So you don’t get to go home for Thanksgiving. Or maybe you don’t want to. Regardless, you should still savor every bit of the turkey-day goodness, whether you eat poultry or not. So throw a party in your dorm, house or apartment tomorrow; have dinner with your urban tribe – family that isn’t related to you by blood – your friends and lonely neighbors.

If you want to go traditional with your shindig, then crack out the “”Joy of Cooking”” cookbook and your turkey baster. Or, go to the store or a restaurant – like Safeway, Fry’s or Boston Market – that serves pre-made or ready-to-heat Thanksgiving dinners. You don’t have to slave away in the kitchen all day to reap the benefits, but you sure can pretend you did.

You don’t have to do turkey, even if that is part of the day’s tradition. You can take a road trip to A.J.’s at La Encantada mall and get your posse a delicious turducken (read: chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey), but remember to reserve one ASAP. You can also do something with tofu, probably easiest to find at Trader Joe’s, Sunflower Market or Whole Foods. Or you can kill tradition in one fell swoop by having a delightful Mexican dinner to celebrate your presence in the Sonoran desert.

And don’t forget dessert! There’s got to be something you can whip up or snag from the grocery store – chocolate pudding, perhaps? With Nilla Wafers? There’s no excuse to get through Thanksgiving without a healthy helping of sugar.

Now, you have no excuse for not eating something other than Top Ramen if you live in the dorms. There is an oven in every dorm, or at least a microwave. Whether you make the entire Thanksgiving dinner yourself with recipes from www.foodnetwork.com, serve it out of containers from the store or serve it on plates after you’ve safely thrown the containers in the dumpster, Thanksgiving in the dorm (or house or apartment) is a must.