quartered the potatoes and seasoned them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and whatever other spices were laying around and threw them in the oven for like 40 minutes. When they came out, I put them in a blender and added vegan butter and oat milk. I just eye balled it because I’m the worst with measurements and following directions so just kept adding potatoes and milk until the consistency was just right. *chefs kiss*

green bean casserole 10/10

I LOVE GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE. I was feeling lazy and my meal delivery service had like meal kits for thanksgiving food. Everything was sold out by the time I realized it except for GBC. I snagged a kit and I could honestly not be happier. They were so good. Instead of using cream and flour, I made cashew milk and added nutritional yeast flakes and almond flour. Sounds kinda nasty now that I type it out but it was so good.

Stuffing 1/10

I used a mix from a box and it was fine but like whatever. I’ve had way better so maybe my standards were too high :(

Gravy 0/10

The gravy had like biscuits and gravy kind of consistency. Not like Thanksgiving gravy consistency…. I mean it didn’t taste bad but just no.

The rest of the stuff I didn’t make so I feel like I shouldn’t rate them. I was so full. I can’t believe we still had dessert. Steph and I even ate leftovers for breakfast early the next morning. We really had the best time. With just four of us, it was really nice to catch up with each other, even though we see each other a lot at the tennis club. It was one of the first nights in a while that really felt like normal.

I know I’m sarcastic a lot but I truly am thankful for all of my family and friends. This year has been hard for a lot of us for so many different reasons and I really couldn’t have gotten through it without them. Remember to be thankful for even the smallest things. If your partner does laundry, or cooks dinner for the 3rd night in a row, just say thank you. It literally costs nothing to be thankful and that can really make somebody’s day. Even though it’s not Thanksgiving anymore, let’s not forget to be thankful for what we DO have. Could we have more? Probably. Could we have less? Definitely.

So if you made it all the way to this paragraph, thanks again for reading my rambled thoughts typed out on this screen. I’ve gotten to know so many of you because of these posts, so thank you for reaching out regarding the posts.

Have the best rest of your week, it’s almost the weekend!

xx Hangry Marn