An Unplanned Transported Thanksgiving

[GoDawgs]

Well, this will be a Thanksgiving I don't think we'll forget. At 8:00 I turned the oven on to pre-heat.... and it wouldn't heat. It was turned off and on several times but still a no-go.Probably the igniter. It had worked just fine baking rolls and stuff earlier in the week. Decision time. Two options:

A - unstuff the bird and try to roast it on the grill

B - call B (one of the three guests) and move dinner to her house.

I called B and she was fine with having a sudden big meal cooked in her kitchen. LOL! So she called her sister C and C's husband J about the switch in locations. Meanwhile Pickles and I packed up the whole shebang in several coolers including the sack of potatoes and the two pies, asked B to preheat her oven and we headed out the door. Abandon ship!

It's been a while since we've driven to her house (about 20 miles away) and I made a left turn one road before I should have so we ended up in unfamiliar territory after a while. I pulled over to call B and my phone was out of service time. Heavy sigh. Pickles used her phone and after getting directions on a revised way to get to B's house we finally made it. Into the oven went the turkey. 

It was interesting cooking a big meal in an unfamiliar kitchen with an electric stove instead of gas but B was right there to fetch things; "I need a measuring cup and spoons,"Got any flour?" "I need a small pan to make the cranberry sauce." etc. But all in all, everything came out just fine and the five of us ate at 3:00, two hours later than planned. We all had a great time as we gabbed and stuffed ourselves. We also set the date for our annual Christmas appetizer party here for Dec 28 then we drove home through rain, arriving without incident. 

Yep, it will be a Thanksgiving to remember. And yes, this morning I had my traditional turkey sandwich for breakfast. And now I need to call the gas company to schedule a visit by their repairman

[PlainJane]

Turned out to be a nice adventure after all!

[worth1]

I've hauled everything to other peoples house to cook before.
Not because my stove went out but because they wanted me to cook.
Number one thing I bring is my knives and cutting board.

[brownrexx]

What a shock when the oven doesn't work. At least you got the turkey cooked and had a nice meal. It may have worked out better than the time I got the turkey into the oven and sat visiting with family for a couple or hours and realized that "hey, I don't smell turkey". I guess not, since I had forgotten to turn on the oven!

I had to roast the turkey at 450° to get some of it done but the middle was still uncooked and I cooked it again the next day. It was not the best turkey I ever ate. Yesterday I checked the oven about 6 times to make sure it was turned on.

[Seven Bends]

Every time my mom needs to use her oven, she anxiously says "Oh, I hope the igniter works." She avoids using the oven because she's sure that any day now, it will fail (it has been replaced several times over the 30 years of the oven's life). I guess I should stop teasing her about it; it's a valid concern!

Good job saving Thanksgiving; glad it worked out well.

(Edited to correct oven's age; Mom set me straight on that.)

[Tormato]

I had the faulty (electric) oven this year, too.

I cleaned the insides of the oven the day before, tilting up the bottom heating element to remove what was below it. Tilting it upward caused the connections in the back of the oven to move, and one connection slipped/broke off. I had the turkey in the oven for about an hour before I realized what happened. I unplugged the oven, took off the back panel, did a quickie fix-it job of wrapping a bare stranded wire around the male terminal, plugged it back in, and turned it back on. From there, it was a guessing game as to how long to cook the bird. Luckily it came out fine.

And Captain Hook still has use of all of his fingers.