Back when I first began the website I used to have regular rants. Some of the classics from those writings are still there including one of my favorite Thanksgiving stories. My family is nuts. After about a year of rants someone wrote asking if I ever ranted about anything that didn't involve food. I was nice in my answer but I should have just wrote FY! All this comes to mind because I have been thinking of the Thursday dinner since Saturday. Today, it really began to obsess me. There is no way the actual meal will rise to the level of the anticipation. I now think that looking forward to it is much more fun than actually eating the meal and certainly better than the way you feel afterwards.

As gluttonous as I am on Thanksgiving I have never actually vomited. Once at a friend's home I used my arm to keep some kids toss-up from flowing into the carpeting but that is the closest I came to TG-Barf. No matter where I eat my Thanksgiving meal, it seems the cooks were spectacular. With a couple of exceptions. Even those exceptions are memorable for one reason or another. Eight years ago I had my Thanksgiving Day dinner at a hauf brau in San Francisco on Van Ness called Tommy's Joint. I was shocked by how many others were settling for Thanksgiving on a tray. The line was out the door and down the block. I am not that fond of turkey but had Tommy's out of a need for tradition. The buffalo chili or corn beef might have been a better choice. One thing about Tommy's...they served my favorite beer. Bohemia

I had some memorable meals with the Bleu's, with my brother Tim, with Kenny Tinkle and his kids and Jon Castro...and at least one with Swanson and of course Tommy. Maybe it is the people who make Thanksgiving special and not the food?

Nah! It's the food.

Rob