by Julie Sewell-Schmidt

Created on: November 07, 2008

I wouldn't be surprised if fried turkey is listed as the 8th natural wonder of the world in the near future. The crispy skin, the juicy meat, the flavor of the spices injected into the bird before saturating it in oilthere's nothing else like it. Or, I should say, there's nothing else like it unless it's an oven baked turkey because the turkey fryer caught fire and almost burned down the house on Thanksgiving.

Having been in our new house less than a month, we weren't set up to have a big family gathering just yet, but thought it would be fun to invite my in-laws over to enjoy an early holiday dinner and witness our newlywed bliss. How romantic it would be, making a proper meal and eating at the couch with our plates on TV trays, staring into each other's eyes, oblivious to any of life's challenges that lie ahead.

While my mother-in-law and I enjoyed a small glass of wine, my husband and his father were watching football and playing a good game of rummy. My "new mom" and I joined in the card game and occasionally my husband got up from the great bonding session to check the oil in the turkey fryer. He commented at one point that it seemed strange the thermometer wasn't detecting an increase in oil temperature. We all agreed that the heat on the pot should be turned up. After all, the hotter the oil, the less time the bird had to cook.

Another 20 minutes passed and the needle on the thermometer didn't seem to budge. After another consensus, we thought it best to put the turkey in the fryer sooner rather than later. We'd give it five more minutes and then submerge the bird. We didn't want to be fishing it out of the pot after it was dark, right? The rummy game resumed and my new husband and I cuddled like the newlyweds we were, pouring ourselves another glass of wine and enjoying the visit with his parents. My father-in-law continued to dominate each hand of cards, and by this time we were so obsessed with administering just one defeat, none of us noticed the first puff of black smoke outside the living room window.

Sitting on the couch with my right side to the back porch, I thought I saw a glimpse of orange out the corner of my eye. Ah, the sun was starting to set and it was going to be a beautiful evening. There was still some snow covering the grass, but it had been unseasonably warm that day and it was all very relaxing. Then it hit me. For the love of all that's holy, that's not the sun, the damn turkey fryer's on fire! I yelled a four-letter word (and it

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