Brine O Brine

Thanksgiving was a success!!! Not only was it a fun and relaxing day with family but the food turned out amazing.

First I wanted to show everyone what the table looked like. I picked up a tablecloth at BedBath&Beyond for $9 and then got the two glass candle holders from Pottery Barn. The candles were on clearance from Kohls ($3 a piece!!) and lastly the garland from Michaels-- again on sale. Since my table was small and I wanted room for all the plates and food I kept the setting simple. In addition, I added pinecones from around the house to the table to fill in some empty spaces.

The placecards were cute and super simple to make. I promised Louis credit for picking out the pretty paper that we used in the background. Then with Katie's help she printed me the name tags with the leaves on them and I used a glitter pen and went over them to give them a fancy look.

Now for the Turkey. Major props to Dave who convinced me to brine the turkey. The day before Thanksgiving my mom came over to help me attempt this whole brining business. I didn't have a pot big enough to fit the 17.5 lb turkey so I used a plastic ice bucket we had in the garage. We put the turkey in it and then added ice cubes and plastic bags and towels on top to keep the turkey cold (since it wouldn't fit in the fridge) and then I added some ice packs before bed to keep it cold overnight. Here is how weird it looked...

My mom and I cleaning the turkey!!
This is proof that I put my hands in the turkey and cleaned it!!!!

On Thanksgiving morning I put the turkey in the oven myself (Louis my assistant refused to touch the turkey so he was utterly no help). When we took the turkey out of the oven there was a TON of juice and the turkey was honestly the best I have ever eaten. It was so moist and delicious!!!! I kinda rocked this whole brining thing and I highly recommend everyone doing it-- heck if I can, you can.

Hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving and now I am in full Christmas mode!!!