Mystery Machine Ya'll!

Ugh. I have the theme song to “Full House” stuck in my head. I don’t even really/ watch/like that show. But it seems they have started the season over on Nick and I am in an unfortunate position. That being I have no choice but to acknowledge that it’s on. The theme isn’t even fun! And now it bugs me that I don’t know the words! ~tear~

 So, the project this week has been tedious/fun/belly rotting deliciousness. My sister and I made a Gingerbread Mystery Machine for a Gingerbread contest at our Library. Fun right? Yeah, I thought that the idea was totally original until we looked it up on the computer. There are a few, yes, but ours is ours. It’s a good thing that the contest rules stated that professional entries would not be allowed… ^.^

 It started out with a sketch and a Gingerbread recipe from Foodnetwork.com. Very good recipe, the bread turned out deliciously spiced and it’s pretty sturdy! Then we used the Royal icing recipe that came with the Gingerbread House recipe and colored them with “groovy” colors. Hehe. We spent the evening—had to break the process down into three days because it was something we never did before—and frosted all the pieces. Using a little bag with scissor holes because a tip would have been too big (that or we really couldn’t find a frosting tip, whatever sounds better) we frosted Oreos as well. The Oreos were used as the wheels and the spare wheel on the front. 

THEN we assembled it.

It took a long, long time. Grunts, groans and eye rolling. But, a few hours, three batches of frosting, powdered sugar, two sick stomachs and THEN two more sugar comas later….IT WAS DONE. It turned out pretty cool I think ^.^ The judge who carried up to the display room said it was good anyway…Yay.

 

This is what it turned out like in the end.

 

I was told this morning the there were 6 days until Thanksgiving! I had forgotten...But the great part is, I may be able to Brine a turkey again. Last year I did one like that, using Alton Brown's Brine Recipe. I watched two weeks of Food Network Thanksgiving specials and had bad dreams about brine and such. Then finally, I DID IT! I wasn't aware however, that the turkey had to soak in the stuff for days. Ended up putting everything on the recipe in a pot, boiling it, and then letting the turkey sit in it overnight....

 

 Everyone said it was great. I thought it was really good even though I didn't do it just right. :) It was really tender and had just enough salt, it was awesome. 

 So hopefully I will be doing that again this year. 

I can't wait for Thanksgiving! I love the pies, the turkey, the cuts you get when trying to open the can of cranberry sauce with an old can-opener...Okay, maybe not that....And just the feeling of it. The best part would have to be the next morning when there is just so much pie left that you get to have some for breakfast. YUMMMMM.

 The "aw man" part of it though is that the next day is Friday so no turkey the next day...But mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce or really, anything else will work. Lol.

 ♫Natsuuuuuuu♪