Generally speaking, things have settled down here in the "shots rang out" department...apparently the first wave has bagged their quarry--or missed and gave up. (Somebody this morning let fly with a volley of nine shots--I mean if it takes that many, I wonder what the thing looked like--or did it get away? You know those dotted lines you see in the "How to Butcher a Deer" book....maybe the "hunter" decided to cut with his gun!) At any rate, things are relatively peaceful for the moment, but will doubtless crank up again beginning tomorrow.
We did in one of our turkeys. A gobbler that weighed 14 pounds after cleaning. No selection was needed. We simply took the one that on the previous night had managed to fly off the garage roof and break both its legs. So, not being able to fly OR walk, OR eat, it seemed a prudent thing to dispatch the invalid for purposes of culinary delight on turkey day. MM is the dispatcher (thank goodness)(quicky done with a .22 shell at close range); I am the "everything else" part of getting the bird to the table--the plucker, cleaner-outer, the stuffer, the roaster, and ....finally, the eater!
Now, for the rest of the dinner: squash, potatoes, stuffing-- a mixture of homeground cornmeal and dried bread, saved over the past month, onions, celery; Brussels sprouts, pumpkin pie with Marigold's whipping cream or ice cream--all homegrown with the exception of the wheat in the pie crust and cranberries which are a necessary "store-bought' indulgence.
To all my wonderful online friends, please forgive my tardiness; I am very behind on comments, but will catch up in the next couple of days. Thank you, too, for your sweet and loving support for my comments on my last post.
Carla! So LOVELY to hear from you, girl! More to all of you later on! It's that spinning wheel that is distracting me! And I am prodding MM to get my Dye House finished! :-)) He hates plumbing!
More during the next couple of days! Love you all!
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Elora -- You are an expert at cooking from scratch -- right down to cleaning and plucking the turkey! Your Thanksgiving dinner will be delicious.
ReplyDeleteThought I would send this link to you about women and war. I found it on TED and thought it would fit in with your thoughts on war. It is a great video. http://www.ted.com/talks/zainab_salbi.html
Happy Thanksgiving to you. -- barbara
My condolences on the turkey's demise. :) And my congratulations as well because he will be delicious eating I'm sure. :) My turkey, though store bought, is in the roaster as I write since my family will be gathering later today instead of tomorrow. I'm looking forward to celebrating with them. Happy Thanksgiving! blessings, marlene
ReplyDeleteThat turkey was surely destined to be the Thanksgiving bird! We'll have a fresh family-farm raised turkey as well, but no plucking. Every year I get a free Butterball turkey at the grocery store with "free turkey points" but I always give it to someone who needs it. The fresh birds are ever so much more tender and we like helping the small farmers.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful Thanksgiving. It will be only the two of us, but we'll still have all the trimmings.
What an accommodating bird to spare you having to decide!
ReplyDeleteA Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Barbara, Thanks so much for the TED link.
ReplyDeleteI wanted so much to read it, but since it's video, and I am still on dial-up, it was a no-go. Had there been text I might have been able to do so, but others who read this blog, will undoubtedly want to follow the link. But thank you soo very much. It is so frustrating not having HSI!!!! We're promised it will happen sometime in the first three months of 2011. Lack of HSI is why I get so behind on comments!
But thank you so much and I hope others here will pop over and take a look!
Marlene! He was delicious! And he was easy to pluck. The most difficult part was putting a whole feathered tom turkey into the hot water to get those feathers to roll off. All the books tell you to have your water at about 140 degrees....well....if you believe that ...you're going to be eating feathers! I always crank up the water temperature to around 170 degrees. At that level, the feathers practically fly off! Well....not quite!
NCMW, We, too, only had the "two of us" but it was so relaxing and without stress of having to arrive somewhere or drive somewhere or cook TONS of food...etc. Such a nice day...my favorite holiday...not because of food, but because the commercial interests that specializei in advocating excessive consumerism, don't seem able to get much of a handle on Thanksgiving...except, of course, for Black Friday. But I think we could safely put BF in the "Christmas" orgy category, don't you think?
Yes, Vicki...he was accommodating. It was the two toms who followed suit (now, we're up to three in the freezer) who inconvenienced us to some extend. So, now we already have a turkey for Christmas and one for New Years as well! (when we were planning to keep them warm until then!) Oh, well.....Flying off the roof is not recommended for 15 pounds and up BBB's (Broad Breasted Bronze) They're too heavy! So, it's wing-clipping time...AGAIN! And clipping turkey wings is not fun. As everyone who sees them, says: "Wow! They're BIG!"
Elora