Some news and the juicy, upside-down turkey

Squirrel chose pecans. There are people who object to that choice, but we won't go there, today.

News, first! I completely missed the release date of the latest issue of Estella's Revenge (wahoo! for Estella) since I was on the road, but the December issue is available for your perusal. It's shorter than usual, perfect for the hectic month of December (at least, it's hectic for some people - not usually so much for us).

And, the ever-delightful and extremely erudite Simon Van Booy is leading a writer's retreat in a redwood forest in May of 2008. He still had some opening slots, as of Friday. Then, I hit the road. You already knew that, though. You can view the information about Simon's workshop (in pdf), here. I wish I could go. I'm tremendously fond of a redwood, you know, and I have no doubt that Simon is an awesome teacher. And, by the way, if you haven't read his book, The Secret Lives of People in Love, you should definitely ask for a copy for Christmas. It's fantabulous.

Speaking of things that have been mercilessly logged . . . okay, really, things that look like logs . . . Violet found the perfect poppety-sized log cabin in my mother's house:


There was, however, a slight problem with the front door:



Violet is still wondering why on earth anyone would create a round front door. It's just not right, you know. Poppets should be allowed to live in proper homes with hinged doors. And, I quote, "Hmmmph," said Violet.

I promised to tell the Tale of the Upside-Down Turkey. This is funny to me because I've been laboring under the misconception that my sister was the perfect daughter, always whipping up something delightful for the family (who ate promptly at 5:00 p.m. - they really did that; I got chewed out for our wing-it cooking style when she came to visit and thought her babies were going to starve to death), with the perfect country-style home (uck, not my thing) and, of course, a well-crafted financial plan to avoid retirement in poverty. So, you know, ignoring all that other stuff . . . let's get back to the perfect cooking bit. Sister spent the night before Thanksgiving in my mother's home, in order to get that bird shoved into the oven, nice and early. It wasn't until she arrived looking just a wee bit frantic and then wondered aloud just how long she should cook the turkey and whether or not she should call the Butterball Hotline that I remembered, "Oh, yeah. I was the daughter to whom everything came easily." Geez, all those wasted years.

Fast-forward to Thursday morning. Early-bird sis shoved the fat turkey into a fiercely hot oven and then concentrated on side dishes. Eventually, her family showed up. Brother-in-law whipped up some mashed potatoes and fussed around in the kitchen (he's an excellent cook) and then they waited and waited and waited. After a few more hours of waiting, out came the meat thermometer. They puzzled over the turkey. Why was it not reaching the proper temperature? And, what the heck was going on with its legs? It just didn't look right, somehow. Finally, my clever brother-in-law realized that Sis had placed the turkey upside-down on its roasting pan and that the thicker breast meat wasn't warming up because it wasn't surrounded by hot air. He pulled the turkey out, flipped it over and popped it back into the oven. At 3:00 p.m., we had a delightfully juicy turkey. Kookie tells me that turning the bird upside- down for an hour actually is a good thing, as it makes the juices run down into the breast meat (and I can confirm that - it was definitely not your typical, dry turkey). Violet just thought that impression of a grid on the turkey looked weird:


For Chris of Stuff as Dreams are Made On:

I don't always get great hawk photos. Sometimes, I get grainy red-tail butt. Photography takes lots of practice and lots of frames - even the pros have photos they throw out. Feel better?

Bookfool, still glad to be home, in spite of the mess