Jive Turkey

In case you were wondering how the oven repair that took place during the worst-ever-heat-wave-in-Seattle turned out, well, Deby finally put the oven to the test yesterday. Since the oven repair only came with a 90-day warranty, Deby has been waiting for a nice, cool, typical Seattle-type day to fire up the oven for a 3 or 4 hour roast-test. The trouble was, Seattle weather just wouldn't cooperate. It's been warm, too warm to bake for hours on end, anyway, ever since the repair took place over a month ago. (Thank you, Global Warming!) With Thanksgiving fast approaching and the need to know if the repair was successful or not, Deby announced the test would commence on Sunday, September 6, regardless of the weather. The test dinner would be a sort of "practice" Thanksgiving dinner, a faux Thanksgiving, with a 13-pound turkey that required around 3-1/2 hours of roasting time. This test was necessary because Deby just couldn't bear the thought of a repeat of the horror of Thanksgiving 2008 (which included the still undercooked turkey several hours past the advertised dinner time as well as the Drunken Dog incident, which had nothing to do with the oven, by the way. And, to top it all off, this was Deby's first Thanksgiving with Dave following their wedding in September 2008!! Poor Deby!) When Deby announced to Dave that the test was to take place on Sunday, he prepared to send out a dinner e-vitation to everyone they knew when Deby stopped him and cried "What if the oven repair is a failure? It will be just like last Thanksgiving!" So, Dave agreed to keep the list small.... just their friends, Jim & Ann, and Dave's son, Sean. (Because, after all, if they killed off Jim & Ann with undercooked turkey, at least they would still have the rest of their friends left.) So, when Sunday came, it was as if the Gods were finally smiling on Poor Deby. It was a dark, cool, rainy, strangely almost Thanksgiving-type day. Football was on tv, Dave had a fire going in the fireplace, and the oven worked!!! In fact, it almost worked too well. Dave said he thought the white meat was a little too dry, but Deby quickly pointed out that's what the gravy is for. So, roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, rolls with butter..... not to mention brownies for dessert... and of course, wine and good friends that we didn't kill off, all added up to a successful faux-Thanksgiving fest. I guess we won't have to leave town for Thanksgiving this year after all. Here's some photos to document the event:

Preparing the stuffing:

Side dishes are simmering:

The table is set: (yes, those are fake flameless candles. Don't tell Martha!)

Dave even went out and picked the very first watermelon from his garden for the occassion...

Perfection!

And, here's the guest of honor... Wow!

Everyone was happy to finish off the dinner with homemade brownies (after Deby cut off the corner that Lilly-the-dog had decided to scrape off with her teeth. Don't tell Martha that, either!)...

Looks like Rosie the cat is thinking about attempting a Drunken Cat incident of her own. Not a chance, Rosie! Bad kitty! Get off the table! What would Martha think?

all photos by Deby Alm http://www.flickr.com/photos/debyc/

Note: Dave picked the beautiful Dahlia flower from his garden as well. And he even placed it in the Classic Coke vase, too! Martha, eat your heart out!

Degree of Difficulty of the Day: the Heat is On!

Cocktail Time: Hmmmm...Make mine a rum-and-coke, please!