NOTE: I am a fan of 30-day challenges, and November is traditionally a time of two: National Novel Writing Month, and 30 Days of Thanks. As I am not a fiction writer, this year I have chosen to publish a daily blog for the entire month, expressing my gratitude. This may not be entirely food-focused, but expect recipes aplenty. Feel free to join me in the comments below. What are you thankful for today?

’tis the season.

Not for Christmas or good cheer or any of that, although I did make the mistake of going into some fine retail establishments today and was assaulted by a plethora of holiday-themed crap from China that no one really needs and will all end up in a dumpster at the end of the year.

’tis deer hunting season, and although I am not a deer hunter myself, I am a fan of venison in its many forms.

Last weekend, Khristian and I were invited to dinner at a friend’s house. This friend happens to be Graham, the brother of Peter, Khristian’s collaborative partner, and the husband of Brooke, a woman who was in my 200-hour yoga teacher training cohort.

#Smalltimore

A couple hours before we went, Khristian informed me that Graham was serving venison pot pie with a spelt crust for me, a gluten-free person.

Except spelt isn’t gluten-free.

I am not gluten-free because I have celiac. I am gluten-free because I feel better.

Not that it’s really anyone’s business, but it seems necessary to clarify because I had already planned on “eating around the gluten,” which is what I normally do when I go to dinner at a new person’s house.

So imagine my surprise when we got to Graham and Brooke’s and found that not only had Graham switched to a gluten-free flour for the crust because of the gluten/no gluten spelt debate but they had also bought gluten-free crackers for hors d’oeuvres and made a separate gluten-free pear crumble.

Today I am grateful for people who go out of their way to make a person feel welcome.

I have struggled my whole life with a feeling of unworthiness, and people who go out of their way (and I am lucky to have more than a few of them in my life) help that feeling fade away. To be so accommodated at someone’s house in a totally unexpected way was lovely and refreshing and certainly needed these past few weeks.

What are you grateful for?