11/28/12
Making a turkey is hard work, especially when the turkey in
question is 20 pounds. On Thanksgiving I, Madelyn Rose Padalino, did a very
adult thing and hosted Thanksgiving, complete with turkey making. The party
started off being a small amount of people, then somehow grew until 20 people
were coming for dinner. On Wednesday before Thanksgiving I made my Aunt Lynda’s
brussel sprout casserole. It’s one of my favorite dishes and I had to have it
for the holiday. Now I want to preface this with telling you all that I don’t
cook. Unless there are directions on the box (yes it has to come in a box) I
can’t make it. And sometimes when the directions are on the box I can’t make
it, exhibit A: the Rice a Roni incident with Becky when we were like 15. The Brussels sprout recipe isn’t that hard but it’s involved. The first step is to
make bacon. Bacon in the UK and Bacon in
the US is a little different, bacon here is thicker and has more fat on it so
it cooks differently. I, of course, didn’t know this and promptly burned the
crap out of the bacon and smoked my whole kitchen. Next it took me 10 minutes
to chop an onion which I had never done in my life. The rest of the recipe went
smoother but it still took me 2 hours to make the damn thing, not to mention
clean up because for some reason my counters looked like a disaster zone.
The day of Thanksgivng a rose early to get my turkey out of
the freezer. Some of you are thinking “Oh crap Matti put the turkey in the
freezer and never defrosted it”. But AHA! The exact opposite! I bought the 20 pound
behemoth of a turkey on Monday and left it out to defrost like my darling
mother told me to. Too bad on Wednesday evening it was entirely defrosted and
edging precariously toward room temperature. I put it in the freezer Wednesday night so
that it would cool down and got up at 8am to take it out and start getting
everything ready. I wish you could have all seen the hilarity that was me
preparing the turkey for the oven. I had to enlist the help of my roommate Cindy
in washing the bird because washing a twenty pound slimy turkey is about as
easy as, well, washing a twenty pound slimy turkey. After haphazardly washing
the bird I left it to dry as I took my shower. After heating the oven I moved
the turkey to the pan I bought. Turkeys in England are generally not as big as
the ones back home, so the largest tin pan I could find barely and I do mean
barely, fit my turkey. I threw it in the oven at set my timer.
After that I set about making the mashed potatoes. I was
trying to be all fancy and made mine homemade with real potatoes. As opposed to
how I usually make them which is out of a box. I had to peel, cut and boil four
pounds of potatoes which took me about 2 hours.
During this time I was cleaning the kitchen, my bedroom and the
bathroom. I know understand my parent’s frustration on Christmas when they are
trying to get the house together while making dinner.
People started arriving and while I was still making the
mashed potatoes, so I enlisted there help and gave them the rest of the
potatoes to mash as I finished cleaning.
After everyone arrived Cheyenne helped me take the turkey
out of the oven and carve it. Much to our surprise the top half of the turkey
was done and ready while the wings and legs were still bloody. Not to mention
that while I managed to get one of the giblets out I didn’t see the one in the
neck and cooked it with them in. Cheyenne and Louisa cut up the part of the
turkey that was done and then put the rest back in the oven. Meanwhile we all grabbed plates and dug in.
Everyone brought food and wine for the party. Caroline managed to make 3
kilograms (almost 6 pounds) of amazing macaroni and cheese. We’re all pretty
impressed with her because her idea of dinner is a bag of microwave popcorn.
For dessert Mairi made this kind of whiskey cream with berries that was delicious.
I have no idea how to spell the name but I’ve been referring to it as Kraken.
I’m really glad everyone could come over, I would have been
miserable all alone for thanksgiving. We had a great time and ate way to much.
After everyone went home I skyped my parents at my grandpa’s house where they
were partaking in the holiday festivities. It was so awesome to see everyone, and
get to say hi.
The semester is almost over, I can’t believe it. I only have
two more weeks until I’m flying home!
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