Drunken turkey

Thursday I got up and went straight to the kitchen. Jill’s mom, Sue, was finishing one of her two stuffings to go with one of our two turkeys. I had the idea after getting an email from Magic Hat about using #9 to baste a turkey. I always cook a turkey in a cooking bag, so I had decided to just pour in the beer after I got the turkey in the bag. My mom doesn’t drink alcohol, so this meant we had a drunken turkey and a sober one, and subsequently had drunken and sober stuffings and gravy as well (though she did have some – it did pretty much cook off, but made a much richer gravy). I made cidertinis (apple cider, triple sec, and vodka) for me and Jill.

The turkey went in, and I was off to feed cats, then came back and showered and stretched. Sue and Jill were finishing up the potatoes and rutabagas, and the turkeys were almost done. I pulled them out and got the juice out, then set that aside for Sue to make the gravy. My mom and dad had arrived by then, and my mom assembled the Pillsbury rolls and biscuits, then put them in the oven. I carved the turkeys when everything was almost ready, then we sat down to eat and Jill said grace. Everything came out great, and we stuffed ourselves.

We took a break to clean up, and watched a little football. After a suitable stomach clearing time, we sat down again for coffee and pie. Jill made a chocolate pudding pie, and Mom made three pies: individual pumpkin pies, a pecan pie, and her famous apple pie (though I don’t know if I prefer the apple or pecan). Mom and Dad hung around for awhile after that, but finally headed home after 7. Sue, Robin, and Jill went to bed before too long, and Dave and I stayed up and watched TV. Dave went to bed around 12:30, but I had to stay up a little longer – we’d left the unopened sparkling pear and apple juice Dad brought in the freezer, and that was a bad idea – it shattered. It took a while to get it cleaned up, but at least the freezer’s clean now. I guess it’s karma for the Cokes I left in Mom’s freezer when I was young.

The ladies had gone to bed in order to hit the Black Friday rush. Crazy, but they wanted to get their Christmas shopping basically done in a day. More power to ’em, but I was glad to have to battle the crowds, as they were at two store openings: Kohl’s and Target. Still, they got what they wanted, and were home before I got up. Of course later they took naps, so Dave and I headed off to Tower Records in Tysons Corner. The CDs were still only 40% off, but on Thursday and Friday, it was buy 4 get 1 free, which was effectively 50%. I loaded up on CDs, 10 regular and 10 singles, and Dave got a couple DVDs. Still a good selection, I may try another Tower when they hit 50%. We got back and everyone was back up.

Everyone was getting hungry, so we had some discussion and decided to go to Charlie Chiang’s for dinner. In addition to a Chinese buffet, they serve Mongolian BBQ, and Sue was raving about one that her and Dave had been to back home. We stuffed ourselves once again, then rolled home for more pie. We exchanged gifts (since we won’t see each other until after Christmas), I got a nice selection of beer and some more hot sauces. Then Jill wanted to watch “White Christmas” as she decorated the fake tree she’d bought the previous day (time doesn’t work for a real one). We went to bed not too long after that ended.

Saturday we had leftovers for breakfast. We finished the stuffing and the bread, and almost all the pie. I went off to feed cats after that, and when I came back they were packing Jill’s car. She went to drop them off to get their train at Union Station, then stopped by Target on the way home. I took Illa for a long walk after they left, then went out on the porch to enjoy the sun and read the paper. I moved on to magazines by the time Jill got back. She wasn’t hungry and I snacked on some frozen waffles, then went to my TV backlog. I continued watching TV as I made Jade shrimp (with cilantro and spinach), but it took a while, I didn’t finish until after 10. Jill and I made an early night of it as we both had big days planned.

I made it out by 9:15 (had hoped to make it by 9), but still caught the Metro train I needed and met my dad at Largo Town Center before 11. The friends I was cat sitting for are also Redskins season ticket holders, so they’d offered me their tix for the game. We headed over to a good parking lot within walking distance we’d used before, making a stop at a nearby mall for fast food (McD’s for Dad, Popeye’s for me) and beer (Corona Light and a lime). We were parked by 11:30 and ate our food and chatted. We were in our seats well before the game, and enjoyed the usual pregame spectacle. The game was awesome – the defense finally showed up, Jason Campbell was again effective on offense, and TJ Duckett finally got some playing time. I stopped at CD Cellar on the way back (only spent $10). Jill’s big studying plans never happened, as she started not feeling well. She did some, but not a lot, and ended up going to bed early. I watched TV (read most of the paper on the train) and made myself a turkey sandwich. I was going to start an eBay auction tonight, but I think I’ll postpone that for next weekend – it’s getting late and I need to get up early tomorrow.