Saturday, November 29, 2014

Part Two: The Feast (and the Unwelcome Trash-Can Dwellers)

A successful Thanksgiving is in the books!

I (along with my ever-helpful husband) pulled off a delicious Thanksgiving meal which we celebrated with our friends Erica and John. What a fun day! And I gotta tell you, not all that difficult.

I can tend to be a little dramatic (I prefer the word theatrical) and so, yes, I felt that this was a daunting task. What if I ruined everything and there was nothing to eat? What if I timed it all wrong and we were all just staring at each other and waiting? What if there really was a neck in the turkey and it made the rest of the bird taste terrible? Oh, the potential disasters that were brewing in my imagination. (Dramaaaaaa)
      But, as it turns out: It wasn't that hard!

Truly! Although we did the prep work that you may have read about  2 days in advance, on the day of I didn't start cooking until the afternoon. We had a relaxing morning and then a very casual: "Ok, time to get the thing in the oven then sit back on the couch." How great is that? And not to mention that Barefoot Contessa did it again: her recipe turned out utterly sensational. It could have been the 1/2 stick of melted butter that topped it all off, that sure didn't hurt.
      We had sides of (super easy) mashed potatoes and (super fast) stovetop stuffing from Trader Joes. I could honestly write an entire blog devoted to my appreciation for and allegiance to Trader Joes. How did we live without one for so long?!

I think some of the highlights of the evening, aside from the excellent and entertaining company, were the almost-but-not-quite raccoon attack and the sawing of the apple pie. (That's right... I also made fresh apple pie)

But let's talk about these raccoons. Around this area, you are considered a societal menace if you harm animals. Obvious adorable creatures like dogs, cats, etc should be included in this level of care but I'm talking about every animal, including but not limited to the demonic raccoons that live all around campus. I hate them.

I understand this is a strong word (as I mentioned, I'm theatrical) but it is the truth. These mangy creatures live inside and around the trash cans and they are pure evil. One of the first things we were told upon arriving on campus in July was to not take out your trash at night.... because the raccoons will fight you. They know you can't harm them- so they stare at your with their beady eyes and wait for you to drop your trash and run. And run, you will.
    A few weeks ago, I was trying to explain the hellish nature of these mongrels to Erica and suffice it to say, she didn't believe me. When she generously offered to take (our first round of) trash out after dinner, we pleaded with her that it was not a good idea. She is so kind and really wanted to help... so she heads out the door up to the garbage cans when she hears a rustling that she mistakes as another neighbor taking their trash out.
"Hello?..."
.......
.......
(appearance of evil creature, surely with demonic background music playing)
"OH S%^T!!!"
and she ran into back to the apartment.

Hate them.


The apple pie story isn't nearly as good as that one. Basically, I just cut through the $2 foil pie pan and got pie insides all over the table cloth. It was fine and we finished the pie anyway.

See, I told you the raccoon story was better.



I forgot to take a picture of the tasty bird after it was pulled from the oven, oops.
This is mid-carving.... which we also googled.






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