This year Thanksgiving turkey will be...

This year Thanksgiving turkey will be...


  • Total voters
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Don't know. The neighbors invited us over for dinner. I'm preparing my world famous "Port Wine and Asian Spice Cranberry Sauce."

If it is world-famous and not a closely guarded family secret, would you please share the recipe? Sounds great!

Hint: Spice is her stage name.
 
A couple of years ago I was tasked with cooking a turkey while I was in Vietnam during Thanksgiving and we had a few people over for a party in the apartment. A couple of the restaurants that cater to westerners get them shipped from the States, and we managed to score one from a restaurant friend of ours. Vietnamese kitchens do not have ovens, but I was able to make it work out with the barbeque. It turned out pretty well. The uh, translators, had never seen a chicken so big.
 
For those of you who smoke turkeys...

How in the world do you do that? I rolled this damn bird up in paper and have been trying to light it with a blowtorch for like three hours now...
 
For those of you who smoke turkeys...

How in the world do you do that? I rolled this damn bird up in paper and have been trying to light it with a blowtorch for like three hours now...
I think you are confusing the turkey with marijuana again. LOL
 
For those of you who smoke turkeys...

How in the world do you do that? I rolled this damn bird up in paper and have been trying to light it with a blowtorch for like three hours now...

spatchcock it first - makes it easier to roll ....

not that this would work - really just wanted to see if the software censor would redact spatchcock ...
 
I fry the big one, brianna roasts a breast for gravy and smell.

Yeah!
 
Trying something new this year. There's just the two of us so I got the "boxed set" from from Kroger.

11# pre-cooked turkey (in the oven now)
Mashed Potatoes
Old Fashioned Stuffing
Gravy
Green Bean Casserole

$50 -- and I spiced it up a bit with the olive oil, garlic and BACON for the heat-up.

:fcross:
 
Trying something new this year. There's just the two of us so I got the "boxed set" from from Kroger.

11# pre-cooked turkey (in the oven now)
Mashed Potatoes
Old Fashioned Stuffing
Gravy
Green Bean Casserole

$50 -- and I spiced it up a bit with the olive oil, garlic and BACON for the heat-up.

:fcross:

Dad used to do that many years ago when for some weird reason he thought my wife couldn’t cook. (Her mom was a Home Ec teacher, for goodness sakes...) He’d bring the Kroger (King Soopers around here, same company) boxed set over after grandma passed for many years.

It’s been a long standing joke that the year she finally said, “Don’t bring anything” and cooked, he fell asleep in the big chair and stayed there all night, left around dawn the next morning. Ha.

Good memories. We still laugh about that.

They weren’t bad... but they weren’t the same as homemade. Still, nobody ever turned their nose up at it.

Plus, I don’t think it was the turkey. It was when my wife duplicated grandma’s 10,000 calorie per spoonful green bean casserole that dad finally “got it”. Was probably good memories for him, too.
 
Fried, while I don't do it often it's proven the best way to get a consistently perfectly cooked bird that is done on time... also the fried turkey skin is delicious.

I do have a smoker but I have doubts to how well it's going to work in the 35-50 degree weather this time of year. Also, when I do smoke turkeys it always seems to take 2-4 hours longer than anticipated which would not be good with all the various sides others were making being on a schedule.

But seriously, if you've only done oven roasted try a fried or smoked turkey sometime. Either is so much better.
 
So our bird at family’s house was “Bird in a bag” and it came out fork tender. Lovely. And all the trimmings. Couldn’t be more thankful even without it this year, but it sure was nice.
 
I did a turkey in the pellet grill. 3 hours and 20 minutes and the meat was up to 170 degrees. I turned off the heat and turned on the smoke for 30 minutes. It came out cut with a fork tender and juicy. 7 people for dinner and no left over turkey.

But lots of left over pie..!!!

The wife has a habit of locking doors as she goes outside. Today it caught up with her. We got locked out of the new house. Fortunately, the neighbor had a spare key. Unfortunately it only worked on the front door, and not the glass door in front of the front door.

Tomorrow I get to find someone that can replace the glass in that door.....
 
Tomorrow I get to find someone that can replace the glass in that door.....

LOL! Ouch. Sorry man. Hahaha.

It’s always entertaining to break into your own house. Luckily houses are usually dead simple to break into.
 
One of the in-laws surprised us by bringing a speck that he shot. In addition to the farmed bird, got to eat some "ribeye of the sky". Definitely lived up to its nickname.
 
LOL! Ouch. Sorry man. Hahaha.

It’s always entertaining to break into your own house. Luckily houses are usually dead simple to break into.

Simple to break into, but had to scramble to get the alarm off before the monitoring company called. It gives a 30 second window. And while it was surprisingly easy to find someone to replace the glass, we paid for his Christmas shopping. (actually, the insurance did)

I am just glad we have not put up the security window screens yet....
 
One of the in-laws surprised us by bringing a speck that he shot. In addition to the farmed bird, got to eat some "ribeye of the sky". Definitely lived up to its nickname.

What's a speck?

Incidentally, the only cranberry sauce worth eating is jellied and canned by the Ocean Spray Company in Lakeville-Middleboro, MA.
 
What's a speck?

Incidentally, the only cranberry sauce worth eating is jellied and canned by the Ocean Spray Company in Lakeville-Middleboro, MA.

:)

45aeb498e77c775e11c7956369b707cf.jpg
 
I did a turkey in the pellet grill. 3 hours and 20 minutes and the meat was up to 170 degrees. I turned off the heat and turned on the smoke for 30 minutes. It came out cut with a fork tender and juicy. 7 people for dinner and no left over turkey.

But lots of left over pie..!!!

The wife has a habit of locking doors as she goes outside. Today it caught up with her. We got locked out of the new house. Fortunately, the neighbor had a spare key. Unfortunately it only worked on the front door, and not the glass door in front of the front door.

Tomorrow I get to find someone that can replace the glass in that door.....

Ouch. We got mom a glass door she can leave locked while the main door is open so she can watch the hummingbirds on her porch after one day a couple of scammers talked their way into the house. One tried to get past her to go "measure her kitchen for new linoleum" (steal stuff) while the other kept her distracted in the living room. That was when she suspected something was wrong and refused to let him past her and ordered them both out of the house. It could have been so much worse. I called the police and yes indeed the neighborhood had been having that scam going on. So anyway we bought her the lockable door, ordered her to keep it locked at all times and never open it to anyone except the posted list we hung up by the door (us or two specific neighbors).

But that left the problem of us having to break the door if we needed to get inside. She has a Rescue Alert necklace but claims if she falls and breaks her hip she won't push the button "because the firemen will break my door!"

I copied the key to the glass door and gave everyone in the family plus the two neighbors a copy. This got us through a year but my sister talked her boss into letting her work remotely and moved in with mom and now is there 24/7.

So before I copied the key to the glass door my mom would have been in the same boat as your wife. You don't think to give out that key because who locks the screen/glass door when you go away on vacation?
 
Ouch. We got mom a glass door she can leave locked while the main door is open so she can watch the hummingbirds on her porch after one day a couple of scammers talked their way into the house. One tried to get past her to go "measure her kitchen for new linoleum" (steal stuff) while the other kept her distracted in the living room. That was when she suspected something was wrong and refused to let him past her and ordered them both out of the house. It could have been so much worse. I called the police and yes indeed the neighborhood had been having that scam going on. So anyway we bought her the lockable door, ordered her to keep it locked at all times and never open it to anyone except the posted list we hung up by the door (us or two specific neighbors).

But that left the problem of us having to break the door if we needed to get inside. She has a Rescue Alert necklace but claims if she falls and breaks her hip she won't push the button "because the firemen will break my door!"

I copied the key to the glass door and gave everyone in the family plus the two neighbors a copy. This got us through a year but my sister talked her boss into letting her work remotely and moved in with mom and now is there 24/7.

So before I copied the key to the glass door my mom would have been in the same boat as your wife. You don't think to give out that key because who locks the screen/glass door when you go away on vacation?

Working on the lock out problem. I have hid a key in the garage storage since I can always use the keypad to get into the garage.

Also looking at this to put on the door in the garage: http://getaugust.com/promo/
 
Back to Thanksgiving dinner talk...

Yesterday I made turkey soup from one leg and wing of the bird. Came out pretty good. Probably should have put some chicken broth in too, but the carrots, potatoes, and celery all came out nice. I still have the other two 'dark parts' for another try. I'll probably add some rice or pasta this time.

An 11# turkey goes a long way...
 
Back to Thanksgiving dinner talk...

Yesterday I made turkey soup from one leg and wing of the bird. Came out pretty good. Probably should have put some chicken broth in too, but the carrots, potatoes, and celery all came out nice. I still have the other two 'dark parts' for another try. I'll probably add some rice or pasta this time.

An 11# turkey goes a long way...

Sigh. I wanted leftovers this year, but when you’re a guest you don’t ask for them. Leftovers are the best part of Thanksgiving. Our family hosts kept them all. We brought the beans and those were wiped out. Which is all cool. Just a bummer.

Still, plenty to be thankful for. I just want to pout a little. Haha. Im used to making soup or sandwiches for a week afterward.

I joked that my wife and I need to go grab an after Thanksgiving bird on sale, bake it, and make our own leftovers. :)

We did go see the other side of the family yesterday and they made fresh bread and sandwiches out of their leftovers for lunch, along with a big pot of potato cheese soup to go with the sandwiches.

It just doesn’t feel like a normal Thanksgiving without at least a sandwich or two worth of leftover turkey in the fridge.

Maybe if they won’t come over here next year, we’ll “fix” this problem by bringing the bird and then I’ll carve the thing up after dinner and package it for everyone. Nobody goes home from my house without a container of leftovers or three! That’s just how Thanksgiving is supposed to be done!

Minor culture shock going on here. Hahaha. Nothing major, and definitely a First World Problem, but still... the bread, cheese, and mustard is lonely in the fridge!

(For the record, it was a big bird and half of it was not eaten...)

I’ll get over it.

No... no I won’t. I’ll just fix it next year. Hahahaha. I’m brining the bird if we aren’t here at the house.

We’ve already hinted everyone is coming here next year. Just have to do dinner early enough the city kids don’t get lost on the dark country roads trying to find their way home. ;)
 
Until someone gets ahold of your phone. :(

Whichever one I choose will go on the door from the garage to the house. Gotta get into the garage first. And then the monitored alarm system that does not use a land line to call out.

All that can be defeated by a determined person, but for the other 99 and 44/100s of the crook population, it will prove too difficult and they will move on.

And for the one that makes it in....there is the dogs.
 
I learn one new piece of information a day. This was the one for today...... I am going back to bed.
You don't POA from bed already? Oh my...With all the tech we have these days, who needs to get out of bed any more? Some people are probably lucky enough to be able to work at home (bed) to!
 
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