You know how sometimes you get these bizarre ideas and after kicking it around a bit, you ultimately decide, “Oh, what the hell? Let’s go for it!”
So let’s rewind to maybe June. One of my very best bffs Melisa called me up to ask me a question about our upcoming vacation to the Outer Banks in NC. She informed me that she still had a FREE turkey in her freezer that she had earned at Giant during the previous Thanksgiving promo. This was a bit humorous to me – not because she was harboring a 7 month old frozen turkey (puh-lease, my free turkeys end up in my freezer for a year or more) – rather the fact that she is a vegetarian and was hoping to offer the meaty contraband to her poultry-eating friends.
Not only did she have this large (free) turkey in her freezer, but she thought it might be fun to cook up a Thanksgiving dinner of sorts while we were at the beach. “Sure!” I said. A big tasty meal and what sounded like a night of someone else doing most of the cooking?! No brainer.
August rolled around. The turkey was wrapped up in layers and layers of plastic bags and packed with care into a very large cooler. It made the journey from Philadelphia, PA to Nags Head, NC in great shape – and the day finally arrived for our off-season feast.
Both Bob and Melisa’s husband Dan decided to pitch in with carving:
The spread:
Posing with a roll as the carb-a-holic she is:
Posing with a turkey leg. At the beach. Because I COULD, dammit!
My plate of fabulousness –
and p.s. OMG. It was the tastiest freaking turkey I have ever had in my life. Seriously. Lip smacking. Here is the recipe!
One of the best parts about having a Thanksgiving dinner at the beach in the middle of the summer was that after we ate, when the turkey made us all drowsier than drunken sloths, we were on VACATION. We could keel over and indulge in super wonderful turkey comas!
So bottom line – off-season holiday dinners are excellent ideas. Even better when you’re at a scenic locale.
Just look at how much sheer joy this meal brought to our faces. I’m pretty sure Dan will kill me for posting this pic. BUT LOOK AT THE SHEER JOY!!!
