Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Three Beautiful Things 04/27/20: Picky Old Man, Turkey Dinner, Uncle Val's Martini BONUS A Limerick by Stu

1. As I grow older, I'm pickier and pickier about making myself very uncomfortable. Today, the weather was erratic: showers, some clearing, a downpour or two (maybe more) and the changes happened quickly. I just couldn't bring myself to possibly getting rained on and so I took a day off from scaling the dizzying heights of Mt. Wellness. I missed it. I look forward to returning on Tuesday. But, it's simple: I just didn't want to get wet.

2. When Debbie arrived back in Kellogg on March 18th, we agreed immediately that we would stay at home, only going out in public to buy groceries, some liquor, and go to the post office. On her way to Kellogg that day, Debbie stopped at Barney's in Pinehurst and bought a load of groceries with a long stretch of time staying indoors in mind and, soon after, I shopped at Yoke's with the same idea in mind (neither of us bought toilet paper, by the way!).

With the idea of buying food that would last a few days once prepared, I bought a turkey breast.

A couple of days ago, I started thawing it and today I roasted it. I had never tried sliding pats of butter under the skin of a turkey before roasting it and I did that today. Then I seasoned the turkey with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and roasted it for a half an hour at 425 degrees and then turned down the oven to 325 degrees and slow cooked it until it was done. I wasn't getting satisfactory readings with my meat thermometer -- might be time for a new one --, so at one point I made an executive decision that it was done.

And I was right.

I also thawed leftover cornbread dressing from this past Thanksgiving and from the Sunday back in February when I made a batch of dressing to go with the Southwest Buttermilk Baked Chicken I prepared.

Our dinner was awesome. Debbie made gravy. She steamed some broccoli. The cornbread dressing tasted even better than I remembered and the turkey was moist, rich, and full of flavor, thanks, I think, to the butter and to cooking it pretty slowly at 325.

3. Recently, I bought a bottle of Uncle Val's Botanical Gin. I enjoy Uncle Val's without any mix, but the only mix I had tried was tonic water. While preparing the turkey and dressing, I decided to stir myself an dry martini, up, with almond stuffed green olives, using Uncle Val's. It wasn't bad. But, given a choice between a martini mixed with Tanqueray or Uncle Val's, I'll go with Tanqueray every time. In fact, I think today I drank my last Uncle Val's dry martini.

Here's a limerick from Stu:

Now let us consider your name.
You can thank Mom and Dad or can blame.
After Granny or Hero,
Your input was zero.
But, it's what you are called just the same.



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