Living in Contra Costa County

The Daunting Task of the Pilgrims!

Sometimes it is hard to see history from the perspective of those that lived it.  In today's popular culture they are often portrayed as greedy, narrow minded, and conquers.

What they were were people desiring freedom and to serve God as they saw fit.

Every year the Wall Street Journal Publishes Excerpts in the Pilgrims on words that describes the trepidation they felt in setting out for the New World.  It was not love of money or hatred that drove them - No one would go through what they went through except for a love of God and a desire to live free.

Click here to see what the Wall Street Journal has to say

Thanksgiving is my one of my favorite Holidays. 

Every year we invite over Friends and Family to share with us.  We make an effort to put out our best food and everything.  We spend all week cleaning the house.  Part of the incentive for the kids is that Friday is the day we begin to decorate for Christmas and get the house ready for Santa.

This year the crowd will be small.  My older sons are with their mom.  The only guest will be my brother-in-law and one old friend of mine who is single.  We invited others but this year it seems everyone is busy or has other plans. 

But this does not mean it will not be a great day.  One think I like about Thanksgiving is it is not about the money it is about the attitude.  In reality if you don't have a lot of money a Thanksgiving feast is not that expensive.  I have been through the lean times and know. Turkey is cheap if you shop around.  How you Cook the Turkey will have more to do with the flavor than how expensive it is.  The rest of the feast - Potatoes, Stuffing, Gravy, and a small pie, maybe some yams (or sweet potatoes) does not cost that much.

I do not mean to be insensitive to those in need.  It has been a hard year for us and we are cutting back some too (but not cutting back on the Thanks).  But these foods are inexpensive foods and there are plenty of food boxes, food pantries and charities providing for those in need.

The real issue with Thanksgiving is what will you do with what you have!  Will you take care in making it? Will you share it? Will you make the meal special?  Set the table nice!  If all you have is old plates and silver wear then that is all you need.  Pick some flowers and make a nice center piece.  Let the kids color something. 

We are moving the table from the kitchen into the dinning room.  The table will be set with the nice table cloth, the good dishes and silver and well decorated - this costs us nothing now.  Some may not have these things, my point is take what you have and decorate it up.  Make it different - Your Kids will feel the specialness. 

Lastly take the time to Give Thanks to God for the all that you have, in good times or bad, know that he loves you and wants good things for you.  No matter how humble your circumstance your attitude will shape the Holiday.  Joy, Peace, Love, and good cheer are infectious - Spread them around.  Be a Blessing to those around you!

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas

Making a Really Good Turkey!

I am not going to give you an exhaustive recipe, but I am going to give you some ideas about some secrets to making a good turkey.

1. Most of us over cook the Turkey.  This is for several reasons, The main one being because that is how Mom did it.  Many Turkey timing methods were developed back when Turkeys had more fat and dark meat, they would still stay moist with long cooking times.  Also people were scared of disease from under cooked poultry, so the solution was to over cook it. 
   
   Get a good meat thermometer.  The bird will cook faster than you think, trust the Thermometer.  My Bird (about 12 pounds) will cook in about 2 hours and be perfect. Read the Rest of this post to find out why!
   
   
2. Do not get too big of a Turkey.  I am one of those guys that likes to do everything big.  Guys like me all want a 30 lbs bird.  Well big birds cook uneven.  a 10-12 lbs bird will cook even and taste great.  If you need more bird cook two.  If you cook two you can use a couple different recipes and get two different taste.
   
   
3. Try putting the Bird in a brine for a couple of days before cooking it.  This is a mixture of salt, ice water, broth, juices and different herbs and spices.  This makes the best turkey I have every had, it can also be expensive putting the brine together.  You can search on line for different ways to do this.  Alton Brown from the food network has a great one we have used.
   
   
4. Deep fried turkey is very good and cooks fast.  My problem is it is hard to work with all that oil over a huge burner in the back yard.  It can be messy and dangerous.  Don't be the idiot I read about in the paper every year that tries to fry it in the house or the garage and kills himself and burns the house down.   The cost of the oil is more than the turkey.  When I figured this out I decided if I were going to spend that much money I was not going to eat turkey. (Turkey is good because it is a cheap meat.)  Given all of that if you want go ahead and try it, it can be really good.  Or try buying a pre-cooked fried turkey.
   
   If you do decide to fry at home have a bunch of things to fry lined up.  People talk about saving and recycling the oil.  Forget it, just fry till you cannot fry no more and the oil goes.  You can strain the oil and clean it out.  After you cook the turkey do French Fries.  The potatoes will pull the flavors out of the oil and help clean it.  We have done pumpkin fritters in the used oil, onion rings, chicken wings and many other things.
   
   
5. Cook the bird outside on the weber.  This is easier than it sounds.  Low heat is the key.  Put a drip pain with water on the center of the coal rack and put about a dozen hot coals on each side.  Cover the Weber (with the vents open) and cook.  One big advantage of this is it keeps your oven free inside for cooking other things.
   
   
6. We have an electric roasting pan someone gave us as a wedding present.  I have found it cooks very fast and gets my turkey done quick, but not dry if I pull it out in time.  I will use this or the Weber this year.  I will probably cook the ham in the roaster and go outside with the turkey.
   
   
7. I grew up stuffing the bird.  My wife feels this can posse a health risk.  Not worth the fight for me.  I love dressing and will take it either way.  However, the bird cooks faster and more even without the stuffing.  But you can put seasoning in the cavity of the bird that will enhance the flavor while it cooks, onions, apples, oranges, sage, cilantro - go wild find out what you like.
   
   
8. Make sure the bird is well oiled.  I rub it down with olive oil and then season.  My dad used to shove butter under the skin.  I have injected fluids into the bird with a large needle made for this purpose.
   
   
9. Some people like to cook the bird top down so the fat from the dark meat works it's way down into the white meat to keep it dry and add flavor.  I have never noticed much difference.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless you and your family this year.