Turkey By Candlelight

My friends and I get together about once a week and have a group dinner. It's a good way to keep in touch, and it forces my wife and I to eat something besides Mac & Cheese. My parents had given us a turkey on our last visit. I forget why they had a turkey, but we ended up with it. We had also received a bunch of sweet corn from my brother-in-law, so it seemed predestined that we would do a Thanksgiving practice run.

We had never cooked a turkey before, and we were a bit nervous about how it was all going to turn out. We figured we could get pizza quick enough to cover any disasters. A friend pointed us to this product for our adventure with the fowl. It looked easy, and Reynolds even supplied a simple Holiday recipe.

After borrowing a roasting pan, we removed the turkey from it's wrapping. The first thing we learned is that the neck bone is stored in the chest cavity while the 'giblets' are stored in the neck. Why are the giblets stored in the neck? I have no idea, but I guess it's fair since the neck bone is where the giblets use to be.

Anyway, we lovingly messaged the herbs and spices into the bird, and wrapped the sucker up. When I got home from work I knew we'd done something right. The smell was amazing. I cut the bag open and pulled the turkey out. The second thing we learned is that the bag is no good if you want any kind of presentation. The meat just came off the bones in my hand. Good and tasty, but very messy. We opted for the pile of meat on a plate, as opposed to the pile of meat around a bony carcass.

We set the table for 11 adults, 4 kids, and 3 babies. Our little house considers that to be 'bursting'. Everyone arrives, and things go without a hitch, unless you count the mixing of turkey stuffing and chicken stuffing. We're still discussing the prudence of that move.

Everyone is eating and talking, and I'm cutting the last loaf of home bread machine made bread. Suddenly the life giving electricity gives up. Uh oh. I check the breaker box, nothing. I go outside where an seemingly random group of houses have lost power. Goodie. A friend navigates our utility companies automated phone system while we serve dessert. It should be fixed between 1 and a half and 3 hours.

Just picture this for a bit. 18 bodies in a small house. It's 95 degrees outside, and the inside is working its way up. We're all talking by flashlight, while the kids blindly run around in the dark. The very definition of 'good times'.