GOBBLE, GOBBLE!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was great. Doug and I went to his Aunt's house and ate a ton of delicious food. The next day I was lucky enough to go to my parents' house and hang out with them, my brother and sisters and eat tons of leftovers. I think I ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc for a good 2 weeks straight! You may be asking yourself, how I had leftovers for 2 weeks, well, it's because our friend group has a lovely tradition of having a pre-Thanksgiving, dubbed Fakesgiving. Our annual Fakesgiving is held the Saturday before actual Thanksgiving and involves great friends, the normal Thanksgiving feast, and lots of wine & beer.

This year, Doug and I hosted and were honored to make the turkey for everyone. We bought a fresh 20 pound turkey the night before and woke up early to fix that bird. I assumed that if the giblets are provided in a package stuffed in the turkey, the neck would be too. This was NOT the case. I had to rip that poor bird's neck out with my bare hands. Now I know that you want the package to say that both the giblets AND the neck are removed, unless you're into ripping the neck out. After that, it came time to prep it. We picked up the skin from the meat and rubbed butter all over the turkey. That was actually my favorite part, weird, I know. After the butter was well spread between the meat and the skin, we rubbed EVOO all over the outside of the bird. Then, we just sprinkled some salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme all over it. We baked it at 325 degrees for 5 hours. We tented it with tin foil for the first hour. Then after removing the tin foil, we let the oven do its thing. We basted it about 3 times, although this is really only need to add to the color of the turkey. After removing it from the oven, we let it rest for 30 minutes, then carved right in. It came out great! I was nervous and being a perfectionist was convinced I messed it up somehow, but everyone loved it!

To make the day even better, all of our friends brought along delicious apps and side dishes. We had garlic mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, stuffing, and homemade cranberry sauce just to name a few! It was an amazing day with close friends and good food. The best way to kick off the holiday season! Here's some pictures:

A funny "family" picture:


A nice one:


Moira trying to eat the turkey! In the background check out Russ's homemade cranberry sauce and my KitchenAid:


Doug and I with our turkey!