Heights Neighbors Baby Gear

Ready for Thanksgiving? Do you have your turkey, your guests, and all of your other recipes in order? What are you waiting for? It’s only a week away!

If you are entertaining at your apartment for Thanksgiving this year, you seriously better get to cracking. Trust me…you don’t want to wait until the last minute to get things done because if you do…your life is going to get extremely difficult.

There are several steps that you can follow to insure that your Thanksgiving dinner will go off without a hitch and with the least stress as possible.

Get Your Guests In A Row- Check out your [BREAK] list of guests. Make a few calls and send out the emails. The first step to keeping your sanity is to find out who is coming and who isn’t as soon as possible. Once you find out who is coming, divvy up the food bringing responsibility. It would be helpful to make a list of the traditional things needed and mark down who is bringing what, so that you don’t get confused and end up with two dishes of dressing and missing a green bean casserole. Here is a quick sample list that may help you out:

-Turkey and Gravy (Typically that is the hosts responsibility)

-Mashed Potatoes

-Green Bean casserole

-Dressing/Stuffing

-Cranberry Sauce

-Pumpkin/Pecan Pie

-Rolls

-Salad

-Drinks

Shopping Spree- Hit the stores several days early. If you wait until the day or even a couple of days before Thanksgiving, you are truly asking for trouble. Not only will you run into a frantic, overcrowded, melee of destruction as soon as you hit that market parking lot, but you will more than likely not be able to find most of the stuff you need because the stores shelves will have already been picked dry by those who got their shopping done before you. Get to the store…Hurry! Time is running out.

The Turkey Prep- There is way more to a great Thanksgiving turkey than just popping the sucker in the oven for several hours, carving, and then gobbling it up. The proper prep of a turkey takes a little care. If you are going with a frozen turkey, you must keep in mind that when defrosting that frozen gobbler in the fridge, it takes an entire day for each 5 lbs. So if you have a 20 pound turkey…it’s going to take 4 days to defrost.

Also, decide how you are going to cook the turkey and have all of the necessary tools ready. There are literally hundreds of ways to cook a turkey and each year new recipes and techniques are created. Generally, at 350 degrees, the roasting time of your turkey of average weight should be between 3 and 4 hours. Don’t be intimidated, but it’s more challenging than you’d think. Cook it too long and you end up with a dry turkey. Cook it too short and it could be unsafe to eat. The important thing to always keep in mind is that if the internal temperature of the turkey is between170 and 180 degrees, you should be safe and good to go.

For any turkey questions you can call Butterball’s Turkey Talk Line at 1-800-Butterball

Clean, Inspect, Then Clean Again- If there is ever a time to make sure that you apartment is extra spotless and in perfect condition, it’s now. No one wants to be sitting down to a hefty celebratory Thanksgiving dinner only to notice dust all over the backs of the chairs, or candy wrappers on the carpet. Clean like you are getting paid to do it. Make sure that your silver and glassware is polished and spotless. The kitchen and bathroom need to look institutionally clean. Make several runs with the vacuum to make sure you don’t miss any spots. Dust in places you usually overlook.

Two Minute Warning – On the couple of days before your dinner, make sure to double check your lists and make sure that everything is covered. Run the vacuum over the carpet one last time. Check to make sure you are stocked up on everything from napkins and toilet paper to bottled water. Put everything in its proper place. And make that last minute store run…only if you have to…

Keep these simple steps in mind as you prepare for your awesome Turkey Day and you should be good to go. Thankfully, I am not entertaining this year. Woo hoo! No work for me!!! I’m sure I’ll end up having to wash the dishes

Did you know….

- If a turkey looks up when it is raining it can drown

-The entire United States of America will go through 675 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving day alone

-The heaviest turkey ever raised was the size of a large dog at 86 pounds

-Turkeys’ heads change colors when they become excited

-The five most popular ways to serve leftover turkey is as a sandwich, in stew, chili or soup, casseroles and as a burger

-”Big Bird’s”feathers on Sesame Street are rumored to be from a turkey

Later Turkey’s!

For more information and tips on apartment living, check out Apartment Home Living.com

As a Managing Partner of Apartment Home Living, Jeff wants to help you find the right apartment by getting to know you. Not only where you want to live & what you want to pay, but what you like. This way, we can help you find an apartment that fits your personality, not just your budget.

At AHL Apartmentites have a platform to share their own stories, get great info & tips on apartment living, read Jeff’s entertaining blogs/stories, find Answers to a wide array of apartment related questions, and have a ton of fun sharing their love of apartment living with others.