Well, I cooked my first thanksgiving dinner tonight, and for the most part it went off without a hitch. First, based on suggestions people made on this site, I decided to brine the turkey before hand. Brining involves soaking the turkey in a salt/water solution for 12 hours or so before cooking it, and ultimately forces moisture into the turkey, keeping it nice and juicy. My grandma hates dry turkey, and she couldn't believe how moist the one was that came out of my oven, so definitely mission accomplished. I was a bit worried the meat would taste too salty, but that wasn't the case at all. On ...

Given that I'm hitting the open skies in a matter of months, I've been trying to spend more time with the family. For easter of this year I went out and bought a pretty nice organic turkey from JD Farms in Langley, but never got around to cooking it. Since I've always been an eater of turkey and never a cooker of it, I offered to do thanksgiving dinner for my mom's side of the family this year. I have to say, I can cook a pretty mean chicken these days. So I'm hoping I can pull off a turkey. If anyone has any suggestions, then by all means, drop them here. I'm hoping to turn the awesome knob up ...