SPARKLING ROSEMARY BOURBON APPLE CIDER.

It’s t-minus one day to Thanksgiving, and I’m beaming to you straight from across the Pacific Ocean, on my beloved home island Maui. Hi! It’s a gorgeous morning here, and I’m going to resist the temptation to apologize for said gorgeousness, instead sending forth as much of this goodness to you as I possibly can. I also come bearing cocktails, so perhaps that will soften the (albeit tropical) blow of jealousy.

I’m doing Thanksgiving differently this year, which I’m into—I like surprising myself, like taking different tacks on rituals I’ve done over and over again. This year, my father and his fiancée (that’s new! more on that soon! hooray!!) Susan are going to be in a meditation retreat over the holiday, and I’ve decided to spend the day on the beach. I know. Rough. I’m incredibly excited, to be honest. Totally, one hundred percent cool with trading in mashed potatoes for a hefty serving of salt water and sunshine.

Or maybe I’ll eat mashed potatoes while I’m at the beach? I’ll report back on that front. Either way, I’ve got your whole Thanksgiving meal planned out for you, not to worry. Click here for the full vegetarian Thanksgiving feast, here for a bonus caramelized pecan pumpkin pie, and here for an extra bonus miso caramel pear pie. Pie is important, people.

Regardless, this trip feels bittersweetly well-timed, in the wake of so much election trauma and its formidable, ongoing reverberations. Not to say that going to Maui is an excuse to check out. Not at all. More that it’s an opportunity to check in. To re-member, in the most literal sense of the word—to put myself back together, to draw close again the memory of the things and people most important to me.

Maui, no matter what, always brings me back to who I am. As I sit with the very final pass of my book—my very last opportunity to make changes to the physical object that will be oh so very real next May—I feel that need more strongly than ever. As I reckon with my own position in the sociopolitical sphere, and how I choose to use my voice and influence on this platform, I feel that need more strongly than ever. And as a human aware of the repercussions my action and inaction have on so many other humans—I feel that need more strongly than ever.

Perhaps, then, this Thanksgiving can be about simplicity, remembering, drawing myself back together, about restoring energy so that I can give more in return.

I’m relatively certain all of this calls for a stellar cocktail. Particularly as so many families will be confronted with complex conversations about politics, identity, and safety, I am here to mollify the Thanksgiving effect with just a bit of booze. This spiked rosemary apple cider can be served bourbon-less, of course, with just as soothing an effect.

The drink began with the inspiration of Zevia’s new Sparkling Apple Cider Celebrations(which I also used to make a delicious sparkling pear ginger sorbet earlier this month). Add some rosemary-muddled apple juice, a splash of additional sparkle from bubbly water, and a bright pop of acid from apple cider vinegar, and you’ve got a lush holiday cocktail. The bourbon adds a rich depth of flavor that complicates the sweetness and herb of apple and rosemary.

There’s another huge bonus here: Since Zevia’s sparkling ciders are made without any sugar, using just fruit extracts and stevia for sweetness, you can combine them with alcohol without the danger of landing yourself a terrible sugary-cocktail hangover. Who needs that on Friday? You’re welcome.

Sending you all the love for the many bracing and (hopefully) nourishing manifestations of Thanksgiving you’ll have this week. Thank you for nourishing me in so many ways, as readers of Kale & Caramel. I am deeply grateful for you.