Thanksgiving 2.0

....Continued from yesterday:

​    During the 2018 midterm elections my daughter campaigned for Harley Rouda, Democratic candidate for California's 48th Congressional district,

...and was a phone bank captain, overseeing a cadre of phone canvassers weekly in her kitchen,

​...and on her patio.

     She decided to host a belated celebration and pot luck dinner the Sunday after Thanksgiving for her workers as well as for the workers of two neighboring phone banks, about 30 people.
      The day before the diner my daughter was still pondering what she should serve. In jest I suggested another big Thanksgiving dinner, since turkeys would surely be on clearance now, as would the boxes of stuffing and cranberry sauce, too.
       "Hmmm," my daughter pondered a moment. Then she said, "You know, another turkey dinner with all the fixings really does sound good."
        So we decided on a turkey dinner -  until it hit me that a turkey the size of which we'd need to feed 30 people would take a week to thaw out.          Unless we could find a big fresh turkey somewhere the weekend after Thanksgiving. Frankly I didn't think our prospects would be too auspicious.

     However, just for the crazy heck of it I called Ralph's,

...figuring I'd be laughed back to Ohio for asking about a fresh 20-pound turkey two days after Thanksgiving.
    Turned out our Ralph's didn't have any fresh turkeys, but low and behold the Ralph's located in the next beach town over did: a few 20 - 25 pounders were all that were left, and they were reduced from $2.49 to $.50 a pound.
      Thus we knew it was kismet that we were meant to have a turkey dinner.
        Tom and I proceeded to Ralph's and procured ourselves a 24-pound turkey, the biggest, heaviest bird we'd ever dealt with,

...or I should say, Tom ever dealt with, as it has been his job for some years now to prepare, stuff, and roast the bird,

...while I snag the neck and gizzards, my favorite part of the turkey and - happily for me - everyone else in my family's least favorite part.
     So while Tom wrassled with the behemoth turkey I prepared my gizzards to my liking, simmered in chicken broth (from a bullion cube) and seasoned with garlic salt and onion powder.

    Then as soon as the gizzards were done I gobbled them up on the spot, as is my Thanksgiving tradition.

​   However this time I shared my prized delicacy with Pinky Poo, as it turned out that he, too, liked the gizzards.

    While the turkey was roasting Tom made a couple of his famous apple pies (see post from 1/31/2014, "It Takes a Village to Make a Piemaster).

     It so happened   that our son-in-law had among his culinary utensils an apple peeler-corer-slicer,

...which the children were fascinated with and clamored to have a try with. 
​       As they had a guest over for the day the guest was allowed the first turn with peeler-corer-slicer.

​    Amazingly, with this gadget even a 7-year-old could peel, core and spiral slice  an apple beautifully in seconds,

​...as could a 5-year-old.

     I, meanwhile, made my signature rolls,

...and, when the turkey was as done as it was going to get,

...I mashed the potatoes and collected the turkey juice and skimmed off the fat, which is what we used instead of gravy - much more healthy and delicious!
     At 4 pm the phone-bankers began arriving, and soon the house was full of people,

...and the table and counter tops were full of food.

    Soon we were digging in.

      After dinner the guests stayed around to talk,

​...and, I expect, start planning for the next campaign.