2003-12-04 - 10:11 p.m. - a fowl Thanksgiving

Hmmm…..I guess I’ll write about Thankgiving which was wonderful as opposed to the behavior of my 5th period Freshmen on the second day of the new trimester. What happened to the "honeymoon" phase? I’ve only had these kids for two days and already I called the parents of six of them!!!!!! I figured I’d better nip their immature and disruptive behavior in the bud before I start doing chem labs with bunsen burners and chemicals next week! I figured if their behavior doesn’t shape up really fast, they’re going to be sitting in another room doing book work while the rest of the class does a fun chemistry lab.

If the economy weren’t so bad here, I’d be looking for another job. I think my stint with teaching is about to come to a close. 9 years and I’m burned out. The trimester schedule is too grueling and tiresome – I just don’t have it in me anymore. The summers aren’t enough for the exhaustion I feel the rest of the year. I need a more balanced life, and this job isn’t cutting it, but unfortunately, I don’t know what will…..

So – how about Thanksgiving????? Despite my complaining, I do have a lot to be thankful for. I actually have a job in a state that ranks #1 or 2 in unemployment. And there are days when I really do like what I do – unfortunately, those days seem to be fewer and fewer. I am thankful for a loving family as well as a circle of close friends. I was able to see the family of my former housemates last Tuesday as well as host a cocktail party for those who were in town the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was great to see my "West Coast" family and spend some time with them.

Last Wed., I was on the road heading up to Seattle to spend the holiday weekend with friends with whom I’ve celebrated the last 9 out of my 12 Thanksgivings here on the West Coast. The three times we weren’t together were because I was either out of the country, they were out of state, or I was in the middle of moving. Other than that, we’ve celebrated 9 of them in the Seattle area. This year’s had a special culinary treat – we didn’t have just your typical turkey for our holiday feast – we had a Turducken!! Now what is a turducken you ask?? I asked the same thing, and it is what it sounds like – a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey. My friend in Seattle who loves to cook took Wed. off from work just to prepare it. He had to de-bone each bird as well as make three different types of stuffing. During the evening, some neighbors came over and together they assembled the fowl carnage. It was a sight to see as I saw it on video – very funny due to the commentary from the neighbor’s brother who is a professional actor and was doing improv with his actress wife.

To explain it a little more (and %%diary-floodtide%%, you would appreciate this – I thought of you numerous times and was wishing you could have been witness to all of this), here’s how the turducken worked. The de-boned chicken was laid out flat on a cutting board and topped with a stuffing made of wild rice, kale and mushrooms (a delicious recipe invented by my friend). The chicken meat is wrapped around the stuffing and put aside. Next comes the duck meat laid out flat on the board and topped with a classic sausage and bread stuffing. Before wrapping the duck meat around the stuffing, the stuffed chicken is placed in the middle and then the wrapping commences. Lastly, the turkey is laid out and layered with cornbread stuffing. The chicken-stuffed-duck is put on the turkey’s stuffing and the turkey meat is wrapped around all of this. Since the leg bones of the turkey are still in place, the turkey is reassembled to resemble your typical bird minus the backbone. It looks like the turkey on steroids – really "beefed" (or dare I say "fowled"?) up. All in all, there was 26 pounds of meat that then cooked for over 8 hours in an oven at 225 (I think – I know it was below 300 degrees).

And you know what – it was delicious!! All birds were very moist – probably because the duck in and of itself has so much fat to help retain moisture. The flavors of the meats and stuffings blended together fabulously. The bird(s) are cut in slices so each slice has almost a ring of the three meats and stuffings. Very unusual, but very good. I have pictures of it but unfortunately am no longer a gold member so I can’t post them. I never knew how to do it anyway.

The dinner guests consisted of my two friends, their neighbors (husband, wife and 10 year old daughter), the neighbors’ dad, brother and wife, and two different sets of friends who for whatever reason had their normal thanksgiving day plans changed this year. 14 adults and 4 kids – the largest crowd to date, and there were still leftovers! Everyone brought side dishes (mashed potatoes, sweet potato surprise (surprise – no sweet potatoes – I use yams!), cranberry sauce, steamed veggies, salad, plenty of good appetizers and wine) to accompany the turducken so dinner went quite smoothly. The best part of it was that the cook himself liked what he cooked, which is unusual for him. He said it’s probably the best thing he’s ever made, and he’s made me many a fine meal during my numerous visits.

I have more to write about all of this, but I am tired now and am going to bed. This shall be continued.

30-something - 2005-03-01
the holding back the the flow of tears - 2005-02-20
song survey - 2005-02-15
song for the day...or perhaps the year... - 2005-01-25
something new - 2005-01-24
">next