This has been a bizarrely interesting week. Stressful but fun, crazy but chill, normal but not so normal... Overall it feels like the past week was more like two or three weeks stirred into a blur.
It started with manic Monday and a Halloween that ended up being really fun. Short-lived, but fun. The costume was thrown together just ten minutes before walking out the door. I'd really like all of you to believe though that it was many weeks in the making :) little r wore that costume so very well. Mommy was proud. He also now loves candy - oops...
For some reason I did an insane amount of cooking this week. Ok, not quite as insane as a chef or anything, but for me, it was quite a bit more than I'm accustomed to. I got creative because recipes are killing me lately. Never having all the ingredients or "tools" to cook a yummy meal I found in a recipe book is about putting me over the edge. So I took matters into my own hands and started making things up. I call it, "what's in the pantry, what's in the fridge" and mix the flavors until something seemingly great results. I have to say, so far so good around here. Or at least no one has died from food poisoning yet, so something is going right.
I also cooked a turkey this week. Yep, you read that right - a turkey. The JAG office here was having a Thanksgiving lunch (a tad bit early, but hey, I don't plan these things), and my awesome JAG spouse buddy, who has also been a vegetarian from birth (yes, meaning her ENTIRE life) was tasked with cooking a turkey. Is it just me or does this seem wrong on so many levels? It didn't take more than a few short moments before I had volunteered to cook one of the turkeys. I wasn't really sure how I would go about doing it in my tiny German kitchen, but I was fairly certain the oven would fit one. I was given the instructions that someone from the office would be contacting me by email about how I will secure this turkey I am to roast, and the rest would be history. I did get the fancy turkey, but not until Tuesday evening (for various reasons that I will omit because it will make this blog post a lot longer than necessary), and much to my surprise (not really, I honestly fully expected it) the turkey was frozen solid. Awesome. I didn't know much about turkeys, but I did know that you don't want the turkey frozen solid the night before you are about to cook it.
My mom was out of town working her tail off - AGAIN (she's the busiest retired person I know) - so my next go-to was the internet. I refused to fail my JAG buddy on this task because she was relying on me. I found some good information about cooking a frozen turkey. Turns out it can be done as long as you have plenty of time to cook it. And that is no joke. You have to have A LOT OF TIME to cook a frozen turkey. I didn't want to risk spoiling the meat by trying to thaw it with water and figured I had already accounted for being home all day to get the turkey taken care of. I waited until naptime because I couldn't handle the thought of my maniacal child getting turkey juice all over him and requiring serious medical attention. Not worth it. Especially being in my tiny kitchen, accidents were bound to happen.
It took nine hours for that turkey to cook to perfection. NINE HOURS. Let me tell you though, that was one very incredible turkey. Something about the turkey cooking and thawing at the same time really keeps it moist and flavorful. If you have the time on Turkey day to cook for NINE HOURS, I'd say give it a gander. I was so proud of my turkey that I had Big R take one of his fancy pictures of it.
Yeah, this week was a little bizarre. The kid went completely crazy and has reverted to mass destruction of all things holy in this house. The old dog is hungry as a horse and won't stop growling at me meanwhile now thinking that being old means she can do anything and everything she wants whenever she wants (including pooping on the floor). Things were stressful and hilarious at the same time. Big R had an annoying week at the office where I was at one point convinced the devil had taken him from the office and tied him up there only to send home a man that had lost his mind and he finished it off playing video games and drinking beer with a new pal. I spent part of my week pulling out my hair, chasing little r, feeding the dog, and cooking a turkey. Somewhere in there I attempted to help out a friend waiting for her household goods and got a lovely run in with my JAG buddy. We have forgotten how to do normal. Despite probably needing a week to relax at home and get ready for what is likely to be another crazy week, we are instead finding ourselves racing to the bus to head to the market on a Saturday morning, and brainstorming on what day trip we can take tomorrow to do some exploring (meanwhile really wishing it were still warm enough to take a bike ride through the countryside). Will we go on an adventure tomorrow? It's tough to say. If we do, stay tuned and I'm sure I'll write a blog about it...
It started with manic Monday and a Halloween that ended up being really fun. Short-lived, but fun. The costume was thrown together just ten minutes before walking out the door. I'd really like all of you to believe though that it was many weeks in the making :) little r wore that costume so very well. Mommy was proud. He also now loves candy - oops...
For some reason I did an insane amount of cooking this week. Ok, not quite as insane as a chef or anything, but for me, it was quite a bit more than I'm accustomed to. I got creative because recipes are killing me lately. Never having all the ingredients or "tools" to cook a yummy meal I found in a recipe book is about putting me over the edge. So I took matters into my own hands and started making things up. I call it, "what's in the pantry, what's in the fridge" and mix the flavors until something seemingly great results. I have to say, so far so good around here. Or at least no one has died from food poisoning yet, so something is going right.
I also cooked a turkey this week. Yep, you read that right - a turkey. The JAG office here was having a Thanksgiving lunch (a tad bit early, but hey, I don't plan these things), and my awesome JAG spouse buddy, who has also been a vegetarian from birth (yes, meaning her ENTIRE life) was tasked with cooking a turkey. Is it just me or does this seem wrong on so many levels? It didn't take more than a few short moments before I had volunteered to cook one of the turkeys. I wasn't really sure how I would go about doing it in my tiny German kitchen, but I was fairly certain the oven would fit one. I was given the instructions that someone from the office would be contacting me by email about how I will secure this turkey I am to roast, and the rest would be history. I did get the fancy turkey, but not until Tuesday evening (for various reasons that I will omit because it will make this blog post a lot longer than necessary), and much to my surprise (not really, I honestly fully expected it) the turkey was frozen solid. Awesome. I didn't know much about turkeys, but I did know that you don't want the turkey frozen solid the night before you are about to cook it.
My mom was out of town working her tail off - AGAIN (she's the busiest retired person I know) - so my next go-to was the internet. I refused to fail my JAG buddy on this task because she was relying on me. I found some good information about cooking a frozen turkey. Turns out it can be done as long as you have plenty of time to cook it. And that is no joke. You have to have A LOT OF TIME to cook a frozen turkey. I didn't want to risk spoiling the meat by trying to thaw it with water and figured I had already accounted for being home all day to get the turkey taken care of. I waited until naptime because I couldn't handle the thought of my maniacal child getting turkey juice all over him and requiring serious medical attention. Not worth it. Especially being in my tiny kitchen, accidents were bound to happen.
It took nine hours for that turkey to cook to perfection. NINE HOURS. Let me tell you though, that was one very incredible turkey. Something about the turkey cooking and thawing at the same time really keeps it moist and flavorful. If you have the time on Turkey day to cook for NINE HOURS, I'd say give it a gander. I was so proud of my turkey that I had Big R take one of his fancy pictures of it.
Yeah, this week was a little bizarre. The kid went completely crazy and has reverted to mass destruction of all things holy in this house. The old dog is hungry as a horse and won't stop growling at me meanwhile now thinking that being old means she can do anything and everything she wants whenever she wants (including pooping on the floor). Things were stressful and hilarious at the same time. Big R had an annoying week at the office where I was at one point convinced the devil had taken him from the office and tied him up there only to send home a man that had lost his mind and he finished it off playing video games and drinking beer with a new pal. I spent part of my week pulling out my hair, chasing little r, feeding the dog, and cooking a turkey. Somewhere in there I attempted to help out a friend waiting for her household goods and got a lovely run in with my JAG buddy. We have forgotten how to do normal. Despite probably needing a week to relax at home and get ready for what is likely to be another crazy week, we are instead finding ourselves racing to the bus to head to the market on a Saturday morning, and brainstorming on what day trip we can take tomorrow to do some exploring (meanwhile really wishing it were still warm enough to take a bike ride through the countryside). Will we go on an adventure tomorrow? It's tough to say. If we do, stay tuned and I'm sure I'll write a blog about it...
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