Turkey.

I let out an audible sigh of relief when Sam excitedly told me that he wanted to smoke a turkey this year for Thanksgiving. We have been married for almost eight years & in all of those eight years of marriage, I have cooked a Thanksgiving turkey ONE TIME. It was our first Thanksgiving where we were planning on staying at our home for the holiday so I rushed to the store to buy a turkey. I called my mom to ask for directions on how to cook the darned thing. She explained to me multiple times that it was PERTINENT to reach inside the turkey & find the plastic bag that held the giblets & remove it. So there I was, my hand reached all the way up inside this turkey & for the life of me I could not find that darned plastic bag she was talking about. I figured that the turkey I bought must have been special because I couldn’t find the bag no matter how hard I searched for it. So I threw the turkey in the oven & baked it for what seemed like a million hours (can you tell I don’t cook often!?!). We pulled the turkey out & began carving it. After carving it for a few minutes, we realized the was something shiny inside the turkey. Guess what? My turkey had not one but TWO plastic bags inside of it…and they were melted & still filled with all the giblets.

And that is the reason why for the past few years I’ve opted to cook a Thanksgiving ham instead of a turkey. I.WAS.TRAUMATIZED.

Please tell me that nobody really uses the giblets during their Thanksgiving meal. PLEASE. And please don’t ask about the first time I made Macaroni & Cheese for Sam. It’s simply humiliating.

Let’s be real here: cooking just isn’t my thing. Clearly.

To redeem myself from the humiliation of being a horrible cook, here are some fabulous photos that I am proud to say that I made…without having to worry about burning, undercooking or being traumatized with the sight of a melted plastic bag holding giblets.

I think it goes without saying, but I choose photography over cooking every.single.day.of.the.YEAR.