Gratitude and gumbo

I hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving if you celebrate the holiday and are reading this. My Thanksgiving was quiet. My husband and I didn't travel as planned, so we ended up going to the Riverwalk, and after a short walk I settled in for some gumbo at Luke. Check out that gumbo... man, good stuff. My husband had the more traditional Thanksgiving dinner shown below my beautiful bowl of gumbo. We had a fantastic time, though I missed my friends and family quite a lot. 

After dinner, for some reason, we decided we wanted to buy Christmas lights, and what was open? You got it. Walmart. Bad, bad, bad, bad idea. We walked in and walked out. Did I mention it was a bad idea? It was. 

I have mixed feelings about Thanksgiving. I love the fact that we celebrate in the spirit of gratitude, but the association of binge eating then relaxing, Al Bundy-style, on the couch for hours afterward is enough to feed the global image of American gluttony. Nonetheless, food is fascinating. I watch the Food Network regularly and love to eat and totally understand why so many celebrations come together with food (massive amounts or no). The ritual aspect makes for a good prompt.

Sensory prompt: Write about a celebratory ritual through the preparation of food. The eating itself isn't nearly as important as the cooking - use the prep, the cutting, the baking, the aromas, the conversation, the roles in and outside of the kitchen as your way of progressing time, and portraying a group of people gathered for celebration. Anytime there's a group, family, work, yoga class, college... there is opportunity for conflict as well, so just allow that part to develop on its own. 

Have a wonderful holiday weekend! Relax and eat, if not too much, just enough. Savor the time and the people around you. xo