Thanksgiving's over...ready for Christmas cooking?

I am still stuffed from Thanksgiving! The leftovers continue to call me from the fridge and I'm now saving time by drinking the eggnog straight out of the carton (ok, nobody else at my house drinks eggnog). To tell you the truth, I'm excited about cooking at Christmas already. Remember that fabulous Italian cooking school in Tuscany that I keep raving about? The chef, Faye Hess, has just released her very first book! It's called FAYEFOOD and it's going to get me through the Christmas holidays. Just go to www.lulu.com and type FAYEFOOD in the search box. You can even preview it (I love the cover - it's TOTALLY Faye :) She also writes a blog at www.fayefood.com.

If you ask my husband about our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, he will tell you about the pie I made. We were as broke as you could get but we managed to scrape enough money together for turkey sandwiches from Boston Market. In an admirable effort, I made the very first homemade pie I'd ever attempted with flour and cherry pie filling. It even had the criss-crosses on the top. My husband took a bite of that pie and put on the most convincing 'mmmm' face he could - which convinced me until I took a bite. Somehow the pie crust tasted more like playdoh. I gagged and told him to stop eating the playdoh pie and that was that. It wasn't until I met Faye two years ago did I start to enjoy cooking - and now I rule in that kitchen! Bring on Christmas!