The Fuzzy Chef & Friends

For the non-Americans reading this, Thanksgiving is the food bonanza of US holidays. There's really nothing to the holiday except a big meal with family, and I love it, because it gives me a chance to cook things which would be far too much effort for just about any other meal.

Now, most people know Thanksgiving as "Turkey Day" and the whole meal centers around 15 pounds of roasted or deep-fried bird. However, I don't like meat, and my in-laws have never cared much for turkey. So for the last 5 years I've been preparing very non-standard Thanksgiving dinners. Since my wife gave me a couple of Paula Wolfert cookbooks this year, my theme was "near eastern cooking" and I plunged in with my mother-in-law as sous chef and my wife on dessert.