Walking With Mum and Dad.....100 days, Christmas and New Beginnings.(recipe: roast turkey)

Dad's 100th Day

Cliched,but time has really flown. On 1 January 2014, the family came together to remember Dad's passing. Dad had joined mum on 24 September 2013, 101 days after mum passed away on 16 June.  While we dearly miss Mum and Dad, having our traditional Christmas Dinner continued the warmth, fun and laughter we shared with Mum and Dad each Christmas. They must have been smiling as they watched their grandson, deprived of fast food, gorging on KFC (dad's favourite).

2009: Parents and I

We will remember fondly their sense of humour. Mum and Dad lived their lives well.

The hope is that we do too!

Dad's Favourite KFC Dinner with broccoli, brussels sprouts and roast potatoes

"Follow in the footsteps of your ancestors, for the mind is trained through knowledge. Behold, their words endure…..follow their wise counsel."
From "The Book of Kheti," Selections from the Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt, selected and re translated by 

Maulana Karenga.
 

"I believe that our ancestors love and watch over us still, and want to be involved in our daily lives. Through the act of veneration, we give life back to those who gave us life, and the ones we still love beyond the body will live forever through our remembrance of them. In return, their wisdom and advice can greatly enrich our own spiritual growth before we join them in the Beautiful West."

http://www.senytmenu.org/ancestors.htm

Ancestral veneration in Chinese culture (Chinese: 敬祖; pinyin: jìngzǔ) is the practice of living family members who try to provide a deceased family member with continuous happiness and well-being in the afterlife. It is a way of continuing to show respect toward them, and it reinforces the unity of family and lineage. Showing respect to ancestors is an ideology deeply rooted in Chinese society. It is based on the idea of filial piety (孝, xiào) put forth by Confucius. Filial piety is the concept of remaining loyal to parents as their child. It is believed that despite the death of a loved one, the original relationship remains intact, and that the deceased possess more spiritual power than they did during life. In a sense, the ancestors became thought of as deities who had the ability to interact and have an effect on the lives of those still living.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestor_veneration_in_China

Porcelain Doves given by my friend, Pat

The Dove is a picture of the Holy Spirit and the color white represents purity. The symbol of a Dove representing peace with God comes from the Genesis account where Noah sent out a Dove to see if the waters had gone down and it came back with an olive leaf.  The dove is usually associated with peace and faith and universally symbolizes innocence, gentleness, faith and marital affection. info from ask.com/wikipedia 

portraits in Kate's home

Remembering Mum & Dad. With grateful thanks to God for their 90 & 94 years of full & blessed lives. 
Our first Christmas without them.....kate

2013 A Year of Thanksgiving 

• For Mum and Dad a peaceful and blessed journey's end

• For the love and affection of family and friends

• For the gift of acceptance

     and

• For being able to say "I Love You" every night to Mum and Dad and to Mum as she took her last breaths

presents/mini tree on mum's day bed

2014 New Beginnings

To beautiful days ahead.

 With much love from all of us.

Happy 2014

Our Simple Christmas/New Year Meal 

Menu

DIY Roast Turkey

Pork/Chestnut Stuffing 

 Turkey Sausages w Caramelized Onions

Brussels Sprouts with Capsicum and Chestnuts

Buttered Broccoli

Roast Potatoes

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Fish Curry + French Bread
Gravy + Cranberry Sauce

KFC

Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts+Capsicum

Rosemary Potatoes

Caramelised Onions/Sausages+ Pork/Chestnut Stuffing

Broccoli with garlic slivers

RECIPE from lil's kitchen

Roast Turkey

hmmm...somewhat blotchy but yummy roast turkey

The Turkey Tale

It was November and while prepping for Xmas I thought I should check my standing oven. I had not used it for the last 6 months. 

I turned the oven on, it blew a fuse. The Electrician came, checked the oven and said "Sorry ah cannot repair. This time really die already." Bummer! Fastest $40 in 30 seconds.

So off I went in search of a new oven. My new table top 60L Turbo-Rotisserie Oven, 26inches long was a Christmas gift from my sister and niece. The Sausage Pie baked nicely in its 18 inch long dish. But could the oven roast a small turkey? 

It could---provided the turkey weighed less than 5.5kg. 

Ingredients and Method

1. Rub thawed turkey (I bought a Butterball "moisture enhanced" turkey, 5.1kg) with a generous amount of salt --approximately 1.5 to 2 dessert spoons, inside and on the turkey*. By the way, if you buy a turkey after Christmas, there is normally a very good price discount!

2. Roughly chop 1 orange, 2 sticks of celery, 1 large onion, 1 green apple. Stuff the cavity and neck pouch and use tough toothpicks to seal. From my Food TV viewings (I only surf food channels!) I learned that a turkey filled with traditional sausage/carbohydrate type stuffing took much longer to cook as the cavity could not heat up as quickly. The veggies also kept the cavity moist as they steamed.

3. Soften 125gms butter and add 1 dessert spoon of Garlic Onion Spice Blend (The Gourmet Collection from Fair Price Finest, Singapore). The ingredients in the blend included garlic, onion, salt, soy bean, carrot, coriander, sugar, black pepper, red bell pepper, parsley, oregano, turmeric, cumin, sage and chives. Gently work the skin away from the meat and push the seasoned butter under the skin of the turkey breast and thighs.

4. Preheat the oven at 160C for 15 minutes.

5. Before putting the turkey in the oven, rub it liberally with butter. Place the turkey, breast side down (website info stated it made the juices flow into the breast) on a rack in a metal tray smaller than the one in the oven. This smaller tray held the turkey juices which was used to make gravy. Fill the oven tray with water. As it steams, the turkey will be bathed in the vapours.

6. Cooking Process For The Turkey

    9am   Place turkey  in 160C oven. Baste  every half hour and check the  

             water level  at the same time. The tray must not dry up.

   10am  Cover the whole turkey with foil

   12nn   Flip turkey onto its back.

     2pm  Raise Oven Temperature to 180C, remove the foil except for a small 

             piece to cover the breast if the turkey is very close to the heating 

             elements. Do not baste. This allows the skin to crisp up.  Watch the 

             turkey carefully as it browns.

     3pm  Place a knife through the inner thigh of the turkey. If the fluid runs 

             clear, the turkey's cooked. Remove from the oven and let rest for at 

             least 2-3 hours. This allows the juices, which had flowed out of the

             turkey while it was roasting, to return to the meat. This makes the

             turkey really tender and moist.

VERDICT: after 6 hours, the turkey was almost falling apart. Check out the blue ribbons on the turkey....camouflage. I didn't truss the legs so they were doing splits and left a gaping cavity when i removed the toothpick holding the skin together! Lesson learned. Truss the legs.

It was juicy and beautifully salted BUT *the drippings from the turkey were super salty. I had to add water to make the gravy which was delicious----from so much butter! More stock was made from boiling celery, carrot, onions + bay leaves. I added Bisto to thicken the gravy. I guess using cornflour will also work because the Bisto added more salt to the gravy. The turkey was too much for the family so some was packed for its next starring role in the Eurasian staple, Devil's Curry. Now that is another story!