Hey Brian!!!!

Oh boy, time for excitement! Another family member has tracked me down so I have an actual reader. Everyone, meet Brian! Brian, meet everyone!

We never did go to UVM... I figured that, if I took off, Mom's wrist would somehow take a life of its own and try to do something like fix the fence in the backyard or SST, so I stayed home to make sure that didn't happen. OTOH, what was nice was that I worked like a field horse all week and decided that Saturday would be my day of just simple play. I sat in my living room and spun up some absolutely gorgeous Lisa Souza roving in Mardi Gras. I have the yarn all spun and plied and it's waiting for me to turn it into something that will do it justice. (Uh huh, have to wait until after the holidays because I have WAY too much stuff on the needles right now to invest in yet another project.)

I cleaned, I cooked, I threw out (and practically threw up with some of the stuff I found in corners... ) My kitties were on alert that week and brought me the very dead and fully played with bodies of two mice. I told them to get back to work like me and find me the other 20 that are surely roaming the basement in their off hours.

That's the one thing I just can't get used to living near the woods. Mice think they can set up shop during the winter in my home. Get over it, guys. I have cats for a reason. And since they don't go outside to play, they have to find things to do inside the house....

Now, update on the bird. It turned out so absolutely wonderful that I barely had anything to pick off of later Thanksgiving night. I think I got one sandwich and the family scoffed anything that was left so I had no opportunity for those wonderful leftovers like open-faced sandwiches or even soup. (I'm telling you, this carcass had been picked clean like I live with vultures and scavengers.) I was so upset that I went out that Sunday and bought two more birds and tossed them in the freezer. I'm thinking New Year's Day would be a perfect time for another bird with all the trimmings.

How to brine? Easiest thing in the world. I simply took about 2 cups of salt, tossed it in a huge garbage bag with the bird and enough water to cover the bird. Let it defrost in the brine and ingest all the goodness of the water so the meat is perfectly tender and moist. About two days. (Though I will admit that the only place to put this thing is in the tub except for those minutes when I'm showering. I just have a thing about taking my shower with a dead body that's in the process of pickling, so I take it out and put it on the floor outside the shower while I'm in there... ) Take the bird out of the brine, rinse it good, stuff it as full as you can get it and then in the convection oven for about two and a half hours and my family won't touch it if I cook it any other way.

Trust me, you won't regret trying it. It's moist, tender, and the flavor gets in to the bird without being too salty. (Weird because it sits in salt for two days, but it's not overly salted.) You don't even have to flavor it outside of the stuffing. Perfect with very little work.

I'm actually off the gym this morning. A friend is looking for a new location to use and he never thought of our community center. So I'm going to take him in and get him a three-day guest pass. Let him try it and see if he likes it. A lot cheaper than a commercial gym and even closer to his house than most. We'll see if the "price is right" for him.

And it's incentive for me to get back on the elliptical...