What made it Turkish? Urfa peppers? 
Thatās what she called it! I used to notice!
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Unfortunately, Christmas didnāt go exactly as planned. Sunshine and I had plans to have brunch over at one of her girlfriends. I made a āsugar-lessā cake with monk fruit for the occasion, as the friend canāt have sugar (at all). I dug out my favorite Christmas turtleneck; Sunshine dug her fancy āChristmasā dress out of her closet. Both were washed and carefully prepared for the occasion. We got ready and were waiting for a phone call that this āfriendā was home from Church services. The phone call never cameā¦ Sunshine did get a text message that this āfriendā was running late, but she wasnāt home yet from Church. After 1.5 hours of waiting, I told Sunshine to change out of her Christmas dress and Iād make her some lunch.
It kind of put a damper on the whole day.
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It never occurred to your GF to call her friend and see what was going on?
The text said the āFriendā was still at church and would call us when she got home. Apparently, the friend did not want to leave this āChurchā function and blew us off. We got āstood upāā¦ it stung a bit, as neither of us had been āstood upā in quite some years.
Sunshine did get a text later in the day about how this Church function ran long. I asked why the friend didnāt excuse herself (from the Church function) and leave, as she had a prior commitment. She was a guest at the church function, not a participate, so there really was no reason as to why she couldnāt leave and keep her prior plans.
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So, I put the 21 lb Butterball in the oven 475Ā° at 10 am, after 20 minutes reduced down to 250Ā°. I read somewhere that some ovens have trouble at low temps so after a couple of hours, noticed my oven was only about 225Ā° so upped it some.
It was supposed to be done at 5 pm but my digital thermometer was reading only 145 in the thigh. I kept putting it back, testing. Finally took it out at 6:30, rested an hour, looked done.
Anyway, seems like all 7 of us are white meat eaters, no one touched the legs. Gave food to take home so almost no white meat left, glad they enjoyed it.
I only bought 1 lb of great beans, right amount since only 3 remained. Great gravy, mashed potatoes with cream cheese, butter, milk, ricer than tamis. Stuffing, bourbon cranberry sauce.
Hand pies for dessert, most just took home.
Note: I used a big SS roasting pan, turkey was transferred to a disposable tin before placing on cutting board for carving.
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Eh. Sounds like a flake. Who needs that.
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Thazza bootiful boyd!
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Yesā¦ this woman is more a recent friend. And Iām going to use the term āfriendā ā loosely. Personally, after this stunt (and upsetting Sunshine); Iād prefer to use the term acquaintance.
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Want to elaborate a bit on the desserts, none made by me. Two cakes from a local bakery - Yule Log and Holiday Bling vanilla-raspberry cake birthday cake (for my husband). Best contribution was an almond cake, torte di mandorle. Delicious. It was todayās breakfastā¦
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Anyone else kind of scared to step on the scale after this holiday season??
After getting a clean bill of health from my doctor in late October, I let my diet slide quite a bit and enjoyed way too much food/treats.
Maybe Iāll wait until after New Years to step on the scaleā¦
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Ta da! You have arrived! Congratulations on your baking successes! Bravo!
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Sorry, that is a bummer! Have the rest of your holidays with good cheer regardless of others! Life is too short to waste.
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It takes me from Easter to just before Halloween to get my levels stranight, then the next 6 months get somewhat out of hand.
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I use it in a kidney bean/rice/coconut milk side, but youāve already got the similar peas/rice (assuming the whole thing didnāt get gobbled already).
I also like using it for marinating oxtail or beef neckbones for stew (the latter the infrequent times I can find them with some meat) if I donāt do a Cuban style stew. And itās also good for marinating pork shoulder with some added ground up fresh rosemary plus additional garlic, whether youāre cooking it all the way to shred status or just cooking to about 190Ā°F to slice. A tablespoon per quart of black bean soup or other thick soups can add a nice kick, too.
I always end up with more than I thought I was going to make, and like to use it up within about a month(*), so Iāve just been sticking it in here and there, wherever I think the flavors will go well with the dish.
Iāve never frozen it, but the authors I borrowed from for my general recipe say it freezes just fine.
(*) Although I found a Mason jar of it that had gotten shoved to the back of the fridge that was dated around 6 months earlier, and it still seemed fine.
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In my family, we say people like that are dead to us! 
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In my circle of friends, everyone is honest and dependable, minimum requirements.
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Ours too because we donāt spend time with the ones who arenāt!
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We have the same dinnerware! Petite fleur! Iāve had mine for 40+ years ā¦
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Christmas Eve was a layered Crab/Avocado/Salsa salad with naan bread. I posted the recipe over on WMP discussion.
Christmas Day - Photo below - Relish tray of devilled eggs, cherry tomatoes, ripe olives, pepper strips. Steak with sauteed mushrooms. Sweet potato. Spinach souffle (commercial), fresh fruit salad - red/green grapes, sliced apple, blackberries. Dessert - mini cheesecakes (commercial). Wine. Choice of other beverage in Santa mug. On the Paden Ivy and Urn china inherited from my parents.
Today - repeats of leftovers from both days.
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