2.
The number of times I've made the turkey for Thanksgiving.
1.
The number of times that there was almost no leftover Turkey.
The difference? Trial and error.
----------------
Turkey Preparations Timeline:
Two nights before Thanksgiving, brine (soak in salt water/mixture of choice) turkey.
Brine recipe:
1 gallon of Vegetable broth, boiled and cooled to room temp
3/4-1 gal of water (pref. ice)
2 tablespoons thyme
2 tablespoons basil
2 tablespoons italian seasoning
2 tablespoons parsley
(optional-2 tablespoons salt)
Turn turkey about every 8 hours, to ensure that turkey is brine completely.
Early Thanksgiving morning (apprx. 4, or more, hrs before baking), drain all brine. Pat turkey dry, with hand or paper towel. Rub herb generously all over turkey.
Herb Rub:
2-3 tablespoons of each: thyme, basil, italian herb seasoning, parsley, salt, pepper (or any herbs of your choice)
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (can use butter to substitute)
*oil is used to help seal in moisture while turkey is in oven
For a more even turkey, stuffing is cooked separate of turkey. Rub pepper/salt mixture (2 tablespoons of each, or until desired) into cavity. Squeeze half lemon into cavity. Place in cavity: several stalks of celery, carrots, one apple - chopped in cubes, one onion - chopped.
Truss (tie) the turkey. Sit turkey in position for baking - breast side down. Let turkey sit in refrigerator until baking time.
**breast side down yields much more tender turkey (tastes like chicken!) by allowing breast to soak all drippings during baking.
1. Preheat over to 400ºF for 15-20 minutes
2. Tent the turkey (with aluminum foil)
3. Allow turkey to bake for first 30 minutes at 400ºF, then turn down to 350ºF for the next two hours
4. Turn turkey tray a quarter turn, every half hour.
5. Baste turkey every hour, or when deemed necessary. (I basted turkey only twice the entire time)
6. Final hour, turn turkey breast side up for browning, and temperature check.
Breast - approx. 160ºF
Thigh - approx. 175º - 180ºF
Let turkey sit for half hour before serving to allow moisture to redistribute.
Use drippings from turkey to make gravy.
Gravy:
1 cup chicken broth
6-8 (discretionary) tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup whipping cream
turkey drippings
(optional: can add other ingredients, i.e apple cider, herbs)
----------------
The meat was extremely tender, and had all non-turkey lovers raving about how delightful the turkey turned out. I was asked more than a couple of times what I had done to make the turkey so juicy. I'd say the amount of leftovers (about a plateful) for a 16lb turkey, for a family of 11, including a 2 year old, speaks to the success of this dish! DELISH!
Thursday, November 27
Tuesday, November 4
Nov 4, 2008
Obama v. McCain
What everyone already knows, or will know:
Obama is the first African American president-elect of the United States of America, the 44th president of the USA.
Obama won majority electoral votes, making him the first national president, since Lyndon B Johnson.
Obama was announced as projected president-elect at 11:00PM EST, on November 4th.
Obama has run, according to many news anchors, strategists, analysts, etc, the most organized, and well-run campaign anyone has ever seen - utilizing the internet, and his experience in grass-roots campaigning, utilizing early voting.
Obama identified over 600,000 registered Democrats, who did not make the election in 2004, to go out and vote in this election. Actual turnout is unknown, but could prove to be a factor, as black, latino, and younger voters obviously turned out to elect him as our next executive.
What you may not have known:
RocktheVote! made personal calls on election day to mobilize young voters to turn out at the polls.
... and I had been sitting in front of the tube since 3PM PST watching the poll results roll in, and waiting for CNN to make their projections.
It's been a long day.
What everyone already knows, or will know:
Obama is the first African American president-elect of the United States of America, the 44th president of the USA.
Obama won majority electoral votes, making him the first national president, since Lyndon B Johnson.
Obama was announced as projected president-elect at 11:00PM EST, on November 4th.
Obama has run, according to many news anchors, strategists, analysts, etc, the most organized, and well-run campaign anyone has ever seen - utilizing the internet, and his experience in grass-roots campaigning, utilizing early voting.
Obama identified over 600,000 registered Democrats, who did not make the election in 2004, to go out and vote in this election. Actual turnout is unknown, but could prove to be a factor, as black, latino, and younger voters obviously turned out to elect him as our next executive.
What you may not have known:
RocktheVote! made personal calls on election day to mobilize young voters to turn out at the polls.
... and I had been sitting in front of the tube since 3PM PST watching the poll results roll in, and waiting for CNN to make their projections.
It's been a long day.
Saturday, November 1
Nov 1, 2008
For the past week or so I've been logging most of the food that I eat... not obsessively so, I thought. Then last night/yesterday, it being month-end, my coworker, Shuwei's last day-in SF until he relocates to Austin, TX for the next couple of years, and Robert's friend Rodney's Halloween/house party, it was hard to say no to it all.
I started the day as usual, not really craving much, but then came all the festivities. Month-end lunch, Shuwei's cake, our company's Fun, Uplifting, Invigorating(FUI) event - cookies/cupcakes/candy/pretzels, and then the Halloween party- where I was not drunk enough to chat up everyone, but bored enough to stand near the food table to eat non-stop. Sounds like a fat person talking, right?
Well, here's the food log for yesterday:
.5 cup of Cheerios
.5 cup of Honey Bunches of Oats
1 cup of soy milk (100 cal)
1 whole, large, orange (85-90 cal)
.5 bowl of Donburi-1.5 fillet of Salmon, 1 cup of rice
1 serving of Synder's pretzels (50 cal)
1-2 servings of roasted peas (130-260 cal)
2x4" slice of fluffy, Asian-style cake
1 chocolate frosted, chocolate cupcake (100 cal)
7 pieces of chocolate drizzled macaroons
1 nutrigrain bar - apple cinnamon
Halloween party-
4 shots of presidente/captain morgan
1 pecan chocolate chip cookie
2 slices of salami, rolled over cream cheese
20-30 white corn tortilla chips, and some cream cheese/salsa dip
I wonder how many calories I ate last night... since I had been so good about it all week long - including those long walks at lunch....
Obsessively so, I bet I've undone all the detox I've done. WAAAAAH!
I started the day as usual, not really craving much, but then came all the festivities. Month-end lunch, Shuwei's cake, our company's Fun, Uplifting, Invigorating(FUI) event - cookies/cupcakes/candy/pretzels, and then the Halloween party- where I was not drunk enough to chat up everyone, but bored enough to stand near the food table to eat non-stop. Sounds like a fat person talking, right?
Well, here's the food log for yesterday:
.5 cup of Cheerios
.5 cup of Honey Bunches of Oats
1 cup of soy milk (100 cal)
1 whole, large, orange (85-90 cal)
.5 bowl of Donburi-1.5 fillet of Salmon, 1 cup of rice
1 serving of Synder's pretzels (50 cal)
1-2 servings of roasted peas (130-260 cal)
2x4" slice of fluffy, Asian-style cake
1 chocolate frosted, chocolate cupcake (100 cal)
7 pieces of chocolate drizzled macaroons
1 nutrigrain bar - apple cinnamon
Halloween party-
4 shots of presidente/captain morgan
1 pecan chocolate chip cookie
2 slices of salami, rolled over cream cheese
20-30 white corn tortilla chips, and some cream cheese/salsa dip
I wonder how many calories I ate last night... since I had been so good about it all week long - including those long walks at lunch....
Obsessively so, I bet I've undone all the detox I've done. WAAAAAH!
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