Jo's Cafe

I think this one deserves its own post

I talked my mom into letting me host Thanksgiving this year. I never get to cook turkey for more than just me and DH! So, I get up Thanksgiving morning and check on my two defrosting birds, then put them in their brine solutions to soak for the day (I’m a Food Network junkie….and Good Eats is my favorite). Chat with Jo for a bit as she waited for her water to come back, then drag myself reluctantly from the computer and get organized.

DH wanted to grill the turkeys, beer-can style, so he went out Wednesday and got charcoal and racks, etc. At about 2pm we got started on the charcoal.

This is when everything started going wrong…..

…beginning when we realized that it was going to be a very WINDY afternoon. We expected cold of course, but not wind.

My next discovery was that DH hadn’t checked yet to see if he could actually FIT a turkey on the grill, much less two of them. :::sigh::: As he struggles with that, I prep the turkeys and try to figure out how I’ll manufacture the pans needed to cook two turkeys in the oven if it comes to that.

DH walks inside a few minutes later and asks where the fire extinguisher is. He does not sound panicked, so I figure he’s just planning ahead since the wind is really blowing things around. I inform him that we don’t have one right now (we just moved recently, and I got rid of our old one which was probably far past useless) and he then tells me I’d better bring some water. I’ve yet to ask him how it happened, but somehow he ended up putting the charcoal starter/chimney down on one of the steps to the deck. I bring the water, DH lifts the chimney, and I douse the flames. Well, we’ve got a nice conversation starter now for future deck parties….

Now we are outside making a final decision as to where the turkeys will actually cook. My son (4 1/2) is inside eating a late lunch, complaining because I didn’t cook the right number of chicken nuggets. DH decides to go inside and have a chat with him regarding patience….but he stops at the door. Our son has accidentally locked the back door — and we are now locked out. My attempts to get him to turn the little knob inside the door handle fail miserably. Thankfully, DH has our spare keys in his car.

Once we got past that, things slowly improved. There was one final incident where I stepped outside in sock feet and stepped on a small spark…OUCH!!! Anyway, we cooked one turkey on the grill and the other in the oven. We didn’t think the two birds would be done at the same time, because the wind was holding the grill temperature down — but they were done within minutes of each other. We had a great dinner (even though I forgot the cranberry sauce that I’d carefully made Monday afternoon).

Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was great, and less stressful!