Christmas

My Christmas was quiet, but nice. I spent three hours cooking. I spent the rest of the day relaxing.

I roasted a turkey. I love my convection oven. It does a great job crisping the skin and keeping the turkey juicy.

I made mashed potatoes with ghee. It was a first and it turned out nicely.

Stuffing is a must. I no longer stuff the turkey with it. Instead, I make it on the stovetop and it's so much easier. I live for stuffing.

I did something different and made salted caramel quick bread at the same time that the turkey was roasting. It turned out well for my first try. It was nice to have dessert.

I also roasted sweet potatoes. The key is to poke a ton of holes with a fork before they go into the oven, so the sweet potatoes don't explode.

I fed my parents. They seemed to enjoy the food. They took a nap afterwards.

Oddly, I couldn't nap. I slept well last night, though. I'm happy that they had a great meal.

Turkey dinner preparations

Several hours from now, I'll be roasting a turkey and making a few side dishes for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day is on Monday, but I tend to do the dinner a day earlier. It's a bit of work, so I'd rather have the actual day to relax.

On Saturday, I got the turkey. It's a 16-pound turkey. It's huge to me. It was the smallest one that I could find at the grocery store! I got it unstuffed, so it shouldn't take as long to roast it.

After grocery shopping, I realized that I had forgotten to buy mushrooms. I went back to get a box. Yay!

Pillows of cinnamon sugar are heavenly

On Monday, I went out for dinner after work. I had a Groupon that was going to expire in a couple of days.

I have been to this restaurant a number of times. I wanted the open-faced roast beef dinner. However, I was told that they were running out of roast beef. I got a mix of turkey and roast beef. It was different! It was still yummy.

This place has these pillows of fried dough, filled with cinnamon sugar. They are delicious. I'm glad that I had them for dessert.

I will be dreaming of them all night.