Thanksgiving for 2 1/2 stomachs

     Although Cindy was working today, she did not have to go in until four so there was time for a turkey dinner.  We had all the classics, but on a small scale.  Durelle found a 9 1/2 pound turkey which we accompanied with mashed (riced) potatoes, stuffing, gravy, butternut squash, boiled onions, cranberry jelly and pumpkin pie.  Everything came together right at two-o-clock as if by magic.  It all started with stuffing the turkey.

     That's the potato ricer in the background.  I had recently read a couple of food articles in the run-up to Thanksgiving that claimed that mashed potatoes made with a ricer were absolutely the best way to make mashed potatoes but that, alas, no one has a ricer anymore.  Guess what?  Perched on top of one of our kitchen cabinets as a decoration was Durelle's mother's ricer complete with the conical wooden "pestle".  I got it down and Durelle cleaned it up.  Who knows how old it is...a century?  I did a dry run last week and today turned out a wonderful batch of potatoes.  Instead of dirtying some other implement, I also used it to mash the squash.

     Once the turkey was stuffed, properly seasoned and oiled, the roasting pan was carried out to the Traeger pellet fed grill.  I have a remote thermometer.  One sensor gets inserted into the inner thigh of the turkey.  The other clips to the grate of the grill to provide the oven temperature.  These temperatures are wirelessly remoted to a monitor inside the house.

     The spritzer bottle holds apple juice which is used to periodically to baste the bird.

     Here it is almost done.  Is that the smallest turkey you ever saw?

     The table to which this bird is headed is equally modest...just three plates.  

     Besides, Cindy with her gastric bypass surgery, was tortured by the small size of samples she could have.  Her mother's stuffing brought great appreciative sighs at each of the two bites she felt she could have.
     Still it was a great Thanksgiving.  The scene below has nothing to do with triptofan.  He always looks like this.

     I hope your Thanksgiving was as enjoyable as ours and that you stop from time to time to recognize all that we have for which to be thankful.