Roasting a Turkey, Part 2

Ok ok, it wasn't that bad I guess. It was about 15 minutes of horrible miserable grossness, and then a few hours later it was 15 minutes of wonderful delicious dinner. And, there's tons of meat there that will go in freezer bags and be enjoyed in the coming months. It really is cool that I got that whole thing for $7. I probably will do it again next year.

...And if I can do it, YOU can do it!

How to roast a turkey....(not really)

So, I bought a turkey for the first time. All the grocery stores in the area have been competing a lot since that giant Walmart came to Pullman. I think the best deal was at Safeway: Buy $25 worth of junk and get a turkey for 25 cents a pound. It's pretty easy to spend $25 on groceries, so I decided to get a turkey to bake and then freeze the extra meat. My turkey was 23 pounds and cost about $7. Cool. I went back today to get another turkey for my sister to stick in her freezer.

I knew that getting a real turkey would be a disgusting experience, but I put off thinking about it while it thawed in the fridge. I even managed to forget about it while it thawed in the sink with water this morning. But this afternoon I couldn't deny it anymore. I really had to take the plastic off that raw turkey and pull the guts out. Ick! My friend suggested I get some gloves, and that significantly helped. Oh, but it was so gross even with gloves!


I put on a Harry Potter book and tried to just listen to the story and not look at the turkey as I reached inside and pulled the neck out. Who eats the neck anyway? And then I pulled out the bag of guts....does anybody really want that? I felt like throwing up, but somehow I managed to get that turkey in the bag and into the oven.

After that, I changed all of my clothes and washed up to my elbows. (I felt like taking a shower, but didn't.) I also sprayed down the kitchen with disinfectant and cleaned the sink. I think I might mop the floor, just in case something splattered on the floor without my notice.

I sure hope this turkey turns out good! I think I'm starting to understand why some members of my family never get whole turkeys anymore...

Maybe in a couple hours when I've gotten my appetite back and the turkey smells good I will be glad. What do you do for Thanksgiving? Do you cook whole turkeys or little turkey roasts?

Merry Christmas

This happened at Macy's in Philadelphia. They have the world's largest pipe organ. The entire Philadelphia Opera Company along with more than 20 other choirs in the area went to the mall and just hung out all around the 7 story building. Somebody was playing the organ already, but when they started playing the Hallelujah Chorus the choirs all began singing. They chose that day and time because there were some awesome sales and they knew the mall would be packed with people. As you can see, all the shoppers stopped what they were doing to listen to the music. What an amazing experience! Wish I could sing with them!

What a storm!

Last night the wind blew and blew! It was so loud that it kept me up for the first half of the night. And the thunder and lightening came! The lightening was so bright that it hurt my eyes when it flashed and lit up the room through the closed curtains. The thunder rumbled and roared like a freight train coming through my bedroom.

Lots of people and businesses in the area lost power. Luckily we didn't. I heard that the wind was going 70 miles per hour! When we left the apartment this morning we saw our neighbor's moped bike had fallen over. We also drove by a construction site that had most of the roofing progress ruined. Tar paper and shingles were all over the ground that had been torn from the roof. And most exciting, one of the schools in Moscow closed! When I went shopping I saw lots of kids happily hanging out with their moms at the store. I bet they were happy!

And on a bigger scale, here is a picture my dad sent to me. It was on the Komo News website.



Dominoes!

Greg's Costume

This is what Greg wore to work on Friday. Don't ask me what he's supposed to be...I don't think he knows either. But the mask is cool, and he made the fuzzy part of the costume a few years ago.


...maybe some kind of mexican wrestling viking warrior?

Pumpkin Pie!

(It's kind of puffed up when you first pull it out of the oven...it sinks as it cools.)


This is the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. My mom would make it for us every year, and now I love to make it too! It's super easy, and there's no dry icky crust. (Sorry, I'm not a fan of pie crusts.)

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick
2 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened
1 can evaporated milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
16 oz can pumpkin (I found 15 oz can, worked fine)
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp vanilla

(If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, use 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp allspice, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pie pan. Beat all ingredients until smooth. Pour into pie pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Serve warm or cold with whipped cream. Yum!

Pumpkin Carving!

We carved pumpkins Thursday before Halloween so Greg could bring his in for the contest at work.


This is the start of my pumpkin. (I didn't get to finish it that night because I had to hurry off to a meeting at church.)



This is Greg's again. Notice the earrings on the finished product.


This is a fierce pumpkin indeed! Unfortunately it didn't win the contest, but we still like it.