Happy New Year's Eve!

I hope you all enjoy your last day of 2008 today. Tonight my hubby, boy and self will be celebrating with some friends at our local downtown for a "First Night" celebration. It's a no-alcohol family night with lots of free entertainment, and food booths. We've never gone before though we only live less than a mile from it. So that should be fun...though me and hubby have been fighting allergies, and don't really feel like getting down....with our bad selves.

now, onto turkey talk:
So, I brined my turkey after defrosting for 3.5 days. I brined over night with this here Turkey Brine recipe that turned out AMAZING. Yup, my first turkey ever, and we all agreed, it was the best turkey ANY of us had ever tasted! Wow! How amazing am I??? Hee hee. Honest tho, it turned out good because I followed some great recipes. I kind of threw together 3 different ideas. First, I brined with that thar recipe, then when I cooked it, I did the Laurel method for the first 1/2 hr. Then I covered with foil TIGHTLY just like P.W. said too, and I baked and buttered according to her Roast turkey recipe. Maybe that sounds complicated, but here's the summarized version:

1. brine night before

2. first 1/2 hr 450, then 275

3. follow P.W.'s recipe completely
Is that easier?


Here's a pic of my beautiful turkey! That whole there on top was from where I had to fork it...and then of course i had to taste it, bc it tore off a little. (btw, it was a Zacky turkey)


And ummmm... a beautiful me...dang I'm looking pale.


And you can see here, the tryptophan was doing its job by successfully knocking out my BIL later that evening.
See, it had to be good.


In other news, my fam went up to the local mountains for some snow fun. This is me spinning down a snowy hill.



My boy racing down.....

Me and my honey at a little coffee shop we went for lunch...





My whole little family... I forget to tell my boy to take off his goggles dang it.





So, there ya go, I've updated you way MOOOOORE than you EVER really wanted! So.. How was your Christmas? Do tell me what you made. Probably something waaaaaay more exotic than the silly turkey I made. Anyone try for prime rib??? Yumm that sounds so good right now. Did anyone try making any new desserts?? Do tell....I'm waiting right here until you do.



I'm still waiting.....