Thanksgiving 2009 ended up being a great success. Why, you ask? Well though it was the smallest thanksgiving I've ever had, people-wise, I feel there were a lot of small victories throughout the day. It was only me, Carolyn and my dad. Our families are really spread out this thanksgiving so it was just the three of us. For the 9th year in a row, I took on the role of "turkey cooker". This year though I decided to try something a little different. Instead of just putting the turkey in the oven and basting and tending to it every 15 minutes, I decided to try to cook it in a bag which required no work at all. Without a doubt, this is how I will be making it from here on out.

My turkey in a bag method: I started out by brining the turkey a day in advance. I put our 10 pound turkey in a large pot of water and sea salt. The next day, I took it out and patted it dry. I then stuffed the living daylights out of the turkey with your run-of-the-mill Stove Top stuffing. On the outside, I rubbed a combination of olive oil, butter, sage, thyme and rosemary all over the turkey. This part got really messy. On top of that, to prevent sticking and bursting of the oven bag, I put flour into the bag and shook it up. The flour mixed with the oil on my hands was not-so-great. At that point, I placed the oiled up turkey into the bag, used toothpicks to hold the bag away from the turkey skin, and then tied up the bag. I read some mixed reviews on whether or not to cut some vent holes in the bag, but ended up doing it anyways to let steam escape. After that, I placed the turkey in the oven and set the timer for 3 hours. It ended up being one of the best turkeys I've ever eaten. The meat was fall-off-the-bone good. Everything was juicy and moist, and it required pretty much no work other than prep. Yeah, I'll do it this way next year as well.

Carolyn made some fantastic sides as well. Green bean casserole and a sweet potato dish that included crushed walnuts sprinkled on top. Both dishes were absolutely phenomenal and went so well with the turkey, stuffing and cranberries. Writing about it makes me look forward to some thanksgiving leftovers:)

While waiting for the turkey to cook, I took it on myself to clean and fix up me and Janice's bikes from high school. Both of them were purchased from Wal-mart or Target, but ended up serving us pretty well. The tires were flat, and the derailleurs were out of whack, but I managed to coax them back to life. Janice's bike works pretty well once again, but my bike had broken shifters. A quick search on Google revealed that these thumb shifters were pretty much the worst ones ever made. Oh well, still works as a decent bike. I'll end up donating that one (if not both) to Goodwill.

Minor victory sure, but I didn't say it was exciting:)