Thanksgiving Prelude

We are served the pre-Thanksgiving dinner today at the apartment complex. Three turkeys were prepared. Two turkeys were prepared by Richard, the new maintenance guide, actually Richard has been here since the summer so Richards newness has worn off. Richard has maturity compared to other maintenance guys I've seen here at the apartments over the last year. Richard actually sort of wears a maintenance uniform. Dark green (almost khaki) tops and bottoms not scrubs like service clothes. Richard is a quiet guy I actually didn't trust him first – – not that I trust him now – – but he seems more friendly to me. Richard is definitely company guy. Richard tends to do his job but Richard also likes to spend copious amounts of time flirting/schmoozing Jennifer property manager. I simply do not begrudge him that. I still remember my days on the job hanging out with certain people and hanging out with the boss and letting the boss now but I thought she wanted here. One can never underestimate the power of schmoozing.

Somewhere along the line this time Richard went the rest of the staff know he had a great skill set and preparing holiday turkeys in great quantities of grease. Yes, Richard seems to be an aficionado in the art of deep fat frying turkeys and he certainly has the equipment. So today on top of one nice Tom Turkey supplied by Utah nonprofit housing Corporation (I assume furnished byUNPHC ) two turkeys to be prepared by Richard.

Of course, I've heard all about preparing turkeys and cauldrons of deep fat. The word on the street is that the turkeys are moist and quickly cooked. I believe my younger brother has done this number of times and everyone seems to rave about the outcomes. I was astonished. Richard set up the whole operation just outside the door to the common room just outside the building. Rich had fire underneath the pot some sort of torch smoke pouring off the top of the boiling oil with Mr. Tom turkey inside. I really believe it did not take much longer than one hour to produce one bird than another. Richard soon had one turkey out on the table being prepared for carving. I must've been the turkey looked beautiful, golden brown dripping with oil at okay but you expect. They were working at peeling off the skin and to my horror throwing that skin away. I love the skin of the roast turkey. It was all I can do to stay silent.

In the building that houses so many women who are now seniors and you have prepared meals their whole lives A long table was laid out for volunteer dishes. Funeral potatoes, creamed green beans, all manners of Jell-O and of course cookies, cakes and pies. It kind of reminded me of a scene from Walton's Mountain. I was kind of surprised that no grace or the blessing on the food was offered up especially in a facility so loaded with Mormons. Not by design, I sat at a table that eventually filled up with nothing but Spanish-speaking residents. Which is okay I smiled and nodded my head a lot. Sarah, my barber and woman who runs the salon on the premises also sat at our table so I had someone to speak with. The tables were numbered one through six and management deemed it would be appropriate to pull numbers out of a hat as to who went first. Chow line. Our table went first.

It was a pretty good meal, I've had better Thanksgiving dinners, and since this really is not a Thanksgiving dinner but a prelude to next week when those talks remaining at the facility who have not been invited out to home dinners will be treated to Thanksgiving dinner from the Salvation Army. Complete Thanksgiving dinners inconvenient Styrofoam boxes… I can hardly wait.