2018 Resolutions

After New Years: best time to make resolutions, right?!

In recent years I’ve backed away from even speaking aloud resolutions in fear that mere utterance is enough to break them. Not this year! No, this year I’ve got it figured out: delayed resolutions! Two weeks into the new year and people are already undoubtably breaking their New Years resolutions, so here I go just sliding in with my 2018 Blog Resolutions! Good plan? We’ll see. Here are some resolutions and trends that I want to make publicly and review every quarter to see how I’m doing. Sound good? Let’s do this:

  • Achieve low-hanging Bucket List fruit — I didn’t specifically create my Bucket List with low-hanging fruit, but populating it with things I want to accomplish would reasonably include things that aren’t necessarily difficult but that I just haven’t gotten around to doing. Things like “17. Own a pair of black cowboy boots again”, “26. Experience a solo backpacking trip”, “28. Shoot a round at Golden Gate Park archery range”, “42. Properly sharpen knives”, “58. Learn to juggle” — you get the idea. Low/no cost, close to home, achievable. I grabbed those four with a quick glance, so let’s up the ante: Cross off five bucket list items this year.
  • Selfie Posts! I’m not kidding — you have been forewarned. Seriously, though, I’m naturally predisposed to self-doubt and self-consciousness, so committing to posting selfies once a week is a huge step. Heck, I may even have to get myself a selfie stick! And if I see a photo booth I’m required to stop and use it (check out this wonderful (though occasionally racy) podcast on photo booth obsession from Love and Radio). Here’s the brass tacks: One Selfie Post a week. Speaking of posting resolutions…
  • Stick to a posting schedule. I’m still working on the particulars, but here’s what I can commit to: Selfie post on Mondays, a story a week on Wednesdays, and What I’m reading/watching/listening to on Fridays. Three posts a week. It’s about consistency. Speaking of which…
  • 10,000 step days. More abstract than “lose weight” or “get in shape,” and so I think it’s reasonable. I’ll start small and build: At least 1 10K day a week in Q1, 2 10K days a week in Q2… I think you can see where this is going…
  • Shut up and make things! Reviewing my 2017, I noticed I built a number of things early in the year — my sewing table and the cabinet for my motorcycle gear storage — but then not a lot else. That needs to change. The whole point of building the sewing table was to facilitate the creation of things, to give myself a big, flat, tall table to do projects on — sewing, sure, but also a place to work on my guitars and other electronics projects. There’s plenty of areas inside the house that need better storage solutions. I can build these, I just need to get out of my own way. I’ll commit to something small and attainable: One completed project a month. 

The Thanksgiving Diaries 2017: Dinner

 

When we got to Fern’s, the first order of business was to get the bird cooking. The brining bag made draining the liquid (while retaining the solids) over the sink a simple procedure. Opening the bag, wow… that brine is deliciously aromatic. But will it translate to tasting delicious? We pulled the bird out of the bag and generously rubbed the turkey.

Now you’re cooking!

The roaster came up to temperature in a shockingly short amount of time. The lid barely cleared the breast, but it seated properly and set the timer for three hours and Fern and her mom settled in to reheating with the microwave.

Worried about the power of the roaster, I foolishly didn’t check the temp until the full three hours was up. Bad move, as the bird registered 170 everywhere I stabbed. Uh oh. And while I said we had to wait a half hour for the bird to rest, a revolt started. No one wanted to wait. So… with all of about five minutes resting… I carved.

I needn’t have worried, though.

Ready, set, EAT!

Dear reader, that was one of the juiciest, most flavorful turkeys I have ever had. What’s more, everything was amazing. Fern’s dressing had a fantastic depth of flavor and remained deliciously moist. Her aunt’s greens (mustard greens with turnips) were sumptuous. And my dishes performed admirably – the mashed potatoes tantalizingly garlicky and buttery, the alterations I made to the standard green bean casserole paid off stupendously. The Macaroni and cheese – which uses un-cooked macaroni – was a little too crunchy around the edges. The middle had good flavor, but I should have worked harder to get all the macaroni better integrated and, unlike the other dishes, suffered from the travel and reheating; I’d make it again but I certainly wouldn’t travel with it.

Oh, the humanity!

Before you would scarcely believe, we had laid waste to a substantial amount of the feast. My tummy was painfully full but more than that, I was so ecstatic that everything worked out so well. The circumstances provided some challenges and forced some adjustments, but I can say that I’m no longer a Thanksgiving pedestrian. I earned my wings, or, rather, my drumsticks

The Thanksgiving Diaries 2017: Wrapped and Ready

 

Wrapped and Ready!

Yes, it took longer (by a couple hours) than I expected, but we’re all cater-wrapped and ready to go over to Fern’s house where we will get the bird in the roaster.

But let’s back up and see the few pictures I took today (I’m tired, alright? 😉 ).

So, first up was the turkey rub. This is Thanksgiving incarnate: salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, sage, and garlic all ground together in an utter state of happiness:

Rub-a-dub-dub

Mash Mash Revolution

And I didn’t take any pictures of the procedure of the mashed potatoes because, let’s face it, it looks pretty boring. But I want to highlight this incredible masher I treated myself to this year. A little history: even back when I was married we never had a decent potato masher. Instead we had a potato ricer. That makes for super silky smooth potatoes, but… Why we never bought a decent masher… no clue. So, this year, I decided, that masher drought would end. Behold, the greatest masher EVER — the stainless steel ZYLISS Potato Masher (and, you know, you can go over to Amazon to get one yourself — did I mention it’s AWESOME?! ‘Cause it is). How badass is that?!

Finally, the beloved green bean casserole. I had some shredded cheese left over from the mix, so I added that on top below the topping fried onions because, dude… cheese???

Roll that beautiful (green) bean footage…

And that’s that! Akilah’s pie is cooling, I’m going to jump into the shower and we’re going to get his party started!! Happy Thanksgiving, all!