...MORE THAN WE COULD CHEW

     A couple of months ago we saw a terrific deal for turkeys. It was one of those deals you couldn't pass up. There were three prices for the general weights of turkeys. The birds were completely enclosed with plastic and there was no weight on the label.

    I had always said never buy meat that you can't see.

     The Micro Manager thought we could have a couple of meals and what was left could be chopped up to use for casseroles. Good idea! We both like roast turkey. This way two of us enjoy a whole turkey. 

     So the plan was to have the turkey on Sunday. Saturday we didn't get the turkey out early enough  to ensure complete thawing. We had visions of a roast turkey dinner at midnight.  However, the old bird was thawed in time. With no weight on the label we had to weigh the bird. It turned out to be 14 lbs which was bigger than we had thought. 

    Somewhere along the line there was a miscalculation and the bird was overdone. Oh yes, the skin could not be eaten and some of the outside meat was too crispy for consumption. 

    However, the roast bird was more than edible except for being somewhat tasteless. 

    Then take all the meat off the carcass to go in those casseroles. What a job!

   So after we finished this job we said, "What were we thinking?" We hadn't roasted a whole turkey for thirty years when the kids were still at home.

    I think we learned a lesson. We bit off more than we could chew.

Celebrating New Year's Day...a Long Time Ago

     When I was a child, in the forties and early fifties, we celebrated New Year's Day with a meal and day similar to  Christmas with out the gifts. The menu was the same.

     We alternated celebrations with Mom's cousin. The big meal took place at noon. The cousins would arrive by horses and sleigh. This was not a fun sleigh ride but was the standard and only transportation at that time.

     We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, veggies, cranberry and lots of pickles. There were usually twelve of us and we were all boys with big appetites so there wasn't much left. Delicious pie capped off the meal.

    Now I remember the delicious turkey. It wasn't the super dooper butter ball turkey which is filled full of sugar and other junk to make it taste better. We just had a plain old turkey that lived on the yard all summer where it ate grasshoppers, bugs, blades of grass, weeds and seeds. They were also fed some grain. They were the turkeys that really had flavor. To eat the turkeys sold today almost makes you cry.

    Now the afternoon was spent visiting and playing games. Sometimes the monopoly game went on all afternoon.
  
     Around 4:00 PM the Dads would go out and do the chores. The cows still had to be milked and fed.

    The evening meal was made from left overs of the noon meal. Much Christmas baking was still available and on the evening menu. After supper, more visiting and games. Sometimes there was singing. To wind all this up, there was cold turkey and ham at midnight with tea and more great Christmas baking. 

     So you see it was a full day of celebration.

    So New Year's Day , when I was a little kid, was an all day celebration.