“Because bandwidth is cheap…”
It’s been a long standing tradition of mine to start off the holidays with a viewing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Each year Erin gives me “the look” when I load the DVD into the player but I don’t care, its a classic! This year though, I have spared myself from getting “the look” by ripping the DVD to an MP4 using HandBrake and watching it privately on my iPod! So start off the season right and go watch this outstanding classic today! “Yule crack up!”
Loki is TWO today. He had an uneventful day of napping and then we went to doggie school where he tried really hard not to bark at all the other dogs. Then he helped me brine the turkey. Loki decided the turkey was some kind of alien invader and needed to be barked at constantly until we moved her (him?) to the garage.
Loki
The brine
Meet our Turkey.
Turkeys are scary (according to Loki)
With Turkey Day coming I wanted to share my favorite recipies.
Alton Brown’s Good Eats Roast Turkey - Don’t forget to brine! It’s OK to skip the ginger and the peppercorns and allspice. It’s even OK to skip the stuff that goes inside. But don’t skip the brine! OH, and trust me, the turkey helmet works! And PLEASE don’t stuff your turkey! Stuffing is EVIL. Stuffing breeds bacteria and also requires you to cook the bird longer while the white meat dries out. Instead, make RR’s recipe.
Rachael Ray’s Stuffin’ Muffins - These are so yummy.
This year I found basic stuffing mix at Trader Joe’s with NO MSG! And no hydrolyzed or autolyzed things trying to slide under the MSG radar either. Shame on Pepperidge Farm and Kraft and all the others for having multiple forms of MSG and evil hydrogenated oils in all of their foods. It’s completely unneccesary. MSG tricks your brain into thinking that the food you are eating tastes better than it actually does. This way they can use lower quality ingredients and you still think it tastes good. Apparently they don’t care about those of us for which MSG causes MIGRAINES. And don’t get me started on the hydrogenated oils… There is a reason I spend all of my grocery money at Trader’s! (Although, Trader’s boxed turkey gravy has autolyzed yeast extract in it, which is another form on MSG. So it’s still important to read labels! I’d rather make the gravy myself anyway.)
My point is that I’m making everything from scratch. No “help” from Pillsbury or Campbells for me. No mashed potatoes in a tub (gross!) It ends up tasting 10 times better anyway, plus my garlic cheese biscuits are way more fun than Pillsbury’s exploding buns!
P.S. For those of you with dogs, Merrick makes a canned “Thanksgiving Day Dinner” for your pups. No corn or by-products. In fact, Merrick won “Dog Food of the Year” That’s what Loki’s having.
Loki stayed up late with me watching election results, but he wasn’t very happy that we were up past his bedtime…
