While I realize that failure to exercise self-control is a common issue, my own dietary quandary stems from a different problem: Fear of Good Foods Going Bad.
The trouble begins the weekend before, when I refrain from engaging in my usual grocery-shopping spree, instead purchasing only those items required to cook my contributions to the holiday meal, as well as a few essentials. There’s no point, I reason, in cooking anything that will create leftovers, since we’re going to be eating away from home for two days (what, you’ve never heard of the traditional Black Friday Lasagna Feast?) and absconding with as much grub as we can fit into our collection of knock-off Tupperware.*
Monday officially kicks off Foraging Days, when we whip up dinners like this:
Three slices turkey wrapped around a string cheese
Two sandwich-stacker pickles, stacked
One clementine of indeterminate age
One tortilla, half-smothered in Nutella, folded
Five French fries
Diet Coke, with a lemon wedge for a touch of class
The beautiful part of all this, of course, is the ability to consume whatever I please on Thanksgiving Day itself, guilt free. Five kinds of pie! Two types of cranberry sauce! A turkey made out of Italian bread! And it all seems PERFECTLY NORMAL.
The point is, I can’t help you restrain yourself on Thanksgiving—you’ll have to watch the last hour of the Today Show for that. But if you want advice on turning a one-day holiday into a week of oddball eating, I’m your woman. And that’s a gift for which I’m supremely thankful.
*Thanks, Mom.
