217 - Happy Turkey Day

This was our first Thanksgiving in Tennessee. Also a few more firsts... first time I made cranberry relish, dressing, giblet gravy or deviled eggs or pecan pie. First time Mike fried a turkey. We had ourselves a feast and it's a good thing it came out like it did because we'll be eating it for the rest of the month... I also made rolls, horseradish escalloped potatoes and a green bean casserole. Forgot about the corn casserole... oh well. I can make it later. Probably for the best.

Fried turkey is delicious. We injected it with a marinade that gave the meat good flavor, but the crispy skin is what we really love. The turkey neck is like a rolled up version of fried catfish tails, I have a feeling if mom gets ahold of one we'll be fighting over it. We didn't quite get enough peanut oil, so I consulted the internet and we added some grapeseed oil and crisco to supplement since they have flashpoints over 325... still wasn't quite enough so Mike had to ladle oil over the tippy top of the bird. He made it work.

Last night it got down to 14 dgrees... or at least at 1:27 am it was 14 degrees. I did see it down to 13 at one point.

The kittens are in the holiday mood.

Bootsie has a huge back paw. He's like Hellboy the Kitten. (no, not really, it's the camera angle) He also has a giant mutant ear.

Our feast (dinner version...)

The bird is the word.

Love these potatoes... I cooked them all the way through this time and boy does it make a difference, hahaha. But seriously... they're amazing.

And now I get the rest of the week to relax and not have to be in the kitchen all day. Overall today wasn't bad because I did a lot of prep work the day before. And we didn't have a schedule so we grazed throughout the day and I liked it better than sitting down and attempting to stuff my face with everything all at once or get flustered trying to get everything into the oven at the same time and on the table by a certain time. And - we certainly didn't starve. I think that may become tradition at our house.

So it's time to wind down for the evening and let the tryptophan do it's job... zzzzz... Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!