Major life goal achieved: I have cooked, all by myself, an entire turkey. We had our own Thanksgiving today after having spent this year here in L.A., with friends, which was nice, but no leftovers. We were kindly entertained by some old friends in Venice on Thursday. This was a unique and beachy Turkey day experience, capped off by a beautiful sunset walk down to Venice pier. However, we desired leftovers.

The opportunity to cook never seems to come. We're too far away to get our families out here for holidays. So, we thought it might be nice to try out the roasting pan we got for our wedding 3 years ago over the weekend and cook a 13-pounder just for the 2 of us.

All I have to say is God bless Martha! I used her cheesecloth-basting method and the bird came out all crispy brown and beautiful. It really works! Soak the cheesecloth in wine, butter and herbs and cover the whole bird with it, then baste every half hour throughout the first three hours of roasting.

Other than that, the holiday season came right up and smacked us just as soon as the car door shut Thursday afternoon. I hit Target for wrapping paper and such on Friday -- the selection's great when you don't put it off til two weeks before the holiday. I'm ahead of the game! (Not.) It's hard to know what to get people for gifts in a year where clearly material goods are flowing freely. Everyone I know seems to have already bought themselves everything they've ever wanted. I am not imagining things, am I? That can't be good.