Turkey Stock & Fun Stuff

Wow! Things are just happening way too fast here. I've finished up canning the vegetables so am now onto canning meat products. So that's where it is in the kitchen.

On the exciting front, we bought a new car and ordered in our new fridge, both not by choice. The car was tired period but we really wanted to make it last the winter. No dice! Apparently cold air blowing out the fridge is not a real good thing either. Why both decided to go at once is beyond me but they did. Like it is not as if having the money sitting in the bank would have been a better idea in my book.

Our soon to be born grandbaby is still doing well despite the problems so we took a road trip to visit as well as power shop. We stayed the weekend so that was very nice. Food plays an important role in our family so we managed to find just the right food to keep everyone happy.

Nino D'Aversa Bakery

Saturday in the late morning we sealed the deal on the new car. Beside the car lot was a wonderful little Italian eatery and bakery. We left the new car at the dealership while they finished the final details while we went for lunch. Our kid and kid-in-law were with us. Our senses were bombarded with the most delicious aromas as soon as we entered. To the left there was a large dining area backed by an open kitchen for wood baked pizza. I just had to take pictures of that! The oven was magnicifant! Directly in line with the front door was a very large island with buffet style Italian foods, and delectable smelling coffees. This island wrapped around to the right to include three huge pastry coolers. But the right side of the building was just amazing!

This picture shows just a very small idea of the sight! The owner was thrilled I was taking pictures, something I always wonder about so normally ask permission. The bakery portion aside of pastries was huge! Three walls were covered with stainless steel racks all overflowing with various breads and rolls. Between the two long walls there were two shorter height rows of stainless steel racks also over flowing with various buns and rolls. Oh the smell! What an absolute delight! I just had to buy a loaf of Vienna Style bread, buns and pastries. After lunch we waddled over to pick-up our new car. We left the dealership with a box of pastries, waved good-bye to our old car then made our way to one of our kid's house.

Aberfoyle Model Train Show

On the way to their house, we stopped in Aberfoyle to see the model train show. This is not a business but rather a personal hobby comprising some 1500 square foot of model railroad built in "O" scale. The show opens to the public two weekends in the spring and three weekends after the Canadian Thanksgiving in the fall.

Here's a link if you would like to find out more information about this absolutely outstanding and impressive display by folks who just love what they are doing and want to share - http://www.aberfoylejunction.com/tframe.htm


Aberfoyle Model Train Show

I took several mini video clips of the trains. Unfortunately video.google.com just doesn't seem to like dial-up so keeps booting me off. That's what I really wanted to share. That aside, the attention to detail is absolutely amazing. I think I snapped somewhere close to seventy pictures while we were there. The detail, that what really gets to you. They even have people eating in the little dining cars complete with very detailed place settings. It was very, very impressive!

There is nothing better than being with family, sharing great food and seeing soming interesting. The day wasn't over even though we were getting a little tired.

Chinese Take-Out

On the way to our kids' house we stopped at a Matag store. Wow! Talk about nice appliances. I thought my new JennAir was slick but holy mackinolies! Unfortunately we did not find a fridge that would fit our space. Once we arrived at our kids' house, we decided we had had enough excitement for one day so changed into comfort clothes to relax, watch football and order in Chinese food.

It is a real treat for us to get good Chinese food and this was good!

Turkey Stock

I usually make turkey stock whenever we have turkey. It is a two day process. My turkey stock is not clear. The reason for this is I still stuff the turkey so there is always bits of left-over stuffing in the carcass. What I do is debone the turkey and place all the bones in a large stock pot. Then I add an unpeeled onion cut into quarters. Not peeling the onion adds a nice, natural colour to the stock. I also add about 2 large carrots, cleaned, not peeled and cut in half along with celery sticks. The stock is cooked low and long, cooled then defatted. The next morning the stock is strained then raised to boiling for canning.

I have a really cool video of the turkey stock already jarred with the lids pinging along with another of the stock reducing. Smell-o-vision is next as soon as I can get google to quit hanging up on dial-up uploads.

So this video is showing the stock in the pressure canner. I use 1 L jars so pressure can for 25 minutes at 10 lb pressure. I know there is not a lot to see in this video but I've been testing the uploads of videos so included it. This is just a test. What I would like to do is start including mini instructional video clips on this blog. Words are great but I think the video component will add so much more so if you have any input on this, please leave a comment. I'm curious as to whether others think a video component will help this blog.

Enjoy