The Most Amazing Thanksgiving Day

I did it. I cooked the most delicious turkey that anyone has ever eaten. Moist, delicious, tender, juicy. You didn't even need the gravy, which by the way if you had any you would have loved that too. Oh yeah.

I used the brine recipe from Food TV dot com. It's from Alton Brown. Basically I soaked birdzilla in flavored ice water overnight. I didn't even have all the ingredients but just used what I had. The bird needed about 2 1/2 hours to cook so I made pumpkin pie in the morning leaving the oven free in the afternoon.

I dried the bird and put it in the roasting pan. I don't use a rack - I just let the bird soak in it's juices. I rubbed canola oil all over (or use another oil with a low smoking point) and then seasoned the skin with rosemary, salt and pepper. I cut up one Gala apple mixed it with rosemary, salt and pepper and stuck it inside the bird. I then take a small jar of orange marmalade and rub it all over the outside of the bird. I some dump of the marmalade in the pan as well, along with 1 cup orange juice and 2 cups vegetable stock. Use canned if you don't have homemade. It'll still taste great.

I set the turkey on the lowest rack in the oven at 500 degrees for one hour to brown the breast and then I flip the bird so that it cooks at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/4 hours breast down. I flip the bird again at the end for another 15 minutes breast up just to make sure it is brown all over. I just use my oven mitts to handle the bird. Then I throw them in the wash.

How do you know if it's done? If you wiggle the legs and they move easily and there is no red juice running out then the bird is done. Alton uses a meat thermometer to make sure the internal temperature is high enough for the bird to be fully cooked and free of bacteria. This is certainly

My husband took one bite and said, "are you sure this is supposed to taste like this? I always thought turkey was supposed to be dry and you just covered it with a lot of gravy."

And no basting! Every time you open the oven door you lose 50% of the heat and this just means longer cooking time and dry turkey. The turkey is covered in skin - you don't need to baste.

Try it and tell me what you think!

We weren't sure if we were going to have a Thanksgiving Dinner this year. It felt like it would be hard to celebrate and be thankful while still grieving the loss of my closest friend. But as the day approached I knew it would be the right thing to do.

I am grateful for so many things. For this blog and my readers and your insightful comments.

Boston Legal let me down

Denny Crane Fires an Associate for Being Too Fat. Court Rules "Denny is a jerk."

Sadly this did not happen.

I am totally disappointed. Really. I suppose I had no right to expect more but I did.

I thought that perhaps we would hear them cite the differing medical information about weight and weight loss, or a spirited discussion about how ideal body types have changed over the centuries and vary greatly between cultures.

But none of this was written for the show. Merely one lawyer whining that it's not fair to be picked on for being fat and Alan Shore whining about how you might be doing a fat person a favor by pointing out that they are fat because maybe they didn't notice.

I really feel this was a missed opportunity...but they didn't call and ask me about their script before filming. Oh well, maybe next time.

In Memoriam

My dearest friend Sally passed away on October 28th – my 40th birthday. I’ve been struggling with what to say about her. I haven’t found a way to describe everything she was in my life but I can tell you that she was brilliant and talented. She lived life to the fullest and had more enthusiasm for fun than anyone I have ever known.

She was my partner in crime, my sister by choice, my confidant, my drinking buddy, my travel companion, and so much more for 15 years. She was in her 50’s – I am certain she would not want me to say her real age and so I won’t.

She had a sudden aneurism. Words cannot describe how awful I feel right now. There is a hole in my heart.

I just got home last night from her funeral in Tennessee. Her mother is an amazing woman with so much love to give that just sitting in the same room with her is like being hugged. Even though she is enormously sad, she is grateful for the time they had together. They had an incredible friendship, the likes of which I have never seen between mother and daughter.

I am also grateful for the time I had with Sally. She taught me so much about so many things. At her funeral service I stood up to share about my friendship with her and in part I said, “Knowing Sally was like having sunshine in my life not knowing I had been in the dark. It was like having music in my life not knowing I had been in silence. I am a fortunate woman to have had her as a friend. I will miss her forever.”

Boston Legal

OK listen up!

Boston Legal is on RIGHT NOW and Denny Crane fired an associate lawyer because she was fat. He gets read the riot act by others in the firm and the fired associate sues. Denny then pulls out a magazine with an article saying that fat is contagious and that he fired her for his own safety.

I am very interested in seeing where this goes. Tune in next week!

To be continued....