Thanksgiving!

I picked up Aaron in Portland on Saturday and we walked around Saturday market for a while, had lunch at American Dream (In Portland, do not recommend it, especially if you are trying to fulfill a craving for Corvallis AD). Then we stopped by his parents house for a visit, and drove back to Eugene. Snow was in the forecast, so we decided Monday would be a good day to do our Thanksgiving dinner together. We wanted to do one together since we weren't able to have it with each other this year.
This year we tried salting our turkey rather than brining it. On Sunday we rubbed our turkey down with kosher salt, herbs, and lemon peel. Monday we began cooking, but planning out the oven schedule very poorly. There was definitely a backlog of things waiting to be baked.
Aaron was rinsing the salt out of the turkey and I looked over to see my kitchen faucet being consumed by this raw bird carcass, he was so focused on what he was doing he hadn't noticed. Needless to say all was sprayed down with bleach very well after.



This was our first full turkey, so we learned a few things along the way. One mistake that was made was cutting off the excess neck skin. You need that to seal things up. So Aaron did a quick patch job with some toothpicks. Luckily he had saved the skin.



It turned out beautifully, and was some of the best turkey I've ever had, seriously. I'd like to try salting again, it turned out just a touch too salty, but the flavor was excellent and it was really moist too.


Here are the final results: (minus the wheat rolls which hung out a really long time waiting to be baked and got a bit ugly and huge in the meantime)
Turkey gravy
Twice baked potatoes (sharp cheddar, sour cream, 1/2 and 1/2, you know, low calorie stuff)
Cranberry relish (fresh cranberries, an orange, lemon juice, sugar, cayenne pepper and dry mustard) This was super good and I don't normally care for it, it also called for peaches which we didn't have.
Stuffing (cornbread, wild rice, dried apricots, dried cherries, bacon, onion, mushrooms)
Nutmeg muffin
We also had pumpkin pie with whipped cream and I made the classic Gallagher Thanksgiving jello. Which is definitely an unusual recipe, but I love it. I really wish I had taken a picture of its pink tackiness in the blue Pyrex casserole dish. It was beautiful.



Speaking of Pyrex, I got an early Christmas present...These tiny lime green containers to match our set of lime green Pyrex dishes. I love them!!!

We walked around a lot yesterday, despite the inch of ice on everything, it's really not too bad, you just have to be careful. People are peeling out all over the place, but most people are driving very slow and cautiously. It's very strange Oregon weather, very cold, several inches of powdery snow that's lasted two days. I just checked the weather, and it looks like a few more inches are expected. I'm kind of over it, and will not be too heartbroken if it doesn't happen. I don't think I'd make it easily in anyplace super cold.