Friday 13 April 2012

#17? Check! #21? Check!!

First of all, I would like to draw your attention to the shiny new "Follow by Email" function located to the left. It's just as simple as it sounds - enter your email address, and each time I have a new post you will be notified. Pretty neat, huh?

Anyways, moving along.

We're checking in on my progress of The List, and in the past couple weeks I managed to scratch off two more!


First of all, I gave blood a few weeks ago. Finally it has been 6 months since my last tattoo touch up!
It felt great and not so great at the same time- it took me a few hours to stop feeling woozy. More sugar next time?

Either way. # 21 from my list has been scratched off, and I am stoked about it!!

Another accomplishment worth mentioning is the full turkey dinner we just made for Easter Sunday. This one was a bit daunting - it seems to be a "rite of passage" of sorts in my family. Not an easy feat, either. Turkey, Stuffing, Potatoes, Gravy, Cabbage Rolls, Perogies, Carrots, Salad & Buns.  Now I had a little help- one sister brought the potatoes already cooked and mashed, and another brought the salad. My Mom brought the perogies and made them at my house. That left the turkey, cabbage rolls, stuffing, gravy, and carrots. Ooh, and desserts. I made lemon squares and pavlova.

I learned a few things from the experience.

1. If you are going to eat turkey, you should really deep fry it.
Seriously. BEST EVER. I can't emphasize this enough. Try it, and you'll understand.

2. All that effort you went to to not cross contaminate the food (keeping all flour and bread crumbs far far away from the "safe" foods like the turkey, cabbage rolls, potatoes, carrots and pavlova) means very little when you go to make the gravy with flour. Oops! Sorry Syd and Dez (my Celiac nieces) Good thing the turkey was so crazy juicy that you don't need gravy for it!

3. Cabbage rolls really aren't that hard to make! This was the first time I had made them on my own, and it was easy peasy lemon squeezy. Thanks to my sister's revision in my Mom's method - freezing the cabbage instead of blanching it- it was a fast and simple process. Thanks Nicole!


4. Making a full turkey dinner is expensive! Holy Hannah, does it ever add up! I think next time I'll be stocking up on supplies well in advance so I don't experience the sticker shock of buying it all at once, because it was quite painful on our measly little grocery budget. Head of cabbage here, package of bacon there... I think we can make this less painful for sure.

All in all it was a good experience. I was most worried about all the prep, and it being my first time I didn't know how long each item on the list would take me so I kind of just booked the whole weekend off for it all. Next time I'm sure I'll feel more confident, and won't need as much time. Aside from the deep fried turkey tasting amazing, it also helped the whole process immensely because it didn't take up oven space, and only took 70 minutes to cook (for a 21 lb turkey!) We borrowed the turkey deep fryer this time around, but I definitely see a purchase in the near future...

Good-bye #17-  You have been scratched off the list!

Next on the agenda will be #1, #16, and #18 (gulp) Check out The List anytime to see my progress!

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