It took me 30 minutes to pump two ounces of milk, milk that I will be pouring down the sink in my hotel room. And even though I have the pump, I end up having to hand express which involves hand-cramping squeezing and hoping I don’t just spray milk all over myself and the hotel bed.

I’m pumping less. It used to be when I left Ian for a trip, I had to pump for all the times he normally nursed, which is at least three times a day (morning, after work, bedtime). But this trip and last week, I’ve only been pumping once a day and it’s been tough to get much out.

So we are slowly weaning, if weaning means Ian choosing to nurse every so slightly less each week. I’m fine with that. Ian will be 25 months tomorrow and our nursing relationship has been the best I could have hoped for. I feel lucky, really, that we’ve had such an easy time of it. I just wish I could share that luck with other mothers and babies.

And there was much turkey! Well, more like only 12 lbs of turkey but still …

I woke up with low blood sugar this morning around 7 so I went downstairs for a snack. Since I was already up, I decided to drag the brined turkey inside and get it started. I make great decisions like this at 7am with a blood sugar of 60.

So I mixed up the “aromatics” for inside the bird, got the oven prepped and popped the little guy inside. I set a timer for 30 minutes to come downstairs and turn the temp back and headed back to bed. Suddenly in my dream state I couldn’t understand who was backing up a work truck in our front yard since it kept beeping over and over. Ah, right, the timer.

Mr. Turkey was done around 11 and he turned out beautiful. I let him rest the designated 15 minutes and then carved him all up. Mom was able to take home the turkey carcass for their dog and I sent her home with about half the meat. But since I was leaving on a business trip this afternoon, we weren’t really going to feast on turkey today.

I settled for a turkey sandwich on the run before I headed to the airport and I must say it was delicious. I’m convinced the brining made it more moist, though I think I need to be more vigilant about taking the turkey out a little sooner too and I might try the plastic bag next time to bake him in.

Overall a success!

After much googling I think I am on the road to a successful practice turkey. We may not actually brine the turkey we eat on Thanksgiving (that’s my brother’s job and he is not convinced brining makes a difference) but I’m hoping to have a delicious Sunday lunch of moist turkey.

I went with the Alton Brown recipe combined with some of the pieces of Pioneer Woman’s. Basically I couldn’t find allspice berries or candied ginger at Target but I did have bay leaves and oranges. We’ll see how it goes.

I started the brine at noon and then decided that starting a turkey roasting at 9:30pm was not one of my brighter ideas (well, Rich convinced me of that) so we’ll start the roasting first thing in the morning. Since I’m on a plane for Boston at 4pm tomorrow we have limited time for this test, but I’m hoping it turns out well.

I’m going to add a little more water for overnight so he doesn’t over do it (Why are turkeys all male? Do we eat female turkeys?) but so far the bucket smells nice.

I’m researching brining a turkey so that we can test it out this weekend before Thanksgiving. I thought brining was just water, salt and sugar (all of which I have in the house at 10pm), but apparently Alton Brown and the Pioneer Woman want to put stuff like candied ginger or allspice berries or fresh rosemary in it. So now I’m having to decide on a brining recipe as well as decide when I want to roast this bird.

Have you all brined a turkey? So you put anything special in, on or around your turkeys to make them wonderful? I’m researching at the last minute!

Greetings from beautiful south Chicago! We’ve had very productive meetings today and it was a lovely fall day in the windy city, if a bit windy. My face may be chapped.

Our host David took us on an impromptu driving tour of the city which was a treat since it was Angela’s first time in Chicago. We had a lovely Italian dinner and I’m now reclining in my hotel bed with crappy TV on in the background. I’m exhausted but it was a very good day.

I’m enjoying checking into all kinds of new places on FourSquare but I still have a headache so I’m heading to bed. Here’s to another fun day Friday and a sweet reunion tomorrow night with my boys.