Our first snow day, and other random “firsts.”

Yup, it snowed last night. And neither of us braved the roads to work. Luckily, we both had things we could work on from home.

I watched web training videos for a freelance project, and some other things, and Hubs…well, try as I might, I still don’t totally understand what he does. I know it has something to do with running reports and queries, and all those number things. I mean, I know he’s good at what he does, I just have trouble explaining it to other people using words.

Anyway, it was our first snow day being home together. True, we had work to do, him more than me, but that’s okay. I also did laundry and stuff.

So in honor of that “first,” I’ve made a list of other firsts that happened today.

2. (Yes, the snow day counts as one.) We worked out together for the first time. I’m pretty sure he didn’t have as much fun as I did doing one of my DVD’s with me, but we both got a good sweat going and didn’t have to run outside in the cold anything, so I’d say it was a success. And we managed to get through all the moves without accidentally punching each other or anything.

3. I made stew for the first time. It turned out like this:

Good? I'd say so. Yum.

Hubs dished it up using our Warbex dipper. For those of you that don’t know what that is, you can google it if you want, but remember we both came from farms, so don’t judge it ’til you’ve tried it. For those that do, it was from my grandma, Hubs LOVES it, and it’s been thoroughly cleaned, so no worries on any contamination.

Hubs loves that it gives such nice, big scoops. I love that having it means he volunteers to serve all the soup.

4. I made these little pinwheel things for the first time:

I made them with crescent rolls and laughing cow cheese, plus some bacon. Which makes everything better, no?

5. We are officially debt free for the first time as a married couple. Yup. That’s a good feeling to have. Yes, it took a big, big hunk out of the down-payment fund, but I think this will really feel great in the long run when we’re looking at other things financially. Heck, it feels good right now! I’m proud of us.

6. We made our first snowman together!

He's small, but cute!

In case you were wondering, his eyes are made from a reduced-fat white cheddar Cheezit I found in my car while Hubs and I were out scraping snow and letting our cars warm up a bit in hopes they’ll start well tomorrow morning. His mouth is a gum wrapper than hubs found in my car’s little trash can. Oh, and his hair is my favorite part. His arms did turn out well, too, though.

Hubs wasn't as excited about the snow-playing as I was. Probably because he wasn't wearing gloves. I offered, though, so I don't feel too bad...

7. We watched the weather for the first time in our apartment. We usually use our phones to see what’s coming our way, or wait until it starts to rain “unexpectantly.” Just kidding. But we knew it was supposed to snow today, so we watched last night. I know, it technically happened yesterday, but I’m still counting it since it was for today.

8. It’s our first married Valentine’s day! (Ok, not until tomorrow, but it’s the idea of it, so I’m counting this one, too.

So, today was a big day for us. We did all sorts of things. Tomorrow, it will be back to reality and driving to work in the cold for both of us, probably…unless it snows again. (Mr. Weatherman, can you help me out here?)

Because tomorrow is Valentine’s day and being snowed in with my sweetie doesn’t sound too bad to me!

What about you? Did you have a snow day? What are your Valentine’s plans?

To Turkey or Not to Turkey

Hubs loves Thanksgiving food. He’d eat it for every holiday, special occasion, or random meal he could get it. And I’ve been holding off on making anything like it because he has such high expectations and I don’t want to compete with his memories of the perfect turkey.

Let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than hearing, “It’s not like Mom used to make.” Not fun.

Plus, I’ve heard lots of horror stories of what a pain it is to cook a turkey, and just how easy it is to mess it up, dry it out, or get it just plain wrong. I wouldn’t say I was scared, but I certainly wasn’t eager to try it out.

But Friday night was the annual potluck-style Thanksgiving meal for our friends and it was mentioned that a turkey would be missing from the table. I didn’t want to take it on, but after much encouraging from Wyatt, and talk of having ham (which since Wyatt doesn’t like at all, really got him trying to convince me), I gave in and headed to the grocery store.

I came home with this:

It's as big as my head. And do I look scared? Nope!

Since there was going to be so many other dishes there, and probably another meat, whether ham or chicken, or whatever, I just got a turkey breast. It was basically a small turkey with the legs and wings cut off, about 5.5 pounds.

I had no idea what I was doing so I just set out trying to copy and combine several ideas and recipes I’d seen. Here’s what I learned in the process.

I used an apple, carrots, and onion on the inside cavities, and a butter and herb mixture on the outside to help with flavor and getting that great golden brown skin. (In my family, the skin is what most of us fought over before dinner. Yum!)

In the oven, fingers crossed!

I had read that roasting the turkey breast side down (instead of the usual way with that side on the top) keeps the white meat more moist and juicy since all the juices run down. So I tried it, and flipped it over halfway through the cooking process so the skin could get nice and brown as well. And I brushed it with the melted butter mixture (butter, thyme, rosemary, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, and apple juice) every fifteen to thirty minutes.

Mmmm....melted herb butter.

Pretty soon,  (well, not “soon,” so much, considering it took like 2 and a half hours) it looked like this:

Ready to carve!

In the meantime though, I had fun watching these:

(Not homemade, frozen, but I didn't have enough notice for homemade, and they were still delicious)

Turn into this:

Ready to bake!

And by this time, Wyatt was home from work so he could help me carve. He’d never done that before, either, but I told him about Alton Brown’s tips, and he dug in.

He was excited since he got to use a big knife.

(P.S. Notice the wedding ring on the counter…I moved it to the shelf, and told him that, but he still forgot it that night. He blames me. I say, “how can you not notice it’s not on your hand? It drives me crazy when I don’t have mine!”)

And we ended up with this:

It tasted even better than it looks, so we were both pretty happy with our first turkey efforts.

And we got the wishbone!

Success!

And yes, my night didn’t end up so well, considering the way I spent all Saturday morning. (Maybe I should have wished to not get super sick!) But we had a great time Friday night with friends, laughing and hearing old stories, and eating good food, despite whatever got me…

So, even though I’m not sure if I’m ready to eat Thanksgiving dinner again (hopefully tomorrow!) I’m happy to report that the turkey adventure wasn’t so scary. Hubs pretty much only ate that, so I think it’s safe to say he liked it.

In fact, I think I wouldn’t be scared to try it again sometime!

What about you? Are you scared to cook a turkey or are you a pro? Either way, I’d love to hear about it!