December 24, 2010 5:35 PM Houston Time

Good morning!

OK, I know all of you are secretly a little angry I have updated yet and still haven’t finished filling you guys in on Thanksgiving break. So I’ll take care of that line of business.

On Saturday before Thanksgiving, Ann and Jersey and I were in the city (this is where I left off before). Jersey left us to go home, and Ann and I decided to wander around the city a bit longer. We ended up searching for a vegan bakery called Babycakes – famous for being allergy-friendly and avoiding ingredients such as flour, nuts, eggs, dairy, and sugar! However, they did use sugar and nuts in some of their products, but everything was clearly labeled on the display. We finally found it later that night and enjoyed ourselves. However, we agreed that they weren’t “animal-friendly” or vegan focused, and we could probably produce some better baked goods than the ones they had available. I did like the idea of a gluten-free section, and all the ingredients were posted on the walls for us to peruse at our leisure.

Another thing about that night – we were sitting in an electronics store and a lost British guy approached us trying to find out where he was. We ended up walking with him for a bit (in well-lit areas with some distance between us), and finally he left on his own. However, when we arrived at Ann’s home, her sister berated us thoroughly for being un-safe and not conscious of the fact that we are two 20-year old women who aren’t NYC natives and probably really easy targets. I was completely thrown off – it’s been years since someone chided me like a child, and I almost expected her to spank us and send us to bed.

The next day we spent baking, and we started a huge puzzle on the dining room table – promising Ann’s mother that we’d finish it before Thanksgiving (we didn’t even have it finished by the time I left). It was a scene of Times Square, and I think it was 2,000 or 5,000 pieces (I can’t remember which one). We did accomplish a fair bit, and we didn’t look at the box the whole time!

On Monday, we went to Rutgers, where Ann takes classes. She had a class on Monday and a few on Tuesday, and I entertained myself during those. Tony arrived on Tuesday, and we spent the day (not in classes) hanging around campus. Tony and I fooled around a bit when Ann was in classes, and after we ate Chipotle for dinner, he drove us to Ann’s house to bake cookies! He went home on Wednesday, and Ann and I prepared some of the Thanksgiving vegan food in advance. On Thanksgiving day, Ann’s extended family came over (there were only ~10 not-vegans, but two turkeys, go figure). Everyone ate lots, and Ann and I forgot to serve the squash dish we had made the night before. But there was plenty of vegan food, and her sister had made a huge pot of vegan mac ‘n cheese. The desserts we had made were a big hit, though the cake truffles we had made were wayyy rich and heavy.

I wasn’t feeling so good because I had some sort of reaction in my mouth to switching toothpastes. I normally use this natural one made out of baking soda and anise oil, but I was hoping to use up the travel-sized Colgate ones I got from my dentist. My mouth wasn’t used to it, and I’m pretty sure I had at least 14 (I counted the Monday afterwards) ‘cold sores’ or ‘ulcers’, depending on what you call them. AKA, little blisters on my gums, my tongue, under my tongue, and at the back of my throat. I ended up eating very little on Thanksgiving, but everything I had was very delicious. Triple thanks go out to my boss Wendy for telling me to take the animo acid L-Lysine (which she also used to treat her cat’s herpes). I was a little put off by that, but my mouth was healed completely by the fourth day of taking it.

On Black Friday, Ann and I took the puzzle out of her room (where we had put it when the guests came over), and we attacked it once again! This time, her mother helped us extensively, and we got quite a bit done. Jersey came over that night, and we baked Tony a birthday cake! That’s right! Tony’s birthday was the upcoming Monday, and we were going to be seeing him on Saturday for a joint after-Thanksgiving party between Ann’s family and Tony’s family (with special guests Jersey and me!). We made him a three-layer cake – vanilla, marble, and chocolate layers. We then covered it in brown chocolate frosting and (in true RIT spirit) made an orange bow on top of the cake.

On Saturday, we piled into the van to drive over to Tony’s house – which should have taken about two hours. I’ve never seen anyone take a break on a two hour car trip before, but the moment we passed into PA, we pulled into a rest stop. Also, there was a bit of traffic on the way there, but we pulled up just in time. Everyone got along very well, though Ann’s sister was a bit thrown off by the odd combination of Tony, Jersey, Ann and me all in one place at once. I don’t know if she was prepared for the level of goofy we achieve when we are all in a room together.

Tony’s mom made a delicious squash, chickpea, and tofu dish that I really regret forgetting the recipe to. I devoured it, and so did Ann. I felt a little guilty since she was planning to save some for her co-workers to try, but Ann and I are the vegans she made the dish for anyways :P. We all gathered around the dining room table after dinner to play a game called Catch Phrase – where you have to give your teams hints so they can guess a common name, place, thing, or phrase. We were all really into it, and I think everyone was caught off-guard when we realized it was time for Ann’s family to go home.

Jersey and I spent the night at Tony’s house, and we left early the next morning. However, I managed to talk the boys into going in our PJs when we left the house, so we drove for 5-6 hours in our PJs and got our lunch at a supermarket in our nightclothes at around 3pm. Once we finally arrive in Rochester, though, we were pretty sick of our PJs and we all showered and changed into real clothes even though it was 5pm already.

That should bring all ya’ll up to date on Thanksgiving – right? Next time, I’ll get right down to filling you in on what has happened since my last update in December!

Brush your teeth, and if strange white spots on your kitchen floor don’t wash away with water, blame the dishwasher and try a little lemon and elbow grease – but don’t pull up the finish!