The turkey brined in vinegar for 14 hours bottom side first then another 12 hours breast side. On the morning before roasting, I also brined in a soy-water solution, which in my opinion didn’t really accomplish much. I then stuffed the cavity with garlic cloves and roasted the bird in the oven at 375 for 3 hours.

Suffice to say, the turkey turned out palatable, not out-of-this-world good. Next time I am going to stick to a salt brine for 18-24 hours, depending on the size of the turkey. Or even an apple juice/cider brine.

As for the rest of the Thanksgiving meal, it turned out that a roux is a great ally for thickening gravies and creamed corn. Two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of flour makes the fixins work out every time. Well, in the case of the creamed corn, perhaps a little too well, since the additional milk made the side dish incredibly thick.

Oh…and when will I learn that chopped turkey innards just don’t taste well in gravy? I had the fiance chop them up really fine but I still couldn’t appreciate the taste of it. At least adding a chile garlic sauce spiced up the gravy, giving it a good bite.

Mental note for next year: apparently the fiance doesn’t like garlic or cheese in his mashed potatoes. Not even rosemary! Nothing but plain, bland potatoes. Yuck.

All of my lavender plants are gone…the rosemary bush is on its final legs. Let this be a lesson: xeric plants that don’t like their feet wet MUST have a sandy soil mixture that doesn’t retain water. Perhaps I will need to consider older specimens in the future, as well bigger planters with sufficient drainage.

I noticed that my Devil’s Wine calla is dropping all of its leaves…I suppose that it’s done for it’s summer show. The other callas are following suit. Perhaps it is the planter environment, or perhaps they just don’t get enough sunlight to keep the greenery up. I generally have had longer foliage life when the callas are in a garden setting, but perhaps these callas are a little less hardy here in the south and less suited to a patio environment.

I’ve noticed that one of the ornamental pepper plants have ripening fruit. What started as a rich purple fruit has now ripened to burgundy-red color. With sporadic flowering of the neighboring dianthus, the colors stand out marvelously.

I am not sure why the potted salvia are looking thin and reedy, despite sufficient watering. I am wondering if their potted state just isn’t giving them enough room to grow and spread.