I will be addding some wild rice to my stuffing. I found a source for dried cranberries without any sweetener added. The rice will be cooked in turkey broth. My 10+ pound turkey beast is now thawed in the fridge. I was expcting at least 5 days, but it was a bit faster. By next Tuesday, I will be brining it in a gallon of water with 1 cup salt and 1 cup sugar added. I will place it upside down (breast down) in a big bowl, and poke a few holes into the rib cage from the inside, so the brine can enter in there too. A local supermarket Atlantic, will be going out of business starting next week Friday. I was so upset as they have stuff there that no one else has. Rarely, around here, do you see Japanese people making Sushi in a supermarket, or a butcher shop that will custom cut for free. When I was leaving the store other day, I noticed they had regular Ball lids for 99 cents a box. I will be in their parking lot next Friday morning at 6:30 am to get as many items as I can get for at least 20% off. They employ about 200 people, and all will be jobless. The store is found in Reading Ma, hidden away on a small side street. The owner called me yesterday to remark on my nice letter sent to him. I guess he just wants to retire, as it was his family business for many years.

I would like anything from a good bakery. My birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving and mostly just before or after. I have had my share of supermarket turkey shaped cakes and cakes with pilgrims. I used to ask for ice cream cakes as a kid because they at least had ice cream and usually weren't awful.....The worst was when I was 16. I wanted something grown up and beautiful. My sister talked my boyfriend and my parents into going to a amusement/arcade park for a surprise. The place was a castle themed park called Camelot. All the kids at my school called it "scam-a-lot" I was horrified. When the girl brought out the cake badly frosted and with day glow icing clowns and balloons I asked them to get it boxed and we went home to have ice cream instead. At least none of my friends saw it all. No I am not stealing this from the show Golden Girls. This actually happened to me! I had another cake disaster for my graduation. My sis and I got the freshest ingredients and made a cake from a cake bible cookbook from the library. I had spent a week prior making frosting roses for this masterpiece had saving them in the freezer. We made the cake and tasted the trimmed off parts it was fantastic! The next day we frosted it and that evening when the family tried it it was so dry no one wanted to eat it. After that I always ordered a cake from the European bakery I love in Pasadena. The other cake fail I was involved in was my cousin's wedding. She knew I could do frosting flowers well so she asked me to come over and decorate her wedding cake. She wanted me to use this lavender icing she made. I decorated the whole thing and we set it by the window. After an hour into the reception, the purple icing in the sunlight faded to blue and was melting a little. My part of the family was out drinking and laughing on the grass. My cousin's husband's family was inside being shocked at the drinking going on outside. The cake suddenly started to lean and lucky her husband's brother was sitting close by and grabbed for it. The top 2 tiers were saved but the lower ones crashed. She didn't put in any supports inside. But, great sport that she is, she just laughed and served her husband's family the upper layers and our family the toppled ones. We didn't mind a bit. She's a great gal and can laugh through anything. One of the weddings I can say I really enjoyed. Sliding color changing cake and all. Please no one get a bright colored cake for a birthday. At my granddad's 90th, my aunt ordered a NASA themed cake with dark blue icing. My Grandad worked in the space program after being in the air force during WWII. Everybody had a dark blue tongue and blue teeth. All these old people with blue lips and teeth! I love a simple cake with almond extract and some fresh ripe strawberries or peaches and whipped cream. I had a fantastic cake once made with 4 different pastel fruit flavored layers and also a very good Black Forest cake by a Belgian pastry chef who used to have a bakery in my city but has now retired. I'm too wary to try a special cake again but I love to make pies and decorate cupcakes with fresh flowers.

It seems there are two Butterball turkey breast products. One is as described above , a bone in whole breast. The other is a turkey roast which is a boned out turkey breast that is then rolled and wrapped in a string netting. So it is more the shape of a conventional roast not a breast. In either case they are "real" turkey not the pressed stuff. My sense is that the turkey roast may not slice in nice neat slices. I think it will slice more like a rolled pork roast. Here is a link that might be useful: Boneless Turkey Roasts

FWIW - I think most people cook it upside down and I never understood that. Chickens, turkeys, all those birds, people put on their backs breast side up and then stick them in the oven. The back is always the juiciest and best part, but there's almost no meat there at all. Cook it breast down for heaven's sake. And don't overcook. If you have a pop-up timer stuck into it, take it out and throw it away. Don't forget - the meat will still cook for a few minutes when it's out of the oven. Who cares what it looks like coming out of the oven??? Do you want it to look like a Norman Rockwell painting AND taste like one? That picture with Grandma taking the bird out of the oven with everyone looking on and imagining the dried out and tasteless dinner that awaits them - I think he was taking artistic license because a turkey butt side up just doesn't look as nice. But it tastes better.