Saturday, November 06, 2010

Turkeys

Oh my God, I forgot, I have a blog.

Thanksgiving planning is well underway in Casa Cornwell. We will have two Thanksgivings this year, one in the States and one here.

So the other day I went to order the turkey. You have to order a turkey in this country if you want to be assured of having one. They aren't just piled floor to ceiling in every grocery store from Nov 1 on. Oh no...

So I went to the butcher who is called "Barba Rossa" (Red Beard...he doesn't really have a red beard but he does have a beard and it's redder than, well, say, mine). Barba Rossa is the most awesome place to buy anything that I've ever been...seriously, Barba Rossa is to meat what Skyloom Fibers was to yarn (sadly closed now - some of you Denver readers will surely remember it).

So I illegally parked my car outside Barba Rossa's shop (everyone does this, it's just part of the shopping experience) and went in. I walked directly to the cashier and said, "I was wondering if maybe I might perhaps be able to get maybe a turkey?" She turned to the guy with a machete behind her (Barba Rossa's brother, he's got dark hair and no beard).

He said, "no problem. I can get you a whole adult 'maschio' (male) which would be about 14 kilo."

Ok. Time out.

Since this is a Thanksgiving story, I'll like to stop here and interject a few things that I'm thankful for:

1. I'm grateful for having had the presence of mind before going to order a turkey to look up what size I would want. (yes, at 41 I am for the first time in my life cooking a turkey - by the way, I read 1 to 1.5 lbs per person...if this is wrong, please don't anyone tell me because it's too late)

2. I'm grateful for knowing that 1 kilo is 2.2 lbs.

and

3. I'm grateful that I don't need a freakin' 14 kilo turkey. In case some of you are slow with the math, 14 kilos are 30.8 lbs.

Oh, and

4. I'm also grateful that we don't have 14 kilo turkeys running wild around Maberga.

Back to the butcher...

"um, wow. yeah. that's great. um, there will just be 8 of us."

"I'll get you an adolescent female"

I hope she's got breasts.

7 comments:

  1. Welcome back girl, where have you been, was checking on you from time to time, but nobody.
    YOU HAVE A BLOG, don't forget.A friend from faraway.

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  2. A pound per person. Hmm, that must include some inedible parts. Speaking of which, parts might be a better idea if you have some dark meat fanciers at the party.

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  3. hahahahahaha! Terrific!

    At least we will be home this year and daughter (who lives here) will prepare a traditional (I hope!) turkey dinner for family and friends. It's fun when we all share the cooking chores. She'll make the turkey while I make the bread and other important meal components. Bread makes me feel a part of it all at the meal in a very basic sort of way. My brother and wife will be here where he'll get a traditional meal (I still hope!) rather than the deep fried turkey he had elsewhere some other year that just didn't do it for him.

    Anyway, our Thanksgiving will be home in the USA this time. It's always a different experience to have Thanksgiving dinner on board a ship prepared by a Filipino culinary team lead by an Indian Executive Chef. Pass the curry? No, please, no!

    Safe travels, my friend. It sounds as if you'll be home in the USA for Thanksgiving celebrations, too.

    Hugs,
    Lois

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  4. BrenDuncan7:55 PM

    So funny, Lynn. You have just the right touch. Glad to read you'll be in the States for the holiday. I'm sure family misses you deeply. Safe traveling. Much love to you and David.

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  5. Hi sweetie you still have time to try your luck, hop over for the giveaway.

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  6. Hey welcome back to blogger land. Sounds like a lot of turkey, good luck with that and I hope your oven is big enough. Please call when in the states if you get a chance, love to hear your voice again, not that we all don't love your written prose.

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