Island Christmas

Hello Family and Friends,

Did everyone have a fabulous Christmas?  How much weight did you gain?  OK. OK.  I won't go there.  As a friend of mine, Robert once explained to me, "Phat" is a good thing".  Hummm.

Bob & I had a wonderful Christmas here on the island.  We were recruited to help decorate our favorite watering hole, Manati's.  We had no idea what we were in for but we had a blast.   This was a two day event.  1st day was hanging ornaments, garland, lights and tassels.  The second day was all about hanging balloons.  Geri is very well organized.  She had recruited plenty of help and everything went very smoothly.  Not to mention, she and her husband Al fed us well for lunch.




Cathy & Geri

 We were to report to Manati's by 10:00 in the morning.  I made a gallon of Bloody Mary's.  I had to make sure we had plenty of vitamins and veggies before we got to work.  Sure enough 1 gallon wasn't nearly enough.  The 2nd day, I brought 2 gallons of Bloody Mary's.  Cathy wanted to make sure we had enough and ended up bringing more.  We were not short of supply this day.  



Bob had a lot of jobs.  He hung garland, bar tended
but his most important job was DJ.
Without music, I'm useless.


Among those helping; were a couple from Houston.  They were sailing south, caught wind about Guanaja and decided to stop for a few days to check it out.  Well, those couple of days has now turned into a month.  We're glad they are still with us celebrating the Holidays.  We'll be bringing in the New Year with them.

Carl & Iris Meredith
Sailors from Houston TX

My Argentinian friend, Mercedes & Jim

Al was in charge of blowing up the balloons.
Don't feel sorry for him.  He brought his air compressor with him.

Mercedes & Iris hard at work.

What a Motley Crew.
(Me, Geri, Iris, Cathy and Mercedes)

Did you notice all our elf hats?  Geri's sister made those for us and had them shipped down.  Thank you, Gwen. 

Now for Christmas day.  I volunteered to cook up a turkey for our potluck at Manati's.  I didn't cook one for Thanksgiving and I felt I missed out.  So, Bob put in an order for a turkey at one of the stores in town.   We went to pick up the turkey a few days before Christmas and I thought Bob was going to shit in his pants.  The lady behind the counter retrieves this big Butterball turkey and said, "That will be 900 lempiras".  My friends, 900 lempiras is $50!  Bob mumbled all day long.  I had warned him it was going to be expensive.

Well, there were 3 other folks bringing turkeys.  So, I wanted mine to be different.  I decided to make a "Texican Turkey".  I soaked my turkey in jalapeno/garlic brine for 15 hours.  After the soak, I stuffed the bird w/seasoned jalapenos and grilled it.  That's right, "grill".  Had I ever done this before?  No.  I went online and did my research & it seemed easy.  Just a little higher maintenance but no worries.  Bob & I got up early to prep the grill and to make sure the bird had plenty of time to cook.  According to all my research it should take 3-4 hours for the 17.5 lb turkey.  (Lunch was being served at noon) 

After soaking in a brine; no need season with additional salt.
I did add a little cayenne to the skin.
Jalapenos are stuffed in the cavity and its stuffed in the
meat (breast and thighs)
We did put foil around the wings and tips of the drumsticks
to keep from burning.

The bird was on for about an hour and everything looked good.  I had left for a few minutes to feed the dogs and when I came back...FIRE!  Oh My God!  I'm not talking a little fire.  I'm talking flames were coming out from all areas of the BBQ Pit.   After all my screaming for water, we got the fire under control and the bird was charred.  I was sick.  We paid how much for this bird only to burn it.   We took it off the pit and assessed the damage.  OK. 



Char means flavor, right?
It doesn't look too bad!

 I over reacted.  It wasn't that bad.  We made more adjustments to the grill and got the bird back on.  After 2.5 hours I decided to check the temp with a thermometer.  I was shocked.  The turkey was done.  How can that be?  I must have Flashed Cooked it by charring it.  I check the breast and the thighs several times and sure enough it was done.   We pulled it off the grill, let the turkey rest for 15 mins and then sliced into it.  WOW!  That was a delicious, juicy and a flavorful turkey. 

As I was carving the turkey, I heard this thump and thump.  I turned around; it was our dog, Hero.  We normally call Hero to this window if we have any bacon or left over meat to give him.  But this time he wasn't waiting for the invite.

Hero... "come on I'm ready to place my order".
"I know you have extra for me".
"Come on, please!"

How can I tell him No.  He's so dang cute.

Well, 2011 is knocking on our door.  We wish you and your family a healthy and prosperous year.  We'll see you guys soon.

Much love,
Bob & Bonnie