Eat, Drink, and Go!

Of course it was a great day. It began last night with the turkey prep and picked back up at about 7:30 when I resumed turkey workin. I did my standard herb butter and citrus to get the bird going (see earlier blog) and decided on apple cider for the basting. The bird came out beautiful!! A little over four hours, first hour upside down, then flipped and basted every half hour. 

The skin is my favorite. Don’t judge. We used to hover like vultures around my grandpa as he carved the turkey in my grandma’s kitchen and awaited the handouts like pups begging for scraps. I always think back to that when I carve my turkey, which I think I’ve been doing for about the last 10 years. Wow. I love carving the turkey and placing it on the serving platter. 

I also made my Southern Comfort sweet potatoes. A standard for the last several years. Boil and then peel off the skin, mash up the taters with butter, maple syrup, brown sugar and Southern Comfort. Then bake!

We also did Brussel sprouts with maple bacon, yum!

My mom’s stuffing is the best. Comes from my grandma’s recipe and enhanced by generational creativity. I could eat just the stuffing. In fact, as soon as I’m done blogging, I’m gonna hit it. Our feast is a compendium of culinary talent that started with my grandma, encouraged by my mom, and cultivated continually by me and my sister.  If my house smells like my grandma’s did when I was young, I know everything will be great. 

Everything came out amazing. The turkey, the cranberry sauce, the stuffing, the white and sweet potatoes, and my mom made her amazing soup. We add matzo balls because they are just too good to only have at Passover. My plate was tummy aching good!!

And then there was dessert. I have been wanting to try to make chocolate mousse lately, so this seemed like a good time! It was nice and easy!  Whipped up the egg whites with a little sugar, the heavy cream and melted the chocolate. Fold those three things together and done. 

My sis made pumpkin cheesecake parfaits and my mom made two delicious pies – apple and pecan. Dang!! Yum!!

What an awesome array of delish desserts. They went great with an espresso martini!!  Ok, gotta go get some seconds!