...First Time For Everything

I feel as though I've done something that every woman should do at some point in their lives...cook a big fat turkey! Last week as I was checking out at Giant I was told that I had enough points (thanks to Malakai's formula) to get a free turkey. What? I felt like that's something that only my mom gets. How did I rack up so much so fast? Oh yeah, my little boy needs to have his formula. So with much fear and anxiety, I brought home this 15.25 pound frozen rock of a turkey and left him thaw in cold water in my sink for 2 days. It was quite a process getting him into the oven...

-cut open the bag
-drain and wash the turkey off
-remove the neck (so gross!)
-remove bag of giblets (heart, liver, gizard)
-pat dry
-put in an oven bag and season
-cook for an eternity (4 hours)

Believe it or not, I didn't blow up my kitchen and it smelled just like my Grandma's house on Thanksgiving day. Isn't it funny how smells can take you back to a moment in history? I could picture me and my cousins running around, not being helpful, while my grandpa was carving the turkey and all of my aunts were setting the table, pouring the water, and getting the other dishes filled with veggies, etc. Meanwhile, my uncles were sitting in another room just talking and getting geared up for a long afternoon nap after some good grubbin'.

So we had 4 other friends over to indulge in the fruit of our labor and it was delicious. I made baked corn (in my neighbor, Esther's oven) for the first time and everyone else brought a dish. Eric had a blast carving the turkey with our electric knife. Thanks for a great meal Marv & Dori, Jamie, and Melissa. Our kitchen may be small, but it was worth being a little tight to enjoy such a great love feast with all of you. Here's some pictures from the turkey making process. Gideon was not happy that I wasn't sharing with him...don't worry, we gave him some giblets and turkey later on :)