It's freezing cold (18° F) and brilliantly sunny this morning in Chicago, and my better half and her younger brother (who's visiting us from the East Coast, a departure from his usual holiday routine) are off in Lincoln Park running in this year's Goose Island Turkey Trot race. They're braver souls than I. What am I doing, you ask?

I've opted to stay home in my horseblanket robe with the kitties, the coffeepot, and the computer. The music playing is Ladytron's Witching Hour, as fine a wintry (and oddly sexy) platter as I've heard in a long time.

Later, we'll have breakfast with a few friends at a well-known historic Chicago diner, and then I'll return home to cook up big pots of Indian vegetables (chickpeas, carrots, eggplant, and so on) and mujadara [a.k.a. M'gederrah, mo'jadara. and so forth. You try Googling it when there are at least ten different spellings for this Middle Eastern dish!] to bring to our Thanksgiving get-together with relatives in town. As you can tell from the non-traditional dishes we're bringing, it's a slightly different kind of holiday celebration!

Here's wishing you smooth travels, pleasant family gatherings, winning football teams, and unlumpy gravy. May your turkey (or Tofurkey, or your mujadara) be moist, and your powder dry.

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