Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

(just channeling a little paula dean. I know you can't see me, but I promise, I'm holding a stick of butter)

So today's the big day, and of course, I mean big football day. But seriously, my lovely co-blogger has been doing a wonderful job of providing fantastic thanksgiving day tips for preparing the big meal (thanks Kitty!), and as I type this, I am sitting in my parents living room, the (relatively small) 13 lb bird, is sewn up, in its olive oil coated brown paper bag in the oven.


This olive oil coated bag ends up speeding up the cooking time by about 25% and does a great job of keeping the bird from drying out. Keep in mind that you need to find a paper bag without any ink/supermarket logos/any decorations at all. Think plain, brown, paper. You don't want ink leaching into your bird. Of course, this method limits the basting aspect, and also means you can't see the turkey as it cooks, but that's the beauty of the bag. It keeps all the good stuff in!

So. That's the only Thanksgiving day tip you guys are going to get from me. In truth, Thanksgiving isn't my favorite food holiday. I know, I know, it's blasphemous, but in my house, we do the traditional Italian 7-course fish dinner every Christmas eve, and it is, without a doubt, my most favorite food day of the year. Leading up to Christmas, I will keep you all posted on what we've got planned, and help with the DATES craze that has taken Brooklyn by storm!

As for Thanksgiving, my mom tells the story of how when she was growing up, my grandmother, who isn't much of a cook, always made the turkey. My grandfather, who was much of a cook, always made a lasagna. So I like to say that my "meh" attitude towards turkey is genetic, however, I would be lying if I didn't say that it might also be connected to an event I now call "Turkey Gate 2005". In brief, it was 2005, we had cooked a lovely meal- Turkey, stuffing, cranberry, onions, yams, broccoli, all the fixin's, we sat down to eat early in the afternoon, all was good. Except with me. There was clearly something wrong with me, and after a torturous night of... unpleasantness (I don't think I can ever apologize enough to my sister, with whom I share a room while I am home) at 2 am I went to bathroom, and it all came up. Undigested. I was very ill.

For years following Turkey Gate 2005, we had an array of poultry on Thanksgiving- Duck, Cornish Game Hens, take your pick. Now we're back to turkey, and it is going to be a wonderful meal, with friends, family, good food, football (go pats!) and of course, my favorite, wine!

So happy Thanksgiving to you all, I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Alyce