A Thanksgiving to remember!

This Thanksgiving won't be forgotten any time soon. There were mixed feelings - It was the first time in 6 years that Cove was home - and Rachel was not. There was good food, and bad food. In years past it has always been good food because we've spent many, many Thanksgivings with the Robinson family. Not to be with them this year was very strange. I have such an appreciation for the women of that family! Thank you for feeding me for so many years! It's so much harder than it looks! (Can we please come next year?!)

Working under the direction of Mr. Fabulously Wonderful was fun. He's a pain in the backside when he's being bossy, but it was fun to have him near so I could kiss him when I wanted to. (My kids are now thoroughly grossed out! Eh, get over it!)

Thanks to my family for letting me scratch this off my bucket list. I've done it, and don't want to do it again. I'd rather have Kraft Mac n Cheese than go through this again!

Cooking a big meal like this was HARD! The good news is that I truly believe that my family does not want a repeat and I am completely fine with that! Honey, there was a reason I stepped out of the kitchen so many years ago. You're so much better! I bow down to your superior cooking knowledge and hereby hand the spatula back to you...

What I'm grateful for...

I'm grateful for many things but I'll share just three with you.

My Faith: I am blessed to be a daughter of my Heavenly Father who knows me and loves me. I place my trust and my love in Him and His Son...

My Family: If you know me at all, you know that not only do I not cook, but that I married up. Way, way up. I have incredible peace knowing that my husband loves and adores me as much as I love and adore him. He makes me happy. I am blessed with three amazingly talented kids who I love with all my heart. They bring me joy. I have two wonderful parents who continue to shower me with love. My extended family are the kind of people you wished you belonged to. I do and I'll be forever grateful I am a member of One Man's Family.

My Friends: What is it about good friends that make your heart swell? I love that I have such great friends. Friends I can laugh hysterically with and cry my eyes out with. Friends who love me in spite of myself. Friends I can yell at and friends who will yell back at me. Friends who live near me that I can interact with on a daily basis, and friends scattered across the globe who have enriched my life in so many ways. Thank you, my friends for loving me. Dhanyawaad, meri dost.

The picture above is one of our newer family photos. We were in a silly mood, and so we took a silly picture. l to r: Randy, Tammie, Cove, Rachel and Emma

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...

Well my friends, it is over!

Here's the Good: It all came together at the same time. I was really worried about this, but it just happened. There are no left over mashed potatoes which is good because a: They were good and b: left over mashed potatoes are really yucky. There were lots of other left overs. Rachel was not able to come for dinner, but will be here in the next day or two and will take multiple containers of leftovers home with her. This is good because a: I'll know she is eating right and b: I won't have to store it anymore. (Don't worry Rachel, I put lots of marshmallows on the yams... You'll love them!)

The Bad: The rolls were just awful. This was disappointing because I have made them before and they've always turned out just fine. They are now resting comfortably in the trash.

The Ugly: What was ugly? The dang turkey was ugly. Stupid, stupid, stupid bird! Without a reliable thermometer, Mr. Wonderful(ly delusional) decided that it was probably done. People, focus on the word 'probably'. Not knowing any better, I pulled out the turkey! We let it rest for a bit and then he started carving. I kept saying, "It still looks a bit pink to me." Emma kept freaking out. Randy kept carving. Cove was in the living room watching football, blissfully unaware of what was going on in the kitchen. We're still not sure if it was done. All I know is that he got about half way through the first breast and he said, "Hmmm... What I've cut is okay, but I think I'll put the rest back in the oven." Fabulous. Not exactly the words you want to hear when you've slaved over the stupid thing! So while we had huge bowls of yams, stuffing, potatoes, salad etc., there were about 5 slices of turkey on a plate. I was tired, cranky and a bit ticked off at the dead bird for not cooking like it should have. They really should make more cooperative birds. We sat down and ate the 5 slices of "we're not quite sure if it's done" turkey.

If I start to throw up, I'm going to be really, really, really mad.

Houston, we have a problem!

Oh dear. So what does one do when your thermometer seems to be broken? The turkey has been in there for four hours and is registering at barely 130 degrees. It's a lovely brown too. By the time the stupid thing is done, it's gonna be dark brown. Have I mentioned how much I hate to cook?

The yams and stuffing are ready to go into the oven, the potatoes are on the stove, the rolls and pies are done and the stupid turkey is getting sunburned. :( The only other thing on the menu is pomegranate salad. It's is a family tradition in Randy's family. You mix bananas, apples and pomegranate seeds together with whipped cream. It's fabulous! We don't consider it Thanksgiving unless we have pomegranate salad. I must send a shout out to Aunt Margaret for the pomegranates! You rock!

Okay, back to the problem at hand. The stinking turkey. I just pulled it out and the ends are really, really tan. (Translation: pretty much burned) I may have to take a picture now because by the time it's done, it will be a lovely black. I hate this.

Can you believe this?

Unbelievable! I do all the hard work and Mr. I'm Dressed Like a Bumblebee just sits on the couch and takes a nap. The nerve of this man! (One would assume that he was watching football, but nope. He was watching a dog show. hahahahah ) Did you notice his little buddy under his right arm? That's Mathilda Mayhem. More affectionately known as Mattie May or Gooby Goob. Whenever you find Randy on the couch, you'll find Mattie next to him. They're best buds. I probably should let him sleep. He lets me sleep when he cooks. Fair is fair...

The turkey is in the oven!

If anyone can explain to me why my little family needed a 19 lb turkey, I'd be grateful. The enormous bird is now in the oven. Yes, I pulled the neck out of the main cavity and the little bag of goodies out of the turkey's bum. Then I stuffed both areas with apples, oranges, onions and sage, basted it with sage butter and salt, covered it in foil and hauled it's huge backside to the oven. And there it will remain for a number of hours. I need to finish up the yams and make the mashed potatoes. Then Randy is going to make me prepare this cranberry stuff that no one in our family has ever eaten but him and yet he insists on making massive quantities of the stuff every year. This may be the line in the sand for me...

We're rolling now...sort of!

Okay, so here's the story on the rolls... After the alloted time I checked on the rolls. They were not yet brown so I pushed them back in. Randy kept bugging me to get the turkey in and I promptly forgot about the rolls. Dusht Danav! Well, I remembered almost before it was too late. They are browner than I like them. To make matters worse, aforementioned DD tried one. They are not the best. So, if I have some time, I'm going to try it again. Aren't you proud of me for even thinking I wanted to try again? If anything must be good, it must be the rolls. If I don't have time to redo, my good friend Sara Lee will make them for me. She's so nice... (Sorry the picture is tilted. I tried to rotate it and I couldn't figure it out so you'll just need to tilt your head to the right, okay?)

Thursday morning

6:30 am

I'm up. Can someone please explain to me why anyone would want to be up this early to cook? I'm baffled. It's cold, I'm cranky and the last thing I want to do is make rolls. I think I'll go online and chat with some friends.

7:30 am

I guess I'd better put the computer down and go start the rolls. Apparently with this whole cooking thing you have to do some planning. Who knew? The rolls need to rise while the pies are in and the pies have to go in before the turkey so that they can cool while the turkey is cooking. This is just way too much to think about. It is precisely why I let Randy handle this kind of thing.

8:00 am I'VE BEEN ABANDONED!

Can you believe that my wonderful and fabulous husband has left to go on a bike ride?!?!?! Leaving me all alone in the kitchen for the next two hours. Rude! Just for that, I'll post a picture of him in his bike gear. He'll think twice about leaving me!

To see the photo, scroll way down. It's really big. He's gonna be really mad but I don't care! Hmph!

9:30 am

I'm covered in flour. It is now quite evident that I need a bigger KitchenAid. If I'm going to have to cook, I'm going to need the right tools and this old KitchenAid is just not cutting it! As I was making the dough, the flour was flying everywhere. I'm going to need a shower, and it's going to take forever to clean this kitchen up. Hmm...I could make Mr. Wonderful do it as punishment for abandoning me. Not a bad idea. So while the dough rises, I'm working on the pies. Sorry, no pretty pies for me. I'm using frozen crusts. Don't judge! I'll leave the fancy stuff up to Randy. I just gotta get these things in the oven. And yes, I know enough to cover the edges with foil until the last 5-10 minutes. (I'm not a complete idiot!) I'll keep you posted.

11:00 am He's home and I'm crying!

Mr. My-bike-ride-is-more-important-than-helping-you is home and making me cry! He walked into the kitchen, took one look at the flour that was on every counter and all over me and snidely remarked that people used to make bread with out the help of a KitchenAid. On top of that, he said that he was sure that they were not nearly as messy as I am. I think he needs to go back out on a bike ride... To top it off, he is making me chop onions and I don't like onions. They make me cry and I can't stand the smell. This cooking thing is way over-rated!

The pies are out of the oven. (Mr. Sadoo couldn't even be nice about that! "You should have filled this one more..." Grrrr.) They look alright. Nothing to brag about. Maybe next time I'll get a little fancy with the crusts. However, I'm sure they are going to be very tasty! :)

The rolls have almost risen and are about to be baked.

Once the onions are done, I'll finish with the stuffing and put the bird in!

Newsflash: He just told me I cooked the onions perfectly. He's back to being Mr. Wonderful!

Wednesday night...

8:30pm

The turkey is soaking in the brine! Quite frankly, it wasn't that big of a deal. Some chicken stock, salt, orange peel, pepper corn, bay leaves, candied ginger and apple juice and you've got yourself a brine. Looked a bit like wassil to me, but hey, what do I know? During the prep, Randy handed me an orange and asked me to slice it up. I said, "Will you please hand me my cutting board?" Okay, so it was more like, "Give me my cutting board," but let's not squabble over a few words. He looked at me and said, "YOUR cutting board????" My fabulous and wonderful husband just had a bit of an attitude and I'm not sure I like it...

9:30 pm

The yams are on to boil. These were not that big of a deal either. You wash them and put them in a pot. So far, no rocket science. Don't know about you, but I like my yams with tons of butter, brown sugar, marshmallows and walnuts. Yum. Can't wait for tomorrow!

10:00 pm

The yams are off the stove and cooling. Apparently, I can boil yams. If I can do this, I can accomplish anything...

11:00

As a good night gift to you all, I present a very appropriate video for you to watch. Click here to watch one of my favorite Mr. Bean skits. Although it takes place on Christmas, watch the whole thing and you'll see why it is relevant to my Thanksgiving plight... Enjoy! I'll see you all bright and early in the morning! First thing? Rolls, pies and then the turkey goes in... Stay tuned...

Turkey in a bucket...list.

Randy and I sat down a while back with the idea of making out our 'bucket lists'. For my friends in India who may not know what a bucket list is, it's a list of things you want to do or accomplish before you die. Who knew this seemingly harmless exercise would be so hard? Due to my severe lack of imagination, I only have about 20 things on mine. (See the Great Wall, go to India, sky dive etc.)

Since I have never, ever cooked a Thanksgiving meal in my life, it went onto my bucket list. So this Thanksgiving, I, Tammie Reber, am cooking my very first Thanksgiving meal. Because it's such a momentous occasion in the history of my little family, I have decided to blog about it so that future generations of Reber children will know of 'Grandma Tammie's First Thanksgiving Meal.' (I keep telling myself that one day I'll have grandchildren, but hey, no pressure kids! :) )

With the help of my wonderfully fabulous hubby, I embark upon this journey. Evidently, tonight I'm going to learn how to brine a turkey and boil some yams. Let's all hope that Randy has patience to teach me, and I have the patience to stay in the kitchen with him when he undoubtably will lose his patience with me.

As a side note, when trying to come up with names for this blog, one of the suggestions was "Tammie's Turkey Temptation." When Emma heard that, her comment was, "I don't think it's gonna be a temptation at all!". What a rude young woman! Who is her mother anyways? This is going to be a very long 24 hours... Wish me luck!

How it all began...

So here's the thing. I don't cook. If you know me at all, you know this about me. Why don't I cook? Aha, now there's a story...

Almost 28 years ago, I married the already handsome and soon to be wonderful and fabulous Randy. (Duh, it was because of me he became so wonderful and fabulous!) I digress... During the first week of wedded bliss, I brought out the big guns. I made tuna casserole. The next night I made meatloaf. The next night we ate the tuna casserole left overs. The next night we ate the meatloaf left overs. Then I made tuna casserole. I think you see where I'm going with this. About day seven, dear hubby came into our shoebox size kitchen and looked at me with much love in his eyes and said, "I can't take this any more. I love your tuna casserole and I love your meatloaf, but I can't continue to eat just these two things for the rest of my life." How rude! I didn't know how to make anything else! As he hugged me, I confessed to him that tuna casserole and meat loaf were the extent of my cooking repetoire! He once again looked at me with love in his eyes and said, "Not to worry. I'm a good cook." This is the precise moment when he became wonderful and fabulous! I now looked at my wonderfully fabulous, brand spanking new husband and said, "Honey, if you kick me out of the kitchen now, you will cook the rest of our married life." He threw his arms around me, kissed me passionately (we were newlyweds, remember?) and replied, "I'm willing to accept that responsibility!" (Okay, so maybe it was not quite THAT dramatic, but...) Anyways, 28 years later, we're still in love and he's still cooking... I will occasionally make meatloaf and tuna casserole, but those nights are few and far between...