I have learned that roasting a turkey on a 37^oC-ish day in an un-airconditioned haus is not the most sensible thing to do.

Still, it was delish! We should really repeat these sorts of meals at a more suitable seasonally appropriate time.

Not quite enough bread stuffing, so sealed with 1/4 lemon (the rest of the lemon was fisted in with the stuffing).

Pre-carving. Normally I’d brown and cover with foil for the last part of the cooking, but teh internets persuaded me to do the reverse and they were right!

Table. We really do need a bigger one for all the fam.

My plate. Mmmmmm faux thanksgiving.

It’s all about the simplicity rather than the perfection these days, so we decided to take it easy on the side dishes. Originally we’d planned roast potatoes, but realised timing would be an issue, given that the turkey took up most of the oven, and so settled for the more traditional, and it turned out much more excellent, mash (unhomogenised jersey milk and organic butter FTW).

In thanksgivingal conversation I mentioned the delightful Jano’s menu and Don was dead-set on giving maple glazed sweet potato a bash. While he loved it, I’d have to say that for the rest of us, while we found it super-tasty, our un-American palates really did not care for the extreme sweetness with a savoury meal – we felt that sweet potato and maple syrup were much more suited to a pie – served with lashings of cream and icecream. I cannot even imagine what sweet potatoes would be like with the traditional marshmallow topping.

This afternoon Don tranformed the carcass into stock, which made for an utterly wonderful turkey soup.

Still a wee bit left for turkey sambos though, which is as it should be.

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