I realized that I am not only surrounded by some of the greatest people on Earth, but those people are also great cooks. This attribute comes in quite handy, especially when you’re cooking for a feast like Thanksgiving, which is what we all did yesterday. For me, it was a “Home Away from Home” Thanksgiving Feast, because my parents just left a few days ago to go back to Cut Off. And I am quite happy to call these fine culinarians (my friends), family.
The main course was our cooking experiment in Southern goodness – Deep Fried Turkey.
None of us had performed this maneuver before, so everyone did their research and gathered their assigned ingredients. Easily enough, I supplied the house, some peanut oil and the all important 2×4 piece of wood, which will be explained later. Lee gathered a 12 lb turkey from his work at Hirshes’ and the all important “Flava Injector”. Nejdl’s brought the nice and shiny “Bayou Classic” turkey fryer. We were ready to rock and roll!!!
Of course, other traditional Thanksgiving items that could be found in the kitchen were Apples, Strawberries, Pecan and Pumpkin for our pie eating pleasure.
Our guest list was:
Me – The hostLee Gibson – Cook Extraordinare
Liz Gibson – Potato and Apple Pealer Mascot
Rusty Nejdl – The Frying Overseer, and Ice Cream Chef
Sarah Nejdl – Provider of Powerful Female Aura, and Precise Flava Moderator
The Fergusons (Kevin, Patty and their child Eric) and – Provider of Family Values
Jeff Stowe – Comic Relief and Cleaner of the Dishes
Rachel Clarke – Late comer, and Fun Interrogator
The prepping of the Turkey was a bit more exciting than we anticipated. I kept hearing about how some unfortunate cooks had their house burnt down from their turkey frying events. So, needless to say, I was a bit worried about doing this in front of my house, after seeing various warnings. However, I put my faith in Lee and Rusty, who are both top notch Boy Scouts and went about my hosting buisness.
One important step was that we had to inject the turkey with it’s Flava. Thankfully, we had some experts in that arena. (Interesting virtual slideshow: One, Two, Three, Four) Then for cooking the beast, we thought that we would just lower the turkey into the heated 4.5 gallons of peanut oil and wait. Thankfully, the aforementioned Boy Scouts were prepared and used a long wooden beam to lower the turkey into the hot pot. Much bubbling and spewage ensued. I hate to think what would have happened if they would have used their hands.
About 30 minutes later, like a Beautiful Symphony of Culinary Delight, everything came together perfectly. The carrots, the potatos, the salad, the wine, the cinammon bread, the turkey, the Everything. Of course, the Master Chef Gibson had first dibs on the turkey, and was quite pleased with the results. Then…we ATE LIKE KINGS!!!!
Ten minutes later…Tryptophan attack. Few were free from the Turkey’s Revenge from Beyond the Grave. Except for Jeff, who started his “calming and soothing” process of washing dishes. Noone dared distrub him.
40 winks later, the house started to smell differently. Mmmmmm…pie. And once again, the feast began. But this was no ordinary dessert feast. We had homemade ice-cream and homemade whipped cream made which was designed to send us straight to taste bud heaven. After everything was all said and eaten, Rusty pointed out that NOTHING was store-bought. Everything we ate was homemade. One thing I’m thankful for is friends that know how to cook…and do it quite well.
Soon after, the Fergusons left, baby in tow and the rest of us chilled, drank Espressos, played Tribond and discussed just about everything under the sun: Cure for Poverty. Positive impact of 9/11 on NYC. Dreams (Paintball with Pierce Brosnan???). Difference between Nerds and Geeks. What we would change our first name to (I’m just glad I’m not Barney.). The reason why Tommy has those stuffed animals. Favorite non-bathing suit place to be touched. (Back of knee-cap???). Homeland Security. Age of friends that we associate with. Wild animal we’d like to have as pet. (Ex: Dolphin, piranna, tiger) And a whole bunch of other subjects that I can’t remember because we finished up around 2-3AM.
All in all it was an AMAZING time. You can see the album for the entire event, here. And for those that missed out…I’ve got lots of leftovers. 🙂 So, come on ova’, ya here?!