Turdogin'

Oh, no! -Not you, again!

 "Too much of a good thing can be taxing!" Mae West

Last week, in preparation for that sometimes lonely day after Turkey Day, my neighbor, Maureen, who knew she wouldn't be with family, wanted to buy a small turkey and trimmings for a day-after celebration. Thus began what I'll call the Turdogin' Episode.

We walked to Whole Foods on Sunday, to buy the bird, about a mile round trip (good exercise for the dogs, we figured.) It was a sunny morning in Denver, so we sat outside the store and enjoyed coffee. We toured the store, window shopping and buying side dishes. We walked back home, satisfied, if broke, with turkey, trimmings and dogs in custody.

Next day Maureen called, to say our captive bird was already quite defrosted, an unexpected, possibly dangerous, development. Walked back to Whole Foods (with dogs in tow, even though, by this time, they were getting tired of these excursions.) -Exchanged the less frozen turkey for a rock solid bird. Walked home with said critters, dogs and bird in, tow. Thus ended our very own annual Turkey Trot.

Next thing on my agenda was a perfectly lovely dinner with my family -- I ate a lot of turkey. Just after I returned home, another neighbor, Ross, came over bearing ... guess what? Oh yeah, piles of turkey (I still loved turkey, at that point, so, all good.)
Early the following day Maureen baked the New Turkey. We had planned to have dinner later in the afternoon. My cell phone rang at around 3:00 -- Maureen had struggled all day, to get the turkey baked, but her oven wasn't heating sufficiently! -Ran upstairs, wrapped the turkey in foil, brought it downstairs to finish cooking, while we watched, ironically, The Jazzy Vegetarian. -Ran to my apartment, to wrestle and fetch the wretched turkey upstairs. 

Got back upstairs to dinner, but, mysteriously, could not eat. (Plus I had my first taste of green bean casserole, which I can truly say is an experience I do not care to repeat.) I guess the dog ate too much turkey, too, because she had a tummy upset. You know who is in charge of taking care of that!

Last night Maureen showed up with, yep, piles of left over turkey. I don't think she meant it to be a cruel gesture, exactly. Thank you, God, for my freezer. -Spaghetti and meatballs, anyone?