Return of the Fat Bastard - Elbow deep in a turkey's butt!

October 9th 2016

Thanksgiving 2016 at Casa Lisa twenty two well fed souls!

      Happy Thanksgiving! I can say that with some accuracy now that it is past midnight. The lovely Lisa and I, like many Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving the day before the actual Holiday. Mind you starting to write about it at 12:10 am on Monday does not bode well for a good nights sleep. I start in on it and next thing you know, it's 3:00 in the morning and your falling asleep at the wheel or in this case the keyboard. Maybe worse than that, when I read it in the morning I have to delete the last half of it because I can't understand what I was trying to say!
      It was a full day, especially for the lovely Lisa. We were up at 8:00 and after a quick blast of extra strong Jo we got right at it. We have over the years developed a system for the Holiday Feasts. Since Dr Dan moved to Prince George twelve years or so ago we have hosted every Holiday Feast but one. Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The one we didn't do was because we were in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico celebrating Christmas with Christians family. That was a great Christmas. The point being we have done these dinners around 35 times. The most people we've had for Holiday Feast was 34 for Thanksgiving five years ago and the least was 7 last Christmas two days after I was released from hospital after my heart surgery. Still not the point. What I'm trying to say is that we have developed a system that works for both of us. The lovely/Chef Boy R Lisa runs the kitchen with an iron fist. I move the living room out onto the front deck and set up the tables and chairs for dinner with the help of my son in law Christian. I also have my Scullery Squatch duties to attend to. The lovely Lisa is a highly trained and skilled Chef. That means that she uses every bowl, every pot and every pan we own at some point in the creation of her epicurean delights. That's where I come in. "Squatch" I hear my beloved screech from the other room, tearing me away from the FOX Sports NFL Pregame Show right when Terry Bradshaw was going to say something smart! "Dry those bowls please" I do them with a smile on my face because the end results are definitely worth it. Not the food, that goes without saying. I mean, just by drying a few pots and steel bowls it shows the lovely Lisa that we are in this together! And with the PVR and five channel recall I can watch all the games in relative peace. So I stick my head in the door to the kitchen every few minutes watching the lovely Lisa through the steam rising from the stock pot that is already reducing the onion, carrot and herbs to a broth awaiting the turkey carcasses. Or is that Carcae?

Free range, molly coddled, organic Turkey

I dry the things in the dish rack, and when Chef Boy R Lisa is on a caterer binge, there are always things in the dish rack!

Before

During

After. Seating for twenty four

      At 10:00 I moved the love seat , (not to be confused with the love Monkey which I had to move as well,) away from the wall. It has not been moved away from the wall since Easter. The dust appeared to have grown a sweater on the base of the lamp. I would have been mortified if I cared! Fortunately I don't. I never knew it was there so it never bothered me. When I put the love seat back in place it won't bother me again until Christmas when I move the love seat again. It gets moved three times a year and three times a year I clean it. Besides the dust sweater there were cobwebs, a pissed of Spider and a coffee? stain of indeterminable age. The vaccuum took care of the dust, cobwebs and Boris the spider. At 10:20 I texted Christian "Que hora mi casa?" I queeried in his native tongue.
"I'm under the bridge with Adam fishing" he replied in my native tongue. " I'll be there in an hour" he added. I was on my own! Faced with a crowded deck a three seater couch a love seat and the worlds biggest and heaviest recliner I soldiered on undeterred by the monumental task ahead of me. Actually I went and got another cup of Jo and sparked my first bowl of the day! I made room on the deck where I discovered another Rat fallen victim to the allure of free peanut butter.

That's gonna leave a mark!

I disposed of the Rat, still not Stumpy,  then started moving the furniture out. First the love seat, not too bad. Then the couch, it's long and awkward but not heavy. I moved the recliner last. That thing is freakin heavy! I wrestled it out onto the deck then went and Sculleried for a few minutes returning with a fresh cup of Jo I sat on the recliner on the deck and played some guitar while watching the football game through the window.

The livingroom deck

With the living room empty I went to work cleaning. I Swept, vaccuumed and washed all the floors. Then set up the two tables we use. They are made of 3/4 inch plywood with collapsible metal legs and are ridiculously heavy. I had them set up and half the chairs in place when Christian arrived to help me. He was late and even more to the point fishless! We are doing the Salmon he caught last week on the BBQ today. It took us no time at all to get the table cloths and the rest of the chairs in place we sat and talked sports while the lovely Lisa was elbow deep in a turkey's butt! Two turkey butts to be exact. The lovely Lisa had cooked off the sausage and Michelle with one L diced up three french loaves the night before for the stuffing.Some herbs from the garden, some salt and pepper and rubber gloves and those birds cavities were stuffed full of so much sausage they couldn't take any more! Our guests have always said they can't get enough of the sausage! Maybe that's why they're our friends.
     I had lots of time now. The occasional foray in to Scullery to keep the lovely Lisa happy and I was watching football in peace. At 2:00 I sparked up the BBQ and put the Ham on. An hour later Pandemonium! The Grandkids hit the house first.

Bella and Nutmeg

Bella went straight to Nutmeg and Christo tried for the TV. It was a beautiful day so we kicked them outside. People kept coming. With more food! Willy and Annie brought the mashed potatoes,  GMcT and Sherry brought the Brussel Sprouts and an Apple Crumble made from the apples from our tree. There were so many deserts! Rasberry Crisp and Trifle from Bernie and Apple crisp that Angie and Larry made from apples they grew. Apple and Pumpkin pie from Abolita Marina and a years worth of buns from Jen and Christian. Lots of familiar faces and a few new ones. Oliver the wardrobe guy from Bella's gig last week and his partner were there for the first time.

Oliver and Scotch keeping the Grandkids amused...thanks.

 Here's a few pictures of some of our guests.

Mama Lee

Abolita Marina and Christian

GMcT and Sherry with the Ratdogs.

Willy making Gravy, Elise doing dishes and Angie pretending to slice the turkey.

Michelle with two L's

Larry

      When Mama Lee arrived by taxi we had a hell of a time getting her into the house. Sadly she is no longer able to help transfer herself and as big and strong as I am, it took three of us to transfer her to her house chair. This may be the last family feast she will be able to attend. When we managed to get Mama Lee into the house and situated in front of the TV the food started coming, Cheese plates and snack food circulated between the backyard where the Grandkids and the I don't care about baseball crowd were hanging out and the living room where the Blue Jays game was on. The salmon went onto the BBQ as the Ham came off. The house smelled like the inside of Heaven. Chef Boy R Lisa with the help of all the girls. The Jays took the lead early as the condiments hit the tables. With these many people and two tables we always do dinner Australian Rules. Kids and Mama Lee first then buffet style through the kitchen.

https://youtu.be/YFH8k_x6kZ4

The lovely Lisa and I always eat last. We like to make sure our guests have everything they need before we sit down. Well, the lovely Lisa does. She's a caterer, I'm a layabout. I broke with tradition. I butted into the buffet line, put way too much food on my plate and was back in front of the TV before the next inning started.
      We had twenty two people sitting around the two tables split in half. The normal people who want to watch the unbelievable drama unfolding in the Blue Jays game and the mealy mouthed pantywaists who wanted to listen to Music. Not that I'm judging them I'm just saying they're idiots. We took a vote and I won! Turns out my vote was the only one that counts! Also I had possession of the remote!
After dinner and way too many desserts I was hoping the Jays would put this away before I slipped into a diabetic coma but tied 6 -6 we went into extra innings. The racket coming from the kitchen warmed the cockles of my heart as the dish folk descended on the mountain of pots and pans like a horde of locusts on a twinkie! I had to turn up the sound to drown out sounds of Scullery that I am all too familiar with.
      With the clean up done and the ball game in extra innings our guests started leaving. All loaded down with take away the lovely Lisa insisted they take away. Especially all the desserts. There were a half dozen hardcore who stayed to watch the amazing end to an incredible game. Okay...Blue Jays...let's...play....ball!! Woo Hoo! We said goodbye to the last of our guests except for Duffy. He stayed back and helped me put the living room back together. He is working a long shift today at the Kia lot on United Blvd. Go buy a car!
      Lastly I want to say that on this Thanksgiving Day, the thing that I'm most thankful for is the love and support I have received from so many people as I come back from my heart issues. That I get to watch my Grandkids grow and that the lovely Lisa is by my side. I'm also thankful that I'm not an American. I don't want death by CHI CHI!!!!

That's all I've got
Till next time
Peace out Y'all