And....we're back

Well, Pegs beat me to the punch, but we are officially back! Aside from Pegs' previous offering about the politics of French copulation, it has certainly been a while since our last post, but in our defense we've been fairly busy overeating, overdrinking and generally overdoing it back in the States.

Panagiota is currently in Moorestown, New Jersey (recently voted "Best Place to Live in America") with Nik, Young and Alexandra. Since the Chalexandropoulos household was recently voted "Best Place to Chill Out for About Three Weeks While Your Husband Is in Another Country", it was a logical choice for Pegs to complete her US vacation there.

Meanwhile, I'm back in France holding down the fort and finding myself smack dab in the middle of some new deals. Actually, the transaction I'm working on right now is that old deal with Tinkerbell; as it turns out, the borrowers need five new credit lines (and possibly a sixth) and need to add about 30 obligors into the mix, so I have a lot of work to do to revise the existing loan agreement. Needless to say, I'm not going anywhere tonight.

But enough about that....it's depressing me. Let's talk about something a bit more pleasant: OUR THANKSGIVING TRIP!!!!!!!!! (Sorry about that, but I felt compelled to bust an all caps on your ass.)

Our trip started with a wonderful weekend at the WasserHarris household, where Mr. Michael "The-Host-With-the-Most" Harris and his lovely wife Ms. Jill "The Most" Wasserman welcomed us with open arms and an open bar. Mr. Harris was kind enough to organize our weekend around my ever-growing stomach, which meant that a large part of our activities included eating Mellow Mushroom, Flying Biscuit and Waffle House, followed by extended periods of recovering from said meals.

Mr. Harris and I caught up quite a bit over one or two (dozen) rounds of Maker's Mark and ginger ale, while Jill and Pegs indulged us in our pseudo-manly activities of watching football and buying electronics. Mr. Harris and I also participated in an invigorating round of disc golf with Messrs. Maness and Mokotoff on Sunday morning, during which I demonstrated the vaunted Vanderpool athleticism that has allowed each member of my generation to attend the universities of our choice on academic scholarships.

After an all-too-brief stay with the WasserHarrises, we packed up what remained of my liver and stomach lining and headed to New Orleans, "The City That Care (and Congress) Forgot". There we checked into the Maison Perrier, a great little bed and breakfast where they gave us a healthy discount and a free upgrade to a king-size room, as well as the most carb-loaded breakfast I have ever had (two cinnamon pancakes, two blueberry muffins, two strips of pepper bacon, two peanut butter granola bars, two glasses of orange juice, a bagel with cream cheese, a strawberry yogurt and a side of fruit). I was a wee bit hungry.

The whole Vanderpool clan (sans Ariel and Sam) reunited on Sunday night at Vanessa's condo, where we were soon joined by Janet and Steve and Stephen and Jennifer. Despite the jetlag and what my doctor has since diagnosed as a 200-hour hangover, we managed to party hard till the break of midnight (keep in mind that there is a seven hour time difference between New Orleans and Paris, so technically dawn was breaking for us). The rest of the week was spent lounging around with the VanderClan, purchasing household necessities in good old US dollars, and downloading music from the VanderSibs. Oh, and eating. And drinking. Lots of both.

One of the highlights of the week in New Orleans would have to be the family dinner at Jacques Imos (always a crowd pleaser), during which we celebrated Dad's birthday and Pegs' name day. For dinner we stuffed ourselves on alligator sausage cheesecakes, fried grits, eggplants Jacques Imos, fried green tomatoes, fried chicken livers, boudin, corn maque choux, potato salad, shoestring fries and mashed sweet potatoes, and those were just the appetizers and sides. I'm not even going to tempt you with a description of the main courses, except to say that boneless quail stuffed with wild mushroom foie gras tastes even better than it sounds.

As a side benefit, Jacques Imos helped expand our stomachs for another highlight the next day: the Thanksgiving feast! Dad, Mom and Vanessa successfully used not one but two kitchens to whip up all the good eats, which included a laid-back turkey (see Julia Child, The Way to Cook), mashed sweet potatoes, creamed spinach, cranberry sauce, buttered rolls, two pumpkin pies and the world's best cornbread stuffing (oh dear God, the stuffing....).

The third highlight of the week can be summed up in two monosyllabic words: Dork Fight.

Of course, getting to see everyone again was really the best part, even Damien. I'm just kidding, of course; hanging out with the Littlest Pool was a bit of a downer, but as I understand it, it was kind of a package deal for us to see everyone else.

For Pegs, the Great American Adventure continues as she babysits The Monkey for a few weeks. For me, I capped my visit with a rapid airport rendezvous with Mr. Harris (who was returning from Philadelphia) before boarding my solo flight across the Atlantic. I'm a bit jetlagged, but I'll live.

All told, I don't think that we could have asked for a better trip. Everyone had a great time, and I am officially five pounds heavier than I've ever been. I can't wait until the next family get-together at Derek's wedding, even if it does mean having to see Damien again. In the meantime, aside from some electrolytes and a few hours in the gym, all I need now is for Pegs to hurry up and get home, 'cause I miss my beba and haven't been apart from her this long in a while. Whoever said absence makes the heart grow fonder can kiss my lily-white ass.