Max goes boating---or---a Philadelphia Thanksgiving

For years I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner, and enjoyed it immensely. I suppose it all started with my mother who immediately embraced this holiday in her first year in this country as if it were the most wonderful day on earth. She would start very early in the day with help from my aunt and prepare all the traditional dishes. The turkey, yams with marshmallows, salad, sides of green beans and carrots, cranberry sauce, Mrs. Smith's pumpkin pie and of course her favorite, "the stuff". My aunt would drive her crazy as she ran around making hor s doeuvres of all sorts which as far as my mother was concerned weren't traditional. She'd buy a tablecloth with turkeys on it, matching plates and little paper turkeys that opened their festive tails. At first it was just us but then as the years wore on and my brother and I grew up, got engaged, married, etc. there were more and more people at the table. Once I got married and moved away it wasn't always possible for all of us to get together for the most famous of family holidays. Very soon afterwards I started my own Thanksgiving cooking tradition and when our families couldn't attend there were always friends and their families which were pretty much our extended family. Eventually that changed too as marriages and relationships broke up and family dramas just got a little too soap operaish for our taste. So this year when planning for Thanksgiving we decided to bolt out of town, just the three of us. And what better place for a quick but always fun getaway than lovely Philadelphia and the houseboat under the Ben Franklin bridge.

which Max just loves

so he can look out at the other boats on the pier

while sitting on the deck with his favorite person

and being rocked to sleep

while we go out for breakfast at our favorite greasy spoon

and take a leisurely stroll through Society Hill

shuffling through the ginkgo leaves that cover the sidewalks

while we marvel up at the trees

and the fact that some Summer flowers are still around

then head over to Center City

for a nice lunch of fish tacos

and a drink at Rouge

And did we have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner? Well no, because if it's not made at home it doesn't count. Instead we headed over to Parc and had

Salad Lyonnaise

Rabbit Pappardelle

and Steak Frites.

And then head back to find our little sea dog

taking over our bed.

We have lots to be thankful for.