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Beer and Honey!

Big bowls of steaming chili with all the toppings!

The coffemaker!

Has to be fresh pasta with pesto...from the freezer. The glorious bounty of summer preserved through the winter.

I haven't been out of the US much, but the first time my children tackled a mess of crabs at the Crab Shack in Ocean City MD is one of the best. Eating with your fingers on a slab of brown paper instead of a plate, with a whole roll of paper towels....was priceless!

When I was growing up, my mom was a widowed working mom who did her best, but was not a fabulous cook (sorry mom). Every Christmas we made Pillsbury cookies and cut them into shapes using the package directions. You guys must remember cutting slices in half for angel wings etc...that's how we did them every year until I grew up and made my first batch of Christmas Cookies using the recipe from the Fanny Farmer Cook Book.

After my daughter delivered her first child, she was blue and homesick. She lives three hours away (in Bloomington), but was too sick, and the baby too young, to come home for Thanksgiving. I packed up the car with all of the makings of a complete Thanksgiving dinner (with every dish she loved as a girl), including pots, pans, herbs, knives, utensils etc (young couple/first kitchen!). I then put my two younger children and my mom into the car for the trip. When we arrived, I found that she only had apartment sized versions of frig, burners and stove, only 24 inches of counter-space, and no dining room table! I did all the prep the night before (using the cooler as a counter) and managed to stuff a 16 pound turkey into that little oven. With some great timing, we had an amazing Thanksgiving with all of the trimmings...picnic style in the living room. It perked up my daughter's mood and there were tons of leftovers so she didn't have to think about what to cook for a week!

It has to be a traditional gyro with lamb, feta, and tzatiki sauce on a freshly made pita. yum.

Another vote for maple pumpkin cheesecake!