Thanksgiving, Island Style - Warning for those on dial-up - lots of pictures...

 WARNING: For those on dial-up - lots of pictures!

Even though Madame Pele chose to shake us up with a 5.0 earthquake yesterday morning, Thanksgiving went on as planned.    For some reason, the turkey took its sweet time and though it was nice, tender and juicy…I thought it would never finish cooking.  It was a 16 pounder and I don’t stuff it, so instructions said to cook for 3-1/2 to 4 hours……….It was finally done almost 6 hours later!!!!

Kolekole is a very nice beach park about a mile north of us.  It is set by a stream where the stream empties into the Pacific Ocean. 

A little waterfall, right across the stream from the park.

A couple of weeks ago we had reserved one of the smaller pavilions at the park.  The pavilions all have a built-in grill, long picnic tables and benches on the sides, and electrical outlets.  The setting is beautiful. 

On the first trip down we took everything except the food.  Swept the floor, wiped the benches and table and set up our own small folding table which we used for beverages and appetizers. Anthony lit the file in the pavilion’s grill so we could have hot embers to keep the food hot once I brought it over. 

We set the table with an oilcloth table cover in a very pretty subdued blue, brown and beige palm frond design.  I used some of the colorful cloth napkins from my tropical napkin collection, our buffet glass dishes and flatware with bamboo handles. We strung tiny white Christmas lights up and down the center of the table and covered them with colorful croton leaves, small orange pumpkins, yellow passion fruit and Chinese dwarf bananas from our yard.  In between I set two kerosene lanterns, an old fashioned table lantern with a fat candle and 2 green glass containers that also held candles. 

I made an arrangement for the end of the table. 

Our friends started arriving and helping Anthony finish setting up as I made several trips home to check on the food. 

I had to borrow a neighbor’s oven for the dressing, since our turkey was taking it’s time. We all had a wonderful time, of course, as usual we  all ate too much and had to take walk over to the mouth of the stream to watch the surfers and boogie boarders   

The menu:

~Sue’s Brie on sliced apples~Becky’s  toasted pine nuts~Anthony’s assortment of pickles, olives and hot peppers~Sonia’s Turkey, glazed with mango juice and mango jam – rosemary butter spread all over the breast under the skin – big bunch of rosemary in the cavity~

Sonia’s Herbed Bread Dressing with Chicken Livers and Dried Figs~Sonia’s Gravy~ Sue’s Ensalada de Noche Buena

~Linda’s Orange and Purple Sweet Potato Salad

~Janet’s Cranberry Salad~Linda’s Cranberry Relish~Linda’s Cranberry & Walnut Bread~Lawrence’s cantelope slices~Linda’s Baklava~Sonia’s Pumpkin Mousse~Becky’s Chocolate Treats~Sonia’s & Anthony’s Mango-Pineapple Punch~Peter’s Martinelli~Lawrence’s iced tea~Linda’s coffee   

Photos by Sonia M. - using an Olympus E-500 digital