I know.
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It's August.
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Nobody wants to think about Thanksgiving right now, including me.
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It's still hot.
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The tomatoes and peppers are still full in our veggie garden outside.
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November is a rumor.
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But we're building something for that week, and I need to ask you about it before we build it.
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Not after.
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So bear with me for a few minutes, and then we can all go back to dog days of summer.
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Here's where it started.

Last November, we were telling old Thanksgiving stories.
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The kind that are only funny years later, and I asked Aric something I haven't asked him.
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"The first time you cooked a whole Thanksgiving dinner, were you confident?"
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He didn't even pause.
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"I was terrified."

He was a young line cook back then.
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We were in a tiny apartment.
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Everything he knew, he knew from a professional kitchen, and none of it told him how to run Thanksgiving out of a kitchen that small.
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And his mom, Marge, had always handled that day at home for many years.
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Now it was his.
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So he did what a nervous person would do.
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He over-prepared.

Even monkeys fall from trees...(Even experts make mistakes)

He came home with a turkey that was nearly thirty pounds. 😱
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....For two people...
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No guests. Just us.
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And a bird that barely fit in the oven, and then barely fit in the refrigerator, and then sat there looking at us for days.
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He said he was relieved nobody came.
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But every time he opened the fridge, he wished someone had. 😂
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He can laugh about it now.
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He couldn't then.
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This is a chef. A real one.
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The man I turn around and ask when I don't know something.
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He was scared, too.
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Aric always sings in my ear when I'm nervous.
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It's one of our favorite songs by the Grateful Dead, called "Uncle John's Band," and it goes like this...
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"Well, the first days are the hardest days, don't you worry anymore."

The real questions I found last fall

Last fall, I sat down and wrote out every Thanksgiving question I could think of.
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The real struggles, not the ones magazines answer.
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It ran four pages.
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When I read it back, I realized one section didn't look like the others, and I gave it the title.
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"The ones nobody says out loud."
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In that section, the list went on like this.
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"I don't want to mess everything up. Where do I even start?"
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"I feel embarrassed. I've never cooked for a group of people before."
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"I'm afraid to carve the turkey!"
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...Nobody types those into a search bar...

We're making a room for them!

Holiday Rescue.
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Online, small on purpose, and our gift to you.
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Aric, me, and a handful of you, a couple of weeks before the holiday.
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You bring the question you've been quietly avoiding.
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We answer it.
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No demo, no performance, no recipe to keep up with.
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Just the questions. (and maybe a glass or two of wine...)
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It'll give us an opportunity for us to get to know you and your kitchen challenges better.

We're building it now, and you get to decide what goes in it!

Tap one. That's all it takes!
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You're on the list, and we'll build the session around whichever one wins.
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The date and your invitation come at the end of October.
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And if your real question isn't one of those three, hit reply and tell me what it is!
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Those are the ones I most want to hear.
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I do read every single reply.

For Our Denver Friends!!!

🎃 Our fall/holiday calendar for private dinners is open! ​
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Thanksgiving weekend tends to go first, and before we know it, it's holiday season! 🎄
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Please let us know what's on your mind and your vision for your special dinner event by hitting reply!
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​⏩️ Secure Your Private Holiday Dinner! ⏪️

Thanks for being at our Kitchen Table on this cozy little corner of the internet.
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We appreciate you following along and letting us share not just what we cook but why we cook. 🧡
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With gratitude and friendship,
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Aric & Yukari
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🐱🐶 (P.S. Senna has already begun her own holiday preparation by sniffing on the floor where the turkey au jus or anything may fall off. She is very committed. Ka-En supervises what's on the counter, measuring the distance from his target. 😂) ​
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