Such a good week I've had! Things have been busy, busy, busy and I feel like I could nap until the end of time. My parents got in on Monday evening, and Tuesday I did a little babysitting then came home in time for Thanksgiving grocery shopping then happy hour and dinner. Wednesday we kicked off the Thanksgiving cooking and baking extravaganza, then went out to dinner and saw the Charleston Jazz Orchestra's Holiday Swing, one of my newest and most favorite Christmas traditions.
We got a ton of prep done on Wednesday, so on Thanksgiving morning we had a little time to relax before we got back to the kitchen. I was hosting at my house, and my friends brought some sides, but we were in charge of the turkey, desserts, appetizers, drinks, and when one of my friends got sick and couldn't make it, we also inherited the stuffing. We were frying the turkey, so we made a rub and injection and put my dad in charge of turkey operations. Dessert consisted of these absolutely incredible S'mores Cookie Bars (thanks, Pinterest!) and Martha Stewart's Triple Chocolate Pumpkin pie.
Our fried turkey turned out absolutely SUBLIME. It was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside and SO flavorful. We had a very minor mishap when dunking the bird into the bubbling oil--because there was still so much of the injection retained, there was a bit of a liquid/oil overflow leaving my driveway with forever memories of a wonderful holiday. We also had a lot of fun seeing Thanksgiving through new eyes as one of my friends who joined us is from Australia, so needed the full history lesson to fully understand why Americans gorge themselves on turkey and pumpkin pie annually.
With Thanksgiving behind us, I enjoyed a wonderful weekend with my parents, relaxing and recovering from the holiday prep, watching LSU beat Arkansas in the Battle for the Boot, fitting in a bit of tourism with a visit to the Hunley, and taking care of the turkey leftovers by making a delicious turkey, sausage, gumbo! It made a vat big enough to feed an army, so we ate what we could, put some in the refrigerator, then froze about a third of it for when Colby comes home.
Now they're off in Disney World and I'm back to real life for a week, working, running errands that fell by the wayside, and resting up for their return on Friday evening! They'll be here for the week so that they can bring me to my hysteroscopy on the 7th and then monitor me for the next day to make sure I don't have any nasty reactions to the anesthesia.
I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving (if you reside in the States, that is!). Anyone else host at their house? Did you go home for the holiday? Can't wait to catch up on all of your holiday adventures :) And now, ONTO CHRISTMAS!!!
I have got to try a fried turkey. It sounds so good! Maybe next year :)It's so nice to have the time with family, glad you all had a blast! On to Christmas!!!
Posted by: Solange | November 29, 2011 at 04:53 PM
Interesting, I've never fried a turkey before. We had a great Thanksgiving but I agree...ONTO CHRISTMAS now! Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday and I'm so anxious. I hope the month goes slow so I can enjoy it all. :)
Posted by: steph anne | November 29, 2011 at 06:00 PM
I had to remind Terry that even though we will be in Oz next year we will forever celebrate Thanksgiving :) Hard to imagine not having all the 'normal' things we think about....ie. a BBQ on the beach for Christmas in Oz!!! (considering its in the middle of summertime) but HE is so worth it :) So fun to share traditions!
Posted by: Stephanie | November 29, 2011 at 06:47 PM
I have never had a fried turkey but I've always wanted to try one, looks delicious! I'm glad your parents could come a visit you, especially since your husband is out town. BTW, I didn't know Americans needed a reason to gorge themselves, we just do :)
Posted by: Brittany | November 30, 2011 at 12:45 AM
Holy cow, I have never had deep fried turkey but I am dying to try it. Yours turned out awesome!
Posted by: Jessica | November 30, 2011 at 03:28 AM
Oh, i just love your blog. I just LOVE IT. Haha!
I LOVE fried turkey & I never had it until i was grown! My family never did fried turkey (don't worry - they were AMAZING cooks so I never knew what i was missing!). Thankfully, though, I married into a family that does fried turkey. :) We had a wonderful thanksgiving too! And i used the Rolo Cookies from Pinterest - they were amazing!
Posted by: Melissa | November 30, 2011 at 07:06 AM
I've never had fried turkey before. Can I come to your house next year?
Those smores cookie bars sound good!
Posted by: thoughtsappear | November 30, 2011 at 02:31 PM
A fried turkey is what's up! A definite in my GA house!
Posted by: Elle sees | November 30, 2011 at 06:21 PM