Catching My Breath

Today is dedicated to ... nothing. Wonderful, blissful, much-need abso-friggin'-lutely nothing.

The last several days have been a whirlwind of grading, prepping for Thanksgiving, cooking, cleaning, and other assorted activities. To top it off, early Thanksgiving morning we found out there would be five additional people (big, hungry people) showing up for dinner. The turkey we had already bought was on the small side, so I was a little worried that there might not be enough to go around. Fortunately, I had just enough time to dash to the store and buy a fresh turkey breast. There wasn't time to do anything fancy with it so I doused it with soy sauce, liberally sprinkled it with Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, wrapped it in bacon, and threw it on the grill.

It was fabulous.

I wish I'd had the time to take pictures, because in the beginning it looked like a bacon-wrapped football. Then the bacon began sizzling and popping, those yummy bacon juices began flowing, and the smell ... oh my God, the incredible, tantalizing, stomach-attention-grabbing smell of turkey and bacon juices dripping onto hot coals ... it could have tasted like shoe leather, but the smell had everyone so ravenous that they would have devoured it and pronounced it the best meal of their life.

About 45 minutes before it was done I took the bacon off so the breast would brown. It was like walking into the middle of a pack of starving wolves carrying raw meat. The struggle to snag a piece of that grilled bacon was flat-out scary. Strong men trampled women and children underfoot in an uncontrollable frenzy to grab some. I just tossed the bacon at the mob and fled for my life (of course, I had already sampled some in the interest of quality control).

Anyway, everyone went away full. The clean-up is over. My plans for today consist of settling down into my easy chair, turning on the football game, and napping the afternoon away.

There is even some beer left in the keg.

Life is good...