On Monday {4 days ago} I came down with a mild cold and super sore throat. I had planned to use the days leading up to Thanksgiving cleaning and prepping but alas, taking care of a baby while sick leaves ya with no energy leftover for cleaning.
That brings me to last night {the night before turkey day}. Each year we like to have the most "un-thanksgivingy" dinner that we can think of {last year it was bbq and next year we're thinking Italian} so I decided to make chicken en mole with rice and beans. Cheyenne was upstairs with the baby while I was down in the kitchen making dinner and planning my attack for the cleaning/prep. I was deep in thought deciding the order in which to tackle my many projects {make gingerbread pumpkin trifle, make and then eat dinner, make pumpkin pie, make cranberry sauce, chop two bowls of mirepoix for stuffing & bird} when I started opening a can of refried beans {since it was the night before thanksgiving I decided to cheat & use canned refried beans} I was in a daze and lost hold of the can and sliced a deep gash on my ring finger right next to the nailbed. Background info on myself - I'm a fainter. I know people that say this but what they mean to say is "I'm really squimish". No, I pass out on the ground, lose consiousness, the whole thing. A lot. I faint at almost every doctors appointment, whenever i give blood, when i get a shot, when i have my teeth cleaned, when i have my eyes checked, when i put earrings in. I'm not kidding, i faint multiple times a year. Now with that information you can imagine the psychotic episode that happened when i got a very deep jagged slice in my finger. I screamed and Cheyenne yelled down "everything ok" then the tunnel vision started, i remember hearing myself say "um I don't think....um....nooooooo" and then crumpling on the stairs trying to keep my bleeding finger in the air above my heart. Turns out I lost consciousness about 3 times and Cheyenne had to slap me and resuscitate me several times. He says he's never seen anyone living turn that exact shade of grey or stop breathing for that long or have their eyes roll back in their head in just that way - and this isn't his first time at the "my wife faints a lot rodeo".
Ugh, I regained my strength and ability to function but between the white hot pain in my hand and the blood pressure spike from the fainting I had to kiss my list of tasks {that was going to save me from too much work on Thanksgiving Day} goodbye and tackle EVERYTHING in the morning.
Amelia woke us up at 7:30am on the dot as she always does and we hit the ground running. Only remember that cold I had at the start of the week? Yeah, now Amelia & Cheyenne have it which means that Amelia spent much of the day fussy and crying while my sick husband begged her for a break and i ran around cooking and cleaning like a mad woman.
The good thing is that this was the smoothest {minus my Captain Hook impression} and most delicious Thanksgiving ever! I know how totally repugnant it is to gloat and boast in this manner but lemme just tell you: I am a damn good cook. I mean, DAMN good! So, when I say that this was the most delicious Thanksgiving you can pretty much bet that nobody else was eating as well as we did {I know, even I think that deserves a smack for snobishness but it's true dang it}.
I got an organic free range fresh turkey from New Seasons {as I do every year - there isn't anything in this world that would make me feed a frozen mass produced turkey to my family} which was soaked in an herb and chardonnay brine then rubbed in fleur de sel and fresh spices. I had the butcher cut the bird in half lengthwise and remove the backbone {which i saved for stock} then I put a thick layer of fresh cut herb bunches {sage, rosemary, thyme} and mirepoix {onion, celery, carrot} in my roasting pan with the two halves of the bird laying right on top. Then i covered the bird with another thick layer of fresh herbs and roasted it at 425 for 90 minutes {thank you Tyler Florence!!!!}. I cannot tell you how highly I recommend this! The turkey was sooooo moist and flavorful and a 15 pound bird cooked to perfection in 90 minutes is impossible to beat for Thanksgiving cooking convenience. The sides were all to die for {yukon gold mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing, rolls, my moms amazing sweet potato casserole, Meegan's yummy brussels sprouts, homemade cranberry relish} and we all stuffed ourselves like we had never done before. In fact, dinner was such a success that even after a long break from eating we were all STILL far too full for dessert and all of the guests had to take theirs home! That alone is such a huge compliment that it makes all of the running around worth it and it's why I look forward to cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year.
Now the baby is in bed and Cheyenne is curled up with the dog and I am in my PJs taking a much needed rest and planning my Christmas dinner {goose!}.
Happy thanksgiving everyone!
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