Thanksgiving this year was spent in Missouri with Joseph's oldest brother's family. We had a good crew present: Grandma & Grandpa L, Uncle Jared & family and Uncle Jacob & family brought our grand total to 23. My sister-in-law Heather enlisted the help of her wonderful Aunt to feed the crew, and feed us they did! They were completely amazing. Heather made an amazing turkey roll in place of a traditional roasted turkey -- she deboned an entire turkey the night before, rolled it up with sausage and stuffing and cream from her cows and butter from the cream and all kinds of goodness. They made a fantastic sweet potato dish, a fabulous corn casserole, cooked the ham on the grill outside, had 5 different beautiful gourmet pies, fantastic mashed potatoes, scrumptious green beans, and the list goes on and on. This family amazes me -- they moved to MO from Puerto Rico (literally from a sandy beach to a muddy farm) a few years ago, and have been experimenting with small scale farming. They use all organic fertilizers, & their produce is fantastic. Then they also raise their own meat (food storage on the hoof!), have their own milk cows and all the products they can derive from that (Heather makes butter and just about every kind of cheese I've ever (and never) heard of. They currently have two milk cows, a handful of sheep, pigs, beef cows, chickens, 2 dogs, a variety of cats and occassionally have goats, donkeys, horses, you name it. I have always been impressed with this family's industry, but now I'm simply amazed. Joseph dreams of having a few acres some day, but I just don't know if I could handle all that WORK! In any case, along with all those fantastic raw ingredients, Heather is an absolute wonder in the kitchen. She and her aunt really made an amazing meal.
About the fried turkey -- last year, Joseph fried up his wild turkey that he'd shot earlier in the season. He tried to share it with everyone, but after Jacob got a piece of breast meat with buck shot in it, no one was very interested.... :) So this year he was determined to redeem himself. He BOUGHT two nice little birds, and fried them up to PERFECTION. He did get a leetle carried away with the injecting of cajun marinade -- there were pockets of soupy juice in a few spots that were a little weird. But it was so yummy and moist and flavorful, and I just wish I had brought a second stomach so I could have eaten more...
So Thanksgiving this year (and, really, every year) was all about the FOOD. I didn't even manage to get a picture of all the beautiful people there. Oops....
After dinner we lounged around and enjoyed one anothers' company while we digested. The boys all went off to the back of the property to play with their guns. The kids enjoyed exploring the barns and watching the milking of the cows. It was a really pleasant holiday. We came home, went to bed, and 4 hours later I woke up to go to WalMart. Crazy. The portable DVD player is a piece of junk -- should have slept. :)
7 comments:
I did the post-Thanksgiving shopping once (at Mike's request) and it's amazing that our relationship lasted through the ordeal!
Sounds like you had a lovely holiday. I wish I had the wherewithal to handle farm life!
You make living on a farm sound very enticing. Daryl is trying to talk me into it too. I keep reminding him that I grew up on a farm so I know the real deal.
I think you are a great writer Tara. Your entries are very well written and entertaining. Ever thought of becoming a writer.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Kay, I know I'm a day late, but it's the thought that counts.... right? I love you and miss you so much! It was amazing and perfect (although way too short) to get to spend time with you and your family over the holidays. I'm so glad we are sisters.
....there were never such devoted sisters... never had to have a chaperone, no sir... :)
WOW!! That looks like a delicious turkey. Good luck with the resolution. It is so hard to stay on top of it all. I need to stay on top of reading blogs. AHHH!! Miss you.
Hey, at least you have pictures of your Thanksgiving food. I guess I do have pictures of the people...and Dylan's 100 photo montage where he photographed everything and everyone in the basement in probably 3 minutes.
Most of the stuff at Wal Mart is junk. I've decided to stop patronizing the store unless I absolutely need something cheap. Because that's what the stuff is...inexpensive and cheap.
Looking at those beautiful photos of food makes me want to go into a feeding frenzie!
What a great experience to be on a farm for Thanksgiving.
Mmmmmmm! That food looks so yummy! I think we should have a turkey dinner at least once a month. That's why you took so many pics of the food--you can take pictures of those people any old time, but this GRAND dinner only comes around once a year:)
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