celebrate: new year's day

Whirlwind weekend. My mitzvah dinner party was compliments of Cecilia who bought a turkey and which I volunteered to roast. I followed the steps of Sohla El-Waylly on how to dry brine and roast a turkey that doesn't suck. And I must say it sure is a heck of a lot easier than the turkey in a bag of wet marinade I once or twice did. You basically rub a seasoning of a teaspoon of salt per pound plus a few teaspoons of spices like onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, turmeric and ground black pepper two days before the roasting. And the salt does penetrate the muscle of the bird to retain the moisture. And just in case the meat was dry and if I didn't make enough gravy, I bought jarred gravy as well as a box of my favorite boxed stuffing as shortcuts for this Friendsgiving. 

 

I basically pruned all the sage and thyme from the garden on which to lay the turkey on and put atop the bird and slow roasted in a 300 degree oven for 2 hours and then cranked to 375 the last hour to get browned. The meat was moist and not dry and stringy. Success!        

I did boil the neck and the giblets and made a roux. I've LOTS of gravy, which went into my freezer to accompany the turkey wings and drumsticks I bought around last Thanksgiving.

  

And I was pretty tuckered out from a morning and afternoon of roasting, cooking and cleaning and came home to this little monkey who wanted to watch Sesame Street and who of course we invited to dinner of leftover turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing.

 

I was pretty entertained by observing Charlie and how he flopped around on the rug to watch Sesame Street.

 

And that belly just cracked me up.

  

I was pretty hung over from all the wine I drank at lunch and in the afternoon--the only way I can entertain and stand the company of so many of my neighbors. But I'm happy that I've performed my community service for the Christmas holiday. 

I got to leisurely rise the next morning and eat leftover Korean tofu stew and rice before heading to Sol Food in San Rafael and enjoying their customer appreciation slurping of Miyagis from Hog Island Oysters and the company of my brother, his wife and my nephew. The only sibling I'm not estranged from, and so I was immensely grateful to be able to celebrate his birthday on a beautifully sunny first day of 2023.

We got to the restaurant at 11:30, and there were very few people.

 

And it was glorious to slurp so much of my favorite seafood. Yep, oysters are definitively my favorite flavor from the ocean.

And I'd been hoping that Pernil would be on the menu, and damn was it delicious.

  

Truth be told though that "tamales" are not my favorite whether it be Mexican or El Salvadorean or Puerto Rican. 

And then we were hoping to hang out in a bookstore we had frequented the last time we celebrated Byron's birthday, but alas it closed though we did hang out and reminisce and re-connect in comfy cafe called Pink Owl Coffee.

And it was so good to be with family.