Deep Fried Turkey Day

To anyone reading this blog, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you got to eat some delicious food and spend time with awesome people. I'm very happy to say that we were blessed with good food and good company once again this year.

James pried himself away from his PhD work for the day and we all went over to my cousins' house. It has become a tradition in recent years for James to deep fry the turkey. He learned how to perform this culinary feat from his own dad since fried turkey was a tradition at their house when he was growing up (in fact, James' family Thanksgivings hosted so many people that they would have a fried turkey, a roasted turkey, and a smoked ham... plus all the sides of course and something like 8 different pies!). 

The turkey was delicious! Just perfect. Stuffing, cranberry salad, ham, pumpkin cheesecake... it was a great meal! 

Calvin sat at the table with us and got to taste some turkey! (Taste! Not eat :)

After the meal, Calvin was sleepy so we put him in the Ergo to nap... James was sleepy too!

The next day it was back to the grindstone for James. His PhD defense is scheduled for next Friday (eek!) so he is up to his eyebrows in thesis writing and presentation prepping. But he does have to take some breaks so we managed to squeeze in a couple more Thanksgiving traditions over the next two days.

Friday I used the leftover turkey to make Hot Browns. This is another tradition from James' family and it is such a yummy way to enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers! Here's the recipe from it's original source, The Brown Hotel in Louisville. It says it's for two servings, but I found that there was way more than enough Mornay sauce. Next year, I think I'll halve the sauce ingredients. 

Here's one Hot Brown. I burnt the bacon. Oops! 

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is a big day for college football rivalries including our very own GA Tech vs. UGA. This rivalry is quite a hot topic in both of our families. Half of the six kids in James' family went to Tech and the other half went to UGA and the stubborn side-taking has trickled down to our nieces and nephews. One year, the older kids actually convinced the younger ones to switch teams and cheer for their side! As for my family, my grandmother is an alum and a former professor of The University and she and my dad are huge Dawgs fans. I grew up cheering for Georgia and wearing red and black UGA outfits. I learned how to spell "Georgia" by singing the fight song. And while I still enjoy watching the Dawgs beat those wretched Gators, I have become kind of a traitor and changed teams on my dear old dad and grandma. I have fond memories of going to Tech games with James and tailgating with our friends in Atlanta and it's more fun for me to cheer with my husband than against him! So although we are now on the opposite coast (and had to roll out of bed to watch the game at 9 am!), we dressed Calvin in his Tech onesie and cheered for the Jackets. The Dawgs beat them again. It doesn't make me want to switch back teams. Sorry ;)