lovin' life... lovin' food

Pomegranate Celebration Cocktail for Thanksgiving

It’s been a long time since I’ve shared a recipe here, and to be honest this isn’t quite a recipe either. But it’s a delicious cocktail that I intend to make in giant batches on Thanksgiving. It will be our first time hosting in our new home, and we finally have the room for everyone to sit at tables together. We have 40+ people coming and I can’t wait! With such a large group I thought it would be fun to make a cocktail for everyone to enjoy in addition to our bar set up. If you’re looking for a tasty and refreshing fall or winter cocktail this is the one for you.

Pomegranate Celebration Cocktail

1 part pomegranate juice
1 part PAMA pomegranate liqueur
4 parts prosecco
1 spoon of fresh pomegranate arils per serving

Directions: Stir together the first three ingredients. Put one spoonful of fresh pomegranate arils into your glass, then pour in the cocktail. Enjoy with ice or without!

Some notes: I found the Pom brand pomegranate juice in the refrigerated section of our grocery store. You can also find pomegranate juice in the end caps of the refrigerated section at Target next to the Naked juices. Last, Sam’s Club has the best pomegranates right now and they are priced reasonably at 6 each for $12.

So you want to know… do I miss the city?

No I don’t. and YES, I do.

We moved to the suburbs of Philadelphia 2.5 months ago. We are still settling into our home, working on furnishing it properly. We are still learning about the animals and sounds that are native to the space, some we love and some we don’t. And of course we are adjusting to taking care of a big home. It is a huge change to go from cleaning and maintaining a city townhome with an HOA to moving to a large, standalone home that needs not only regular maintenance but lots of updates.

Until today I have said that I don’t miss the city at all, not even one bit. But then I drove into the city and felt that old adrenaline rush. My heart was racing and my eyes welled up as I realized that living in the city again is decades away.

I LOVE the suburbs. I love our new friends, our home, and most importantly the way our core family has adjusted. Raffi is sleeping better and has grown several inches since we moved, a phenomenon I don’t believe is just a coincidence. Alessandra learned to swim the full length of our new swimming pool. Valentina has enough space to run around inside and out without my fear of her running into a street or getting unsafely far away from me. This is the right place for our family and the best place for us to raise them.

I feel like a different person too. I no longer dread errands, and I’ve gone on regular runs several times a week since moving here. The air feels cleaner, whether it actually is or not. I feel less stressed and far happier, but I can’t exactly pinpoint why.

As the mom to young children in the city, I loved the walking access to kid-friendly restaurants, the ease of visiting such special places as The Franklin Institute and the art museum. I loved that I would run into friends weekly and even daily and always had another mom friend to walk with on the way home from preschool. Oh how I loved the kids’ preschool! I loved that my husband could be home in ten minutes and that we’d all be so cozy together in our family room at night.

But I’m loving the suburbs even more.

I love that I myself can finally learn firsthand about so many animals, from the dreaded cicadas to the beautiful deer to the annoying but harmless chipmunks. I love that one child can sit at the table coloring while another can play with Legos in his room and I can be cooking dinner and everyone is safe and happy. My husband takes 40 minutes to get home now, but by the time he arrives he’s decompressed already and is happier than I’ve ever seen him. I love that we have good options for public school and that our neighbors have all been so friendly and welcoming.

I do miss the city, but I love the suburbs more.

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