Always check your turkey

Sorry it's been a while. This post will have to be quick. You can probably tell by the vast expanse of time since my last post that I've been working. Still am, in fact. It will be a long haul of early mornings where I hope the kids will let me get a couple of hours in before they wake up. Daylight savings has not been kind to this fond dream of mine. This morning the boy was up at 5:30.

You can also tell I've been working by looking at my face. I think there is a direct correlation between the number of zits I have and the amount of time I sit at the computer desk, resting my face on my hand. I've tried, but I can't stop. When I'm working, I'm a face toucher.

Sorry, complexion. I'll just have to comfort myself with my new knowledge that karaoke originated in Japan (how did I not know that?) and that the current prime minister is Kan Naoto. (See me later for more Japan-related trivia. I'm currently on page 301 of 510 pages full of the stuff.)

On Sunday we had a little early Thanksgiving, because I figured we ought to eat the turkey in our freezer before it had been there a year. I bought it on sale after Thanksgiving last year, thinking we'd have a yummy dinner sometime last winter. And then life intervened, with all sorts of wonderful interruptions.

I've never cooked a turkey, so I looked online. I found this recipe that made wonderful claims of moist, delicious turkey. Your turkey will not be dry, the recipe promised. You were supposed to separate the skin from the turkey without removing it, so you could smear melted butter directly on the meat and the skin would lock all the flavor in. Well, have you ever tried to do that? I failed. I used my kitchen scissors to try to separate the two, but they were very stubborn. And you know what? My turkey was moist and delicious anyway. Take that, Internet.

But, after the gravy was made, the turkey carved and eaten, and as my husband was dismantling the rest of the turkey to be stored, he said...."Are these...scissors in here?"

I cooked my scissors with my turkey. I'd put the scissors down to do something, then gave up/forgot about what I was doing. The poor kitchen scissors (my good ones, too) did not survive. The plastic was warped and cracked from spending five hours in the oven. It was a sad day.

So, this Thanksgiving, don't worry about all the poor turkeys being slaughtered for our gluttony. Just make sure all beloved kitchen utensils have been removed from the pan before you roast it.