Thanksgiving and the Man Turkey

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. *sigh* I do like our campground where we spend four days roasting meat and visiting with friends. And a wee bit of overindulging. And why the "Man Turkey"? It was so dubbed a few years ago when my husband got it in his head that maybe when we camped we should roast our turkeys over the open fire on a HUGE spit. And since electricity was provided, we could get a little motor with a wheel and belt and let it ride for the four or five hours it would need.

Thus the "Man Turkey" was born. And because we already had the spit, why not cook other hunks of meat on the other days we were there? Now it's quite the carnivore fest. And because we have to bring this around to something medieval (that's why you're here, after all), we made ourselves very medieval with our consumption of meat, meat, MEAT! Yes, the medieval table was not about salads. It was about course after course of meat. Because a rich man served flesh and a poor man seldom did. And we had our meat in abundance--from my sausage rich dressing to my hunk of lamb on Saturday night.

Let me show you.

Our lovely campground...with our ragged old trailer.

The husband stuffs the bird with that sausage-rich stuffing and a cube of butter. No, we didn't brine it cause it's already a Butterball. The stuffing is merely to flavor the inside of the bird, hence the mesh bag that he puts it in. One year it started to push out during the cooking like a hernia, so we put both birds (ours and our camping buddies') butt to butt on the spit.

Trussed up like 50 Shades of Poultry.

And there they go. You wouldn't think anything like this would be so intriguing, so hypnotic, but we could sit and watch it all day. And we did, or at least for about four hours of the day.

And now it is done, to be pulled from the spit and allowed to rest. Very juicy and wonderful.

It was fall, but a little too warm for my tastes this year, in the mid sixties. Very peaceful and quiet for an entirely full campground. It's just that kind of place. The next day I can sit outside and read, and watch the occasional deer wander by in the distance. All around me are the tap tap of woodpeckers, the call of Stellar Jays, and crows arguing with one another. And wild turkeys, too, made an appearance once all the trailers and motorhomes left.  

I love these little guys.

Turkeys!

And more turkeys!

Just down the road is the little town of Julian, all decked-out for Christmas. Tourist crammed the streets, buying from the little shops and indulging in their famous apple pies, taking horse and buggy rides from sleigh bell-rigged horses.

We take a picnic lunch and go to a local winery.

Then it's our turn to throw on a hunk of boneless leg of lamb on the spit, served with a waldorf salad and Persian-style squash.  

Looks done to me!   

The view out our "bedroom" window.

Then the drive home on Sunday.

Comments

[Edith]

This makes me miss California SO much! I've lived on the east coast longer now than on the west, but the west is in my blood, I swear. Thanks for sharing these.

[Lynn Delage]

Where are you located? You find the middle 60's too warm! I find them a little chilly myself. I am from southeast Texas and 40's are considered quite cold here so we are not used to temperatures in the 60's very often.

[Jeri Westerson]

I'm in southern California, Lynn. At the end of November at 4,000 feet I expect cold weather.