Thank you!

If I have calculated correctly, tomorrow thousands of Americans will be sitting down to a scrummy Thanksgiving meal. I think Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November?! Being British we don't celebrate this festival- we celebrate just about everything else in a truly commercial way! Christmas, New Year, Valentines day, Fathers day, Mothers Day,Easter,Halloween,Bonfire night and Birthdays- infact you can probably buy a card,balloon,banner,giant cookie etc to celebrate every day of the year. In Spain they seem to have a festival everyday- Saint Who Knows Who, Festival of the Village,Town,City etc. They even have Saints Day-every name is a version of a Saints name, so if it is The Day of Saint Peter,all the Peters (or Peres as they say in Spain) will have a party and get prezzies. The list is endless but all these festivals have a common denominator- commercialism.

I am sure I do not need to harp on about how the true meaning of these festivals has been lost under piles of tinsel,cards and other tat. We are all guilty of spending ridiculous amounts of money on holiday rubbish and, with so much to choose from, the saying "It's the thought that counts" is made null and void (you don't have to put much thought into things these days, just take your pick from the zillion impersonal gifts on offer in the shops!)

Tomorrow, no doubt, many a butcher, stationary store, florist etc will be rubbing their hands in glee, counting up their dollars and giving thanks for Thanksgiving.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving-just in between mouthfuls, spend a nano second remembering the real reason for the celebration-if you remember!

Last night I looked in my sparsely stocked fridge and gave thanks that there were some sausages and some brie. Yippee, I didn't have to have cereal for supper,instead I concocted the following:-

Super Sausages and Beautiful Brie (serves 2)

(actually the brie was a bad purchase-very poor quality, but for this recipe it doesn't matter!)

You will need:-

6 sausages

half a pack of brie (or any cheese that melts)

1 baguette (or any crusty bread you have lying about or in the freezer)

Cook sausages. Cut them in half up the middle. Put the halved sausages on a baking tray and put thin slices of brie on top. Whack all this under a hot grill until cheese bubbling. Carefully put sausages and cheese on top of baguette and EAT!

A great feel good supper that is cheap and easy to make!