So the kids opened all their gifts under the tree and then
settled down to play with their toys while I wrangled in the kitchen with my
18lbs turkey. Ok, so it's not the biggest turkey out there. But it
was big enough for us, that's all I've got to say. I was standing in the kitchen, fixing my stuffing (ingredients
include: rye & pumpernickel bread, celery, green peppers, water
chestnuts,
onions and a whole lot of pepper and poultry seasoning), stuffing the bird,
slicing my finger open.. oh wait. You want to know how I sliced my finger
open and the Hubby ended up finishing the bird stuffing and closing of Christmas
2005? Well Hubby had finished his long soak in the tub and emerged
from the bathroom feeling much better about life, Christmas and just about
everything else on the planet. After that it was time to just sit and be with the family.
The kids were playing with their toys, Hubby and I sat and listened to them as
they played. Then after a bit I had to return to the kitchen for the
remainder of the food prep. I was late getting this part of the meal done since Best Bud
came over to visit just as I was supposed to get myself into the kitchen to
start the work. But since it's been so long since Best Bud has come by on
Christmas (normally there is a phone call to wish each other a happy holiday and
he's too busy visiting the upteen-million relatives that make up his family).
After Best Bud left I had to start to bake my sweet
potatoes. I had to peel my carrots and bake them in the oven (sliced very thin,
julienne style with a tablespoon of water to steam them, sprinkling of brown
sugar for caramelization, and covered with thin slices of butter and sprinkled
salt and a liberal amount of pepper). I had to peel my potatoes for the mashed
taters (mashed with pepper and instead of milk I used half and half cream and
again I mix pepper in). And there is the steamed broccoli that EB loves so much,
and I'm not kidding. The kid loves broccoli, always has. Then I began to work on the gravy. This was not a good
thing and shall forever more be referred to at the Great Gravy Debacle of 2005. After dinner we cleaned up and hung out together, playing some
games and stuff and then the kids went to bed. Which was followed closely
by Hubby and I climbing the stairs and hitting the hay as well. Next: Boxing Day & Visits With Mom
At that moment I was searching for these stupid clips to seal the darn turkey,
I'd just finished my stuffing and was about to ram it all inside that bird.
But figured I'd need my clips and since my hands would be a bit messy after
ramming the bread stuffing into the bird I thought I'd get them first.
Well what I want to know is who in my family thought it would be a good idea to
put razor sharp cutting attachments into a flimsy little box in my drawer.
This box was so flimsy that it would break open and spill these attachments into
the drawer, unbeknownst to me.
Then, come Christmas morning, just as I'm about to ram my hand and stuffing into
the bird I would reach into the drawer in search of some darn clips (that
weren't even in there in the first place) and slide my finger along the razor
sharp edge of the cutting attachment and slice my finger very nicely.
So, while I tried to stop the bleeding, Hubby finished stuffing the bird,
closing the darn thing and shoving it into the oven.
It was just a nice quiet Christmas.
So Best Bud came by, and he looked just so happy he was almost gushing.
Things have been going really well for him this holiday and I'm glad for him.
He saw his daughter, spent time with the Ex but was able to stick it to her a
bit, without actually doing anything that was nasty, so it didn't hurt his
daughter at all. Life's been good to him lately.
He even gave the kids $20 for Christmas, which surprised me because he is Mr.
I-Hate-Christmas and has in the past not given gifts at all, he wasn't always
like that. But fighting with the wife about who got what and the enormous
amounts of money she was spending on Christmas really turned him against the
holiday.
There was a lot of juice from the turkey so I thought we'd have a lot of gravy.
I poured in some flour to cook it. And I poured more flour. I was
waiting for the flour to cook and the whole mixture to thicken slightly.
It didn't happen. I cooked it, and I cooked it, and I cooked it.
Nothing happened. It looked like I hadn't even had the heat on at all.
It was very strange.
Finally I gave up and decided to add some water. Bad move. Suddenly
the thing thickened up, it became foamy and began to expand. Suddenly I had
enough of the cooked flour and fat mixture to make enough gravy to feed the
world. I'm not kidding. I ended up halving it and getting rid of
most of the mixture.
After about 45 minutes and lots of help from the Hubby (because my shoulders
were aching from stirring all that time) I finally had some good gravy.
Whew. The kids sat waiting patiently through it all, staring at all the
food that was ready to eat, but waiting on the gravy without saying a word.
Who Said It: | What They Said: | What I Said: | |
None at This Time
2:25 p.m. - December 28, 2005
Recent entries:
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Annoying and Irritating - March 15, 2006
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