Current Location: London, UK

Happy Thanksgiving!!! If I’m being honest, this week threw me for a loop. For the past eight years, Thanksgiving has been a week of spending time with family, swim practices winding down to a partial-taper for a mid-season invite, lots of turkey, and an overall relaxed atmosphere. Since I’m in London this year where Thanksgiving is not traditionally celebrated (not even a Thxgiving snapchat filter!), the week was pretty much BAU. I got a little stressed out between job interviews and missing my family, but luckily I have met some pretty amazing people here and we all got together for an American-style Friendsgiving.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because if you take it seriously, it can be very grounding. Every year I try to do some reflection and focus on all of my sources of happiness and gratitude. There are a lot of things I am grateful for this year and every year. Of course, I’m thankful for my incredibly supportive and loving family, my Brown friends who keep me sane, my overall health and wellbeing, etc. But this year, I am particularly grateful to all of the people who have made London feel like a home. Thank you to everyone in my life, wherever you are in the world.

Moving away from the sappy and onto the delicious! I was responsible for all things potato at our Thanksgiving meal and I was determined to make a delicious vegan mash that would fool even the most persnickety omnivores. It pleases me to report that I made more than five pounds (2.5kg) of potatoes which were almost completely devoured by our crew of vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike. My recipe is loosely adapted from Tyler Florence’s classic mashed potatoes recipe. No fancy tools or ingredients required!

Vegan Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 5.5 pounds white potatoes
• 2.5 cups Oatly “creamy oat”
• 4 tablespoons unsalted vegan butter
• 3 tablespoons freshly chopped chives
• Salt & pepper

Directions

1. Wash and peel the white potatoes. Chop the potatoes into chunks and place in a large pot. The smaller the chunks, the faster the potatoes will boil.
2. Add three tablespoons of salt and cover the potatoes with cold water. Cover, and bring the pot to a boil. Continue boiling until the potatoes are tender (20-30 min, depending on the size of your pot). I recommend overcooking slightly to make mashing easier. Drain the potatoes well, then return them to the pot (remove the pot from heat).
3. Add the oat cream and vegan butter to a saucepan. Heat until vegan butter has completely melted.
4. Mash the potatoes with a fork (or a ricer or food mill if you prefer) to desired consistency. Once the cream/butter mixture is completely melted, add the liquid one cup at a time to the mashed potatoes. Combine with a spoon until the liquid is well integrated.
5. Add the chives along with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Amaze yourself and your friends!

♲CV♲