Thanks Giving

Day 54 – 55 – Nov 23-24

Weather – Warm and muggy

We spent a wonderful month over at New Smyrna Beach at our condo – Moontide. I think we were all a little sad to be leaving, it really was a great spot, with a wonderful view and an awesome pool up on the roof. It was great to be so close to Rusty, Chi and Wiley, just hanging out and spending time, getting to know Wiley a little better. It was also great just to have our own place to come back to. Sometime you just want to read a book or watch TV, and not plan some huge activity.

I’m not sure we’ll be able to stay there though, in say 5 years from now - I worry about the beach– it has all but disappeared. I have a feeling that a few more hurricanes from now, Moontide and all the beach side condo’s will have been demolished to make way for the rising sea. On the plus side, that will mean that Rusty and Chi’s condo will be on the beach… But who knows? Maybe the government will build some huge sea walls and dikes like in Holland and they’ll be fine? Or maybe this climate change thing is a hoax and we have nothing to worry about, right?

Anyway – Wednesday morning was check out and so we packed up and head off. Ok, that’s not entirely true. Firstly, we packed up all the food and supplies we had and shipped them across to Rusty and Chi’s – look you just can’t buy a small jar of pickles or mustard or any condiment really – and you need those things if you are making for example, burgers. And then there were the spices. Sure, you need just a pinch of tarragon, but where can you buy a pinch, or a tablespoon of oil? And what about cleaning products etc… So, I had to ship over 6 full bags of stuff to Rusty and Chi first. Hopefully they find a use for it. We’ve also done a bit of shopping since we came over, so we couldn’t fit all the bags into the car – We had to leave two bags at Rusty and Chi’s – wonder how we’ll get these all home!

Wednesday was spent just preparing for Thanksgiving – we had to pick up the tables and chairs, prep some of the food and just get organised. Dinner was a pretty low-key affair with the family, and we had an early night.

The Funning thing for me about Thanks Giving is that I’m always confused as to what to do – it feels like Christmas – are we supposed to do a big breakfast? Should we get dressed up – there’s no presents – are their traditional songs/food/drinks/events? I mean, it feels like it’s more than just a meal – but I’m just not sure what that “more” entails. Katie and Kathy were up at the crack of dawn to get the Turkey on – it was a big one, around 12kgs – so you need to cook that thing for hours! By the time I got up, the girls were all watching Macy’s Thanks Giving parade on TV. Maybe that’s a component of the tradition? Rusty, Chi and Wiley arrived early and Chi and I talked about our Mashed potato options and the creamed corn we were making – We decided to pair up so it wasn’t so stressful. Cooking for a big crowd can be daunting, so I said that Chi could do the potato with me – easy option I know. 

I had a few jobs to do, the first being putting up the basketball ring with Rusty – Mac has claimed it would be easy – he said that as he rides off with his mates for his Thanks Giving ride in the morning – easy to say when you’re not around eh! You can guess it wasn’t as easy as Mac had made out. But we got there in the end. While that was happening, Chi got to peeling the potatoes – about 6kgs of Yukon Golds – I felt bad, but I was working on the basketball ring so it was all Chi on this job. The plan was to get the potatoes cooked and mashed, then add some butter and just cover them, and then add the hot cream and butter just before serving to make sure they were nice and fresh. The Creamed corn was my usual recipe – Fresh corn and frozen corn, cream, butter, brown sugar, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper which I thicken with cornflower. It’s a good recipe which I made ahead the night before and then thinned out with some cream and added the parmesan before serving.

Most people started to arrive around 1pm, it was great to see the extended family, Lucy had a great time playing with her cousin Maddison 4yrs – Katie’s cousin Eric’s little girl. It was a smaller Thanksgiving crowd this year, with only 21 people in total. I think I was here last in 2010, and I think it was over 30 that time. Cindy and Mike conducted a wine tasting from 2pm and I got stuck into the cheese and salami platter – not a great idea as I didn’t leave a lot of space for Lunch – thankfully there was some miscommunication to the team out on the Turkey fryer – so that meant we didn’t sit down to Lunch until after 3:30pm. Jimmy and Jim – Kathy’s Brother and his son deep fry a turkey each year. That was impressive to watch – and I want a turkey fryer now. I wonder if you could bread the whole turkey first and turn it into KFC Thanks Giving turkey… Might be worth some investigation. Anyway, Chi and I got our mashed potato assignment done – lots of cream and butter – it was a success. The whole meal was fantastic – everyone brought a side, and I tried them all. I was stuffed like the turkey after lunch and it was hard just to move around. But there were pies to be sampled, so I had to make sure I had some of pecan and apple just to be polite. Man was I full by the end of the day. Everyone made thier way home around 6pm and we were all in bed by 9pm after clean up. What a day! I have to say – our Thanks Giving’s at home compare well to the real deal here - I think we've got the main part down. Although I’ve certainly picked up a few moves that I will incorporate into our next Turkey day!

Today is the Florida vs Florida state game – so a big watching party here tonight. It’s also Black Friday – So for the sake of research I might head down to see what the fuss is about. Maybe Walmart and TJ Maxx. I will report back dear reader, on the outcome of my adventures.

Photo’s to come.