A group of us who have been doing pub quizzes together for the past few weeks got together along with some classmates and their friends for an expatriate thanksgiving . I was in charge of the turkey. I've never cooked a turkey. When I lived in France a couple years ago, I carved a turkey but didn't cook it (actually, it was a chicken because we couldn't find the real thing, but the girls who bought it swore it was a turkey). At church last Sunday I met a lady who knew about American Thanksgiving this upcoming Thursday, and she asked me if I was going to celebrate. When I told her I was in charge of the turkey but didn't know where I could buy one (I've learned that not all countries have turkeys in the grocery store around Thanksgiving time... go figure), all the older ladies at the table told me what I needed to do. One even offered a pan to cook it in. I didn't need the pan, but I did learn that I needed to buy the turkey ASAP so that it would defrost in time. After I bought the turkey, a couple friends took it from me because I didn't have room in my fridge to put it. Besides, we were having Thanksgiving at their place. They defrosted it for a couple days, and the last day they soaked it in a bucket with water, salt, honey, and pepper. They read about it on the internet. Thursday morning I went over to start cooking it, and I spread melted butter mixed with chicken bullion all over the outside and inside the turkey. I read about doing that on the internet. We cooked it for 3 hours, 18 minutes because that's what the packaging said to do. Also, we covered it with foil except for the last thirty minutes so that it would stay moist. In the end, it was a delicious- I'd say it was one of the better turkeys I've had. The meat was so moist that when I carved it, everything fell apart. I tried to get some good turkey legs, but the meat wouldn't stick to the bone as I cut it away. Cooking the turkey had been a team effort, and we doubted whether or not it would be edible in the end. But the three men in the group did surprisingly well.
While carving the turkey, I accidently splattered
turkey juices all over my pants.
It didn't look very flattering.
Turkey post-carving- yum yum.
Booyah- Touchdown- we make miracles happen
Others brought the stuffing, wine, a rice-cheese dish,
apple pie, a sweet strawberry dish, gravy, etc.
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