I had to decide what to serve. I thought of ordering Moussaka from Petros but was unable to get hold of them. Someone suggested ham but I thought it was too late to go to Honeybaked Ham as people usually pre-order those ahead of time. I knew Bristol Farms have very good ham but somehow I could not get excited. My brother suggested turkey. Why not.....I called Bristol Farms and the man I spoke to said he had one turkey left. I told him I wanted it fully cooked; it didn't have any dressing which was fine. When I went to pick it up day before Christmas, they could not find my order. They went through 2 file folders. I could not even think of what to do in case they didn't find it. They called the man in catering and when I told him my name, he remembered that I ordered it last minute. Hallelujah! My 11 lb fully cooked turkey appeared! I was disappointed by the looks of it. It was very pale. The instructions were, I had to cook it in the oven for 2 hours or so.
On Christmas day, instead of taking the turkey out an hour before, I took it out in the morning and it sat on the counter for 5 hours. Will my guests get salmonella? I hoped not! I preheated the oven for 45 minutes. The problem was it took too long to get hot and sometimes it did not hold its heat. I still had to set the table; something I normally do the day before. I didn't even have the time to make name plates for seat assignments. I could not really look at the turkey while cooking since per the instructions, it had to be covered in foil. I was really at God's mercy and thank God.....He did not let me down. It came out perfect.
While it rested, I served a Cucumber Parmesan Soup which everyone enjoyed. It was time to carve the turkey. I started to do it but Aaron came to the rescue and volunteered to do it. As Sandi and I supervised, he did a great job as Gary helped by holding the platter. What would women do without men.
The turkey was delicious to everyone's surprise. I served it with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts cooked with bacon. While having our dinner, the entertainment I ordered for the evening appeared on the night sky. The first Full Moon on Christmas day in 38 years! We tried to take pictures but none of our pictures did justice to what it really looked like. It was huge and was bright yellow-orange. The camera could not capture that color.
Sandi made the 2 desserts; Sophie's Pie (we don't really know who Sophie is or was) and a White Chocolate Key Lime Pie. Both were enjoyed by everyone.
The nice thing about this Christmas dinner is even if the turkey did not cook properly, we could have improvised by using the toaster oven or microwave. The guests were not so much guests as they were family and very close friends so they would have been forgiving.....or NOT!
Bah Humbug......
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