American Thanksgiving is traditionally a feast with family. But way back in 1998 I gathered friends in my apartment in early November (a few weeks before the regular Thanksgiving weekend) to have a feast of our own. My cooking was grim and my choice in beer was terrible but in the end it really was the thought that counted: people came back the next year to do it again, and the year after that, and…
Truth is I never set out to create a new holiday tradition and yet over two decades later, feasting is still going strong. Early Thanksgiving moved with me from Boston to Brooklyn, from Lower Hudson Valley to The Poconos, along the way adding new victims of my culinary endeavors. And so welcome to year 23. My cooking has gotten better, the beer is top shelf, and there are always friends happy to celebrate another year.
Normally we rent a giant house somewhere in the NE US with a hot tub, a real fireplace, a pool table, and hiking trails, and spend a weekend getting drunk, telling stories, and earning the stereotype of Americans who eat enough calories at one sitting to last them into the following year. We usually vote on the roasting style for the turkey because we love a good democracy. Since 2020 America is a dictatorship I decided the answer for you all.
I’m not one to let a global pandemic be the thief of holiday cheer. While gathering in a house for a weekend is off, I decided to make Early Thanksgiving XXIII global, gathering not just my American friends but friends all over the globe. You’ve all been a part of my adventures … I hope that you’ll enjoy meeting each other as we cook, bring friends and family to your side of Zoom to feast with you, and show there’s still fun to be had in a crowd.
+Brock