gobble gobble

Sorry, I know an up close and personal picture of raw poultry isn't particularly pleasing, but look at that bird! It looks like it actually lived a life! We picked up our fresh 18.25-pound turkey from the folks of Skyview Farm the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I beamed with pride every time I opened the fridge, and hoped to God it would taste as good as it looked or else I'd never hear the end of it from the financier of this operation: "When your dad and I moved to Kansas City we could buy a turkey for twenty cents a pound!" At $2.50 a pound, this was a significantly larger investment.

But, phew!, it was worth it. Not only did it look like an actual bird who breathed fresh air, its cavity was clean and the parts left inside were identifiable: why, yes, this does look exactly like a turkey's neck, and here's its liver, and heavens to Betsy, it even had a heart that presumably beat. In the pre-dinner frenzy I wasn't able to get away from my salad making to snap a picture out of the oven, but, it was beautiful. And tasted delicious.

The other turkey-oriented highlight was the Thanksgiving Eve gobbling contest that took place at Kelly's Pub: ten middle-aged women competing fiercely--in all seriousness--for a turkey hat and other poultry paraphernalia. The woman who won had won before, and informed my mom that she listened to turkeys online and then practiced in her car coming home from work.