This is not a garden blog, but you might see an article concerning gardening. It is a blog about me and the cultivation of my life. This is a place where I air my opinions and ideas. There will be stories about what is happening or has happened. I like to write poems, some will be good and some will be bad. I am never bored, I hope you won't find what I write about boring. Thank you for sharing time with me.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

BORROWED TIME

Have mundane moments stolen time from us,
Over trivial things did we make a fuss,
Did we miss something important,
While we were out on a little jaunt?

Did, in an office, we sit for minutes on end,
Not even a moment to share with a friend,
Sitting with a magazine of useless information,
And advertisements of unattainable faraway vacations.

Did we sit, watching the Television, entranced,
Viewing a cooking show about food in France, 
Were our hands laying idly in our laps,
Our putting into our mouth fattening snacks.

These minutes into hours did stretch,
Were there times our breath we did catch,
For a moment we did visualize,
Was there a time when we did surmise?

Where has this year gone so fast,
Now is now gone and in the past,
Tomorrow approaching, seconds speeding by,
Don't fret about yesterday, don't even cry.  

Awake in the morning, fully refreshed,
Time is like a savings account of cash,
Withdraw it each day, no need to pay back,
Remember, put it to good use for things you lack.


Other blog sites by me:
Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup 
who has become a hidden treasure.

A blog mostly about quilting,
cooking, poetry, prose and a little gardening,
 Tutorial on how to make 5 panel Boxer Shorts.
 Check out "A MYSTERY IN THE MAKING"
A mystery quilt designed with the novice in mind. 

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm
Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,
blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

an intro to baking for kids.

All recipes, pictures, and writings are my own.
I give credit for items which belong to other people in my blogs .
Please do not copy without permission

Monday, December 26, 2016

THE BIG EASY OILESS TURKEY FRYER

WOW!!

Yes, this is a product endorsement.  
(No, we are not getting paid for or reimbursed for it...it sure would be nice though if we were.)

Wow is not a big enough expletive to describe using the apparatus or the product issuing from the basket.  We should've taken pictures.  You can go to "You Tube" and find lots of videos describing the use of the cooker and how to prepare the "meat" and cook it.  
(Look at several for lots of ways to use the "fryer".)

 A bit of history:  We were at our son's Navy retirement ceremony.  
He had bought one of the
CHAR BROIL BIG EASY OILESS TURKEY FRYERS.  

I didn't pay much attention to the assembly but less than 3 hours later there was a turkey sitting and cooling it's heels on his kitchen counter.  To say it was a gourmet delight is to put it mildly.  To say that cleanup was a breeze is an understatement.  I have reached that stage in life where I don't want to buy another cooking gadget.  Technically I have about all the cooking utensils I need.  We also do not have need to be cooking for more than two people.  So when you hear me say, "Hunny, when I get home we have to invest in one of these."  You know I am serious about it.

It was our Holiday gift to each other.  We ordered it through Amazon.  We also have Amazon prime.  Our gift arrived on Monday (we ordered it late Saturday).  The big box sat in the living room awaiting the grand opening.  We were having zero temps with below zero wind chills so we figured "NOW" was not the time to fire it up.  The temps were supposed to be moderate by the end of the week.  Our turkey was put to thaw in the fridge.  It was just under 14 lbs.

The Eve of Hanukkah/Christmas the day was supposed to be almost 50.  It barely made it over 40 but we knew we had to do that turkey and I wasn't about to dirty my oven and spend 4-5 hours basting and making dressing and giblet gravy.

Hunny, assembled the cooker.  I sat the turkey out to come to room temp.  Then re read how we were to treat the bird before cooking.  Rubs and injections were suggested but said to not be necessary.  We didn't have an injector and had not purchased rubs (we don't like pepper, most purchased ones have pepper and sugar....it says sugar burns sometimes in the cooker.)

I proceeded to make my own rub.  I used 1/2 cup fine ground canning salt (not a kosher salt).  Then I eyeballed about 1/4 cup garlic powder, 1/8 cup paprika, and 1/8 poultry seasoning.  

The cooker was seasoned and burned off and the Turkey covered in vegetable oil and sprinkled heavily with the dry mix, and put in the basket and lowered into the cooker.
Suggestion: (which I never saw in the book or videos). They say, spread the birds legs; which we did.  We also folded the wings down so the tips wouldn't stick out the sides of the basket and burn.  When the legs were spread, it tilted the breast forward.  The breast got darker than we wanted, because it was close to the side of the cooker.  Next time we will be making sure the back bone of the bird is resting against the side of the cage.  BTW.  We used an oil saturated paper towel and oiled the rungs on the basket.  I think that did contribute to the ease of the basket cleanup.

Due to the cold we arranged our metal lawn chairs around the cooker and put up a ply wood surround and a sheet of plywood over the top (made a little hut for it).  Yes, we checked periodically to make sure nothing was reaching a temp where it would ignite.   

We set the kitchen timer to 1 hour and 20 minutes and then we were going to check to see if we needed to put the lid on.  Nope, the bird was looking superb and just a little over 1/2 done.  Went back in and set the timer for 60 minutes. Went about straightening up the kitchen, had to reach over the stove to put some spices in the upper cabinet...I didn't realize I had bumped the button on the timer...geesh....how long had it cooked.  We went out with the Thermometer and inserted it...it sky rocketed way over 165....Whoops...get the hooker and get that bird out of there!
(BTW, we never had to use the lid).

It was set on the counter to cool for 20 minutes.  The drippings on the tray were clear so we had no worries it was done...Our worry was, had we, literally cooked our goose .  

We began deconstructing the left side of the bird.  Laying out the pieces and of course sampling as we went.  We had not scheduled dinner, we had a ton of left overs in the the icebox.  Needless to say the left overs are still there.  We sampled turkey all evening.  It was a pickers delight! (The breast wasn't over cooked or dry).

What happened to the right side of the turkey?  We called friends to see if they wanted a half of a turkey to have for supper.  Yes, we could have frozen it but it was so much fun sharing.

We can't wait to try other meats and I will have to get one of the baskets to double my pleasure in the cooker.  (There is a basket available to hang inside the other one for two tiered cooking.  Veggies can be done too, just like you do on the grill.)

Okay...final cleanup of the cooker did require a little elbow grease and a wooden spoon to scrape the residue off the bottom of the cooker after we burned of the inside  but it was nothing like the cleanup of an oven or the broiler pan from roasting a turkey.  I don't think it took us 10 minutes to clean and put away everything. 

What would I recommend this item for?  Do you need a gift for a wedding and they live in a small apartment?  Do you live in a climate where it is always hot and using the oven is a detriment?  Do you hate standing by a smoking Barbeque?  I can't think of any reason not to purchase this item.

We are only two old people (over 70) who wonder when they will be able to enjoy a life of leisure.  While we are waiting for this to happen we will be eating very well and cooking won't be monopolizing what time we have left.   

This "Grill" is handled by most of large retailers and various sources on line.  Our experience purchasing through Amazon has been exemplary.  Our Son bought his at Walmart.  The plus in purchasing through a brick and mortar store is you have somewhere to return it to if something should go wrong.  BUT...we can't for see anything going wrong with this well designed cooker.

Other blog sites by me:
Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup 
who has become a hidden treasure.

A blog mostly about quilting,
cooking, poetry, prose and a little gardening,
 Tutorial on how to make 5 panel Boxer Shorts.
 Check out "A MYSTERY IN THE MAKING"
A mystery quilt designed with the novice in mind. 

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm
Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,
blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

an intro to baking for kids.

All recipes, pictures, and writings are my own.
I give credit for items which belong to other people in my blogs .
Please do not copy without permission