Sometimes it’s hard to think about what’s good in your life. Weirdly, this even happens to people who you would say have a demonstrably better life than your own—more money, more friends, more status. That’s because gratitude isn’t necessarily a marker of actual life blessings — it’s more like a mutant ability to experience positive feelings more intensely than normal, according to an op-ed by Arthur C. Brooks for the New York Times.

I love a little squash. They have the visual appeal of decorative gourds, but you can eat them, which is an improvement. But their small size can make them slightly challenging to de-seed, and a regular spoon’s smooth edge doesn’t have the scraping power needed to remove the goopy strings and seeds in an efficient manner. This is why I turn to the grapefruit spoon.

While American shopping holiday Black Friday has spread across the world (just look at the Lifehacker front page right now!) Thanksgiving is one event that is, and always has been, quintessential USA. You might be surprised to find out, then, that one of the few places you can celebrate Thanksgiving outside of North America is on a tiny island that's part of Australia.

Most turkey prep is designed to compensate for its lack of fat, and therefore, flavour. Dry brining is the best way to season your bird from the inside out, but for the juiciest, most delicious meat, you’ve gotta add some fat — and there’s no better fat than butter.

Alexa and Google Home both allow you to set multiple, named timers, and they will save your holiday roasts.

Baked custards are everywhere on the holiday dessert table. Apart from apple pie, just about every other holiday classic calls for baking a sugar-and-egg slurry until perfectly set. It seems simple enough, but custard pies are notoriously tricky — especially when canned pumpkin gets involved.

As a carnivore whose foodie philosophy is "make things as delicious as possible, whatever it takes," I used to see vegan dinner guests as something I had to work around, and for that, I apologise. Vegan foodies can go on about how delicious soy bacon is, but as a cook who eats meat, I tended to think they were using a different measurement stick for "delicious."

I was selfishly aggravated at having to "dumb down" dishes and sacrifice taste for accommodation.

Well, you've done it. You've gone and eaten yourself into a food coma. Your belly feels stretched beyond capacity and you can barely move your limbs. The ideal solution is no doubt to surrender to a tryptophan-induced slumber until it all blows over. But since the pleasure of a gastronomic blackout isn't always an option -- your family insists on a holiday round of charades, or your friends don't feel like carrying your limp body around all night -- what's Plan B?

Are you avoiding your family right now? So desperate to escape them that you're sitting in the bathroom reading a productivity blog on Christmas Day? Dreading the inevitable fight over politics or your lack of a plus-one or which kid hogged the university fund? Here's your solution: Get drunk and cause a scene.

The nice thing about getting together with family for the holidays is catching up with loved ones you haven't seen since last year. It's lovely to hear about your sister's new job, watch the kids play with their cousins, and grit your teeth through your racist relatives' awful comments. OK, wait -- that's actually not very fun. In fact, it can be rather distressing and depressing.

Whole, perfectly roasted poultry is a beautiful thing, but it's not exactly known for being a speedy dish. Thankfully, it's possible to cook an entire bird in an hour or less by cutting it up before popping it in the oven.

Real gravy usually calls for your own stock and the drippings of whatever meat you're roasting. If time is short and that's not an option, you can easily whip up a batch of gravy that tastes way better than any canned or powdered versions with just a few basic ingredients.

Pumpkin pie. It sounds weird to anyone born in Australia, where pumpkin is reserved for soup, roast dinners and occasionally for mixing in with mashed potato to make it a little bit healthier. We certainly don't see it as a sweet food, much less a dessert, though as it turns out pumpkin pie is actually a delicious dessert that every Australian should try at some point in their life.

Cauliflower is a really awesome vegetable that can be used to replace carbier fare in recipes. If you can't or don't eat bread, but still want a flavorful, homey side for your turkey, consider making this cauliflower "stuffing" from delish. (Technically I think this would be a "dressing," but I'll let it slide.)

Ideally, by this time you'd have a thawed turkey ready for some flavour-and texture-boosting dry brining, all set to go for Christmas Day. But what if you're working with a brick hard frozen turkey?

When you head home to visit family, tons of childhood memories will come rushing back, along with some old family dynamics too. Some dynamics, like inside jokes or age-old traditions, are comforting and great. But others, like teasing, babying, or people not taking you seriously -- not so much. You may be a full-grown adult now, but parents and siblings can make you feel like you're eight-years-old all over again.

Turn a traditional Christmas dish on its head by transforming stuffing into crispy squares filled with gravy-catching pockets. All you need is the stuffing you were going to make anyway and a waffle maker.

When you're hosting a party in a smaller home, a traffic jam near all the goodies is all too common. You can easily fix that by spreading your food and drink around.

Cocktails are essential for most parties, but those who don't or can't imbibe are often left sipping a boring can of soda. Here's a simple rule to follow so non-drinkers can feel like they're treating themselves too.