Thanksgiving and the Aftermath

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know, it was yesterday, but, well, there you are.

We had a houseful. 11 people, in fact. (Should've been 12, but Tim's younger sister had bronchitis and kindly refrained from bringing it to our house to infect everyone. Though I still think I'm coming down with something if the hacking cough that is currently plaguing me is any indication. Then again, that might have something to do with it being 78 on Tuesday, 72 yesterday and a projected high of somewhere in the 40s today.) I was pleased that everyone fit around the table with basically enough room for elbows and knees.

There was pretty much just standard fare this year. I wussed out of the Gourmet magazine recipes last year when they started talking about turkeys basted with a plum reduction. It's not that I wasn't sure I could do the plum reduction, I just couldn't fathom who would actually eat the thing. Their recommended side dish? Brussel sprouts with honey glazed pecans. Again, that may taste really good - but no one at my table was likely to eat the stuff. As a nod to doing something different I did brine the turkey this year (more on that comedy of errors in a moment) and I also made a chocolate pecan pie rather than a regular old pecan pie. I heartily recommend adding chocolate to just about anything - but pecan pies? That's an absolute winner.

Brining the turkey is purported to make the thing savory and moist. And I think it did manage that, everyone mentioned how moist and tasty the bird was. However, one of the key things to have when brining a turkey is a 5 gallon bucket. I do not have a 5 gallon bucket. No matter, I thought, I'll improvise. So I got out my biggest stock pot (3 gallons) and made sure that the turkey would actually lay in it (it did!) and then, thinking that, what with all the displacement and such, the 2 gallons of brining liquid would most likely be more than would fit in the stockpot once said turkey was inside, I lined the pot with a garbage bag, plopped in the turkey and poured brining liquid in. It worked awesomely. Right up until I tried to figure out how I would suspend the knot in the bag above the turkey/pot concoction in the fridge so that the knot didn't fall below the level of the liquid that stood above the edge of the pot. As I was mulling this, Tim came down to see how it was going. I explained the situation and he asked why not put the pot inside something else just in case. That seemed reasonable - though it did beg the question of what exactly we should put it in. We looked around to no avail and, in the process, the knot fell over and brining liquid began leaking all over the counter. (Why was it not in the sink? I don't know. Possibly because I'm an idiot.) So we quickly cleaned this up and finally decided on the cooler. As we were transferring the pot to the cooler, it was immediately evident that the pot would not fit in the cooler. Handily, I thought to myself, I had put the turkey and brine in a bag! So all we needed to do was lift out the turkey in the bag and bang! We're done.

Except of course that the bag broke the instant I tried to lift it out of the pot, sending brine whooshing into the cooler (at least it was over the cooler). (Here is where the people who attended dinner probably get a little ill...see, the cooler is stored in the attic - closed! but still in the attic. And since the turkey was going to be in the pot, first, and the bag second...well, we didn't clean out the cooler before all of this started. And while it wasn't dirty, per se, it hadn't exactly been scrubbed like I would have if I'd known I was going to end up just dropping the turkey and brine into the cooler directly.) So, the turkey brined in the cooler that we propped on an angle (using the shoes Tim mows in under one side) so that the majority of the turkey was covered by the liquid at all times. And I just got up to flip the thing about half way through.

For all of me, it didn't taste any different than when I don't brine. But then, I really don't like turkey.

Despite all that, everyone ate and enjoyed and appeared to have a good time. And the last round of dishes are even as we speak being run through the washer. While Tim and I get started on the homework that has to be accomplished this weekend.

But in all that, there was much to be thankful for - the wonderful gift of salvation through Jesus, family and friends and plentiful food and beautiful (if unseasonable) weather and puppies and the cat that didn't get to come along and most of all the baby that will be joining us in just 48 short days. And the thought occurred more than once that I need to remember to give thanks every day - not just on a day filled with turkey and pie.