Turkey Party

After my last entry, I got quite a few phone calls and emails about the turkey soiree. 

"100 people?!  You have got to be kidding?!!" 

Nope, it went out to 100 people.  However, only 10 showed.  When the email went out announcing the Thanksgiving bash for the orphans, the program medical director responded that perhaps the host should be the official program's social chair as he has done such a great job arranging parties like Halloween and whatnot.  The guy immediately responded that he wasn't the social chair, it really was his wife.  This became a big joke, but she apparently didn't get it because when the story was relayed to her, she accepted it and asked about the tresury to hold such parties. 

J and I were in charge of the turkey, stuffing, and cranberries.  He spent most of Wednesday afternoon researching recipes.  I also asked my dad for his recipe.  We didn't make my dad's bird though as J felt he just couldn't compete with his and really wanted to start our own tradition.  Fair enough.  We brined the turkey in an apple herb solution, I made a wine butter basting sauce, stuffed the sucker with stuffing, and made 3 bags of fresh cranberries.  This was all done with multiple calls to my family, whom I call 1-800-save-thanksgiving. 

At 1:00, we packed up the poultry, Edgar, and other needed items to head to the west side of town.  The bird was roasting, we were snacking, and actually watching Dr. Phil when the host arrived home from work.  By 3:00 people were starting to show up.  Edgar only snapped a few times at the other dog to establish dominance, but I was a mortified parent.  The house was a bit smokey (due to the high high setting of the oven which I quickly fixed), and the wine was flowing.   By the time the wine was flowing I truly didn't care when one person asked for free social work services and began to tell her story about trying to date her superior.  The guys evesdropped and couldn't resist.

"You mean, you've been underneath him?"  They chuckled while playing Mario Kart.  That rather ended our semi-therapy session.

Our hosts had set up the dining room which rather resembled a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  We were one step up from using the ping pong table, but we did have a rather odd assembly of folding chairs, card tables, and what appeared to be Kmart furniture.  This is where the snob in me came through.  J and I had lovely linens we registered for our wedding.  There wasn't a thought about even placemats or candles, however we did have crystal goblets.  One person grabbed a roll of papertowels at the last minute for napkins.  The table was incongruent to say the least.  The host was extremely excited to use his electric carving knife on the bird; one of his wedding gifts.  I'm an old fashioned use-a-regular-knife kind of gal, but whatever. 

Once seated, one couple was very religious and had their own prayer between themselves while the rest of us expressed thanks that everyone was here and began to dig in.  The food was warm, the gravy was actually decent, and the bird was moist.  Unbelievable.  We tried to keep the dogs quarantined and away from the table, but Houndini made a comeback and escaped 3 times.  The last time he actually taught Bailey, the puppy, how to do it.  I don't think our host was amused especially when her dog (who is tall enough to put his head on the table) ate a piece of turkey thus violating his food allergy diet.

After dinner, one of the residents actually had to go to work for the night shift, which left the rest of us to play Trivial Pursuit.  The girl on my team, blurted out every answer she knew regardless of who's turn it was causing us to lose the game.  By this time I was wearing thin.  I was tired.  It was only when the host turned on Weird Al Yankovick that I knew I needed to go home.  Last time I checked, most guys lose their facination with Weird Al after the seventh grade, but not this doctor. He knew all the words to "White and Nerdy," or the pancreas song.  His wife finally asked that he turn it down.  The evening ended when "Grey's Anatomy" started and the residents settled in to watch arguing about who was cuter McDreamy or McSteamy, agreeing that McSteamy really was the epitome of a sugery attending, and laughing at the improbabilites of the medical cases as well as criticizing the medical decisions.  We left and saw the way too early Christmas lights already turned on in various neighborhoods going home.

All in all, it was a Thanksgiving I will remember.  It was our first turkey.  It was our first community holiday, which is what the holiday is all about.  Next year we will be down under in Australia for a wedding involving kilts during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  Never a dull moment.