The month of November is practically gone and I’ve been hard pressed to spend a few precious minutes dishing my favorite subject: seafood. I know that seafood usually goes to the back burner during the holidays, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Still, you’re saying, it’s Thanksgiving. Ok, I agree, and I haven’t been my fishy self, so I thought I’d bring you up to speed, since I haven’t been spending as much time as I’d like blogging, and dishing seafood.

Here’s why:

The more turkey days I have, the faster time flies. And to really shake things up in our lives, this year we’re celebrating Thanksgiving in Western Kentucky, land of squash, mum’s, and camouflage.

Yes, here in the tiny town of Mad’ville, peeps are either hunting deer, processing venison or eating venison.   

When I’m in the grocery store, I want to shout out “Seafood people, seafood, not venison,” but I know I could get shot. Seriously.

Anyway, now that I’ve got that off my chest, like you, I’m busy getting my house ready for family here and afar that will be visiting, eating and drinking my dee-licious food.

My multiple to-do lists look like cat-scratch fever, leaving only the smallest of details, (like finding the perfect area rug for the hallway). Yes, I’m a little neurotic around the holidays.

Some food is prepped, like the fresh broccoli for the casserole and the lobster tails which are thawed for my Lobster Tail Pastry Rolls with White Hot Dipping Sauce (I’m so thankful to be published in Edible Orlando magazine’s holiday issue).

Some food is cooked, like the apple galette and butternut squash-cinnamon ice cream. And of course, the biggest turkey I could find (twenty-one pounds) is sitting in the fridge waiting to be roasted.

As if having the holidays, company, cooking and retail therapy isn’t enough to fill a girl’s calendar for the month of November, I decided to enter National Novel Writing Month, aka, NaNoWriMo. To sum up, it’s a month-long literary marathon, 50,000 words to be exact.

Some days I feel like I jumped into a bowl of lime green jello shots, got drunk and came up with a twisted murder mystery that was begging to be written, or I’d be cursed to jump back into the jello bowl. 

Other days, I make a crock pot of soup, plug into iTunes and channel Katy Perry, Mary J. Blige, Goo Goo Dolls, Nickelback, Lifehouse, U2 and Lady Antebellum.

My dog, Reagan, misses me.

Elvis misses me. 

Although I think he secretly loves to tell me to “get back to work” when I take a break to stretch my neck and back.

And since these words as refreshing as they are to write, they do not count in my NaNoWriMo, I will leave you today with some fish-tastic news.

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute found me here at SLO and they have been generous with their praise, words and product about my efforts to bring you sustainable seafood information, ideas and recipes. For that I’m truly thankful.

Be prepared to find out more about ASMI and their efforts to bring you fresh Alaskan seafood with their new program CookItFresh.

Happy Thanksgiving, stay tuned and tight lines.