A Stove Top Haiku

Stuffing from a box
Just add water and butter
I'd like some more, please.

To accompany our organic free-range Thanksgiving turkey prepared Judy-bird style, we had roasted organic brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes with pancetta and thyme, homemade giblet gravy and...Stove Top stuffing.

No homemade gourmet stuff. No mixture of cornbread, sage, fancy charcuterie, chestnut or random autumn fruit here. Just a familiar red box filled with dehydrated seasoned bread crumbs that cook in just 5 minutes and fond childhood memories of my parents doing their best at creating the most American Thanksgiving meal that they could.

Only the best for my family.


(Note: This post was in no way, shape or form paid for by Kraft. I honestly like Stove Top stuffing. Yeah, yeah, take away my food blogger badge already.)

Eat My Blog Charity Bake Sale: The Ultimate Cure For The Bah Humbugs

Eat My Blog founder Cathy Danh with a bacon-wrapped breadstick from My Last Bite

Call me crazy, call me a party pooper, Bitter Betty, or Debbie Downer, but anyone who knows me well knows that I don't really care for the holidays. As Charlie Brown once said: "I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel."

Maybe it's the 20+ years of holiday travel getting to me. Or maybe it's the 20 years I've spent in an industry where everyone stresses out and works harder during the holidays instead of relaxing. Maybe it's the fact that the older I get, the more I notice that the holidays are about pushing and shoving, yelling and screaming, making more money and being an asshole. Whatever the reason, I can totally relate to Charlie Brown. I've never seemed to enjoy the holidays as much as everyone else seems to.

Until I went to the Eat My Blog charity bake sale today, that is.





On this overcast December day, people brought their appetites and kind hearts to Zeke's Smokehouse in West Hollywood to indulge in tasty treats baked by over 35 local foodbloggers and help raise $3000 for the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.

Smiles were everywhere.

Tummies were filled.

People were genuinely excited to see and meet each other.

Hugs were exchanged.

And best of all, everyone was there to give lots of love to the fight against hunger.

It was an all around feel-good event that renewed my faith toward the holiday season.

As Linus Van Pelt once said to Charlie Brown when asked what Christmas is all about: "...on earth, peace and good will toward men."

Peace and good will toward men. A novel concept in this day and age, right? Thanks to Eat My Blog founder Cathy Danh of Gastronomy Blog and everyone else behind this wonderful charity bake sale for showing us what Christmas, and every single day for that matter, is all about.