Black Friday - As I mentioned Tuesday, Laura and I decided we would have our Thanksgiving dinner today. And so we shall. She placed our 12.9-pound turkey in a brining solution last evening at 7:15 PM. She removed it from this solution at 7:15 AM this morning. Soon, it will go into the oven.

I sliced, chopped, minced, and diced all the ingredients for my famous stuffing (see the recipe in Tuesday's blog post). Laura will soon begin to sauté the hot Italian sausage and begin the production of the stuffing. I will peel two heads of garlic and dice some red potatoes for garlic mashed red potatoes. I will clean some Brussels sprouts. Soon, the house will be filled with the smells of Thanksgiving!

We intended to have pumpkin pie. Yet again, we broke from tradition. We shall have apple pie with vanilla ice cream instead.

I am salivating copiously in anticipation of this meal.

There is another undeniable benefit to be realized from moving the Thanksgiving festivities ahead a day: We will be safe inside our nest whilst others fight traffic on the highways and streets and crowds at the stores. We shall NOT be participants in the hideous shopping frenzy known as "Black Friday!"

While the turkey roasts, we shall entertain ourselves by viewing episodes of "My Name Is Earl," playing Draw Something, and collecting MP3 files to add to our Google Music libraries.

Mr. Turkey in the brine.



Out of the brine, washed, patted down, stuffed with the citrus, herbs, carrots, onions used in the brine.



Rub with butter, then ROAST that bad boy!!!



One large loaf sourdough bread cubed and toasted in the oven for the stuffing base.



Mr. Turkey is resting. Soon, I shall carve him!



The stuffing is ready to take to the table!