The Secret

[peacockplume]

Hi Sher,

Both my granny's cooked their turkeys differently....

one used an open pan,,,and basted the bird every half hr or so,,,

the other one,,,used a lid and didn't baste at all...

they both came out a beautiful golden brown,,,,were wonderfully moist and tasted delish....

usually there's directions on the turkey you buy,,,,

just remember to look inside and remove anything that is in there before you bake it.....or stuff it....and there's always a little bag of something...

have fun,,,,,,and enjoy your dinner...

blessings pp

[Sher]

Thanks to everyone for their "Turkey Tips"

I've downloaded some directions from online that were pretty straight forward. I'll let you know how it goes, it's not until next month.

Thanks again,
Sher

[Sandy]

Hello Sher,
What a wonderful thing for you and the Soroptomist do for those in need.
I know after my relating my latest cooking disasters you may be leery of trying anything I suggest,( and I wouldn't blame you.. ) but... I have had great success in years past filling the inside (the cavity and under the breast section) of my turkey with cut up onions and apples. It helps to moisurize the meat from the inside out. (You need to throw them away after it is done though and of course this is not very helpful if you are stuffing the bird.) It sounds like you found some good instructions and I have a feeling that your turkey will turn out perfectly.

Lilly, I can only imagine what overdoing the rosemary would be like! Whew! It is such a strong herb. You just brush against it in my little herb garden and you smell it all day. How clever, filling the center of the sunken cake with custard and fruit! Probably looked like you planned it that way and I bet everybody raved over it!

Oh PP, are you like me... in thinking nobody can cook like our Grans? I tell you ,my two could cook up a storm and never look at a recipe... They just put in a little of this a pinch of that and it came out perfect every time. I keep thinking what will my grandkids (who I am hoping to have some day ) think about their long lost Australian Granny? Well... cross that bridge when I come to it...I can always wow them with my chocolate chip cookies I suppose.

Love,
Sandy

[peacockplume]

Hi ladies,
well, here it is,,,,certainly not Granny's turkey,,,she would have been appalled, or mortified...if I'd ever done this to a turkey,,,,

and probably not the best bet for a Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey either,,,

but one could do it to a chicken - just for a laugh....

you just tinfoil the parts you don't want browned....one could get really creative I guess,,,

my embarrassment now is,,,that turkey is going to show on all my posts everywhere, not just here....

and I know everyone who doesn't know about this conversation is going to think peacockplume has really lost it.....

oh well

love pp
xoxo

[Sher]

That's hilarious!

[aqualeaf]

Hi Everyone ,

I'd intended to post again sooner than this, but I got sidetracked with a major burst of creativity! (Finally! ) The altered-imagery book I mentioned I was reading last time led me to investigate the kind-of-recent (in the last decade or so) art form called Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). They are delightful teeny wallet-sized pieces of artwork in any type of media, and the only official rule is that they have to be 2.5" x 3.5" (or 64 mm x 89 mm) in size. People make them and trade them with each other in organized "swaps" both in person and on-line. Its main purpose is for artists to meet each other and to be introduced to many different personal artistic styles. The card swaps frequently have different fun themes, like "Big Cats" and "Blue Christmas" (where all the cards have to be predominantly shades of blue), and so on.

Well, the idea sounded like such fun that I found an ATC group on-line, joined it, and, in the space of maybe 12 days or so, have already made 27 cards for 4 different swaps! As far as working on Abraham and the Law of Attraction goes, if we indeed make it our primary career and main goal in life to feel good, as Abraham suggests (which, if we can manage to feel good enough often enough, will put us into alignment so that everything else we want and need manifests much more quickly and easily), then this is the perfect task -- it's been keeping my mood very high on a consistent basis over the past several days!

So far, I've been amassing all these cards I've made here (have them propped up on shelves, desks, etc., all over the house ), but I will soon be mailing them out to their respective swaps -- it'll really be fun and interesting to receive cards back from all the other participants and see all their different styles!

that's wonderful that you're not very far from AquaDeb,,,,someday you'll probably get to see her artwork...

she has a web site,,,,which she posts for us every now and then...
(hint, hint Debs).....

Okay, PP, I can take a hint! I uploaded photos of all the fun ATCs I've been making to my art website (the main page is at http://www.aquadeb.com .) In particular, the link to the ATCs is: http://www.aquadeb.com/artgallery.html#atc

The "Art for Sale" page still only currently has about 5 items on it, since I haven't gotten back to the silk painting yet since we moved (though I still plan to do so soon, and working on these ATCs is fortunately getting me back into "creative mode" again ), but, as I've noted before: A portion of the proceeds from any art I sell through this site will be donated to the 11:11 Progress Group! I'll let you all know as I continue to add more new items!

I'm glad you all got a kick out of my "stinker photies!" Sandy and Lilly, the comparisons of those photies to Ozzie Osbourne and Vincent Price are hilarious, and, I must admit, just a little too true!


PP, that avvie photo of the turkey is just too funny! Truly hilarious! By the way, I also saw and liked the Halloween one you put up earlier -- it didn't actually strike me as that much of a "stinker photie," though, at least not at that small size, anyway!

I've also been meaning to answer your post (from "way back when," now ) on the Ask and It is Given thread -- Hopefully, I'll get around to that before too long! ...

Sher, best of luck to you and Gordon in starting up your businesses! Working with polymer clay, that sounds exciting! Though I've never worked with it much, I've always been attracted to its bright colors and the fun, intricate designs one can make with it!

How cool that you live so close to Capitola as the crow flies! I looked Patterson up on Google; I see what you mean about it being a pretty small place. What is that big brown barren area between our two desitnations? It looks pretty uninhabited with few roads, kind of like a desert, or, from that satellite-photo distance, maybe even like the surface of the moon!

I'm enjoying reading "Harmonic Wealth," slowly, a few pages at a time whenever I'm on the treadmill. I'm still not that far into the book yet, but so far, I've really been liking his physics explanations of stuff like what's happening with thought waves and such underlying the Law of Attraction -- it just helps to strengthen the teachings all the more!

As for turkey tips, here's mine: Putting the turkey in an oven bag to bake it will keep it juicy (besides keeping moisture in, it'll cause it to kind of baste itself) and let it cook in half the time. I always just buy one of those big disposable aluminum turkey pans to set it in too. These measures keep the oven clean as well, then after you cut open the oven bag and the pan gets all yucky, you don't even have to wash it; you can just throw it away at the end!

One other thing to note (though I'm sure you've already read this in the stuff you printed out from the web ), is that if you happen to get a frozen turkey, it needs to thaw in the fridge for 24 hours for every 5 pounds before you cook it, so if you're getting a huge bird, it's best to get it a few days early! Last year, we lived in a teeny place with no actual oven (only a toaster oven! ) and a teeny refrigerator, so we just bought a pre-cooked smoked turkey and had to cut it up small enough to fit into the fridge before we could even put it away after we got back from the grocery store! Now we've got a normal-sized kitchen in this place, at least!

And yes, like everyone else has mentioned, remove the little bag of giblets. I used to chop up some of the less disgusting-looking giblets and add them to the gravy, but now they all just kind of gross me out too , so now I just throw the whole little bag out!

I've been enjoying the stories of baking/cooking/fireworks mishaps as well! Speaking of which, I finally found and tried the canned version of the chipotles, which, as it turns out, are a good bit hotter than the ones I made from scratch, because they seem to have left the seeds in! So, I made that excellent butternut-squash soup again a week or so ago, but this time I used the canned ones, and naively put in twice as many as the recipe called for (since it had worked just perfectly with the chipotles I'd made from the dried ones ). But this time, it was so hot that we couldn't even finish eating it! So I saved it as a "spicy soup concentrate" and diluted it by mixing it half-and-half with other various canned soups each night (which made each soup just spicy enough to be pleasant ) for several days until we'd finished it all! Now I've learned my lesson: One little can of those chipotles really goes a long way!

Pet, love your photies and stories, as usual! And Hi to you, Kim, as well!

Well, I gotta run for now, but a big Hi also to everyone else I haven't mentioned here by name!

Lots of love to you all ,

Aqua Deb

(later edited this because at first I accidentally said I made 37 ATCs, but it was actually "only" 27! )

[aqualeaf]

Hi again All,

I forgot to mention in my last message that for one of the ATCs I made (for an "It's So Pink!" swap -- where there was no set theme, except that the primary color had to be pink ), I decided to make one of them an 11:11 card just for fun (you can see it at the link I put in my last message). There's probably someone participating in this swap who needs to be prompted, and, if so, I'll bet the angels and Midwayers et al. will probably direct it to just the right person!

Love,
Aqua Deb

[Petra Wilson]

PP wrote:

and I know everyone who doesn't know about this conversation is going to think peacockplume has really lost it....

I did actually, hahaha! But it is all clear now!

I'll check your site out again AquaDebs, I did before but that was ages ago!
Thanks for the compliment, oh, here's another couple of photies:
I posted this already! Manfred fell out of a tree and landed face to 'face' with his 111 prompt...the sign was lying on its side, and he was so happy when he clocked it!
They just love leaping and jumping off cliffs, trees etc! I love the feeling of freedom in this pic!
My kid's say hello to you all, by the way!

Sandy, I used to make home made noodles in Germany, sometimes deepfrying them, there was a name for them too....began with S, Spraezels, or something! I used to be part of a team of women called the Arbeiter Vollfahrt, basically keeping jobless young women from bumming about making a nuicance of themselves: we learned during those 2 years, amongst many things like chamaderie, how to cook a 3 course meal for a party of about ten. How to throw dinner parties and be the perfect hostess! Always deteriorating at pudding when Pet here would tell a dirty joke! My boss-teacher's would always get up to start the washing up, and conceal their amusement, hehe!
We learned how to make perfect roasts, but I always cocked up! My mother-in-law taught me in the end.
My forté, was making gateaux! Though I never ate them myself, I made the most delicious black forest gateau once! Call it luck! I think the less fuss whilst cooking/baking, the more successful you'll be! Especially with bread and home made pizza...oh don't get me started, haha!

Love you Ladies, Pet XXX

[peacockplume]

Hi ladies,

Oh I couldn't stand it any longer,,,,it was too chilly,,,,had to put my feathers back on...

love the photo's Pet,,,especially Manny's 111, and the girls flying through the air,,,,and although you're basking in the sun,,,it doesn't look all that warm....

Thanks for the link again Debs,,,always great to see your creative inspiration is 'moving forward' again...(and really you'd have to have seen the halloween photo larger to get how gross it looked....) tasted good though !!!

you know really,,,,all we have to do,,,,is,,,, do it !!!! just start,,, anything,,,, and the creative energy comes into play....it's all the 'limitations' we give ourselves before we start,,,then we never do...

(think I'm speaking personally there),,,best get rid of those limitations.


NEWS FLASH

Laura and her husband have driven right over to the east coast back over to the west and last night were going through Phoenix Arizona...

I think she's really enjoying herself....although she says she gets 'bounced around lots'....

she sends her love to everyone and should be home for a few days on the 21st,,,before they head out again....this time hopefully down south to see her kids and grandkids...


so love to everyone,,,,I'm taking a day off.....(starting now)

see ya !!!!

pp
xoxoxo

[lilly]

Hi Everyone,
I've enjoyed reading through your posts......and the Love here is wonderful and uplifting.
lilly xxooxxoox

[Sandy]

PP, That was the funniest turkey I have ever seen...I may try it with George's Thanksgiving bird. He'd get a kick out of that!
Hope you have enjoyed a restful peaceful day off.
I look forward to Memawlaura's homecoming! Sure miss her. I bet she has some stories to tell of her travels!

Aqua Deb, I enjoyed browsing through the art on your website! ..It is certainly a feast for the eyes! The new art cards are wonderful. I had never heard of an art swap before..but what a terific idea for artists to get a feel for and appreciate varous styles and stimulate friendship and creativity in such a fun way.
I smiled when I read in your post about the small fridge in your last place. I can certainly identify with that as George and I have one of those small fridges in our little flat here. I must say it has taught me to be a careful shopper and a master at making the most of a tiny amount of space, especially in the freezer compartment that frosts up periodically making it even more imperitive to use my brains from time to time.

Petra, tell the kids Hello! Gosh, I wish I was there leaping and jumping off the rocks...with them, but would probably still be belly up staring at the sky. ("My leaping and jumping muscles"..or maybe it is in reality my "landing with dignity" muscles are not what they used to be.

I was wondering where you learned to cook so well. Was it from cooking with your mother in law? I hate to admit this, but what is a gateaux? Is it a type of cake? I'll try to remember your advice with the baking...I do tend to be a bit overly fussy with dough...

Love to all of you!
Sandy

[Petra Wilson]

Hey there Sandy, have a butcher's at this... (as I recall, mine took the best part of a whole morning to make, and had chocolate covered cherries on the top! The black forest Gateau Nice with a cup of rich coffee, but not too often!
Every day my mother and her German cronies enjoyed, café und Kuchen at 4pm sharp..crisp white linen table cloths and all!

Love to All, Pet XXX

Oh, PP thanks for telling about Laura-and-her-spikey-do!! hehe XXX

[peacockplume]

Pet....

hehe , hehe,,,,I'll keep fine details for Laura's show and tell,,,,

getting her to do it - posting it - I dunno tho',,,,,

it might be one of those quick flashes,,,and I want to put it in my 'rogues' gallery....

What I loved about the German cooking,,,was the filling they use,,,I think it's a cream base with lard,,,,and it is fluffy and light....best I ever had...

it's not the sickly sweet sugar filling like out in N.A.



Sandy, I do hope you get to try the bikini turkey,,,,if you spend some time making the bikini from tin foil ahead of time,,,then hide it somewhere,,,,he'll never see you 'dress' the turkey

like it's never been 'dressed' before,,,that's for sure



I did hear a couple of stories from Laura,,,,but believe me,,,they're not printable on the mb....she'll have to write one up and pm everyone...

strange thing is,,,,late, late, last night on the telly,,,there was a show about Truckers,,,and every year there's a huge 'trucker show' called the
IOWA 80 or the IO80,,,,they call it the Truckers Beauty Show,,,,,

WOW,,,is all I can say,,,,,it was pretty cool,,,,so now I want a picture of Roberts truck,,,and she has her camera with her,,,I do believe she said she's been taking some pictures,,,so I'll remind her today...

well, it's a foot day today,,,and maybe my own while I'm at it...

but now it's time for a coffee,,,, and some of that 'gateaux',,,just a teensy teensy piece though....it's early here....

loves to you all,
pp

[lilly]

Hi pp,
I'll be in that thankyou..... Just a small piece....yum.....
Thinking of Laura bouncing around in the truck....she'll need a sport's bra...Lol
Love lilly xxx

[peacockplume]

LI L L Y

(really it can't be any worse than runnin the quarter mile)

heck I couldn't even do the 50 yd dash,,,,

hope you enjoyed the cake....

love pp
xoxo

[bethsha211]

aqualeaf, I have been wanting to make aceo's. I just purchased some of the cards and will soon have time to create with them. I am excited to try something new and different to work in such a small area !

Love,Gloria

[peacockplume]

Hey Glo,
awesome to see you,,,,stoppin in for some coffee and cake???

did you miss seeing my Thanksgiving turkey avi????

I'll be putting it back up for the 28th,,,,be sure to check back and see it...
it is funny!!

love pp

[lilly]

Pancakes....maple syrup......anyone....tea, coffee, bonox.....
I've missed everyone on this thread and have had a bit of a rough week......but will overcome and rise to the plate....especially if a cake is there.....and a nice cup of tea....Love you all dearly and want to make a go of this life, head up......with a smile....and a pancake....
Love lilly xxxoooxxx

[Petra Wilson]

Love you all dearly and want to make a go of this life,

Heyyyyyyyyyy!! "want to make a go of this life??" What are you banging on about Lilly!
If you meant, make a go of this life, as to mean financially? Sorry! I step back a few paces. Otherwise, making a go, as in, making people happy across the globe with your posts? Pour a cup of tea and be smug for a couple of minutes, because you do make a lot of folk happy! And you don't even know it, do you?? hehehe! That's brillant, and NO! I haven't been drinking!

I love you Liller's, Petra xxx

[lilly]

Hi Pet,
Just carrying on that's all....Lol....Everything will be fine and dandy. Pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again. Better breathe properly and stop acting like a fool.....Love you very much and enjoy your company.
lilly xxooxx

[peacockplume]

hi Lilly,
get all that 'dust' off,,,,????

fell into abit myself this week, got all upset with myself because one day I could feel no compassion for someone,,,,

instead, I let her comments get a hook into me and the only thing I could do was 'walk away'....

I forgot to 'breathe' ,,, dis-attach from the situation,,,and remain calm...

so, you see,,,,it happens all the time,,,and to everyone,,,

it's all what you decided to let affect you,,,,and how you respond to it...

so I was glad to get out of that 'dust bin'.....

take care sweetie,,,,and do like Pet said,

Pour a cup of tea and be smug for a couple of minutes, because you do make a lot of folk happy

you bring lots of love and light to us here,,,,and I for one bask in it quite often.....thank you....

now go grab that cuppa,,,,I'm about to go get my coffee to start a 'busy' day off with....well, and I guess you've got a few hrs to your wake up time......only your a day ahead of me....

and 'SMILE',,,,,

love and blessings
pp
xoxo

[Sandy]

Hey all you "Dusty ladies"! Just wanted to pop in and say hello and tell every single one of you how special you are to me... cherish you I do! I am sorry you guys have felt a little under the "emotional weather" this week... We are human and these days and these feeling well up sometimes as things go 'funky" around us. You all have always given me a boost...like Pet said earlier to you Lilly and I am saying it to all of you because it is true....often times without you even realize it something you all post hits the mark and brings out what is needed be it tears or laughter... I always feel great afterwards...like I just got a letter from home or something.. So big old {{{HUG}}} for all of you!

I have a turkey in the oven... finally starting to smell it. (was getting a bit worried) It is for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I just realized earlier that my poor little oven is not big enough for everything that needed to be cooked tomorrow so...the bird gets it today.

Hope everyone is having a great morning, afternoon, or evening. I am so grateful for all of you!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Sandy

[peacockplume]

Same to you Sandy and everyone else who's celebrating...

well, why not hey,,,sounds like a good time to cook a turkey,,,although ours was a month ago,,,,so perhaps I could find one of those nice big turkey 'chests',,,instead of the whole turkey......

Sandy,,,did you do the Turkey Tinfoil...????

which reminds me,,,I have to post that avi again....

I had to come back and edit this,,,since I can't access the avi from this computer,,,but I will try to remember to do it in the am....

so lots of loves and appreciation to our wonderful family abroad...

love, pp
xoxo

[Sandy]

Hey PP,
you wrote:

Sandy,,,did you do the Turkey Tinfoil...????

I tell you I considered it...but my turkey was so flat chested that I don't think it would have had any affect. To tell you the truth, I put it in the oven, went on to other things, and sort of forgot about it. So I wound up cooking the poor thing to death. Luckily there was enough water in the pan that it won't be dry... washed out maybe but not dry.
Hey Sher, best of luck with your bird! I bet it will be great!
Love,
Sandy

[lilly]

Hi Everyone,
You've made me feel hungry now Sandy.....Lol.....Turkey is so delicious....Hope your dinner goes well. Thanks for the love and strength coming through the board....makes me feel a whole lot better.
I seem to be getting stuck in anger mode....Lol and went walking yesterday.....to release some of it....No sense in it is there....I
know that staying in the present is the answer and will focus on that. Goodness me I sound like my Aunty Lizzy's gramophone with the needle stuck..... Small things seem to irritate me.... I can see the funny side to this all the same.
I went to a funeral yesterday, my friend was only 41yrs old......we never know how long we have to stay and learn.
Thanks for the emails pp.... need to shift out of this energy space I find myself in.......breathe, breathe...it feels like something snatches away my thoughts.....that sounds odd but it's true.....like you're on the right road following the map and then suddenly end up on a strange page.....
If it sounds like I'm feeling sorry for myself I'm not.....just confused....
The answers lie within......lately I've been way too focused on out there....with detrimental consequences....it will pass and soon I hope...
All my buttons are being pressed wherever I go......one of my friends in particular seems hell bent on upsetting my applecart....smiling all the while....how awful.....very childish stuff.... Excuse me for having a moment of the ridiculous.....haha Onward.....head up, shoulders back.....breathing.....at least some air....
Love you all dearly.....
lilly xxxx