Our First Turkey

This year, Kevin and I decided to host Thanksgiving. I was waffling on if I wanted to try to pull it off until pretty much the week of, so it was a bit of a last minute plan in terms of inviting folk. In the end I decided I really, really, really wanted to get a good turkey and just go for it. So, we invited a few friends and thankfully (ha!) enough of them were able to come to make it a festive evening. And eat the eleven pound turkey I purchased.

I'm going to ramble for a bit about the turkey itself before I get into the cooking and Thanksgiving merriment because it felt like a big deal for me to buy a turkey. If you already know my philosophy or don't care to read it you may want to skip ahead to the pictures. It all started when I read The Ethics of What We Eat. The book examines why our food choices matter. For ourselves, the environment, and the animals we're eating. It's not super preachy, but it does give lots of reasons for eating less meat or not eating meat at all. Factory farming, human health, sustainability, etc. Since then, Kevin and I have been on the vegetarian spectrum. I call it a spectrum because we've swung from eating no meat at all to eating some meat to throwing our meat eating standards out the window at some points (like when we went to Tunisia...it would be impossible and silly to try to be a vegetarian there. I believe in cultural exceptions). The main point is we think more about how much meat we eat and where it comes from. Where we are right now is cooking almost exclusively vegetarian at home and only ordering meat dishes out when it has been sourced from a place we feel okay about. And things foraged (like razor clams), fished, or hunted are always okay.

So. This turkey. It was a Heidi's Hen purchased from our local Bill the Butcher. Yes, I did spend more than I'd like to say on it. But I'm okay with that being a once a year thing. And between the full meal for eight, week of leftover turkey sandwiches, and turkey noodle soup we got out of it I think she was worth it. If meat is cheap, there's a reason. And that reason means I don't want to buy it and eat it no matter how much money I'll save. Because when it comes down to it, what we eat is one of the most important things we do economically and personally. I think that's worth the money. Okay, rant over.

I have watched my mother prepare a turkey many a year, and even participated in that turkey making. However, since we haven't been back home for Thanksgiving since moving to Washington, it had been awhile. And this year we were all on our own. And we took a chance with cookware, but more about that later. We started the night before by unwrapping our turkey and letting it sit out naked in the fridge to dry out. I had read about this trick on several blogs and Kevin confirmed that they used to do this when he worked in a kitchen. It helps the skin get nice and crispy and brown. The next day, we patted it dry even more with paper towel and gave the skin a salt rub.

Then, it was time to put our new cookware to the test. We had recently acquired the most fantastic Le Creuset oval French oven via friend Sarah. Her grandmother had quite a substantial collection of Le Creuset cookware, which was recently passed on to Sarah. This particular piece was a bit overkill for Sarah's liking, so she passed it on to us. I know, right?!? Thanks Sarah and family!

As soon as I saw it, I got it in my head that it's purpose in life was to roast my Thanksgiving turkey. When I shared this excitedly with others, I was met with some skepticism. People told me that I should abandon that idea and get a cheap foil roasting pan instead (which we don't own). The main reasons were focused on the skin not crisping and the meat becoming poached rather than roasted from the steam. The general idea was that high sides and lid were not good for turkey roasting. I did some searching online for others who had used a Le Creuset this way, and found some of these concerns confirmed. But, then I also found a few blogs that described this as the French way of cooking most poultry. Kevin and I discussed it, and decided to go for it, using this recipe for potted chicken as a guide.

As the recipe suggests, we started on the stovetop to get the browned and crispy skin that others had warned about. We started where most good recipes start: a stick of butter. Have I mentioned we're nowhere close to vegan? Butter = yum.

We browned the turkey on both sides in the melted butter, adding more butter before flipping it. Flipping a sizzling, whole, eleven pound turkey is terrifying by the way.


After browning both sides, we took it out of the pan and set it aside. It looked like this. Nice and brown and ready to eat on the outside. Except entirely raw on the inside, so be sue to resist the urge to snack yet at this point.

Next, we added some rough chopped carrots, celery, pearl onions, garlic, and rosemary to the pan. And more butter because why not. I also pitched a few veggies and herbs into the turkey cavity, too, for good measure. Pitched is not an expression here. The turkey went back in the pan on top of the veggies and the whole shabang went into the oven with the lid on for the first bit.

This is where things got a bit fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants. Mostly because we weren't sure how long it would take to cook in the french oven. In a roasting pan, our turkey should have taken about four hours. But I had read that time would be shorter using this potted turkey method. I just wasn't sure how much shorter. What we did know is that we needed to flip it again at some point, take the lid off at the end to give it a final brown, and make sure the internal temperature reached 165.

At around the two hour mark we pulled it out, and spooned over some of the juices. At this point it smelled amazing. And looked amazing. And was nearly at 165.

At this point we were still hours away from dinner time and didn't want the turkey to be overcooked or dry. We decided to flip it and checked it again after about 30 minutes. Then, we temp-ed it again and were at 165. So, we took the lid off and gave it another 30 minutes to brown. Here's what she looked like!

Our turkey was most certainly done. Because we were still a bit far from dinner time, I pulled it out of the oven, replaced the lid securely, and let her sit on the warm oven to keep warm. I had read in my online research that the turkey will stay very warm this way if you leave the lid on the hot pan. And indeed it did. She was still steaming hot and at 165 by the time we were ready to eat.

In the end, the turkey being done early turned out to be a great thing because it opened up the oven completely for more rolls, yams, and stuffing. Overall, it was so much fun to cook our first Thanksgiving meal together and share a wonderful evening with friends. Here's a snippet of how we spent our post-pie evening:

52 Tuesday's: Favorite CHRISTMAS Thrifts #23

What: Wee Ceramic Christmas Tree
Where: Bethesda Thrift Store, Milwaukee
Level of Love: 8 out of 10

For the rest of December I'm going to share my favorite Christmas-related thrifts. I love Christmas, and have collected quite a few holiday things over the years, so it's going to be hard to pick!

This first item is a recent find and is making its Christmas holiday decor debut this year. I picked it up in Milwaukee while spending a wonderful day of thrift and vintage shopping with my Aunt Dee. She knows all the best places. The only reason I gave it an 8 is because the size is just a wee bit...well...wee. I wish it were just a little bit bigger. Or, I'd love to have it be one of a set. I'll be keeping my eye out for other similar trees at the thrifts this season and would love to create a little forest of them! Or

FO: A Shawl for Aunt Dee

I recently finished up this shawl for my Aunt Dee and had the pleasure of delivering it to her in person during a recent trip to the Milwaukee area. I'll admit I was down to the wire to finish this one before my trip and was literally taking it off the blocking board the morning of my flight. Yikes! It was totally worth it to be able to deliver it in person, though. Love you Aunt Dee!

 The yarn was an absolute dream to work with. It's Manos del Uruguay Fino in Garnet Brooch purchased from Bad Woman Yarn. It's a blend of 30% silk and 70% extrafine merino, which makes it super soft, warm, strong, and light all at the same time, with a beautiful drape. It also has a very generous yardage per hank which means I used well under one hank for this project. And the color! Aunt Dee requested a burgundy red, and I was happy to find this beautiful shade. As you can tell from the blocking pictures, it has a beautiful yet subtle variegation in color that comes from being kettle dyed. One of the best things about Manos del Uruguay is that it's actually a non profit organization and member of the World Fair Trade Organization, whose yarns are spun and dyed by cooperatives of women in the rural areas of Uruguay. Now...what to do with the quarter-ish hank I've got left...



The patterns is one I've been wanting to knit for awhile (ever since friend Rachel made one for me as a wedding gift). It's called Shetland Triangle by Eveyln Clark. To quote the pattern notes, "The dramatic swirl of stitches on this shawl is created by Fir Cone lace, a traditional pattern from the Shetland Islands that is simple to knit and easy to memorize."Indeed, it was very easy to memorize and enjoyable to knit. As a matter of fact, I think this is the quickest shawl I've ever made at just under two weeks. Phew!

For my fellow knitters, you can find it Raveled here. 

Razor Clam Adventure

This past Sunday, we went on an adventure in search of razor clams. Kevin had actually been once before, but this was my first time. This worked out great as he was able to show me the tricks he learned and stay calm as I freaked out a little bit about my digging skills. Our friends Anthony and Aaron were also able to come along this time and we were later joined by Mike and Cici, who Kevin had gone clamming with the first time.

Razor clams are these sort of long and fairly skinny clams with delicate, beautiful shells and two longer appendages sticking out of each side of the shell. They live in the sand vertically, using one appendage to burrow down into the sand while shooting sand and water out of the other end. I think they’re fairly disgusting looking, but I quickly got over this in the thrill of the dig. 

We set out around noon for a stretch of beach near Grayland, WA on the Olympic Peninsula. I have to say I thought the fellas were making a joke about the weather when they told me we were going to “Grayland” (it was a bit dreary) but nope, that’s actually the name. After stopping a few times for more clamming gear, licenses, and lunch, we arrived at the beach and found a spot to start. This was my second time driving on the beach and I think I managed to hold it together a little bit better than the first time. To me it feels like you're going to spin out or get stuck - a bit like driving on ice - but I kept my cussing to a minimum (unlike last time).

The process of digging for clams is fairly straightforward but it still took me quite a few digs to really get a feel for it and be confident. You start by walking along the beach near the water, as the tide is going out. As Kevin explained, much depends on hitting the tide right and being at the right distance from the water. As you walk, you hit the sand hard (with your shovel, clam gun, by stomping your feet, etc.) then look for the little air/sand/water spout hole that the clams leave when they dig. This tells you where they are. On a side note, isn't it sort of unfortunate that their defensive mechanism (digging down further when they sense the vibration of something near) is actually the thing that gets them caught? 

Once you see the "tell", you position your clam gun – don't ask me why it’s called a gun – over the air hole and wiggle it down into the sand. As you do this, you have to feel for the clam shell because it’s easy to hit the clam and accidentally crush the shell. Then, you plug the little air hole on the top of the gun with your finger to create a suction and use your back legs to pull out the sand plug. 

Sometimes, if you hit it just perfect and dig far enough, the clam will be in the sand plug you pulled out and you can just pick it up. Or – and this turned out to be the most thrilling part for me – you might dig just a little too shallow and you'll see a little water spout or even the very tip of the clam furiously digging down into the now-soupy hole you've created. At this point, you can reach your hand down into the sand soup and scope out your catch. I thought I was going to be really squeamish about this part. I grew up as the type of child who always begged her daddy take the fish off the hook, a duty that has now been passed down to Kevin despite my best efforts. I know, it’s a mental block. However, I'm happy to report that on my very first clam I enthusiastically plunged my hand into the sand soup, got a firm hold of my clam, and triumphantly pulled him (or her?) out. Phew!

The most difficult part turned out to be finagling the clam gun so as not to crush the shell. The shells are really very fragile and it took a surprisingly gentle touch. You really had to wiggle the clam gun down slowly and be very sensitive to feeling the shell. Then, if you hit it, you had to pull it out just a little, reposition it, change your angle a bit, and re-wiggle the core. When we first started, I crushed a few pretty badly and I felt just terrible. If you crush them they die, which is fine, but not if you can’t manage to get them out. Or you might not get the whole thing. The limit is 15 per person, and the goal is to get one out of every hole you dig so that you're not exposing or accidently killing and leaving clams that you don’t take. I think I only crushed and wasn't able to pull two at the very beginning, but it was enough for me to hand the digger to Kevin and tell him he should do the rest. Luckily my husband is awesome, and replied that instead, how about he just coach me on how to do it better on the next one? Yep, he’s the best.

Despite a slower start, by dusk we were all able to dig our limit. The not so fun part is cleaning and breaking them down when you get home, and we were up until midnight finishing up our 30 clams. We fried up a few right away, and I've got plans to make this clam chowder recipe with at least some of the others. Hurray for adventures on the beach with friends!

52 Tuesday's: Favorite Thrifts #22

What: Harlequin Teacups 

Where: Columbus Antique Mall

Level of Love: 10 out of 10 (except I wish I had the suitcase space/luggage space/disposable income to actually have bought 10 of them) 

I was recently back in Wisconsin for a friend visit (peppered by a lovely day spent with wonderful Southern-Wisconsin family) and my good friend Lindsey took me to one of her favorite local-ish antique malls. She knows me too well! And she also enjoys antiques and thrifty things and is thus an excellent shopping mate. 

Here are a few things about the Columbus Antique Mall. One: it claims to be Wisconsin's largest antique mall (although it's website has an asterisk next to this? there is no footnote to go along with this asterisk. the asterisk may actually be a typo). Two: it includes a Christopher Columbus Museum that is self-described as a world class exhibit (no asterisk there...they say it came from an actual World's Fair exhibit. Who knew). Three: it may very well be the best antique store I've ever been to. I am not exaggerating here and do not mean to diminish all of the other wonderful antique places I've been to and loved. However, the Columbus Antique Mall is just super fantastic. 

Case in point: These two wonderful, perfect Harlequin teacups!!! Purchased for a mere $2.50 each. Can you believe it?!? I hardly could. I've seen them hovering mostly in the $10 range at other shops, if I see them at all. Their delicate little handles and relatively short production time makes them a bit more rare than most of the other things I like to collect. Plus, then were sold exclusively through Woolworth's instead of being at a variety of retailers. 

If these little beauties seem a little familiar, it may be because they're an awful lot like these from this post: 

They look alike because they were conceived by the same designer who made Fiestaware - Fredrick Rhead - and were manufactured by Homer Laughlin in the same colors (with a few exceptions I think). Before I knew any better / got curious and did some quality internet research, whenever I saw Harlequin at stores I assumed it was Fiestaware knock-off stuff because the shapes are similar but not the same, the colors are the same, and they don't have a back stamp. Now, I love seeing Harlequin and get especially giddy over these perfect little retro-futuristic (no I didn't just make that up) teacups with their unique shape and delicate handles. Someday, I hope to score a teapot to add to my collection...maybe next time Columbus Antique Mall. Maybe next time. 

October in Instagrams

Where did October go??? I know it's a total cliche, but this month seriously flew by. The weather has changed here in Seattle, but we've also still had quite a few sunny days. Honestly, I can't even remember this month's highlights, so I'll have to jump right into pictures and let them speak for themselves (with captions clockwise from top left as I jog my memory):

1) Toast with cheese spread and fig jam from the Mediterranean food store. 2) A happy bike-makeover afternoon in our living room followed by 3) A happy light filled and friend filled kitchen moment. 4) Best. Book. And fresh manicure.

1) Starting Mom and Jim's visit off with a trip east to see the salmon spawning in the Snoqualmie River. 2) Kevin scanning for (and spotting) big horn sheep in the Yakima River canyon with the most beautiful light. 3) Mom playing pilot at the Future of Flight exhibit. 4) Pretty fall colors are the best.

1) Jim enjoying a best-burger-in-Seattle (in our opinion) from Lil' Woody's for his birthday. 2) Mom and I got matching mini pumpkin pies while visiting the Space Needle. 3) BACK IN WISCONSIN! And eating obligatory deep fried cheese curds from Mullen's Cheese. 4) Grocery shopping in Wisconsin and I realize how much I miss Milwaukee brand pickles. It's nostalgia in a jar.

1) Mom and I decide to take a canoe ride to the island on our lake while I'm home and 2) I make her snap a selfie with me. 3) Going through old photo albums and I stumble across this picture of my dad as the most adorable little kid circa 1940. 4) My old thrift store stomping grounds in Wisconsin. A must stop.

Boeing Day

During Mom and Jim's recent visit (which you'll know ended in me flying home with Mom for a bit if you read this post) one of our main goals was to spend a day visiting all of the different Boeing attractions around Seattle. The main motivation - other than the sheer coolness in Seattle for a short time in the 1940's. This was something completely unknown to me until Kevin and I announced we were planning to move to the area, at which point Grandpa very animately announced he had lived in Seattle once, too, and worked at Boeing building airplanes until being drafted into World War II. From the way he told it, being drafted was the only reason he left and he had at least somewhat thought of coming back but never did for one reason or another. He talked about really loving his time in Seattle and about getting a kick out of watching the cars slide down the downtown hills from wintertime ice.

Early Boeing Company Sign at the Museum of Flight 

So, we set out early on a Saturday morning to spent the day doing all things Boeing. We started in Everett with the Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour. Now, Grandpa most certainly never worked here since the Everett factory was opened in 1967. However, we still wanted to visit the factory since we figured Grandpa would like hearing about what current aircraft production was like there. As I alluded, the Everett plant is the largest building in the world by volume (472,370,319 cu ft), which is pretty astounding. This is where they build the 747s, 777s, and the brand new 787s. It was super cool to see not just one but several full sized airplanes at different build stages inside such a massive building. Apparently it's so huge that when they first opened the plant it created it's own indoor weather, and clouds formed up near the ceiling until they installed a new ventilation system. My favorite part was the 777 room, where they build the planes assembly line style on a very slow moving production line. We weren't allowed to take any photos in this area, so check out the links I've impeded throughout the post if you'd like to take a peek.

The Future of Flight center was pretty cool, too. Since I'm a kid at heart I loved the interactive displays, especially the one where you got to test the weight and flexibility of different plane-building materials and see which parts of the airplane are made out of what. Carbon fiber is where it's at ya'll. We also got to take a seat inside of a retired cockpit and play with all the bobbins and switches to our hearts content. I got a big kick out of seeing that there really is a fasten seatbelt switch in the cockpit. I had always suspected that when the flight attendants say "the captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign" they were really just flipping the switch themselves to make all the annoying passengers sit down and just saying it was the "captain" to make it sound official.

From Everett, we made a quick dash down to the Museum of Flight in Sodo, and started our visit off there with a guided Boeing Field tour. This turned out to be the highlight of the day thanks to our awesome guides. They were both WWII vets who clearly had a passion for aviation and really knew their stuff. As we drove around Boeing Field - which is currently a working commercial airport as well as being one of the places Boeing does it's test flights - they told us about the history of the area. Here we encountered something unexpected. Mom remembered Grandpa telling her that in addition to working at Boeing, he also took flying lessons in the hopes of getting his pilots license. So, during the tour our guide pointed out Galvin Flying Services, a flight company that has been doing flying lessons on Boeing Field since 1930. More than likely, this was were Grandpa took his lessons. How cool is that!?! He wasn't able to get his hours in before being drafted, and although he did fly in planes during the war, he was part of the cargo plain crew and not a pilot.

At the end of the tour, we stayed behind to chat with our guide and ask him about where someone might have worked and what they would have built around 1942. He said without hesitation that it would have been at Plant 2, which was built in 1940.

Our guide showing us a photo of Plant 2 from the outside

Another photo of Plant 2 inside the Museum of Flight 

Unfortunately, we weren't able to see that facility in person as it was demolished in 2011 (a lesson to not build things on wetlands folks). But, we were able to see lots of pictures of both the outside and production floor of Plant 2 in the Museum of Flight exhibits. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was looking for Grandpa's face in each of the factory floor pictures. One interesting thing we learned is that during WWII Plant 2 was covered with a giant facade engineered to look like a regular old city block from the air and thus camouflage the production facility. Speaking of production, our guide also told us that during that time, the plant was mostly producing B-17 Bombers, so we could take a guess and say that that was probably the kind of airplane Grandpa helped build.

Photo from Museum of Flight showing B-17s making their way out of the factory

Photo of B-17s in production in Plant 2 from the Museum of Flight

Museum of Flight photo of the fake facade drapped over Plant 2 during WWII to hide it from the sky

We had so much fun exploring the Boeing facilities and learning about the company's history. It was just so cool to feel in touch with that part of my Grandpa's past through that part of Seattle's past. To think of him living and working in my adopted city when he was just 18 years old!

Not my Grandpa...but still a cool example of what his employee ID badge might have looked like 

I so wish we could have talked to him about our Boeing Day, and asked him even more about what his job was like. But, in a sad and cruel bit of unfortunate timing, we got an unexpected call from family in Wisconsin just two days later, telling us that my 89 year old Grandpa has been rushed to the hospital after being found unconscious. He never regained consciousness, showed very significant brain damage according to a brain scan, and passed away on that Friday, October 25th. Mom and I both were able to make it back to Wisconsin to say goodbye, and to be with the rest of the family - which was such a blessing - but I'm also disappointed we didn't get to share our Boeing adventure with him. Still, it was a excellent day and I feel more connected to Grandpa regardless, especially because Mom and I now have the memory of visiting Boeing together in honor and in memory of him.