Warm Turkey on a Cold Day
I didn’t post at all the week of Christmas. I wrote some, but I had the day after off for the first time in an age and digging in with family was a perfect distraction. I needed it. Next time, I’ll let y’all know that I’m off chasing daisies before I do. Or schedule a movie. Anyhow…
We're now fourteen days in and on track...I have never been a big fan of turkey. Thanksgiving being the single exception and even then, I follow a predictable and formulated routine: I take a helping of unoffensive light meat and stew it in with sides and eat until overtaken by sleep, repeat the next day with whatever leftovers are afoot. That's the norm, right? But the actual turkey part of this has always been to me, more of an obligatory custom rather than a matter of exercising personal preference.
New adventures in diet aside, my wife and I have been modifying family traditions over the last few years. As the eldest children of our families and a half a dozen kids of our own, we have tried to step up and keep pace in memory making for our pack. Minor changes to family occasions started with family meals on holidays began with my wife’s the suggestion that we have a sort of buffet-style feast on Year’s Eve. Kind of an ‘anti-resolution’ celebration, I suppose, which opened the door to me smoking ribs or brisket for any occasion in the summer, to a standing rib roast for Thanksgiving. I’ve gotten pretty good at it too, or so I am told.
After a brine and an 8-hour smoke, I was ready to and in
fact practiced apologizing to the crowd waiting to carve the thing up and eat
it. I was sure it would either be a salmonella factory or salty charcoal. It
was not. It was the best turkey I’d ever had. I ate more of that bird than have
been served to me on sandwiches in the past 15 years. Even my daughter, the queen-to-be
of picky eating, did not need prompting and went for a second helping. It was
simple and delicious and went so fast, I didn't get a chance to snap a picture of it in all its golden brown glory.
And that was a damned good thing too. I thought with some certainty that I would toss aside my diet and have an unscheduled cheat day Christmas afternoon. Somewhere in my mind, I thought that upon confronting them, I would feel starved for the piles of starchy dishes and sides that accompany family gatherings. I did have one of my mother’s chocolate chip cookies from a batch that specifically was requested by my youngest daughter (and two bites of pizza) but that’s eleven less that I didn’t eat. No soda, no potatoes, no stuffing, no pie, rolls, and no tears. The turkey that I’d pulled of was inspiring me to reevaluate my historic distaste for it and whatever gaps in that were filled by slices of baked ham and a green bean casserole. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I wasn’t. And oddly, I felt a little more mature for it.
But I still want brisket for New Year’s Eve.
Check back for a caving story later this week!
#thanksgiving #lowcarbchristmas #bbq # #caving #keto #fatmancaving #midlifediet #deadcanarycaving #mtsthellens #lavatube #lowcarb #lakecave #apecave
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