Happy Thanksgiving!

Good morning and happy Thanksgiving! I'm sitting on my couch watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television, which I can also hear out the window since we live only half a block from Central Park West, where the parade is proceeding south.

My sister also lives just off the parade route, on West 81st Street between Central Park West and Columbus, one of the two streets that are used as staging areas to inflate the famous parade balloons. In theory, only people who live on West 81st Street, and their guests, are permitted onto the north side of 81st Street. Everyone else has to walk along the much more crowded south side. Last night Kristy invited us over to share her balloon-viewing access. Given the crowds on the north side of the street, I find it hard to believe that the residents-only policy was being enforced too strictly by the NYPD, many of whom were happily snapping photos with the balloons themselves.

For pre-balloon viewing nourishment, Kristy served pizza (made during our class at Pizza A Casa and reheated on her pizza stone last night), a delicious prosciutto and mortadella ravioli which she'd picked up at Eataly, and a mixed green salad with shaved pecorino cheese, cherry tomatoes, and one of my favorite salad dressings: a brown butter and truffle oil vinaigrette. Here's the recipe for this super-rich dressing:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons truffle oil

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook until it begins to turn a nutty brown color and the foam subsides. Remove from heat and let cool until room temperature, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the vinegars. Drizzle in the cooled butter and the oils, whisking until the dressing is well blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I'll have a full report on our Thanksgiving dinner sometime this weekend.