Giving Thanks For Turkeys!

So, here's a list of all the crazy things that happened:

1)  For about two months, the fridge has been leaking water from the top (under the freezer, but not in the freezer).  The day before Thanksgiving, the freezer stopped working, so we called the apartment maintenance people, who said we needed a new fridge IMMEDIATELY.  So, they took a fridge from an empty apartment nearby, and we had to transplant all of the food in the fridge and all of the thawed food that was in the freezer (gross!).  The new fridge opens the wrong way, so we have to open the door all the way and then step around it to reach anything inside.

2)  I started brining the turkey yesterday afternoon, with the intention of letting it brine for 24 hours.  I got this great recipe from some friends and thought that I'd covered all my bases until, 8 hours later, I called my friend and she reminded me that I was supposed to cook the brining fluid FIRST.  I was wondering how the cold brine liquid was supposed to dissolve all the stuff I put in it...  Also, the container we got to brine the turkey in wasn't tall enough to completely submerge the turkey, like I was supposed to.  I really did read the instructions three times through!  I just forgot.

3)  I started basting the turkey at the appropriate time, but I put the roasting vegetables in too late, and by the time the turkey was done, the little red skin potatoes were still mostly raw.

4)  I also forgot to flip the turkey over halfway through, and when we pulled it out and got ready to cut into it, we found that the breast side was still uncooked.  SO we had to take the roasting pan back out of the sink, take all the dirty dishes out of it and clean it out, and then put the turkey back into it and back into the oven.

5)  I was trying to make homemade gravy, and forgot to skim the fat off first. So the gravy was super fatty, but okay. Then, after we took the turkey back out of the oven the second time, we poured the new juices into the gravy and tried to cook it again, but it just created lots of chunky cornstarch in the gravy!

6)  I was peeling carrots and accidentally peeled off part of my thumbnail. Not the pink fleshy part, just the white part that doesn't hurt, thank goodness!










HOWEVER!  Ultimately, the sides were delicious, the turkey was super-juicy and also delicious, and I had a really fun, memorable Thanksgiving at home with my husband, who is now snoring loudly. =D  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!



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