O.K., let me preface this by saying I had a great Thanksgiving. I enjoyed the day and continue to be thankful for all I have. BUT…..I had planned to sleep in a bit but after Ernie got up at 5:45 a.m. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I went downstairs to find a huge puddle of pee on our couch. Owen had slept there (don’t ask) and forgotten to wear a pull up. O.K. Then I had a piece of meat pie for breakfast with some of the cranberry sauce with vanilla and cardamom…AWFUL. The meat pie wasn’t bad (although next year I’m getting fresh cinnamon and cloves from Penzey’s before Thanksgiving)…but I hated the cranberry sauce. I love cranberry sauce and I thought the vanilla and cardamom sounded good but I really, really didn’t like it. I quickly revised my plan for an additional cranberry relish to a remake of my basic cranberry sauce which has cinnamon and cloves in it.
Then Owen decided to walk to our neighborhood park by himself without telling anyone. Much anger (ours) and many tears (his) later he was back. sigh.
After waffling about stuffing the turkey I finally decided to stuff it and cook it upside down for half the time. My stuffing tasted GREAT if I do say so myself! After about two hours I asked Ernie to help me turn the turkey over. We opened the oven and I thought “hmmmm” that turkey sure doesn’t look too cookd and doesn’t feel too warm….. Evidently when the timer went off for something else Imust have turned the oven off. The turkey had cooked SOME…but had definitely cooled off to room temperature—-and this was when it was supposed to be half done! Time for a quick revision of estimated meal time. I called my parents and told them they better eat lunch. Mom called me an hour later and said my Dad seemed to be having trouble focusing on getting lunch. I sent Ernie over and told them I would give them lunch when they got here……and then we could wait for turkey!
Things seemed to go somewhat smoothly after that. Had a great time with my folks and my BIL. Oh, when we finally tried to turn the turkey over I found the skind had stuck to the pan despite olive oil so I decided to just leave it upside down. When it was done (I found a cheap Ikea version of one of those meat thermometers that you put in and you have a little monitor outside the oven that tells you what the temperature is—–YAY!) we pulled it out and it just looked damn weird. Anyway—we transferred it to a platter and I took the pan with all the luscious, beautifully brown pan drippings. I put the heat on under it and got ready to make the gravy. I reached up to a cupboard above (for the life of me I don’t remember why) and when I opened the cupboard door a big, heavy pyrex measuring cup fell out………and SMASHED INTO PIECES in the pan….. Small pieces of broken glass spread thoughout the pan drippings….. Ernie and I both yelled SHIT and just stood there looking at it in disbelief. So much for gravy.
Despite all that the meal was good overall. I didn’t like my brussels sprouts. I loved the flavors but sometimes brussels sprouts just end up bitter. My mashed potatoes were good, my new cranberry sauce was good, my weird gravy made out of just my turkey stock was actually pretty good, the sweet potatoe/parsnip puree was good and the turkey was DAMN MOIST AND TENDER. It ought to be for looking so darn weird….
What an odd day….from uncooked upside down turkey to broken glass in the gravy….some years just go more smoothly than others. I’m glad it was just family and that we had some nice wine in the house…..
Oh….I had not heard about the gravy. So, has Owen redeemed himself? Just what was he thinking?! And he is only 4… Mom and Dad do look good!
Oh….I had not heard about the gravy. So, has Owen redeemed himself? Just what was he thinking?! And he is only 4… Mom and Dad do look good!