Cooked My First Turkey, Christmas 1989
The first turkey I ever cooked, twenty-one pounds!
How do you get to be 34 years old with a family and never cook a turkey? Have a big family and get invited out to Christmas every year? No, that wasn’t it!!! I had been a vegetarian since I left home at 18, and cooking a creature in the oven wasn’t on my list of things to accomplish in life.
But life carries on and things change! Our time in Kauai was a very social time, having a destination address works wonders for ensuring people want to come and see you. We had more company and family visits than I ever had before or since!
1989 was a record year all around, however, that Christmas was very special as Tosh’s brother Tom, and his wife Lily, and their two children, Michelle and Brent, came from London, Ontario, for the holidays.
Tosh has six siblings: five brothers and a sister and all of them have families, a huge family. They are used to big gatherings with holiday dinners for thirty people. Living far away in British Columbia, we weren’t part of these gatherings except for a few years when we flew to Ontario for Christmas. It was a definite break from tradition that we were going to host part of this clan. It was understood that part of hosting was serving a traditional turkey dinner. Initially I was nervous that I would botch it up, but overall, I was thrilled to do it and quite enjoyed the culinary adventure. Things change, so make sure you stay flexible!
I was grateful that while my diet was strict for a long time, I was never fanatical and always aware of the trade off with being a gracious guest or host, versus holding a hard line that discounts the precious gifts people offer when they cook for you. You know the ones that come for dinner and then say, “What’s in that?” and then say “Oh, I don’t eat that.” It always made me feel bad as a host when this happened. I try to never do that as a guest.
As a host, it felt extra special to prepare food for them that they liked and found familiar, a way of quietly giving and caring for them. And as for the turkey, in my heart I held prayers of gratitude for the life that was given for us to eat.
Christmas 1989, Nicole in the Eleki Place House with an ironwood tree from the boatyard.
Cousins, Gavin and Michelle, and the novelty of spending Christmas Day at the beach.
Tosh's brother and family came from London, Ontario for Christmas on Kauai. We spent the day at the beach instead of our traditional day at the ski hill. I came home every two hours to baste the turkey. For my first one, it was delicious!
