Today was the 4th Annual Friend-Family Thanksgiving, a gathering of Chicago chums to break bread and share a feast of all feasts.  My best friend Holly was in town from Atlanta and our contribution to Friend-Family Thanksgiving was apple pie.  After making a pot of our favorite coffee, we set to  work:

We quickly perused the FoodNetwork.com and came up with a game plan: Cut apples.  Add sugar, cinnamon, and more sugar.  Put in crust.  Simple and easy but since it was the first thing we did this morning, it made Holly and I feel super domestic and productive.

We pushed our culinary pie prowess a bit and got creative with the crust, going with a lattice crust on one pie and cut out hearts and stars for the other.

30 minutes in the oven and an almond glaze later, we were ready for Friend-Family Thanksgiving.

I am so lucky to live near to my closest friends and am even luckier that they enjoy eating, drinking and making merry as much as I do too.  It’s the start of the holiday season and my heart is as fully as my belly.  Which is really, really, really full.