Earlier this year I was talking with a few friends and we decided that since we were all living in the city a good distance away from most people's family (the Montefortes are nearby and I consider them part of my family) that it would be fun to have Thanksgiving together instead of all of us each trying to have our own small Thanksgiving.

So we all signed up to bring different things and since we decided to have the shindig at our apartment I thought the most logical thing to make was the turkey. Immediately after that choice I got incredibly nervous. I have only spent one Thanksgiving not with my parents doing most of the cooking ( I usually made pies) and that year Angelia, Beth McEvoy and I went to my grandpa's house so I didn't have to do any cooking there either. As I was thinking about making the turkey I realized that I haven't even been awake when my parents prepared the turkey so I really had no idea how to prepare one. 

After reading a lot of information online, calling my mom a few times and finding a handy little app for my phone and after a few learning experiences ( when you thaw a turkey in the fridge you should put something under it like a cookie sheet or something) I had the bird all ready to go into the oven for the roasting. It turns out that everyone says the secret to a really yummy turkey is lots of butter, so I maybe went a touch overboard. You'll see the bird right over there.

So then I spent the next 4.5 hours ( it was a big bird) worried about how it would taste. It was pretty interesting waking up super early and getting the turkey all ready and then getting back into bed. Chad and I still haven't learned how to wake up early and go to bed early so we were up pretty late the night before.

I forgot to tie the legs together
I was getting pretty nervous because at about the 4 hour mark it wasn't ready yet and it wasn't very brown yet. I feel like there is one thing everyone knows it's that it should be a very brown bird, at least that's what TV has told me. So I decided to risk drying out the turkey a bit and took off the fun little foil tent I made it. That sure did the trick! It browned beautifully and the cool little timer thing popped. I have to say, I think it looked great, but earlier in the day Chad had to bring up that classic scene in the Chevy Chase movie where the turkey looked amazing and then when you cut into it it deflates into gross, so I was nervous. Good news though, it was super yummy! It was moist and fully cooked and everyone was raving about it. In fact, some of our friends came over a few days later and they brought it up again, so I know they weren't lying when they said it was good! Yay!

My first Thanksgiving was a success! I also made cornbread stuffing, but really that's not too hard and I didn't bother with a picture. Below you'll see two great shots of everyone we had over... needless to say, it was slightly crowded in out 420 square foot apartment, but we all had a blast. 

yes, that is Batman on someone else's lap
Our friend that took the pictures had a remote for her camera... so cool!
What was super fun was that one of our guests was from Italy and was experiencing his first American Thanksgiving and was super excited about it. All in all, great food and fun. And now I'm done rambling, unless you want to read my slightly cryptic notes about my turkey. I don't want to forget how I made it!

Turkey:
bottom of the pan (so the Turkey isn't sitting on the bottom drowning in juice and for flavoring): Turkey neck, carrots and celery
Night before: remove stuff from inside it, wash off turkey, rub salt all over, inside and outside of the skin, put back in fridge. Soak a piece of cheesecloth in butter, lay out flat loosely covered with wrap so that it hardens
That morning: do the salt thing again, but add pepper and seasonings as well. Inject turkey with a mixture of chicken broth and melted butter, in about 6 different spots, 2 being each drumstick. put pats of butter under the skin. Stuff turkey with a lemon cut in half and dusted with herbs, an onion quartered and dusted with herbs, a celery stick and a peeled apple dusted with herbs. cover the turkey with veggie oil. Cover with cheesecloth and foil. Cook away :)