Ahhh, thanksgiving in camp. Gotta love it. It seems that last year there was a major blunder of epic propotions in one of the camps in that they did not serve turkey on thanksgiving sunday. This wasnt because the cooks didnt cook it but because the manager forgot to order it so there was no bird to roast. This year, either the manager wanted to make sure that we had enough turkey or a mix up in the shipping people at the store but we had 20 turkeys in camp. Apparently we had 4 cases of it already (two birds a case giving us 8 birds already) and the manager wrote down '8' on the order sheet for more turkey. The suppliers sent us 8 more cases (16 birds in total). Now the manager was defending himself saying the order sheet said 'turkeys 8-11kg each' so he took that to meaning he was ordering either 8-11kg turkies, but the suppliers might be going by the thought that it meant the case would have two 8-11kg each turkey per case. Either which way, we now have a load of turkey waiting in camp to be eaten.
So supper last night for us was turkey, baked lemon garlic salmon, alfredo pasta, mashed taters, stuffing, green peas and glazed carrots/turnips with turkey gravy. Also, we had the dessert fridge pretty much full of pumpkin pie as well as a few cheesecakes and apple turnovers. I ate too much turkey and also took a nice container full of stuffing and turkey to bed with me. Ahhh, nothing like a good thanksgiving feast.
Though I have found out that not only do I have the taste buds of a water buffalo (when I tried the pork gravy one of the cooks was making and told him it tasted 'beefy') but I now have been told I have the smelling ability of...well, basically I have no smelling ability whatsoever. I was in charge of making the mashed potatoes, which in itself is a comic point since I have screwed up so many potato dishes already under the eye of the camp manager. First was the 'scalloped potato incident of Misery' where I used so much pepper my mistake that they actually came out grey instead of creamy white; second was my 'potatoes in roast beef drippings' (cant remember the name of them off the top of my head) that I over cooked (even though I followed the recipe) and they turned out to be mashed potatoes in gravy and could not be served; fourth was when I steamed potatoes for duchess and set them out to 'rest' and dry out but left them too long and they turned to a glue in the mixing bowl that could not be saved; and the final was my duchess potatoes that I listened to one of the cooks and didnt put any liquids in and it came out like towers of concrete. So I mixed the taters with the seasoning and milk and then decided that I did not want to walk all the way out to the milk machine to get more milk since they were still a little dry but instead went to get some cream from the cooler. I brought out one carton and took a sniff and thought that it had a sort of funny smell to it but was questioning it. The manager was walking by so I mentioned that I thought it was slightly funny and he took a smell of it.
I remember a comedian had a routine about how men and women differ when it comes to keeping things in the fridge. One thing he mentioned was about the milk. A woman will keep milk until there is a slight odor and then it is pitched whereas a man goes by the 'head snap' technique. He smells the milk and if his head snaps back less than 4 inches from the container then it can still stay in the fridge, any more than 4 inches and it gets pitched. Well, judging by the camp managers reaction to the cream smell it not only should have been pitched but pitched into a shuttle that is heading off in to deep space at warp speed. I honestly did not think it smelled all that bad. Though I think one factor for him is that he hates milk. He wont even drink or smell fresh milk because he says that smells horrible and disgusting to him, so slightly sour might be to him like 2 year old chunky milk to me.
So we went through 4 cartons of cream before I finally told them that I could not smell anything from the one I was holding and he smelled it and said that this was a good one. Apparently cream/milk has no smell whatsoever. It should be like creamy water in his world. So I had to dump the 4 cartons (which we were surprised were sour since they were dated the 13 of Oct) and I took the last carton to the mashed potatoes. Used a good portion of it and I have to say that for once I had success with my mashed taters. Normally they are soft and creamy in the bowl but as soon as they hit the line they start to firm up till the end of dinner shift where it is like cutting out a block of concrete to put on your plate. This time they stayed soft and creamy right through till the end of service.
The best part about thanksgiving is now to come. We cooked way too much turkey and now have nearly two birds in the fridge. We all know what that means, right? hot turkey sandwiches loaded with gravy as well as turkey pot pie, turkey a la king, cream of turkey soup...oh yeah, glorious left over turkey for at least a week :-)
Happy Thanksgiving!
May your stuffing be tasty. May your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes ' n gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious. May your pies take the prize.
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs.
MAY YOU ALL HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING!
So supper last night for us was turkey, baked lemon garlic salmon, alfredo pasta, mashed taters, stuffing, green peas and glazed carrots/turnips with turkey gravy. Also, we had the dessert fridge pretty much full of pumpkin pie as well as a few cheesecakes and apple turnovers. I ate too much turkey and also took a nice container full of stuffing and turkey to bed with me. Ahhh, nothing like a good thanksgiving feast.
Though I have found out that not only do I have the taste buds of a water buffalo (when I tried the pork gravy one of the cooks was making and told him it tasted 'beefy') but I now have been told I have the smelling ability of...well, basically I have no smelling ability whatsoever. I was in charge of making the mashed potatoes, which in itself is a comic point since I have screwed up so many potato dishes already under the eye of the camp manager. First was the 'scalloped potato incident of Misery' where I used so much pepper my mistake that they actually came out grey instead of creamy white; second was my 'potatoes in roast beef drippings' (cant remember the name of them off the top of my head) that I over cooked (even though I followed the recipe) and they turned out to be mashed potatoes in gravy and could not be served; fourth was when I steamed potatoes for duchess and set them out to 'rest' and dry out but left them too long and they turned to a glue in the mixing bowl that could not be saved; and the final was my duchess potatoes that I listened to one of the cooks and didnt put any liquids in and it came out like towers of concrete. So I mixed the taters with the seasoning and milk and then decided that I did not want to walk all the way out to the milk machine to get more milk since they were still a little dry but instead went to get some cream from the cooler. I brought out one carton and took a sniff and thought that it had a sort of funny smell to it but was questioning it. The manager was walking by so I mentioned that I thought it was slightly funny and he took a smell of it.
I remember a comedian had a routine about how men and women differ when it comes to keeping things in the fridge. One thing he mentioned was about the milk. A woman will keep milk until there is a slight odor and then it is pitched whereas a man goes by the 'head snap' technique. He smells the milk and if his head snaps back less than 4 inches from the container then it can still stay in the fridge, any more than 4 inches and it gets pitched. Well, judging by the camp managers reaction to the cream smell it not only should have been pitched but pitched into a shuttle that is heading off in to deep space at warp speed. I honestly did not think it smelled all that bad. Though I think one factor for him is that he hates milk. He wont even drink or smell fresh milk because he says that smells horrible and disgusting to him, so slightly sour might be to him like 2 year old chunky milk to me.
So we went through 4 cartons of cream before I finally told them that I could not smell anything from the one I was holding and he smelled it and said that this was a good one. Apparently cream/milk has no smell whatsoever. It should be like creamy water in his world. So I had to dump the 4 cartons (which we were surprised were sour since they were dated the 13 of Oct) and I took the last carton to the mashed potatoes. Used a good portion of it and I have to say that for once I had success with my mashed taters. Normally they are soft and creamy in the bowl but as soon as they hit the line they start to firm up till the end of dinner shift where it is like cutting out a block of concrete to put on your plate. This time they stayed soft and creamy right through till the end of service.
The best part about thanksgiving is now to come. We cooked way too much turkey and now have nearly two birds in the fridge. We all know what that means, right? hot turkey sandwiches loaded with gravy as well as turkey pot pie, turkey a la king, cream of turkey soup...oh yeah, glorious left over turkey for at least a week :-)
Happy Thanksgiving!
May your stuffing be tasty. May your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes ' n gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious. May your pies take the prize.
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs.
MAY YOU ALL HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING!
thanks A.G. for the poem and well wish in the email.
Yer welcome. Love, A.G.
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