Cooking a Turkey!

We were going to get started early, so I woke up a little before 8 am, and cleaned. This is the Kitchen, after being cleaned...a lot.

I cleaned to oven as well. A clean kitchen is a happy kitchen.

Okay. Our first little mishap. We had to grab a few things from the store, as I didn't have a chance to go to the store the day before... Well, I had the time, but we also got like 20 feet of snow, and I was afraid I'd fall and die, and I really didn't feel like screwing up my leg any worse, so I would wait til morning, and let them plow and salt everything a bit. So, Kristin came over, and we unpacked the food, and stuck the turkey in the sink, and started filling it with cold water to help it finish thawing (it was still a little frozen, but not bad.) So I went to grab my shoes, and we were all set to go when we started hearing a dripping sound...
We rushed to the kitchen in time to see water pouring over the countertop onto the floor. Turns out we forgot to turn off the faucet. So we turned off the water, grabbed some towels, and drained some of the water. In this shot, I am recovering the instructions we got from dad about how to cook the thing. All in all, it was pretty funny.

The Turkey! and Kristin :)

By day's end, we had gotten to know that bird pretty well, if you know what I mean. We had quite a bit of trouble with the hock lock, which pinned the legs together. Part of that may have been because it was still a little frozen on the inside, and part may be because tha tmetal wire ran the length of the bird either or nine thousand times. Anyway, here we are cleaning/thawing the bird, trying to find the stupid bag with the giblets. At this point, we're also unsure where the neck is.

Here's me, and the turkey appears to be waving at the camera. We have no shame. At one point, I also made the Turkey dance.

Here's all the food we'll be making: the Turkey, Broccoli & Cauliflower (with that cheese sauce over it! Mmmm), Corn, Stuffing, Mashed Potatos and Gravy, and of course, my Thanksgiving specialty: Cranberry sauce!

The broccoli was very, very hot right out of the Microwave. Turns out, popping it from your burning fingers right into your mouth doesn't make it less hot.

We let the turkey cook for a long while, and watched a movie in the meantime. Once the movie was done, we started preparing everything else. So with the new REM album playing on the Media Machine (note vis_geiss on the TV), we went to work. Kristin is working on the Mashed potatos, while I make the stuffing.

And pretty much right on time, the Turkey was all set. It smelled scrumtralescent !

The potatos are all set, and look at those brilliantly sliced cranberry sauce slices! Huzzah for Thanksgiving!

Here you see enough food for at least twice as many people as were currently present. But man, it looks good.

We had to let the turkey sit and cool for about 20 minutes before carving.

For those of you who either doubt or question my eating abilities/habits, here's a picture of my first plate of food, before the Turkey was carved. That's a lot of food. Keep in mind those plates are about 3 feet in diameter.

Well, I taught that turkey a lesson it'll never forget. That lesson might have been "I don't really know how to carve a turkey" or it might have been "good thing you're already dead, cause that would've hurt a ton".. I'm not sure. I got the meat off the bone, but it might not have been the prittiest thing to watch. At one point, I shot a piece of meat about 10 feet into the living room. I was embarrassed, but impressed with the distance.

The wishbone!

Here's the turkey! White meat, dark meat, and a mix.

After we had finished eating a ton, I sent Kristin to the living room to start watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I cleaned up. Here we have the kitchen after all the food was split and put into leftover containers, and everything was cleaned again. Clean! Happy Thanksgiving!