I’m writing this on board a BC Ferry bound for Horseshoe Bay and eventually a bus to Vancouver. It’s Thanksgiving Monday, and EVERYONE has chosen to return home at the same time as I did. Major line-ups, especially for foot passengers! But everyone on board is pretty cool and patient…they must have had major doses of sleep-inducing turkey like I did on Sunday. The weekend was a real home-cooked pig-out at our place, as we welcomed all of my soon-to-be-relatives and some friends to our Cobble Hill hideout. Saturday night we boiled up 17, yes SEVENTEEN Dungeness crabs we purchased from Katy and Scott Mahon at Mad Dog Crabs, where we find them weekly at the Downtown Duncan Farmers Market.
I had managed to slice the ring finger of my right hand on a piece of broken glass the day before, so my fiancée Dana handled the cleaning chores. She cleaned all the crabs before they went into two pots of boiling, salted water…for about 10 minutes each. We set up plastic-covered tables, doled out the crabs, garlic butter and nutcrackers and went crazy. Can you say finger-licking good?
Sunday it was a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner for 12. We roasted a free-range turkey raised by Dana’s friend Bob…obviously with loving care, as this turkey was very tasty and tender. There was a brief moment of panic as the power flicked off with more than an hour to go on the turkey timer! We kept the stove shut tight, and waited it out. An hour later the power was back on, and the turkey was none the worse for wear. We rounded out the feast with roast parsnips, carrots and yams, mashed potatoes, the last green beans of the season, a big green salad, stuffing and home-made cranberry sauce. Then…we still had room for dessert of whipped cream and pumpkin pie. The rain and wind had let up, so a roaring fire was built in our outdoor pit and we had a great little sing-a-long courtesy of Dana’s brother Dave, a whiz at the guitar, who brought not only his head full of sing-able tunes but a suitcase full of shakers and other percussion instruments so everyone could have fun making some sounds.
The weekend hosting duties were a lot of work, but everyone pitched in to help and nobody went home hungry.
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