Today we did something totally crazy. We sawed our box spring in half. Or should I say, Dave sawed our box spring in half, and only the pieces of wood, not the metal or cloth. The idea was that at that point, you could actually fold it in half by bending the metal, and thus transport it through a much narrower area.

Why exactly would we want to do that? Because we live in a 90-year-old house in Portland with stairways that would never pass building codes these days. They much narrower than modern stairs and way too narrow for a queen box spring to fit through (the mattress was OK because it was flexible). So for the first two years we’ve been in our house, we modified our bed to be a platform bed and kept the box spring in the guest bedroom.

Until now.

That’s right. The sawing and bending and carrying the folded box spring out the back door, around the house and in through the front door to avoid a weird bend in the hallway resulted in our box spring going right up the stairs to be unbent, re-stapled and returned to its original spot in our bed. I am sure we got some weird looks from the neighbors. Wouldn’t be the first time. And I’m not sure if I care! I am so happy to have the box spring upstairs in our master suite.

We’re calling it a very productive long weekend! We’ve also been working on great sewing projects (Dave is working on an amazing one!) and I have successfully roped him into watching 3 hours of Sherlock so far. I *love* that show! We’ve also been working on planning the Thanksgiving menu.

I love sweet potatoes – I could eat them most days of the year, and they’ve always been a Thanksgiving tradition in my family. You know, the good ol’ marshmallow-topped bake? This year I wanted to try something a little different. I would never say goodbye to sweet potatoes altogether, but I wanted them to be a bigger contrast to the richness that is the rest of the Thanksgiving table. So we came up with this delicious preparation.

It’s spicy, tangy and sweet all at the same time – a clear cut departure from the richness that saturates the holiday table. I can’t wait to try it with turkey!

Here’s what you need for 4 servings:
3 yams/sweet potatoes
1/2 to 1 cup (ish) Greek yogurt
1 1/2 tsp. harissa paste
Salt and pepper
Parmesan for topping, if you want

Peel and cube sweet potatoes, and cook in boiling water until fork-tender. Drain and move to a glass bowl.

Use a potato masher or a mixer to smash the sweet potatoes. Add in the yogurt and continue to mix together, starting with 1/2 cup and adding more to reach your desired consistency. When you reach the right texture, add the harissa and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.