Week of November 16 - November 22, 2012
“I see,” said the Turkey
John Reardon
Hello again, my Foodie Friends! No Thanksgiving would be complete without the telling of the “Grandma and the Turkey” story. It was a long time ago when Johnny was three and Aubrey was five-months-old when we made the annual trek to grandma’s house to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner and watch football. First, let me explain I am a Giants fan and so is my mother-in-law. So watching the Cowboys is not our favorite thing, but her son is a Cowboys fan and so is my sister-inlaw’s husband. Yep, two Cowboys and two Giants fans in the same house and they do not like each other! I love football so I watched but the room was silent because they don’t speak to each other. They were holding their feelings down to make my mother-in-law happy. My mother-in-law was busy making a huge feast for all to enjoy. She was very nervous because she wanted everyone to get along. We always ate after the game and this one was a tight one. Most Cowboy fans may want to stop reading now. With just seconds left in the game the Miami Dolphins lined up to make a game winning field goal and it was blocked by the Cowboys! The brothers-in-law were silent! I wanted to yell but held back because of the tension. All of a sudden, one of the Cowboys (Leon Lett) chased the blocked field goal and touched it. Oh no! Well the Dolphins got another chance and won. Not good around grandma’s house. My mother-in-law was now really nervous that her day could be ruined! Her kitchen was filled with many dishes all cooking at once. There was a shout from the kitchen and Grandma announced that she had lost her glasses and could not see without them. The brothersin-law were pressed into service to find the glasses. These were not just any glasses; they were big and black and hard to lose but there were no glasses to be found. We looked everywhere and grandma was close to tears when she asked me to check on and baste the turkey. This was a big turkey - 28 pounds - and it smelled great. I grabbed my son Johnny and the baster, which he took charge of, and opened the oven to show him the turkey. He said “Look Daddy, the turkey can see better!” Yep he found the glasses neatly melted in perfect harmony with the bird so it looked like he had eyes. I started laughing and everyone joined in. Needless to say we had ham and lasagna but no turkey. It didn’t matter because the rest of the day was perfect! Remember my friends “Life happens in the Kitchen.” Compliments to the Chef
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Take care, John and Paula
FOOD
33