Now onto the event of the week: Golf team family Thanksgiving Dinner!
I thought it was an absolute blast! It was actually a couple of the guys' first time ever having a "real" Thanksgiving dinner since some are not Americans! We have an Australian, a couple swedes, a korean, and a french guy on the team. So there is great diversity.
Everyone that came brought a separate dish of the traditional Thanksgiving courses from green beans to sweet potatoes to stuffing to mashed potatoes...! I neglected to get a picture of all the wonderful food together but I did manage to get a picture of the Frye's contribution to the meal... the turkey!
I would say that Jordan and I had a blast preparing our first turkey ever... but that's not exactly the right word to use. It started on Tuesday when we were trying to get the turkey ready to go into the brine. I couldn't figure out where the gibblits' package was or how in the world to get the neck out... so what is our solution? Call my parents! Of course my mother didn't answer but Dad definitely was a savior! He was on the phone with me when I found and got the neck out of the turkey... I flipped out. I am pretty sure that I will never do that job again, someone else can do it... like my husband. That turkey neck was the grossest thing that I've ever seen and I'm a nursing student. Yep. I was holding a gag pretty much the entire time I touched and looked at it. Wow, enough of that. We managed to get the turkey in the brine-ing bag and got the 19.85 pound bird into the fridge soaking in all it's glory for about 20 hours.
Since our dinner was at 6:30 on Wednesday, we thought the turkey would need to be in the oven by 2:00 to be able to cook fully and have time to sit afterwards. So early that afternoon, I rinsed the turkey after I took it out of the brine and placed my friend back in his little tin carrier. I buttered and herbed him up real good and set it him out so Jordan could put him in the oven when he got home from class by 2:00 since I was headed out to class and wouldn't be home until 4:30.
Well my husband did the best job ever! That turkey was put in the oven and basted with love... probably with help from his wonderful fellas, Tyler & Max. I was greeted at my door, when I got home from class, with the most delicious smell coming from my kitchen! I was so excited! Of course, I had to open the over door right away and look at the little guy! He looked wonderful! He was nice and brown and plump but he had only been in the oven for 2.5 hours! I thought they took longer to brown but hey, he was an early bloomer. I stuck multiple therometers over his body and he was done! He had reached his preset temperature of over 170. That little guy flew through his cooking time. I turned the oven down to 225 and tented the turkey with foil to keep him warm until dinner considering it wasn't for two hours!
Sarah came over before dinner and made her stuffing as I was finishing the wine infused gravy! I melted over the gravy, thought it was delish but I am a gravy girl! So the four of us, Tyler, Jordan, Sarah, and I headed over to the 'golf house' where a handful of the guys live with the stuffing, the turkey, the cranberry sauce, and gravy to start setting up for dinner!
We got there and we started to cut the turkey but his legs weren't done! He was everywhere else but his legs! I was shocked! So we cut those guys off and baked them a bit longer. The rest of the guy was absolutely done to perfect, if I do say so myself. He was juicy and delightful as was the rest of the Thanksgiving dishes that were brought!
We circled up to pray over the meal and dug in. I had such a good time, just taking a break from class and enjoying an "home filled" evening. It was such a fun night. A few people even tried some of the foods for the first time ever! Like Abi's family doesn't have stuffing at their Thanksgiving which was the most shocking thing that I think I have ever heard because the stuffing takes up more than half of my Thanksgiving meal! It was absolutely fun! That night made me so excited to get home for actual Thanksgiving dinner! Of course, the night ended up in good ole Larson tradition... with me and Sarah washing the dishes. I think it runs in my family... who knows!
All in all, I had such a great time. It was wonderful that we were able to get together and enjoy a family style meal. I was so please that my turkey turned out wonderfully and that it was edible ;)
I thought it was an absolute blast! It was actually a couple of the guys' first time ever having a "real" Thanksgiving dinner since some are not Americans! We have an Australian, a couple swedes, a korean, and a french guy on the team. So there is great diversity.
Everyone that came brought a separate dish of the traditional Thanksgiving courses from green beans to sweet potatoes to stuffing to mashed potatoes...! I neglected to get a picture of all the wonderful food together but I did manage to get a picture of the Frye's contribution to the meal... the turkey!
I would say that Jordan and I had a blast preparing our first turkey ever... but that's not exactly the right word to use. It started on Tuesday when we were trying to get the turkey ready to go into the brine. I couldn't figure out where the gibblits' package was or how in the world to get the neck out... so what is our solution? Call my parents! Of course my mother didn't answer but Dad definitely was a savior! He was on the phone with me when I found and got the neck out of the turkey... I flipped out. I am pretty sure that I will never do that job again, someone else can do it... like my husband. That turkey neck was the grossest thing that I've ever seen and I'm a nursing student. Yep. I was holding a gag pretty much the entire time I touched and looked at it. Wow, enough of that. We managed to get the turkey in the brine-ing bag and got the 19.85 pound bird into the fridge soaking in all it's glory for about 20 hours.
Since our dinner was at 6:30 on Wednesday, we thought the turkey would need to be in the oven by 2:00 to be able to cook fully and have time to sit afterwards. So early that afternoon, I rinsed the turkey after I took it out of the brine and placed my friend back in his little tin carrier. I buttered and herbed him up real good and set it him out so Jordan could put him in the oven when he got home from class by 2:00 since I was headed out to class and wouldn't be home until 4:30.
Well my husband did the best job ever! That turkey was put in the oven and basted with love... probably with help from his wonderful fellas, Tyler & Max. I was greeted at my door, when I got home from class, with the most delicious smell coming from my kitchen! I was so excited! Of course, I had to open the over door right away and look at the little guy! He looked wonderful! He was nice and brown and plump but he had only been in the oven for 2.5 hours! I thought they took longer to brown but hey, he was an early bloomer. I stuck multiple therometers over his body and he was done! He had reached his preset temperature of over 170. That little guy flew through his cooking time. I turned the oven down to 225 and tented the turkey with foil to keep him warm until dinner considering it wasn't for two hours!
Sarah came over before dinner and made her stuffing as I was finishing the wine infused gravy! I melted over the gravy, thought it was delish but I am a gravy girl! So the four of us, Tyler, Jordan, Sarah, and I headed over to the 'golf house' where a handful of the guys live with the stuffing, the turkey, the cranberry sauce, and gravy to start setting up for dinner!
We got there and we started to cut the turkey but his legs weren't done! He was everywhere else but his legs! I was shocked! So we cut those guys off and baked them a bit longer. The rest of the guy was absolutely done to perfect, if I do say so myself. He was juicy and delightful as was the rest of the Thanksgiving dishes that were brought!
We circled up to pray over the meal and dug in. I had such a good time, just taking a break from class and enjoying an "home filled" evening. It was such a fun night. A few people even tried some of the foods for the first time ever! Like Abi's family doesn't have stuffing at their Thanksgiving which was the most shocking thing that I think I have ever heard because the stuffing takes up more than half of my Thanksgiving meal! It was absolutely fun! That night made me so excited to get home for actual Thanksgiving dinner! Of course, the night ended up in good ole Larson tradition... with me and Sarah washing the dishes. I think it runs in my family... who knows!
All in all, I had such a great time. It was wonderful that we were able to get together and enjoy a family style meal. I was so please that my turkey turned out wonderfully and that it was edible ;)
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