Yes, I do believe that Spring is indeed Broken.
It's spring break week for me, which means that I actually have a bit of breathing room for a few days. Although there are no classes, campus offices are still open and I still work--so no complete vacation for me. But I am getting some much-needed chores around the house done and recovering from the dreaded Daylight Savings Time "spring forward."
I dislike Springing Forward. It makes me tired and cranky. Well, more so than usual, anyway. And our local weather can't seem to decide if it even is spring yet--we keep going back and forth from temperatures in the mid-seventies one day to the low-twenties the next, accompanied by ice and snow. I think our hydrangea plant in the front yard is dead from all these shenanigans. I haven't seen any new growth coming from it yet.
But today, I am undertaking my annual Thanksgiving Turkey Baking! Yes, you read that correctly. Every November, I always buy a huge 16-20 lb. turkey when they go on sale for Thanksgiving dinners--but M and I always go to my parents' home for the holiday, so we never have to cook it for ourselves. So the giant turkey gets dropped into our freezer chest in the garage, where it patiently awaits until March and spring break--when I have plenty of time to devote to All Things Turkey. Today the turkey is baked, and some of it is eaten for dinner tonight. After dinner, I slice up the rest of the turkey and pull what meat I can off of the bones--these get divided up into several plastic bags, vacuum-sealed, and placed in the freezer for meals later in the year. Wednesday, I will be taking the turkey carcass along with the neck and other icky parts I saved from the cavity and cooking it all down in a giant pot for stock. I can usually get about 10-12 cups of stock, which go into 2 cup portions (about the equivalent of a can of stock) in tupperware containers and dropped into our freezer chest for use in cooking later.
The turkey has been in the oven for about three hours now, and the entire house smells really yummy. That's the hard part about all this--smelling the bird for hours on end and not being able to eat it.
I dislike Springing Forward. It makes me tired and cranky. Well, more so than usual, anyway. And our local weather can't seem to decide if it even is spring yet--we keep going back and forth from temperatures in the mid-seventies one day to the low-twenties the next, accompanied by ice and snow. I think our hydrangea plant in the front yard is dead from all these shenanigans. I haven't seen any new growth coming from it yet.
But today, I am undertaking my annual Thanksgiving Turkey Baking! Yes, you read that correctly. Every November, I always buy a huge 16-20 lb. turkey when they go on sale for Thanksgiving dinners--but M and I always go to my parents' home for the holiday, so we never have to cook it for ourselves. So the giant turkey gets dropped into our freezer chest in the garage, where it patiently awaits until March and spring break--when I have plenty of time to devote to All Things Turkey. Today the turkey is baked, and some of it is eaten for dinner tonight. After dinner, I slice up the rest of the turkey and pull what meat I can off of the bones--these get divided up into several plastic bags, vacuum-sealed, and placed in the freezer for meals later in the year. Wednesday, I will be taking the turkey carcass along with the neck and other icky parts I saved from the cavity and cooking it all down in a giant pot for stock. I can usually get about 10-12 cups of stock, which go into 2 cup portions (about the equivalent of a can of stock) in tupperware containers and dropped into our freezer chest for use in cooking later.
The turkey has been in the oven for about three hours now, and the entire house smells really yummy. That's the hard part about all this--smelling the bird for hours on end and not being able to eat it.