Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Visiting family, eating well, watching football. and relaxing.  As someone pointed out on a blog I read (can't remember which one), there are no gifts involved which takes away some of the busyness and stress of Christmas leaving more time to relax.

The last few years we have had Thanksgiving at our house which has been nice not to have to travel.  This year we traveled to Rockford since one of my brother-in-laws and his family flew in from Arizona.  We hadn't seen them for quite a while so this was nice.  When we come to Rockford and stay at my parents house, I get to sleep in my old room which is always nice.  I grew up in a small neighborhood with only 13 houses and every time I come home, I think of my childhood friends and what house they use to live in.  Back then, we didn't have Xbox, Ipods, cell phones or even cable TV, so we played outside, a lot.  We would often be out all day and come home when we got hungry.  The neighborhood has changed over the years.  The corn field we used to play in across the street, and pick corn for the farmer in the summer, is now full of duplexes and small businesses.  All my friend's parents have moved away except for three. The road leading to the neighbor hood is now four lanes instead of a two lane country road.  My parents street even has a stop light!  It's still nice to be home.

I'm in charge of grilling the bird.  My dad taught me a super easy way to do it that turns out great every time.  All you need is a Weber grill, side racks to hold the charcoal, a turkey rack, 12-14 pound turkey, olive oil and Lowrey season salt.  Rub the oil on the bird then coat liberally with season salt.  After the coals are hot, put the bird on the grill uncovered.  Add 5-10 pieces of charcoal every 45 minutes or so and loosely cover the turkey with aluminum foil when adding the first set of coals. Then cook until the thickest part is 165F (about 15-20 minutes per pound).  Perfect every time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday of the year.  What's not to like about getting the family together, cooking, watching football, and just relaxing?  I've always liked it but, it seems to get better and better as I get older.  Is Thanksgiving an "older people" holiday?  My guess is yes.

A couple years ago we moved Thanksgiving to our house.  We used to have two Thanksgiving dinners, one at my parents and one at my mother-in-laws.  They were both excellent but I'm kind of a home body, so the relaxation level just isn't quite the same at someone else's house.  I also love to cook, so moving it to our house allows me to do another thing that I love. 

This year was the biggest get together yet.  My parents and most inlaws came as usual (I started typing all the inlaws and it got long).  We had a special bonus of my brother-in-law from Arizona and his family coming to visit.  I hadn't seen them in forever and it was great having them over as well.  We had 14 people total but it was supposed to be 16.  My niece and her husband had a baby last week and they were still in the hospital.  We ran a nice meal over to them which I'm sure they enjoyed.  We look forward to having them and Jonah over next year.

On to the good stuff, the food!  With all these people I decided to cook two turkeys and my parents brought down a honey baked ham.  I grilled on turkey on the Weber using my dad's method he taught me.  Oil the bird, coat with Lowry season salt, grill on indirect heat for about 20 minutes per pound until the temp reaches 180.  Works perfect every time.  I smoked the other turkey.  I brined it over night in cranberry-pomegranate juice with one cup of kosher salt per gallon.  In the morning I rinsed the brine and added more salt and pepper.  Smoking is tricky because it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour per pound depending on how hot the smoker is.  It was a cold rainy day and I had a 13 pound turkey so I got up at 5:15 am and lit the charcoal in case it took 12 hours to cook.  My luck, it took about six hours and I should have pulled it off after about 5.  Not a real big deal.  My dad and I wrapped it in aluminum foil, then a towel, and stuck it in a cooler to rest for a couple hours.

My mom, wife, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law made all the fixings.  Stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn casserole, broccoli casserole, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and peanut butter pie.  Needless to say, no one went hungry.  I made a black bean salsa to snack on all day while cooking and it was huge success.  Thanks neighbor Claire for the recipe!  Here it is if you are looking for a nice snack to bring to a party.

2 cans black beans (RINSE WELL and drain)

1 can white shoe peg corn (drain)
6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
½ cup finely chopped red onion
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup peeled and finely chopped fresh tomato
Combine all ingredients except tomato. Stir well. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Add tomato just before serving. May need to add more lime juice and cilantro to taste.

Another good week of training (except swimming).  I moved things around a bit to fit it all in.  Wednesday night I skipped my swim because our company arrived.  Thursday I ran instead of biked because I was able to fit a run in nicely between checking on the turkeys.  Friday I managed to set the trainer up while everyone was either sleeping or Black Friday shopping.  That moved my long run to Saturday and long bike to Sunday instead of vice versa.  I normally take Friday off from running and cycling.  Not taking it off meant 6 days of running or cycling in a row.  My legs are tired.
 
Speaking of Black Friday.   Happy Black Friday to me!  I didn't do any crazy shopping.  After my parents left at 6 am, I took a long nap.  While catching up on BT posts I saw a thread about black Friday tri stuff.  I picked up two Zoot tri tops at 75% off plus a Sugio tri top and tri shorts for 40% off.  I need to decide what tri top and shorts I'll use during my HIM so I'll start doing my long rides and runs in different types to see what causes the least chaffing.
 
My training plan starts Monday 11/29.  I leave the country 12/4 for a week, so my 20 week plan will be more like 19.
 
This weeks totals
swimming 0 hours
biking 4.1 hours
running 2.9 hours