The Kids and I

So Thanksgiving went well. It was only 9 people, which is the smallest number we've ever had in remembered history! It was nice to have so few people though... more personal and relaxed.

Thanks to my (apparently) poor reading skills though, Thanksgiving was nearly ruined. On Wednesday I'd stopped at a sporting goods store to buy an injector for the turkey (for the record, injecting a turkey was kinda creepy) and I grabbed a digital probe thermometer (with a nifty portable monitor so you can wander off while still watching your temp) for testing the oil temp. It was made by Weber, so I thought, "Oh, this will be of good quality and reasonable temperature taking".

Thanksgiving day and we walk outside to get the oil heated. We drop in the probe and carry on with our business. Oil temp reaches 199 and... stays there. Forever. Never rising. Well the burner is on, at full blast, so we know its getting hotter. Come to find out, this "nifty" thermometer doesn't go above 200 degrees, making it useless for what we needed it for. Jason gave me a hard time about it and I got defensive because I knew that it had said it went to 425. So I go online and find the manual and find, "Probe is safe up to 425 degrees. Monitor will not display above 200 degrees". Huh? This product CAN take temps up to 425, but to really piss you off, we won't show you above 200. Have fun now!

So panic starts to set in. My Mom doesn't have anything other than a meat thermometer, which won't go high enough. My Aunt Deanne doesn't have one either. She does have a turkey fryer with thermometer, so she calls Aaron home from a friends house to find it, but he has no luck. My Dad does have a heat reading laser thingy, but its somewhere in the abyss of the garage or pole building and no one can find it. Kristi starts to panic and moan about ruining Thanksgiving. Jason refuses to let her wing it on oil temp, fearing a huge explosion or fire. Finally, though we doubted they were still open, my Mom calls the one grocery store in Granite Falls and they ARE open. So Jason and Jenni rush off, praying that they have a good enough thermometer. They did and Jason bought two of them, which turned out to be a good thing.

So, in goes turkey. Then thermometer #1 falls into the oil as well. Fearing that the mercury would break in the thermometer, Becki and I do a fast turkey evacuation while Jason fishes out the thermometer. All is fine, turkey is not radioactive. Turkey goes back in. We fashion a new method with the second thermometer so it dangles more securely in the oil, so we can monitor the temp. 15 minutes later, #2 takes the death plunge as well. Out comes the turkey, out comes the gauge. But now we must continue using it because we have no other, so this slimy, cloudy object must be precariously dangled in and out of the oil. Really, it was quite dramatic, and along with the 30 degree temps and worries about how late our entire meal was being delayed, quite stressful.

Finally 40 minutes later the turkey is done and pulled out and served and the rest of the night went smashingly well. The turkey was actually very good, much better than the last time we fried it.

Now that you've slogged through my epic tale, I'll give you pics :)

Gwen posing in the sun