Bag O Turkey

Some people only get to have ONE Thanksgiving Day.  Lucky me, this year I got to have TWO turkey days.  How cool is that?  As with a lot of families, everyone can't get to the appointed destination at the same time, so this family has turkey day on Friday.  They come from as far away as San Francisco and Las Vegas on Thursday so traffic isn't a problem.

This is one of my besties ... Diane on the right and her daughter Shelbi on the left.  Diane and I worked together at the County offices for about eleven years and her daughter Shel lived with me for a couple of years after a divorce.  Later on, I found out Diane's sister and I were friends in High School.  It's a small world.  These two are the best and would give you the shirt off their backs if you needed it.  The feeling is mutual!!

Diane and I have a lot in common when it comes to the kitchen.  She outdid herself this time with the turkey.  She stuffed an 18 pound bruiser into a large plastic cooking bag and came up with a mighty tasty, juicy, bag O turkey.  I had a faint recollection of these from the old days.   I'm buying a box of bags.  It certainly would have made MY turkey more tender and delicious.

I was a little concerned when I saw eight potatoes in the pot to feed ten people (there are two adults sitting at the children's table out of sight in the kitchen).  Even more worried when she boiled them whole.  It was okay though, while waiting, we drank up two bottles of wine they brought from their trip to Germany to visit her son in the military.  

Although she read the box, six cups of water went into the pan for stuffing, the Stovetop variety.  That's when I jumped in with my eyeglasses and reduced it to three.  Next came the gravy.  She had two packets, to be mixed with plain water.  Since she had probably eight cups of juice in the turkey bag, I suggested we use that instead.  That was news to Diane.  

It took a little doing to get the heavy bag lifted up and a hole poked in the end.  Don't worry about all that juice that went on the floor.  Her two poodles will lick that up in a snap!!  I showed her how to stir the mix into cold water, then into the boiling turkey broth, but I doubt she will remember after that third glass of wine.  All I could think of was my watery gravy, so I was extra careful to put enough slurry in to thicken it up.  It came out perfect!  I am redeemed!!

About that time, she remembered the green bean casserole and the rolls in the oven.  Finally, dinner was served and it was DELICIOUS!!  She threw on some cranberry sauce and cans of olives, which little Braden promptly stuffed on all his fingers.  Remember doing that when you were a kid??  In no time WE were stuffed to the gills.  

It was a great day with "family" and I couldn't be more thankful than to have good friends like these.  If you want to make someone's day, invite them to dinner on Thanksgiving and on Christmas and on any day in between.  Especially if that person is single.  There's nothing worse than sitting home by yourself during the holiday season.  

Needless to say, we all skipped Black Friday.  I'm sure there were enough others out there that we were not missed.  By the way, interestingly enough, Fidel Castro died on Black Friday.  Fitting, don't you think?  At least the BLACK part.  Does anyone else remember huddling around the television waiting for a bomb to hit California?  We had a slight leg up on the situation, as our neighbor's husband was on the ship stationed just off the Cuban coast.  Nevertheless, as a kid, I remember being pretty scared.

I'm off to the store to pick up candy makings for the holiday season.  I found three bags I can use for groceries.  I'm tying one around my neck so I won't forget to take it inside the store.

Happy Thanksgiving number two and remember to count your blessings!