The First Thanksgiving...

for which Robert and I were 'in charge' of the meal's execution. My parents have definitely been through the wringer the past couple of months and so Robert and I wanted to do as much of the Thanksgiving prep and cooking as possible. It really was a group effort, though - everybody chipped in and I think everything turned out pretty well! My parents let us have a go at the turkey, though, and that was my main worry. No one wants to serve up a big plate of salmonella for Thanksgiving, y'know what I mean?

Since neither Robert nor I had any turkey experience whatsoever, I decided to use the Stovalls' recipe for a honey brined turkey. They had put their recipe - with instructions! - on their blog last year and it got some rave reviews. I didn't want to pester my mom with turkey questions every five minutes so a recipe where everything is spelled out for me? Done. I made the brine, Robert manned the turkey while in the oven and aside from an initial hiccup locating the bag of "gibbly-poos" (those are giblets), the turkey was fabulous! Super moist and delicious... I think it turned out smashingly, if I do say so myself. :o)

Receiving an intial consult...




Robert was very proud of the turkey!





The pies were a big hit (I think), even without homemade crust.



This would have been a really nice photo if Garfunkel's eyes weren't so friggin' demonic-looking! Geez.