Java, while I can’t speak for anyone else yeah, shocking, I know! the part of the pizza I’m missing is the chewy crust as part of the whole pizza-eating experience. Much as I adore portobellos, ain’t no way it’s gonna convince me that I’m having pizza. <sigh> But it does sound yummy in and of itself, so I’m thinking I’ll be giving it a try.
Related to nothing in particular, last night I was dreaming about alligators. They were wandering around all over the place and no one but me seemed to be concerned. Even my stupid dog wasn’t afraid. There was also something in the dream about socks, but I’ve forgotten what it was. Worst part of it was when I woke up at 4:20 - a full 30 minutes before my alarm went off. I need my beauty sleep, dagnabbit!!!
You just can’t manufacture a deep dish portobello. Oh, I’m sure you could try, but it’s probably illegal somewhere. The mushroom police would kick in your front door and confiscate your fungal riches. Probably slap you in the clink with all the other mushroom offenders. You wouldn’t want that.
At least FCM gets odd dreams. Mine are usually extremely dull. When you’re bored out of your mind just having the thing, you know you’ve got problems. In one dream I spent an hour because I couldn’t decide which color of dish towel to buy. You get the idea. sigh
Ninjas–no Papa John’s up north? How north are you, anyway? That really sucks. I could send you one, if you miss them.
I need to look into getting one of those propane deep fryers like swampy has, 'cause you can do up a turkey real good in one of those.
See, my sister is all kinds of pregnant right now and she’s due to give birth about two weeks before Thanksgiving. However, if the kid is anything like its daddy it’s going to be late. So of course there are all sorts of associated consequences and repercussions in re: the aforementioned national holiday.
Since there is absolutely no way they are going to come here for the traditional Massive Family Gathering with a fresh baby, my sister decided that the MFG would take place at her house near Boston this year. I believe she made this decision because she’s nuts.
I figure it’s my responsibility to help, so I’m gonna’ do up the turkey, and if I have to do that I’m frying that sucker. I figure I’ll have no trouble getting my bother-in-law and his dad to assist, because hey, there’s hot oil and open flames, and they’re nuts too.
Ex - (no previewing or proofreading, I’m supposed to be working)
Hi tanook’! I thought of you yesterday. (I thought of all you people yesterday, but this is about why I thought of the lovely and tallented tanook’. Or 'nookie, if you’d rather.)
My neighbor had her baby yesterday morning. That’s why I thought of you. I thought “Huh, tanookie just had her kid. I wonder how they all are.”
My other neighbor told me the erstwhile pregnant neighbor had her kid and I asked “Is everyone alright?” Yes, they are. “Boy or girl?” Boy. and “What’s his name?” and she told me.
When the Little Woman came home and I told her, she asked “What hostipal are they at?” How should I know? “How big is he?” Weight or length? “Weight.” I dunno. “Length?” I dunno. And she asked a couple of other questions. These were Girl Questions. Me, not being a girl, didn’t ask them earlier so I didn’t know. The Little Woman had to call our neighbor (who is a girl and asked all these questions when she had the chance) for the scoop on the kid.
As it happened, our newest neighbor is 9 pounds 11 and some change ounces. Katcha was 9 pounds 6 ounces. I had completely forgotten about that. And the kid is something inches long. I forget how much, but it was a lot of inches. And the kid was breech. I never would have thought to ask about that. There was a C-section (just like me!), but I knew that. I didn’t ask, but I was told.
Girl Questions. Bah! It’s like when we get invited to a party (I almost said “if we get invited”- ha ha! Can you imagine? Us NOT getting invited? Bizarre!) and if I take the call I ask “When is it?” This makes sense, so we know when to go to the party. The Girl Question when you get invited to a party is “What should I bring?” I never ask what I should bring to a party. What if they say “You should bring Lobster Thermadore for 20 people.”? Then what? Like I’d actually bring Lobster Thermadore for 20 people? Yeah, right. Maybe I’d bring chili dip for about 5 people.
(Chili dip for about 5 people:
Go to the store.
Buy a can of chili.
Pour it into a microwave safe heating thingy. Like the measuring cup.
Dump it into a bowl.
Put some cheese on top.
Serve with chips.)
-Rue. (cook-y)
Will someone come and explain to my kitten that Mommy and Daddy do not love her at night, and that repeated 3 a.m. attempts to snuggle will result in her being airborne?
We were a bit late for the movie so we had dinner and then went and puttered around at a bookshop and then came home and did, uh, stuff. You guys! Stuff like sleeping! Sheesh.
I want pizza. Maybe I’ll make it tomorrow.
I also want a deep fryer, but I think it would be dangerous in my hands.
Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend, so I get to eat turkey very soon. Yum.
We had pizza at my house Fri. night. As a matter of fact, I am eating the last of it for breakfast right now. Mmmm, pizza for breakfast.*
It’s Pizza Hut, because they deliver, and we don’t like Papa John’s. We have been looking but can’t find a non-chain pizzeria that we like locally, so Pizza Hut is the compromise.
My BIL bought a propane grill this summer, but I don’t know if we used it as much as he imagined we would. It doesn’t have a cover, but we dragged it into the grocer’s alley**, where it is protected from the weather, and will just have to wait and see.
*All right, I got interrupted, and it took me longer to post this than I had intended. Technically, I finished the pizza half an hour ago.
**A grocer’s alley is a narrow alley that runs from the street to the backyard alongside old houses (ours was built in the 1860’s) for the delivery of groceries, coal, etc. The second floor extends over it, so it’s covered. All the houses on our block have one. We mostly store our trash cans there.
I don’t really have anything to celebrate this week. Other than the celebrations I’m having for all of your triumphs, of course. The arbitration scheduled for this week was cancelled, but I was all prepared and in advocate mode, so that’s a bummer, not a celebration. My 49er’s won, always a good thing, but it’s too early in the season to really get excited by that. I’ve never smoked, so I don’t have to stop (go swampy!), and I still haven’t started a diet (go all you diet guys!), so I can’t brag about losing weight (can I brag about not gaining weight?). I think I shall celebrate the coming of the rain, 'cuz it sounded nice against my window last night. That’s it–drinks for everybody, on me, I’m celebrating the rain! Yahoo and whoop-de-doo,
it’s raining, it’s pouring,
it’s rattling my window,
went to bed,
heard the drops,
and couldn’t stop celebrating.
Rue will be bringing the dip. The chili dip, that it.
Oh, I just realized I forgot to wish Lissla a happy birthday. I am so sorry, Lissla, blame it on lack of caffiene. The Godivas are being Fed Exed immediately.
Go, Lissla! It’s your birthday! We’re gonna party like it’s your birthday!
Hey Ex, my BIL has one of those turkey fryers and we fried a couple of turkeys for thanksgiving. A few tips:
you want to fry where it won’t matter if you splash some very hot oil about. The driveway is okay, living room is not! (We fried it in the driveway, I was just saying)
Make sure you have a way to get the turkey back out when it’s time, because;
a) That sucker is hot!
b) That sucker is heavy!
c) That sucker is hot!
Did I mention it gets hot?
SIL rigged up a harness for each bird out of a metal coathanger.
Also, injecting the bird with some cajun rub is good.
That’s all I got about turkey frying.
I also forgot to wish Lissla a happy birthday, although 25 is hardly a birthday. Now 50, that’s a birthday! Do they still spank kids on their birthdays?
BTW, what are Canadians thankful for? Besides that they aren’t in the U.S.?
That portobella trick sounds good Java, I’ll have to try that, but FCM’s right, it ain’t pizza. However, we were in the health food store the other day and I saw a pizza dough mix made with soy flour(?) or some such. It was low carb anyway. Worth a look-see if you’re on Atkin’s.
Bumb my fryer came with a lifter to get the turkey out. It looks like a coat hanger sort of.
Injecting the bird with some type of marinade is good. There’s some really good cajun and creole ones. There’s a creole butter one I like a lot. Can’t remember who makes it now. The outside of the bird should also be coated in cajun spices.
Peanut oil is the best for frying. It’s a little lighter than most veggie oils and gets hotter quicker, which is good cause you want the oil to be 350 degrees when you lower the turkey into the oil. That way it sears the skin and keeps all the juicy goodness in.
Oh and never fry over a 12 - 14 lb. turkey. Those great big feeds a town of 50,000 kind just don’t do to fry. Them’s for baking. Or roasting. Or whatever happens to turkeys in the oven.
It’s grilled for two Dopefests, most recently the Bluesclan farewell party where 25 people crammed onto my deck.
No fancy extras, however. Wasn’t expecting any at that price. When I bought it, I simply was tired of dealing with charcoal. (I hate charcoal: you can’t clean up the ashes right after you cook, because you’ve still got coals; but if you wait, you forget and it rains, and the ashes turn into this messy gray sludge that you’ve got to clean out of your grill.) I was looking for something inexpensive that enabled grilling, but didn’t involve charcoal. That’s all I wanted, and that’s all I got.
My mother wants to do a deep fried turkey. I don’t know if that’s her Thanksgiving plan or just something she wants to do. I’ve got one or those turkey frying pots and racks and propane burner setups. Never used it for a turkey, tho. We’ve used it to steam oysters and to make corn on the cob. I’m not that much of a fan of frying, but I know it’d work with lobsters or crabs, so I haven’t yard-saled it.
I’m going to sell our grill in a yard sale next week - did I mention that already? I can’t recall if it’s come up in this thread or if I just said it to someone in an email or if I’m just talking to myself again. It’s not a particularly fancy one, and the igniter never worked properly. I figure I should be able to get $50 for it and not have to move it. So that’s good.
Thank you, everyone. My co-workers actually bought a cake for me today. It’s really good, and I’m impressed that they were willing to spend any money on me. No, I’m kidding- all of them are nice but one, and she wasn’t in today!
I got the cake today because I wasn’t working yesterday.
I think Canadian Thanksgiving is being thankful for… uh… cold? and maple syrup? And occasional elections? I’m not sure, but it involves turkey and pumpkin pie, and those are objectively good. Practically a Platonic ideal.
forbidden doughnut, I believe your (inadvertent) impersonator was severely spoken to by someone the first time s/he posted. You don’t mean to tell me s/he is still using the name?
Exgineer, your sister is indeed insane right now if she’s thinking she’ll have a MFG at her house even though she’ll have a new baby. Is this her first (either baby or MFG)? If so, she has absolutely no idea. Please tell me hosting the MFG doesn’t include having houseguests.
Speaking as someone who’s hosted her own MFGs but whose babies are old enough to do the table-setting and vacuuming (if I’m fast enough to catch them), I’d say that doing the turkey is a great contribution. Getting there early enough to peel potatoes would be even better. Getting there an entire day early so that you can vacuum and clean the bathroom as well would be ideal.
Cajun rub? Excellent idea Bumb. I wouldn’t have thought of that. I usually go the “overnight soak in a citrus and herb brine” route with turkey, but I don’t know how well that would go with frying. I figured on a size limitation because those fryers look like smallish stock pots, but I wasn’t planning on 10 lbs small, so Angel Pants has opened my eyes a bit. We may be forced into the oven roasting bit then.
That’s because InternetLegend is 100% correct, and my sister is insane. We’re talking roughly 20 people, not including the baby. It won’t be wanting any turkey at that age, will it? I don’t know much about babies, which is odd, because I was one once.
I think my BIL and I can handle the turkey even if we have to use the (much less cool) oven method, and my Mom will be going out early to do the potatoes and bathrooms bit. In fact, if I don’t get there before 11 am she’ll probably poach on my reservation and do the turkey too.
Thanks RTFirefly. I’ll definitely take a look at that one. I dont’ really need to grill for that many people, but I might someday. After all, I occasionally, once in a while, actually invite people to my home and serve them right up!
I can honestly say that baby will not want any turkey. Baby will sleep a lot and cry a bit and eat a lot of non turkey imbibables and occasionally require lube, oil and filter maintenance.
I don’t think your sister is insane, Ex. She is probably thinking ‘I don’t want to travel with a new baby.’ As long as she has a good support staff and is in reality only providing a venue for the MFG with everyone else providing the cooking and cleaning services then all should be fine.
This is why we do Christmas every year. We have kids and do not want to lug a ton of crap to someone’s house only to lug two tons of toys and crap to our own afterwards. We make lasagna and stuff and have a christmas buffet type lunch and everyone comes with gifts and lugs their own crap home. All that’s left for me to do is put away the toys and toss the paper plates and stuff. It’s not fancy but we have a lot of fun and I think that is more important.
“overnight soak in a citrus and herb brine” sounds better than my suggestion Ex. The tradition when we have Thanksgiving at our house is to forget to take the turkey out of the freezer soon enough, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for preparations. Have you ever tried to thaw a turkey with a heat gun (paint stripper)? Usually we just shove a bunch of dressing up its butt and stick it in the oven.
As for the MFG; ther are women included in those 20 or so people aren’t there? Sister has a new babie doesn’t she? Trust me, she will have more help than she knows what to do with. In the presence of a new baby, women will perform feats they wouldn’t think of doing for any mere man.
I actually had to re-type this because the hamsters ate the first (much funnier) post. I wonder if they make a hamster frier?
You guys! Stuff like sleeping! Sheesh.
It doesn’t have a cover, but we dragged it into the grocer’s alley**, where it is protected from the weather, and will just have to wait and see.