Happy Turkey Day

Thanksgiving home cooking has slowly been deteriorating in my family. We gave up making our own turkey years ago. And until recently, we would still make our own sides. This year however, almost everything came from Ralph's, except for the pumpkin pie that I baked. Based on our ongoing trend, I'm sure next year Ralph's too shall provide our thanksgiving dessert. I did like the idea of making our own sides but after my massive stuffing failure a few years prior (dry, overcooked, salty), I was demoralized. At least if we complained about store purchased sides, no ones feelings would get hurt. So this year, we're giving thanks for the convenience of grocery stores.

The main star of the night: turkey

I know I'm generalizing but typically Asians love dark meat and Caucasians prefer white. Think it has something to do with the texture or grizzle. So you would think that it'd work out perfectly in a multi-racial household right? Not in our case unfortunately. Everyone was grabbing for the dark meat.

The rejected white meat

Thankfully, no one cared for the bones so they went to my sister and I. Cleaning out the bones, getting every piece of meat and connective tissue off the bone is the fun part but you'll need patience for that.

Candied yams

Stuffing, much better than the last one I made

Mashed potatoes, this was gone in seconds.

I totally recommend the pre-cooked turkey dinner if you don't have someone in the family that is dying to cook the feast. It saved us a lot of time, really took the pressure away from Thanksgiving day, allowed us to spend more time in the living room catching up and drinking Champagne instead of in the kitchen, and ultimately the meal turned out well. Yes, I know it's not that traditional but I'll take good food over ritual.