Practice Radical Acceptance

I have not been myself. It could be that I'm in a post-election denial. It could be that, last week, I had the realization that this will be my first Thanksgiving without my parents. With such overwhelming  feelings of injustice and loss, I should be Batman already. 

There have been moments of joy. When they're not melting down, the kids are incredible. They're transitioning from toddlers to little people, with actual thoughts and opinions. Their opinions are mostly about Peppa Pig and pizza toppings, but still.

I saw ARRIVAL, a moving film about the importance of communication against the backdrop of the world's first contact with aliens. A Tribe Called Quest released a stunner of a new album that instantly crept into my top 10 for the year - maybe even top 5. And I finally got into "Hamilton." I've found myself going deeper down the Hamilton rabbit hole with every listen. My re-listens have even replaced my daily schedule of podcasts, with the exception of one holdover.

Still Processing is a culture podcast produced by the New York Times, featuring the brilliant movie/culture critic Wesley Morris (formerly of Grantland) and tech writer/ray of sunshine Jenna Wortham. On their latest episode, "How to Survive Thanksgiving," Wesley and Jenna visit the Red Hook home of Sam Sifton, who runs the New York Times Food section and actually wrote the book on Thanksgiving, to discuss holiday traditions, the importance of gravy, and how to navigate politics at the table. 

Like Amy Adams in ARRIVAL, Sam seemed to know the exact thing I needed to hear, and when to say it: 

“This Thanksgiving is gonna be different for lots of folks all across the country. Some families will be largely jubilant with some bummed-out people in the corner of the table. And others will be largely sad with some jubilant outliers. ... And if you find yourself as the outlier in one of those situations, as many Americans will at Thanksgiving, I think we just gotta — this year and perhaps always — practice radical acceptance of where you are and who you’re with.”

So, in a move, of radical acceptance, I've decided to bring a peace offering. Below is my grandmother's secret Sweet Potato Pie recipe. I've had a lot of sweet potato pies in my life, but nothing holds a candle to this one. You'll probably notice that it's a pretty straight-forward recipe with no curve-ball secret ingredients, but sometimes the simplest answers are the best. 

As we sit down tomorrow, we'll be thankful for everything we have, and we'll acknowledge those that we've lost. And though we may not agree on everything, we can all agree that there are few things more magical than sweet potato pie. And that's a start. 

VICTORIA'S SWEET POTATO PIE

2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes

 1 stick of butter

1/4 cup of milk (canned)

1 1/4 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Boil potatoes until tender. Drain. Put potatoes in a large mixing bowl and, on low speed, mash well. Add butter while potatoes are still warm. Add sugar, milk, eggs and vanilla and mix well. Pour into unbaked pie shell (makes 2 shallow pies or 1 deep pie). Bake at 350 degrees until set and lightly brown (about 30-35 minutes).