2003-11-29 - 12:07 a.m.

thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. for me, it involves minimal guilt, little to no travel, a whole day of cooking, and excellent food and drink with people i adore.

this year, as i've done for the past twelve years (minus the year i first moved to new york and had to eat with the mazzoranas, and also the year my arm was broken) i made my traditional lasagna. my brother and i started ditching the festivities in orange county a long time ago, and i've since come to appreciate this decision more and more every year. p really stole the show with his pies this year. i'm still dreaming of the sweet potato and baked apple tart. yum.

this year, my neighbor s invited me and mine over to her place for desserts. s is my new favorite person and she has already proved inspirational to me on a number of fronts. i made a pumpkin ice cream and p made a tarte tatin, which went well with the toffee pie m concocted from items available in any bodega in brooklyn. i had a wonderful time mingling with s's friends, playing her records, pretending to do whip-its, and sucking down another bottle of pinot noir.

as a post mortem, i managed to wander down to the local and get sh*tfaced on irish whisky with t and k. while t shared his strategies for avoiding fag bashing in albany, recommended financial advisors, and k made a persuasive case for therapeutic intervention, i wondered if my life could possibly be any more enjoyable. when i got back to my loft and was able to dine on homemade lasagna straight out of the fridge by candlelight before passing out in a warm bed, i knew that it could. every minute better than the last.