This is both creepy and cute. But you’d think the animator could have at least bought a pumpkin pie without a dent in the tin.

As we head toward Thanksgiving, Y&H wants to help you eat like a pilgrim (a Native American, too, because we’re all about equal opportunity eating here). In other words, we want to help you eat locally for the holiday. Almost 400 years ago, the pilgrims had no choice but to eat local. These days, we do. It’s not easy.

You want options with your first drink at Thanksgiving, and apple cider gives you exactly that.

Now let me say this: The apple cider from Twin Springs Fruit Farm, based in Orrtanna, Pa., may be the best I’ve ever had. Buy lots of it, because your guests will drink the stuff as if it were water in the desert. Twin Springs sells its cider at farmers markets around the area, from Dupont Circle to Arlington. You can serve the juice any number of ways: straight up; mulled with cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger and/or nutmeg and served warm; or stirred over ice with a good bourbon to make a holiday cocktail, perfect for surviving even the most tedious of family gatherings.

Photo by Phillie Casablanca via Flickr Creative Commons, Attribution License

Some of you may already know about my dislike for the standard roast turkey, an often juice-less and/or gamey bite of bird that requires a small vat of gravy to make it palatable. Unless that turkey comes smoked, brined, deep-fried, or Judy-fied, I’ll take a roasted lamb over a roasted turkey any day, particularly the holi-days.

I say that as prelude to this: I don’t feel a ton of sympathy for vegetarians during the turkey-heavy holidays. Frankly, they’re not missing much, particularly if their families produced the same dried-out birds mine did over the years. My gaze becomes much more sympathetic, however, when I think about gravy, that savory soup of pan-drippings, thickener, seasonings, and, if you’re lucky, giblets. How you can eat mashed potatoes without that brown gold is beyond my limited imagination.

There are, of course, a number of good veg-friendly gravies out there, like this one. This recipe includes a number of strong flavoring agents, including soy sauce, sage, and both garlic and onions, those two delicious bulbs of the allium family. The only strange thing about the recipe its is lack of specificity over “broth.” I’d recommend a mushroom broth, which will give you a deep, woodsy flavor.

All together, I think the gravy will go a long way toward making you forget about your heathen, meat-eating brothers and sisters and cousins — and how much more fun they’re having at the dinner table than you.

Calling Dr. Freud. Calling Dr. Freud. We may have an Oedipal patient for you.

For other Mother’s Day suggestions, Y&H turns you to the Washingtonian’s brunch guide and Open Table’s listings.

1. A copy of A Day at elBulli: An insight into the ideas, methods and creativity of Ferran Adria. (Thanks, love!)
2. Two used Marcella Hazan cookbooks, including the delightful Marcella Says… (Thanks, Molly, you cheapskate.)
3. A care package of coffee, scones, crumpets, jam, and muffins. (Thanks, mum!)
4. A bottle-opener magnet for the fridge (Thanks again, love! More Dogfish Head for the holidays!)
5. A gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma (which came with a broad suggestion that whatever I buy should be tied to making the gift-givers dinner). (Thanks, Stuart and Kay! I think.)
6. Pancake/cookie molds in the shape of hearts. (Thanks again, Stuart and Kay!)
7. A gift certificate to Crate and Barrel (with no strings attached this time). (Thanks a third time, Stuart and Kay!)
8. A gift certificate to Pottery Barn. (Thanks, sis!)
9. And the best gift of all: dinner with the family, with music playing in the background and no computer within 20 feet of anyone. (Thanks all!)