Thursday, November 24, 2011

Our First: Thanksgiving

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving together.

My husband's first Thanksgiving ever. To quote him, "Oh Thanksgiving, where have you been all my life!" And, at this very moment, "Yes, and I meant it. And I want more turkey."

Not that this Thanksgiving was all about the food.... or was it?.... it was just the two of us, and without much pomp and circumstance, since we have no fancy serving dishes, no candles, no big beautiful table or table cloth. But oh, it was fun to introduce him to some of my traditions (in a watered-down way). And delicious.

I was a bit worried about the turkey, as I just borrowed a roasting pan from my mother-in-law, and had no wore rack to put under the bird, so it kind of just sat in the water and it's juices. That, and it's the first turkey I've ever done, and I constantly hear how hard it is to get it fully cooked and still juicy.

Ours was both. And so so good. 3.6 kg (just under 8lbs) of turkey cooked to near perfection. I'm rather proud of it, though there's still room for improvement. The carcass has been picked clean (for leftover turkey sandwiches, soup, or just picking through cold turkey) and is now simmering on the stove to make turkey stock (I'm thankful I have a dad and uncles who taught me to be resourceful and not let good things go to waste!).

Found a recipe for stuffing online (couldn't find bagged stuff anywhere). I can't leave a recipe well enough alone and added about twice the amount of sage it called for (since we have sage growing right outside our door), thyme (also growing outside our door) extra fresh eggs (from our chickens), and garlic. Lots of garlic. Because garlic makes things better.

Freshly stuffed bird

Fresh out of the oven

Our heavy-laden table: Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, buttered peas, asparagus, cranberry sauce, and gravy, and a glass of wine we got at a craft fair.

My dad also taught me how to carve a bird. Phillip was observing this time, wants to practice on chicken.

As per family tradition: stuffing from inside the turkey and stuffing cooked outside the turkey. Stuffing from inside was so much better.

Finally space in our freezer to use our special ice cube trays we bought on our honeymoon!

To intent on food to do much else at this moment

It was a BEAUTIFUL day outside, so we took our pie and two chairs and ate in the setting sun.

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