Turkey

Turkey. I remember the first Thanksgiving turkey I ever made. It was my first year to teach and my mother was in the hospital. She had been diagnosed with lung cancer and little did we know that this would be her last Thanksgiving. Because she was in the hospital, the job of Thanksgiving dinner had fallen upon the shoulders of my sister and I. My dear teacher friend, Linda Boatright had coached me through the turkey preparation, insisting that I could not go wrong with a roasting bag. She was not only correct then, but I've been using the same method ever since, and my turkeys have all come out great. That is to say with one exception. That was the year I decided to purchase a roaster, instead. My thinking was that it would free up the oven for sides. Being a rule follower, I dared not deviate from the directions, and did not even peek once to see how the turkey was doing. I had been warned that often times turkeys cooked in a roaster did not brown properly. You can imagine my delight when I lifted the lid and found my turkey to be a dark brown; unfortunately a too dark brown. Let's just put it this way; if you've ever watched Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase then you know what I'm talking about. My husband did his best to carve it, and he  said he felt like Jesus with the loaves and the fishes, praying there would be enough to go around. This Thanksgiving we're ordering some smoked turkey from Rudy's just in case that little grandson of ours decides to make an early appearance. We're kind of hoping he does! Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.