Ryan and I hosted our first party at the new (mostly finished) house this weekend. It was the perfect time for a ‘Friendsgiving’ so we made a turkey and had all of our friends bring their favorite Thanksgiving dish. It was the first time I’d ever participated in the turkey making part of Thanksgiving and I definitely have a new appreciation for that task. First of all, the stress involved with being responsible for the main course is way more than I’d expected. When it came time to get the bird into the oven I was a mess. Spilling things and rushing around. I had to remind myself that people do this all the time and I needed to chill out.

We used this recipe to make the brine and it turned out really well. It was moist, cooked much faster than I expected and we had just enough for everyone to be pleasantly stuffed. I couldn’t have been happier with my first turkey experience.