Even though Madame Pele chose to shake us up with a 5.0 earthquake Thursday morning, Thanksgiving went on as planned. For some reason, the turkey took its sweet time and though it was nice, tender and juicy…I thought it would never finish cooking. It was a 16 pounder and I don’t stuff it, so instructions said to cook for 3-1/2 to 4 hours……….It was finally done almost 6 hours later!!!!
One of the things I am most thankful for is living in this glorious place!
Kolekole is a very nice beach park about a mile north of us. It is set by a stream where the stream empties into the Pacific Ocean. A couple of weeks ago we had reserved one of the smaller pavilions at the park. The pavilions all have a built-in grill, long picnic tables and benches on the sides, and electrical outlets. The setting is beautiful. If you click on Life in Hawaii on your left, you will find the blog entry My Hawaii. There are a couple of photos taken at the park.
On the first trip down we took everything except the food. Swept the floor, wiped the benches and table and set up our own small folding table which we used for beverages and appetizers. Anthony lit the file in the pavilion’s grill so we could have hot embers to keep the food hot once I brought it over. We set the table with an oilcloth table cover in a very pretty subdued blue, brown and beige palm frond design. I used some of the colorful cloth napkins from my tropical napkin collection, our buffet glass dishes and flatware with bamboo handles. We strung tiny white Christmas lights up and down the center of the table and covered them with colorful croton leaves, small orange pumpkins, yellow passion fruit and Chinese dwarf bananas from our yard. In between I set two kerosene lanterns, an old fashioned table lantern with a fat candle and 2 green glass containers that also held candles. Our friends started arriving and helping Anthony finish setting up as I made several trips home to check on the food. I had to borrow a neighbor’s oven for the dressing, since our turkey was taking it’s time. We all had a wonderful time, of course, as usual we all ate too much and had to take walk over to the mouth of the stream to watch the surfers and boogie boarders. Sonia's Roasted Turkey with Mango Glaze - Fresh cut rosemary from our garden and butter mix stuffed between the skin and breast and fresh rosemary in cavity. Linda's Orange & Purple Sweet Potato Salad with Wing Bean and Begonia Edible Blooms Sue's Ensalada de Noche Buena - lettuce, orange slices, daikon, radish, limes, finger bananas, pineapple, peanuts and pomegrante seeds. Everyone brought something ono to share.....and everyone enjoyed the food and the company. We had such a good time, we've decided we will do this every year! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
