Sonfields': Ah, the good stuff! The stuffing was a cornbread base, jazzed up with raisins and sausage; the chef's best ever, even though she burnt it a bit (but the crispy stuff was the best part). The pureed sweet potatoes and asparagus with cheese were impressive variations on the traditional vegetable options. The cranberry bread was a balanced ensemble of sweet and tart. The gravy was a light one, mostly turkey drippings; the stuffing didn't even need it. The cranberry relish was enhanced with pears, but I still hate the stuff. And the chestnuts and prunes were spectacular, as always, but they gave me indigestion for the rest of the weekend.

DC-10: Yellow lettuce salad with creamy Italian sauce in a plastic container, boiled corn and carrot nibblets, plastic-wrapped flat bread with chunks of stale walnuts, stone-hard long grain rice, and barbecue sauce in yet another plastic container. Margarine, salt, and black pepper.

DESSERT:

Sonfields': Pumpkin pie and chocolate cake, but I was too stuffed to have any even two hours after we finished dinner. The pumpkin pie was about as good as it gets (not my speed, though). The chocolate cake was quite fudgy and was topped with a dark chocolate icing, but it reminded the chef and I a bit too much of Betty Crocker's.

DC-10: Walker's English shortbread. 100% butter. Very British. Very proper. Very boring.

AFTER-DINNER ENTERTAINMENT:

Sonfields': Too much card-playing (Spades, even. With a Bridge master in the house!), bad movies on cable and NBC ("Home Alone"--yuck), and stimulating conversations. But my allergies had already started acting up from that dog; shortness of breath is a not an incentive to enjoying an evening. Or the rest of the vacation for that matter...

DC-10: Four dollars to see Harrison Ford running for his life in "The Fugitive" for two hours, or gaze at the heartland of America for free.

OVERVIEW:

Sonfields': A cozy and homey ride through Norman Rockwell Land.

DC-10: I'd rather take the Mayflower next time.