Turkey and Bubbles

our 2010 Thanksgiving turkey

Today I went with a friend to a Williams-Sonoma Technique Class, The Perfect Turkey.  It was fun and, what's more, I learned a few things even though I've been roasting turkeys for more than twenty years.  We even got to taste a turkey prepared with their dry brine.  It was really juicy, but maybe a little too flavorful for me, and too salty for my friend.  I like my turkey mild so that the stuffing can carry the flavor.  My parents like to joke that I dump a whole container of rubbed sage into my cornbread stuffing.  This is not exactly accurate, but I do like sage.  A lot.

Being Williams-Sonoma, of course, the instructor was a little snooty and gave disapproving glances to a woman who confessed to using a grocery-store aluminum pan to roast her turkeys.  The store's roasting pans are very nice and were even on sale, but really? who wants to spend $199 on a roasting pan to use once or twice a year?  They have an even bigger model for $279.  What?  And these are sale prices, kids.  After lunch we stopped in Home Goods, and they had an equally fabulous Cuisinart roasting pan for around $59.  Personally, I use my grandmother's old enamel roasting pan.  Anyway, the class was fun and we got to save 10% on our Williams-Sonoma purchases.  I managed to control myself and only got a couple of whisks that I really needed.

Are you wondering about the "bubbles" in my title?  Since my friend signed us up for the class and was doing the driving, I wanted to give her a little thank you. So I crocheted a dishcloth/hot pad for her.  You know that I only learned to crochet very recently, but I think the cloth turned out well.  I made a similar one for my daughter last month.  I found the pattern, Bubble Dishcloth, on Ravelry; it's easy and pretty quick to make.

Two and a half weeks until Thanksgiving.  I'm already feeling thankful today -- for my old pan, my new whisks, crochet thread, and mostly my family and friends.