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Old 11-29-2013, 08:02 AM   #61  
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Talk about oneupsmanship! At Thanksgiving dinner I noted that I'd learned a new word, spatchcock.

One guest responded that she's been doing her chickens that way for a while now - her husband even bought her a new pair of poultry shears to do it.

My foodie DS noted that Julia Child called that butterflying.

I went back to nibbling my Brussels Sprouts, LOL.
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Old 11-29-2013, 09:29 AM   #62  
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Note to self: when you watch a video on a cooking technique and they demonstrate it on a ~10 pound turkey, do not assume that said technique will scale up seamlessly to a 17 pound one. Aside from feeling like I was engaged in hand-to-hand combat while bludgeoning the thing into submission, the big issue was that once the beast was "processed" it was far larger than any pan I had lying around, including my oval turkey roaster. I put it on a cookie sheet, and put a variety of pans underneath it on the bottom rack to catch drippings, but that was wildly ineffective and the oven is now an oil-seared mess. As for less cooking time, it's a bit hard to tell, because I can't cook the same turkey both ways to directly compare, but it took just under 3 1/2 hours for a 16.8 pound bird, and it really did cook perfectly evenly- no overdone/dried-out bits anywhere. And boy was it easy to carve.

I plan to take the day off today. I will get a manicure, finish reading Lean In, go for a long wog with the dog, watch a sci-fi movie with the family and (unfortunately), clean the oven. For those of you doing gladiatorial battle in the stores today, happy hunting. I have declared myself a non-combatant :>)
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Old 11-29-2013, 10:21 AM   #63  
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Glad to hear the turkey was tasty, neurodoc, but a dirty oven is a big price to pay. It would take a very large roasting pan to hold a splayed out turkey.

I'm staying out of the stores today. A bunch of us are turning #BlackFriday into #BookFriday -- nine hours of chatting about books on Twitter! I won't be doing the whole thing, but I'm in charge of two hours, so I will be doing that much and hanging around to be supportive some of the rest of the time.
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Old 11-29-2013, 10:48 AM   #64  
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I survived Thanksgiving!

The final count ended up far less than 34, but I didn't take an actual count. The family of four that just had a baby didn't come because she'd just gotten out of the hospital two days earlier. I'm not sure why them kept them so long. So we had just four children and it seems they ate from their parent's plates because we had a lot of silverware bundles left over. The turkeys all turned out great (even if they were ready before we were). Everyone proclaimed the grilled one the best (but you can't make gravy from the drippings on that one as they burn). We could have gotten away with two turkeys.

But the house is mostly clean again and now today is DD's 23rd birthday and we'll celebrate it tonight with three kinds of chili and some jalapeņo cornbread. No cake as we still have the remains of four pies to finish.

Oh, and I didn't mention. I couldn't finish my plate. Very odd for me and I didn't take much of anything. Perhaps a bit too much stuffing and corn pudding but I had to throw much of it away.
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Old 11-29-2013, 02:23 PM   #65  
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My mother's oven failed. Yes, on Thanksgiving. It took us two hours to roast a casserole dish of butternut squash early in the morning, which was our first clue. Fortunately, there is a vacant house for sale next door, which my mother's good friend owns. She borrowed the keys and used the oven there to roast the turkey, and had to carry it when it was done across the snow-covered yard to our house.

We still miss my father badly on Thanksgiving. And we took a call from my cousin, telling us my aunt had died. She'd been caring for a husband who has Alzheimer's. Apparently she fell ill (this part isn't clear to me -- my cousin was too broken and the phone connection was bad) and couldn't call 911, and her husband couldn't or wouldn't, since he's not completely in his right mind, and so she died there. So my cousin must bury his mother, find a facility for his father and start with emptying out & selling their house.

That was enough to leave my mother and me thankful for several things.

I may be disappointed in my fitness and my body's appearance, but I am thankful for my health. And for having my mind. And that's supposed to be the whole point of this endeavor, isn't it?
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Old 11-30-2013, 09:54 AM   #66  
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Wow, saef, an oven failure on Thanksgiving is a big deal. Cool that the backup plan worked. Holidays are hard after losses. It sounds like you and your mother made the best of things.

alinell: sounds like a terrific Thanksgiving. And the birthday party with chili, cornbread, and pie seems like the perfect way to celebrate when it falls so close to a holiday.

My all-day Twitter chat went well with a decent turn-out and terrific conversation. Today, a friend and I are going to see what Small Business Saturday is all about.

Last edited by gardenerjoy; 11-30-2013 at 09:55 AM.
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Old 12-01-2013, 10:47 AM   #67  
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Small Business Saturday proved a successful shopping trip -- even better, I found stores that were new and re-acquainted myself with shops I forget about. I'm looking forward to shopping our downtown again soon, which is I guess the whole point.
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